Emerging Technologies and Synergies for Airborne and Space-Based Measurements of Water Vapor Profiles     

Amin R. Nehrir  Christoph Kiemle  Mathew D. Lebsock  Gottfried Kirchengast  Stefan A. Buehler  Ulrich Löhnert  Cong-Liang Liu  Peter C. Hargrave  Maria Barrera-Verdejo  David M. Winker 《Surveys in Geophysics》2017,38(6):1445-1482

A deeper understanding of how clouds will respond to a warming climate is one of the outstanding challenges in climate science. Uncertainties in the response of clouds, and particularly shallow clouds, have been identified as the dominant source of the discrepancy in model estimates of equilibrium climate sensitivity. As the community gains a deeper understanding of the many processes involved, there is a growing appreciation of the critical role played by fluctuations in water vapor and the coupling of water vapor and atmospheric circulations. Reduction of uncertainties in cloud-climate feedbacks and convection initiation as well as improved understanding of processes governing these effects will result from profiling of water vapor in the lower troposphere with improved accuracy and vertical resolution compared to existing airborne and space-based measurements. This paper highlights new technologies and improved measurement approaches for measuring lower tropospheric water vapor and their expected added value to current observations. Those include differential absorption lidar and radar, microwave occultation between low-Earth orbiters, and hyperspectral microwave remote sensing. Each methodology is briefly explained, and measurement capabilities as well as the current technological readiness for aircraft and satellite implementation are specified. Potential synergies between the technologies are discussed, actual examples hereof are given, and future perspectives are explored. Based on technical maturity and the foreseen near-mid-term development path of the various discussed measurement approaches, we find that improved measurements of water vapor throughout the troposphere would greatly benefit from the combination of differential absorption lidar focusing on the lower troposphere with passive remote sensors constraining the upper-tropospheric humidity.  相似文献   

Spatiotemporal evolution of the completeness magnitude of the Icelandic earthquake catalogue from 1991 to 2013     

Francesco Panzera  Arnaud Mignan  Kristin S. Vogfjörð 《Journal of Seismology》2017,21(4):615-630

In 1991, a digital seismic monitoring network was installed in Iceland with a digital seismic system and automatic operation. After 20 years of operation, we explore for the first time its nationwide performance by analysing the spatiotemporal variations of the completeness magnitude. We use the Bayesian magnitude of completeness (BMC) method that combines local completeness magnitude observations with prior information based on the density of seismic stations. Additionally, we test the impact of earthquake location uncertainties on the BMC results, by filtering the catalogue using a multivariate analysis that identifies outliers in the hypocentre error distribution. We find that the entire North-to-South active rift zone shows a relatively low magnitude of completeness M_c in the range 0.5–1.0, highlighting the ability of the Icelandic network to detect small earthquakes. This work also demonstrates the influence of earthquake location uncertainties on the spatiotemporal magnitude of completeness analysis.  相似文献   

Effects of deglaciation on the petrology and eruptive history of the Western Volcanic Zone,Iceland     

Deborah E. Eason  John M. Sinton  Karl Grönvold  Mark D. Kurz 《Bulletin of Volcanology》2015,77(6):1-27

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Groundwater – the disregarded component in lake water and nutrient budgets. Part 2: effects of groundwater on nutrients          下载免费PDF全文

Jörg Lewandowski  Karin Meinikmann  Gunnar Nützmann  Donald O. Rosenberry 《水文研究》2015,29(13):2922-2955

