Assimilation of ground-based and airborne lidar data into the MM5 4D-Var system

This work investigates the impact of assimilating water vapor Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) data into mesoscale Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. Two cases from the field campaigns International H20 Project 2002 (IHOP_2002) and International Lindenberg Campaign for Assessment of Humidity- and Cloud-Profiling Systems and its Impact on High-Resolution Modelling 2005 (LAUNCH-2005) are presented. In the first case, airborne water vapor Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) data are used for an assimilation for 24 May 2002, where convection occurred along an eastward moving dryline in western Texas and Oklahoma south of a triple point that formed in western Oklahoma. In the second case, a network of three ground based water vapor Raman lidars, operated behind a sharp frontal rain band with a northwesterly flow, are used. The method employed, Four-Dimensional Variational Data Assimilation (4D-Var), is described in relation to other methods and the implementation is given in detail. The data assimilation results in a large modification of the initial fields. The assimilation into the preconvective conditions changed not only the water vapor field but also the location of convergence lines, causing positive modification of Convective Initiation (CI). In the LAUNCH-2005 case a strong correction of the vertical structure and the absolute values of the initial water-vapor field of the order of 1g/kg was found. This occurred mainly upstream of the lidar systems within an area that was comparable with the domain covered by the lidar systems. The correction of the water-vapor field was validated using independent Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors. Much better agreement with GPS zenith wet path delay was achieved with the initial water-vapor field after 4D-Var. Furthermore, the impact of the assimilation and its temporal evolution was investigated with introduced measures. The results demonstrate the high value of accurate vertically resolved mesoscale water vapor observations and advanced data assimilation systems for short-range weather forecasting.Diese Arbeit untersucht die Auswirkungen der Assimilation von Wasserdampf Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar)-Daten in mesoskalige numerische Wettervorhersagemodelle (NWP). Zwei Fallstudien aus den Feldkampagnen International H2O Project 2002 (IHOP_2002) und International Lindenberg Campaign for Assessment of Humidity- and Cloud-Profiling Systems and its Impact on High-Resolution Modelling 2005 (LAUNCH-2005) werden vorgestellt. Im ersten Fall wurden flugzeuggestützte Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL)-Wasserdampf-Daten für eine Assimilation am 24. Mai 2002 genutzt. An diesem Tag trat Konvektion entlang einer sich ostwärts bewegenden Feuchtefront im Westen Texas und in Oklahoma, südlich eines Tripelpunkt, auf. Im zweiten Fall wurde ein Netzwerk von drei bodengestützten Wasserdampf-Raman-Lidar-Systemen benutzt, welches nach Durchzug eines Regenbandes entlang einer Front und bei nordwestlichem Wind betrieben wurde. Die verwendete Methode, Four-Dimensional Variational Data Assimilation (4D-Var), wird erläutert und mit anderen Datenassimilationsmethoden verglichen, wobei die hierfür notwendigen Implementationen detailliert beschrieben werden. Die Datenassimilation hat eine große Änderung der Anfangsbedingungen zur Folge. Die Assimilation in die prekonvektiven Bedingungen veränderte nicht nur die Verteilung des Wasserdampfes, sondern auch die Lage von Konvergenzlinien, was die Auslösung von Konvektion (CI) positiv modifizierte. Im LAUNCH-2005 Fall wurde eine starke Korrektur der vertikalen Struktur und der absoluten Menge des initialen Wasserdampfes in der Größenordnung von 1g/kg festgestellt. Dies trifft hauptsächlich auf Gebiete im Lee der Lidar-Systeme zu. Die Korrektur des Wasserdampffeldes wurde mit unabhängigen Global Positioning System (GPS)-Messungen validiert. Durch die 4D-Var wurde eine bessere Übereinstimmung des Wasserdampf-Anfangsfeldes mit GPS Zenit Wet Path Delay (ZWD) erreicht. Außerdem wurde die Auswirkung der Assimilation und die weitere zeitlicher Veränderung mithilfe eingeführter Maße untersucht. Das Resultat zeigt den großen Wert akkurater und vertikal aufgelöster mesoskaliger Wasserdampfbeobachtungen sowie fortschrittlicher Datenassimilationsmethoden für die kurzfristige Wettervorhersage

