A Statistical Analysis of the Influence of Deep Convection on Water Vapor Variability in the Tropical Upper Troposphere

The factors that control the influence of deep convective detrainment on water vapor in the tropical upper troposphere are examined using observations from multiple satellites in conjunction with a trajectory model. Deep convection is confirmed to act primarily as a moisture source to the upper troposphere, modulated by the ambient relative humidity (RH). Convective detrainment provides strong moistening at low RH and offsets drying due to subsidence across a wide range of RH. Strong day-to-day moistening and drying takes place most frequently in relatively dry transition zones, where between 0.01% and 0.1% of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Precipitation Radar observations indicate active convection. Many of these strong moistening events in the tropics can be directly attributed to detrainment from recent tropical convection, while others in the subtropics appear to be related to stratosphere-troposphere exchange. The temporal and spatial limits of the convective source are estimated to be about 36-48 h and 600-1500 km, respectively, consistent with the lifetimes of detrainment cirrus clouds. Larger amounts of detrained ice are associated with enhanced upper tropospheric moistening in both absolute and relative terms. In particular, an increase in ice water content of approximately 400% corresponds to a 10-90% increase in the likelihood of moistening and a 30-50% increase in the magnitude of moistening.NASA Global Energy and Water Cycle programNASA Earth System Science researchTerraACRIMSAT NNG04GK90GGeological Science

The effects of small ice crystals on the infrared radiative properties of cirrus clouds

To be successful in the development of satellite retrieval methodologies for the determination of cirrus cloud properties, we must have fundamental scattering and absorption data on nonspherical ice crystals that are found in cirrus clouds. Recent aircraft observations (Platt et al. 1989) reveal that there is a large amount of small ice particles, on the order of 10 micron, in cirrus clouds. Thus it is important to explore the potential differences in the scattering and absorption properties of ice crystals with respect to their sizes and shapes. In this study the effects of nonspherical small ice crystals on the infrared radiative properties of cirrus clouds are investigated using light scattering properties of spheroidal particles. In Section 2, using the anomalous diffraction theory for spheres and results from the exact spheroid scattering program, efficient parameterization equations are developed for calculations of the scattering and absorption properties for small ice crystals. Parameterization formulas are also developed for large ice crystals using results computed from the geometric ray-tracing technique and the Fraunhofer diffraction theory for spheroids and hexagonal crystals. This is presented in Section 3. Finally, applications to the satellite remote sensing are described in Section 4

Method for ambiguity resolution in range-Doppler measurements

A method for resolving range and Doppler target ambiguities when the target has substantial range or has a high relative velocity in which a first signal is generated and a second signal is also generated which is coherent with the first signal but at a slightly different frequency such that there exists a difference in frequency between these two signals of Delta f(sub t). The first and second signals are converted into a dual-frequency pulsed signal, amplified, and the dual-frequency pulsed signal is transmitted towards a target. A reflected dual-frequency signal is received from the target, amplified, and changed to an intermediate dual-frequency signal. The intermediate dual-frequency signal is amplified, with extracting of a shifted difference frequency Delta f(sub r) from the amplified intermediate dual-frequency signal done by a nonlinear detector. The final step is generating two quadrature signals from the difference frequency Delta f(sub t) and the shifted difference frequency Delta f(sub r) and processing the two quadrature signals to determine range and Doppler information of the target

Prediction of percent body fat measurements in Americans 8 years and older

Although numerous equations to predict percent body fat have been published, few have broad generalizability. The objective of this study was to develop sets of equations that are generalizable to the American population 8 years of age and older