Lacustrine groundwater discharge (LGD) transports nutrients from a catchment to a lake, which may fuel eutrophication, one of the major threats to our fresh waters. Unfortunately, LGD has often been disregarded in lake nutrient studies. Most measurement techniques are based on separate determinations of volume and nutrient concentration of LGD: Loads are calculated by multiplying seepage volumes by concentrations of exfiltrating water. Typically low phosphorus (P) concentrations of pristine groundwater often are increased due to anthropogenic sources such as fertilizer, manure or sewage. Mineralization of naturally present organic matter might also increase groundwater P. Reducing redox conditions favour P transport through the aquifer to the reactive aquifer‐lake interface. In some cases, large decreases of P concentrations may occur at the interface, for example, due to increased oxygen availability, while in other cases, there is nearly no decrease in P. The high reactivity of the interface complicates quantification of groundwater‐borne P loads to the lake, making difficult clear differentiation of internal and external P loads to surface water. Anthropogenic sources of nitrogen (N) in groundwater are similar to those of phosphate. However, the environmental fate of N differs fundamentally from P because N occurs in several different redox states, each with different mobility. While nitrate behaves essentially conservatively in most oxic aquifers, ammonium's mobility is similar to that of phosphate. Nitrate may be transformed to gaseous N₂ in reducing conditions and permanently removed from the system. Biogeochemical turnover of N is common at the reactive aquifer‐lake interface. Nutrient loads from LGD were compiled from the literature. Groundwater‐borne P loads vary from 0.74 to 2900 mg PO₄‐P m^?2 year^?1; for N, these loads vary from 0.001 to 640 g m^?2 year^?1. Even small amounts of seepage can carry large nutrient loads due to often high nutrient concentrations in groundwater. Large spatial heterogeneity, uncertain areal extent of the interface and difficult accessibility make every determination of LGD a challenge. However, determinations of LGD are essential to effective lake management. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Rapid subglacial streamlined bedform formation at a calving bay margin          下载免费PDF全文

Thomas P. F. Dowling  Per Möller  Matteo Spagnolo 《第四纪科学杂志》2016,31(8):879-892

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Flow dynamics,sedimentation and erosion of glacial lake outburst floods along the Middle Pleistocene Scandinavian Ice Sheet (northern central Europe)          下载免费PDF全文

Jutta Winsemann  Petteri Alho  Leena Laamanen  Nils Goseberg  Jörg Lang  Josef Klostermann 《Boreas: An International Journal of Quaternary Research》2016,45(2):260-283

During the Middle Pleistocene late Saalian glaciation of northern central Europe numerous pro‐glacial lakes formed along the southwestern margin of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet. Little is known about the drainage history of these lakes, the pathways of glacial lake outburst floods and their impacts on erosion, sedimentation and landscape evolution. This study investigated the impact of the late Saalian Weser and Münsterland Lake (Germany) outburst floods. In particular, we reconstructed the routing and flow dynamics of the lake outburst flood and analysed the flood related sediments. We employed one‐dimensional hydraulic modelling to calculate glacial lake outburst flood hydrographs. We modelled the flow pathway and local flow conditions along the pathway based on the boundary conditions of two different hydrographs and two different ice‐margin positions. The modelling results were compared with geomorphological and sedimentological field data in order to estimate the magnitude and impact of the flood on erosion and sedimentation. Two major lake drainage events are reconstructed for the study area, during which approximately 90–50 km³ of water was released. Modelling results indicate that the lake outburst floods created a high‐energy flood wave with a height of 35–50 m in confined valley areas that rapidly spread out into the Lower Rhine Embayment eventually flowing into the North Sea basin. The sedimentary record of the outburst floods comprises poorly sorted coarse‐grained gravel bars, long‐wavelength bedforms and sandy bedforms deposited by supercritical and subcritical flows. Some parts of the sandy flood deposits are rich in reworked mammoth bones or mammoth and horse teeth, pointing to reworking of older fluvial sediments, hydraulic concentration and subsequent re‐sedimentation of vertebrate remains. These deposits are preserved in sheltered areas or at high elevations, well above the influence of postglacial fluvial erosion. The flood‐related erosional features include up to 80‐m‐deep scour pools, alluvial channels and streamlined hills.  相似文献   

An Event-Based Verification Scheme for the Real-Time Flare Detection System at Kanzelhöhe Observatory     

