Assessing the Comparability of Ammonium,Nitrate and Sulfate Concentrations Measured by Three Air Quality Monitoring Networks

Airborne fine particulate matter across the United States is monitored by different networks, the three prevalent ones presently being the Clean Air Status and Trend Network (CASTNet), the Interagency Monitoring of PROtected Visual Environment Network (IMPROVE) and the Speciation and Trend Network (STN). If combined, these three networks provide speciated fine particulate data at several hundred locations throughout the United States. Yet, differences in sampling protocols and samples handling may not allow their joint use. With these concerns in mind, the objective of this study is to assess the spatial and temporal comparability of the sulfate, nitrate and ammonium concentrations reported by each of these networks. One of the major differences between networks is the sampling frequency they adopted. While CASTNet measures pollution levels on seven-day integrated samples, STN and IMPROVE data pertain to 24-hour samples collected every three days. STN and IMPROVE data therefore exhibit considerably more short-term variability than their CASTNet counterpart. We show that, despite their apparent incongruity, averaging the data with a window size of four to six weeks is sufficient to remove the effects of differences in sampling frequency and duration and allow meaningful comparison of the signals reported by the three networks of concern. After averaging, all the sulfate and, to a lesser degree, ammonium concentrations reported are fairly similar. Nitrate concentrations, on the other hand, are still divergent. We speculate that this divergence originates from the different types of filters used to collect particulate nitrate. Finally, using a rotated principal component technique (RPCA), we determined the number and the geographical organization of the significant temporal modes of variation (clusters) detected by each network for the three pollutants of interest. For sulfate and ammonium, the clusters’ geographical boundaries established for each network and the modes of variations within each cluster seem to correspond. RPCA erformed on nitrate concentrations revealed that, for the CASTNet and IMPROVE networks, the modes of variation do not correspond to unified geographical regions but are found more sporadically. For STN, the clustered areas are unified and easily delineable. We conclude that the possibility of jointly using the data collected by CASTNet, IMPROVE and STN has to be weighed pollutant by pollutant. While sulfate and ammonium data show some potential for joint use, at this point, combining the nitrate data from these monitoring networks may not be a judicious choice.     

An invariance in the carbazoles of petroleum

A remarkable invariance in the ratio of 1,3-dimethylcarbazole （DMC） to 1,6-DMC was discovered in crude oils from the Pearl River Mouth Basin, South China Sea. The remarkably invariant ratio is kept at a constant of about unity regardless of their concentrations, sources or maturities for the sampies. In combination with the molecular structures of 1,3- and 1,6-DMCs, the invariance might indicate that the nitrogen compounds share a common precursor with a skeleton of 1-methylcarbazole and are formed through methylation at C3 and C6 with an essentially identical rate.     

云南东北部拱王山末次冰期

1 Introduction The Gongwang mountains constitute one of the few high m ountains of irrefutable late Pleistocene glaciation in eastern China. This area is one of the m ost extensively studied Quaternary geologicallocationsin eastern China and the interpret…     

Analysis of the environmental sensitivities of a typical dynamic epikarst system at the Nongla monitoring site, Guangxi, China

Nongla, a typical karst dynamic system (KDS) monitoring site, is located at Nongla Village, Mashan County, Guangxi, China. The data from a Greenspan CTDP300 multichannel data logger indicates that the KDS is highly sensitive to environmental changes. Multi-day and diurnal physico-chemical composition of epikarst spring water is quite different under different climatic conditions. During a day with no rainfall, water temperature and air temperature have similar variations. Electrical conductivity (EC) has good positive correlation with pH value and water temperature. During rainstorms, the physico-chemical composition of the spring water is initially strongly effected by dilution, pH and EC drop rapidly. However, half to one hour later, EC returns to normal and the CO₂ effects will be the dominant physical effect. This is due to the high fissure rates and high permeability in the epikarst zone. Dilution effects were observed during the entire rainstorm event,whereas, it only acts during the earliest period of light rain. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the water–rock–CO₂ combination as a whole system to explain the hydrochemical behavior of epikarst processes.     

太湖表层沉积物多环芳烃的空间分布、来源及其风险

随着太湖流域社会与经济的发展,多环芳烃(PAHs)在各种环境介质中逐渐累积,污染日益严重,可能对太湖生态环境及周边人体健康构成威胁。为探究太湖沉积物PAHs的来源及生态风险,于2021年12月在太湖采集30个表层沉积物样品,利用气相色谱-质谱联用仪(GC-MS)检测样品中16种PAHs含量;利用受体模型和苯并[a]芘(BaP)毒性当量法进行来源解析及生态风险评估,并将各来源贡献与毒性当量浓度相结合,量化源风险。结果表明,太湖表层沉积物中16种PAHs总含量介于124~592 ng/g之间,平均值为294 ng/g,中值为279 ng/g;高环多环芳烃(HMW PAHs)为主要组分,占∑PAHs的67%。高含量区域位于竺山湾、梅梁湾、贡湖湾和西太湖,与国内外其他湖泊沉积物相比,太湖沉积物PAHs含量处于较低水平。源解析的结果表明,太湖表层沉积物中PAHs交通排放源贡献率为29.1%、煤炭燃烧源贡献率为26.7%、生物质燃烧源贡献率为28.7%、石油源贡献率为15.6%。生态风险评价结果表明,交通排放源、生物质燃烧源、煤炭燃烧源和石油源的BaP毒性当量含量(TEQ_BaP)均值分别为19.34、17.81、16.33和9.1 ng/g,均小于70 ng/g,几乎处于无风险水平。西太湖、贡湖湾和梅梁湾的部分区域ΣTEQ_BaP大于70 ng/g属于潜在风险区,具有一定潜在毒性。在后续的污染治理中应重点关注太湖西北部地区污染物的排放。本研究可为沉积物中PAHs污染的研究提供数据支撑,为地方政府精准、高效地管控PAHs污染提供理论依据。     

