878 research outputs found
Effective UV surface albedo of seasonally snow-covered lands
International audienceAt ultraviolet wavelengths the albedo of most natural surfaces is small with the striking exception of snow and ice. Therefore, snow cover is a major challenge for various applications based on radiative transfer modelling. The aim of this work was to determine the characteristic effective UV range surface albedo of various land cover types when covered by snow. First we selected 1 by 1 degree sample regions that met three criteria: the sample region contained dominantly subpixels of only one land cover type according to the 8 km global land cover classification product from the University of Maryland; the average slope of the sample region was less than 2 degrees according to the USGS's HYDRO1K slope data; the sample region had snow cover in March according to the NSIDC Northern Hemisphere weekly snow cover data. Next we generated 1 by 1 degree gridded 360 nm surface albedo data from the Nimbus-7 TOMS Lambertian equivalent reflectivity data, and used them to construct characteristic effective surface albedo distributions for each land cover type. The resulting distributions showed that each land cover type experiences a characteristic range of surface albedo values when covered by snow. The result is explained by the vegetation that extends upward beyond the snow cover and masks the bright snow covered surface
Atmospheric effect on the ground-based measurements of broadband surface albedo
Ground-based pyranometer measurements of the (clear-sky) broadband surface albedo are affected by the atmospheric conditions (mainly by aerosol particles, water vapour and ozone). A new semi-empirical method for estimating the magnitude of the effect of atmospheric conditions on surface albedo measurements in clear-sky conditions is presented. Global and reflected radiation and/or aerosol optical depth (AOD) at two wavelengths are needed to apply the method. Depending on the aerosol optical depth and the solar zenith angle values, the effect can be as large as 20%. For the cases we tested using data from the Cabauw atmospheric test site in the Netherlands, the atmosphere caused typically up to 5% overestimation of surface albedo with respect to corresponding black-sky surface albedo values
Interaction of Lamb modes with two-level systems in amorphous nanoscopic membranes
Using a generalized model of interaction between a two-level system (TLS) and
an arbitrary deformation of the material, we calculate the interaction of Lamb
modes with TLSs in amorphous nanoscopic membranes. We compare the mean free
paths of the Lamb modes with different symmetries and calculate the heat
conductivity . In the limit of an infinitely wide membrane, the heat
conductivity is divergent. Nevertheless, the finite size of the membrane
imposes a lower cut-off for the phonons frequencies, which leads to the
temperature dependence . This temperature dependence
is a hallmark of the TLS-limited heat conductance at low temperature.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure
Comparison of the National Bureau of Standards and the Helsinki Temperature Scales and its Effect on the Heat Capacity of Liquid 3He below 10 mK
The Helsinki temperature scale, used earlier in measurements of the heat capacity of liquid 3He (1-10 mK), is compared with the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) noise and nuclear-orientation temperature scale. The superfluid transition temperature (Tc) of 3He at zero pressure and the superconductive transition temperatures of tungsten and beryllium were used as fixed points. Tc on the NBS scale was found to be 1.025 ± 0.02 mK, in close agreement with the Helsinki value 1.04 mK. The results support the Helsinki data on the heat capacity of 3He.Peer reviewe
ESTIMATION OF H-p(3) AMONG STAFF MEMBERS IN TWO NUCLEAR MEDICINE UNITS IN FINLAND
The eye lens exposure among 16 technicians in two nuclear medicine departments at university hospitals in Finland was investigated by measuring the operational quantity H-p(3) using EYE-D dosemeters. For all workers, the annual mean H-p(3) was estimated to be 1.1 mSv (max. 3.9 mSv). The relation between H-p(3) to routinely monitored personal dose equivalent H-p(10) was clearly correlated. Considering individual dose measurement periods (2-4 weeks), the H-p(3)/H-p(10) ratio was 0.7 (Pearson's coefficient r = 0.90, p 0.1 mSv vs. <0.1 mSv, respectively), i.e. higher Hp(10) predicts H-p(3) more reliably. Moreover, annual H-p(10) data from national dose register during 2009-2018 were used to derive the annual H-p(3) applying the H-p(3)/H-p(10) ratio. The data from Finnish nuclear medicine departments imply that routine measurements of H-p(3) among nuclear medicine technicians are not justified.Peer reviewe
Morphology of the spectral resonance structure of the electromagnetic background noise in the range of 0.1?4 Hz at <i>L</I> = 5.2
International audienceContinuous observations of fluctuations of the geomagnetic field at SodankylÀ Geophysical Observatory (L = 5.2) were used for a comprehensive morphological study of the spectral resonance structure (SRS) seen in the background electromagnetic noise in the frequency range of 0.1?4.0 Hz. It is shown that the occurrence rate of SRS is higher in the nighttime than in the daytime. The occurrence rate is higher in winter than in summer. The SRS frequencies and the difference between neighbouring eigenfrequencies (the frequency scale) increase towards nighttime and decrease towards daytime. Both frequency scale and occurrence rate exhibit a clear tendency to decrease from minimum to maximum of the solar activity cycle. It is found that the occurrence rate of SRS decreases when geomagnetic activity increases. The SRS is believed to be a consequence of a resonator for Alfvén waves, which is suggested to exist in the upper ionosphere. According to the theory of the ionospheric Alfvén resonator (IAR), characteristics of SRS crucially depend on electron density in the F-layer maximum, as well as on the altitudinal scale of the density decay above the maximum.We compared the SRS morphological properties with predictions of the IAR theory. The ionospheric parameters needed for calculation were obtained from the ionosphere model (IRI-95), as well as from measurements made with the ionosonde in SodankylÀ. We conclude that, indeed, the main morphological properties of SRS are explained on the basis of the IAR theory. The measured parameters of SRS can be used for improving the ionospheric models
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