Building vibrations and dynamic pavement loads induced by transit buses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of bus suspension systems on building vibrations and dynamic pavement loads. Building vibrations and pavement loads induced by two instrumented buses having different characteristics were measured simultaneously under controlled field conditions. Field tests were performed at several vehicle speeds, normal and reduced tire pressures, and with roads having good surface condition as well as abrupt surface irregularities. Tests were carried out at two vibration complaint sites in Montréal. The level and frequency content of vibrations and loads induced by the two buses were evaluated and compared. The results show that the dynamic component of pavement loads induced by the two buses were significantly different but the difference in building vibration levels was not as significant.     

Monthly Synoptic Patterns Associated with Wet/Dry Conditions in the Eastern Mediterranean

Summary An investigation of the main features of large-scale synoptic patterns over Europe and the adjacent areas for extreme winter periods during 1980–1995 over the Eastern Mediterranean (EM) is performed. The NASA reanalysis data set is used to investigate composite sea level pressure (SLP), geopotential height of the 500 hPa surface (H-500) and precipitation–wet, normal and dry patterns for each month during the period October–March. It is found that the wet and dry cool seasons in the EM are associated with distinct SLP and H-500 anomaly patterns over Europe and the adjacent regions. During the dry spells large-scale positive SLP/H-500 anomaly areas prevail over Eastern Europe. A negative SLP anomaly is normally found during these periods over southwestern and Western Europe. During the wet cool seasons in the EM there are mainly negative SLP/H-500 anomaly areas over Eastern Europe to the north east of the EM. Positive SLP/H-500 anomalies are found over Western Europe. During wet months a trough zone between the Siberian and the Azorean Highs is positioned over the eastern part of the Mediterranean. During dry months the Siberian anticyclone is more intensive and the zone with low surface pressure is displaced to the central part of the northern Mediterranean. Received May 26, 1999 Revised August 26, 1999     

Storm track response to ocean fronts in a global high-resolution climate model

Synoptic atmospheric eddies are affected by lower tropospheric air-temperature gradients and by turbulent heat fluxes from the surface. In this study we examine how ocean fronts affect these quantities and hence the storm tracks. We focus on two midlatitude regions where ocean fronts lie close to the storm tracks: the north-west Atlantic and the Southern Ocean. An atmospheric climate model of reasonably high resolution (~50 km) is applied in a climate-length (60 year) simulation in order to obtain stable statistics. Simulations with frontal structure in the sea surface temperature (SST) in one of the regions are compared against simulations with globally smoothed SST. We show that in both regions the ocean fronts have a strong influence on the transient eddy heat and moisture fluxes, not just in the boundary layer, but also in the free troposphere. Local differences in these quantities between the simulations reach 20–40 % of the maximum values in the simulation with smoothed SST. Averaged over the entire region of the storm track over the ocean the corresponding differences are 10–20 %. The effect on the transient eddy meridional wind variance is strong in the boundary layer but relatively weak above that. The potential mechanisms by which the ocean fronts influence the storm tracks are discussed, and our results are compared against previous studies with regional models, Aquaplanet models, and coarse resolution coupled models.     

Dispersion of a Passive Scalar Within and Above an Urban Street Network

The transport of a passive scalar from a continuous point-source release in an urban street network is studied using direct numerical simulation (DNS). Dispersion through the network is characterized by evaluating horizontal fluxes of scalar within and above the urban canopy and vertical exchange fluxes through the canopy top. The relative magnitude and balance of these fluxes are used to distinguish three different regions relative to the source location: a near-field region, a transition region and a far-field region. The partitioning of each of these fluxes into mean and turbulent parts is computed. It is shown that within the canopy the horizontal turbulent flux in the street network is small, whereas above the canopy it comprises a significant fraction of the total flux. Vertical fluxes through the canopy top are predominantly turbulent. The mean and turbulent fluxes are respectively parametrized in terms of an advection velocity and a detrainment velocity and the parametrization incorporated into a simple box-network model. The model treats the coupled dispersion problem within and above the street network in a unified way and predictions of mean concentrations compare well with the DNS data. This demonstrates the usefulness of the box-network approach for process studies and interpretation of results from more detailed numerical simulations.     

Estimating the Number of Cloud Layers through Radiosonde Data from Russian Aerological Stations for 1964–2014

Radiosonde data are used for the period of 1964–2014 and the method that determines the boundaries and cloud amount based on the profiles of temperature and humidity [23]; long-period statistical characteristics are computed for the cloud layer number for different altitude ranges from the ground to 10 km. The study is performed for the Russian aerological stations located at different latitudes and climate zones. To specify the spatiotemporal features of the atmosphere layering into cloud layers and cloudless layers between them, the estimates of monthly mean, seasonal mean, and annual mean values of cloud layer number as well as of their standard deviations are computed, and the amplitude of their variations is determined. The results qualitatively agree with the data of aircraft-based sounding of the atmosphere as well as with the data of radars and experiments with free balloons.     

