Seasonal evolution of the West African heat low: a climatological perspective   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0  

C. Lavaysse  C. Flamant  S. Janicot  D. J. Parker  J.-P. Lafore  B. Sultan  J. Pelon 《Climate Dynamics》2009,33(2-3):313-330

The West African heat low (WAHL), a region of high surface temperatures and low surface pressures, is a key element of the West African monsoon system. In this study, we propose a method to detect the WAHL in order to monitor its climatological seasonal displacement over West Africa during the period 1979–2001, using the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) ERA-40 reanalyses. The low-level atmospheric thickness (LLAT), a variable defined as the difference of geopotential heights at 700 and 925 hPa, is used to detect the dilatation of these levels generated by an increase of the temperature. We define grid points with 10% highest values of the LLAT as the WAHL. We show that our method reliably positions the WAHL over areas of high surface temperatures and low surface pressures, and that it is effective at detecting heat lows. In the course of the year, the climatological WAHL is shown to migrate north-westward from a position south of the Darfur mountains in the winter (November–March) to a location over the Sahara, between the Hoggar and the Atlas mountains, during the summer (June–September). The temperature tendency equation is used to investigate the processes controlling the displacement of the WAHL, and more particularly the heating at low levels. The specific period of the onset of the WAHL in its summer location over the Sahara (referred to as the Saharan heat low -SHL- onset) is also analysed during the 1984–2001 period, using complementary brightness temperature data from the European Union-funded Cloud Archive User Service (CLAUS). The climatological onset of the SHL occurs around 20 June, i.e. just before the climatological monsoon onset date. The present study suggests that the onset of the WAHL occurs approximately 5 days before the monsoon onset for the 1984–2001 period. This is confirmed independently by comparing the SHL onset date and the monsoon onset date for the 1984–2001 period. The seasonal evolution of the WAHL for the year 2006 (the year of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis project Special Observation Period) is analysed and compared with the climatological results. The operational ECMWF analyses were used for that purpose. Except in April, the spatial distribution of the WAHL remains relatively unchanged and agrees with the climatology. The onset of the SHL in 2006 occurs on 18 June, which is close to the climatological date, in spite of the delay in the onset of the rainy season in Sahel.  相似文献   

Trace element geochemistry of groundwater from Quetta Valley,western Pakistan   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Shuhab D. Khan  Khalid Mahmood  Mohamed I. Sultan  Abdul S. Khan  Yingqian Xiong  Zhanay Sagintayev 《Environmental Earth Sciences》2010,60(3):573-582

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A model investigation of the impact of increases in anthropogenic NO x emissions between 1967 and 1980 on tropospheric ozone     

Jane Dignon  Sultan Hameed 《Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry》1985,3(4):491-506

Recent observations suggest that the abundance of ozone between 2 and 8 km in the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes has increased by about 12% during the period from 1970 to 1981. Earlier estimates were somewhat more conservative suggesting increases at the rate of 7% per decade since the start of regular observations in 1967. Previous photochemical model studies have indicated that tropospheric ozone concentrations would increase with increases in emissions of CO, CH₄ and NO _x . This paper presents an analysis of tropospheric ozone which suggests that a significant portion of its increase may be attributed to the increase in global anthropogenic NO _x emissions during this period while the contribution of CH₄ to the increase is quite small. Two statistical models are presented for estimating annual global anthropogenic emissions of NO _x and are used to derive the trend in the emissions for the years 1966–1980. These show steady increase in the emissions during this interval except for brief periods of leveling off after 1973 and 1978. The impact of this increase in emissions on ozone is estimated by calculations with a onedimensional (latitudinal) model which includes coupled tropospheric photochemistry and diffusive meridional transport. Steady-state photochemical calculations with prescribed NO _x emissions appropriate for 1966 and 1980 indicate an ozone increase of 8–11% in the Northern Hemisphere, a result which is compatible with the rise in ozone suggested by the observations.  相似文献   

U-Pb (zircon) ages for the gneissic terrane west of the Nile,southern Egypt     

M. Sultan  R. D. Tucker  Z. El Alfy  R. Attia  Abdel Ghany Ragab 《International Journal of Earth Sciences》1994,83(3):514-522

