UV attenuation in the cloudy atmosphere

Ultraviolet (UV) energy absorption plays a very important role in the Earth–atmosphere system. Based on observational data for Beijing, we suggest that some atmospheric constituents utilize or transfer UV energy in chemical and photochemical (C&P) reactions, in addition to those which absorb UV energy directly. These constituents are primarily volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from both vegetative and anthropogenic sources. The total UV energy loss in the cloudy atmosphere for Beijing in 1990 was 78.9 Wm⁻². This attenuation was caused by ozone (48.3 Wm⁻²), other compounds in the atmosphere (26.6 Wm⁻²) and a scattering factor (4.0 Wm⁻²). Our results for a cloudy atmosphere in the Beijing area show that the absorption due to these other compounds occurs largely through the mediation of water vapor. This fraction of energy loss has not been fully accounted for in previous models. Observations and previous models results suggest that 1) a cloudy atmosphere absorbs 25∼30 Wm⁻² more solar shortwave radiation than models predict; and 2) aerosols can significantly decrease the downward mean UV-visible radiation and the absorbed solar radiation at the surface by up to 28 and 23 Wm⁻², respectively. Thus, quantitative study of UV and visible absorption by atmospheric constituents involved in homogeneous and heterogeneous C&P reactions is important for atmospheric models.     

Estimation of Surface-Layer Scaling Parameters in the Unstable Boundary Layer: Implications for Orographic Flow Speed-Up

A method is proposed for estimating the surface-layer depth \((z_s)\) and the friction velocity \((u_*)\) as a function of stability (here quantified by the Obukhov length, L) over the complete range of unstable flow regimes. This method extends that developed previously for stable conditions by Argaín et al. (Boundary-Layer Meteorol 130:15–28, 2009), but uses a qualitatively different approach. The method is specifically used to calculate the fractional speed-up \((\varDelta S)\) in flow over a ridge, although it is suitable for more general boundary-layer applications. The behaviour of \(z_s \left( L\right) \) and \(u_*\left( L\right) \) as a function of L is indirectly assessed via calculation of \(\varDelta S\left( L\right) \) using the linear model of Hunt et al. (Q J R Meteorol Soc 29:16–26, 1988) and its comparison with the field measurements reported in Coppin et al. (Boundary-Layer Meteorol 69:173–199, 1994) and with numerical simulations carried out using a non-linear numerical model, FLEX. The behaviour of \(\varDelta S\) estimated from the linear model is clearly improved when \(u_*\) is calculated using the method proposed here, confirming the importance of accounting for the dependences of \(z_s\left( L \right) \) and \(u_*\left( L \right) \) on L to better represent processes in the unstable boundary layer.     

Characteristics of carbonyl compounds in ambient air of Shanghai,China

The levels of carbonyl compounds in Shanghai ambient air were measured in five periods from January 2007 to October 2007 (covering winter, high-air-pollution days, spring, summer and autumn). A total of 114 samples were collected and eighteen carbonyls were identified. Formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acetone were the most abundant carbonyls and their mean concentrations of 19.40 ± 12.00, 15.92 ± 12.07 and 11.86 ± 7.04 μg m⁻³ respectively, in the daytime for five sampling periods. Formaldehyde and acetaldehyde showed similar diurnal profiles with peak mixing ratios in the morning and early afternoon during the daytime. Their mean concentrations were highest in summer and lowest in winter. Acetone showed reversed seasonal variation. The high molecular weight (HMW, ≥C5) carbonyls also showed obvious diurnal variations with higher concentrations in the daytime in summer and autumn, while they were all not detected in winter. Formaldehyde and acetaldehyde played an important role in removing OH radicals in the atmosphere, but the contribution of acetone was below 1%. The carbonyls levels in high-air-pollution days were reported. More carbonyl species with higher concentrations were found in high-air-pollution days than in spring. These carbonyls were transported with other pollutants from north and northwest in March 27 to April 2, 2007 and then mixed with local sources. Comparing with Beijing and Guangzhou, the concentrations of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in Shanghai were the highest, which indicated that the air pollution in Shanghai was even worse than expected.     

Adaptation of Pressure Based CFD Solvers for Mesoscale Atmospheric Problems

General purpose Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solvers are frequently used in small-scale urban pollution dispersion simulations without a large extent of ver- tical flow. Vertical flow, however, plays an important role in the formation of local breezes, such as urban heat island induced breezes that have great significance in the ventilation of large cities. The effects of atmospheric stratification, anelasticity and Coriolis force must be taken into account in such simulations. We introduce a general method for adapting pressure based CFD solvers to atmospheric flow simulations in order to take advantage of their high flexibility in geometrical modelling and meshing. Compressibility and thermal stratification effects are taken into account by utilizing a novel system of transformations of the field variables and by adding consequential source terms to the model equations of incompressible flow. Phenomena involving mesoscale to microscale coupled effects can be analyzed without model nesting, applying only local grid refinement of an arbitrary level. Elements of the method are validated against an analytical solution, results of a reference calculation, and a laboratory scale urban heat island circulation experiment. The new approach can be applied with benefits to several areas of application. Inclusion of the moisture transport phenomena and the surface energy balance are important further steps towards the practical application of the method.     

