Trends in wintertime climate in the northeastern United States: 1965–2005

Humans experience climate variability and climate change primarily through changes in weather at local and regional scales. One of the most effective means to track these changes is through detailed analysis of meteorological data. In this work, monthly and seasonal trends in recent winter climate of the northeastern United States (NE-US) are documented. Snow cover and snowfall are important components of the region\u27s hydrological systems, ecosystems, infrastructure, travel safety, and winter tourism and recreation. Temperature, snowfall, and snow depth data were collected from the merged United States Historical Climate Network (USHCN) and National Climatic Data Center Cooperative Network (COOP) data set for the months of December through March, 1965–2005. Monthly and seasonal time series of snow-covered days (snow depth \u3e2.54 cm) are constructed from daily snow depth data. Spatial coherence analysis is used to address data quality issues with daily snowfall and snow depth data, and to remove stations with nonclimatic influences from the regional analysis. Monthly and seasonal trends in mean, minimum, and maximum temperature, total snowfall, and snow-covered days are evaluated over the period 1965–2005, a period during which global temperature records and regional indicators exhibit a shift to warmer climate conditions. NE-US regional winter mean, minimum, and maximum temperatures are all increasing at a rate ranging from 0.42° to 0.46°C/decade with the greatest warming in all three variables occurring in the coldest months of winter (January and February). The regional average reduction in number of snow-covered days in winter (−8.9 d/decade) is also greatest during the months of January and February. Further analysis with additional regional climate modeling is required to better investigate the causal link between the increases in temperature and reduction in snow cover during the coldest winter months of January and February. In addition, regionally averaged winter snowfall has decreased by about 4.6 cm/decade, with the greatest decreases in snowfall occurring in December and February. These results have important implications for the impacts of regional climate change on the northeastern United States hydrology, natural ecosystems, and economy

The clustering of radio galaxies at z~0.55 from the 2SLAQ LRG survey

We examine the clustering properties of low-power radio galaxies at redshift 0.4<z<0.8, using data from the 2SLAQ Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) survey. We find that radio-detected LRGs (with optical luminosities of 3-5L* and 1.4GHz radio powers between 1e24 and 1e26 W/Hz) are significantly more clustered than a matched sample of radio-quiet LRGs with the same distribution in optical luminosity and colour. The measured scale length of the 2pt auto-correlation function, r0, is 12.3+/-1.2 1/h Mpc and 9.02+/-0.52 1/h Mpc for the radio-detected and radio-quiet samples respectively. Using the halo model framework we demonstrate that the radio-loud LRGs have typical halo masses of 10.1+/-1.4 x10^13 1/h M_sun compared to 6.44+/-0.32 x10^13 1/h M_sun for the radio-quiet sample. A model in which the radio-detected LRGs are almost all central galaxies within haloes provides the best fit, and we estimate that at least 30% of LRGs with the same clustering amplitude as the radio-detected LRGs are currently radio-loud. Our results imply that radio-loud LRGs typically occupy more massive haloes than other LRGs of the same optical luminosity, so the probability of finding a radio-loud AGN in a massive galaxy at z~0.55 is influenced by the halo mass in addition to the dependence on optical luminosity. If we model the radio-loud fraction of LRGs, F_rad, as a function of halo mass M, then the data are well-fitted by a power law of the form F_rad \propto M^(0.65+/-0.23). The relationship between radio emission and clustering strength could arise either through a higher fuelling rate of gas onto the central black holes of galaxies in the most massive haloes (producing more powerful radio jets) or through the presence of a denser IGM (providing a more efficient working surface for the jets, thus boosting their radio luminosity).Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

The Stripe 82 Massive Galaxy Project III: A Lack of Growth Among Massive Galaxies

The average stellar mass (Mstar) of high-mass galaxies (Mstar > 3e11 Msun) is expected to grow by ~30% since z~1, largely through ongoing mergers that are also invoked to explain the observed increase in galaxy sizes. Direct evidence for the corresponding growth in stellar mass has been elusive, however, in part because the volumes sampled by previous redshift surveys have been too small to yield reliable statistics. In this work, we make use of the Stripe 82 Massive Galaxy Catalog to build a mass-limited sample of 41,770 galaxies (Mstar > 1.6e11) with optical to near-IR photometry and a large fraction (>55%) of spectroscopic redshifts. Our sample spans 139 square degrees, significantly larger than most previous efforts. After accounting for a number of potential systematic errors, including the effects of Mstar scatter, we measure galaxy stellar mass functions over 0.3 < z < 0.65 and detect no growth in the typical Mstar of massive galaxies with an uncertainty of 9%. This confidence level is dominated by uncertainties in the star formation history assumed for Mstar estimates, although our inability to characterize low surface-brightness outskirts may be the most important limitation of our study. Even among these high-mass galaxies, we find evidence for differential evolution when splitting the sample by recent star formation (SF) activity. While low-SF systems appear to become completely passive, we find a mostly sub-dominant population of galaxies with residual, but low rates of star formation (~1 Msun/yr) number density does not evolve. Interestingly, these galaxies become more prominent at higher Mstar, representing ~10% of all galaxies at Mstar ~ 1e12 Msun and perhaps dominating at even larger masses.Comment: Accepted in Ap

