6,860 research outputs found
Development, fabrication and testing of a magnetically connected plastic vacuum probe surface sampler
The sampler utilizes permanent magnets and soft metal pole pieces to connect the cone/filter assembly to the sampling head and vacuum supply. The cone/filter assembly is packaged in a plastic container and presterilized so that the need for any human contact during the sampling procedure is completely eliminated. Microbiological tests have demonstrated that the sampling efficiency is not affected by the magnetic coupling apparatus and that the probe appears to function as efficiently as the conventional plastic and Sandia vacuum probes
The role of mineral aerosols in shaping the regional climate of West Africa
This article examines the role of mineral aerosols in the regional climate of West Africa. Analysis is completed by comparing two 30 year simulations using a regional climate model (RegCM3-IBIS). The two simulations are identical in structure except one includes the representation of mineral aerosols via a fully coupled radiatively interactive dust emissions and aerosol tracer model; the other simulation does not. To discern the impact of dust on West Africa's climate, comparisons are made between the two simulations' surface climatology as well as atmospheric dynamics. It is found that RegCM3-IBIS and its dust model perform well in simulating the temporal and spatial distributions of mineral aerosols over the Sahel and Sahara. Consistent with previous studies over the region, RegCM3-IBIS simulates high-dust loading over the region (aerosol optical depth of 0.5–1.1), which results in significant incident shortwave radiation attenuation (25–50 W/m2) and temperature cooling (0.5°C–1.25°C). Depending on the underlying surface brightness, the top of atmosphere net radiative forcing may be positive (bright desert surfaces) or negative (dark, vegetated surface) with important implications on surface temperature cooling. Here it is proposed that the effects of dust on West African rainfall are distinctly different across the ocean-land border and the desert border region of the Sahel/Sahara. Nevertheless, in both regions, the change in rainfall is less than 10% of the total annual values. Therefore, this work concludes that the current, observed, dust loading over West Africa does not significantly affect rainfall via changes in the radiation budget. However, it is important to note that this work does not include mineral aerosol effects on sea surface temperatures, which may be significant in influencing the results
Introducing an Irrigation Scheme to a Regional Climate Model: A Case Study over West Africa
This article presents a new irrigation scheme and biome to the dynamic vegetation model, Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS), coupled to version 3 of the Regional Climate Model (RegCM3-IBIS). The new land cover allows for only the plant functional type (crop) to exist in an irrigated grid cell. Irrigation water (i.e., negative runoff) is applied until the soil root zone reaches relative field capacity. The new scheme allows for irrigation scheduling (i.e., when to apply water) and for the user to determine the crop to be grown. Initial simulations show a large sensitivity of the scheme to soil texture types, how the water is applied, and the climatic conditions over the region. Application of the new scheme is tested over West Africa, specifically Mali and Niger, to simulate the potential irrigation of the Niger River. A realistic representation of irrigation of the Niger River is performed by constraining the land irrigated by the annual flow of the Niger River and the amount of arable land in the region as reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). A 30-yr simulation including irrigated cropland is compared to a 30-yr simulation that is identical but with no irrigation of the Niger. Results indicate a significant greening of the irrigated land as evapotranspiration over the crop fields largely increases—mostly via increases in transpiration from plant growth. The increase in the evapotranspiration, or latent heat flux (by 65–150 W m[superscript −2]), causes a significant decrease in the sensible heat flux while surface temperatures cool on average by nearly 5°C. This cooling is felt downwind, where average daily temperatures outside the irrigation are reduced by 0.5°–1.0°C. Likewise, large increases in 2-m specific humidity are experienced across the irrigated cropland (on the order of 5 g kg[superscript −1]) but also extend farther north and east, reflecting the prevailing surface southwesterlies. Changes (decreases) in rainfall are found only over the irrigated lands of west Mali. The decrease in rainfall can be explained by the large surface cooling and collapse of the boundary layer (by approximately 500 m). Both lead to a reduction in the triggering of convection as the convective inhibition, or negative buoyant energy, is never breached. Nevertheless, the new scheme and land cover allows for a novel line of research that can accurately reflect the effects of irrigation on climate and the surrounding environment using a dynamic vegetation model coupled to a regional climate model.Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science
Emission of neutron-proton and proton-proton pairs in electron scattering induced by meson-exchange currents