Structural improvement of age-hardened gypsum-treated bauxite red mud waste using readily decomposable phyto-organics

Several years (7) after incidental lithification by added gypsum, the effect of crushing and phyto-organics on some physical properties of red mud wastes (RMW) was examined under laboratory conditions. It was hypothesized that mechanically breaking up the hardened masses would increase their permeability. However, on the contrary, crushing these rock-hard masses into <2-mm particles did not increase permeability. A phyto-organic treatment on the other hand greatly improved permeability of the crushed entities such that infiltration rates increased from 0 to 10 cm/h. After 24 weeks of incubation, the structure of the newly formed phyto-organically treated gypsum-hardened RMW aggregates was also substantially improved over that of the controls, as a >3-fold increase in resistance to disintegration during wet sieving was exhibited by the phyto-organically treated samples. The increase in water infiltration by combining crushing with phyto-organic applications was ascribed to a decrease in particle dispersion, creating more stable clay clusters, which in turn stabilized channels and pores. Conversely, it was concluded that the singular crushing of gypsum-hardened bauxite waste in the waste dumps is potentially wasteful and ineffective.     

Characteristics of dry-wet abrupt alternation events in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin and the relationship with ENSO

During recent decades, more frequent flood-drought alternations have been seen in China as a result of global climate change and intensive human activities, which have significant implications on water and food security. To better identify the characteristics of flood-drought alternations, we proposed a modified dry-wet abrupt alternation index (DWAAI) and applied the new method in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin (YRB-ML) to analyze the long-term spatio-temporal characteristics of dry-wet abrupt alternation (DWAA) events based on the daily precipitation observations at 75 rainfall stations in summer from 1960 to 2015. We found that the DWAA events have been spreading in the study area with higher frequency and intensity since 1960. In particular, the DWAA events mainly occurred in May and June in the northwest of the YRB-ML, including Hanjiang River Basin, the middle reaches of the YRB, north of Dongting Lake and northwest of Poyang Lake. In addition, we also analyzed the impact of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on DWAA events in the YRB-ML. The results showed that around 41.04% of DWAA events occurred during the declining stages of La Niña or within the subsequent 8 months after La Niña, which implies that La Niña events could be predictive signals of DWAA events. Besides, significant negative correlations have been found between the modified DWAAI values of all the rainfall stations and the sea surface temperature anomalies in the Nino3.4 region within the 6 months prior to the DWAA events, particularly for the Poyang Lake watershed and the middle reaches of the YRB. This study has significant implications on the flood and drought control and water resources management in the YRB-ML under the challenge of future climate change.     

中国东部植被NDVI对气温和降水的时空响应(英文)

Temporal and spatial response characteristics of vegetation NDVI to the variation of temperature and precipitation in the whole year,spring,summer and autumn was analyzed from April 1998 to March 2008 based on the SPOT VGT-NDVI data and daily temperature and precipitation data from 205 meteorological stations in eastern China.The results indicate that as a whole,the response of vegetation NDVI to the variation of temperature is more pronounced than that of precipitation in eastern China.Vegetation NDVI maxi...     

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.     

跨国公司技术溢出与溢出地技术区位研究——以上海浦东新区为例

跨国公司海外直接投资是发展中国家和地区获得海外资金和转移技术的主要途径之一。在不同尺度上,跨国公司对东道国溢出地技术溢出的影响因子、途径与效应存在着不同。在宏观尺度上,主导影响因子为溢出地的技术势能与宏观技术扩散通道（即宏观技术区位）,主要通过东道国从跨国公司母国进口高技术设备等硬件技术来实现,技术扩散的强度高．但对提高东道国技术创新能力的影响不明显：而在微观尺度上,主导影响因子则为溢出地的微观技术扩散环境（即微观技术区位）,跨国公司在东道国与供货商、销售商发生前、后向联系,并通过培训员工、与溢出地的大学合作交流等方式进行软技术渗透,技术扩散的强度较低,但对提高东道国技术水平的作用显著。本文阐述了不同尺度技术区位跨国公司技术溢出影响,并通过对上海浦东新区跨国公司及其相关企业的分析研究后发现,跨国公司在东道国微观尺度的技术溢出是发展中国家和地区利用海外直接投资技术转移方式获取先进技术、提高技术势能最为有效的途径。