Improving measurements of SF6 for the study of atmospheric transport and emissions

Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is a potent greenhouse gas and useful atmospheric tracer. Measurements of SF6 on global and regional scales are necessary to estimate emissions and to verify or examine the performance of atmospheric transport models. Typical precision for common gas chromatographic methods with electron capture detection (GC-ECD) is 1–2%. We have modified a common GC-ECD method to achieve measurement precision of 0.5% or better. Global mean SF6 measurements were used to examine changes in the growth rate of SF6 and corresponding SF6 emissions. Global emissions and mixing ratios from 2000–2008 are consistent with recently published work. More recent observations show a 10% decline in SF6 emissions in 2008–2009, which seems to coincide with a decrease in world economic output. This decline was short-lived, as the global SF6 growth rate has recently increased to near its 2007–2008 maximum value of 0.30±0.03 pmol mol−1 (ppt) yr−1 (95% C.L.)

Making judgements about students making work : lecturers’ assessment practices in art and design.

This research study explores the assessment practices in two higher education art and design departments. The key aim of this research was to explore art and design studio assessment practices as lived by and experienced by art and design lecturers. This work draws on two bodies of pre existing research. Firstly this study adopted innovative methodological approaches that have been employed to good effect to explore assessment in text based subjects (think aloud) and moderation mark agreement (observation). Secondly the study builds on existing research into the assessment of creative practice. By applying thinking aloud methodologies into a creative practice assessment context the authors seek to illuminate the ‘in practice’ rather than espoused assessment approaches adopted. The analysis suggests that lecturers in the study employed three macro conceptions of quality to support the judgement process. These were; the demonstration of significant learning over time, the demonstration of effective studentship and the presentation of meaningful art/design work

Martian Igneous Geochemistry: The Nature of the Martian Mantle

Mafic igneous rocks probe the interiors of their parent objects, reflecting the compositions and mineralogies of their source regions, and the magmatic processes that engendered them. Incompatible trace element contents of mafic igneous rocks are widely used to constrain the petrologic evolution of planets. We focus on incompatible element ratios of martian meteorites to constrain the petrologic evolution of Mars in the context of magma ocean/cumulate overturn models [1]. Most martian meteorites contain some cumulus grains, but regardless, their incompatible element ratios are close to those of their parent magmas. Martian meteorites form two main petrologic/ age groupings; a 1.3 Ga group composed of clinopyroxenites (nakhlites) and dunites (chassignites), and a <1 Ga group composed of basalts and lherzolites (shergottites)

Geographically touring the eastern bloc: British geography, travel cultures and the Cold War

This paper considers the role of travel in the generation of geographical knowledge of the eastern bloc by British geographers. Based on oral history and surveys of published work, the paper examines the roles of three kinds of travel experience: individual private travels, tours via state tourist agencies, and tours by academic delegations. Examples are drawn from across the eastern bloc, including the USSR, Poland, Romania, East Germany and Albania. The relationship between travel and publication is addressed, notably within textbooks, and in the Geographical Magazine. The study argues for the extension of accounts of cultures of geographical travel, and seeks to supplement the existing historiography of Cold War geography

Three Possible Origins for the Gas Layer on GJ 1214b

We present an analysis of the bulk composition of the MEarth transiting super Earth exoplanet GJ 1214b using planet interior structure models. We consider three possible origins for the gas layer on GJ 1214b: direct accretion of gas from the protoplanetary nebula, sublimation of ices, and outgassing from rocky material. Armed only with measurements of the planet mass (M_p=6.55+/-0.98 M_{earth}), radius (R_p=2.678+/-0.13 R_{earth}), and stellar irradiation level, our main conclusion is that we cannot infer a unique composition. A diverse range of planet interiors fits the measured planet properties. Nonetheless, GJ 1214b's relatively low average density (rho_p=1870+/-400 kg m^{-3}) means that it almost certainly has a significant gas component. Our second major conclusion is that under most conditions we consider GJ 1214b would not have liquid water. Even if the outer envelope is predominantly sublimated water ice, the envelope will likely consist of a super-fluid layer sandwiched between vapor above and plasma (electrically conductive fluid) below at greater depths. In our models, a low intrinsic planet luminosity (<~2TW) is needed for a water envelope on GJ 1214b to pass through the liquid phase.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, published in Ap

