Resources of the ionized atmosphere as an aerosol source

The potential resources on the ion-stimulated syntheses effects of aerosol particles of lower troposphere in test sites in the arctic, mountain, arid and forest areas as the function of irradiation time and gas-precursor concentration were experimentally and theoretically evaluated. The dust-free outdoor air was irradiated with an ionization current of 10^− 6 A by α-rays from isotope ²³⁹Pu. The total output of radiolytic aerosols (RA) with a diameter of 3–1000 nm was found to be 0.05–0.1 molecules per 1 eV of absorbed radiation, while the physical upper limit is 0.25–0.4 molecules/eV. In an interval of exposition time from 6 to 800 s (adsorbed energy is 3 · 10¹²–10¹⁴ eV/cm³) the RA mass concentration at different sites was increased from 1–10 to 50–500 μg/m³. According to the liquid chromatography data the major RA material is the H₂O/HNO₃ solution with acid concentration  25%. The used physical model presents new aerosols as a product from small and intermediate ion association through formation of neutral clusters and describes adequately some of the peculiarities in field experiment data. Introducing SO₂, NH₃, and also hydrochloric, nitric and sulphuric acid vapours with concentration 0.1–1 mg/m³ in the irradiated air stimulated an increase of mass aerosol concentration by a factor of 8–30. The mean size also decreased by a factor of 3–5. These facts allowed us to expect that the chemical composition of radiolytic aerosols generated in outdoor air would noticeably differ after addition of the gas-precursors.     

A Simulation Study on the Extreme Temperature Events of the 20th Century by Using the BCC_AGCM

Extreme temperature events are simulated by using the Beijing Climate Center Atmospheric General Circulation Model (BCC AGCM) in this paper. The model has been run for 136 yr with the observed external forcing data including solar insolation, greenhouse gases, and monthly sea surface temperature (SST). The daily maximum and minimum temperatures are simulated by the model, and 16 indices representing various extreme temperature events are calculated based on these two variables. The results show that the maximum of daily maximum temperature (TXX), maximum of daily minimum (TNX), minimum of daily maximum (TXN), minimum of daily minimum (TNN), warm days (TX90p), warm nights (TN90p), summer days (SU25), tropical nights (TR20), and warm spell duration index (WSDI) have increasing trends during the 20th century in most regions of the world, while the cold days (TX10p), cold nights (TN10p), and cold spell duration index (CSDI) have decreasing trends. The probability density function (PDF) of warm/cold days/nights for three periods of 1881-1950, 1951- 1978, and 1979-2003 is examined. It is found that before 1950, the cold day/night has the largest probability, while for the period of 1979-2003, it has the smallest probability. In contrast to the decreasing trend of cold days/nights, the PDF of warm days/nights exhibits an opposite trend. In addition, the frost days (FD) and ice days (ID) have decreasing trends, the growing season has lengthened, and the diurnal temperature range is getting smaller during the 20th century. A comparison of the above extreme temperature indices between the model output and NCEP data (taken as observation) for 1948-2000 indicates that the mean values and the trends of the simulated indices are close to the observations, and overall there is a high correlation between the simulated indices and the observations. But the simulated trends of FD, ID, growing season length, and diurnal temperature range are not consistent with the observations and their correlations are low or even negative. This indicates that the model is incapable to simulate these four indices although it has captured most indices of the extreme temperature events.     

西藏地区雷暴与大气热源关系研究

利用1979～2008年NCEP/NCAR全球再分析月平均资料和雷暴记录资料, 运用相关分析和合成分析等方法分别对西藏地区大气热源和雷暴日数的关系以及热源强弱不同时期雷暴日数变化特征进行了分析。结果表明, 大气热源与雷暴日数存在着明显的正相关关系, 月相关系数高达0.86。在雷暴高发区的那曲东部、拉萨、日喀则中部、山南地区东北部和林芝地区西北部, 相关系数均超过了0.4。进一步分析表明, 当大气热源强值年时, 整个日喀则地区、拉萨地区、山南地区、那曲中西部和东部地区以及昌都地区中西部, 雷暴日数是偏多的。当大气热源偏弱时, 雷暴日数在日喀则中部地区减少最为明显, 其次在日喀则南木林县东北部和林芝西北部地区。     

An analysis on observed and simulated PNA associated atmospheric diabatic heating

