Constraints on variations of mp/me based on UVES observations of H2

This article summarizes the latest results on the proton‐to‐electron mass ratio μ derived from H₂ observations at high redshift in the light of possible variations of fundamental physical constants. The focus lies on UVES observations of the past years as enormous progress was achieved since the first positive results on Δμ /μ were published. With the better understanding of systematics, dedicated observation runs, and numerous approaches to improve wavelength calibration accuracy, all current findings are in reasonable good agreement with no variation and provide an upper limit of Δμ /μ < 1 × 10^–5 for the redshift range of 2 < z < 3. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On the scavenging of SO2 by cloud and rain drops: IV. A wind tunnel and theoretical study of the absorption of SO2 in the ppb(v) range by water drops in the presence of H2O2

An experimental study involving the Mainz vertical wind tunnel is described where the rate of SO₂ removed from the air by freely suspended water drops was measured for SO₂ concentrations in the gas phase ranging between 50 and 500 ppb, and for various H₂O₂ concentrations in the liquid phase. In a first set of experiments, the pH inside the SO₂ absorbing drops was monitored by means of colour pH indicators added to the drops. In a second set of experiments, the amount of SO₂ scavenged by the drops was determined as sulfate by an ionchromatograph after the drops had been removed from the vertical air stream of the wind tunnel after various times of exposure to SO₂. The results of our experimental study were compared with the theoretical gas diffusion model of Walcek and Pruppacher which was reformulated for the case of SO₂ concentrations in the ppbv(v) range for which the main resistance to diffusion lies in the gas phase surrounding the drop. Excellent agreement between experiment and theory was obtained. Encouraged by this agreement, the theory was used to investigate the rate of sulfate production inside a drop as a function of pH. The sulfate production rate, which includes transport and oxidation, was compared with the production rate based on bulk equilibrium, as cited in the literature.     

On the scavenging of SO2 by cloud and raindrops: II. An experimental study of SO2 absorption and desorption for water drops in air

For the purpose of testing our previously described theory of SO₂ scavenging a laboratory investigation was carried out in the UCLA 33 m long rainshaft. Drops with radii between 250 and 2500 m were allowed to come to terminal velocity, after which they passed through a chamber of variable length filled with various SO₂ concentrations in air. After falling through a gas separating chamber consisting of a fluorocarbon gas the drops were collected and analyzed for their total S content in order to determine the rate of SO ₂ absorption.The SO₂ concentration in air studied ranged between 1 and 60% (v). Such relatively large concentrations were necessary due to the short times the drops were exposed to SO₂ in the present setup. The present experimental results were therefore not used to simulate atmospheric conditions but rather to test our previously derived theory which is applicable to any laboratory or atmospheric condition. Comparison of our studies with the results from our theory applied to our laboratory conditions led to predicted values for the S concentration in the drops which agreed well with those observed if the drops had radii smaller than 500 m. In order to obtain agreement between predicted and observed S concentrations in larger drops, an empirically derived eddy diffusivity for SO₂ in water had to be included in the theory to take into account the effect of turbulent mixing inside such large drops.In a subsequent set of experiments, drops initially saturated with S (IV) were allowed to fall through S-free air to determine the rate of SO ₂ desorption. The results of these studies also agreed well with the results of our theoretical model, thus justifying the reversibility assumption made in our theoretical models.In a final set of experiments, the effects of oxidation on SO₂ absorption was studied by means of drops containing various amounts of H₂O₂. For comparable exposure times to SO₂, the S concentration in drops with H₂O₂ was found to be up to 10 times higher than the concentration in drops in which no oxidation occurred.     

Parameterization of the Absorption of the H_2O Continuum,CO_2,O_2,and Other Trace Gases in the Fu-Liou Solar Radiation Program

The absorption properties of the water vapor continuum and a number of weak bands for H2O, O2, CO2, CO, N2O, CH4, and O3 in the solar spectrum are incorporated into the Fu-Liou radiation parameterization program by using the correlated k-distribution method (CKD) for the sorting of absorption lines. The overlap absorption of the H2O lines and the H2O continuum (2500-14500 cm-1) are treated by taking the two gases as a single-mixture gas in transmittance calculations. Furthermore, in order to optimize the computation efforts, CO2 and CH4 in the spectral region 2850-5250 cm-1 are taken as a new single-mixture gas as well. For overlap involving other absorption lines in the Fu-Liou spectral bands, the authors adopt the multiplication rule for transmittance computations under which the absorption spectra for two gases are assumed to be uncorrelated. Compared to the line-by-line (LBL) computation, it is shown that the errors in fluxes introduced by these two approaches within the context of the CKD method are small and less than 0.48% for the H2O line and continuum in the 2500-14500 cm-1 solar spectral region, -1% for H2O (line) H2O (continuum) CO2 CH4 in the spectral region 2850-5250 cm-1, and -1.5% for H2O (line) H2O (continuum) O2 in the 7700-14500 cm-1 spectral region. Analysis also demonstrates that the multiplication rule over a spectral interval as wide as 6800 cm-1 can produce acceptable errors with a maximum percentage value of about 2% in reference to the LBL calculation. Addition of the preceding gases increases the absorption of solar radiation under all sky conditions. For clear sky, the increase in instantaneous solar absorption is about 9%-13% (~12 W m~2) among which the H2O continuum produces the largest increase, while the contributions from O2 and CO2 rank second and third, respectively. In cloudy sky, the addition of absorption amounts to about 6-9 W m-2. The new, improved program with the incorporation of the preceding gases produces a smaller solar absorption in clouds due to the reduced solar flux reaching the cloud top.     

