2,735 research outputs found
A Critical Examination of Spatial Biases Between MODIS and MISR Aerosol Products - Application for Potential AERONET Deployment
AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) data are the primary benchmark for evaluating satellite-retrieved aerosol properties. However, despite its extensive coverage, the representativeness of the AERONET data is rarely discussed. Indeed, many studies have shown that satellite retrieval biases have a significant degree of spatial correlation that may be problematic for higher-level processes or inverse-emissions-modeling studies. To consider these issues and evaluate relative performance in regions of few surface observations, cross-comparisons between the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) products of operational MODIS Collection 5.1 Dark Target (DT) and operational MODIS Collection 5.1 Deep Blue (DB) with MISR version 22 were conducted. Through such comparisons, we can observe coherent spatial features of the AOD bias while side-stepping the full analysis required for determining when or where either retrieval is more correct. We identify regions where MODIS to MISR AOD ratios were found to be above 1.4 and below 0.7. Regions where lower boundary condition uncertainty is likely to be a dominant factor include portions of Western North America, the Andes mountains, Saharan Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Central Asia. Similarly, microphysical biases may be an issue in South America, and specific parts of Southern Africa, India Asia, East Asia, and Indonesia. These results help identify high-priority locations for possible future deployments of both in situ and ground based remote sensing measurements. The Supplement includes a km1 file
A critical examination of spatial biases between MODIS and MISR aerosol products – application for potential AERONET deployment
AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) data are the primary benchmark for evaluating satellite-retrieved aerosol properties. However, despite its extensive coverage, the representativeness of the AERONET data is rarely discussed. Indeed, many studies have shown that satellite retrieval biases have a significant degree of spatial correlation that may be problematic for higher-level processes or inverse-emissions-modeling studies. To consider these issues and evaluate relative performance in regions of few surface observations, cross-comparisons between the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) products of operational MODIS Collection 5.1 Dark Target (DT) and operational MODIS Collection 5.1 Deep Blue (DB) with MISR version 22 were conducted. Through such comparisons, we can observe coherent spatial features of the AOD bias while sidestepping the full analysis required for determining when or where either retrieval is more correct. We identify regions where MODIS to MISR AOD ratios were found to be above 1.4 and below 0.7. Regions where lower boundary condition uncertainty is likely to be a dominant factor include portions of Western North America, the Andes mountains, Saharan Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Central Asia. Similarly, microphysical biases may be an issue in South America, and specific parts of Southern Africa, India Asia, East Asia, and Indonesia. These results help identify high-priority locations for possible future deployments of both in situ and ground based remote sensing measurements. The Supplement includes a kml file
Routine activities and proactive police activity: a macro-scale analysis of police searches in London and New York City
This paper explored how city-level changes in routine activities were associated with changes in frequencies of police searches using six years of police records from the London Metropolitan Police Service and the New York City Police Department. Routine activities were operationalised through selecting events that potentially impacted on (a) the street population, (b) the frequency of crime or (c) the level of police activity. OLS regression results indicated that routine activity variables (e.g. day of the week, periods of high demand for police service) can explain a large proportion of the variance in search frequency throughout the year. A complex set of results emerged, revealing cross-national dissimilarities and the differential impact of certain activities (e.g. public holidays). Importantly, temporal frequencies in searches are not reducible to associations between searches and recorded street crime, nor changes in on-street population. Based on the routine activity approach, a theoretical police-action model is proposed
An index to quantify an individual's scientific research output that takes into account the effect of multiple coauthorship
I propose the index ("hbar"), defined as the number of papers of an
individual that have citation count larger than or equal to the of all
coauthors of each paper, as a useful index to characterize the scientific
output of a researcher that takes into account the effect of multiple
coauthorship. The bar is higher for .Comment: A few minor changes from v1. To be published in Scientometric
Through thick or thin: Multiple components of the magneto-ionic medium towards the nearby region Sharpless 2-27 revealed by Faraday tomography