This study examines the PNA associated atmospheric diabatic heating by linearly isolating the influence of ENSO. The analysis is based on the NCEP–NCAR and ERA-40 reanalyses and a 1,000-year-long integration of the CCCma coupled climate model. Both the vertically integrated and three-dimensional diabatic heating are examined. The Rossby wave sources in association with the PNA are also diagnosed. The PNA-related heating is confined outside the tropics and is dominated by anomalies in the eastern Pacific, with a north–south dipole structure in mid-latitudes and the northern subtropics. The heating anomalies change sign with height in mid-latitudes but have the same sign throughout the troposphere in the northern subtropics. Relatively weak heating anomalies also appear in mid-latitudes, downstream of the heating dipole over North America and the western North Atlantic. The heating anomalies are largely supported by the advections related to the mean state throughout the troposphere, and partially damped by the advections related to the eddy effect, particularly at the upper troposphere over the North Pacific. Broadly similar patterns are seen from the NCEP–NCAR and ERA-40 reanalyses. Yet anomalous heating centers are generally located at relatively lower troposphere for the ERA-40 with respect to the NCEP–NCAR. The tropical heating anomalies are rather weak, remarkably different from those related to ENSO variability. In addition, the Rossby wave source collocates with the atmospheric diabatic forcing in the mid-high latitudes over the PNA sector, and shows no forcing source in the tropics. The results demonstrate possible forcing in the mid-high latitudes, regardless of tropical heating for the PNA teleconnection. The modeled heating and wave forcing anomalies in association with the modeled PNA compare reasonably well with the reanalysis-based estimates, increasing confidence in the observational results. The analysis provides further evidence of the independence of the PNA on ENSO from the diabatic heating point of view.     

北大西洋飓风频次与西半球的南极涛动的联系

To examine the zonal asymmetry of the Antarctic oscillation （AAO）, different portions of the AAO from June to October （JJASO） in the interannual variability of the Atlantic tropical hurricanes number （ATHN） are documented in this research. It follows that the AAO in the Western Hemisphere （AAOWH） is positively correlated with the ATHN, at 0.36 during the period of 1871-1998 and 0.42 during the period of 1949-98. After removing the linear regressions on the Southern Oscillation Index （SOI） in all time series, the above correlation coefficients are 0.25 and 0.30, respectively. The underlying mechanisms are studied through analyses of the atmospheric general circulation variability associated with the AAOWH. It turns out that the positive （negative） phase of JJASO AAOWH corresponds with several factors： decreased （increased） vertical zonal wind shear magnitude, low-level anomalous convergence （divergence）, high-level anomalous divergence （convergence）, and warmed （cooled） sea surface temperature in the tropical Atlantic. Therefore, the positive （negative） phase of JJASO AAOWH is favorable （unfavorable） to the tropical hurricane genesis.     

Intermittent Bursting of Turbulence in a Stable Boundary Layer with Low-level Jet

The atmospheric stable boundary layer (SBL) with a low-level jet is simulated experimentally using a thermally stratified wind tunnel. The turbulence structure and flow characteristics are investigated by simultaneous measurements of velocity and temperature fluctuations and by flow visualization. Attention is focused on the effect of strong wind shear due to a low-level jet on stratified boundary layers with strong stability. Occasional bursting of turbulence in the lower portion of the boundary layer can be found in the SBL with strong stability. This bursting originates aloft away from the surface and transports fluid with relatively low velocity and temperature upward and fluid with relatively high velocity and temperature downward. Furthermore, the relationship between the occurrence of turbulence bursting and the local gradient Richardson number (Ri) is investigated. The Ri becomes larger than the critical Ri, Ri_cr = 0.25, in quiescent periods. On the other hand, the Ri number becomes smaller than Ri_cr during bursting events.     

Numerical Study of the Response of an Atmospheric Surface Layer to a Spatially Nonuniform Plant Canopy

High-accuracy large-eddy simulations of neutral atmospheric surface-layer flow over a gapped plant canopy strip have been performed. Subgrid-scale (SGS) motions are parameterized by the Sagaut mixed length SGS model, with a modification to compute the SGS characteristic length self-adaptively. Shaw’s plant canopy model, taking the vertical variation of leaf area density into account, is applied to study the response of the atmospheric surface layer to the gapped dense forest strip. Differences in the region far away from the gap and in the middle of the gap are investigated, according to the instantaneous velocity magnitude, the zero-plane displacement, the potential temperature and the streamlines. The large-scale vortex structure, in the form of a roll vortex, is revealed in the region far away from the gap. The nonuniform spatial distribution of plants appears to cause the formation of the coherent structure. The roll vortex starts in the wake of the canopy, and results in strong fluctuations throughout the entire canopy region. Wind sweeps and ejections in the plant canopy are also attributed to the large vortex structure.     