The first U-Pb zircon ages are reported for the gneissic bedrock inliers previously interpreted as part of the Nile Craton. The inliers crop out in the Egyptian Western Desert, east of the Uweinat area and west of the Eastern Desert. Multi- and single-grain zircon analyses of granitoid gneiss and migmatite from Gebel Um Shagir, Aswan, and another locality approximately 160 km south-west of Aswan, yield simple discordia with near modern day Pb loss trajectories, and the following Neoproterozoic crystallization ages: 626+4/–3, 634 ± 4 and 741 ± 3 Ma. In contrast, multi- and single-grain U-Pb analyses (zircon and sphene) from an anorthositic gabbro at Gebel Kamil (22°46N 26°21E) and an anorthosite at Gebel El Asr (22°46N 31°10E) yield Archean and Paleoproterozoic emplacement ages. The former yield a crystallization age of > 2.67 Ga and a metamorphic age of 2.0 Ga; the latter a metamorphic age of 0.69 Ga and an inheritance age of 1.9–2.1 Ga. Because high grade gneiss and migmatite of Neoproterozoic, Paleoproterozoic and Archean age crop out west of the Nile, pre-Neoproterozoic crust should no longer be identified by its metamorphic grade. By contrast, mapping the anorthosite and related rocks might provide first-order estimates for the extension of pre-Neoproterozoic crust in north-east Africa. It is suggested that Archean and Paleoproterozoic crust of the Uweinat and Congo Craton are contiguous because these U-Pb (zircon) data show no evidence for a Neoproterozoic thermal overprint in the Gebel Kamil area and there is no pronounced Neoproterozoic magmatic activity south of the Uweinat inlier and north of the Congo Craton.  相似文献   

Efficiency of carrier-phase integer ambiguity resolution for precise GPS positioning in noisy environments   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Liqiang Zhu  Ying-Cheng Lai  Mayur Shah  Sultan Mahmood 《Journal of Geodesy》2007,81(2):149-156

Precise GPS positioning relies on tracking the carrier-phase. The fractional part of carrier-phase can be measured directly using a standard phase-locked loop, but the integer part is ambiguous and the ambiguity must be resolved based on sequential carrier-phase measurements to ensure the required positioning precision. In the presence of large phase-measurement noise, as can be expected in a jamming environment for example, the amount of data required to resolve the integer ambiguity can be large, which requires a long time for any generic integer parameter estimation algorithm to converge. A key question of interest in significant applications of GPS where fast and accurate positioning is desired is then how the convergence time depends on the noise amplitude. Here we address this question by investigating integer least-sqaures estimation algorithms. Our theoretical derivation and numerical experiments indicate that the convergence time increases linearly with the noise variance, suggesting a less stringent requirement for the convergence time than intuitively expected, even in a jamming environment where the phase noise amplitude is large. This finding can be useful for practical design of GPS-based systems in a jamming environment, for which the ambiguity resolution time for precise positioning may be critical.  相似文献   

Comparative studies on analytical methods for the assessment of petroleum contamination in the marine environment II. Gas chromatographic analyses     

Hassan Awad 《Marine Chemistry》1981,10(5):417-430

Although determinations of hydrocarbons in the marine environment are usually based on the same analytical steps, i.e. organic solvent extraction, column chromatographic purification, and hydrocarbon detection and identification; variations in equipment and solvent systems used in the extraction step, and also in the columns for purification and analysis, seriously impaired the development of a consistent data base concerning oil pollution on a global scale.Many authors and conferences emphasized the need, in this field, for a comparative study on the efficiency of various published analytical techniques.Fifteen techniques with 24 applications were chosen and applied to a fixed weight of uniform samples of sediments, mussels, fish, shrimps and green algae. The final hydrocarbon extracts were analyzed individually on a 2 m stainless-steel packed column (SE 30).The results obtained from this work showed considerable variations in the efficiency of different techniques from identical samples. The hydrocarbon yields varied from 94 to 1.4 ppm in sediments, from 40 to 9 ppm in mussels; from 216 to 1.3 ppm in fish; from 8.3 to 3.1 ppm in shrimps; and from 343 to 273 ppm in algae, all relative to wet weight of the samples. The gas chromatograms of the hydrocarbons obtained were found to be quite different with regard to peak intensities and distributions. This means that hydrocarbons obtained by the application of different techniques varied in their compositions and relative concentrations of their constituents. These results confirm what was already obtained and discussed previously using spectrofluorometric analyses.It can be concluded that it is necessary to establish a standard technique for the preparation of marine samples, for extraction and purification of the hydrocarbon extracts which should be applied by all laboratories specializing in this field.  相似文献   

Site response assessment of an urban extension site using microtremor measurements,Ahud Rufeidah,Abha District,Southwest Saudi Arabia     

Almadani  Sattam  Abdelrahman  Kamal  Ibrahim  Elkhedr  Al-Bassam  Abdulaziz  Al-Shmrani  Awad 《Arabian Journal of Geosciences》2015,8(4):2347-2357

Arabian Journal of Geosciences - Microtremor horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) method has been conducted at 33 sites in Ahud Rufeidah urban expansion zone in order to assess the...  相似文献   

