The bank of swimming organisms at the micron scale (BOSO-Micro).

Unicellular microscopic organisms living in aqueous environments outnumber all other creatures on Earth. A large proportion of them are able to self-propel in fluids with a vast diversity of swimming gaits and motility patterns. In this paper we present a biophysical survey of the available experimental data produced to date on the characteristics of motile behaviour in unicellular microswimmers. We assemble from the available literature empirical data on the motility of four broad categories of organisms: bacteria (and archaea), flagellated eukaryotes, spermatozoa and ciliates. Whenever possible, we gather the following biological, morphological, kinematic and dynamical parameters: species, geometry and size of the organisms, swimming speeds, actuation frequencies, actuation amplitudes, number of flagella and properties of the surrounding fluid. We then organise the data using the established fluid mechanics principles for propulsion at low Reynolds number. Specifically, we use theoretical biophysical models for the locomotion of cells within the same taxonomic groups of organisms as a means of rationalising the raw material we have assembled, while demonstrating the variability for organisms of different species within the same group. The material gathered in our work is an attempt to summarise the available experimental data in the field, providing a convenient and practical reference point for future studies

Swimming eukaryotic microorganisms exhibit a universal speed distribution.

One approach to quantifying biological diversity consists of characterizing the statistical distribution of specific properties of a taxonomic group or habitat. Microorganisms living in fluid environments, and for whom motility is key, exploit propulsion resulting from a rich variety of shapes, forms, and swimming strategies. Here, we explore the variability of swimming speed for unicellular eukaryotes based on published data. The data naturally partitions into that from flagellates (with a small number of flagella) and from ciliates (with tens or more). Despite the morphological and size differences between these groups, each of the two probability distributions of swimming speed are accurately represented by log-normal distributions, with good agreement holding even to fourth moments. Scaling of the distributions by a characteristic speed for each data set leads to a collapse onto an apparently universal distribution. These results suggest a universal way for ecological niches to be populated by abundant microorganisms.This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement 682754 to EL), and from Established Career Fellowship EP/M017982/1 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Grant 7523 from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (REG)

The Brazilian Developments on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (BRAMS 5.2): An Integrated Environmental Model Tuned for Tropical Areas

We present a new version of the Brazilian developments on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System where different previous versions for weather, chemistry and carbon cycle were unified in a single integrated software system. The new version also has a new set of state-of-the-art physical parameterizations and greater computational parallel and memory usage efficiency. Together with the description of the main features are examples of the quality of the transport scheme for scalars, radiative fluxes on surface and model simulation of rainfall systems over South America in different spatial resolutions using a scale-aware convective parameterization. Besides, the simulation of the diurnal cycle of the convection and carbon dioxide concentration over the Amazon Basin, as well as carbon dioxide fluxes from biogenic processes over a large portion of South America are shown. Atmospheric chemistry examples present model performance in simulating near-surface carbon monoxide and ozone in Amazon Basin and Rio de Janeiro megacity. For tracer transport and dispersion, it is demonstrated the model capabilities to simulate the volcanic ash 3-d redistribution associated with the eruption of a Chilean volcano. Then, the gain of computational efficiency is described with some details. BRAMS has been applied for research and operational forecasting mainly in South America. Model results from the operational weather forecast of BRAMS on 5 km grid spacing in the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies, INPE/Brazil, since 2013 are used to quantify the model skill of near surface variables and rainfall. The scores show the reliability of BRAMS for the tropical and subtropical areas of South America. Requirements for keeping this modeling system competitive regarding on its functionalities and skills are discussed. At last, we highlight the relevant contribution of this work on the building up of a South American community of model developers

The Brazilian developments on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (BRAMS 5.2): an integrated environmental model tuned for tropical areas

