Assimilation of satellite observations of the atmosphere     

Paul Poli 《Comptes Rendus Geoscience》2010,342(4-5):357-369

Measurements of the atmosphere by satellite were first collected in the 1960s. However, it was not until the mid-1990s that these observations were translated into systematic improvements of numerical weather forecasts. We present here the data and methodology of data assimilation that enabled this achievement. Data assimilation is essentially a filtering processing that exploits the (assumed) known error statistical properties of the observations and of the underlying numerical model in which data are assimilated. It is also a process which corrects the state of the numerical model with physical observations of the real world. This part relies on (assumed) known physical laws to relate meteorological quantities (such as temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind) to observables. Atmospheric data collected by satellite all come from the interaction of electromagnetic waves with the atmosphere. Satellite data assimilation has greatly supported the progress in numerical weather prediction and holds promises for climate studies, for example via reanalysis.  相似文献   

Is there a possibility to correct fossil n-alkane data for postsedimentary alteration effects?     

Björn Buggle  Guido L.B. Wiesenberg  Bruno Glaser 《Applied Geochemistry》2010

The long chain n-alkane composition of plant material can significantly differ between plant groups e.g. trees and grasses. Due to their relative recalcitrance, they have been employed in paleoecological research as molecular proxies for different types of vegetation. Most of those paleoenvironmental studies rely on the assumption that characteristic molecular fingerprints of plant material are preserved in the fossil organic material without significant alteration. However, there exists evidence that n-alkane distributions may change in the course of plant litter degradation. Here, the authors propose and discuss a conceptual approach to the correction of n-alkane patterns in paleosols and terrestrial sediments for postsedimentary alteration effects. This might have potential to improve paleoenvironmental reconstructions derived from these molecular fossils. In soil depth profiles typically a correlation between the OEP (odd over even predominance) and paleoecological valuable long-chain n-alkane ratios (LARs) can be found. Similar relationships have been also obtained from n-alkane records in paleosols. With the OEP serving as a proxy of microbial reworking, the correction procedure applies OEP vs. LAR regression functions to correct fossil LARs for degradation effects. The regression functions have been derived from modern soils. The application of the procedure and its significance for paleoecological interpretations is demonstrated on a case study of a loess-paleosol sequence (∼400–700 ka) in Romania. It is shown that changes in the C27/C31 n-alkane ratio at this site are closely related to degradation effects rather than to changes in the paleovegetation (e.g. tree vs. grass abundance). However, it was found that the C29/C31 ratio is a more suitable paleoenvironmental proxy at the Mircea Voda site. The results indicate that there is a future potential to correct fossil n-alkane ratios via the OEP/LAR relationship, however at the moment a general straight forward application of this approach might be critical due to lack of extended and diverse n-alkane records from modern soils. The need of more systematic n-alkane studies on soil profiles is highlighted to improve knowledge concerning dynamics and actual mechanisms of postsedimentary LAR and OEP changes.  相似文献   

The effect of dwarf galaxy disruption in semi-analytic models     

Bruno M. Henriques  Serena Bertone  Peter A. Thomas 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2008,383(4):1649-1654

We present results for a galaxy formation model that includes a simple treatment for the disruption of dwarf galaxies by gravitational forces and galaxy encounters within galaxy clusters. This is implemented a posteriori in a semi-analytic model by considering the stability of cluster dark matter subhaloes at   z = 0  . We assume that a galaxy whose dark matter substructure has been disrupted will itself disperse, while its stars become part of the population of intracluster stars responsible for the observed intracluster light. Despite the simplicity of this assumption, our results show a substantial improvement over previous models and indicate that the inclusion of galaxy disruption is indeed a necessary ingredient of galaxy formation models. We find that galaxy disruption suppresses the number density of dwarf galaxies by about a factor of 2. This makes the slope of the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function shallower, in agreement with observations. In particular, the abundance of faint, red galaxies is strongly suppressed. As a result, the luminosity function of red galaxies and the distinction between the red and the blue galaxy populations in colour–magnitude relationships are correctly predicted. Finally, we estimate a fraction of intracluster light comparable to that found in clusters of galaxies.  相似文献