The differential method for calculation of cloud motion vectors

The problem ofcloud data retrieval for the periods between the fixed terms ofobservations from geostationary satellites is solved using the differential methods for the optical flow. To solve the problem, the possibility of using different methods for computing cloud motion vectors is investigated. The estimates of the accuracy of computed vectors based on artificially generated test sequences are presented. The test results reveal that the accuracy of the optical flow calculation with the modt fied Brox’s method excels the other mentioned methods. The software is implemented for creating the smooth animation of cloud movement using the modified Brox’s method.     

Biomass burning in the tropical savannas of Ivory Coast: An overview of the field experiment Fire of Savannas (FOS/DECAFE 91)

FOS/DECAFE 91 (Fire of Savannas/Dynamique et Chimie Atmosphérique en Forêt Equatoriale) was the first multidisciplinary experiment organized in Africa to determine gas and aerosol emissions by prescribed savanna fires. The humid savanna of Lamto in Ivory Coast was chosen for its ecological characteristics representative of savannas with a high biomass density (900 g m^–2 dry matter). Moreover the vegetation and the climate of Lamto have been studied for more than twenty years. The emission ratios (X/CO₂) of the carbon compounds (CO₂, CO, NMHC, CH₄, PAH, organic acids and aerosols), nitrogen compounds (NO_x, N₂O, NH₃ and soluble aerosols) and sulfur compounds (SO₂, COS and aerosols) were experimentally determined by ground and aircraft measurements. To perform this experiment, 4 small plots (100×100 m) and 2 large areas (10×10 km) were prepared and burnt in January 1991 during the period of maximum occurrence of fires in this type of savanna. The detailed ecological study shows that the carbon content of the vegetation is constant within 1% (42 g C for 100 g of vegetal dry matter), the nitrogen content (0.29 g N for 100 g of dry matter) may vary by 10% and the sulfur content (0.05 g S/100 d.m.) by 20%. These variations of the biomass chemical content do not constitute an important factor in the variation of the gas and particle emission levels. With the emission ratios characteristic of humid savanna and flaming conditions (CO/CO₂ of 6.1% at the ground and 8% for airborne measurements), we propose a set of new emission factors, taking into account the burning efficiency which is about 80%: 74.4% of the carbon content of the savanna biomass is released to the atmosphere in the form of CO₂, 4.6% as CO, 0.2% as CH₄, 0.5% as NMHC and 0.7% as aerosols. 17.2% of the nitrogen content of the biomass is released as NO_x, 3.5% as N₂O, 0.6% as NH₃ and 0.5% as soluble aerosols.     

NOx or VOC Limitation in East German Ozone Plumes?

The ozone forming potential of VOCs and NO_x for plumes observed from several cities and a power plant in eastern Germany was investigated. A closed box model with a gas phase photochemical reaction mechanism was employed to simulate several scenarios based upon aircraft observations. In several of the scenarios, the initial concentrations of NO_x, VOCs, and SO₂, were reduced to study the factors limiting the O₃ production. Ozone production was limited by the initial VOC concentrations for all of the simulated plumes. Higher O₃ concentrations were produced with reduced initial NO_x. In one sample with high SO₂ mixing ratios (>100 ppb), SO₂ was also identified as a significant contributor to the production of O₃.     

作为热机的自然对流:CAPE理论

在许多行星上,不断有热量供给地面,且热量也不断通过大气向太空发出红外辐射.由于在高压区是热源不是热汇,因此,该系统能够做机械功.大气对流是可以在此系统中运转的自然热机.基于这种热机结构,提出了一个大气对流的简单理论,预报在统计平衡状态下干、湿对流的浮力、垂直速度及其覆盖区域.在对流热机一次循环期间,来自地面层(热源,热区)的热,其中一部分被报废到空间自由对流层(热汇,冷区),并从那里辐射到太空.其余部分变为机械功.此机械功用于克服机械耗散维持对流运动上.最终,机械能耗尽,转变成热能.消耗掉的部分能量被辐射到太空,而其余的通过对流气块进入再循环.在温度较低能量消耗部分降低的情况下,温度较高能量消耗部分增加,提高了对流热机的视效率.对流热机所做的功对气柱积分,给出了存在于行星大气中克服粘性耗散、维持对流运动的对流有效位能(CAPE)统计平衡量的大小.此积分被认为是准平衡条件下行星状态的一个全球性数字.对于地球目前的气候,热机结构预报热带地区CAPE值的大小为1000 J·kg-1,该预报值与观测值一致.从结果也可得出,存在于对流大气的CAPE总量应随着全球地表温度的升高(或大气对红外辐射的暗度)的增大而增大.