Simulating mixed-phase Arctic stratus clouds: sensitivity to ice initiation mechanisms

The importance of Arctic mixed-phase clouds on radiation and the Arctic climate is well known. However, the development of mixed-phase cloud parameterization for use in large scale models is limited by lack of both related observations and numerical studies using multidimensional models with advanced microphysics that provide the basis for understanding the relative importance of different microphysical processes that take place in mixed-phase clouds. To improve the representation of mixed-phase cloud processes in the GISS GCM we use the GISS single-column model coupled to a bin resolved microphysics (BRM) scheme that was specially designed to simulate mixed-phase clouds and aerosol-cloud interactions. Using this model with the microphysical measurements obtained from the DOE ARM Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment (MPACE) campaign in October 2004 at the North Slope of Alaska, we investigate the effect of ice initiation processes and Bergeron-Findeisen process (BFP) on glaciation time and longevity of single-layer stratiform mixed-phase clouds. We focus on observations taken during 9th-10th October, which indicated the presence of a single-layer mixed-phase clouds. We performed several sets of 12-h simulations to examine model sensitivity to different ice initiation mechanisms and evaluate model output (hydrometeors concentrations, contents, effective radii, precipitation fluxes, and radar reflectivity) against measurements from the MPACE Intensive Observing Period. Overall, the model qualitatively simulates ice crystal concentration and hydrometeors content, but it fails to predict quantitatively the effective radii of ice particles and their vertical profiles. In particular, the ice effective radii are overestimated by at least 50%. However, using the same definition as used for observations, the effective radii simulated and that observed were more comparable. We find that for the single-layer stratiform mixed-phase clouds simulated, process of ice phase initiation due to freezing of supercooled water in both saturated and undersaturated (w.r.t. water) environments is as important as primary ice crystal origination from water vapor. We also find that the BFP is a process mainly responsible for the rates of glaciation of simulated clouds. These glaciation rates cannot be adequately represented by a water-ice saturation adjustment scheme that only depends on temperature and liquid and solid hydrometeors contents as is widely used in bulk microphysics schemes and are better represented by processes that also account for supersaturation changes as the hydrometeors grow

Radiative Forcing and Temperature Response to Changes in Urban Albedos and Associated CO2 Offsets

The two main forcings that can counteract to some extent the positive forcings from greenhouse gases from pre-industrial times to present-day are the aerosol and related aerosol-cloud forcings, and the radiative response to changes in surface albedo. Here, we quantify the change in radiative forcing and surface temperature that may be obtained by increasing the albedos of roofs and pavements in urban areas in temperate and tropical regions of the globe. Using the catchment land surface model (the land model coupled to the GEOS-5 Atmospheric General Circulation Model), we quantify the response of the total outgoing (outgoing shortwave+longwave) radiation to urban albedo changes. Globally, the total outgoing radiation increased by 0.5 W/square m and temperature decreased by -0.008 K for an average 0.003 increase in albedo. For the U.S. the total outgoing total radiation increased by 2.3 W/square meter, and temperature decreased by approximately 0.03 K for an average 0.01 increase in albedo. These values are for the boreal summer (Tune-July-August). Based on these forcings, the expected emitted CO2 offset for a plausible 0.25 and 0.15 increase in albedos of roofs and pavements, respectively, for all global urban areas, was found to be approximately 57 Gt CO2 . A more meaningful evaluation of the impacts of urban albedo increases on climate and the expected CO2 offsets would require simulations which better characterizes urban surfaces and represents the full annual cycle

Method of case hardening depth testing by using multifunctional ultrasonic testing instrument

The paper describes usability of ultrasonic case hardening depth control applying standard instrument of ultrasonic inspections. The ultrasonic method of measuring the depth of the hardened layer is proposed. Experimental series within the specified and multifunctional ultrasonic equipment are performed. The obtained results are compared with the results of a referent method of analysis

