To grate a liquid into tiny droplets by its impact on a hydrophobic micro-grid

We report on experiments of drop impacting a hydrophobic micro-grid, of typical spacing a few tens of $\mu$m. Above a threshold in impact speed, liquid emerges to the other side, forming micro-droplets of size about that of the grid holes. We propose a method to produce either a mono-disperse spray or a single tiny droplet of volume as small as a few picoliters corresponding to a volume division of the liquid drop by a factor of up to 10$^5$. We also discuss the discrepancy of the measured thresholds with that predicted by a balance between inertia and capillarity.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in Applied Physics Letter

Etude des oscillations neutrino avec détection d'électrons dans l'expérience OPERA et reconstruction et analyse des gerbes électromagnétiques

National audienc

Droplets displacement and oscillations induced by ultrasonic surface acoustic waves: a quantitative study

We present an experimental study of a droplet interacting with an ultrasonic surface acoustic wave (SAW). Depending on the amplitude of the wave, the drop can either experience an internal flow with its contact-line pinned, or (at higher amplitude) move along the direction of the wave also with internal flow. Both situations appear together with oscillations of the drop free-surface. The physical origins of the internal mixing flow as well as the drop displacement and surface waves are still not well understood. In order to give insights of the underlying physics involved in these phenomena, we carried out an experimental and numerical study. The results suggest that the surface deformation of the drop can be related as a combination between acoustic streaming effect and radiation pressure inside the drop.Comment: 9 pages, 14 figures. To appear in Physical Review

Data sources for rescuing the rich heritage of Mediterranean historical surface climate data

10.1002/gdj3.4Availability of long-term and high-quality instrumental climate records is still insufficient and the rich heritage of meteorological surface observations is largely underexploited in many parts of the world. This is particularly striking over the Greater Mediterranean region (GMR), where meteorological observations have been taken since the 18th century at some locations. The lack of high quality and long series here is despite this region being regarded as a climate change hot spot. This article mainly assesses relevant sources containing Mediterranean historical climate data and metadata either from online repositories worldwide or physical archives, with the emphasis here on the rich holdings kept at French archives. A particular case study is the data rescue (DARE) program undertaken by the Algerian National Meteorological Service, as well as some of the past and ongoing projects and initiatives aimed at enhancing climate data availability and accessibility over the GMR. Our findings point to the high potential for undertaking DARE activities over the GMR and the need for bringing longer and higher quality climate time series to support a diverse number of scientific and technical assessments and policies

Sensible and latent heat flux from radiometric surface temperatures at the regional scale: methodology and validation

The CarboEurope Regional Experiment Strategy (CERES) was designed to develop and test a range of methodologies to assess regional surface energy and mass exchange of a large study area in the south-western part of France. This paper describes a methodology to estimate sensible and latent heat fluxes on the basis of net radiation, surface radiometric temperature measurements and information obtained from available products derived from the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) geostationary meteorological satellite, weather stations and ground-based eddy covariance towers. It is based on a simplified bulk formulation of sensible heat flux that considers the degree of coupling between the vegetation and the atmosphere and estimates latent heat as the residual term of net radiation. Estimates of regional energy fluxes obtained in this way are validated at the regional scale by means of a comparison with direct flux measurements made by airborne eddy-covariance. The results show an overall good matching between airborne fluxes and estimates of sensible and latent heat flux obtained from radiometric surface temperatures that holds for different weather conditions and different land use types. The overall applicability of the proposed methodology to regional studies is discusse

Generación automática de contornos de nivel

En este trabajo se realiza un estudio comparativo de los principales algoritmos para generación de contornos de nivel desarrollados hasta la fecha. Las comparaciones realizadas evaluan los algoritmos bajo los criterios de tiempo de cálculo y calidad de los contornos de nivel generados.Peer Reviewe

Generación automática de contornos de nivel

En este trabajo se realiza un estudio comparativo de los principales algoritmos para generación de contornos de nivel desarrollados hasta la fecha. Las comparaciones realizadas evaluan los algoritmos bajo los criterios de tiempo de cálculo y calidad de los contornos de nivel generados.Peer Reviewe

From the stress response function (back) to the sandpile `dip'

We relate the pressure `dip' observed at the bottom of a sandpile prepared by successive avalanches to the stress profile obtained on sheared granular layers in response to a localized vertical overload. We show that, within a simple anisotropic elastic analysis, the skewness and the tilt of the response profile caused by shearing provide a qualitative agreement with the sandpile dip effect. We conclude that the texture anisotropy produced by the avalanches is in essence similar to that induced by a simple shearing -- albeit tilted by the angle of repose of the pile. This work also shows that this response function technique could be very well adapted to probe the texture of static granular packing.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, accepted version to appear in Eur. Phys. J.

Asymptotic Scaling of the Diffusion Coefficient of Fluctuating "Pulled" Fronts

We present a (heuristic) theoretical derivation for the scaling of the diffusion coefficient $D_f$ for fluctuating ``pulled'' fronts. In agreement with earlier numerical simulations, we find that as $N\to\infty$, $D_f$ approaches zero as $1/\ln^3N$, where $N$ is the average number of particles per correlation volume in the stable phase of the front. This behaviour of $D_f$ stems from the shape fluctuations at the very tip of the front, and is independent of the microscopic model.Comment: Some minor algebra corrected, to appear in Rapid Comm., Phys. Rev.