北京地区的闪电时空分布特征及不同强度雷暴的贡献

利用北京闪电定位网(BLNET,Beijing Lightning Network)和SAFIR3000(Surveillance et Alerte Foudre par Interometrie Radioelectrique)定位网7年共423次雷暴的闪电资料,并按照雷暴产生闪电多少,同时参考雷达回波和雷暴持续时间,将雷暴划分为弱雷暴(≤1000次)、强雷暴(>1000次且≤10000次)和超强雷暴(>10000次),分析了北京地区的闪电时空分布特征及不同强度等级雷暴对闪电分布的贡献。北京总闪电密度最大值约为15.4 flashes km-2a(^-1),平均值约为1.9 flashes km^-2a(^-1),大于8 flashes km^-2a(^-1)的闪电密度高值区基本分布在海拔高度200 m等高线以下的平原地带。不同强度雷暴对总雷暴闪电总量贡献不同,弱雷暴(超强雷暴)次数多(少),产生的闪电少(多),超强雷暴和强雷暴产生的闪电分别占总雷暴闪电的37%和56%。不同强度雷暴对总雷暴的闪电密度高值中心分布和闪电日变化特征影响显著,昌平区东部、顺义区中东部和北京主城区是总雷暴闪电密度大于12 flashes km-2a(-1)的三个主要高值区中心,前两个高值中心受强雷暴影响大,而主城区高值中心主要受超强雷暴影响。总雷暴晚上频繁的闪电活动主要受超强雷暴和强雷暴影响,这两类雷暴晚上闪电活动活跃,分别占各自总闪电的69%和65%,而弱雷暴闪电活动白天陡增很快,对总雷暴午后的闪电活动影响大。另外,不同下垫面条件闪电日变化差异大,山区最强的闪电活动出现在白天,午后闪电活动增强很快,主峰值出现在北京时间18:00,而平原最强的闪电活动发生在晚上,平原(山麓)的主峰值比山区推迟了约1.5小时(1小时)。     

北京及其周边地区闪电活动的时空特征

利用具有总闪观测能力的SAFIR3000在2005-2007年对北京及周边地区(天津、唐山、廊坊等)的观测资料,分析了该地区云闪和地闪时空分布特征.结果表明:云闪高发时段在15:00-次日00:00,峰值在19:00,高发月份在6-8月,峰值在7月;云闪空间分布高值区在北京东北部、天津北部、承德西南部一带,约为30次/(km2·a);云闪平均高度(海拔高度)日变化差异不大,季节变化夏季最高,冬季最低;高度在9～10 km的云闪最多,占云闪总次数的10.97％.地闪高发时段、月份、地闪高值区(密度约为5次/(km2·a))与云闪基本相似,不同之处在于云闪日分布多为单峰,而地闪为双峰,云闪高值时段开始与结束时间均比地闪早;云闪空间分布高值区密度约为地闪的6倍.3 a平均正闪占地闪总数百分比为16.44％,夏季该百分比较低,春秋季较高,其月际变化与正闪次数月际变化相反.总闪时空分布特征和云闪更为相似,总闪高值区分布和卫星探测得到的基本一致.     

Mission Concept for the Single Aperture Far-Infrared (SAFIR) Observatory

The Single Aperture Far-InfraRed (SAFIR) Observatory’s science goals are driven by the fact that the earliest stages of almost all phenomena in the universe are shrouded in absorption by and emission from cool dust and gas that emits strongly in the far-infrared (40μ–200μ) and submillimeter (200μ–1 mm). In the very early universe, the warm gas of newly collapsing, unenriched galaxies will be revealed by molecular hydrogen emission lines at these long wavelengths. High redshift quasars are found to have substantial reservoirs of cool gas and dust, indicative of substantial metal enrichment early in the history of the universe. As a result, even early stages of galaxy formation will show powerful far-infrared emission. The combination of strong dust emission and large redshift (1 < z < 7) of these galaxies means that they can only be studied in the far-infrared and submillimeter. For nearby galaxies, many of the most active galaxies in the universe appear to be those whose gaseous disks are interacting in violent collisions. The details of these galaxies, including the effect of the central black holes that probably exist in most of them, are obscured to shorter wavelength optical and ultraviolet observatories by the large amounts of dust in their interstellar media. Within our own galaxy, the earliest stages of star formation, when gas and dust clouds are collapsing and the beginnings of a central star are taking shape, can only be observed in the far-infrared and submillimeter. The cold dust that ultimately forms the planetary systems, as well as the cool “debris” dust clouds that indicate the likelihood of planetary sized bodies around more developed stars, can only be observed at wavelengths longward of 20μ. Over the past several years, there has been an increasing recognition of the critical importance of the far-infrared to submillimeter spectral region to addressing fundamental astrophysical problems, ranging from cosmological questions to understanding how our own Solar System came into being. The development of large, far-infrared telescopes in space has become more feasible with the combination of developments for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of enabling breakthroughs in detector technology. We have developed a preliminary but comprehensive mission concept for SAFIR, as a 10 m-class far-infrared and submillimeter observatory that would begin development later in this decade to meet the needs outlined above. Its operating temperature (≤4 K) and instrument complement would be optimized to reach the natural sky confusion limit in the far-infrared with diffraction-limited performance down to at least the atmospheric cutoff, λ {>rsim} 40 {μ}. This would provide a point source sensitivity improvement of several orders of magnitude over that of the Spitzer Space Telescope (previously SIRTF) or the Herschel Space Observatory. Additionally, it would have an angular resolution 12 times finer than that of Spitzer and three times finer than Herschel. This sensitivity and angular resolution are necessary to perform imaging and spectroscopic studies of individual galaxies in the early universe. We have considered many aspects of the SAFIR mission, including the telescope technology (optical design, materials, and packaging), detector needs and technologies, cooling method and required technology developments, attitude and pointing, power systems, launch vehicle, and mission operations. The most challenging requirements for this mission are operating temperature and aperture size of the telescope, and the development of detector arrays. SAFIR can take advantage of much of the technology under development for JWST, but with much less stringent requirements on optical accuracy.     

Evolution of the Total Lightning Activity in a Leading-Line and Trailing Stratiform Mesoscale Convective System over Beijing

Data from the Beijing SAFIR 3000 lightning detection system and Doppler radar provided some insights into the three-dimensional lightning structure and evolution of a leading-line and trailing-stratiform (LLTS) mesoscale convective system (MCS) over Beijing on 31 July 2007. Most of the lightning in the LLTS-MCS was intracloud (IC) lightning, while the mean ratio of positive cloud-to-ground (+CG) lightning to -CG lightning was 1:4, which was higher than the average value from previous studies. The majority of CG lightning occurred in the convective region of the radar echo, particularly at the leading edge of the front. Little IC lightning and little +CG lightning occurred in the stratiform region. The distribution of the CG lightning indicated that the storm had a tilted dipole structure given the wind shear or the tripole charge structure. During the storm’s development, most of the IC lightning occurred at an altitude of ～9.5 km; the lightning rate reached its maximum at 10.5 km, the altitude of IC lightning in the mature stage of the storm. When the thunderstorm began to dissipate, the altitude of the IC lightning decreased gradually. The spatial distribution of lightning was well correlated with the rainfall on the ground, although the peak value of rainfall appeared 75 min later than the peak lightning rate.