Boundary Layer Evolution and its Influence on Ground-Level Ozone Concentrations

Accurate determination of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) height (i.e., mixing height (MH)) is critical to properly simulating pollutant levels with the grid-based photochemical models. In this study, the daytime mixing heights based on the parcel and bulk Richardson number methods are compared with those obtained directly from a numerical mesoscale meteorological model in an effort to evaluate the uncertainties in the estimation of the PBL evolution. Mixing heights are estimated from hourly outputs of meteorological variables of the Penn State/NCAR Mesoscale Model Version 3.3 (MM5V3) with two PBL schemes (Blackadar and Gayno-Seaman) during July 1999 over Philadelphia, PA. An analysis of the diurnal variation in the urban PBL and its influence on ground-level ozone (O₃) levels is presented in this paper. The results indicate that on average, the MHs determined from the bulk Richardson number were larger than those estimated from the parcel method. The MHs from the MM5V3 output were much smaller than those derived from the parcel and bulk Richardson number methods, especially for the Gayno-Seaman scheme that is based on turbulent kinetic energy. The MH and ground-level O₃ concentration have been found to be twice as much on episode days than on non-episode days. The average hourly MH growth rate and O₃ tendency (i.e. rate of change in O₃) were largest during the morning hours (0700 to 1000 eastern standard time (EST)), suggesting that vertical mixing contributes significantly to the accumulation of ground-level O₃ in urban areas in the morning hours.     

天津大气PM2.5垂直特征及边界层影响

利用2006年12月17日至2007年1月1日天津250 m气象铁塔40 m、120 m、220 m高度PM2.5浓度监测资料及铁塔边界层气象资料,分析了不同天气背景下PM2.5随时间、高度变化的分布特征,研究了铁塔边界层气象条件包括逆温、特征摩擦速度、湍流动量和热量对PM2.5的影响,发现垂直PM2.5细粒子的浓度高低与天气背景及边界层气象条件是密切相关。边界层垂直动力和热力变化影响着PM2.5浓度的变化,冷空气过境时刻,PM2.5浓度达到最高峰值。40 m高度出现一个临界摩擦速度0.4 m/s,高浓度PM2.5比较集中在摩擦速度小于0.4 m/s的区域内,大于0.4 m/s这个摩擦速度,边界层的垂直湍流动量及水平和垂直方向的热量输送通量就会明显的变化,因而促使PM2.5在空中的扩散或沉降。也就是说,当摩擦速度小于0.4 m/s时,有利于PM2.5在空中的累积,PM2.5浓度趋于增高的趋势;反之,有利于PM2.5扩散,PM2.5浓度趋于减小的趋势。     

The effect of non-uniform depth on the baroclinic response to wind in elongated basins

We examined the effect of along-thalweg depth variability on the baroclinic response to wind in elongated narrow basins with a sharp thermocline. The effect of depth variability was examined by deriving a modal-based forced model with two density layers and applying the model to a symmetric curved-bottom basin (CB), an asymmetric wedge-shaped basin (with a sloping bottom towards a vertical wall, WB), and a flat-bottom basin (FB). The baroclinic responses of CB, WB, and FB to uniform wind were found to differ in time-scale, number and energy of excited modes, and temporal pattern and along-thalweg structure of baroclinic flow and thermocline deflection. For all bottom profiles that were examined, the fundamental mode was found to dominate the response to spatially-uniform wind. Compared to FB, the asymmetric depth variability in WB increased the number and energy of excited higher modes and localized the interface shear, while the symmetric deviation from flat bottom in CB caused the opposite effects. Linear deviation from uniform wind was found to feed energy into higher baroclinic modes for the symmetric CB, but was found to reduce the energy of higher baroclinic modes for WB when the deviation from uniform wind is comparable to the spatial-average magnitude. Our results can explain the observation of the second baroclinic mode and irregular wave patterns in some lakes and reservoirs. Further, our results suggest that one-dimensional vertical mixed-layer models provide better results for shear entrainment in curved-bottom basins than in wedge-shaped basins.     