Aerosol climate effects and air quality impacts from 1980 to 2030

We investigate aerosol effects on climate for 1980, 1995 (meant to reflect present-day) and 2030 using the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies climate model coupled to an on-line aerosol source and transport model with interactive oxidant and aerosol chemistry. Aerosols simulated include sulfates, organic matter (OM), black carbon (BC), sea-salt and dust and additionally, the amount of tropospheric ozone is calculated, allowing us to estimate both changes to air quality and climate for different time periods and emission amounts. We include both the direct aerosol effect and indirect aerosol effects for liquid-phase clouds. Future changes for the 2030 A1B scenario are examined, focusing on the Arctic and Asia, since changes are pronounced in these regions. Our results for the different time periods include both emission changes and physical climate changes. We find that the aerosol indirect effect (AIE) has a large impact on photochemical processing, decreasing ozone amount and ozone forcing, especially for the future (2030-1995). Ozone forcings increase from 0 to 0.12 Wm{sup -2} and the total aerosol forcing increases from -0.10 Wm{sup -2} to -0.94 Wm{sup -2} (AIE increases from -0.13 to -0.68 Wm{sup -2}) for 1995-1980 versus 2030-1995. Over the Arctic we find that compared to ozone and the direct aerosol effect, the AIE contributes the most to net radiative flux changes. The AIE, calculated for 1995-1980, is positive (1.0 Wm{sup -2}), but the magnitude decreases (-0.3Wm{sup -2}) considerably for the future scenario. Over Asia, we evaluate the role of biofuel and transportation-based emissions (for BC and OM) via a scenario (2030A) that includes a projected increase (factor of two) in biofuel and transport-based emissions for 2030 A1B over Asia. Projected changes from present-day due to the 2030A emissions versus 2030 A1B are a factor of 4 decrease in summertime precipitation in Asia. Our results are sensitive to emissions used. Uncertainty in present-day emissions suggest that future climate projections warrant particular scrutiny

Aerosol indirect effects

Aerosol indirect effects continue to constitute one of the most important uncertainties for anthropogenic climate perturbations. Within the international AEROCOM initiative, the representation of aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions in ten different general circulation models (GCMs) is evaluated using three satellite datasets. The focus is on stratiform liquid water clouds since most GCMs do not include ice nucleation effects, and none of the model explicitly parameterises aerosol effects on convective clouds. We compute statistical relationships between aerosol optical depth (tau a) and various cloud and radiation quantities in a manner that is consistent between the models and the satellite data. cloud droplet number concentration (N d) compares relatively well to the satellite data at least over the ocean. The relationship between (tau a) and liquid water path is simulated much too strongly by the models. This suggests that the implementation of the second aerosol indirect effect mainly in terms of an autoconversion parameterisation has to be revisited in the GCMs. A positive relationship between total cloud fraction (fcld) and tau a as found in the satellite data is simulated by the majority of the models, albeit less strongly than that in the satellite data in most of them. In a discussion of the hypotheses proposed in the literature to explain the satellite-derived strong fcld–tau a relationship, our results indicate that none can be identified as a unique explanation. Relationships similar to the ones found in satellite data between tau a and cloud top temperature or outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) are simulated by only a few GCMs. The GCMs that simulate a negative OLR - tau a relationship show a strong positive correlation between tau a and fcld. The short-wave total aerosol radiative forcing as simulated by the GCMs is strongly influenced by the simulated anthropogenic fraction of tau a, and parameterisation assumptions such as a lower bound on Nd. Nevertheless, the strengths of the statistical relationships are good predictors for the aerosol forcings in the models. An estimate of the total short-wave aerosol forcing inferred from the combination of these predictors for the modelled forcings with the satellite-derived statistical relationships yields a global annual mean value of −1.5±0.5Wm−2. In an alternative approach, the radiative flux perturbation due to anthropogenic aerosols can be broken down into a component over the cloud-free portion of the globe (approximately the aerosol direct effect) and a component over the cloudy portion of the globe (approximately the aerosol indirect effect). An estimate obtained by scaling these simulated clearand cloudy-sky forcings with estimates of anthropogenic tau a and satellite-retrieved Nd–tau a regression slopes, respectively, yields a global, annual-mean aerosol direct effect estimate of −0.4±0.2Wm−2 and a cloudy-sky (aerosol indirect effect) estimate of −0.7±0.5Wm−2, with a total estimate of −1.2±0.4Wm−2

Application of Phase-Reversal Fresnel Zone Plates for Improving The Elevation Resolution in Ultrasonic Testing with Phased Arrays