New Larvicidal Acetogenin from the Red Alga Laurencia papillosa     

Zeinab S. Abou‐Elnaga  Walied M. Alarif  Sultan S. Al‐lihaibi 《洁净——土壤、空气、水》2011,39(8):787-794

A new C₁₅ acetogenin, cyclic enyne (12E)‐cis‐maneonene‐E ( 1 ) and (12Z)‐trans‐maneonene‐B ( 2 ), together with different secondary metabolites including sesquiterpenoid 2,10‐dibromo‐3‐chloro‐α‐chamigrene ( 3 ) and fatty acid aldehydes ( 4–8 ) were isolated from the petroleum ether extract of a red alga, identified as Laurencia papillosa, collected from the Saudi Red Sea coast. The L. papillosa crude extract and its active ingredient acetogenin ( 1 ) have been evaluated for the ability to control two main economically important pests, the confused flour beetle larvae Tribolium confusum and Culex pipiens mosquito larvae. Compound 1 showed high potential as a natural insecticide against these two pests. In the case of T. confusum larvae, the LD₅₀ values were 0.21 and 0.16% after 6 and 12 days of treatment with crude extract and acetogenin, respectively. On the other hand, the resulting LC₅₀ values of mosquito larvae bioassay were 30.7, 36.9, and 41.8 ppm after 24 h treatment against 2nd, 3rd, and 4th larval instars, respectively. Also, an increase of the insecticidal effects against mosquito larvae was recorded after extending treatment time to 48 h.  相似文献   

Integrated geophysical interpretation for the area located at the eastern part of Ismailia Canal, Greater Cairo, Egypt     

Sultan Awad Sultan  Fernando A. M. Santos  Ahmad Sobhy Helaly 《Arabian Journal of Geosciences》2011,4(5-6):735-753

The integrated geophysical interpretation for the different geophysical tools such as resistivity and gravity is usually used to define the structural elements, stratigraphic units, groundwater potentiality, and depth to the basement rocks. In the present work, gravity and resistivity data were utilized for detecting the groundwater aquifer and structural elements, as well as the upper and lower surfaces of the subsurface basaltic sheet in an area located at the eastern side of Ismailia Canal, northeastern Greater Cairo, Egypt. Two hundred and ten gravity stations were measured using an Autograv instrument through a grid pattern of 50?×?50 m. The different required corrections were carried out, such as drift, elevation, tide, and latitude corrections. The final corrected data represented by the Bouguer anomaly map were filtered using high- and low-pass filters into regional and residual gravity anomaly maps. The resulting residual gravity anomaly map was used for gravity modeling to calculate the depths to the upper and lower surfaces of the basaltic sheet. The resulting gravity models indicated that the depths to the upper surface of the basaltic sheet are ranged between 26 and 314 m, where the shallower depths were found around the southern and eastern parts. The depths to the lower surface of the basaltic sheet are varied from 86 to 338 m, and the thickness of the basaltic sheet is ranged from 24 to 127 m, where the biggest thicknesses were found around the southern and northern parts of the study area. Forty-two vertical electrical soundings (VES) were carried out using Schlumberger configuration with AB/2 spacings ranged from 1.5 to 500 m. 1D quantitative interpretation was carried out through manual and analytical interpretations. The VES data were also inverted assuming a 3D resistivity distribution. The results from the 3D resistivity inversion indicated that the subsurface section consists of sand, sandstone, and sandy–clays of Miocene deposits overlying the basalts. Such basaltic features (of Oligocene age) are underlain by Gabal Ahmar Formation of Oligocene deposits, which are composed of sand and sandstone. Therefore, two aquifers were deduced in the area. The first is the Miocene aquifer (shallower) and the other is the Oligocene aquifer (deeper).  相似文献   

Influence of Azores High pressure on Middle Eastern rainfall     

M. J. Iqbal  Sultan Hameed  Farheen Khan 《Theoretical and Applied Climatology》2013,111(1-2):211-221

Several studies demonstrate that North Atlantic Oscillation influences variability of climate over Middle East. We use the centers of action approach for the study of winter rainfall variability over Middle East, taking into account variations in the components of the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Azores High and the Icelandic Low pressure systems. The results show there is a negative relation between the interannual variations of winter rainfall over Middle East and Azores High pressure. The east–west shifts of Indian Ocean high pressure has also impact on precipitation over Middle East, there being more precipitation when the Indian Ocean High shifts eastward versus when it is westward. We present a regression model for Middle East precipitation in which the Azores High pressure and the Indian Ocean High longitude are independent variables and it explains 40 % of the variance of precipitation during 1952–2002. Furthermore, the ongoing decrease in winter precipitation over the Middle East is attributed to the increasing pressure of the Azores High over the same period.  相似文献