城市边界层气象条件对O3浓度垂直分布的影响

利用2002年7月21日至26日,北京325m气象塔O3浓度梯度观测资料及同期的气象资料,分析了O3浓度的时空分布特征、超标情况及不同天气条件下,O3浓度的日变化规律;并对7月23日,24日两天出现高浓度污染的大气稳定度和逆温、相对湿度、低空风等边界层气象条件对O3垂直分布的影响进行了详细分析。研究表明:城市边界层气象条件,尤其逆温是影响O3垂直分布的重要因素。     

Transport and Diffusion of Ozone in the Nocturnal and Morning Planetary Boundary Layer of the Phoenix Valley

The evolution of ozone (O ₃) in the nocturnal and morning-transitional planetary boundary layer (PBL) of the Phoenix valley was measured as a part of the `Phoenix Sunrise Experiment 2001' of the U.S. Department of Energy conducted in June 2001. The goal of the field program was to study the transport, distribution and storage of ozone and its precursors in the urban boundary layer over a diurnal cycle. The ground level O <sub>3</sub> as well as mean meteorological variables and turbulence were measured over the entire period, and vertical profiling (using a tethered balloon) was made during the morning transition period. Approximately half of the observational days showed the usual diurnal cycle of high O <sub>3</sub> during the day and low O <sub>3</sub> at night, with nitrogen oxides (NO <sub>x</sub> = NO <sub>2</sub> + NO) showing an out of phase relationship with O <sub>3</sub>. The rest of the days were signified by an anomalous increase of O <sub>3</sub> in the late evening ( 2200 LST), concomitant with a sudden drop of temperature, an enhancement of wind speed and Reynolds stresses, a positive heat flux and a change of wind direction. NO <sub>x</sub> measurements indicated the simultaneous arrival of an `aged' air mass, which was corroborated by the wind predictions of a mesoscale numerical model. In all, the results indicate that the recirculation of O ₃ rich air masses is responsible for the said high-O ₃ events. Such air masses are produced during the transport of O ₃ precursors by the upslope flow toward mountainous suburbs during the day, and they return back to the city at night via downslope winds (i.e. mountain breeze). The corresponding flow patterns, and hence the high-O ₃ events, are determined by background meteorological conditions. The vertical profiling of O ₃ and flow variables during the morning transition points to a myriad of transport, mixing and chemical processes that determine the fate of tropospheric O ₃. How well such processes are incorporated and resolved in predictive O ₃ models should determine the accuracy of their predictions.     

Modelling spatial distribution of hard bottom benthic communities and their functional response to environmental parameters

In this study we analyzed and modelled spatial distribution of hard bottom benthic communities in the Lagoon of Venice, and used the model to derive functional response of these communities to changing environmental conditions.     

A CFD-based wind solver for an urban fast response transport and dispersion model

In many cities, ambient air quality is deteriorating leading to concerns about the health of city inhabitants. In urban areas with narrow streets surrounded by clusters of tall buildings, called street canyons, air pollution from traffic emissions and other sources may accumulate resulting in high pollutant concentrations. For various situations, including the evacuation of populated areas in the event of an accidental or deliberate release of chemical, biological and radiological agents, it is important that models should be developed that produce urban flow fields quickly. Various computational techniques have been used to calculate these flow fields, but these techniques are often computationally intensive. Most fast response models currently in use are at a disadvantage in these cases as they are unable to correlate highly heterogeneous urban structures with the diagnostic parameterizations on which they are based. In this paper, a novel variant of the popular projection method for solving the Navier–Stokes equations has been developed and applied to produce fast and reasonably accurate parallel computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solutions for flow in complex urban areas. This model, called QUIC-CFD represents an intermediate balance between fast (on the order of minutes for a several block problem) and reasonably accurate solutions. This paper details the solution procedure and validates this model for various simple and complex urban geometries.     

A Large-Eddy Simulation Study of the Convective Boundary Layer over Philadelphia during the 1999 Summer NE-OPS Campaign

This study presents a large-eddy simulation (LES) study of the convective boundary layer on August 1, 1999 over Philadelphia, PA during a summer ozone episode. The study is an evaluation of the Colorado State University's Regional Atmospheric Modeling System Version 4.3 (RAMS4.3) with the LES option using Northeast Oxidant and Particulate Study (NE-OPS) data. Simulations were performed with different imposed sensible heat fluxes at the ground surface. The model was initialized with the atmospheric sounding data collected at Philadelphia at 1230 UTC and model integrations continued till 2130 UTC. The resulting mean profiles of temperature and humidity obtained from the LES model were compared with atmospheric soundings, tethered balloon and aircraft data collected during the NE-OPS 1999 field campaign. Also the model-derived vertical profiles of virtual temperature were compared with NE-OPS Radio Acoustic Sounder System (RASS) data while the humidity profiles were compared with NE-OPS lidar data. The comparison of the radiosonde data with the LES model predictions suggests that the growth of the mixing layer is reasonably well simulated by the model. Overall, the agreement of temperature predictions of the LES model with the radiosonde observations is good. The model appears to underestimate humidity values for the case of higher imposed sensible heat flux. However, the humidity values in the mixing layer agree quite well with radiosonde observations for the case of lower imposed sensible heat flux. The model-predicted temperature and humidity profiles are in reasonable agreement with the tethered balloon data except for some small overestimation of temperature at lower layers and some underestimation of humidity values. However, the humidity profiles as simulated by the model agree quite well with the tethered balloon data for the case of lower imposed sensible heat flux. The model-predicted virtual temperature profile is also in better agreement with RASS data for the case of lower imposed sensible heat flux. The model-predicted temperature profile further agrees quite well with aircraft data for the case of lower imposed heat flux. However, the relative humidity values predicted by the model are lower compared with the aircraft data. The model-predicted humidity profiles are only in partial agreement with the lidar data. The results of this study suggest that the explicitly resolved energetic eddies seem to provide the correct forcing necessary to produce good agreement with observations for the case of an imposed sensible heat flux of 0.1 K m s^–1 at the surface.     