[EN] Currently, phased arrays have found wide application in ultrasonic nondestructive testing. Volumetric results provided by the inspections with linear phased arrays have low lateral resolution in the elevation direction of such probes. This fact complicates the defects characterization task. In this paper, we suggest the application of the Phase-Reversal Fresnel Zone Plate to increase the resolution of volumetric imaging with linear phased arrays. Application of such plates is aimed at ultrasonic focusing in the elevation plane whereas focusing on the active aperture plane is provided by the application of the Sampling Phased Array. Furthermore, the use of the Phase-Reversal Fresnel Zone Plate is advantageous due to the capability of its 3D printing and introduction to the existing automated testing systems avoiding making changes to the current software and hardware. The effectiveness of the plates was verified experimentally on the existing automated testing system. The obtained experimental results demonstrate that the application of the Phase-Reversal Fresnel Zone Plate allowed achieving the results of the higher resolution as well as improving the signal to noise ratio.This work has been supported by the Spanish MINECO (TEC2015-70939-R) and MICINN (RTI2018-100792-B-I00). The research is funded by the Governmental program "Science", research projects No. 11.3683.2017/4.6 and No. 11.6342.2017/8.9. The research is carried out within the framework of Tomsk Polytechnic University Competitiveness Enhancement Program grant, the Project number is VIU-IShNKB-77/2019.Dolmatov, DO.; Tarrazó-Serrano, D.; Filippov, GA.; Minin, IV.; Minin, OV.; Sednev, DA. (2019). Application of Phase-Reversal Fresnel Zone Plates for Improving The Elevation Resolution in Ultrasonic Testing with Phased Arrays. Sensors. 19(23):1-13. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19235080113192

Aerosol indirect effects: General circulation model intercomparison and evaluation with satellite data

Aerosol indirect effects continue to constitute one of the most important uncertaintiesfor anthropogenic climate perturbations. Within the international AEROCOM initiative,the representation of aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions in ten different general cir-culation models (GCMs) is evaluated using three satellite datasets. The focus is on stratiform liquid water clouds since most GCMs do not include ice nucleation effects,and none of the models explicitly parameterizes aerosol effects on convective clouds.We compute statistical relationships between aerosol optical depth (τa) and variouscloud and radiation quantities in a manner that is consistent between the models andthe satellite data. It is found that the model-simulated influence of aerosols on cloud droplet number concentration (Nd) compares relatively well to the satellite data at leastover the ocean. The relationship betweenτaand liquid water path is simulated muchtoo strongly by the models. It is shown that this is partly related to the representationof the second aerosol indirect effect in terms of autoconversion. A positive relationshipbetween total cloud fraction (fcld) andτaas found in the satellite data is simulated by the majority of the models, albeit less strongly than that in the satellite data in most of them.In a discussion of the hypotheses proposed in the literature to explain the satellite-derived strongfcld–τarelationship, our results indicate that none can be identified asunique explanation. Relationships similar to the ones found in satellite data betweenτaand cloud top temperature or outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) are simulated by only a few GCMs. The GCMs that simulate a negative OLR –τarelationship show a strongpositive correlation betweenτaandfcld. The short-wave total aerosol radiative forc-ing as simulated by the GCMs is strongly influenced by the simulated anthropogenicfraction ofτa, and parameterisation assumptions such as a lower bound onNd. Never-theless, the strengths of the statistical relationships are good predictors for the aerosol forcings in the models. An estimate of the total short-wave aerosol forcing inferred fromthe combination of these predictors for the modelled forcings with the satellite-derivedstatistical relationships yields a global annual mean value of−1.5±0.5 Wm−2. An alternative estimate obtained by scaling the simulated clear- and cloudy-sky forcingswith estimates of anthropogenicτaand satellite-retrievedNd–τaregression slopes,respectively, yields a global annual mean clear-sky (aerosol direct effect) estimate of−0.4±0.2 Wm−2and a cloudy-sky (aerosol indirect effect) estimate of−0.7±0.5 Wm−2, with a total estimate of−1.2±0.4 Wm−2.ISSN:1680-7375ISSN:1680-736

