Intercepted flux and the horizontal component of solar radiation

Summary For the first time a method is presented to actually measure the radiative flux intercepted by cylindrical and conical objects in radiation fields of any unknown angular distribution.The horizontal component of solar radiationH is a newly introduced parameter expressed in Wm^–2 and defined as specific radiative flux intercepted by the lateral surface of a vertical cylinder. The horizontal componentH can be measured and must be considered complementary to the vertical component of solar radiationG which is conventionally measured as Global radiation.Radiative fluxes intercepted by cylindrical and conical objects are expressed as simple analytic functions ofG andH in any irregular radiation field. Before the introduction of the H-concept, when onlyG was measured, intercepted fluxes had to be approximated on the basis of assumed angular distributions of the radiation field.The climatological characteristics ofH andG are different: under clear skies in the open field the H-climatology is more temperate than the G-climatology all over the world and in all seasons. In the radiative environment of elongate vertical bodies H is generally a more significant parameter thanG. With 4 Figures     

Temperature And Wind Velocity Oscillations Along a Gentle Slope During Sea-Breeze Events

The flow structure on a gentle slope at Vallon dOl in the northern suburbs of Marseille in southern France has been documented by means of surface wind and temperature measurements collected from 7 June to 14 July 2001 during the ESCOMPTE experiment. The analysis of the time series reveals temperature and wind speed oscillations during several nights (about 60--90 min oscillation period) and several days (about 120–180 min oscillation period) during the whole observing period. Oscillating katabatic winds have been reported in the literature from theoretical, experimental and numerical studies. In the present study, the dynamics of the observed oscillating katabatic winds are in good agreement with the theory.In contrast to katabatic winds, no daytime observations of oscillating anabatic upslope flows have ever been published to our knowledge, probably because of temperature inversion break-up that inhibits upslope winds. The present paper shows that cold air advection by a sea breeze generates a mesoscale horizontal temperature gradient, and hence baroclinicity in the atmosphere, which then allows low-frequency oscillations, similar to a katabatic flow. An expression for the oscillation period is derived that accounts for the contribution of the sea-breeze induced mesoscale horizontal temperature gradient. The theoretical prediction of the oscillation period is compared to the measurements, and good agreement is found. The statistical analysis of the wind flow at Vallon dOl shows a dominant north-easterly to easterly flow pattern for nighttime oscillations and a dominant south-westerly flow pattern for daytime oscillations. These results are consistent with published numerical simulation results that show that the air drains off the mountain along the maximum slope direction, which in the studied case is oriented south-west to north-east.     

Negotiating neoliberalism: Conservationists’ role in the development of payments for ecosystem services

This paper critically engages with the role of conservation practitioners as ‘expert intermediaries’ in the development of payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes in the UK. Centring on the case study of the Wildlife Trust’s Pumlumon Project in Mid Wales, the paper connects the advance of neoliberal governance strategies to the experiences and attitudes of conservationists, charting a more personalised geography of how PES has gained traction here, beyond its dissemination as an anonymous discourse or top-down imposition. In methodological terms, the paper combines ethnography with the insights of governmentality in order to demonstrate how conservationists have made sense of, and subsequently engaged with processes of neoliberalisation. This is set out as a means to attain a grounded perspective on the advancement of PES, but equally to appreciate how the hegemony of market-style governance is accepted and advanced by the conservationists involved.     

Density,Shell Use and Species Composition of Juvenile Fiddler Crabs (Uca spp.) at Low and High Anthropogenic Impact Salt Marsh Sites

Coastal wetlands worldwide have been negatively impacted by humans, causing decreases in the vegetation used as a refuge from predation by juveniles of many species. This study examined juvenile fiddler crab densities and species composition (Uca pugnax, Uca pugilator, and Uca minax), and their use of gastropod shells (Littorina littoraria), at three low and three high impact sites on barrier islands in southeast Georgia. On six dates in June–August 2010, samples were taken from 10 quadrats (1 m²) at each site to determine juvenile fiddler crab densities and species composition, as well as gastropod shell densities and percent shell use. Multiplex PCR was used to identify juvenile fiddler crabs to species. Juvenile fiddler crab densities were lower at high impact sites, while gastropod shell densities and shell use were similar at both low and high impact sites. Species compositions differed between low and high impact sites on the substrate and in shells, with more U. pugilator and U. minax at high impact sites. A change in fiddler crab densities and species composition could cause a substantial change in southeastern salt marshes.     

Formation of pristane from α-tocopherol under simulated anoxic sedimentary conditions: A combination of biotic and abiotic degradative processes

Incubation of intact and oxidized α-tocopherol (vitamin E) in anaerobic sediment slurries allowed us to demonstrate that, as previously suggested by Goossens et al. (1984), the degradation of α-tocopherol in anoxic sediments results in the formation of pristane. The conversion of α-tocopherol to this isoprenoid alkane involves a combination of biotic and abiotic degradative processes, i.e. the anaerobic biodegradation (which seems to be mainly induced by denitrifying bacteria) of trimeric structures resulting from the abiotic oxidation of α-tocopherol. On the basis of the results obtained, it is proposed that in the marine environment most of the α-tocopherol present in phytoplanktonic cells should be quickly degraded within the water column and the oxic zone of sediments by way of aerobic biodegradation, photo- and autoxidation processes. Abiotic transformation of this compound mainly results in the production of trimeric oxidation products, sufficiently stable to be incorporated into anoxic sediments and whose subsequent anaerobic bacterial degradation affords pristane. These results confirm that the ratio pristane to phytane cannot be used as an indicator of the oxicity of the environment of deposition; in contrast, they support the use of PFI (Pristane Formation Index) as a proxy for the state of diagenesis of sedimentary organic matter.     

