Retrievals of ethane from groundbased highresolution FTIR solar observations with updated line parameters: determination of the optimum strategy for the Jungfraujoch station.

Ethane (C2H6) is the most abundant Non-Methane HydroCarbon (NMHC) in the Earth’s atmosphere, with a lifetime of approximately 2 months. Its main sources are biomass burning, natural gas loss and biofuel consumption. Oxidation by the hydroxyl radical is the major C2H6 sink as it controls its strong modulation throug the year. C2H6 is involved in the formation of tropospheric O3 and in the destruction of atmospheric methane through changes in OH. C2H6 is an indirect greenhouse gas with a net-global warming potential of 5.5 (100-yr horizon). Updates of retrieval parameters such as the spectroscopic linelists have been recently published. We will therefore characterize three µ-windows encompassing the strongest C2H6 features after careful selection of these new parameters, accounting at best for all interfering species. The aim is to lessen the fitting residuals while maximizing the information content, the precision and the reliability of the retrieved product. We will present updated C2H6 total and tropospheric column time series, using the SFIT-2 algorithm (v3.91) and high-resolution Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) solar absorption spectra recorded with a Bruker 120HR instrument, at the high altitude research station of the Jungfraujoch (46.5°N, 8.0°E, 3580 m asl), within the framework of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC, http://www.ndacc.org). Comparisons with synthetic data produced by chemical transport models will also be presented

A statistical analysis of time trends in atmospheric ethane

Ethane is the most abundant non-methane hydrocarbon in the Earth's atmosphere and an important precursor of tropospheric ozone through various chemical pathways. Ethane is also an indirect greenhouse gas (global warming potential), influencing the atmospheric lifetime of methane through the consumption of the hydroxyl radical (OH). Understanding the development of trends and identifying trend reversals in atmospheric ethane is therefore crucial. Our dataset consists of four series of daily ethane columns obtained from ground-based FTIR measurements. As many other decadal time series, our data are characterized by autocorrelation, heteroskedasticity, and seasonal effects. Additionally, missing observations due to instrument failure or unfavorable measurement conditions are common in such series. The goal of this paper is therefore to analyze trends in atmospheric ethane with statistical tools that correctly address these data features. We present selected methods designed for the analysis of time trends and trend reversals. We consider bootstrap inference on broken linear trends and smoothly varying nonlinear trends. In particular, for the broken trend model, we propose a bootstrap method for inference on the break location and the corresponding changes in slope. For the smooth trend model we construct simultaneous confidence bands around the nonparametrically estimated trend. Our autoregressive wild bootstrap approach, combined with a seasonal filter, is able to handle all issues mentioned above

The Bondons: The Quantum Particles of the Chemical Bond

By employing the combined Bohmian quantum formalism with the U(1) and SU(2) gauge transformations of the non-relativistic wave-function and the relativistic spinor, within the Schrödinger and Dirac quantum pictures of electron motions, the existence of the chemical field is revealed along the associate bondon particle B̶ characterized by its mass (mB̶), velocity (vB̶), charge (eB̶), and life-time (tB̶). This is quantized either in ground or excited states of the chemical bond in terms of reduced Planck constant ħ, the bond energy Ebond and length Xbond, respectively. The mass-velocity-charge-time quaternion properties of bondons’ particles were used in discussing various paradigmatic types of chemical bond towards assessing their covalent, multiple bonding, metallic and ionic features. The bondonic picture was completed by discussing the relativistic charge and life-time (the actual zitterbewegung) problem, i.e., showing that the bondon equals the benchmark electronic charge through moving with almost light velocity. It carries negligible, although non-zero, mass in special bonding conditions and towards observable femtosecond life-time as the bonding length increases in the nanosystems and bonding energy decreases according with the bonding length-energy relationship Ebond[kcal/mol]×Xbond[A0]=182019, providing this way the predictive framework in which the B̶ particle may be observed. Finally, its role in establishing the virtual states in Raman scattering was also established

Halogenated source gases measured by FTIR at the Jungfraujoch station: updated trends and new target species