On the Importance of Small Ice Crystals in Tropical Anvil Cirrus

In situ measurements of ice crystal concentrations and sizes made with aircraft instrumentation over the past two decades have often indicated the presence of numerous relatively small (< 50 m diameter) crystals in cirrus clouds. Further, these measurements frequently indicate that small crystals account for a large fraction of the extinction in cirrus clouds. The fact that the instruments used to make these measurements, such as the Forward Scattering Spectrometer Probe (FSSP) and the Cloud Aerosol Spectrometer (CAS), ingest ice crystals into the sample volume through inlets has led to suspicion that the indications of numerous small ]crystals could be artifacts of large ]crystal shattering on the instrument inlets. We present new aircraft measurements in anvil cirrus sampled during the Tropical Composition, Cloud, and Climate Coupling (TC4) campaign with the 2 ] Dimensional Stereo (2D ]S) probe, which detects particles as small as 10 m. The 2D ]S has detector "arms" instead of an inlet tube. Since the 2D ]S probe surfaces are much further from the sample volume than is the case for the instruments with inlets, it is expected that 2D ]S will be less susceptible to shattering artifacts. In addition, particle inter ]arrival times are used to identify and remove shattering artifacts that occur even with the 2D ]S probe. The number of shattering artifacts identified by the 2D ]S interarrival time analysis ranges from a negligible contribution to an order of magnitude or more enhancement in apparent ice concentration over the natural ice concentration, depending on the abundance of large crystals and the natural small ]crystal concentration. The 2D ]S measurements in tropical anvil cirrus suggest that natural small ]crystal concentrations are typically one to two orders of magnitude lower than those inferred from CAS. The strong correlation between the CAS/2D ]S ratio of small ]crystal concentrations and large ]crystal concentration suggests that the discrepancy is likely caused by shattering of large crystals on the CAS inlet. We argue that past measurements with CAS in cirrus with large crystals present may contain errors due to crystal shattering, and past conclusions derived from these measurements may need to be revisited. Further, we present correlations between CAS spurious concentration and 2D ]S large ]crystal mass from spatially uniform anvil cirrus sampling periods as an approximate guide for estimating quantitative impact of large ]crystal shattering on CAS concentrations in previous datasets. We use radiative transfer calculations to demonstrate that in the maritime anvil cirrus sampled during TC4, small crystals indicated by 2D ]S contribute relatively little cloud extinction, radiative forcing, or radiative heating in the anvils, regardless of anvil age or vertical location in the clouds. While 2D ]S ice concentrations in fresh anvil cirrus may often exceed 1 cm.3, and are observed to exceed 10 cm.3 in turrets, they are typically ~0.1 cm.3 and rarely exceed 1 cm.3 (<1.4% of the time) in aged anvil cirrus. We hypothesize that isolated occurrences of higher ice concentrations in aged anvil cirrus may be caused by ice nucleation driven by either small ]scale convection or gravity waves. It appears that the numerous small crystals detrained from convective updrafts do not persist in the anvil cirrus sampled during TC ]4

Clouds in the atmospheres of extrasolar planets. I. Climatic effects of multi-layered clouds for Earth-like planets and implications for habitable zones

The effects of multi-layered clouds in the atmospheres of Earth-like planets orbiting different types of stars are studied. The radiative effects of cloud particles are directly correlated with their wavelength-dependent optical properties. Therefore the incident stellar spectra may play an important role for the climatic effect of clouds. We discuss the influence of clouds with mean properties measured in the Earth's atmosphere on the surface temperatures and Bond albedos of Earth-like planets orbiting different types of main sequence dwarf stars.Comment: accepted for publication in A&

Nationally representative equations that include resistance and reactance for the prediction of percent body fat in Americans

Resistance and reactance collected by bioelectrical impedance (BIA) can be used in equations to estimate percent body fat at relatively low cost and subject burden. To our knowledge no such equations have been developed in a nationally representative sample

Body circumferences: clinical implications emerging from a new geometric model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Body volume expands with the positive energy balance associated with the development of adult human obesity and this "growth" is captured by two widely used clinical metrics, waist circumference and body mass index (BMI). Empirical correlations between circumferences, BMI, and related body compartments are frequently reported but fail to provide an important common conceptual foundation that can be related to key clinical observations. A two-phase program was designed to fill this important gap: a geometric model linking body volume with circumferences and BMI was developed and validated in cross-sectional cohorts; and the model was applied to the evaluation of longitudinally monitored subjects during periods of voluntary weight loss. Concepts emerging from the developed model were then used to examine the relations between the evaluated clinical measures and body composition.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two groups of healthy adults (n = 494 and 1499) were included in the cross-sectional model development/testing phase and subjects in two previous weight loss studies were included in the longitudinal model evaluation phase. Five circumferences (arm, waist, hip, thigh, and calf; average of sum, C), height (H), BMI, body volume (V; underwater weighing), and the volumes of major body compartments (whole-body magnetic resonance imaging) were measured.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The evaluation of a humanoid geometric model based a cylinder confirmed that V derived from C and H was highly correlated with measured V [R²both males and females, 0.97; p < 0.001). Developed allometric models confirmed model predictions that C and BMI (represented as V/H) are directly linked as, C = (V/H)^0.5. The scaling of individual circumferences to V/H varied, with waist the highest (V/H^~0.6) and calf the lowest (V/H^~0.3), indicating that the largest and smallest between-subject "growth" with greater body volume occurs in the abdominal area and lower extremities, respectively. A stepwise linear regression model including all five circumferences²showed that each contributed independently to V/H. These cross-sectional observations were generally confirmed by analysis of the two longitudinal weight loss studies. The scaling of circumference ratios (e.g., waist/hip) to V/H conformed to models developed on the scaling of individual circumferences to V/H, indicating their relations to BMI are predictable <it>a priori</it>. Waist, hip, and arm/calf circumferences had the highest associations with whole-body visceral adipose tissue, subcutaneous adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle volumes, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These observations provide a simple geometric model relating circumferences with body size and composition, introduce a conceptual foundation explaining previous empirical observations, and reveal new clinical insights.</p