Spatial observation of the ozone layer

This article provides an overview of the various satellite instruments, which have been used to observe stratospheric ozone and other chemical compounds playing a key role in stratospheric chemistry. It describes the various instruments that have been launched since the late 1970s for the measurement of total ozone column and ozone vertical profile, as well as the major satellite missions designed for the study of stratospheric chemistry. Since the discovery of the ozone hole in the early 1980s, spatial ozone measurements have been widely used to evaluate and quantify the spatial extension of polar ozone depletion and global ozone decreasing trends as a function of latitude and height. Validation and evaluation of satellite ozone data have been the subject of intense scientific activity, which was reported in the various ozone assessments of the state of the ozone layer published after the signature of the Montreal protocol. Major results, based on satellite observations for the study of ozone depletion at the global scale and chemical polar ozone loss, are provided. The use of satellite observations for the validation of chemistry climate models that simulate the recovery of the ozone layer and in data assimilation is also described.     

On the water and energy cycles in the Tropics

The water and energy cycles are major elements of the Earth climate. These cycles are especially active in the intertropical belt where satellites provide the most suitable observational platform. The history of Earth observations of the water cycle and of the radiation budget viewed from space reveals that the fundamental questions from the early times are still relevant for today's research. The last 2 decades have seen a number of milestones regarding the documentation of rainfall, mesoscale convective systems (MCS), water vapour and radiation at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). Beyond dedicated missions that provided enhanced characterizations of some elements of the atmospheric water cycle and field campaigns that allowed the gathering of validation data, the advent of the long record of meteorological satellites lead to new questioning on the homogenisation of the data time series, etc. The use of this record to document the tropical climate brought new results of the distribution of humidity and reinforced the understanding of some robust features of the African monsoon. Challenges for the immediate future concerns the deepening of the understanding of the role of cloud systems in the monsoon circulation, the downscaling of the documentation of the water and energy cycle at the scale of these cloud systems, the research of better adequation between the users and the satellite estimate of rainfall and finally a much needed methodological effort to build exploitable time series for the estimation of climatic trends in the water and energy cycle in the Tropics. The required observations to address these challenges are rapidly presented with emphasis on the upcoming Megha-Tropiques (MT) mission.     

Households’ Resilience to Hurricanes in Coastal Communities of Oaxaca,Mexico

Hurricanes represent a common threat to coastal communities, affecting livelihood strategies and assets. Households are resilient if they can recover from a stress or shock while maintaining and arranging assets to secure a sustainable livelihood. The objective of this research is to measure the degree of resilience in the coastal households of Oaxaca, Mexico, following a hurricane using the asset approach and describing diversity, connectivity, and slow variables. The results show different degrees of resilience among the households and that social, natural, and financial capital are relevant to resilience. The diversification of income, savings, community help, natural resource use, and government transfers is among the most important assets. In particular, social capital and natural capital determine the structure and dynamics of the system.     

Dual-frequency ADCPs measuring turbidity

A pair of self-contained acoustic Doppler current profilers (SC-ADCPs) operating with different frequencies were moored on a muddy sea bottom at about 20 m depth in the Bay of Vilaine off the French Atlantic coast. With their acoustic beams oriented upwards, the SC-ADCPs ensonified most of the water column. The results of several months of in situ recorded echo intensity data spanning 2 years (2003 to 2004) from the dual-frequency ADCPs are presented in this paper. The aim was to estimate suspended particle mass concentration and mean size. A concentration index CI is proposed for the estimation of particle concentration. Based on theory the CI—unlike the volume backscatter strength—does not depend on particle size. Compared with in situ optical data, the CI shows reasonable precision but not increased with respect to that of the highest-frequency backscatter strength. Concerning the mean particle size, despite a lack of quantitative validation with optical particle-size measurements, the method yielded a qualitative discrimination of mineral (small) and organic (large) particles. This supports the potential of dual-frequency ADCPs to quantitatively determine particle size. A cross-calibration of the transducers of each ADCP shows that a specific component of the precision of the backscatter strength measured by ADCP depends on the acoustic frequency, the cell thickness and the ensemble integration time. Based on these results, the use of two ADCPs operating with distinctly different frequencies (two octaves apart) or a single dual-frequency ADCP is recommended.     

Improving vertical GPS precision with a GPS-over-fiber architecture and real-time relative delay calibration

A limitation of GPS positioning is that the vertical component is generally two to three times less precise than the horizontal components. In a previous work by R. Santerre of Laval University and G. Beutler of University of Bern, it was shown in simulations that it is possible to improve the GPS vertical positioning precision by using a multi-antenna GPS receiver and a precise calibration technique of the relative hardware delay between the antennas and the receiver. However, no actual implementation of the system was done to prove the concept until now. A new multi-antenna, GPS-over-fiber architecture with real-time delay monitoring, designed and implemented to improve the vertical precision is presented. The improvement in vertical precision arises from the elimination of the relative receiver clock error in single difference, between antennas, and the precision real-time calibration of the relative hardware delay. Experiments were conducted with a zero baseline and a short baseline configuration. The results show, as expected by the theory and the simulations, a two to three times improvement in the precision of the vertical component such that it reached the same level of performance as the horizontal components. These promising results will enable the use of this type of configuration in several applications where the same precision in all 3D components is essential and could not be achieved before with standard GPS positioning techniques.