Gravity wave penetration into the thermosphere: sensitivity to solar cycle variations and mean winds

We previously considered various aspects of gravity wave penetration and effects at mesospheric and thermospheric altitudes, including propagation, viscous effects on wave structure, characteristics, and damping, local body forcing, responses to solar cycle temperature variations, and filtering by mean winds. Several of these efforts focused on gravity waves arising from deep convection or in situ body forcing accompanying wave dissipation. Here we generalize these results to a broad range of gravity wave phase speeds, spatial scales, and intrinsic frequencies in order to address all of the major gravity wave sources in the lower atmosphere potentially impacting the thermosphere. We show how penetration altitudes depend on gravity wave phase speed, horizontal and vertical wavelengths, and observed frequencies for a range of thermospheric temperatures spanning realistic solar conditions and winds spanning reasonable mean and tidal amplitudes. Our results emphasize that independent of gravity wave source, thermospheric temperature, and filtering conditions, those gravity waves that penetrate to the highest altitudes have increasing vertical wavelengths and decreasing intrinsic frequencies with increasing altitude. The spatial scales at the highest altitudes at which gravity wave perturbations are observed are inevitably horizontal wavelengths of ~150 to 1000 km and vertical wavelengths of ~150 to 500 km or more, with the larger horizontal scales only becoming important for the stronger Doppler-shifting conditions. Observed and intrinsic periods are typically ~10 to 60 min and ~10 to 30 min, respectively, with the intrinsic periods shorter at the highest altitudes because of preferential penetration of GWs that are up-shifted in frequency by thermospheric winds

Exploring Agricultural Production Systems and Their Fundamental Components with System Dynamics Modelling

Agricultural production in the United States is undergoing marked changes due to rapid shifts in consumer demands, input costs, and concerns for food safety and environmental impact. Agricultural production systems are comprised of multidimensional components and drivers that interact in complex ways to influence production sustainability. In a mixed-methods approach, we combine qualitative and quantitative data to develop and simulate a system dynamics model that explores the systemic interaction of these drivers on the economic, environmental and social sustainability of agricultural production. We then use this model to evaluate the role of each driver in determining the differences in sustainability between three distinct production systems: crops only, livestock only, and an integrated crops and livestock system. The result from these modelling efforts found that the greatest potential for sustainability existed with the crops only production system. While this study presents a stand-alone contribution to sector knowledge and practice, it encourages future research in this sector that employs similar systems-based methods to enable more sustainable practices and policies within agricultural production

Optimal distribution of phosphorus compounds in multi-layered natural fabric reinforced biocomposites

Flame retardancy and mechanical performance of multi-layered biocomposites, consisting of polylactic acid (PLA) matrix films and plain-woven flax fabrics as reinforcement, were investigated. Full factorial design (32) was applied to evaluate the effects of the distribution of P and N containing compounds between the matrix and the fibrous carrier. Composition property correlations of the composite constituents (i.e. flax fabrics treated in aqueous solutions of diammonium phosphate and urea with differing ratio and concentrations and matrix films with 0 to 20 wt% ammonium polyphosphate based intumescent flame retardant content) were determined by thermogravimetric analyses and open flame tests. Positive interaction between the composite constituents was revealed for green composites consisting of various combinations of treated fabrics and intumescent PLA systems. The biocomposites flame retarded with a combined approach, i.e. with a balanced distribution of P containing additives between the phases, were found to gain improved mechanical performance and fire retardancy. It was confirmed by tensile testing and electron microscopy as well as by UL-94, limiting oxygen index and cone calorimeter tests. As a conclusion, interpretation is given for the optimum found

Slowly rotating voids in cosmology

We consider a spacetime consisting of an empty void separated from an almost Friedmann-Lema\^\i tre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) dust universe by a spherically symmetric, slowly rotating shell which is comoving with the cosmic dust. We treat in a unified manner all types of the FLRW universes. The metric is expressed in terms of a constant characterizing the angular momentum of the shell, and parametrized by the comoving radius of the shell. Treating the rotation as a first order perturbation, we compute the dragging of inertial frames as well as the apparent motion of distant stars within the void. Finally, we discuss, in terms of in principle measurable quantities, 'Machian' features of the model.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, REVTex, accepted for publication in Class.Quant.Gravit

Climatology of Mid-latitude Ionospheric Disturbances from the Very Large Array Low-frequency Sky Survey

