U.S. East Coast Trough Indices at 500 hPa and New England Winter Climate Variability

Using monthly gridded 500-hPa data, two synoptic indices are defined to better understand the principle mechanisms controlling intraseasonal to multiannual winter climate variability in NewEngland (NE). The “trough axis index” (TAI) is created to quantify the mean longitudinal position of the common East Coast pressure trough, and the “trough intensity index” (TII) is calculated to estimate the relative amplitude of this trough at 42.5°N. The TAI and TII are then compared with records for NE regional winter precipitation, temperature, and snowfall with the goal of understanding physical mechanisms linking NE winter climate with regional sea surface temperatures (SST), the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and the Pacific–North American (PNA) teleconnection pattern. The TAI correlates most significantly with winter precipitation at inland sites, such that a western (eastern)trough axis position is associated with greater (lower) average monthly precipitation. Also, significant correlations between the TAI and both NE regional SSTs and the NAO suggest that longitudinal shifting of the trough is one possible mechanism linking the North Atlantic with NE regional winterclimate variability. The NE winter temperature is significantly correlated with the TII, regional SSTs, and the NAO. While the PNA also correlates with the TII, NE winter climate variables are apparently unrelated to the PNA index

Is New Hampshire\u27s climate warming?

This Carsey brief looks at temperature anomalies across New Hampshire and shows that not only is the state warmer than it has been in the past, but it is also warming faster than much of the planet. Sociologist Lawrence Hamilton, research associate professor Cameron Wake, and former NH state climatologist Barry Keim analyzed over 100 years of temperatures across the state to produce this data for the Carsey Institute in August 2010

300 Tahun Linnaeus: Pandanaceae, Linnaeus Dan Koneksi Swedia

Pandanaceae is one of the three large and important families within the Monocotyledoneaie consisting of approximately 900 species found only in the Old World Tropics. Malesia is the region of importance for the fanmyfwhere the prominent diversity and the three principal genera (Freycinetia, Pandanus, and Sararanga) are found.Pandanaceae is also an important family of the Monocotyledoneae in the Malayo-Austronesian and^elanesian cultures.The USAge of pannans in the Melanesian culture is more diverse and incorporating more number of species. Although pandan was first described by the two distinguish Dutch naturalists, Rumphius and Rheede tot Drakenstein, the introduction of pandan into the world of Botany was started and in the early stage also involved Swedish botanists, from Linnaeus to Fagerlind. Linnaeus still suggested Pandanus as a possibly member of Bromelliaceae. Linnaeus Jr. placed it as a genus of its own, Pandanus, thus laid the firm foundation for the classification of the genus and the entire family.The information on Pandanaceae encompassing morphology to history is described in this paper, including the significance of the family in relation with the Agenda 21

Are there spurious temperature trends in the United States Climate Division database

The United States (U.S.) Climate Division data set is commonly used in applied climatic studies in the United States. The divisional averages are calculated by including all available stations within a division at any given time. The averages are therefore vulnerable to shifts in average station location or elevation over time, which may introduce spurious trends within these data. This paper examines temperature trends within the 15 climate divisions of New England, comparing the NCDC\u27s U.S. Divisional Data to the U.S. Historical Climate Network (USHCN) data. Correlation and multiple regression revealed that shifts in latitude, longitude, and elevation have affected the quality of the NCDC divisional data with respect to the USHCN. As a result, there may be issues with regard to their use in decadal- to century-scale climate change studies

Frank's constant in the hexatic phase

Using video-microscopy data of a two-dimensional colloidal system the bond-order correlation function G6 is calculated and used to determine the temperature-dependence of both the orientational correlation length xi6 in the isotropic liquid phase and the Frank constant F_A in the hexatic phase. F_A takes the value 72/pi at the hexatic to isotropic liquid phase transition and diverges at the hexatic to crystal transition as predicted by the KTHNY-theory. This is a quantitative test of the mechanism of breaking the orientational symmetry by disclination unbinding

