Evaluation of an offshore wind farm computational fluid dynamics model against operational site data

Modelling wind turbine wake effects at a range of wind speeds and directions with actuator disk (AD) models can provide insight but also be challenging. With any model it is important to quantify the level of error, but this can also present a challenge when comparing a steady-state model to measurement data with scatter. This paper models wind flow in a wind farm at a range of wind speeds and directions using an AD implementation. The results from these models are compared to data collected from the actual farm being modelled. An extensive comparison is conducted, constituted from 35 cases where two turbulence models, the standard k-ε and k-ω SST are evaluated. The steps taken in building the models as well as processes for comparing the AD computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results to real-world data using the regression models of ensemble bagging and Gaussian process are outlined. Turbine performance data and boundary conditions are determined using the site data. Modifications to an existing opensource AD code are shown so that the predetermined turbine performance can be implemented into the CFD model. Steady state solutions are obtained with the OpenFOAM CFD solver. Results are compared in terms of velocity deficit at the measurement locations. Using the standard k-ε model, a mean absolute error for all cases together of roughly 8% can be achieved, but this error changes for different directions and methods of evaluating it

A global multilayer cloud identification with POLDER/PARASOL

The detection of multilayer cloud situations is important for satellite retrieval algorithms and for many climate related applications. In this paper, we describe an algorithm based on the exploitation of the POLarization and Directionality of the Earth’s Reflectance (POLDER) observations to identify monolayered and multilayered cloudy situations along with a confidence index. Our reference comes from the synergy of the active instruments of the A-Train satellite constellation. The algorithm is based upon a decision tree that uses a metric from information theory and a series of tests on POLDER Level-2 products. We obtain a multilayer flag as the final result of a tree classification which takes discrete values between 0 and 100. Values closest to zero (resp. a hundred) indicate a higher confidence in the monolayer (resp. multilayer) character. This indicator can be used as it is, or with a threshold level that minimizes the risk of misclassification, as a binary index to distinguish between monolayer and multilayer clouds. For almost fully covered and optically thick enough cloud scenes, the risk of misclassification ranges from 29% to 34% over the period 2006–2010 and the average confidences in the estimated monolayer and multilayer characters of the cloud scenes are 74.0% and 58.2% respectively. With the binary distinction, POLDER provides a climatology of the mono/multi-layer cloud character that exhibits some interesting features. Comparisons with the performance of the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) multilayerflag are given

Wartość predykcyjna białka C-reaktywnego jako czynnika ryzyka incydentów sercowo- -naczyniowych — perspektywa 2010 roku

Związek białka C-reaktywnego (CRP) z ryzykiem wystąpienia incydentów sercowo-naczyniowych jest przedmiotem badań od wielu lat. Dowiedziono, że podwyższone stężenie CRP wiąże się z występowaniem tak zwanych klasycznych czynników ryzyka chorób układu sercowo-naczyniowego, ocenianych w skali ryzyka Framingham. Białko C-reaktywne, jako marker stanu zapalnego, jest uważane za czynnik proaterogenny. Bierze udział w powstawaniu blaszki miażdżycowej, przyczynia się do dysfunkcji śródbłonka, wzmaga gotowość prozakrzepową oraz aktywuje układ dopełniacza. Pozostaje przedmiotem dyskusji, czy CRP jest kluczowym markerem chorób układu sercowo-naczyniowego, czy tylko biernym uczestnikiem aterogenezy. Wyniki przeprowadzonych dotychczas badań są niespójne. W niektórych wykazano ścisły związek podwyższonego stężenia CRP z ryzykiem wystąpienia incydentów sercowo-naczyniowych, w innych związek ten był umiarkowany lub wcale go nie stwierdzono. Również w badaniach, w których do modeli oceny ryzyka sercowo-naczyniowego włączano panel złożony z wielu biomarkerów, nie wykazano istotnego wpływu na poprawę oceny ryzyka. Obecnie nie jest możliwa odpowiedź na pytanie, czy podwyższone stężenie CRP wiąże się bezpośrednio ze zwiększonym ryzykiem sercowo-naczyniowym. Konieczne są dalsze dobrze zaprojektowane prospektywne badania. Choroby Serca i Naczyń 2010, 7 (4), 201–20

Experimental study of three-nucleon dynamics in proton-deuteron breakup reaction

Proton–deuteron breakup reaction can serve as a tool to test stateof- the-art descriptions of nuclear interactions. At intermediate energies, below the threshold for pion production, comparison of the data with exact theoretical calculations is possible and subtle effects of the dynamics beyond the pairwise nucleon–nucleon interaction, namely the three-nucleon force (3NF), are significant. Beside 3NF, Coulomb interaction or relativistic effects are also important to precisely describe the differential cross section of the breakup reaction. The data analysis and preliminary results of the measurement of proton-induced deuteron breakup at the Cyclotron Center Bronowice, Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków are presented

Deuteron-deuteron collision at 160 MeV

The experiment was carried out using BINA detector at KVI in Groningen. For the first time an extensive data analysis of the data collected in back part of the detector is presented, where a clusterization method is utilized for angular and energy information. We also present differential cross-sections for the (dd$\rightarrow$dpn) breakup reaction within \textit{dp} quasi-free scattering limit and their comparison with first calculations based on Single Scattering Approximation (SSA) approach.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, presented at Jagiellonian Symposium 2015 in Krakow, PhD wor

Cloud information content analysis of multi-angular measurements in the oxygen A-band: application to 3MI and MSPI

