Search results for "soil"

Intercomparison of spectroradiometers and Sun photometers for the determination of the aerosol optical depth during the VELETA-2002 field campaign

2006

In July 2002 the VELETA-2002 field campaign was held in Sierra Nevada (Granada) in the south of Spain. The main objectives of this field campaign were the study of the influence of elevation and atmospheric aerosols on measured UV radiation. In the first stage of the field campaign, a common calibration and intercomparison between Licor-1800 spectroradiometers and Cimel-318 Sun photometers was performed in order to assess the quality of the measurements from the whole campaign. The intercomparison of the Licor spectroradiometers showed, for both direct and global irradiances, that when the comparisons were restricted to the visible part of the spectrum the deviations were within the instrum…

On the direct and semidirect effects of Saharan dust over Europe: A modeling study

2007

[1] On the basis of a new regional dust model system, the sensitivity of radiative forcing to dust aerosol properties and the impact on atmospheric dynamics were investigated. Uncertainties in optical properties were related to uncertainties in the complex spectral refractive index of mineral dust. The climatological-based distribution of desert-type aerosol in the radiation scheme of the nonhydrostatic regional model LM was replaced by dust optical properties from spectral refractive indices, derived from in situ measurements, remote sensing, bulk measurements, and laboratory experiments, employing Mie theory. The model computes changes in the solar and terrestrial irradiance from a spatia…

Stratosphere-troposphere exchange: A review, and what we have learned from STACCATO

2003

[1] This paper provides a review of stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE), with a focus on processes in the extratropics. It also addresses the relevance of STE for tropospheric chemistry, particularly its influence on the oxidative capacity of the troposphere. After summarizing the current state of knowledge, the objectives of the project Influence of Stratosphere-Troposphere Exchange in a Changing Climate on Atmospheric Transport and Oxidation Capacity (STACCATO), recently funded by the European Union, are outlined. Several papers in this Journal of Geophysical Research– Atmospheres special section present the results of this project, of which this paper gives an overview. STACCATO deve…

Comparison of ERA40 cloud top phase with POLDER-1 observations

2008

[1] A detailed grid-point-based comparison of the cloud top phase derived from the 40-year reanalyses (ERA40) of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) with satellite measurements is presented. For this purpose an algorithm is implemented to extract a two-dimensional “satellite-like” field of the cloud top phase from ERA40 data. This field is compared with cloud top phase data from the Polarization and Directionality of the Earth Reflectances (POLDER-1) instrument which was in orbit from November 1996 to June 1997. The thermodynamic cloud phase in ERA40 data is parameterized as a function of temperature with pure liquid clouds above 0°C, pure ice clouds below −23°C a…

Estimation of the spatially distributed surface energy budget for AgriSAR 2006, part II : Integration of remote sensing and hydrologic modeling

2011

In most hydrologic modeling studies, the hypothesis is made that an improvement in the modeled soil moisture leads to an improvement in the modeled surface energy balance. The objective of this paper is to assess whether this hypothesis is true. The study was performed over the winter wheat fields in the AgriSAR 2006 domain. Remotely sensed soil moisture values and latent heat fluxes were used, in combination with in situ observations. First, the land cover and saturated subsurface flow parameters were estimated using the in situ observations. A spatially distributed model simulation was then performed, for which the Brooks-Corey parameters were derived from a soil texture map, and of which…

The role of the diagnostic areas in the assessment of landslide susceptibility models: a test in the sicilian chain

2011

Abstract The aim of the research was to verify and compare the predictive power of different diagnostic areas in assessing landslide susceptibility with a multivariate approach. Scarps, landslide areas (the union between scarp and accumulation zones) and areas uphill from crowns, for rotational slides, source or scarp areas and landslide areas, for flows, have been tested. A multivariate approach was applied to assess the landslide susceptibility on the basis of three selected conditioning factors (lithology, slope angle, and topographic wetness index), which were combined in a Unique Condition Unit (UCU) layer. By intersecting the UCU layer with the vector layer of the diagnostic areas, la…

2015

Abstract. Atmospheric concentrations of nitrous acid (HONO), one of the major precursors of the hydroxyl radical (OH) in the troposphere, significantly exceed the values predicted by the assumption of a photostationary state (PSS) during daytime. Therefore, additional sources of HONO were intensively investigated in the last decades. This study presents budget calculations of HONO based on simultaneous measurements of all relevant species, including HONO and OH at two different measurement heights, i.e. 1 m above the ground and about 2 to 3 m above the canopy (24 m above the ground), conducted in a boreal forest environment. We observed mean HONO concentrations of about 6.5 × 108 molecules …

Overview of the Spirit Mars Exploration Rover Mission to Gusev Crater: Landing site to Backstay Rock in the Columbia Hills

2006

Spirit landed on the floor of Gusev Crater and conducted initial operations on soil covered, rock-strewn cratered plains underlain by olivine-bearing basalts. Plains surface rocks are covered by wind-blown dust and show evidence for surface enrichment of soluble species as vein and void-filling materials and coatings. The surface enrichment is the result of a minor amount of transport and deposition by aqueous processes. Layered granular deposits were discovered in the Columbia Hills, with outcrops that tend to dip conformably with the topography. The granular rocks are interpreted to be volcanic ash and/or impact ejecta deposits that have been modified by aqueous fluids during and/or after…

Geochemical properties of rocks and soils in Gusev Crater, Mars: Results of the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer from Cumberland Ridge to Home Plate

2008

Geochemical diversity of rocks and soils has been discovered by the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) during Spirit’s journey over Husband Hill and down into the Inner Basin from sol 470 to 1368. The APXS continues to operate nominally with no changes in calibration or spectral degradation over the course of the mission. Germanium has been added to the Spirit APXS data set with the confirmation that it occurs at elevated levels in many rocks and soils around Home Plate. Twelve new rock classes and two new soil classes have been identified at the Spirit landing site since sol 470 on the basis of the diversity in APXS geochemistry. The new rock classes are Irvine (alkaline basalt…

Some aspects of the seasonal variation of carbon dioxide and ozone

1968

An attempt is made to estimate the seasonal source function, Q , of CO 2 on the basis of data for the biosphere, provided by Lieth, and for other sources. The variation of soil respiration appears to be the most uncertain factor. The resulting CO 2 variations in the atmosphere are calculated for horizontal exchange coefficients, K , which vary with latitude. Comparison with observations given by Bolin & Keeling shows that the results are not very sensitive with respect to the assumed variations of Q and of K with latitude. Previous results on the 0 3 budget are used to calculate seasonal variations of tropospheric 0 3 for stratospheric injection rates, and K values which vary with latitude.…