Artifacts in electrical measurements on wood caused by non-uniform moisture distributions

This paper examines how the moisture conditioning method affects the electrical conductance of wood. A widely used dataset was acquired by Stamm in 1929 who used a method of conditioning where water-saturated wood specimens were partially dried, sealed and left for a period of time for moisture to be redistributed before the electrical conductance was measured. However, more recent measurements combined conditioning above saturated salt solutions and pressure plate/pressure membrane techniques to obtain equilibrium moisture contents at constant relative humidity levels in the full moisture range. In this paper, the electrical conductance as a function of moisture content was compared for these two conditioning methods. When the specimens were conditioned to constant relative humidity levels, the data obeyed a percolation model better than when the conditioning procedure by Stamm was used. This was attributed to that Stamm’s method gives moisture gradients through the specimen because of sorption hysteresis effects, even though the wood is conditioned to a steady-state moisture content. Equilibration to constant relative humidity levels thus provided more well-defined moisture states and that the data followed a percolation model indicates that the mechanism of electrical conduction in wood does not change, even at high moisture contents.

Effect of Humidity and Bias on the Size of Nanostructures Fabricated by STM Anodization and its Application to Patterns

In this paper, the effect of humidity and sample bias on the size of nanostructures fabricated by STM anodization on a 3 nm-thick Ti film was investigated by random nano-arrays. 3.5 V and 4 V bias were applied to samples at a relative humidity of ~30% while 3.5 V, 4 V and 4.5 V were applied to samples at a relative humidity of ~43%. According to the cross section analyses, dots scattered randomly on surfaces became larger and higher as the bias increased at a constant relative humidity or as the relative humidity increased at the same bias. Two complicated patterns were fabricated by running a program in which the movement of STM tip and the sample bias were defined.

Upper tropospheric humidity changes under constant relative humidity

Theoretical derivations are given on the change of upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) in a warming climate. The considered view is that the atmosphere, which is getting moister with increasing temperatures, will retain a constant relative humidity. In the present study, we show that the upper tropospheric humidity, a weighted mean over a relative humidity profile, will change in spite of constant relative humidity. The simple reason for this is that the weighting function that defines UTH changes in a moister atmosphere. Through analytical calculations using observations and through radiative transfer calculations, we demonstrate that two quantities that define the weighting function of UTH can change: the water vapour scale height and the peak emission altitude. Applying these changes to real profiles of relative humidity shows that absolute UTH changes typically do not exceed 1 %. If larger changes would be observed they would be an indication of climatological changes of relative humidity. As such, an increase in UTH between 1980 and 2009 in the northern midlatitudes, as shown by earlier studies using the High-resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS) data, may be an indication of an increase in relative humidity as well.

Upper-tropospheric humidity changes under constant relative humidity

Theoretical derivations are given on the change of upper-tropospheric humidity (UTH) in a warming climate. Considered view is that the atmosphere, getting moister with increasing temperatures, will retain a constant relative humidity. In the present study we show that the upper-tropospheric humidity, a weighted mean over a relative humidity profile, will change in spite of constant relative humidity. The simple reason for this is that the weighting function, that defines UTH, changes in a moister atmosphere. Through analytical calculations using observations and through radiative transfer calculations we demonstrate that two quantities that define the weighting function of UTH can change: the water vapour scale height and the peak emission altitude. Applying these changes to real profiles of relative humidity shows that absolute UTH changes typically do not exceed 1 %. If larger changes would be observed they would be an indication of climatological changes of relative humidity. As such, an increase in UTH between 1980 and 2009 in the northern midlatitudes as shown by earlier studies using HIRS data, may be an indication of an increase in relative humidity as well.