Nonlocal elastic compliance for soft solids: theory, simulations, and experiments

The nonlocal elastic response function is crucial for understanding many properties of soft solids. This may be obtained by measuring strain-strain autocorrelation functions. We use computer simulations as well as video microscopy data of superparamagnetic colloids to obtain these correlations for two-dimensional triangular solids. Elastic constants and elastic correlation lengths are extracted by analyzing the correlation functions. We show that to explain our observations displacement fluctuations in a soft solid need to contain affine (strain) as well as nonaffine components

Elastic Behavior of a Two-dimensional Crystal near Melting

Using positional data from video-microscopy we determine the elastic moduli of two-dimensional colloidal crystals as a function of temperature. The moduli are extracted from the wave-vector-dependent normal mode spring constants in the limit $q\to 0$ and are compared to the renormalized Young's modulus of the KTHNY theory. An essential element of this theory is the universal prediction that Young's modulus must approach $16 \pi$ at the melting temperature. This is indeed observed in our experiment.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Carotene Content of Native Nebraska Grasses

The carotene content of twenty-four grasses native to Nebraska were determined at approximately monthly intervals from June to November. While the carotene concentration of most of the grasses was moderately high during the growing season, it declined to a rather low point by late November. With the exception of Switchgrass, Hairy Grama, Little Bluestem and Prairie Dropseed, all of the grasses contained enough carotene to supply the needs of range cattle until late November. However, only eighteen of the grasses still contained enough carotene by the latter part of September to furnish the carotene required by dairy cows. Even as early as July the Northern reedgrass, Buffalo grass, Bluejoint and Lovegrass were unsatisfactory as a source of carotene for dairy cows. While the carotene values observed during the periods of greatest concentration varied from 511.6 ppm (Sandhill bluestem) to 122.6 ppm (Northern reedgrass), these values ranged from 60.7 ppm (June grass) to 1.6 ppm (Little bluestem) during the periods of lowest concentration

Impacts of Livestock Preference and Frequency of Grazing on Production and Nutritive Value of Pastures in Chile

Cattle are selective grazers since they only consume some plants or some parts of a plant from the pasture and avoid others. Grazing preference is affected by characteristics of the pasture such as the botanical composition, pasture surface height, herbage mass, phenological stage, digestibility, fibre content, protein and ash content. Three studies were conducted in southern Chile to determine how: 1) grazing preferences of dairy cattle was influenced by pasture mixtures and fertilisation; 2) grazing selectivity was related to tiller features; and 3) grazing leaf-stage influenced pasture quantity and quality. For the first study, fertilised pastures had higher herbage mass, pasture height, Bromus valdivianus, metabolisable energy and crude protein content and had lower fibre content. Grazing time (GT) and bite number (BN) were positively related to metabolisable energy, crude protein content, pre-grazing herbage mass and pasture surface height, explained by the contribution of Lolium perenne and B. valdivianus. For the second study, selective grazing was enhanced by pasture heterogeneity and tiller volume may have favoured grazing probability at a similar nutritive value. For the third study, pastures grazed at a 2.5 leaf-stage yielded a higher herbage mass than those grazed at 1.5 leaf-stage, while increasing leaf-stage decreased pasture quality. Integration of the information on grazing preference and selectivity, and grazing frequency will help to refine grazing management for southern Chile

Crystal nuclei and structural correlations in two-dimensional colloidal mixtures: experiment versus simulation

We examine binary mixtures of superparamagnetic colloidal particles confined to a two-dimensional water-air interface both by real-space experiments and Monte-Carlo computer simulations at high coupling strength. In the simulations, the interaction is modelled as a pairwise dipole-dipole repulsion. While the ratio of magnetic dipole moments is fixed, the interaction strength governed by the external magnetic field and the relative composition is varied. Excellent agreement between simulation and experiment is found for the partial pair distribution functions including the fine structure of the neighbour shells at high coupling. Furthermore local crystal nuclei in the melt are identified by bond-orientational order parameters and their contribution to the pair structure is discussed