Sharpless 2-27 (Sh2-27) is a nearby region excited by
Oph. We present observations of polarized radio emission from 300 to
480MHz towards Sh2-27, made with the Parkes 64m Radio Telescope as part
of the Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey. These observations have an angular
resolution of , and the data are uniquely sensitive to
magneto-ionic structure on large angular scales. We demonstrate that background
polarized emission towards Sh2-27 is totally depolarized in our observations,
allowing us to investigate the foreground. We analyse the results of Faraday
tomography, mapping the magnetised interstellar medium along the 165pc path
to Sh2-27. The Faraday dispersion function in this direction has peaks at three
Faraday depths. We consider both Faraday thick and thin models for this
observation, finding that the thin model is preferred. We further model this as
Faraday rotation of diffuse synchrotron emission in the Local Bubble and in two
foreground neutral clouds. The Local Bubble extends for 80pc in this
direction, and we find a Faraday depth of radm. This
indicates a field directed away from the Sun with a strength of
G. The near and far neutral clouds are each about 30pc
thick, and we find Faraday depths of radm and
radm, respectively. We estimate that the
line-of-sight magnetic strengths in the near and far cloud are and . Our results demonstrate that Faraday tomography can be used
to investigate the magneto-ionic properties of foreground features in front of
nearby regions.Comment: 14+4 pages, 10+6 figures, 2 tables. In press with MNRA
Is green space in the living environment associated with people's feelings of social safety?
Abstract.
The authors investigate whether the percentage of green space in people's living environ-
ment affects their feelings of social safety positively or negatively. More specifically they investigate
the extent to which this relationship varies between urban and rural areas, between groups in the
community that can be identified as more or less vulnerable, and the extent to which different types of
green space exert different influences. The study includes 83736 Dutch citizens who were interviewed
about their feelings of social safety. The percentage of green space in the living environment of each
respondent was calculated, and data analysed by use of a three-level latent variable model, controlled
for individual and environmental background characteristics. The analyses suggest that more green
space in people's living environment is associated with enhanced feelings of social safetyöexcept in
very strongly urban areas, where enclosed green spaces are associated with reduced feelings of social
safety. Contrary to the common image of green space as a dangerous hiding place for criminal activity
which causes feelings of insecurity, the results suggest that green space generally enhances feelings of
social safety. The results also suggest, however, that green space in the most urban areas is a matter
of concern with respect to social safety.
The Lie derivative of spinor fields: theory and applications
Starting from the general concept of a Lie derivative of an arbitrary
differentiable map, we develop a systematic theory of Lie differentiation in
the framework of reductive G-structures P on a principal bundle Q. It is shown
that these structures admit a canonical decomposition of the pull-back vector
bundle i_P^*(TQ) = P\times_Q TQ over P. For classical G-structures, i.e.
reductive G-subbundles of the linear frame bundle, such a decomposition defines
an infinitesimal canonical lift. This lift extends to a prolongation
Gamma-structure on P. In this general geometric framework the concept of a Lie
derivative of spinor fields is reviewed. On specializing to the case of the
Kosmann lift, we recover Kosmann's original definition. We also show that in
the case of a reductive G-structure one can introduce a "reductive Lie
derivative" with respect to a certain class of generalized infinitesimal
automorphisms, and, as an interesting by-product, prove a result due to
Bourguignon and Gauduchon in a more general manner. Next, we give a new
characterization as well as a generalization of the Killing equation, and
propose a geometric reinterpretation of Penrose's Lie derivative of "spinor
fields". Finally, we present an important application of the theory of the Lie
derivative of spinor fields to the calculus of variations.Comment: 28 pages, 1 figur
Resonances, instabilities, and structure selection of driven Josephson lattice in layered superconductors
We investigate dynamics of Josephson vortex lattice in layered high T
superconductors at high magnetic fields. It is shown that the average electric
current depends on the lattice structure and is resonantly enhanced when the
Josephson frequency matches the frequency of the plasma mode. We find the
stability regions of moving lattice. It is shown that a specific lattice
structure at given velocity is uniquely selected by the boundary conditions: at
small velocities periodic triangular lattice is stable and looses its stability
at some critical velocity. At even higher velocities a structure close to a
rectangular lattice is restored.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
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