IAP AGCM中短波辐射方案的改进研究II·短波辐射方案的改进

在Version 2的基础上,对短波辐射方案进行进一步的改进:引入了新增非灰体气体吸收效应、冰晶粒子形状效应和尺度效应以及云的不均匀性效应(称为Version 3)。数值模拟试验结果表明:Version 3能更好地模拟出全球冬、夏季的降水场、海平面气压场及地表气温场的主要分布特征,并且能相当准确地反映出这几个场的季节性变化特征。Version 3对这3个场的模拟能力明显优于原版本(Version 1)。此外,它对东亚地区的季风降雨具有很好的模拟能力,能较好地反映东亚区域降水的季节性变化。可见,Version 3为进一步研究云-辐射相互作用提供了很好的模式基础。本工作还清楚地表明,模式的进一步发展必须进行对相关物理过程中各个因子的更精确刻画,只有这样,模式才能得到更好的模拟能力。     

一个双波地形重力波拖曳参数化方案

当地形次尺度强迫的作用与显式的经典动力作用效应相当时,地形重力波拖曳力对于环流的维持,以及动量和热量通量输送的动力效应变得十分显著。这种地形次尺度拖曳作用项可通过参数化的方法,在动力方程中加入额外的小项而引入数值模式。目前成熟的地形重力波拖曳参数化方法,如第1代基于线性单波理论的参数化方案;以及侧重考虑了临界层作用等因素对拖曳力的额外贡献的第2代参数化方案,都无法有效表达风速垂直变化引起的波动应力随高度变化的特征。基于上述考虑,本文给出了一个双波参数化方案用于计算地形重力波拖曳中由线性自由传播重力波造成的波动应力的垂直分布。通过二阶WKB近似,它对由风速垂直变化引起的对波动应力的选择性临界层吸收过程和经典的临界层吸收过程做了显式处理;而在不发生临界层吸收现象的地区,则用两个单波同时在垂直方向上进行应力的传播,并利用波饱和标准进行应力耗散。进一步地在真实地形(以大别山地区为个例)条件下的测试结果表明,通过在不同理想风速廓线以及北半球冬季中纬度纬向平均风廓线下对波动应力垂直分布的计算,证明该方案确实能有效地给出应力随高度变化的特征。     

The NO2 absorption spectrum. III: The 200–300 nm region at ambient temperature

Absorption cross-section measurements of NO₂ performed in our laboratory have been extended to the 200–300 nm region at ambient temperature. Low pressures have been used, limiting the effects of the dimer N₂O₄ which has an absorption cross-section from one to two orders of magnitude larger than that of NO₂ in this region. The results have been compared to those of previous authors and are now available for atmospheric purposes at 0.01 nm intervals.Unité de Recherche Associée au CNRS.     

The Effects of Line-Wing Cutoff in LBL Integration on Radiation Calculations

There are three basic methods in radiative transfer calculations, i.e., line-by-line (LBL) integration, correlated k-distribution method, and band model. The LBL integration is the most accurate of all, in which, there are two quadrature algorithms named in this paper as integration by lines and by sampling "points when calculating atmospheric transmittance in the considered wavenumber region. Because the LBL integration is the most expensive of all, it is necessary and important to save calculation time but increase calculation speed when it is put into use in the daily operation in atmospheric remote sensing and atmospheric sounding. A simplified LBL method is given in this paper on the basis of integration by lines, which increases computational speed greatly with keeping the same accuracy. Then, we discuss the effects of different cutoff schemes on atmospheric absorption coefficient, transmittance, and cooling rate under both of accurate and simplified LBL methods in detail. There are four cutoff schemes described in this paper, i.e., CUTOFFs 1, 2, 3, and 4. It is shown by this numerical study that the way to cut off spectral line-wing has a great effect on the accuracy and speed of radiative calculations. The relative errors of the calculated absorption coefficients for CUTOFF 2 are the largest under different pressures, while for CUTOFF 1, they are less than 2% at most of sampling points and for CUTOFFs 3 or 4, they are ahnost less than 5% in the calculated spectral region, however, the calculation time is reduced greatly. We find in this study that the transmittance in the lower atmosphere is not sensitive to different LBL methods and different cutoff schemes. Whereas for the higher atmosphere, the differences of transmittance results between CUTOFF 2 and each of other three cutoff schemes are the biggest of all no matter for the accurate LBL or for the simplified LBL integrations. By comparison, the best and optimized cutoff scheme is given in this paper finally.     

In-situ Formation of Light-Absorbing Organic Matter in Cloud Water

Current climate models seem to underestimate the flux of solar energy absorbed by the global troposphere. All of these models are constrained with the assumption that cloud droplets consist of pure water. Here we demonstrate in a simple laboratory experiment that aromatic hydroxy-acids which are found in continental fine aerosol can react with hydroxyl radicals under typical conditions prevalent in cloud water influenced by biomass burning. The reactions yield colored organic species which do absorb solar radiation. We also suggest that the products of such reactions may be humic-like substances whose presence in continental aerosol has been confirmed but their source mechanisms are still much sought after. We also attempt to give a first order estimate of the enhancement of water absorption at a visible wavelength under atmospheric conditions.     

大气中微量气体的红外吸收

文章介绍了测定大气中微量气体CO2与CH4透过率的试验。所用的主要设备是FTIR分光计及可变光程吸收池。文中叙述了主要实验结果与数据处理方法，同时用FASCODE-2程序计算了对应实验条件下CO2与CH4的透过率，并与实验结果作了比较。