We use a relativistic model of meson-exchange currents to compute the
proton-neutron and proton-proton yields in scattering from C in
the 2p-2h channel. We compute the response functions and cross section with the
relativistic Fermi gas model for a range of kinematics from intermediate to
high momentum transfers. We find a large contribution of neutron-proton
configurations in the initial state, as compared to proton-proton pairs. The
different emission probabilities of distinct species of nucleon pairs are
produced in our model only by meson-exchange currents, mainly by the
isobar current. We also analyze the effect of the exchange contribution and
show that the direct/exchange interference strongly affects the determination
of the np/pp ratio.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Nuclear dependence of the 2p2h electroweak response in the Relativistic Fermi Gas model
We present the results of a recent study of meson-exchange two-body currents
in lepton-nucleus inclusive scattering at various kinematics and for different
nuclei within the Relativistic Fermi Gas model. We show that the associated
nuclear response functions at their peaks scale as , for Fermi
momentum going from 200 to 300 MeV/c and momentum transfer from
to 2 GeV/c. This behavior is different from what is found for the
quasielastic response, which scales as . This result can be valuable in
the analyses of long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, which need to
implement these nuclear effects in Monte Carlo simulations for different
kinematics and nuclear targets.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, Proccedings of the Workshop "Advanced Aspects in
Nuclear Structure and Reactions at Different Energy Scales", 25-28 April
2017, Arbanasi, Bulgari
Density dependence of 2p-2h meson-exchange currents
We analyze the density dependence of the contribution of meson-exchange
currents to the lepton-nucleus inclusive cross section in the two-particle
two-hole channel. The model is based on the Relativistic Fermi Gas, where each
nucleus is characterized by its Fermi momentum . We find that the 2p-2h
nuclear response functions at their peaks scale as for Fermi momentum
going from 200 to 300 MeV/c and momentum transfer from to 2 GeV/c.
This behavior is different from what is found for the quasielastic response,
which scales as . Additionally, the deep scaling region is also
discussed and there the usual scaling behavior is found to be preferable.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Emission of neutron-proton and proton-proton pairs in neutrino scattering
We use a recently developed model of relativistic meson-exchange currents to
compute the neutron-proton and proton-proton yields in
scattering from C in the 2p-2h channel. We compute the response
functions and cross sections with the relativistic Fermi gas model for
different kinematics from intermediate to high momentum transfers. We find a
large contribution of neutron-proton configurations in the initial state, as
compared to proton-proton pairs. In the case of charge-changing neutrino
scattering the 2p-2h cross section of proton-proton emission ({\it i.e.,} np in
the initial state) is much larger than for neutron-proton emission ({\it i.e.,}
two neutrons in the initial state) by a -dependent factor. The
different emission probabilities of distinct species of nucleon pairs are
produced in our model only by meson-exchange currents, mainly by the
isobar current. We also analyze other effects including exchange contributions
and the effect of the axial and vector currents.Comment: 9 pages and 8 figure
Glitches in Southern Pulsars
Timing observations of 40 mostly young pulsars using the ATNF Parkes radio
telescope between 1990 January and 1998 December are reported. In total, 20
previously unreported glitches and ten other glitches were detected in 11
pulsars. These included 12 glitches in PSR J13416220, corresponding to a
glitch rate of 1.5 glitches per year. We also detected the largest known
glitch, in PSR J16145047, with
where is the pulse frequency. Glitch parameters were determined
both by extrapolating timing solutions to inter-glitch intervals and by
phase-coherent timing fits across the glitch(es). Analysis of glitch
parameters, both from this work and from previously published results, shows
that most glitches have a fractional amplitude of between
and . There is no consistent relationship between glitch
amplitude and the time since the previous glitch or the time to the following
glitch, either for the ensemble or for individual pulsars. As previously
recognised, the largest glitch activity is seen in pulsars with ages of order
10 years, but for about 30 per cent of such pulsars, no glitches were
detected in the 8-year data span. There is some evidence for a new type of
timing irregularity in which there is a significant increase in pulse frequency
over a few days, accompanied by a decrease in the magnitude of the slowdown
rate. Fits of an exponential recovery to post-glitch data show that for most
older pulsars, only a small fraction of the glitch decays. In some younger
pulsars, a large fraction of the glitch decays, but in others, there is very
little decay.Comment: 19 pages, 20 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
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