The results of a climatological study of ionospheric disturbances derived from observations of cosmic sources from the Very Large Array (VLA) Low-frequency Sky Survey (VLSS) are presented. We have used the ionospheric corrections applied to the 74 MHz interferometric data within the VLSS imaging process to obtain fluctuation spectra for the total electron content (TEC) gradient on spatial scales from a few to hundreds of kilometers and temporal scales from less than one minute to nearly an hour. The observations sample nearly all times of day and all seasons. They also span latitudes and longitudes from 28 deg. N to 40 deg. N and 95 deg. W to 114 deg. W, respectively. We have binned and averaged the fluctuation spectra according to time of day, season, and geomagnetic (Kp index) and solar (F10.7) activity. These spectra provide a detailed, multi-scale account of seasonal and intraday variations in ionospheric activity with wavelike structures detected at wavelengths between about 35 and 250 km. In some cases, trends between spectral power and Kp index and/or F10.7 are also apparent. In addition, the VLSS observations allow for measurements of the turbulent power spectrum down to periods of 40 seconds (scales of ~0.4 km at the height of the E-region). While the level of turbulent activity does not appear to have a strong dependence on either Kp index or F10.7, it does appear to be more pronounced during the winter daytime, summer nighttime, and near dusk during the spring.Comment: accepted for publication in Radio Scienc

Resonant forcing of select degrees of freedom of multidimensional chaotic map dynamics

We study resonances of multidimensional chaotic map dynamics. We use the calculus of variations to determine the additive forcing function that induces the largest response, that is, the greatest deviation from the unperturbed dynamics. We include the additional constraint that only select degrees of freedom be forced, corresponding to a very general class of problems in which not all of the degrees of freedom in an experimental system are accessible to forcing. We find that certain Lagrange multipliers take on a fundamental physical role as the efficiency of the forcing function and the effective forcing experienced by the degrees of freedom which are not forced directly. Furthermore, we find that the product of the displacement of nearby trajectories and the effective total forcing function is a conserved quantity. We demonstrate the efficacy of this methodology with several examples.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Assessing the Long Term Impact of Phosphorus Fertilization on Phosphorus Loadings Using AnnAGNPS

High phosphorus (P) loss from agricultural fields has been an environmental concern because of potential water quality problems in streams and lakes. To better understand the process of P loss and evaluate the effects of different phosphorus fertilization rates on phosphorus losses, the USDA Annualized AGricultural Non-Point Source (AnnAGNPS) pollutant loading model was applied to the Ohio Upper Auglaize watershed, located in the southern portion of the Maumee River Basin. In this study, the AnnAGNPS model was calibrated using USGS monitored data; and then the effects of different phosphorus fertilization rates on phosphorus loadings were assessed. It was found that P loadings increase as fertilization rate increases, and long term higher P application would lead to much higher P loadings to the watershed outlet. The P loadings to the watershed outlet have a dramatic change after some time with higher P application rate. This dramatic change of P loading to the watershed outlet indicates that a “critical point” may exist in the soil at which soil P loss to water changes dramatically. Simulations with different initial soil P contents showed that the higher the initial soil P content is, the less time it takes to reach the “critical point” where P loadings to the watershed outlet increases dramatically. More research needs to be done to understand the processes involved in the transfer of P between the various stable, active and labile states in the soil to ensure that the model simulations are accurate. This finding may be useful in setting up future P application and management guidelines

Fall Tillage Reduced Nutrient Loads from Liquid Manure Application During the Freezing Season

Reducing agricultural runoff is important year round, particularly on landscapes that receive wintertime applications of manure. No-tillage systems are typically associated with reduced runoff loads during the growing season, but surface roughness from fall tillage may aid infiltration on frozen soils by providing surface depressional storage. The timing of winter manure applications may also affect runoff, depending on snow and soil frost conditions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate runoff and nutrient loads during the freezing season from combinations of tillage and manure application timings. Six management treatments were tested in south-central Wisconsin during the winters of 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 with a complete factorial design: two tillage treatments (fall chisel plow vs. no-tillage) and three manure application timings (early December, late January, and unmanured). Nutrient loads from winter manure application were lower on chisel-plowed versus untilled soils during both monitoring years. Loads were also lower from manure applied to soils with less frost development. Wintertime manure applications pose a risk of surface nutrient losses, but fall tillage and timing applications to thawed soils can help reduce loads