Deciding when to explore and when to persist: a comparison of honeybees and bumblebees in their response to downshifts in reward

As the distribution of food resources shifts over time, central place foragers are likely to be repeatedly faced with the question of when to abandon a forage site that is declining in value and to subsequently search elsewhere. Although there has been a great deal of investigation into how individual foragers allocate time between exploration and exploitation, few studies have sought to explore this issue within a larger functional context. We take a comparative approach to this problem by examining decision making in individual honeybees and bumblebees as they responded to a downshift in food reward. Our results show not only that honeybees and bumblebees have significantly divergent strategies with regards to abandoning a food source that is declining in value but also in terms of the subsequent tendency to seek an alternative food source. We interpret these results in terms of both biological and social distinctions between these species and highlight how group-level characteristics are likely to shape the evolutionarily derived foraging strategies of individual animals.     

The response of female Mountain White-crowned Sparrows to songs from their natal dialect and an alien dialect

Summary Female Mountain White-crowned Sparrows from Colorado were tested in a laboratory playback experiment to determine their response to male songs from their own natal dialect and to those from an alien dialect of the same subspecies, Zonotrichia leucophrys oriantha (Fig. 1). Observations were made on locomotor activity and copulation postures produced during each experimental test session.The subjects gave copulation displays almost exclusively when hearing their natal dialect and new or no displays when hearing the alien dialect (Fig. 2). The birds also exhibited significantly greater locomotor activity when hearing the natal dialect than they did when hearing the alien dialect (Fig. 3).We conclude that females are sensitized by their early song learning experience to be responsive to songs from their natal dialect and virtually sexually unresponsive to songs from an alien dialect. We speculate that the copulation posture given in the experiment implies that females in natural populations would preferably only mate assortatively with males from their natal dialect region.     

卤代醛/酮消毒副产物的生成潜能及其前驱物的结构特征

卤代醛和卤代酮类消毒副产物因具有"致畸、致癌、致突变"作用而倍受关注.对卤代醛/酮类消毒副产物控制及其前体物识别对饮用水安全保障具有重要意义.以大分子酸、疏水性酸、芳香族类亲水酸、亲水酸、糖类和氨基酸6类共14种常见有机物为对象,研究了不同有机物在氯化消毒过程中的卤代醛/酮生成潜力.结果表明,富里酸、柠檬酸、苹果酸、L-苏氨酸和L-天冬酰胺具有较高的卤代醛/酮生成势.有机物生成卤代醛/酮的过程包括2个阶段:前体物首先经氧化、脱羧等过程生成乙醛和丙酮,乙醛和丙酮被逐步氯代而生成氯代醛和氯代酮.实际水体的消毒实验表明,卤代醛/酮的生成势与水样中有机物的浓度无必然联系,但与水样中醇羟基及羰基官能团的含量呈正相关(R~2=0.69—0.98).     