W. Pötzi  A. M. Veronig  M. Temmer 《Solar physics》2018,293(6):94

In the framework of the Space Situational Awareness program of the European Space Agency (ESA/SSA), an automatic flare detection system was developed at Kanzelhöhe Observatory (KSO). The system has been in operation since mid-2013. The event detection algorithm was upgraded in September 2017. All data back to 2014 was reprocessed using the new algorithm. In order to evaluate both algorithms, we apply verification measures that are commonly used for forecast validation. In order to overcome the problem of rare events, which biases the verification measures, we introduce a new event-based method. We divide the timeline of the H\(\upalpha\) observations into positive events (flaring period) and negative events (quiet period), independent of the length of each event. In total, 329 positive and negative events were detected between 2014 and 2016. The hit rate for the new algorithm reached 96% (just five events were missed) and a false-alarm ratio of 17%. This is a significant improvement of the algorithm, as the original system had a hit rate of 85% and a false-alarm ratio of 33%. The true skill score and the Heidke skill score both reach values of 0.8 for the new algorithm; originally, they were at 0.5. The mean flare positions are accurate within \({\pm}\,1\) heliographic degree for both algorithms, and the peak times improve from a mean difference of \(1.7\pm 2.9~\mbox{minutes}\) to \(1.3\pm 2.3~\mbox{minutes}\). The flare start times that had been systematically late by about 3 minutes as determined by the original algorithm, now match the visual inspection within \(-0.47\pm 4.10~\mbox{minutes}\).  相似文献   

Mullite in Libyan Desert Glass: Evidence for high-temperature/low-pressure formation          下载免费PDF全文

Ansgar Greshake  Richard Wirth  Jörg Fritz  Tomasz Jakubowski  Ute Böttger 《Meteoritics & planetary science》2018,53(3):467-481

Libyan Desert Glass (LDG) is a SiO₂-rich natural glass whose origin, formation mechanism, and target material are highly debated. We here report on the finding of a lens-shaped whitish inclusion within LDG. The object is dominantly composed of siliceous glass and separated from the surrounding LDG by numerous cristobalite grains. Within cristobalite, several regions rich in mullite often associated with ilmenite were detected. Mineral assemblage, chemical composition, and grain morphologies suggest that mullite was formed by thermal decomposition of kaolinitic clay at atmospheric pressure and T ≥ 1600 °C and also attested to high cooling rates under nonequilibrium conditions. Cristobalite contains concentric and irregular internal cracks and is intensely twinned, indicating that first crystallized β-cristobalite inverted to α-cristobalite during cooling of the SiO₂-rich melt. The accompanied volume reduction of 4% induced the high density of defects. The whitish inclusion also contains several partly molten rutile grains evidencing that at least locally the LDG melt was at T ≥ 1800 °C. Based on these observations, it is concluded that LDG was formed by high-temperature melting of kaolinitic clay-, rutile-, and ilmenite-bearing Cenozoic sandstone or sand very likely during an asteroid or comet impact onto Earth. While melting and ejection occurred at high pressures, the melt solidified quickly at atmospheric pressure.  相似文献   

Statistical Properties of Ribbon Evolution and Reconnection Electric Fields in Eruptive and Confined Flares     

J. Hinterreiter  A. M. Veronig  J. K. Thalmann  J. Tschernitz  W. Pötzi 《Solar physics》2018,293(3):38

A statistical study of the chromospheric ribbon evolution in H\(\alpha\) two-ribbon flares was performed. The data set consists of 50 confined (62%) and eruptive (38%) flares that occurred from June 2000 to June 2015. The flares were selected homogeneously over the H\(\alpha\) and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) classes, with an emphasis on including powerful confined flares and weak eruptive flares. H\(\alpha\) filtergrams from the Kanzelhöhe Observatory in combination with Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) magnetograms were used to derive the ribbon separation, the ribbon-separation velocity, the magnetic-field strength, and the reconnection electric field. We find that eruptive flares reveal statistically larger ribbon separation and higher ribbon-separation velocities than confined flares. In addition, the ribbon separation of eruptive flares correlates with the GOES SXR flux, whereas no clear dependence was found for confined flares. The maximum ribbon-separation velocity is not correlated with the GOES flux, but eruptive flares reveal on average a higher ribbon-separation velocity (by ≈?10 km?s^?1). The local reconnection electric field of confined (\(cc=0.50 \pm0.02\)) and eruptive (\(cc=0.77 \pm0.03\)) flares correlates with the GOES flux, indicating that more powerful flares involve stronger reconnection electric fields. In addition, eruptive flares with higher electric-field strengths tend to be accompanied by faster coronal mass ejections.  相似文献   

Water resources sustainability in a globalizing world: who uses the water?          下载免费PDF全文

Megan Konar  Tom P. Evans  Morgan Levy  Christopher A. Scott  Tara J. Troy  Charles J. Vörösmarty  Murugesu Sivapalan 《水文研究》2016,30(18):3330-3336

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