Variability of Integrated Water Vapour: An Assessment on Various Scales with Observations and Model Simulations over Germany

Since water vapour plays a key role in several atmospheric processes on various scales including cloud formation and precipitation it is highly variable in both space and time. The characterization and quantification of its variability is crucial for improvement in parametrization of subgrid scale processes in climate and weather prediction models as well as for evaluation of highly resolving simulations. The present work focuses on the characterization and quantification of integrated water vapour (IWV) variability on meso-α to meso-γ scales over Germany. First of all, a multi-instrument intercomparison during the two months of High Definition Clouds and Precipitation for advancing Climate Prediction (HD(CP)^2) Observational Prototype Experiment (HOPE) is performed to provide a realistic error estimate for the individual instruments observing IWV. The campaign took place from 1 April to 31 May 2013 at the Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) in Germany (50.9°N, 6.4°E). During this two-month period, standard instrumentation for observing water vapour at Jülich ObservatorY for Cloud Evolution (JOYCE), including Global Positioning System (GPS) antenna of the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ), a scanning microwave radiometer (MWR), and a sunphotometer from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET), was complemented by frequent radiosoundings and four additional MWRs all within less than 4 km distance of each other. In addition to the ground-based measurements, IWV estimates from two Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) retrievals, near infrared (NIR) and infrared (IR), that provide information with spatial resolution of 1 and 3 km, respectively, are available from satellite overpasses. The comparison reveals a good agreement in terms of standard deviation (≤ 1 kg m^−2 ) and correlation coefficient (≥ 0.98). The exception is MODIS, which appears to suffer from insufficient cloud filtering. Based on the results of the intercomparison, observations of the Germany-wide GPS network are chosen for evaluation of two novel Consortium for Small-scale Modelling (COSMO) reanalyses — COSMO-REA2 and COSMO-REA6 — and ERA-Interim to assess their ability to represent IWV. The two highly resolved COSMO reanalyses exhibit a distinctly lower median standard deviation (1.6 kg m^−2) than the global reanalysis ERA-Interim (2.4 kg m^−2) over all GPS stations. In this context it is also shown that a full reanalyses is superior to a dynamical downscaling which is computationally less costly. For the assessment of the variability of IWV multiple methods are applied. The analysis of the auto-correlation of GPS observation and COSMO-REA6 simulation shows the importance of synoptic processes on meso-α scale and the analysis of the power spectrum shows a clear seasonal dependency of IWV variability. On meso-γ scales, standard deviations of IWV derived from MWR measurements reveal high variability (> 1 kg m^−2) even at time scales of a few minutes. This variability cannot be captured by measurements with lower temporal resolution. However, for time intervals above 30 min, observations with 15 min resolution are as capable as MWR to capture the temporal variability. Spatio-temporal variability is assessed with the ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic (ICON) simulation in Large Eddy Simulation (LES) configuration with a resolution of 156 m for three days. This study reveals that time differences of 30–45 min or a spatial mismatch of 9–10 km can induce standard deviations of approximately 0.7 kg m^−2 . This error depends on the weather situation. The mean diurnal cycle of IWV is analysed in the COSMO reanalyses, ERA-Interim, and GPS observations for spring and summer. In general, the mean diurnal cycles exhibit a minimum in the morning (4:00–10:00 UTC) and a maximum between 14:00 and 23:00 UTC. While the amplitudes of the mean diurnal cycle of IWV observed with GPS vary between 0.4 and 2.0 kg m^−2 (3.0–13.7%) in spring and 0.4–2.6 kg m^−2 (1.4–12.0%) in summer, the mean diurnal cycle simulated with the reanalyses exhibits smaller amplitudes and lower variability in their amplitudes. Also regional differences are found: coastal regions exhibit a shifted diurnal cycle with lower amplitudes while high altitudes exhibit larger amplitudes. Furthermore, the distinction between western and eastern weather situations shows that the strong advection of water vapour associated with western weather situations interferes with the evolution of the diurnal cycle. The reanalysis COSMO-REA6 covering a time period of 19 years allows for assessing regional analysis of trends in IWV. Mean trends of 0.32 and 0.21 kg m^−2 per decade are analysed for COSMO-RE6 and ERA-Interim, respectively. The present work characterizes IWV variability on meso scales over Germany and shows the importance of the consideration of IWV variability e. g. for model evaluations and instrument intercomparisons

Assessment of Sampling Effects on Various Satellite-Derived Integrated Water Vapor Datasets Using GPS Measurements in Germany as Reference

