X-rays from the Symbiotic Star RX Pup

We describe X-ray and optical observations of the symbiotic star RX Pup. From low resolution optical spectra, we obtain a reddening for RX Pup of E(B−V)=0.79. We use the neutral column density corresponding to this reddening as a lower limit for the X-ray spectra fits. The X-ray spectra can be fitted with either a two-temperarure thermal plasma model or a single-temperature plasma plus a narrow line at ≈0.55 keV, each modified by interstellar absorption. The RX Pup X-ray flux is not variable within the observation exposure time, suggesting that unlike in most CVs, an accretion disk boundary layer does not contribute significantly to the X-ray flux. Instead, the X-ray emission may come from shock-heated gas further away from the compact object.     

Evaluation and comparison of CMIP6 models and MERRA-2 reanalysis AOD against Satellite observations from 2000 to 2014 over China

Rapid industrialization and urbanization along with a growing population are contributing significantly to air pollution in China. Evaluation of long-term aerosol optical depth (AOD) data from models and reanalysis, can greatly promote understanding of spatiotemporal variations in air pollution in China. To do this, AOD (550 nm) values from 2000 to 2014 were obtained from the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project (CIMP6), the second version of Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research, and Applications (MERRA-2), and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS; flying on the Terra satellite) combined Dark Target and Deep Blue (DTB) aerosol product. We used the Terra-MODIS DTB AOD (hereafter MODIS DTB AOD) as a standard to evaluate CMIP6 Ensemble AOD (hereafter CMIP6 AOD) and MERRA-2 reanalysis AOD (hereafter MERRA-2 AOD). Results show better correlations and smaller errors between MERRA-2 and MODIS DTB AOD, than between CMIP6 and MODIS DTB AOD, in most regions of China, at both annual and seasonal scales. However, significant under- and over-estimations in the MERRA-2 and CMIP6 AOD were also observed relative to MODIS DTB AOD. The long-term (2000–2014) MODIS DTB AOD distributions show the highest AOD over the North China Plain (0.71) followed by Central China (0.69), Yangtse River Delta (0.67), Sichuan Basin (0.64), and Pearl River Delta (0.54) regions. The lowest AOD values were recorded over the Tibetan Plateau (0.13 ± 0.01) followed by Qinghai (0.19 ± 0.03) and the Gobi Desert (0.21 ± 0.03). Large amounts of sand and dust particles emitted from natural sources (the Taklamakan and Gobi Deserts) may result in higher AOD in spring compared to summer, autumn, and winter. Trends were also calculated for 2000–2005, for 2006–2010 (when China introduced strict air pollution control policies during the 11th Five Year Plan or FYP), and for 2011–2014 (during the 12th FYP). An increasing trend in MODIS DTB AOD was observed throughout the country during 2000–2014. The uncontrolled industrialization, urbanization, and rapid economic development that mostly occurred from 2000 to 2005 probably contributed to the overall increase in AOD. Finally, China's air pollution control policies helped to reduce AOD in most regions of the country; this was more evident during the 12th FYP period (2011–2014) than during the 11th FYP period (2006–2010). Therefore this study strongly advises the authority to retain or extend these policies in the future for improving air quality.     

基于光谱分类的太湖水体后向散射研究

由于时空变化而产生的水体后向散射系数参数化差异一直是影响水质参数遥感定量反演精度的一个重要因素。在对太湖遥感反射率光谱进行分类的基础上,针对影响太湖水体水色的不同主导因子,把太湖水体分为3种类型,分别利用半分析方法和光学闭合原理对后向散射系数进行模拟,在此基础上研究其光学特性及其与水体组分浓度的关系,最后针对3种不同主导类型的水体分别建立了后向散射系数参数化模型。将后向散射特性在不同时间和空间上的差异转化为水体不同主导因子在生物-光学上的差异,从而得到适用于太湖不同湖区及不同季节的后向散射系数参数化模型,为利用分析方法对太湖水质参数进行更为精确的遥感反演提供了基础。     

Characteristics of cirrus clouds and its radiative properties based on lidar observation over Chung-Li, Taiwan

In this paper, characterization of cirrus clouds are made by using data from ground based polarization lidar and radiosonde measurements over Chung-Li (24.58°N, 121.10°E), Taiwan for a period of 1999–2006. During this period, the occurrence of cirrus clouds is about 37% of the total measurement nights over the lidar site. Analysis of the measurement gives the statistical characteristics about the macrophysical properties such as occurrence height, ambient temperature, and its geometrical thickness while the microphysical properties are interpreted in terms of extinction coefficient, optical depth, effective lidar ratio and depolarization ratio. The effective lidar ratio has been retrieved by using the simulation technique of backscattered lidar signals. The effect of multiple scattering has been taken into the account by a model calculation. Summer (Jun–Aug) shows the maximum appearances of cirrus due to its formation mechanism. It is shown that tropopause cirrus clouds may occur with a probability of about 24%. These clouds are usually optically thin and having laminar in structure with some cases resembling the characteristics similar to that of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs). The radiative properties of the cirrus clouds are also discussed in detail by the empirical equations with results show a positive feedback on any climate change.     

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-.     