16种室内观赏植物对甲醛净化效果及生理生化变化

采用气体密封舱熏气法模拟居室装修后的甲醛污染环境,对16种常见室内观赏植物进行甲醛熏气处理,以熏气12h后植物单位叶面积吸收甲醛的量作为指标评价了不同植物对甲醛气体的净化能力,同时测定了熏气后植物的外观形态变化和叶片的SPAD值、相对电导率、丙二醛含量及POD活性等指标。结果显示,被测植物在一定程度上均可以有效吸收甲醛,单位面积吸收量从大到小依次为香石竹（Dianthus caryophyllus）、瑞典常春藤（Lsodon amethystoides）、蚊净香草（Saivia spp.）、比利时杜鹃（Rhododendron hybrida）、柠檬（Citrus limon）、袖珍椰子（Chamaedorea elegans）、龟背竹（Monstera deliciosa）、冷水花（Pilea cadierei）、长寿花（Kalanchoe blossfeldiana）、‘粉冠军’（Anthurium spp.）、巢蕨（Neottopteris nidus）、吊竹梅（Zebrina pendula）、栀子花（Gardenia jasminoides var.grandiflora）、百合竹（Dracaena reflex）、口红花（Aeschynanthus radicans）、孔雀竹芋（Calathea makoyana）。不同植物在甲醛熏气后表现出不同程度的受害反应和生理生化指标的变化,综合分析结果表明香石竹、瑞典常春藤、蚊净香草、袖珍椰子、冷水花、巢蕨等对甲醛的综合净化能力和抗性较好。     

Diana monkeys, Cercopithecus diana, adjust their anti-predator response behaviour to human hunting strategies

In Taï National Park, Ivory Coast, humans with guns hunt monkeys for their meat. The poachers imitate animal calls to feign the presence of eagles or leopards, two predators to which monkeys react with high calling rates and approach. In the presence of humans, monkeys become silent and move off. A small area of the park is now avoided by poachers, due to the establishment of a field project on chimpanzees in 1979. This offered the opportunity to investigate whether sudden changes in predation pressure lead to a rapid alteration in prey behaviour. Playback experiments, using groups of Diana monkeys, Cercopithecus diana, as subjects, revealed that the poachers' strategy works well in the home range of the habituated chimpanzee group. However, monkeys which are frequently exposed to poachers are rarely fooled by the imitations. Adaptive discrimination abilities can thus be acquired or lost within the lifespan of individual monkeys.     

Chinstrap penguins alter foraging and diving behavior in response to the size of their principle prey, Antarctic krill

Penguins may exhibit plasticity in their diving and foraging behaviors in response to changes in prey availability. Chinstrap penguins are dependent predators of Antarctic krill in the Scotia Sea region, but krill populations have fluctuated in recent years. We examined the diet of chinstrap penguins at Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, in relation to their diving and foraging behavior using time-depth recorders over six breeding seasons: 2002–2007. When krill were smaller, more chinstrap penguins consumed fish. In these years, chinstrap penguins often exhibited a shift to deep dives after sundown, and then resumed a shallower pattern at sunrise. These night dives were unexpectedly deep (up to 110 m) and mean night dive depths sometimes exceeded those from the daytime. The average size of krill in each year was negatively correlated to mean night dive depths and the proportion of foraging trips taken overnight. Based on these patterns, we suggest that when krill were small, penguins increasingly targeted myctophid fish. The average krill size was negatively correlated to the time chinstrap penguins spent foraging which suggests that foraging on smaller krill and fish incurred a cost: more time was spent at sea foraging.     

苯胺类有机物结构特性与其在硅橡胶膜中萃取效果关系

本文研究了硅橡胶膜对不同苯胺类物质的萃取效果,并结合有机物的结构参数进行分析.结果表明,苯胺类物质在硅橡胶膜中的萃取过程与其取代基的类型密切相关,—CH3和—NO2等疏水性基团的存在可以提高苯胺类物质在硅橡胶膜中的萃取率,但取代基的种类以及位置不同,会使苯胺类物质在硅橡胶膜中的萃取效果趋于复杂化;从结构参数的角度分析,苯胺类物质的萃取率主要取决于辛醇/水分配系数(lg P)以及溶解度(S)两个参数;萃取实验的结果显示,苯胺类物质在硅橡胶膜中的萃取率与辛醇/水分配系数呈现显著正相关(R2为0.940),与溶解度呈现显著负相关(R2为0.817),这表明有机物疏水性越强,越容易在硅橡胶膜内分配;但透过实验的结果显示,透过率随辛醇/水分配系数的增大呈现先升高后降低的趋势,当lg P在1附近时,透过率达到最大值.     

The air speed of migrating birds and its relationship to the wind

Summary This paper deals with the flight speeds of migrating birds observed by radar over a Swiss Alpine pass. The distributions of air speeds for different classes of birds and the influence of the wind on air speeds were investigated. Our findings differ greatly from observations of bird migration over the North Atlantic Ocean and the North American continent. Our data reveal: (1) that the air speeds of the bulk of migrating birds were in the range of 8–18 m/s and that the amount of slow flyers (air speed below 5 m/s) was less than 5%; (2) that there was an obvious influence of the wind on air speeds and, moreover, the data showed a distinctly variable compensatory behavior among different bird classes; (3) that the wind component in the direction of the bird's heading was a better predictor for air speed than the wind direction. Although we do not speculate about possibilities and mechanisms of wind detection, a simple argument shows how birds could estimate wind directions if they do use the moving surface as a reference system.     

