Model-Experimental Analysis of Variational Assimilation of Dust Concentration with GRAPES Sand-Dust Numerical Forecasting System in a Sand-Dust Storm

为了提高沙尘模式的预报准确率,通过在区域天气数值模式GRAPEs（G10bal／RegionalAs-similationandPrEdictionSystem）的三维变分同化系统中增加沙尘浓度这一控制变量的方法建立了GRAPES-3DVAR-DusT沙尘同化系统。利用中国北方8个观测站提供的沙尘PM10数据和沙尘模式（GRAPEs-CUAcE／Dust系统）提供的背景场,对2008年2月29日-3月1日发生在中国北方的一次沙尘暴天气进行了控制试验和一次同化与间断同化的敏感性试验,结果表明：（1）引入该同化系统后,一次同化和间断同化试验模拟的地面沙尘浓度分布较未同化的控制试验结果更接近卫星监测,而间断同化的结果又好于一次同化;（2）一次同化试验与控制试验对单站PM10浓度的演变预报较差;（3）间断同化试验较准确地再现了单站PM10浓度的连续演变;（4）间断同化试验效果整体上优于一次同化试验。总体而言,引入沙尘同化系统在一定程度上可以提高沙尘模式对沙尘天气的预报准确率。     

沙尘气溶胶对大气冰相过程发展的敏感性试验

利用分档云动力学模式,研究了沙尘气溶胶输送过程中在不同大气背景环境条件下对云内冰相粒子形成、发展和降水过程的影响.通过敏感性试验发现:在背景气溶胶浓度不断增加的情况下,冰相降水率以及冰相降水在总降水量中的比例逐渐减小;只有在大陆性云和污染严重的地区,含有一定比例可溶性物质的沙尘粒子提高了大气中的巨核浓度,使云中冰相降水质粒提前出现,有利于降水的形成.另一方面,当把不可溶矿物气溶胶粒子作为有效的大气冰核参与云降水形成的物理过程时,由矿物气溶胶引起的大气冰核浓度增加在一定程度上抑制云中冰相降水质粒的发展,部分抵消巨核对降水的促进作用.     

Optical properties of dust from Jupiter family comets

To try to define specific physical properties of the dust of Jupiter-family comets (JFCs), we compare the light scattered by them. Amongst the more than 1000 JFCs, less than 200 are numbered, 40 of them being rather bright. In the present work we use data from the latter. In situ observations of three nuclei show low albedo surfaces. The albedo of the dust particles in the coma is low, with generally a red colour. The A(α)fρ product is a measure of cometary activity and secular changes. Images of different regions (jets and fans) give indications on the nucleus rotation and position of the emitting areas, as compared to the position of the rotation axis. Differences in physical properties between the particles in different regions are pointed out by differences in the linear polarization of the scattered light and by spectral variations in brightness and polarization. Jupiter family comets are considered as dust-poor comets. Tails and trails’ studies give an estimation of the size distribution of the particles. However the dust production rates depend on the largest particles (up to centimetre size), which are mainly observed in the trails where large dark compact particles are found. These dark particles are also responsible for the high polarization in the inner most coma of some comets. The meaning, in terms of physical properties, of the linear polarization is discussed through different examples such as 2P/Encke, 9P/Tempel 1 or the fragments of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. Cometary outbursts and splitting events show that the properties of the dust ejected from the interior of the nucleus are similar to the ones of more active comets (new or with larger semi-major axis).     

What is the closest black hole to the Sun?

We examine the distance of the two galactic microquasars GRO J1655–40 and A 0620–00 which are potentially the two closest black holes to the Sun. We aim to provide a picture as wide and complete as possible of the problem of measuring the distance of microquasars in our Galaxy. The purpose of this work is to fairly and critically review in great detail every distance method used for these two microquasars in order to show that the distances of probably all microquasars in our Galaxy are much more uncertain than currently admitted. Moreover, we show that many confirmations of quantitative results are often entangled and rely on very uncertain measurements. We also present a new determination of the maximum distance of GRO J1655–40 using red clump giant stars, and show that it confirms our earlier result of a distance less than 2 kpc instead of 3.2 kpc. Because, it then becomes more likely that GRO J1655–40 could originate from the stellar cluster NGC 6242, located at 1.0 kpc, we review the distance estimations of A 0620–00, which is so far the closest black hole with an average distance of about 1.0 kpc. We show that the distance methods used for A 0620–00 are also problematic. Finally, we present a new analysis of spectroscopic and astrometric archival data on this microquasar, and apply the maximum distance method of Foellmi et al. [Foellmi, C., Depagne, E., Dall, T.H., Mirabel, I.F., 2006b. A&A 457, 249]. It appears that A 0620–00 could indeed be even closer to the Sun than currently estimated, and consequently would be the closest known black hole to the Sun.     