利用Sentinel-3A OLCI可见光通道反演台湾岛气溶胶光学厚度

OLCI（Ocean Land Colour Instrument）作为MERIS（Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer）的后继升级版传感器,在气溶胶反演中存在潜在优势,但是目前利用OLCI数据进行气溶胶监测的研究较少。因此,本文针对OLCI多通道反射特征开发了OLCI云检测算法,并对传统查找表构建方法进行改进,根据观测几何特征提出动态查找表法,并通过光谱卷积方式等效转换MODIS和OLCI红蓝通道地表反射率并获取OLCI红蓝通道地表反射率固定关系,进而实现台湾岛550 nm处的AOD反演。与550 nm处AERONET level 2.0 AOD验证结果首先表明不同季节、不同站点的精度表现存在一定差异,其次相对于同期MOD04_3K AOD产品,本文反演结果与全球气溶胶自动观测网（AERONET）站点实测值之间表现出更显著 的相关性（R²=0.8199）,均方根误差（RMSE）从0.175下降到0.113,相对平均误差（RME）从33.6%下降到26.7%,且67.5%的OLCI AOD落在预测误差（EE）区间内,明显大于MOD04_3K AOD落在预测误差区间的百分比（55.7%）。此外,误差分析表明,当实际AOD值较低时,红蓝通道地表反射率之间关系的误判会导致较为明显的AOD反演相对误差。     

Can MODIS Detect Trends in Aerosol Optical Depth over Land?

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) sensor onboard NASA's Aqua satellite has been collecting valuable data about the Earth system for more than 14 years, and one of the benefits of this is that it has made it possible to detect the long-term variation in aerosol loading across the globe. However, the long-term aerosol optical depth(AOD)trends derived from MODIS need careful validation and assessment, especially over land. Using AOD products with at least 70 months' worth of measurements collected during 2002–15 at 53 Aerosol Robotic Network(AERONET) sites over land,Mann–Kendall(MK) trends in AOD were derived and taken as the ground truth data for evaluating the corresponding results from MODIS onboard Aqua. The results showed that the AERONET AOD trends over all sites in Europe and North America, as well as most sites in Africa and Asia, can be reproduced by MODIS/Aqua. However, disagreement in AOD trends between MODIS and AERONET was found at a few sites in Australia and South America. The AOD trends calculated from AERONET instantaneous data at the MODIS overpass times were consistent with those from AERONET daily data, which suggests that the AOD trends derived from satellite measurements of 1–2 overpasses may be representative of those from daily measurements.     

光学观测小波方法的比较研究

本文系统地分析国外几十年来用光学方法对海面微尺度波浪观测的研究方法和观测装置,从中比较各自的优缺点,对于今后在此方面的研究工作提供帮助。     

南黄海浮游植物与水色透明度之间相关关系的研究

本文根据 １９９５ 年 ９ 月在南黄海获取的资料,分析和讨论了该水域浮游植物现存量（叶绿素 ａ （ Ｃ Ｈ ））、初级生产力（ Ｐ Ｐ） 和海水光学参数（透明度（ Ｓ Ｔ））、水色（ Ｗ Ｃ）） 之间的相关关系。分析结果表明,夏末秋初南黄海 Ｃ Ｈ 与 Ｐ Ｐ, Ｃ Ｈ 与 Ｗ Ｃ 和 Ｐ Ｐ 与 Ｗ Ｃ 以及悬浮物（ Ｓ Ｓ） 与 Ｗ Ｃ 之间均有良好的正相关关系。相关式分别为： Ｐ Ｐ ＝ ２２５１９ｌｎ（ Ｃ Ｈ ） ＋ ４８８９１ 或 Ｐ Ｐ ＝ ５ Ｅ－ ０５ Ｃ Ｈ １６４６４（ Ｒ２ ＝ ０７０３７）; Ｗ Ｃ ＝ ４０３ｌｎ（ Ｃ Ｈ ） ＋ ８９７６８ 或 Ｗ Ｃ ＝ ７１３０６ Ｃ Ｈ ０４７４７ （ Ｒ２ ＝０７９２１）; Ｃ Ｈ ＝ １５４３７ｌｎ（ Ｓ Ｓ） ＋ １３６４７ 或 Ｃ Ｈ ＝ ０７４９９ Ｓ Ｓ１２５２（ Ｒ２ ＝ ０７２２３）; Ｐ Ｐ ＝３３２８６ｌｎ Ｓ Ｓ＋ １５２２２ 或 Ｐ Ｐ ＝ ３３０２９ Ｓ Ｓ０５６９４ （ Ｒ２ ＝ ０５４７６）; Ｐ Ｐ ＝ ４２５８８ｌｎ（ Ｗ Ｃ） － ３７０７１或 Ｐ Ｐ ＝ ６６５１２ Ｗ Ｃ０８６６５（ Ｒ２ ＝ ０６７３１） 以 及 Ｓ Ｓ ＝ １４０１９ｌｎ（ Ｗ Ｃ） － １３３６３      

Konzentrationsprofile in Rotationsscheibenreaktoren und deren Modellierung am Beispiel des anaeroben Acetatabbaus mit experimenteller Überprüfung

Concentration Profiles in Rotating Disc Reactors. Their Mathematical Model for the Anaerobic Digestion of Acetic Acid Including an Experimental Verification This paper presents rotating disc reactors for aerobic and anaerobic wastewater treatment. Unlike the activated sludge or contact processes, this reactor allows higher concentrations of biomass and lesser danger of the reactor becoming blocked. The reduced backmixing within the reactor leads to axial concentration profiles when continuously operated. These are presented for various biological processes. The axial concentration profiles generated during the continuous anaerobic degradation of acetic acid are measured and described by a mathematical model. A refined dispersion model is created on the basis of tracer experiments taking into account the actual construction of the reactor as well as the physical conditions in it. To determine the biodegradation a Haldane kinetics is used, in which the undissociated acetic acid is the substrate. The model takes into consideration all the local parameters (pH value, concentration of acetic acid, biomass, and ion activity). The difficult measurement of the concentration of the active biomass which is immobilized on the disk is accomplished by carrying out batch experiments. The results of the experiments are 22 concentration profiles with influent DOC concentrations from 200 to 2000 mg L^–1 which were measured and modelled. Some examples are shown to illustrate the influence of the ion activity and the refinement of the dispersion model.