Chlorine budget and partitioning during the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE)

The amount of chlorine in the stratosphere has a direct influence on the magnitude of chlorine-catalyzed ozone loss. A comprehensive suite of organic source gases of chlorine in the stratosphere was measured during the NASA Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE) campaign in the arctic winter of 2000. Measurements included chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), halon 1211, solvents, methyl chloride, N2O, and CH4. Inorganic chlorine contributions from each compound were calculated using the organic chlorine measurements, mean age of air, tropospheric trends, and a method to account for mixing in the stratosphere. Total organic chlorine measured at tropospheric levels of N2O was on the order of 3500 ppt. Total calculated inorganic chlorine at a N2O mixing ratio of 50 ppb (corresponding to a mean age of 5.5 years) was on the order of 3400 ppt. CFCs were the largest contributors to total organic chlorine (55-70%) over the measured N2O range (50-315 ppb), followed by CH3Cl (15%), solvents (5-20%), and HCFCs (5-25%). CH3Cl contribution was consistently about 15% across the organic chlorine range. Contributions to total calculated inorganic chlorine at 50 ppb N2O were 58% from CFCs, 24% from solvents, 16% from CH3Cl, and 2% from HCFCs. Updates to fractional chlorine release values for each compound relative to CFC 11 were calculated from the SOLVE measurements. An average value of 0.58 was calculated for the fractional chlorine release of CFC 11 over the 3-4 year mean age range, which was lower than the previous value of 0.80. The fractional chlorine release values for HCFCs 141b and 142b relative to CFC 11 were significantly lower than previous calculations

A Blind Search for Magnetospheric Emissions from Planetary Companions to Nearby Solar-type Stars

This paper reports a blind search for magnetospheric emissions from planets around nearby stars. Young stars are likely to have much stronger stellar winds than the Sun, and because planetary magnetospheric emissions are powered by stellar winds, stronger stellar winds may enhance the radio luminosity of any orbiting planets. Using various stellar catalogs, we selected nearby stars (<~ 30 pc) with relatively young age estimates (< 3 Gyr). We constructed different samples from the stellar catalogs, finding between 100 and several hundred stars. We stacked images from the 74-MHz (4-m wavelength) VLA Low-frequency Sky Survey (VLSS), obtaining 3\sigma limits on planetary emission in the stacked images of between 10 and 33 mJy. These flux density limits correspond to average planetary luminosities less than 5--10 x 10^{23} erg/s. Using recent models for the scaling of stellar wind velocity, density, and magnetic field with stellar age, we estimate scaling factors for the strength of stellar winds, relative to the Sun, in our samples. The typical kinetic energy carried by the stellar winds in our samples is 15--50 times larger than that of the Sun, and the typical magnetic energy is 5--10 times larger. If we assume that every star is orbited by a Jupiter-like planet with a luminosity larger than that of the Jovian decametric radiation by the above factors, our limits on planetary luminosities from the stacking analysis are likely to be a factor of 10--100 above what would be required to detect the planets in a statistical sense. Similar statistical analyses with observations by future instruments, such as the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) and the Long Wavelength Array (LWA), offer the promise of improvements by factors of 10--100.Comment: 11 pages; AASTeX; accepted for publication in A

Global and regional emissions estimates for N2O

We present a comprehensive estimate of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions using observations and models from 1995 to 2008. High-frequency records of tropospheric N2O are available from measurements at Cape Grim, Tasmania; Cape Matatula, American Samoa; Ragged Point, Barbados; Mace Head, Ireland; and at Trinidad Head, California using the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) instrumentation and calibrations. The Global Monitoring Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Earth System Research Laboratory (NOAA/ESRL) has also collected discrete air samples in flasks and in situ measurements from remote sites across the globe and analyzed them for a suite of species including N2O. In addition to these major networks, we include in situ and aircraft measurements from the National Institute of Environmental Studies (NIES) and flask measurements from the Tohoku University and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) networks. All measurements show increasing atmospheric mole fractions of N2O, with a varying growth rate of 0.1-0.7% per year, resulting in a 7.4% increase in the background atmospheric mole fraction between 1979 and 2011. Using existing emission inventories as well as bottom-up process modeling results, we first create globally gridded a priori N2O emissions over the 37 years since 1975. We then use the three-dimensional chemical transport model, Model for Ozone and Related Chemical Tracers version 4 (MOZART v4), and a Bayesian inverse method to estimate global as well as regional annual emissions for five source sectors from 13 regions in the world. This is the first time that all of these measurements from multiple networks have been combined to determine emissions. Our inversion indicates that global and regional N2O emissions have an increasing trend between 1995 and 2008. Despite large uncertainties, a significant increase is seen from the Asian agricultural sector in recent years, most likely due to an increase in the use of nitrogenous fertilizers, as has been suggested by previous studies.</p

