基于组网观测的那曲土壤湿度不同时间尺度的变化特征

利用第三次青藏高原大气科学试验的土壤湿度观测数据,分析了那曲多空间尺度组网观测的28个站2、5、10、20和30 cm 5个不同深度土壤湿度的季节变化和日变化特征,并对比讨论了土壤湿度站点间的差异。分析表明,各层土壤湿度均存在显著的季节变化。冬春季节,20 cm以上土壤湿度随深度变浅而减小。夏秋季节土壤湿度随深度增加而减小,并分别在7月上、中旬和9月出现两个峰值。10月以后进入土壤湿度衰减期。土壤温度和土壤湿度存在协同变化关系。在一定的温度范围内,土壤发生冻结-融化过程,引起土壤湿度变化。在太阳辐射加热下,土壤表层水分蒸发,进而影响土壤温度。不同观测站间土壤湿度差异较大,夏秋季离散性大于冬春季。不同季节土壤湿度的日变化存在差异。春季10 cm以上土壤湿度日变化明显,08-10时（北京时）达到最低,19-20时达到最高。夏季土壤湿度日变化较为平缓。秋季2 cm深度土壤湿度日变化明显。线性拟合结果表明,1、4、10月土壤湿度和土壤温度为正相关关系。但是在夏季,土壤湿度与土壤温度为负相关。站点间土壤湿度变化的离散性表明,多测站才能全面体现青藏高原某区域的陆面状态。文中结果为青藏高原地区土壤湿度卫星参数验证和数值模式参数化提供了多角度的观测依据。      

气态SO_2转化及其数值模型研究

本文基于对室外烟雾箱实验,探讨了SO_2的转化机制及影响SO_2转化的因素,由此并借助于烟团模型,建立了SO_2转化和硫酸盐气溶胶细粒子生成的数值模型,用于估算从排放源排入大气的SO_2浓度及其转化成硫酸盐细粒子的浓度以及它们的空间分布,与实测结果相比,两者有较好的一致性.同时指出,由于大气中细粒子(粒径小于1μm)可通过人体呼吸进入并沉积在肺泡中而对健康有不利影响,从而说明研究大气中细粒子污染的迫切性.     

二维海陆风环流的数值研究

本文对Nickerson的中尺度模式作了一些修改,加入了地表热量平衡方程和一个13层的土壤层模式,并对Therry等的行星边界层参数化形式作了调整.使之较好地模拟出太阳辐射和地表温度的日变化.对不同地形、纬度和夏、冬季海陆风的模拟表明,本模式具有较强的海陆风模拟能力.     

Laboratory study of the rates and products of the phototransformations of naphthalene adsorbed on samples of titanium dioxide,ferric oxide,muscovite, and fly ash

The photodegradation of naphthalene (NPH), chosen as a model of polynuclear aromatic pollutants, has been studied in the presence of a layer of four water-insoluble inorganic solids which can be found in the troposphere (TiO₂, Fe₂O₃, muscovite, and a fly ash sample). Direct photolysis of NPH is negligible at >340 nm. Dark adsorption of NPH on TiO₂ (mainly anatase, nonporous, 50 m² g^–1) at 293 K corresponds to a surface coverage ofca. 50% at equilibrium. Under these conditions (saturated surface), the stationary-state photocatalytic degradation reaches 0.4 molecule nm^–2 h^–1 (>340 nm, radiant fluxca. 22 mW cm^–2). Dioxygen is required and its partial pressure in air is such that the degradation is zero order in O₂. Water vapor markedly increases the rate. The other particulates have also an effect, less important than that of TiO₂, however quite noticeable with respect to surface area unit for the fly ash sample which contains 3.2% Fe₂O₃. Apart from 1,4-naphthoquinone, which is the main intermediate product in all cases, 2-naphthol, phthalide, phthaldialdehyde, phthalic acid, acetophenone, benzaldehyde, benzoic acid are also formed on dry TiO₂. Depending on their volatility, these compounds are transferred to the gas phase or remain principally adsorbed on the solid particles where they are further transformed. For instance, phthalic acid (or anhydride) and benzoic acid are generated from 1,4-naphthoquinone. Degradation mechanisms are briefly discussed.     

On the pH-dependent formation constants of iron(III)-sulfur(IV) transient complexes

An experimental study is described of Fe(III)-S(IV) formation constants measured as a function of pH (1–3), ionic strength (0.2–0.5 M) and [Fe(III)] _T (2.5–5.0×10^–4 M) using a continuous-flow spectrophotometric technique to make observations 160 ms after mixing. Preliminary experiments using pulse-accelerated-flow (PAF) spectrophotometry to measure rate constants on a microsecond timescale are also described. The conditional formation constant at 25 °C can be modeled with the following equation: {ie307-1} where {ie307-2}K ₇ andK ₈ can be interpreted as intrinsic constants for the coordination of HSO ₃ ^– by FeOH²⁺ and Fe³⁺, respectively, but until further evidence is obtained they should be regarded as fitting constants. PAF spectrophotometry showed that the initial reaction of Fe(III) with S(IV) (pH 2.0) is characterized by a second-order rate constant of 4×10⁶ M^–1 s^–1 which is comparable to rate of reaction of FeOH²⁺ with SO ₄ ^2– . However, the PAF results should be regarded as preliminary since unexpected features in the initial data indicate that the reaction may be more complex than expected.     

