363 research outputs found

    An Analysis of Four-quark Energies in SU(2) Lattice Monte Carlo using the Flux-tube Symmetry:

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    Energies of four-quark systems calculated by the static quenched SU(2) lattice Monte Carlo method are analyzed in 2×22\times 2 bases for square, rectangle, tilted rectangle, linear and quadrilateral geometry configurations and in 3×33\times 3 bases for a non-planar geometry configuration. For small interquark distances, a lattice effect is taken into account by considering perimeter dependent terms which are characterized by the cubic symmetry. It is then found that a parameter ff - that can be identified as a gluon field overlap factor - is rather well described by the form exp(−[bsEA+bsFP])exp(-[b_sE{\cal A}+\sqrt{b_s}F{\cal P}]), where A{\cal A} and P{\cal P} are the area and perimeter mainly defined by the positions of the four quarks, bsb_s is the string constant in the 2-quark potentials and E,FE,F are constants.Comment: (19 pages of Latex - 1 page of figures not included - sent on request). Preprint HU-TFT-94-2

    Aircraft-based observations of air-sea fluxes over Denmark Strait and the Irminger sea during high wind speed conditions

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    The impact of targeted sonde observations on the 1-3 day forecasts for northern Europe is evaluated using the Met Office four-dimensional variational data assimilation scheme and a 24 km gridlength limited-area version of the Unified Model (MetUM). The targeted observations were carried out during February and March 2007 as part of the Greenland Flow Distortion Experiment, using a research aircraft based in Iceland. Sensitive area predictions using either total energy singular vectors or an ensemble transform Kalman filter were used to predict where additional observations should be made to reduce errors in the initial conditions of forecasts for northern Europe. Targeted sonde data was assimilated operationally into the MetUM. Hindcasts show that the impact of the sondes was mixed. Only two out of the five cases showed clear forecast improvement; the maximum forecast improvement seen over the verifying region was approximately 5% of the forecast error 24 hours into the forecast. These two cases are presented in more detail: in the first the improvement propagates into the verification region with a developing polar low; and in the second the improvement is associated with an upper-level trough. The impact of cycling targeted data in the background of the forecast (including the memory of previous targeted observations) is investigated. This is shown to cause a greater forecast impact, but does not necessarily lead to a greater forecast improvement. Finally, the robustness of the results is assessed using a small ensemble of forecasts

    Seasonal evolution of Aleutian low pressure systems: Implications for the North Pacific subpolar circulation

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    The seasonal change in the development of Aleutian low pressure systems from early fall to early winter is analyzed using a combination of meteorological reanalysis fields, satellite sea surface temperature (SST) data, and satellite wind data. The time period of the study is September–December 2002, although results are shown to be representative of the long-term climatology. Characteristics of the storms were documented as they progressed across the North Pacific, including their path, central pressure, deepening rate, and speed of translation. Clear patterns emerged. Storms tended to deepen in two distinct geographical locations—the Gulf of Alaska in early fall and the western North Pacific in late fall. In the Gulf of Alaska, a quasi-permanent “notch” in the SST distribution is argued to be of significance. The signature of the notch is imprinted in the atmosphere, resulting in a region of enhanced cyclonic potential vorticity in the lower troposphere that is conducive for storm development. Later in the season, as winter approaches and the Sea of Okhotsk becomes partially ice covered and cold, the air emanating from the Asian continent leads to enhanced baroclinicity in the region south of Kamchatka. This corresponds to enhanced storm cyclogenesis in that region. Consequently, there is a seasonal westward migration of the dominant lobe of the Aleutian low. The impact of the wind stress curl pattern resulting from these two regions of storm development on the oceanic circulation is investigated using historical hydrography. It is argued that the seasonal bimodal input of cyclonic vorticity from the wind may be partly responsible for the two distinct North Pacific subarctic gyres

    Wake response to an ocean-feedback mechanism: Madeira Island case study

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    This discussion focused on the numerical study of a wake episode. The Weather Research and Forecasting model was used in a downscale mode. The current literature focuses the discussion on the adiabatic dynamics of atmospheric wakes. Changes in mountain height and consequently on its relation to the atmospheric inversion layer should explain the shift in wake regimes: from a 'strong-wake' to a 'weak-wake' scenario. Nevertheless, changes in SST variability can also induce similar regime shifts. Increase in evaporation, contributes to increase convection and thus to an uplift of the stratified atmospheric layer, above the critical height, with subsequent internal gravity wave activity.Comment: Under review proces

    Relationship between ecosystem productivity and photosynthetically-active radiation for northern peatlands