Assessment of Atmospheric Boundary-Layer Processes Represented in the Numerical Model MM5 for a Clear Sky Day Using LASPEX Observations

Data collected during the Land Surface Processes Experiment (LASPEX) in a semi-arid region of the state of Gujarat in north-west India for a clear sky day (16 May 1997) are used to assess the performance of the atmospheric boundary-layer (ABL) and land- surface parameterizations in the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University-National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU-NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5). The ABL turbulence parameterizations examined are the Blackadar scheme coupled to a simple soil slab model (SSM), and the Troen-Mahrt scheme coupled to SSM or to the more sophisticated Noah land-surface model (NSM). The comparison of several two-way nested high resolution (9-km) MM5 short term 24-h simulations indicate that, although the model is able to capture the trend in the observed data, the computed results deviate from observations. The NSM with a modest treatment of vegetation outperforms the SSM in capturing the observed daily variations in surface heat fluxes and aspects of ABL structure over the tropical land surface at local scales. Detailed analysis showed that, with the incorporation of observed local vegetation and soil characteristics, the NSM reproduced a realistic surface energy balance and near-surface temperature. It is further found that the coupling of the NSM with the Troen-Mahrt ABL scheme leads to excessive ABL mixing and a dry bias in the model simulations.     

Aerosol characteristics during winter fog at Agra,North India

Simultaneous measurements on physical, chemical and optical properties of aerosols over a tropical semi-arid location, Agra in north India, were undertaken during December 2004. The average concentration of total suspended particulates (TSP) increased by about 1.4 times during intense foggy/hazy days. Concentrations of SO₄ ²⁻, NO₃ ⁻, NH₄ ⁺ and Black Carbon (BC) aerosols increased by 4, 2, 3.5 and 1.7 times, respectively during that period. Aerosols were acidic during intense foggy/hazy days but the fog water showed alkaline nature, mainly due to the neutralizing capacity of NH₄ aerosols. Trajectory analyses showed that air masses were predominantly from NW direction, which might be responsible for transport of BC from distant and surrounding local sources. Diurnal variation of BC on all days showed a morning and an evening peak that were related to domestic cooking and vehicular emissions, apart from boundary layer changes. OPAC (Optical properties of aerosols and clouds) model was used to compute the optical properties of aerosols. Both OPAC-derived and observed aerosol optical depth (AOD) values showed spectral variation with high loadings in the short wavelengths (<1 μm). AOD value at 0.5 μm wavelength was significantly high during intense foggy/hazy days (1.22) than during clear sky or less foggy/hazy days (0.63). OPAC-derived Single scattering albedo (SSA) was 0.84 during the observational period, indicating significant contribution of absorbing aerosols. However, the BC mass fraction to TSP increased by only 1% during intense foggy/hazy days and thereby did not show any impact on SSA during that period. A large increase was observed in the shortwave (SW) atmospheric (ATM) forcing during intense foggy/hazy days (+75.8 W/m²) than that during clear sky or less foggy/hazy days (+38 W/m²), mainly due to increase in absorbing aerosols. Whereas SW forcing at surface (SUF) increased from −40 W/m² during clear sky or less foggy/hazy days to −76 W/m² during intense foggy/hazy days, mainly due to the scattering aerosols like SO₄ ^2-.     

Determination of ammonia emission rates from a tunnel ventilated chicken house using passive samplers and a Gaussian dispersion model

Atmospheric deposition can provide a significant fraction of the nitrogen loading to coastal waters. The Delmarva Peninsula, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, is a region with intense poultry production that may supply a significant source of atmospheric ammonia (NH₃). There is a need to quantify ammonia NH₃ from representative growing methods in this region in order to more accurately estimate agricultural NH₃ emissions and to develop best management practices. In this study, NH₃ emissions were determined at an 18,600-bird tunnel-ventilated chicken house using a modified sampling grid (a planar arrangement normal to the length of the house) with Ogawa passive samplers to characterize the emission plume downwind from the house. This improvement in the sampling strategy, compared to a previous study, simplified the inverse Gaussian plume analysis which improved the confidence in the emission factors. In this study, a total of four separate plume characterizations were conducted over the final 3 weeks of the 6-week broiler grow-out cycle. The mean emission factor observed at the tunnel-ventilated house, 0.13 g NH₃–N/bird-day, was an order of magnitude lower than that previously observed at a nearby side-wall ventilated house. Although not all growing variables were measured, the large difference in emission factors between the two ventilation regimes suggest that modern, tunnel-ventilated houses may result in a significant decrease in NH₃ emissions compared with traditional growing methods. This variability in emission factors underscores the need for characterizing chicken houses under various conditions and determining the factors that control these atmospheric emissions.