The vertical distribution of cloud cover has a significant impact on a large number of meteorological and climatic processes. Cloud top altitude and cloud geometrical thickness are then essential. Previous studies established the possibility of retrieving those parameters from multi-angular oxygen A-band measurements. Here we perform a study and comparison of the performances of future instruments. The 3MI (Multi-angle, Multi-channel and Multi-polarization Imager) instrument developed by EUMETSAT, which is an extension of the POLDER/PARASOL instrument, and MSPI (Multi-angles Spectro-Polarimetric Imager) develoloped by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will measure total and polarized light reflected by the Earth's atmosphere–surface system in several spectral bands (from UV to SWIR) and several viewing geometries. Those instruments should provide opportunities to observe the links between the cloud structures and the anisotropy of the reflected solar radiation into space. Specific algorithms will need be developed in order to take advantage of the new capabilities of this instrument. However, prior to this effort, we need to understand, through a theoretical Shannon information content analysis, the limits and advantages of these new instruments for retrieving liquid and ice cloud properties, and especially, in this study, the amount of information coming from the A-Band channel on the cloud top altitude (CTOP) and geometrical thickness (CGT). We compare the information content of 3MI A-Band in two configurations and that of MSPI. Quantitative information content estimates show that the retrieval of CTOP with a high accuracy is possible in almost all cases investigated. The retrieval of CGT seems less easy but possible for optically thick clouds above a black surface, at least when CGT > 1–2 km

Cloud thermodynamic phase inferred from merged POLDER and MODIS data

International audienceThe global spatial and diurnal distribution of cloud properties is a key issue for understanding the hydrological cycle, and critical for advancing efforts to improve numerical weather models and general circulation models. Satellite data provides the best way of gaining insight into global cloud properties. In particular, the determination of cloud thermodynamic phase is a critical first step in the process of inferring cloud optical and microphysical properties from satellite measurements. It is important that cloud phase be derived together with an estimate of the confidence of this determination, so that this information can be included with subsequent retrievals (optical thickness, effective particle radius, and ice/liquid water content). In this study, we combine three different and well documented approaches for inferring cloud phase into a single algorithm. The algorithm is applied to data obtained by the MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and POLDER3 (Polarization and Directionality of the Earth Reflectance) instruments. It is shown that this synergistic algorithm can be used routinely to derive cloud phase along with an index that helps to discriminate ambiguous phase from confident phase cases. The resulting product provides a semi-continuous confidence index ranging from confident liquid to confident ice instead of the usual discrete classification of liquid phase, ice phase, mixed phase (potential combination of ice and liquid particles), or simply unknown phase clouds. This approach is expected to be useful for cloud assimilation and modeling efforts while providing more insight into the global cloud properties derived from satellite data

Dynamics of three-nucleon system studied in deuteron-proton breakup experiments : new set of invariant coordinates

This article belongs to the Topical Collection "30th anniversary of Few-Body Systems". This work was partially supported by Polish National Science Center from Grant DEC-2012/05/B/ST2/02556 and by the European Commission within the Seventh Framework Programme through IA-ENSAR (Contract No. RII3-CT-2010-262010).Systems composed of three nucleons have been a subject of precise experimental studies for many years. Recently, the database of observables for the deuteron breakup in collision with protons has been significantly extended at intermediate energies. In this region the comparison with exact theoretical calculations is possible, while the sensitivity to various aspects of the interaction, in particular to the subtle effects of the dynamics beyond the pairwise nucleon–nucleon force, is significant. The Coulomb interaction and relativistic effects show also their influence on the observables of the breakup reaction. All these effects vary with energy and appear with different strength in certain observables and phase-space regions, which calls for systematic investigations of a possibly rich set of observables determined in a wide range of energies. Moreover, a systematic comparison with theoretical predictions performed in coordinates related to the system dynamics in a possibly direct way is of importance. The examples of existing experimental data for the breakup reaction are briefly presented and the amenability of a set of invariant coordinates for that type of analysis is discussed.NCN, European Commission within the Seventh Framework Programm

POLDER observations of cloud bidirectional reflectances compared to a plane-parallel model using the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project cloud phase functions

International audienceThis study investigates the validity of the plane-parallel cloud model and in addition the suitability of water droplet and ice polycrystal phase functions for stratocumulus and cirrus clouds, respectively. To do that, we take advantage of the multidirectional viewing capability of the Polarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances (POLDER) instrument which allows us to characterize the anisotropy of the reflected radiation field. We focus on the analysis of airborne-POLDER data acquired over stratocumulus and cirrus clouds during two selected flights (on April 17 and April 18, 1994) of the European Cloud and Radiation Experiment (EUCREX'94) campaign. The bidirectional reflectances measured in the 0.86 μm channel are compared to plane-parallel cloud simulations computed with the microphysical models used by the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP). Although clouds are not homogeneous plane-parallel layers, the extended cloud layers under study appear to act, on average, as a homogeneous plane-parallel layer. The standard water droplet model (with an effective radius of 10 μm) used in the ISCCP analysis seems to be suitable for stratocumulus clouds. The relative root-mean-square difference between the observed bidirectional reflectances and the model is only 2%. For cirrus clouds, the water droplet cloud model is definitely inadequate since the rms difference rises to 9%; when the ice polycrystal model chosen for the reanalysis of ISCCP data is used instead, the rms difference is reduced to 3%

Simulation of Star configurations in the BINA detector

Star Anomaly is one of the most intriguing and unsolved discrepancies between theoretical calculations and experimental data observed in the domain of few-nucleon systems at low energies. Previous and upcoming measurements of the breakup reaction with the use of the BINA detector enable systematic studies of the Star configurations at intermediate energies. A dedicated simulation was developed to study feasibility of registering such events with the required accuracy and to support the future data analysis. An additional rotation angle has been introduced to parametrise the Star configurations. First results concerning the acceptance of certain segments of BINA for registering the Star configurations are presented