Passive imagers on polar-orbiting satellites provide long-term, accurate integrated water vapor (IWV) data sets. However, these climatologies are affected by sampling biases. In Germany, a dense Global Navigation Satellite System network provides accurate IWV measurements not limited by weather conditions and with high temporal resolution. Therefore, they serve as a reference to assess the quality and sampling issues of IWV products from multiple satellite instruments that show different orbital and instrument characteristics. A direct pairwise comparison between one year of IWV data from GPS and satellite instruments reveals overall biases (in kg/m 2 ) of 1.77, 1.36, 1.11, and −0.31 for IASI, MIRS, MODIS, and MODIS-FUB, respectively. Computed monthly means show similar behaviors. No significant impact of averaging time and the low temporal sampling on aggregated satellite IWV data is found, mostly related to the noisy weather conditions in the German domain. In combination with SEVIRI cloud coverage, a change of shape of IWV frequency distributions towards a bi-modal distribution and loss of high IWV values are observed when limiting cases to daytime and clear sky. Overall, sampling affects mean IWV values only marginally, which are rather dominated by the overall retrieval bias, but can lead to significant changes in IWV frequency distributions

Development of an Emergency Department Pharmacist Practitioner service specification

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Development of an Emergency Department Pharmacist Practitioner service specification

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Emergency Department Pharmacist Practitioners: A new role in the NHS

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Development of the manchester framework for the evaluation of emergency department pharmacy services

Background- Many countries, including the United Kingdom, have established Emergency Department (ED) pharmacy services where some ED pharmacists now work as practitioners. They provide both traditional pharmaceutical care and novel practitioner care i.e. clinical examination, yet their impact on quality of care is unknown. Aim- To develop a framework of structures, processes and potential outcome indicators to support evaluation of the quality of ED pharmacy services in future studies. Method- Framework components (structures, processes and potential outcome indicators) were identified in three ways: from a narrative review of relevant international literature, and separate panel meetings with ED pharmacists and then other ED healthcare professionals. Structures and processes were collated into categories developed iteratively throughout data collection, with outcome indicators collated into six domains of quality as proposed by the Institute of Medicine. These raw data were then processed e.g. outcome indicators screened for clarity i.e. those which explicitly stated what would be measured were included in the framework. Results- A total of 190 structures, 533 processes, and 503 outcome indicators were identified. Through data processing a total of 153 outcome indicators were included in the final framework divided into the domains safe (32), effective (50), patient centred (18), timely (24), efficient (20) and equitable (9). Conclusions- The first framework specific to the quality evaluation ED pharmacy services, service evaluators should validate potential outcome indicators prior to their use. The minimum expected of a high-quality service should also be defined to enable interpretation of relevant measurements

DNA barcoding the native flowering plants and conifers of Wales

We present the first national DNA barcode resource that covers the native flowering plants and conifers for the nation of Wales (1143 species). Using the plant DNA barcode markers rbcL and matK, we have assembled 97.7% coverage for rbcL, 90.2% for matK, and a dual-locus barcode for 89.7% of the native Welsh flora. We have sampled multiple individuals for each species, resulting in 3304 rbcL and 2419 matK sequences. The majority of our samples (85%) are from DNA extracted from herbarium specimens. Recoverability of DNA barcodes is lower using herbarium specimens, compared to freshly collected material, mostly due to lower amplification success, but this is balanced by the increased efficiency of sampling species that have already been collected, identified, and verified by taxonomic experts. The effectiveness of the DNA barcodes for identification (level of discrimination) is assessed using four approaches: the presence of a barcode gap (using pairwise and multiple alignments), formation of monophyletic groups using Neighbour-Joining trees, and sequence similarity in BLASTn searches. These approaches yield similar results, providing relative discrimination levels of 69.4 to 74.9% of all species and 98.6 to 99.8% of genera using both markers. Species discrimination can be further improved using spatially explicit sampling. Mean species discrimination using barcode gap analysis (with a multiple alignment) is 81.6% within 10×10 km squares and 93.3% for 2×2 km squares. Our database of DNA barcodes for Welsh native flowering plants and conifers represents the most complete coverage of any national flora, and offers a valuable platform for a wide range of applications that require accurate species identification

The ocean sampling day consortium.

Ocean Sampling Day was initiated by the EU-funded Micro B3 (Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology) project to obtain a snapshot of the marine microbial biodiversity and function of the world's oceans. It is a simultaneous global mega-sequencing campaign aiming to generate the largest standardized microbial data set in a single day. This will be achievable only through the coordinated efforts of an Ocean Sampling Day Consortium, supportive partnerships and networks between sites. This commentary outlines the establishment, function and aims of the Consortium and describes our vision for a sustainable study of marine microbial communities and their embedded functional traits