Exploring causes of interannual variability in the seasonal cycles of tropospheric nitrous oxide

Seasonal cycles in the mixing ratios of tropospheric nitrous oxide (N[subscript 2]O) are derived by detrending long-term measurements made at sites across four global surface monitoring networks. The detrended monthly data display large interannual variability, which at some sites challenges the concept of a "mean" seasonal cycle. In the Northern Hemisphere, correlations between polar winter lower stratospheric temperature and detrended N[subscript 2]O data, around the month of the seasonal minimum, provide empirical evidence for a stratospheric influence, which varies in strength from year to year and can explain much of the interannual variability in the surface seasonal cycle. Even at sites where a strong, competing, regional N[subscript 2]O source exists, such as from coastal upwelling at Trinidad Head, California, the stratospheric influence must be understood to interpret the biogeochemical signal in monthly mean data. In the Southern Hemisphere, detrended surface N[subscript 2]O monthly means are correlated with polar spring lower stratospheric temperature in months preceding the N[subscript 2]O minimum, providing empirical evidence for a coherent stratospheric influence in that hemisphere as well, in contrast to some recent atmospheric chemical transport model (ACTM) results. Correlations between the phasing of the surface N[subscript 2]O seasonal cycle in both hemispheres and both polar lower stratospheric temperature and polar vortex break-up date provide additional support for a stratospheric influence. The correlations discussed above are generally more evident in high-frequency in situ data than in data from weekly flask samples. Furthermore, the interannual variability in the N[subscript 2]O seasonal cycle is not always correlated among in situ and flask networks that share common sites, nor do the mean seasonal amplitudes always agree. The importance of abiotic influences such as the stratospheric influx and tropospheric transport on N[subscript 2]O seasonal cycles suggests that, at sites remote from local sources, surface N[subscript 2]O mixing ratio data by themselves are unlikely to provide information about seasonality in surface sources, e.g., for atmospheric inversions, unless the ACTMs employed in the inversions accurately account for these influences. An additional abioitc influence is the seasonal ingassing and outgassing of cooling and warming surface waters, which creates a thermal signal in tropospheric N[subscript 2]O that is of particular importance in the extratropical Southern Hemisphere, where it competes with the biological ocean source signal.United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (grant NNX08AB48G

Immunomagnetic t-lymphocyte depletion (ITLD) of rat bone marrow using OX-19 monoclonal antibody

Graft versus host disease (GVHD) may be abrogated and host survival prolonged by in vitro depletion of T lymphocytes from bone marrow (BM) prior to allotransplantation. Using a mouse anti-rat pan T-lymphocyte monoclonal antibody (0×19) bound to monosized, magnetic, polymer beads, T lymphocytes were removed in vitro from normal bone marrow. The removal of the T lymphocytes was confirmed by flow cytometry. Injection of the T-lymphocyte-depleted bone marrow into fully allogeneic rats prevents the induction of GVHD and prolongs host survival. A highly efficient technique of T-lymphocyte depletion using rat bone marrow is described. It involves the binding of OX-19, a MoAb directed against all rat thy-mocytes and mature peripheral T lymphocytes, to monosized, magnetic polymer spheres. Magnetic separation of T lymphocytes after mixing the allogeneic bone marrow with the bead/OX-19 complex provides for a simple, rapid depletion of T lymphocytes from the bone marrow. In vitro studies using flow cytometry and the prevention of GVHD in a fully allogeneic rat bone marrow model have been used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the depletion procedure. © 1989 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved: reproduction in whole or part not permitted