Influence of the Surf Zone on the Marine Aerosol Concentration in a Coastal Area

Sea-salt aerosol concentrations in the coastal zone are assessed with the numerical aerosol-transport model MACMod that applies separate aerosol source functions for open ocean and the surf zone near the sea–land transition. Numerical simulations of the aerosol concentration as a function of offshore distance from the surf zone compare favourably with experimental data obtained during a surf-zone aerosol experiment in Duck, North Carolina in autumn 2007. Based on numerical simulations, the effect of variations in aerosol production (source strength) and transport conditions (wind speed, air–sea temperature difference), we show that the surf-zone aerosols are replaced by aerosols generated over the open ocean as the airmass advects out to sea. The contribution from the surf-generated aerosol is significant during high wind speeds and high wave events, and is significant up to 30 km away from the production zone. At low wind speeds, the oceanic component dominates, except within 1–5 km of the surf zone. Similar results are obtained for onshore flow, where no further sea-salt aerosol production occurs as the airmass advects out over land. The oceanic aerosols that are well-mixed throughout the boundary layer are then more efficiently transported inland than are the surf-generated aerosols, which are confined to the first few tens of metres above the surface, and are therefore also more susceptible to the type of surface (trees or grass) that determines the deposition velocity.     

Sea-Spray-Generation Dependence on Wind and Wave Combinations: A Laboratory Study

Boundary-Layer Meteorology - We investigate the effects of wind–wave interactions on the surface sea-spray-generation flux. To this end, the Marine Aerosol Tunnel Experiment (MATE2019) was...     

Elastic instability of thin cylindrical shells: Numerical and experimental investigation

Thin walled cylinders under external pressure may be affected by instability phenomena particularly dangerous when taking place in the elastic domain. Geometric imperfections caused by fabrication processes heavily influence the critical pressure. In order to investigate the relationship between the collapse mechanism and the various types of imperfections affecting this kind of structures a series of experimental tests on scale models has been carried out. The dimensional parameters of the specimens have been selected in order to keep the instability phenomenon in the elastic range. At the same time numerical calculations simulating the experimental tests have been performed by finite element method. The geometrical defects measured on the specimens were introduced in the correspondent numerical models. A good agreement was found in the comparison between experimental and numerical results.     

Effects of saline water irrigation on soil properties in northwest China

Due to the lack of freshwater, highly saline groundwater was the main irrigation source in the last few decades in the Minqin Basin, which is in northwest China. The study evaluates the effects of salt accumulation on the soil physical–chemicals properties. Undisturbed and disturbed soil samples were taken from the experiment site, which was irrigated with saline water at a concentration of 0.8, 2 and 5 g L⁻¹ (coded later as C₀₈, C₂ and C₅). Undisturbed soil samples, at depths of 0–45 and 45–60 cm were taken to determine the water retention curve (WRC). Moreover, in the same place, another set of undisturbed soil samples were taken to determine the porosity and pore-size distribution (PoSD). From the WRC, the water-holding capacity of the soil was estimated. Disturbed soil samples at depths of 0–20, 0–45, 45–60 and 80–100 cm were taken to determine the index of aggregates stability in water (IC). The electrical conductivity of the saturated paste (EC_e) was determined at depths of 0–30, 30–60 and 60–90 cm, during the irrigation season on C₀₈, C₂ and C₅ treatments. The results show that the total porosity and the index of aggregates stability in water decrease with the increasing salinity of irrigation water, and the EC_e increases with the increasing salinity of irrigation water especially in the surface soil. The water-holding capacity (WHC) of soil also increases with the increasing salinity of irrigation water.     

我国温带荒漠生物土壤结皮孔隙结构分布特征

对原状生物土壤结皮孔隙结构、孔隙率及其垂直连通性进行室内微观扫描与计算机断层摄影成像分析。结果表明,生物土壤结皮团聚体特征明显,其孔隙率的增大主要是由大孔隙数量的增加而形成,同时,土壤孔隙连通性也随大孔隙数量的增加而增大,生物土壤结皮的发育导致表层土壤具有明显的极其复杂的土壤结构演化特征。     

A Model for the Transport of Sea-Spray Aerosols in the Coastal Zone

We study the dynamics of sea-spray particles in the coastal region of La Reunion Island on the basis of numerical simulations using the transport aerosol model MACMod (Marine Aerosol Concentration Model) and a survey of the aerosol size distributions measured at four locations at two different heights in the north-west part of the island. This allows evaluation of the performance of our model in case of pure marine air masses with implementation of accurate boundary conditions. First of all, an estimate of the aerosol concentration at 10-m height at the upwind boundary of the calculation domain is obtained using a revisited version of the MEDEX (Mediterranean Extinction) model. Estimates of the vertical profile of aerosol concentrations are then provided using aerosol data obtained at two different heights at the upwind boundary of the calculation domain. A parametrization of the vertical profiles of aerosol concentrations for maritime environment is proposed. The results are then compared to the vertical profiles of 0.532 \(\upmu \)m aerosol particle extinction coefficient obtained from lidar data provided by the Cloud-Aerosol LIdar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and also to the data provided by the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). This allows validation of the complete vertical profiles in the mixed layer and shows the validity of satellite data for determination of the vertical profiles. Two kinds of simulation were made: one without a particle advection flux at the upwind boundary of the numerical domain, whereas the second simulation was made with a particle advection flux. In the first case, the influence of the distance to the shoreline on the local sea-spray dynamics is investigated. In the second set of simulation, the particles issued from the local production in the surf zone near the shoreline are mixed with aerosols advected from the remote ocean. A good agreement between the model calculations using our boundary conditions and the data was found. The present results then attest the ability of this kind of model, as a first approach to predicting the local transport of sea-spray particles in a pure marine environment.