scholarly journals Hurricane Kinetic Energy Spectra from In Situ Aircraft Observations

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (8) ◽  
pp. 2523-2532 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Trent Vonich ◽  
Gregory J. Hakim

Abstract Since the pioneering paper by Nastrom and Gage on aircraft-derived power spectra, significant progress has been made in understanding the wavenumber distribution of energy in Earth’s atmosphere and its implications for the intrinsic limits of weather forecasting. Improvements in tropical cyclone intensity predictions have lagged those of global weather forecasting, and limited intrinsic predictability may be partially responsible. In this study, we construct power spectra from aircraft data of over 1200 missions carried out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) Hurricane Hunters. Each mission is parsed into distinct flight legs, and legs meeting a specified set of criteria are used for spectral analysis. Here, we produce power spectra composites for each category of the Saffir–Simpson scale, revealing a systematic relationship between spectral slope and storm intensity. Specifically, as storm intensity increases, we find that 1) spectral slope becomes steeper across scales from 10 to 160 km and 2) the transition zone where spectral slope begins to steepen shifts downscale.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Carina Wyborn ◽  
Elena Louder ◽  
Mike Harfoot ◽  
Samantha Hill

Summary Future global environmental change will have a significant impact on biodiversity through the intersecting forces of climate change, urbanization, human population growth, overexploitation, and pollution. This presents a fundamental challenge to conservation approaches, which seek to conserve past or current assemblages of species or ecosystems in situ. This review canvases diverse approaches to biodiversity futures, including social science scholarship on the Anthropocene and futures thinking alongside models and scenarios from the biophysical science community. It argues that charting biodiversity futures requires processes that must include broad sections of academia and the conservation community to ask what desirable futures look like, and for whom. These efforts confront political and philosophical questions about levels of acceptable loss, and how trade-offs can be made in ways that address the injustices in the distribution of costs and benefits across and within human and non-human life forms. As such, this review proposes that charting biodiversity futures is inherently normative and political. Drawing on diverse scholarship united under a banner of ‘futures thinking’ this review presents an array of methods, approaches and concepts that provide a foundation from which to consider research and decision-making that enables action in the context of contested and uncertain biodiversity futures.


2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. 1963-1974 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. Lewis ◽  
J. R. Hopkins ◽  
L. J. Carpenter ◽  
J. Stanton ◽  
K. A. Read ◽  
...  

Abstract. Measurements of acetone, methanol, acetaldehyde and a range of non-methane hydrocarbons have been made in North Atlantic marine air at the Mace Head observatory. Under maritime conditions the combination of OVOCs (acetone, methanol and acetaldehyde) contributed up to 85% of the total mass of measured non methane organics in air and up to 80% of the OH radical organic sink, when compared with the sum of all other organic compounds including non-methane hydrocarbons, DMS and OH-reactive halocarbons (trichloromethane and tetrachloroethylene). The observations showed anomalies in the variance and abundance of acetaldehyde and acetone over that expected for species with a remote terrestrial emission source and OH controlled chemical lifetime. A detailed model incorporating an explicit chemical degradation mechanism indicated in situ formation during air mass transport was on timescales longer than the atmospheric lifetime of precursor hydrocarbons or primary emission. The period over which this process was significant was similar to that of airmass motion on intercontinental scales, and formation via this route may reproduce that of a widespread diffuse source. The model indicates that continued short chain OVOC formation occurs many days from the point of emission, via longer lived intermediates of oxidation such as organic peroxides and long chain alcohols.


2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iver H. Cairns ◽  
P. A. Robinson ◽  
G. P. Zank

AbstractType II and III solar radio bursts are associated with shock waves and streams of energetic electrons, respectively, which drive plasma waves and radio emission at multiples of the electron plasma frequency as they move out from the corona into the interplanetary medium. Analogous plasma waves and radiation are observed from the foreshock region upstream of Earth's bow shock. In situ spacecraft observations in the solar wind have enabled major progress to be made in developing quantitative theories for these phenomena that are consistent with available data. Similar processes are believed responsible for radio emissions at 2–3 kHz that originate in the distant heliosphere, from where the solar wind interacts with the local interstellar medium. The primary goal of this paper is to review the observations and theories for these four classes of emissions, focusing on recent progress in developing detailed theories for the plasma waves and radiation in the source regions. The secondary goal is to introduce and review stochastic growth theory, a recent theory which appears quantitatively able to explain the wave observations in type III bursts and Earth's foreshock and is a natural theory to apply to type II bursts, the outer heliospheric emissions, and perhaps astrophysicalemissions.


Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1467
Author(s):  
Harry Dawson ◽  
Jinane Elias ◽  
Pascal Etienne ◽  
Sylvie Calas-Etienne

The integration of optical circuits with microfluidic lab-on-chip (LoC) devices has resulted in a new era of potential in terms of both sample manipulation and detection at the micro-scale. On-chip optical components increase both control and analytical capabilities while reducing reliance on expensive laboratory photonic equipment that has limited microfluidic development. Notably, in-situ LoC devices for bio-chemical applications such as diagnostics and environmental monitoring could provide great value as low-cost, portable and highly sensitive systems. Multiple challenges remain however due to the complexity involved with combining photonics with micro-fabricated systems. Here, we aim to highlight the progress that optical on-chip systems have made in recent years regarding the main LoC applications: (1) sample manipulation and (2) detection. At the same time, we aim to address the constraints that limit industrial scaling of this technology. Through evaluating various fabrication methods, material choices and novel approaches of optic and fluidic integration, we aim to illustrate how optic-enabled LoC approaches are providing new possibilities for both sample analysis and manipulation.


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