Search results for "Moisture"

Variations in intensity of the westerly monsoon-like flow from the tropical Atlantic and summer rainfall over equatorial and tropical southern Africa

2009

International audience; An empirical orthogonal function (EOF) of the onshore flow of moisture along the west coast of southern Africa using NCEP-DOE AMIP-2 re-analyses suggests two dominant modes of variability that are linked to: (a) variations within the circulation linked to the mid-latitude westerlies and the South Atlantic anticyclone, (b) the intensity of the westerly flow from the tropical Atlantic. The second mode, referred to as the Equatorial Westerly mode, contributes the most to moisture input from the Atlantic onto the subconti-nent at tropical latitudes. This mode appears to be associated with large-scale rainfall anomalies over the upper lands surrounding the Congo basin in …

Weed seeds ability to emerge on the soil surface

2015

International audience; Annual weeds have to produce seeds each year to maintain their populations. These seeds fallon the soil surface. Seeds exposed to light during their moistening (i.e. caused by rain) bettergerminate than seeds in the darkness (i.e. buried). However, rare studies quantified the unique andcombined effects of light, moisture and burial depth on the germination process. We investigated,in a greenhouse experiment in 2014, the impact of seed moisture (Moistened vs. Dried), lightduring moistening (Darkness vs. Light) and burial depth (Buried vs. Surface) on germination of 12annual weed species contrasted on their seed traits and germination periods (Alopecurusmyosuroides Hud…

Eradication of Plasmodiophora brassicae during composting of wastes

2006

Survival of infectious inoculum of the clubroot pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae was assessed following bench-scale flask composting experiments and large-scale composting procedures. Clubroot-affected material was provided by artificial inoculation of Chinese cabbage or naturally infected Brussels sprout and cabbage roots. Both sets of diseased material were used in flask experiments, and the latter in large-scale windrow and aerated tunnel experiments. Municipal green wastes, onion waste and spent mushroom compost were evaluated in flask experiments with varying temperature, aeration and moisture conditions. Green wastes were used in larger-scale composts. Within the limits of a Chinese …

CAROLS: A New Airborne L-Band Radiometer for Ocean Surface and Land Observations

2011

The "Cooperative Airborne Radiometer for Ocean and Land Studies" (CAROLS) L-Band radiometer was designed and built as a copy of the EMIRAD II radiometer constructed by the Technical University of Denmark team. It is a fully polarimetric and direct sampling correlation radiometer. It is installed on board a dedicated French ATR42 research aircraft, in conjunction with other airborne instruments (C-Band scatterometer--STORM, the GOLD-RTR GPS system, the infrared CIMEL radiometer and a visible wavelength camera). Following initial laboratory qualifications, three airborne campaigns involving 21 flights were carried out over South West France, the Valencia site and the Bay of Biscay (Atlantic O…

Frame fungi on insulated windows.

1985

Insulated windows (fixed triple glass window elements), became common in Finland during and after the energy crisis. Moisture tends to condense along the edges causing mold growth on the frames. Nine houses with insulated glass windows and eight with other types of window were studied. Fungus samples were taken from the window edges and from the inside air and cultivated on malt extract agar. In five of the houses with insulated windows there was visible mold growth on the window edges. The predominant fungus was Aureobasidium pullulans. With other types of windows there was only one case of visible mold. The concentrations of fungi were about the same in the air of houses with both types o…

A new calibration of the effective scattering albedo and soil roughness parameters in the SMOS SM retrieval algorithm

2017

Abstract This study focuses on the calibration of the effective vegetation scattering albedo (ω) and surface soil roughness parameters (H R , and N Rp , p = H,V) in the Soil Moisture (SM) retrieval from L-band passive microwave observations using the L-band Microwave Emission of the Biosphere (L-MEB) model. In the current Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Level 2 (L2), v620, and Level 3 (L3), v300, SM retrieval algorithms, low vegetated areas are parameterized by ω = 0 and H R  = 0.1, whereas values of ω = 0.06 − 0.08 and H R  = 0.3 are used for forests. Several parameterizations of the vegetation and soil roughness parameters (ω, H R and N Rp , p = H,V) were tested in this study, tre…

An Original Approach to Active Climate Control Based on Equilibrium Moisture Content (EMC) as Set Point in a Middle-Age Building in Palermo, Italy

2019

In the frame of a more sustainable approach to climate control, a long term strategy has been developed and is under advanced phase of implementation by technical staff of the University of Palermo in an important building, Palazzo Steri, owned by the University. The monumental room under climate control, the Sala dei Baroni (also known as Sala Magna), has a precious wooden ceiling where the previously loadbearing elements are covered with wooden painted panels. Many of them, painted in the fourteenth c, underwent important restorations in the past due to climate related damage (cracks, warpings, paint layer delamination) and biological infestations. The room is currently undergoing an impo…

1981

Dynamic-mechanical and dielectric measurements have been performed with some polycarbonate samples. In one set of experiments care was taken to avoid any absorption of moisture. In other sets of experiments, samples were exposed to atmospheric humidity and to boiling water. The glass transition temperature was found to be highly affected by the absorption of water and by the test conditions. Dynamisch-mechanische und dielektrische Messungen wurden an Polycarbonatproben durchgefuhrt. In einer Versuchsserie wurde die Absorption von Wasser vollstandig vermieden, in weitern Versuchen wurden die Proben der Luftfeuchte bzw. kochendem Wasser ausgesetzt. Die Glasubergangstemperatur wurde durch das …

From macroscopic to molecular scale investigations of mass transfer of small molecules through edible packaging applied at interfaces of multiphase f…

2009

Abstract This paper presents a multi-scale approach to investigate mass transfer properties of edible films that integrates some published data and new original results. The transport of small molecules, such as water, between the different parts of multiphase food products leads to quality deterioration and thus requires the use of barrier edible films or coatings. Therefore, it is necessary to characterise the properties of both food and edible barriers, like the diffusivities of their respective migrants. Surface properties characterisation of edible films, composed of an iota-carrageenan matrix in association with a high melting point fat was investigated by goniometry and allows the de…

Environment Humidity Effect on the Weight of Carbonized Na-Al-Si Glass Fabrics Recovery after Heating

2015

Na-Al-Si glass fabrics fibres contain Na+ ions that diffuse to its surface and along with CO2 and H2O from atmosphere create here the shell of carbonate hydrates. The heating of fabric leads to weight loss by evolving these substances. In this work the results of weight recovery study at room relative humidity (20% – 50%) and elevated humidity (near 70%) of fabrics after its heating at different temperatures (70°C – 150°C) are compared. The experiments shoved the different weight recovery kinetics. The initial exponential stages up to 0.3 h – 0.5 h of the both recoveries are associated with water absorption and differ by its levels. In a case of lower environment humidity the later weight i…