CONDITIONS GOVERNING THE DISTRIBUTION OF INSECTS IN THE FREE ATMOSPHERE

1945 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. G. Wellington

Insect collecting by aircraft (1) has shown that individuals of some species of insects attain heights of four or more kilometers above the earth (6). Upon consideration of the meteorological conditions within this vertical range, it would seem that the normal decrease with height of atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity would bar flights to altitudes such as those at which specimens have been found. Conversely, certain atmospheric processes might act to carry insects inertly to such altitudes, possibly beyond the supposed limits of insect resistance to the first-named elements.

2007 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie A. Winkler ◽  
Brian E. Potter ◽  
Dwight F. Wilhelm ◽  
Ryan P. Shadbolt ◽  
Krerk Piromsopa ◽  
...  

The Haines Index is an operational tool for evaluating the potential contribution of dry, unstable air to the development of large or erratic plume-dominated wildfires. The index has three variants related to surface elevation, and is calculated from temperature and humidity measurements at atmospheric pressure levels. To effectively use the Haines Index, fire forecasters and managers must be aware of the climatological and statistical characteristics of the index for their location. However, a detailed, long-term, and spatially extensive analysis of the index does not currently exist. To meet this need, a 40-year (1961–2000) climatology of the Haines Index was developed for North America. The climatology is based on gridded (2.5° latitude × 2.5° longitude) temperature and humidity fields from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis. The climatology illustrates the large spatial variability in the Haines Index both within and between regions using the different index variants. These spatial variations point to the limitations of the index and must be taken into account when using the Haines Index operationally.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jannis Weimar ◽  
Paul Schattan ◽  
Martin Schrön ◽  
Markus Köhli ◽  
Rebecca Gugerli ◽  
...  

<p><span>Secondary cosmic-ray neutrons may be effectively used as a proxy for environmental hydrogen content at the hectare scale. These neutrons are generated mostly in the upper layers of the atmosphere within particle showers induced by galactic cosmic rays and other secondary particles. Below 15 km altitude their intensity declines as primary cosmic rays become less abundant and the generated neutrons are attenuated by the atmospheric air. At the earth surface, the intensity of secondary cosmic-ray neutrons heavily depends on their attenuation within the atmosphere, i.e. the amount of air the neutrons and their precursors pass through. Local atmospheric pressure measurements present an effective means to account for the varying neutron attenuation potential of the atmospheric air column above the neutron sensor. Pressure variations possess the second largest impact on the above-ground epithermal neutron intensity. Thus, using epithermal neutrons to infer environmental hydrogen content requires precise knowledge on how to correct for atmospheric pressure changes.</span></p><p><span>We conducted several short-term field experiments in saturated environments and at different altitudes, i.e. different pressure states to observe the neutron intensity pressure relation over a wide range of pressure values. Moreover, we used long-term measurements above glaciers in order to monitor the local dependence of neutron intensities and pressure in a pressure range typically found in Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensing. The results are presented along with a broad Monte Carlo simulation campaign using MCNP 6. In these simulations, primary cosmic rays are released above the earth atmosphere at different cut-off rigidities capturing the whole evolution of cosmic-ray neutrons from generation to attenuation and annihilation. The simulated and experimentally derived pressure relation of cosmic-ray neutrons is compared to those of similar studies and assessed in the light of an appropriate atmospheric pressure correction for Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensing.</span></p>


1975 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 637-650
Author(s):  
E. J. Douze ◽  
G. G. Sorrells

abstract The performance of long-period seismographs is often seriously degraded by atmospheric pressure variation; the problem is particularly severe at periods greater than 20 sec. The pressure variations associated with wind-generated turbulence and acoustic waves are sufficient to deform the surface of the Earth, thus adding to the background noise level recorded by the seismometer. If microbarographs are operated together with the seismograph system, a large percentage of the atmospherically generated noise can be eliminated by the use of optimum filters. The filters are designed based on the least-mean-squares criterion, with the seismograph time trace as the desired output and the microbarographs as the inputs. Single-channel filters, using only one microbarograph, located at the seismometer vault are used to attenuate wind-generated noise. In order to attenuate the noise on windless days from other pressure sources, multichannel filtering is usually necessary and therefore an array of microbarographs is required. The filters used to predict the wind-generated noise are shown to be stable despite the complicated source. The performance of the multichannel varies widely depending on the structure of pressure variations predominating in the atmosphere.


1957 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. N. Harrison

Although early meteorological records were naturally confined to the weather experienced at the surface of the Earth, as soon as meteorology began to be a science it was realized that what went on above the surface was important and that the physics of the air needed to be studied in three dimensions. An obvious illustration is the use made of cloud observations—the nature and structure of clouds, the method of their formation and their movement. Something could be learnt on those questions by observations from the ground, aided by such a simple instrument as the nephoscope. Most people, and certainly all concerned with navigation, know that the movement of clouds may be very different from the wind at the surface. It was also realized that since the atmosphere is a heat engine a knowledge of the temperature of the upper air was required. Anyone who has climbed a mountain knows that the temperature falls, and this was confirmed for the free atmosphere by observations with kites. It was clearly of interest to know whether the fall of temperature was maintained until the absolute zero was reached, and if not, why not. It is in the measurement of temperature and wind in the upper air that balloons have found their chief use.