改进的能量守恒方法及其在CHAMP重力场恢复中的应用

An efficient method for gravity field determination from CHAMP orbits and accelerometer data is referred to as the energy balance approach. A new CHAMP gravity field recovery strategy based on the improved energy balance approach IS developed in this paper. The method simultaneously solves the spherical harmonic coefficients, daily Integration constant, scale and bias parameters. Two 60 degree and order gravitational potential models, XISM-CHAMPO1S from the classical energy balance approach, and XISM-CHAMPO2S from the improved energy balance, are determined using about one year＇s worth of CHAMP kinematic orbits from TUM and accelerometer data from GFZ. Comparisons among XISM-CHAMPO1S, XISM-CHAMPO2S, EIGEN-CGO3C, EIGEN-CHAMPO3S, EIGEN2, ENIGNIS and EGM96 are made. The results show that the XISM-CHAMPO2S model is more accurate than EGM96, EIGENIS, EIGEN2 and XISM-CHAMPO1S at the same degree and order, and has almost the same accuracy as EIGEN-CHAMPO3S.     

Cloning and characterization of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase encoding gene inGracilaria/Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase （GAPDH） plays important roles in various cellular processes. A cytosolic GAPDH encoding gene （gpd） of Gracilaria/Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis was cloned and characterized. Deduced amino acid sequence of the enzyme of G. lemaneiformis had high homology with those of seven red algae. The 5＇-untranslated regions of the GAPDHs encoding genes of these red algae varied greatly. GAPDHs of these red algae shared the highly conserved glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase active site ASCTTNCL. However, such active site of Cyanidium caldarium was different from those of the other six algae at the last two residues （CL to LF）, thus the spatial structure of its GAPDH active center may be different from those of the other six. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that GAPDH of G. lemaneiformis might have undergone an evolution similar to those of Porphyra yezoensis, Chondrus crispus, and Gracilaria verrucosa. C. caldarium had a closer evolutionary relationship with Cyanidioschyzon merolae than with Cyanidium sp. Virtual Northern blot analysis revealed that gpd of G. lemaneiformis expressed constitutively, which suggested that it might be house-keeping and could be adapted as an inner control in gene expression analysis of G. lemaneiformis.     

Timing analysis of the black hole candidate EXO 1846-031 with insight-HXMT monitoring

We present the observational results from a detailed timing analysis of the black hole candidate EXO 1846-031 during its outburst in 2019 with the observations ...     

Detection of a high-confidence quasi-periodic oscillation in radio light curve of the high redshift FSRQ PKS J0805–0111

In this work,we have searched for quasi-periodic oscillations(QPOs)in the 15 GHz light curve of the FSRQ PKS J0805-0111 monitored by the Owens Valley Radio Observatory(OVRO)40 m telescope during the period from 2008 January 9 to 2019 May 9,using the weighted wavelet Z-transform(WWZ)and the Lomb-Scargle Periodogram(LSP)techniques.This is the first time to search for a periodic radio signal in the FSRQ PKS J0805-0111 by these two methods.Both methods consistently reveal a repeating signal with a periodicity of 3.38±0.8 yr(>99.7%confidence level).In order to determine the significance of the periods,the false alarm probability method was applied,and a large number of Monte Carlo simulations were performed.As possible explanations,we discuss a number of scenarios including the thermal instability of thin disks scenario,the spiral jet scenario and the binary supermassive black hole scenario.We expect that the binary black hole scenario,where the QPO is caused by the precession of binary black holes,is the most likely explanation.FSRQ PKS J0805-0111 thus could be a good binary black hole candidate.In the binary black hole scenario,the distance between the primary black hole and the secondary black hole is about 1.71×10¹⁶ cm.     

基于新生代活动构造背景的地震重点危险区域综合研究——以安徽为例

基于地震的发生与断裂的活动性密切相关,为了科学合理并尽可能准确地判定未来地震重点危险区域,以安徽为例,利用由深浅部对比、宏微观构造解析所给出的新生代构造活动性最新研究成果,结合地震活动性资料研究结果,对一些重点部位的地震危险性进行了综合研究。结果表明,根据长时间尺度的地质构造最新研究揭示的活动性较强区域,与根据近代地震活动性资料研究反映的危险性较大区域,呈现较好的一致性特征,从而为未来地震重点危险区域的判定提供了新的较为可靠的依据和方法。