Effect of body composition methodology on heritability estimation of body fatness

Heritability estimates of human body fatness vary widely and the contribution of body composition methodology to this variability is unknown. The effect of body composition methodology on estimations of genetic and environmental contributions to body fatness variation was examined in 78 adult male and female monozygotic twin pairs reared apart or together. Body composition was assessed by six methods - body mass index (BMI), dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), underwater weighing (UWW), total body water (TBW), bioelectric impedance (BIA), and skinfold thickness. Body fatness was expressed as percent body fat, fat mass, and fat mass/height2 to assess the effect of body fatness expression on heritability estimates. Model-fitting multivariate analyses were used to assess the genetic and environmental components of variance. Mean BMI was 24.5 kg/m2 (range of 17.8-43.4 kg/m2). There was a significant effect of body composition methodology (p<0.001) on heritability estimates, with UWW giving the highest estimate (69%) and BIA giving the lowest estimate (47%) for fat mass/height2. Expression of body fatness as percent body fat resulted in significantly higher heritability estimates (on average 10.3% higher) compared to expression as fat mass/height2 (p=0.015). DXA and TBW methods expressing body fatness as fat mass/height2 gave the least biased heritability assessments, based on the small contribution of specific genetic factors to their genetic variance. A model combining DXA and TBW methods resulted in a relatively low FM/ht2 heritability estimate of 60%, and significant contributions of common and unique environmental factors (22% and 18%, respectively). The body fatness heritability estimate of 60% indicates a smaller contribution of genetic variance to total variance than many previous studies using less powerful research designs have indicated. The results also highlight the importance of environmental factors and possibly genotype by environmental interactions in the etiology of weight gain and the obesity epidemic.R01 AR046124 - NIAMS NIH HHS; R01 MH065322 - NIMH NIH HHS; T32 HL069772 - NHLBI NIH HHS; R21 DK078867 - NIDDK NIH HHS; R37 DA018673 - NIDA NIH HHS; R01 DK076092 - NIDDK NIH HHS; R01 DK079003 - NIDDK NIH HHS; F32 DK009747 - NIDDK NIH HHS; R01 DA018673 - NIDA NIH HH

Ice Initiation by Aerosol Particles: Measured and Predicted Ice Nuclei Concentrations versus Measured Ice Crystal Concentrations in an Orographic Wave Cloud

The initiation of ice in an isolated orographic wave cloud was compared with expectations based on ice nucleating aerosol concentrations and with predictions from new ice nucleation parameterizations applied in a cloud parcel model. Measurements of ice crystal number concentrations were found to be in good agreement both with measured number concentrations of ice nuclei feeding the clouds and with ice nuclei number concentrations determined from the residual nuclei of cloud particles collected by a counterflow virtual impactor. Using lognormal distributions fitted to measured aerosol size distributions and measured aerosol chemical compositions, ice nuclei and ice crystal concentrations in the wave cloud were reasonably well predicted in a 1D parcel model framework. Two different empirical parameterizations were used in the parcel model: a parameterization based on aerosol chemical type and surface area and a parameterization that links ice nuclei number concentrations to the number concentrations of particles with diameters larger than 0.5 μm. This study shows that aerosol size distribution and composition measurements can be used to constrain ice initiation by primary nucleation in models. The data and model results also suggest the likelihood that the dust particle mode of the aerosol size distribution controls the number concentrations of the heterogeneous ice nuclei, at least for the lower temperatures examined in this case