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    We analyzed the relationship between net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide (NEE) and irradiance (as photosynthetic photon flux density or PPFD), using published and unpublished data that have been collected during midgrowing season for carbon balance studies at seven peatlands in North America and Europe. NEE measurements included both eddy-correlation tower and clear, static chamber methods, which gave very similar results. Data were analyzed by site, as aggregated data sets by peatland type (bog, poor fen, rich fen, and all fens) and as a single aggregated data set for all peatlands. In all cases, a fit with a rectangular hyperbola (NEE = α PPFD Pmax/(α PPFD + Pmax) + R) better described the NEE-PPFD relationship than did a linear fit (NEE = ÎČ PPFD + R). Poor and rich fens generally had similar NEE-PPFD relationships, while bogs had lower respiration rates (R = −2.0ÎŒmol m−2s−1 for bogs and −2.7 ÎŒmol m−2s−1 for fens) and lower NEE at moderate and high light levels (Pmax = 5.2 ÎŒmol m−2s−1 for bogs and 10.8 ÎŒmol m−2s−1 for fens). As a single class, northern peatlands had much smaller ecosystem respiration (R = −2.4 ÎŒmol m−2s−1) and NEE rates (α = 0.020 and Pmax = 9.2ÎŒmol m−2s−1) than the upland ecosystems (closed canopy forest, grassland, and cropland) summarized by Ruimy et al. [1995]. Despite this low productivity, northern peatland soil carbon pools are generally 5–50 times larger than upland ecosystems because of slow rates of decomposition caused by litter quality and anaerobic, cold soils

    Modelling chemistry in the nocturnal boundary layer above tropical rainforest and a generalised effective nocturnal ozone deposition velocity for sub-ppbv NOx conditions

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    Measurements of atmospheric composition have been made over a remote rainforest landscape. A box model has previously been demonstrated to model the observed daytime chemistry well. However the box model is unable to explain the nocturnal measurements of relatively high [NO] and [O3], but relatively low observed [NO2]. It is shown that a one-dimensional (1-D) column model with simple O3 -NOx chemistry and a simple representation of vertical transport is able to explain the observed nocturnal concentrations and predict the likely vertical profiles of these species in the nocturnal boundary layer (NBL). Concentrations of tracers carried over from the end of the night can affect the atmospheric chemistry of the following day. To ascertain the anomaly introduced by using the box model to represent the NBL, vertically-averaged NBL concentrations at the end of the night are compared between the 1-D model and the box model. It is found that, under low to medium [NOx] conditions (NOx <1 ppbv), a simple parametrisation can be used to modify the box model deposition velocity of ozone, in order to achieve good agreement between the box and 1-D models for these end-of-night concentrations of NOx and O3. This parametrisation would could also be used in global climate-chemistry models with limited vertical resolution near the surface. Box-model results for the following day differ significantly if this effective nocturnal deposition velocity for ozone is implemented; for instance, there is a 9% increase in the following day’s peak ozone concentration. However under medium to high [NOx] conditions (NOx > 1 ppbv), the effect on the chemistry due to the vertical distribution of the species means no box model can adequately represent chemistry in the NBL without modifying reaction rate constants

    Falsification Of The Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within The Frame Of Physics

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    The atmospheric greenhouse effect, an idea that many authors trace back to the traditional works of Fourier (1824), Tyndall (1861), and Arrhenius (1896), and which is still supported in global climatology, essentially describes a fictitious mechanism, in which a planetary atmosphere acts as a heat pump driven by an environment that is radiatively interacting with but radiatively equilibrated to the atmospheric system. According to the second law of thermodynamics such a planetary machine can never exist. Nevertheless, in almost all texts of global climatology and in a widespread secondary literature it is taken for granted that such mechanism is real and stands on a firm scientific foundation. In this paper the popular conjecture is analyzed and the underlying physical principles are clarified. By showing that (a) there are no common physical laws between the warming phenomenon in glass houses and the fictitious atmospheric greenhouse effects, (b) there are no calculations to determine an average surface temperature of a planet, (c) the frequently mentioned difference of 33 degrees Celsius is a meaningless number calculated wrongly, (d) the formulas of cavity radiation are used inappropriately, (e) the assumption of a radiative balance is unphysical, (f) thermal conductivity and friction must not be set to zero, the atmospheric greenhouse conjecture is falsified.Comment: 115 pages, 32 figures, 13 tables (some typos corrected

    Evaluation of uncertainties in regional climate change simulations

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    We have run two regional climate models (RCMs) forced by three sets of initial and boundary conditions to form a 2×3 suite of 10-year climate simulations for the continental United States at approximately 50 km horizontal resolution. The three sets of driving boundary conditions are a reanalysis, an atmosphere-ocean coupled general circulation model (GCM) current climate, and a future scenario of transient climate change. Common precipitation climatology features simulated by both models included realistic orographic precipitation, east-west transcontinental gradients, and reasonable annual cycles over different geographic locations. However, both models missed heavy cool-season precipitation in the lower Mississippi River basin, a seemingly common model defect. Various simulation biases (differences) produced by the RCMs are evaluated based on the 2×3 experiment set in addition to comparisons with the GCM simulation. The RCM performance bias is smallest, whereas the GCM-RCM downscaling bias (difference between GCM and RCM) is largest. The boundary forcing bias (difference between GCM current climate driven run and reanalysis-driven run) and intermodel bias are both largest in summer, possibly due to different subgrid scale processes in individual models. The ratio of climate change to biases, which we use as one measure of confidence in projected climate changes, is substantially larger than 1 in several seasons and regions while the ratios are always less than 1 in summer. The largest ratios among all regions are in California. Spatial correlation coefficients of precipitation were computed between simulation pairs in the 2×3 set. The climate change correlation is highest and the RCM performance correlation is lowest while boundary forcing and intermodel correlations are intermediate. The high spatial correlation for climate change suggests that even though future precipitation is projected to increase, its overall continental-scale spatial pattern is expected to remain relatively constant. The low RCM performance correlation shows a modeling challenge to reproduce observed spatial precipitation patterns
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