Modeled Influence of East Asian Black Carbon on Inter-Decadal Shifts in East China Summer Rainfall

Two inter-decadal shifts in East China summer rainfall during the last three decades of the 20th century have been identified.One shift occurred in the late 1970s and featured more rainfall in the Yangtze River valley and prolonged drought in North China.The other shift occurred in the early 1990s and featured increased rainfall in South China.The role of black carbon(BC) aerosol in the first shift event is controversial,and it has not been documented for the second event.In this study,the authors used Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory's(GFDL's) atmospheric general circulation model known as Atmosphere and Land Model(AM2.1) ,which has been shown to capture East Asian climate variability well,to investigate these issues by conducting sensitive experiments with or without historical BC in East Asia. The results suggest that the model reproduces the first shift well,including intensified rainfall in the Yangtze River and weakened monsoonal circulation.However,the model captures only a fraction of the observed variations for the second shift event.Thus,the role of BC in modulating the two shift events is different,and its impact is relatively less important for the early 1990s event.     

CHARACTERISTICS OF UT/LS CARBON MONOXIDE INTRASEASONAL OSCILLATIONS AND THEIR IMPACT FACTORS OVER THE TIBETAN PLATEAU AND ITS ADJACENT AREAS IN SUMMER

The study presented herein investigated the main characteristics of carbon monoxideintraseasonal variability and evaluated its possible impact factors using the upper troposphere and lowerstratosphere (UT/LS) Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) observations over Tibetan Plateau and itsadjacent areas in summer (June to August) of 2005 and 2006. Observations show a persistent constituentextreme extending up into the UT/LS throughout summer, as well as a temporally reversed phase variationbetween the carbon monoxide and ozone in UT/LS. The intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs) of carbonmonoxide during summer are investigated by using methods of wavelet and band pass filter analysis. It isfound that ISOs over the Tibetan Plateau have periods of 10 to 20 days and 30 to 60 days. The formermainly appeared in upper troposphere while the latter in lower stratosphere. Further analysis shows thatthese two periods of ISOs in UT/LS are mainly in phase to the activities of convection over the south of theplateau and the variation of South Asia High, respectively. The above two factors and their dynamicalcoupling may be responsible for the tracer ISOs at different levels.     

Funding low-carbon investments in the absence of a carbon tax

Introducing a carbon tax is difficult, partly because it suggests that current generations have to make sacrifices for the benefit of future generations. However, the climate change externality could be corrected without such a sacrifice. It is possible to set a carbon value, and use it to create ‘carbon certificates’ that can be accepted as part of commercial banks’ legal reserves. These certificates can be distributed to low-carbon projects, and be exchanged by investors against concessional loans, reducing capital costs for low-carbon projects. As the issuance of carbon certificates would increase the quantity of money, it will either lead to accelerated inflation or induce the Central Bank to raise interest rates. Low-carbon projects will thus have access to cheaper loans at the expense of either ‘regular’ investors (in case of higher interest rates) or of lenders and depositors (in case of accelerated inflation). Within this scheme, mitigation expenditures are compensated by a reduction in regular investments, so that immediate consumption is maintained. It uses future generation wealth to pay for a hedge against climate change. This framework is not as efficient as a carbon tax but is politically easier to implement and represents an interesting step in the trajectory towards a low-carbon economy.     

Alternative climate policy pathways in the US

Although it is likely that the political–economic coalition required for implementing a federal cap-and-trade programme for GHGs in the US is now sufficiently strong, the structural impediments that have prevented its legislative passage remain impressively durable and can be expected to continue to lay waste to congressional proposals for the foreseeable future. Indeed, given the complex history of environmental policy gridlock in Washington since the early 1980s, any expectations that a cap-and-trade programme could have been realistically achieved through the traditional legislative passage in Congress are fundamentally misplaced. Building on previous research, it is argued that – as with most other forms of environmental policy in the US over the past three decades – a national carbon market is more plausible given alternative policy pathways, which if taken are capable of circumventing the Federal Congress altogether. In particular, the interaction between litigation against the federal government and the ‘rulemaking’ authority possessed by the Executive Branch provides the potential space for the current administration to unilaterally establish a model rule for a national carbon-trading programme.

Policy relevance

This article aims to contribute to American climate policy debates by re-thinking the policy mechanisms most capable of establishing a national carbon market in the US. By taking into account the array of structural factors that have prevented the legislative passage of such a programme in federal Congress, a range of alternative policy ‘pathways’ is considered that have historically allowed progressive environmental policies to endure in Washington (despite increased Congressional gridlock over the past few decades). Two specific alternative strategies and the relationship between them are assessed: the use of litigation to impose legal obligations on federal agencies to regulate effluents, and the use of executive authority to define the nature and scope of environmental regulation. The administration's current potential to unilaterally develop a model-rule for a cap-and-trade programme under the Clean Air Act is emphasized, and the political implications of such a strategy are considered.