Brooded coral larvae differ in their response to high temperature and elevated pCO2 depending on the day of release

To evaluate the effects of temperature and pCO₂ on coral larvae, brooded larvae of Pocillopora damicornis from Nanwan Bay, Taiwan (21°56.179′N, 120°44.85′E), were exposed to ambient (419–470 μatm) and high (604–742 μatm) pCO₂ at ~25 and ~29 °C in two experiments conducted in March 2010 and March 2012. Larvae were sampled from four consecutive lunar days (LD) synchronized with spawning following the new moon, incubated in treatments for 24 h, and measured for respiration, maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII (F _v/F _m), and mortality. The most striking outcome was a strong effect of time (i.e., LD) on larvae performance: respiration was affected by an LD × temperature interaction in 2010 and 2012, as well as an LD × pCO₂ × temperature interaction in 2012; F _v/F _m was affected by LD in 2010 (but not 2012); and mortality was affected by an LD × pCO₂ interaction in 2010, and an LD × temperature interaction in 2012. There were no main effects of pCO₂ in 2010, but in 2012, high pCO₂ depressed metabolic rate and reduced mortality. Therefore, differences in larval performance depended on day of release and resulted in varying susceptibility to future predicted environmental conditions. These results underscore the importance of considering larval brood variation across days when designing experiments. Subtle differences in experimental outcomes between years suggest that transgenerational plasticity in combination with unique histories of exposure to physical conditions can modulate the response of brooded coral larvae to climate change and ocean acidification.     

Evaluation of the QUIC-URB fast response urban wind model for a cubical building array and wide building street canyon

This paper describes the QUIC-URB fast response urban wind modeling tool and evaluates it against wind tunnel data for a 7 × 11 cubical building array and wide building street canyon. QUIC-URB is based on the Röckle diagnostic wind modeling strategy that rapidly produces spatially resolved wind fields in urban areas and can be used to drive urban dispersion models. Röckle-type models do not solve transport equations for momentum or energy; rather, they rely heavily on empirical parameterizations and mass conservation. In the model-experiment comparisons, we test two empirical building flow parameterizations within the QUIC-URB model: our implementation of the standard Röckle (SR) algorithms and a set of modified Röckle (MR) algorithms. The MR model attempts to build on the strengths of the SR model and introduces additional physically based, but simple parameterizations that significantly improve the results in most regions of the flow for both test cases. The MR model produces vortices in front of buildings, on rooftops and within street canyons that have velocities that compare much more favorably to the experimental results. We expect that these improvements in the wind field will result in improved dispersion calculations in built environments.     

Development and testing of a micro wind tunnel for on-site wind erosion simulations

Wind erosion processes affect soil surfaces across all land uses worldwide. Understanding the spatial and temporal scales of wind erosion is a challenging undertaking because these processes are diverse and highly variable. Wind tunnels provide a useful tool as they can be used to simulate erosion at small spatial scales. Portable wind tunnels are particularly valued because erosion can be simulated on undisturbed soil surfaces in the field. There has been a long history of use of large portable wind tunnels, with consensus that these wind erosion simulation tools can meet real world aerodynamic criteria. However, one consequence of striving to meet aerodynamic reality is that the size of the tunnels has increased, making them logistically difficult to work with in the field and resulting in a tendency to homogenise naturally complex soil surfaces. This homogenisation is at odds with an increasing awareness of the importance that small scale processes have in wind erosion. To address these logistical and surface homogenisation issues we present here the development and testing of a micro wind tunnel (MWT) designed to simulate wind erosion processes at high spatial resolution. The MWT is a duct-type design—0.05 m tall 0.1 m wide and with a 1.0 m working section. The tunnel uses a centrifugal motor to suck air through a flow‐conditioning section, over the working section and then through a sediment collection trap. Simulated wind velocities range from 5 to 18 m s^?1, with high reproducibility. Wind speeds are laterally uniform and values of u _* at the tunnel bed (calculated by measuring the pressure gradients within the MWT) are comparable with those of larger tunnels in which logarithmic profiles can be developed. Saltation sediment can be added. The tunnel can be deployed by a single person and operated on slopes ranging from 0 to 10°. Evidence is presented here that the MWT provides new and useful understanding of the erodibility of rangelands, claypans and ore stockpiles.