Aerosol indirect effects

Aerosol indirect effects continue to constitute one of the most important uncertainties for anthropogenic climate perturbations. Within the international AEROCOM initiative, the representation of aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions in ten different general circulation models (GCMs) is evaluated using three satellite datasets. The focus is on stratiform liquid water clouds since most GCMs do not include ice nucleation effects, and none of the model explicitly parameterises aerosol effects on convective clouds. We compute statistical relationships between aerosol optical depth (tau a) and various cloud and radiation quantities in a manner that is consistent between the models and the satellite data. cloud droplet number concentration (N d) compares relatively well to the satellite data at least over the ocean. The relationship between (tau a) and liquid water path is simulated much too strongly by the models. This suggests that the implementation of the second aerosol indirect effect mainly in terms of an autoconversion parameterisation has to be revisited in the GCMs. A positive relationship between total cloud fraction (fcld) and tau a as found in the satellite data is simulated by the majority of the models, albeit less strongly than that in the satellite data in most of them. In a discussion of the hypotheses proposed in the literature to explain the satellite-derived strong fcld–tau a relationship, our results indicate that none can be identified as a unique explanation. Relationships similar to the ones found in satellite data between tau a and cloud top temperature or outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) are simulated by only a few GCMs. The GCMs that simulate a negative OLR - tau a relationship show a strong positive correlation between tau a and fcld. The short-wave total aerosol radiative forcing as simulated by the GCMs is strongly influenced by the simulated anthropogenic fraction of tau a, and parameterisation assumptions such as a lower bound on Nd. Nevertheless, the strengths of the statistical relationships are good predictors for the aerosol forcings in the models. An estimate of the total short-wave aerosol forcing inferred from the combination of these predictors for the modelled forcings with the satellite-derived statistical relationships yields a global annual mean value of −1.5±0.5Wm−2. In an alternative approach, the radiative flux perturbation due to anthropogenic aerosols can be broken down into a component over the cloud-free portion of the globe (approximately the aerosol direct effect) and a component over the cloudy portion of the globe (approximately the aerosol indirect effect). An estimate obtained by scaling these simulated clearand cloudy-sky forcings with estimates of anthropogenic tau a and satellite-retrieved Nd–tau a regression slopes, respectively, yields a global, annual-mean aerosol direct effect estimate of −0.4±0.2Wm−2 and a cloudy-sky (aerosol indirect effect) estimate of −0.7±0.5Wm−2, with a total estimate of −1.2±0.4Wm−2

Aerosol indirect effects

Aerosol indirect effects continue to constitute one of the most important uncertainties for anthropogenic climate perturbations. Within the international AEROCOM initiative, the representation of aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions in ten different general circulation models (GCMs) is evaluated using three satellite datasets. The focus is on stratiform liquid water clouds since most GCMs do not include ice nucleation effects, and none of the model explicitly parameterises aerosol effects on convective clouds. We compute statistical relationships between aerosol optical depth (tau a) and various cloud and radiation quantities in a manner that is consistent between the models and the satellite data. cloud droplet number concentration (N d) compares relatively well to the satellite data at least over the ocean. The relationship between (tau a) and liquid water path is simulated much too strongly by the models. This suggests that the implementation of the second aerosol indirect effect mainly in terms of an autoconversion parameterisation has to be revisited in the GCMs. A positive relationship between total cloud fraction (fcld) and tau a as found in the satellite data is simulated by the majority of the models, albeit less strongly than that in the satellite data in most of them. In a discussion of the hypotheses proposed in the literature to explain the satellite-derived strong fcld–tau a relationship, our results indicate that none can be identified as a unique explanation. Relationships similar to the ones found in satellite data between tau a and cloud top temperature or outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) are simulated by only a few GCMs. The GCMs that simulate a negative OLR - tau a relationship show a strong positive correlation between tau a and fcld. The short-wave total aerosol radiative forcing as simulated by the GCMs is strongly influenced by the simulated anthropogenic fraction of tau a, and parameterisation assumptions such as a lower bound on Nd. Nevertheless, the strengths of the statistical relationships are good predictors for the aerosol forcings in the models. An estimate of the total short-wave aerosol forcing inferred from the combination of these predictors for the modelled forcings with the satellite-derived statistical relationships yields a global annual mean value of −1.5±0.5Wm−2. In an alternative approach, the radiative flux perturbation due to anthropogenic aerosols can be broken down into a component over the cloud-free portion of the globe (approximately the aerosol direct effect) and a component over the cloudy portion of the globe (approximately the aerosol indirect effect). An estimate obtained by scaling these simulated clearand cloudy-sky forcings with estimates of anthropogenic tau a and satellite-retrieved Nd–tau a regression slopes, respectively, yields a global, annual-mean aerosol direct effect estimate of −0.4±0.2Wm−2 and a cloudy-sky (aerosol indirect effect) estimate of −0.7±0.5Wm−2, with a total estimate of −1.2±0.4Wm−2