In this contribution, we present decadal time series of halogenated source gases monitored at the high altitude station of the Jungfraujoch (46.5°N, 8°E, 3580 m asl) with Fourier Transform Infared (FTIR) spectrometers, within the framework of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change. Total column trends presented in previous studies for CFC-11, -12 and HCFC-22, CCl4, HCFC-142b, CF4 and SF6 will be updated using the latest available Jungfraujoch solar observations. Investigations dealing with the definition of approaches to retrieve additional halogenated source gases from FTIR spectra will also be evoked. Our trend results will be critically discussed and compared with measurements performed in the northern hemisphere by the in situ networks

Changes in atmospheric composition discerned from long-term NDACC measurements: trends in direct greenhouse gases derived from infrared solar absorption spectra recorded at the Jungfraujoch station

The University of Liège (ULg) is operating -under clear sky conditions- two state-of-the-art Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometers at the high-altitude research station of the Jungfraujoch (Swiss Alps, 46.5ºN, 3580m asl), within the framework of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Changes (NDACC). Routine FTIR operation started in 1984. Since then, it has been continued without disruption, allowing collecting more than 45000 high-resolution broadband IR solar absorption spectra, between 2 and 16 µm, using either HgCdTe or InSb detectors as well as a suite of optical filters. Typically, the spectral resolutions achieved lie in the 0.003 to 0.009 cm-1 interval while signal-to-noise ratios of 1000 and more are reached. Numerous narrow-band IR spectra essentially recorded from 1976 to 1989 with grating instruments are also available. Their analyses with modern tools have recently started [Bader et al., 2011] and will be pursued to consistently extend our datasets back in the 1970s. Geophysical parameters are deduced from the ULg observational database either with the SFIT-1, SFIT-2 or PROFFIT-9 algorithm, allowing producing total column time series of the target gases. In addition, information on their vertical distributions with altitude can generally be derived when using SFIT-2 or PROFFIT-9 which both implement the Optimal Estimation Method of Rodgers [1990]. Presently, more than two dozen atmospheric species are systematically retrieved from the Jungfraujoch observations, allowing the monitoring of key constituents of the Earth's atmosphere which play important roles in stratospheric ozone depletion and/or in global warming. This communication will focus on the direct and major greenhouse gases available from our database, namely water vapor, CO2, CH4, N2O, tropospheric ozone, CFC-11, CFC-12, HCFC-22, CCl4, SF6, as well as CF4 which has recently been added to our targets list [Duchatelet et al., 2011]. Trends and associated uncertainties characterizing the available -and often multi-decadal- time series have been derived or updated with a statistical bootstrap resampling tool [Gardiner et al., 2008], they will be presented and critically compared with data available from the literature

Effect of Crystallographic Texture on Magnetic Characteristics of Cobalt Nanowires

Cobalt nanowires with controlled diameters have been synthesized using electrochemical deposition in etched ion-track polycarbonate membranes. Structural characterization of these nanowires with diameter 70, 90, 120 nm and length 30 μm was performed by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction techniques. The as-prepared wires show uniform diameter along the whole length and X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that [002] texture of these wires become more pronounced as diameter is reduced. Magnetic characterization of the nanowires shows a clear difference of squareness and coercivity between parallel and perpendicular orientations of the wires with respect to the applied field direction. In case of parallel applied field, the coercivity has been found to be decreasing with increasing diameter of the wires while in perpendicular case; the coercivity observes lower values for larger diameter. The results are explained by taking into account the magnetocrystalline and shape anisotropies with respect to the applied field and domain transformation mechanism when single domain limit is surpassed

Flexible Usage and Interconnectivity of Diverse Cell Death Pathways Protect against Intracellular Infection.

Programmed cell death contributes to host defense against pathogens. To investigate the relative importance of pyroptosis, necroptosis, and apoptosis during Salmonella infection, we infected mice and macrophages deficient for diverse combinations of caspases-1, -11, -12, and -8 and receptor interacting serine/threonine kinase 3 (RIPK3). Loss of pyroptosis, caspase-8-driven apoptosis, or necroptosis had minor impact on Salmonella control. However, combined deficiency of these cell death pathways caused loss of bacterial control in mice and their macrophages, demonstrating that host defense can employ varying components of several cell death pathways to limit intracellular infections. This flexible use of distinct cell death pathways involved extensive cross-talk between initiators and effectors of pyroptosis and apoptosis, where initiator caspases-1 and -8 also functioned as executioners when all known effectors of cell death were absent. These findings uncover a highly coordinated and flexible cell death system with in-built fail-safe processes that protect the host from intracellular infections.Wellcome Trus