中国春季沙尘暴的趋势变化及年代际变化

利用奇异谱分析等方法,对北疆等7个区春季1960—2000年的沙尘暴日数的趋势和周期进行了初步分析,结果表明：除北疆区未表现出明显的趋势外,南疆区等其它6个区春季沙尘暴日数变化总的趋势是减少的,都是在20世纪60年代和70年代偏多,80年代沙尘暴开始减少,90年代最少;其中南疆区、河西区和东北区的年代际变化最为明显,大约是80年代初开始沙尘暴明显减少,其它几个区的年代际变化不是很明显。南疆等大部分地区春季的沙尘暴日数在70年代末和80年代初发生了由多到少的转变,基本上与北半球大气环流的调整同步,这可能是对大气环流调整的响应;除西藏区有7．7年的周期外,其它6个区的周期基本上都集中在准2年和5～6年两个周期段。     

消光法反演腾格里沙漠地区沙尘气溶胶谱分布

对腾格里沙漠4～9月份的整层大气气溶胶的光学遥感观测结果进行了分析。结果表明,由于消光因子对大粒径粒子消光效应的不敏感性,决定了消光法仅可较好地反演粒径在0.1～5μm之间的气溶胶谱分布特征,特别是对0.1～1μm的大粒子谱分布的反演结果更为稳定;腾格里沙漠气溶胶粒度谱分布基本符合Junge谱;浮尘天气的谱分布同干洁晴好天气的谱分布有着很大的差异,浮尘天气下粒径在0.1～1.0μm的大粒子以及粒径>1.0μm的巨粒子数有明显的增加,浓度要比干洁天气下的大几个量级。在干洁晴好天气下,腾格里沙漠的气溶胶是均一的、稳定的,而且>1μm的大粒子浓度很小;气溶胶的谱分布几乎是一致的,谱形大致为Junge谱,在粒度0.4～1.0μm范围内有一明显峰值。     

Investigation on piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate detector bombarded obliquely with hypervelocity iron particles

A cosmic dust detector for use onboard a satellite is currently being constructed from piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT). The characteristics of the PZT detector were studied by bombarding it with hypervelocity iron particles, which were supplied by a Van de Graaff accelerator. There was a linear relationship between the rise time of the signal observed from the detector and the particle's velocity, which was above 10 km/s on impact. It was also found that the rise time was almost independent of the collisional angle between the particles and the PZT surface within the limits of the particle's parameters used in this experiment.     

晚冰期以来大柴旦盐湖沉积记录的古气候演变及其尘暴事件

本文选择大柴旦盐湖DCD03沉积剖面柱硼镁石矿层下伏土黄色淤泥质粉砂层为研究对象,基于AMS ₁₄C年代学、岩性地层学、矿物学以及地球化学等研究方法,旨在探讨土黄色湖相淤泥质粉砂沉积记录的尘暴事件,以及重建晚冰期以来西风环流显著影响区的水文气候变化。研究结果表明,DCD03沉积剖面的淤泥质粉砂样品粒度频率曲线呈现为双峰态,主峰(均值10 μm)反映了河流作用携带入湖的细粒组分,次峰(﹥32 μm)则反映了风力作用以及河流作用等携带入湖的粗粉砂粒组分。大于64 μm的砂砾组分可能代表外源风尘物质的输入,由尘暴天气携带入湖。大柴旦地区晚冰期以来依次出现了博令和阿勒罗德暖期(12.94~12.17 cal. ka BP)、新仙女木冷期(12.17~11.37 cal. ka BP)、不稳定的早全新世气候(11.37~8.64 cal. ka BP)以及趋于偏冷干的中全新世早期(8.64~7.39 cal. ka BP)。     

A 3D multi-threshold,region-growing algorithm for identifying dust storm features from model simulations

Dust storms cause significant damage to health, property, and the environment worldwide every year. To help mitigate the damage, dust forecast models simulate and predict upcoming dust events, providing valuable information to scientists, decision makers, and the public. These simulation outputs are in four-dimensions (i.e., latitude, longitude, elevation, and time) and represent spatially heterogeneous dust storm features and their evolution over space and time. This research investigates and proposes an automatic multi-threshold, region-growing-based algorithm to identify critical dust storm features from 3D dust storm simulations. A multi-threshold scheme is defined for the identification of dust storm features with different dust concentrations. Based on the multi-thresholds, dust storm features are iteratively identified by developing a region-growing algorithm that splits a clustered dust storm feature into multiple sub-features. The proposed approach is compared with three commonly used methods in image processing and thunderstorm identification. The proposed approach outperforms the other three methods in sensitivity and quantitative/qualitative accuracy. This research approach may also be slightly adjusted to identify critical 3D features from simulation outputs for other severe weather and geographical phenomena.     

沙尘表面非均相化学过程的气候效应的初步模拟研究

建立了一个包含地表起尘机制的尘粒表面非均相化学模式, 并与区域气候——大气化学模式系统连接. 研究了沙尘气溶胶表面的非均相过程对大气中一些重要微量成分浓度的影响及其所产生的气候效应. 结果表明,非均相过程使得二氧化硫和臭氧的浓度降低,硫酸盐浓度增加,年平均硫酸盐积分浓度增加26mg/m2;在部分地区非均相过程使二氧化氮浓度降低,而在另外一些地区,则使二氧化氮浓度增加. 1,4,7,10月四个月硫酸盐浓度增加造成的辐射强迫最大值分别为-0.24,-1.0,-2.0,-0.6 W/m2,全区域年平均辐射强迫为-0.033 W/m2. 四个月最大降温分别可达0.16,0.35,0.5,0.48K,年平均降温0.021K. 非均相过程对月总降水亦有明显的影响.