Specific Targeting of Lymphoma Cells Using Semisynthetic Anti-Idiotype Shark Antibodies

The B-cell receptor (BCR) is a key player of the adaptive immune system. It is a unique part of immunoglobulin (Ig) molecules expressed on the surface of B cells. In case of many B- cell lymphomas, the tumor cells express a tumor-speci fi c and functionally active BCR, also known as idiotype. Utilizing the idiotype as target for lymphoma therapy has emerged to be demanding since the idiotype differs from patient to patient. Previous studies have shown that shark-derived antibody domains (vNARs) isolated from a semi-synthetic CDR3-randomized library allow for the rapid generation of anti-idiotype binders. In this study, we evaluated the potential of generating patient-speci fi c binders against the idiotype of lymphomas. To this end, the BCRs of three different lymphoma cell lines SUP-B8, Daudi, and IM-9 were identi fi ed, the variable domains were reformatted and the resulting monoclonal antibodies produced. The SUP-B8 BCR served as antigen in fl uorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)-based screening of the yeast-displayed vNAR libraries which resulted after three rounds of screening in the enrichment of antigen-binding vNARs. Five vNARs were expressed as Fc fusion proteins and consequently analyzed for their binding to soluble antigen using biolayer interferometry (BLI) revealing binding constants in the lower single-digit nanomolar range. These variants showed speci fi c binding to the parental SUP-B8 cell line con fi rming a similar folding of the recombinantly expressed proteins compared with the native cell surface-presented BCR. First initial experiments to utilize the generated vNAR-Fc variants for BCR-clustering to induce apoptosis or ADCC/ADCP did not result in a signi fi cant decrease of cell viability. Here, we report an alternative approach for a personalized B-cell lymphoma therapy based on the construction of vNAR-Fc antibody-drug conjugates to enable speci fi c killing of malignant B cells, which may widen the therapeutic window for B-cell lymphoma therapy

Specific Targeting of Lymphoma Cells Using Semisynthetic Anti-Idiotype Shark Antibodies

The B-cell receptor (BCR) is a key player of the adaptive immune system. It is a unique part of immunoglobulin (Ig) molecules expressed on the surface of B cells. In case of many B-cell lymphomas, the tumor cells express a tumor-specific and functionally active BCR, also known as idiotype. Utilizing the idiotype as target for lymphoma therapy has emerged to be demanding since the idiotype differs from patient to patient. Previous studies have shown that shark-derived antibody domains (vNARs) isolated from a semi-synthetic CDR3-randomized library allow for the rapid generation of anti-idiotype binders. In this study, we evaluated the potential of generating patient-specific binders against the idiotype of lymphomas. To this end, the BCRs of three different lymphoma cell lines SUP-B8, Daudi, and IM-9 were identified, the variable domains were reformatted and the resulting monoclonal antibodies produced. The SUP-B8 BCR served as antigen in fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)-based screening of the yeast-displayed vNAR libraries which resulted after three rounds of screening in the enrichment of antigen-binding vNARs. Five vNARs were expressed as Fc fusion proteins and consequently analyzed for their binding to soluble antigen using biolayer interferometry (BLI) revealing binding constants in the lower single-digit nanomolar range. These variants showed specific binding to the parental SUP-B8 cell line confirming a similar folding of the recombinantly expressed proteins compared with the native cell surface-presented BCR. First initial experiments to utilize the generated vNAR-Fc variants for BCR-clustering to induce apoptosis or ADCC/ADCP did not result in a significant decrease of cell viability. Here, we report an alternative approach for a personalized B-cell lymphoma therapy based on the construction of vNAR-Fc antibody-drug conjugates to enable specific killing of malignant B cells, which may widen the therapeutic window for B-cell lymphoma therapy

On the valence-bond solid phase of the crossed-chain quantum spin model

Using a series expansion based on the flow-equation method we study the ground state energy and the elementary triplet excitations of a generalized model of crossed spin-1/2 chains starting from the limit of decoupled quadrumers. The triplet dispersion is shown to be very sensitive to the inter-quadrumer frustration, exhibiting a line of almost complete localization as well as lines of quantum phase transitions limiting the stability of the valence-bond solid phase. In the vicinity of the checkerboard-point a finite window of exchange couplings is found with a non-zero spin-gap, consistent with known results from exact diagonalization. The ground state energy is lower than that of the bare quadrumer case for all exchange couplings investigated. In the limiting situation of the fully frustrated checkerboard magnet our results agree with earlier series expansion studies.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

