Sea spray fluxes from the southwest coast of the United Kingdom-Dependence on wind speed and wave height

Fluxes of sea spray aerosols were measured with the eddy covariance technique from the Penlee Point Atmospheric Observatory (PPAO) on the southwest coast of the United Kingdom over several months from 2015 to 2017. Two different fast-responding aerosol instruments were employed: an ultra-fine condensation particle counter (CPC) that detects aerosols with a radius above ca. 1.5 nm and a compact lightweight aerosol spectrometer probe (CLASP) that provides a size distribution between ca. 0.1 and 6 µm. The measured sea spray emission fluxes essentially all originated from the shallow waters upwind, rather than from the surf zone/shore break. Fluxes from the CPC and from the CLASP (integrated over all sizes) were generally comparable, implying a reasonable closure in the aerosol number flux. Compared to most previous observations over the open ocean, at the same wind speed the mean sea spray number fluxes at PPAO are much greater. Significant wave height and wave Reynolds numbers explain more variability in sea spray fluxes than wind speed does, implying that enhanced wave breaking resulting from shoaling in shallow coastal waters is a dominant control on sea spray emission. Comparisons between two different wind sectors (open water vs. fetch-limited Plymouth Sound) and between two sets of sea states (growing vs. falling seas) further confirm the importance of wave characteristics on sea spray fluxes. These results suggest that spatial variability in wave characteristics need to be taken into account in predictions of coastal sea spray productions and also aerosol loading

Resolve survey Photometry and volume-limited calibration of the Photometric gas fractions technique

We present custom-processed ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared photometry for the REsolved Spectroscopy of a Local VolumE (RESOLVE) survey, a volume-limited census of stellar, gas, and dynamical mass within two subvolumes of the nearby universe (RESOLVE-A and RESOLVE-B). RESOLVE is complete down to baryonic mass 10 ~ 9.1 9.3 - M, probing the upper end of the dwarf galaxy regime. In contrast to standard pipeline photometry (e.g., SDSS), our photometry uses optimal background subtraction, avoids suppressing color gradients, and employs multiple flux extrapolation routines to estimate systematic errors. With these improvements, we measure brighter magnitudes, larger radii, bluer colors, and a real increase in scatter around the red sequence. Combining stellar mass estimates based on our optimized photometry with the nearly complete H I mass census for RESOLVE-A, we create new z = 0 volume-limited calibrations of the photometric gas fractions (PGF) technique, which predicts gas-to-stellar mass ratios (G/S) from galaxy colors and optional additional parameters. We analyze G/S-color residuals versus potential third parameters, finding that axial ratio is the best independent and physically meaningful third parameter. We define a “modified color” from planar fits to G/S as a function of both color and axial ratio. In the complete galaxy population, upper limits on G/S bias linear and planar fits. We therefore model the entire PGF probability density field, enabling iterative statistical modeling of upper limits and prediction of full G/S probability distributions for individual galaxies. These distributions have two-component structure in the red color regime. Finally, we use the RESOLVE-B 21 cm census to test several PGF calibrations, finding that most systematically under- or overestimate gas masses, but the full probability density method performs well

Motion-correlated flow distortion and wave-induced biases in air-sea flux measurements from ships

Direct measurements of the turbulent air–sea fluxes of momentum, heat, moisture and gases are often made using sensors mounted on ships. Ship-based turbulent wind measurements are corrected for platform motion using well established techniques, but biases at scales associated with wave and platform motion are often still apparent in the flux measurements. It has been uncertain whether this signal is due to time-varying distortion of the air flow over the platform or to wind–wave interactions impacting the turbulence. Methods for removing such motion-scale biases from scalar measurements have previously been published but their application to momentum flux measurements remains controversial. Here we show that the measured motion-scale bias has a dependence on the horizontal ship velocity and that a correction for it reduces the dependence of the measured momentum flux on the orientation of the ship to the wind. We conclude that the bias is due to experimental error and that time-varying motion-dependent flow distortion is the likely source

ECO AND RESOLVE: GALAXY DISK GROWTH IN ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT

We study the relationships between galaxy environments and galaxy properties related to disk (re)growth, considering two highly complete samples that are approximately baryonic mass limited into the high-mass dwarf galaxy regime, the Environmental COntext catalog (data release herein) and the B-semester region of the REsolved Spectroscopy Of a Local VolumE survey. We quantify galaxy environments using both group identification and smoothed galaxy density field methods. We use by-eye and quantitative morphological classifications plus atomic gas content measurements and estimates. We find that blue early-type (E/S0) galaxies, gas-dominated galaxies, and UV-bright disk host galaxies all become distinctly more common below group halo mass $\sim {10}^{11.5}\;{M}_{\odot }$, implying that this low group halo mass regime may be a preferred regime for significant disk growth activity. We also find that blue early-type and blue late-type galaxies inhabit environments of similar group halo mass at fixed baryonic mass, consistent with a scenario in which blue early-types can regrow late-type disks. In fact, we find that the only significant difference in the typical group halo mass inhabited by different galaxy classes is for satellite galaxies with different colors, where at fixed baryonic mass red early- and late-types have higher typical group halo masses than blue early- and late-types. More generally, we argue that the traditional morphology–environment relation (i.e., that denser environments tend to have more early-types) can be largely attributed to the morphology-galaxy mass relation for centrals and the color–environment relation for satellites

Quantifying the Detrimental Impacts of Land-Use and Management Change on European Forest Bird Populations