For the steady horizontal motion of air along a path whose radius of curvature is r , we may write directly the equation (ω r sin λ ± v ) 2 / r = 1/ρ ∂ p / ∂ r +(ω r sin λ ) 2 / r , expressing the fact that the part of the centrifugal force arising from the motion of the wind is balanced by the effective gradient of pressure. In the equation p is atmospheric pressure, ρ density, v velocity of moving air, λ is latitude, and ω is the angular velocity of the earth about its axis.


1905 ◽  
Vol 74 (497-506) ◽  
pp. 90-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Norman Lockyer ◽  
William J. S. Lockyer

The ordinary meteorological elements, such as atmospheric pressure, temperature, etc., have a yearly change satisfactorily explained as due to changes of the position of the earth’s axis in relation to the sun, or, in other words, the variation of the sun’s declination. There are, however, other phenomena, such as magnetic disturbances and auroræ, which have been explained differently. Thus, in regard to this seasonal variation Mr. Ellis has written, “The related physical circumstance is that at the equinoxes, when disturbance is more frequent, the whole surface of the earth comes under the influence of the sun, whilst at the solstices, when magnetic disturbance is less frequent, a portion of the surface remains for a considerable period in shadow.”


We know the mass of the Moon very well from the amount it pulls the Earth about in the course of a month; this is measured by the resulting apparent displacements of an asteroid when it is near us. Combining this with the radius shows that the mean density is close to 3.33 g/cm 3 . The velocities of earthquake waves at depths of 30 km or so are too high for common surface rocks but agree with dunite, a rock composed mainly of olivine (Mg, Fe II ) 2 SiO 4 . This has a density of about 3.27 at ordinary pressures. The veloci­ties increase with depth, the rate of increase being apparently a maximum at depth about 0.055 R in Europe and 0.075 R in Japan. It appeared at one time that there was a discontinuity in the velocities at that depth, corresponding to a transition of olivine from a rhombic to a cubic form under pressure. It now seems that the transition, though rapid, is continuous, presumably owing to impurities, but the main point is that the facts are explained by a change of state, and that the pressure at the relevant depth is reached nowhere in the Moon, on account of its smaller size. There will, however, be some compression, and we can work out how much it would be if the Moon is made of a single material. It turns out that the actual mean density of the Moon would be matched if the density at atmospheric pressure is 3.27—just agreeing with the specimen of dunite originally used for comparison. The density at the centre would be 3.41. Thus for most purposes the Moon can be treated as of uniform density. With a few small corrections the ratio 3 C /2 Ma 2 would be 0.5956 ± 0.0010, as against 0.6 for a homogeneous body. To make it appreciably less would require a much greater thickness of lighter surface rocks than in the Earth.


Author(s):  
L. J. Hallis

The original hydrogen isotope (D/H) ratios of different planetary bodies may indicate where each body formed in the Solar System. However, geological and atmospheric processes can alter these ratios through time. Over the past few decades, D/H ratios in meteorites from Vesta and Mars, as well as from S- and C-type asteroids, have been measured. The aim of this article is to bring together all previously published data from these bodies, as well as the Earth, in order to determine the original D/H ratio for each of these inner Solar System planetary bodies. Once all secondary processes have been stripped away, the inner Solar System appears to be relatively homogeneous in terms of water D/H, with the original water D/H ratios of Vesta, Mars, the Earth, and S- and C-type asteroids all falling between δD values of −100‰ and −590‰. This homogeneity is in accord with the ‘Grand tack’ model of Solar System formation, where giant planet migration causes the S- and C-type asteroids to be mixed within 1 AU to eventually form the terrestrial planets. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The origin, history and role of water in the evolution of the inner Solar System’.


2013 ◽  
Vol 411-414 ◽  
pp. 922-925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yao Liang Shi ◽  
Guang Yu Zheng ◽  
Li Wu ◽  
Shu Sheng Peng

A parameter measuring system is introduced in this paper, which is used for recording the temperature and humidity, atmospheric pressure, rotation speed and acceleration, etc. The system uses a 32-bit RISC microprocessor of STM32F103ZET6 based on the core of ARM Coretex-M3 as master chip. And it writes the data recorded to NAND FLASH. After it finishes, it copies the data to host-computer through SD card.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Osvaldo Faggioni ◽  
Maurizio Soldani ◽  
Davide Andrea Leoncini

Sea level oscillations are the superposition of many contributions. In particular, tide is a sea level up-down water motion basically depending on three different phenomena: the Earth-Moon-Sun gravitational relationship, the water surface fluid reaction to atmospheric meteorological dynamic, and the Newtonian vertical adjustment of the sea surface due to atmospheric pressure variations. The first tide component (astrotide) is periodic and well known in all points of the Earth surface; the second one is directly related to the meteorological phenomenon, and then it is foreseeable; the Newtonian component, on the contrary, is not readily predictable by a general hydrostatic law, because theJfactor that represents the Newtonian transfer (from the atmospheric weight to the consequent sea level) is variable in each harbor area. The analysis of the gravity field permits to forecast the sea level variation due to meteorological tide events, and its metrological analysis highlights a compensation in the inverse hydrobarometric factor to be taken into account to correctly compensate atmospheric pressure variations in semibinding basins. This phenomenon has several consequences in Harbor Waterside management and in water quality control as shown by the reported case studies and introduces a new reference parameter: the so-called Water 1000.


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