Preservation of glaciochemical time-series in snow and ice from the Penny Ice Cap, Baffin Island

A detailed investigation of major ion concentrations of snow and ice in the summit region of Penny Ice Cap (PIC) was performed to determine the effects of summer melt on the glaciochemical time-series. While ion migration due to meltwater percolation makes it difficult to confidently count annual layers in the glaciochemical profiles, time-series of these parameters do show good structure and a strong one year spectral component, suggesting that annual to biannual signals are preserved in PIC glaciochemical records

Systems and methods for mirror mounting with minimized distortion

A method for mounting a mirror for use in a telescope includes attaching the mirror to a plurality of adjustable mounts; determining a distortion in the mirror caused by the plurality adjustable mounts, and, if the distortion is determined to be above a predetermined level: adjusting one or more of the adjustable mounts; and determining the distortion in the mirror caused by the adjustable mounts; and in the event the determined distortion is determined to be at or below the predetermined level, rigidizing the adjustable mounts

The Clustering of AGN in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We present the two--point correlation function (2PCF) of narrow-line active galactic nuclei (AGN) selected within the First Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Using a sample of 13605 AGN in the redshift range 0.055 < z < 0.2, we find that the AGN auto--correlation function is consistent with the observed galaxy auto--correlation function on scales 0.2h^{-1}Mpc to >100h^{-1}Mpc. The AGN hosts trace an intermediate population of galaxies and are not detected in either the bluest (youngest) disk--dominated galaxies or many of the reddest (oldest) galaxies. We show that the AGN 2PCF is dependent on the luminosity of the narrow [OIII] emission line (L_{[OIII]}), with low L_{[OIII]} AGN having a higher clustering amplitude than high L_{[OIII]} AGN. This is consistent with lower activity AGN residing in more massive galaxies than higher activity AGN, and L_{[OIII]} providing a good indicator of the fueling rate. Using a model relating halo mass to black hole mass in cosmological simulations, we show that AGN hosted by ~ 10^{12} M_{odot} dark matter halos have a 2PCF that matches that of the observed sample. This mass scale implies a mean black hole mass for the sample of M_{BH} ~ 10^8 M_{odot}.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

Mass growth and mergers: direct observations of the luminosity function of LRG satellite galaxies out to z=0.7 from SDSS and BOSS images

We present a statistical study of the luminosity functions of galaxies surrounding luminous red galaxies (LRGs) at average redshifts =0.34 and =0.65. The luminosity functions are derived by extracting source photometry around more than 40,000 LRGs and subtracting foreground and background contamination using randomly selected control fields. We show that at both studied redshifts the average luminosity functions of the LRGs and their satellite galaxies are poorly fitted by a Schechter function due to a luminosity gap between the centrals and their most luminous satellites. We utilize a two-component fit of a Schechter function plus a log-normal distribution to demonstrate that LRGs are typically brighter than their most luminous satellite by roughly 1.3 magnitudes. This luminosity gap implies that interactions within LRG environments are typically restricted to minor mergers with mass ratios of 1:4 or lower. The luminosity functions further imply that roughly 35% of the mass in the environment is locked in the LRG itself, supporting the idea that mass growth through major mergers within the environment is unlikely. Lastly, we show that the luminosity gap may be at least partially explained by the selection of LRGs as the gap can be reproduced by sparsely sampling a Schechter function. In that case LRGs may represent only a small fraction of central galaxies in similar mass halos.Comment: ApJ accepted versio

Evaluating the climate effects of mid-1800s deforestation in New England, USA, using a Weather, Research, and Forecasting (WRF) Model Multi-Physics Ensemble

The New England region of the northeastern United States has a land use history characterized by forest clearing for agriculture and other uses during European colonization and subsequent reforestation following widespread farm abandonment. Despite these broad changes, the potential influence on local and regional climate has received relatively little attention. This study investigated wintertime (December through March) climate impacts of reforestation in New England using a high-resolution (4 km) multiphysics ensemble of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model. In general, the conversion from mid-1800s cropland/grassland to forest led to warming, but results were sensitive to physics parameterizations. The 2-m maximum temperature (T2max) was most sensitive to choice of land surface model, 2-m minimum temperature (T2min) was sensitive to radiation scheme, and all ensemble members simulated precipitation poorly. Reforestation experiments suggest that conversion of mid-1800s cropland/grassland to present-day forest warmed T2max +0.5 to +3 K, with weaker warming during a warm, dry winter compared to a cold, snowy winter. Warmer T2max over forests was primarily the result of increased absorbed shortwave radiation and increased sensible heat flux compared to cropland/grassland. At night, T2min warmed +0.2 to +1.5 K where deciduous broadleaf forest replaced cropland/grassland, a result of decreased ground heat flux. By contrast, T2min of evergreen needleleaf forest cooled –0.5 to –2.1 K, primarily owing to increased ground heat flux and decreased sensible heat flux