We present a new version of the Brazilian developments on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (BRAMS), in which different previous versions for weather, chemistry, and carbon cycle were unified in a single integrated modeling system software. This new version also has a new set of state-of-the-art physical parameterizations and greater computational parallel and memory usage efficiency. The description of the main model features includes several examples illustrating the quality of the transport scheme for scalars, radiative fluxes on surface, and model simulation of rainfall systems over South America at different spatial resolutions using a scale aware convective parameterization. Additionally, the simulation of the diurnal cycle of the convection and carbon dioxide concentration over the Amazon Basin, as well as carbon dioxide fluxes from biogenic processes over a large portion of South America, are shown. Atmospheric chemistry examples show the model performance in simulating near-surface carbon monoxide and ozone in the Amazon Basin and the megacity of Rio de Janeiro. For tracer transport and dispersion, the model capabilities to simulate the volcanic ash 3-D redistribution associated with the eruption of a Chilean volcano are demonstrated. The gain of computational efficiency is described in some detail. BRAMS has been applied for research and operational forecasting mainly in South America. Model results from the operational weather forecast of BRAMS on 5 km grid spacing in the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies, INPE/Brazil, since 2013 are used to quantify the model skill of near-surface variables and rainfall. The scores show the reliability of BRAMS for the tropical and subtropical areas of South America. Requirements for keeping this modeling system competitive regarding both its functionalities and skills are discussed. Finally, we highlight the relevant contribution of this work to building a South American community of model developers.CNPqFAPESPEarth System Research Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (ESRL/NOAA), Boulder, USAInst Nacl Pesquisas Espaciais, Ctr Previsao Tempo & Estudos Climat, Cachoeira Paulista, SP, BrazilDiv Ciência da Computação, Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, São José dos Campos, SP, BrazilUniv Estadual Paulista Unesp, Fac Ciencias, Bauru, SP, BrazilCtr Meteorol Bauru IPMet, Bauru, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Ciencias Ambientais, Diadema, SP, BrazilUniv Sao Paulo, Inst Astron Geofis & Ciencias Atmosfer, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Campina Grande, Dept Ciencias Atmosfer, Campina Grande, PB, BrazilEmbrapa Informat Agr, Campinas, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Inst Ciencia & Tecnol, Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Rio Grande do Norte, Dept Ciencias Atmosfer & Climat, Programa Pos Grad Ciencias Climat, Natal, RN, BrazilInst Nacl Pesquisas Espaciais, Ctr Ciencias Sistema, Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Joao Del Rei, Dept Geociencias, Sao Joao Del Rei, MG, BrazilInst Nacl Pesquisas Espaciais, Lab Associado Computacao & Matemat Aplica, Sao Jose Dos Campos, BrazilUniv Evora, Inst Ciencias Agr & Ambientais Mediterr, Evora, PortugalUniv Lusofona Humanidades & Tecnol, Ctr Interdisciplinar Desenvolvimento Ambient Gest, Lisbon, PortugalUniv Fed Pelotas, Fac Meteorol, Pelotas, RS, BrazilUnive Tecnol Fed Parana, Londrina, PR, BrazilNASA, Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Univ Space Res Assoc, Goddard Earth Sci Technol & Res Global Modeling &, Greenbelt, MD USAUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Inst Ciencia & Tecnol, Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Inst Ciencia & Tecnol, Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP, BrazilCNPq: 306340/2011-9FAPESP: 2014/01563-1FAPESP: 2015/10206-0FAPESP: 2014/01564-8Web of Scienc

The Brazilian developments on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (BRAMS 5.2): an integrated environmental model tuned for tropical areas.

We present a new version of the Brazilian developments on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System where different previous versions for weather, chemistry and carbon cycle were unified in a single integrated software system. The new version also has a new set of state-of-the-art physical parameterizations and greater computational parallel and memory usage efficiency. Together with the description of the main features are examples of the quality of the transport scheme for scalars, radiative fluxes on surface and model simulation of rainfall systems over South America in different spatial resolutions using a scale-aware convective parameterization. Besides, the simulation of the diurnal cycle of the convection and carbon dioxide concentration over the Amazon Basin, as well as carbon dioxide fluxes from biogenic processes over a large portion of South America are shown. Atmospheric chemistry examples present model performance in simulating near-surface carbon monoxide and ozone in Amazon Basin and Rio de Janeiro megacity. For tracer transport and dispersion, it is demonstrated the model capabilities to simulate the volcanic ash 3-d redistribution associated with the eruption of a Chilean volcano. Then, the gain of computational efficiency is described with some details. BRAMS has been applied for research and operational forecasting mainly in South America. Model results from the operational weather forecast of BRAMS on 5 km grid spacing in the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies, INPE/Brazil, since 2013 are used to quantify the model skill of near surface variables and rainfall. The scores show the reliability of BRAMS for the tropical and subtropical areas of South America. Requirements for keeping this modeling system competitive regarding on its functionalities and skills are discussed. At last, we highlight the relevant contribution of this work on the building up of a South American community of model developers