The Bose-Einstein Condensate and Cold Atom Laboratory

© 2020, The Author(s). Microgravity eases several constraints limiting experiments with ultracold and condensed atoms on ground. It enables extended times of flight without suspension and eliminates the gravitational sag for trapped atoms. These advantages motivated numerous initiatives to adapt and operate experimental setups on microgravity platforms. We describe the design of the payload, motivations for design choices, and capabilities of the Bose-Einstein Condensate and Cold Atom Laboratory (BECCAL), a NASA-DLR collaboration. BECCAL builds on the heritage of previous devices operated in microgravity, features rubidium and potassium, multiple options for magnetic and optical trapping, different methods for coherent manipulation, and will offer new perspectives for experiments on quantum optics, atom optics, and atom interferometry in the unique microgravity environment on board the International Space Station

The Bose-Einstein Condensate and Cold Atom Laboratory

Microgravity eases several constraints limiting experiments with ultracold andcondensed atoms on ground. It enables extended times of flight withoutsuspension and eliminates the gravitational sag for trapped atoms. Theseadvantages motivated numerous initiatives to adapt and operate experimentalsetups on microgravity platforms. We describe the design of the payload,motivations for design choices, and capabilities of the Bose-Einstein Condensateand Cold Atom Laboratory (BECCAL), a NASA-DLR collaboration. BECCALbuilds on the heritage of previous devices operated in microgravity, featuresrubidium and potassium, multiple options for magnetic and optical trapping,different methods for coherent manipulation, and will offer new perspectives forexperiments on quantum optics, atom optics, and atom interferometry in theunique microgravity environment on board the International Space Station

Development and optimization of the IPM MM5 GPS slant path 4DVAR system

This article describes the development of tools for routine 4-dimensional variational data assimilation of Global Positioning System Slant Total Delay (STD) data in the framework of the MM5 system at the Institute of Physics and Meteorology of the University of Hohenheim. The Slant Total Delay forward operator is introduced which allows model validation and the assimilation in the Message-Passing Interface environment. An experiment is conducted which highlights the importance of accurate model physics in the variational assimilation system. We demonstrate that the model minus observation statistics of STD data crucially depends on the convection scheme and the implementation of horizontal diffusion. A set of modifications to the existing non linear, tangent linear and adjoint model is presented. These include an improvement of the horizontal diffusion scheme and the implementation of the Grell cumulus convective scheme in order to eliminate the observed systematic tendency in the model minus observation statistics of the STD data and precipitation in mountainous terrain. A first assimilation experiment with the improved MM5 variational assimilation system shows promising results

Four-dimensional variational data analysis of water vapor Raman lidar data and their impact on mesoscale forecasts

The impact of water vapor observations on mesoscale initial fields provided by a triangle of Raman lidar systems covering an area of about 200 km × 200 km is investigated. A test case during the Lindenberg Campaign for Assessment of Humidity and Cloud Profiling Systems and its Impact on High-Resolution Modeling (LAUNCH-2005) was chosen. Evaluation of initial water vapor fields derived from ECMWF analysis revealed that in the model the highly variable vertical structure of water vapor profiles was not recovered and vertical gradients were smoothed out. Using a 3-h data assimilation window and a resolution of 10-30 min, continuous water vapor data from these observations were assimilated in the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University-NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5) by means of a four-dimensional variational data analysis (4DVAR). A strong correction of the vertical structure and the absolute values of the initial water vapor field of the order of 1 g kg-1 was found. This occurred mainly upstream of the lidar systems within an area, which was comparable with the domain covered by the lidar systems. The correction of the water vapor field was validated using independent global positioning system (GPS) sensors. Much better agreement to GPS zenith wet delay was achieved with the initial water vapor field after 4DVAR. The impact region was transported with the mean wind and was still visible after 4 h of free forecast time.Peer reviewe