The ecological impacts of changing forest management practices in Europe are poorly understood despite European forests being highly managed. Furthermore, the effects of potential drivers of forest biodiversity decline are rarely considered in concert, thus limiting effective conservation or sustainable forest management. We present a trait-based framework that we use to assess the detrimental impact of multiple land-use and management changes in forests on bird populations across Europe. Major changes to forest habitats occurring in recent decades, and their impact on resource availability for birds were identified. Risk associated with these changes for 52 species of forest birds, defined as the proportion of each species' key resources detrimentally affected through changes in abundance and/or availability, was quantified and compared to their pan-European population growth rates between 1980 and 2009. Relationships between risk and population growth were found to be significantly negative, indicating that resource loss in European forests is an important driver of decline for both resident and migrant birds. Our results demonstrate that coarse quantification of resource use and ecological change can be valuable in understanding causes of biodiversity decline, and thus in informing conservation strategy and policy. Such an approach has good potential to be extended for predictive use in assessing the impact of possible future changes to forest management and to develop more precise indicators of forest health

Star Clusters

This review concentrates almost entirely on globular star clusters. It emphasises the increasing realisation that few of the traditional problems of star cluster astronomy can be studied in isolation: the influence of the Galaxy affects dynamical evolution deep in the core, and the spectrum of stellar masses; in turn the evolution of the core determines the highest stellar densities, and the rate of encounters. In this way external tidal effects indirectly influence the formation and evolution of blue stragglers, binary pulsars, X-ray sources, etc. More controversially, the stellar density appears to influence the relative distribution of normal stars. In the opposite sense, the evolution of individual stars governs much of the early dynamics of a globular cluster, and the existence of large numbers of primordial binary stars has changed important details of our picture of the dynamical evolution. New computational tools which will become available in the next few years will help dynamical theorists to address these questions.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, Te

A Niche-Based Framework to Assess Current Monitoring of European Forest Birds and Guide Indicator Species' Selection

Concern that European forest biodiversity is depleted and declining has provoked widespread efforts to improve management practices. To gauge the success of these actions, appropriate monitoring of forest ecosystems is paramount. Multi-species indicators are frequently used to assess the state of biodiversity and its response to implemented management, but generally applicable and objective methodologies for species' selection are lacking. Here we use a niche-based approach, underpinned by coarse quantification of species' resource use, to objectively select species for inclusion in a pan-European forest bird indicator. We identify both the minimum number of species required to deliver full resource coverage and the most sensitive species' combination, and explore the trade-off between two key characteristics, sensitivity and redundancy, associated with indicators comprising different numbers of species. We compare our indicator to an existing forest bird indicator selected on the basis of expert opinion and show it is more representative of the wider community. We also present alternative indicators for regional and forest type specific monitoring and show that species' choice can have a significant impact on the indicator and consequent projections about the state of the biodiversity it represents. Furthermore, by comparing indicator sets drawn from currently monitored species and the full forest bird community, we identify gaps in the coverage of the current monitoring scheme. We believe that adopting this niche-based framework for species' selection supports the objective development of multi-species indicators and that it has good potential to be extended to a range of habitats and taxa

The AIMSS Project – III. The Stellar Populations of Compact Stellar Systems

In recent years, a growing zoo of compact stellar systems (CSSs) have been found whose physical properties (mass, size, velocity dispersion) place them between classical globular clusters (GCs) and true galaxies, leading to debates about their nature. Here we present results using a so far underutilized discriminant, their stellar population properties. Based on new spectroscopy from 8–10m telescopes, we derive ages, metallicities, and [α/Fe] of 29 CSSs. These range from GCs with sizes of merely a few parsec to compact ellipticals (cEs) larger than M32. Together with a literature compilation, this provides a panoramic view of the stellar population characteristics of early-type systems. We find that the CSSs are predominantly more metal rich than typical galaxies at the same stellar mass. At high mass, the cEs depart from the mass–metallicity relation of massive early-type galaxies, which forms a continuous sequence with dwarf galaxies. At lower mass, the metallicity distribution of ultracompact dwarfs (UCDs) changes at a few times 107 M⊙, which roughly coincides with the mass where luminosity function arguments previously suggested the GC population ends. The highest metallicities in CSSs are paralleled only by those of dwarf galaxy nuclei and the central parts of massive early types. These findings can be interpreted as CSSs previously being more massive and undergoing tidal interactions to obtain their current mass and compact size. Such an interpretation is supported by CSSs with direct evidence for tidal stripping, and by an examination of the CSS internal escape velocities

Neonatal scrotal wall necrotizing fasciitis (Fournier gangrene): a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Necrotizing fasciitis in neonates is rare and is associated with almost 50% mortality. Although more than 80 cases of neonates (under one month of age) with necrotizing fasciitis have been reported in the literature, only six of them are identified as originating in the scrotum.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a four-week-old, full-term, otherwise-healthy Caucasian baby boy who presented with an ulcerating lesion of his scrotal wall. His scrotum was explored because of a provisional diagnosis of missed torsion of the testis. He was found to have necrotizing fasciitis of the scrotum. We were able to preserve the testis and excise the necrotic tissue, and with intravenous antibiotics there was a successful outcome.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Fournier gangrene is rarely considered as part of the differential diagnosis in the clinical management of the acute scrotum. However, all doctors who care for small babies must be aware of this serious condition and, if it is suspected, should not hesitate in referring the babies to a specialist pediatric surgical center immediately.</p