Search results for "Earth"
showing 10 items of 12204 documents
The making of the New European Wind Atlas - Part 1: Model sensitivity
2020
This is the first of two papers that document the creation of the New European Wind Atlas (NEWA). It describes the sensitivity analysis and evaluation procedures that formed the basis for choosing the final setup of the mesoscale model simulations of the wind atlas. The suitable combination of model setup and parameterizations, bound by practical constraints, was found for simulating the climatology of the wind field at turbine-relevant heights with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Initial WRF model sensitivity experiments compared the wind climate generated by using two commonly used planetary boundary layer schemes and were carried out over several regions in Europe. They…
A Cloud masking algorithm for the XBAER aerosol retrieval using MERIS data
2017
Abstract To determine aerosol optical thickness, AOT, and other geophysical parameters describing conditions in the atmosphere and at the earth's surface by inversion of remote sensing measurements from space based instrumentation, it is necessary to separate ground scenes into cloud free and cloudy or cloud contaminated. Identifying the presence of cloud in a ground scene and establishing an accurate and adequate cloud mask is a challenging task. In this study, measurements by the European Space Agency (ESA) MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) have been used to develop a cloud identification and cloud mask algorithm for preprocessing prior to application of the new algorithm cal…
Retrieval of daily gross primary production over Europe and Africa from an ensemble of SEVIRI/MSG products
2018
The main goal of this paper is to derive a method for a daily gross primary production (GPP) product over Europe and Africa taking the full advantage of the SEVIRI/MSG satellite products from the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) sensors delivered from the Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Analysis (LSA SAF) system. Special attention is paid to model the daily GPP response from an optimized Montheith's light use efficiency model under dry conditions by controlling water shortage limitations from the actual evapotranspiration and the potential evapotranspiration (PET). The PET was parameterized using the mean daily air temperatur…
The 2009 Edition of the GEISA Spectroscopic Database
2011
The updated 2009 edition of the spectroscopic database GEISA (Gestion et Etude des Informations Spectroscopiques Atmosphériques; Management and Study of Atmospheric Spectroscopic Information) is described in this paper. GEISA is a computer-accessible system comprising three independent sub-databases devoted, respectively, to: line parameters, infrared and ultraviolet/visible absorption cross-sections, microphysical and optical properties of atmospheric aerosols. In this edition, 50 molecules are involved in the line parameters sub-database, including 111 isotopologues, for a total of 3,807,997 entries, in the spectral range from 10-6 to 35,877.031cm-1.The successful performances of the new …
A multisensor fusion approach to improve LAI time series
2011
International audience; High-quality and gap-free satellite time series are required for reliable terrestrial monitoring. Moderate resolution sensors provide continuous observations at global scale for monitoring spatial and temporal variations of land surface characteristics. However, the full potential of remote sensing systems is often hampered by poor quality or missing data caused by clouds, aerosols, snow cover, algorithms and instrumentation problems. A multisensor fusion approach is here proposed to improve the spatio-temporal continuity, consistency and accuracy of current satellite products. It is based on the use of neural networks, gap filling and temporal smoothing techniques. …
Abiotic and biotic controls on methane formation down to 2.5 km depth within the Precambrian Fennoscandian Shield
2017
Abstract Despite a geological history characterised by high temperature and pressure processes and organic carbon deprived crystalline bedrock, large amounts of hydrocarbons are found in deep groundwaters within Precambrian continental shields. In many sites, methane comprises more that 80% of the dissolved gas phase reaching concentrations of tens of mmol l −1 . In this study, we used isotopic methods to study the carbon isotope systematics and sources of crustal methane within the Fennoscandian Shield. The main study sites were the Outokumpu Deep Drill Hole and the Pyhasalmi mine in Finland, both of which allow groundwater sampling down to 2.5 km depth and have been previously studied for…
Hydroxylamine released by nitrifying microorganisms is a precursor for HONO emission from drying soils
2018
AbstractNitrous acid (HONO) is an important precursor of the hydroxyl radical (OH), the atmosphere´s primary oxidant. An unknown strong daytime source of HONO is required to explain measurements in ambient air. Emissions from soils are one of the potential sources. Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) have been identified as possible producers of these HONO soil emissions. However, the mechanisms for production and release of HONO in soils are not fully understood. In this study, we used a dynamic soil-chamber system to provide direct evidence that gaseous emissions from nitrifying pure cultures contain hydroxylamine (NH2OH), which is subsequently converted to HONO in a heterogeneous reaction w…
An Estimate of Global, Regional and Seasonal Cirrus Cloud Radiative Effects Contributed by Homogeneous Ice Nucleation
2020
There are two fundamental mechanisms through which cirrus clouds form; homo- and heterogeneous ice nucleation (henceforth hom and het). The relative contribution of each mechanism to ice crystal production often determines the microphysical and radiative properties of a cirrus cloud. This study attempts to estimate the radiative contribution of hom relative to het by constraining the cloud microphysics in a climate model to conform with satellite retrievals of cirrus cloud effective diameter De, where the sampled cirrus cloud base had a temperature T Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) satellite retrievals for cirrus clouds are compared against an updat…
The nature of ice-nucleating particles affects the radiative properties of tropical convective cloud systems
2020
Abstract. Convective cloud systems in the maritime tropics play a critical role in global climate, but accurately representing aerosol interactions within these clouds persists as a major challenge for weather and climate modelling. We quantify the effect of ice-nucleating particles (INP) on the radiative properties of a complex Tropical Atlantic deep convective cloud field using a regional model with an advanced double-moment microphysics scheme. Our results show that the domain-mean daylight outgoing radiation varies by up to 18 W m−2 depending on the bio- and physico-chemical properties of INP. The key distinction between different INPs is the temperature dependence of ice formation, whi…
Long-term stability of alpha particle damage in natural zircon
2005
Abstract We report the first discovery of radiation damage haloes generated by alpha particles in zircon. Proterozoic zircon crystals from a potassium-rich leucogranite from the Adirondack Mountains, New York State, have interior regions that are generally low in actinide elements (UO 2 + ThO 2 ≤ 0.02 wt.%) but show a remarkable pattern of heterogeneous metamictisation. The degree of radiation damage in these regions is not uniformly low, as would be expected if it corresponded to the observed actinide distribution patterns and age of the crystals. Rather, radiation damage is significantly increased in the outermost micro-areas of the low-actinide regions. The additional radiation damage …