-
The standard measures of the intensity of a tornado in the USA and many other countries are the Fujita and Enhanced Fujita scales. These scales are based on the damage that a tornado causes. Another measure of the strength of a tornado is its path length of touchdown, <i>L</i>. In this study we consider severe tornadoes, which we define as <i>L</i>≥10 km, in the continental USA (USA Storm Prediction Center Severe Weather Database). We find that for the period 1982–2011, for individual severe tornadoes (<i>L</i>≥10 km): (i) There is a strong linear scaling between the number of severe tornadoes in a year and their total path length in that year. (ii) The cumulative frequency path length data suggests that, not taking into account any changing trends over time, we would expect in a given year (on average) one severe tornado with a path length <i>L</i>≥115 km and in a decade (on average) one severe tornado with a path length <i>L</i>≥215 km. (iii) The noncumulative frequency-length statistics of severe tornado touchdown path lengths, 20<<i>L</i><200 km, is well approximated by an inverse power-law relationship with exponent near 3. We then take the total path length of severe tornadoes in a convective day (12:00–12:00 UTC), <i>L</i><sub>D</sub>, as a measure of the strength of a 24-h USA tornado outbreak. We find that: (i) For 1982–2011, the number of severe tornadoes in a USA convective day outbreak has a strong power-law relationship (exponent 0.80) on the convective day total path length, <i>L</i><sub>D</sub>. (ii) For 1952–2011, the cumulative frequency path length data for severe tornado outbreaks suggests that we would expect in a given year (on average) one daily severe tornado outbreak with total path length <i>L</i><sub>D</sub>≥480 km and in a decade (on average) one daily severe tornado outbreak with a total path length <i>L</i><sub>D</sub>≥1200 km. (iii) For 1982–2011, the noncumulative frequency-length statistics of tornado outbreaks, 10<<i>L</i><sub>D</sub><1000 km d<sup>−1</sup>, is well approximated by an inverse power-law relationship with exponent near 1.8. Finally, we consider the frequency path-length scaling of severe tornadoes (<i>L</i>≥10 km) during two tornado outbreaks, 27 April 2011 (67 severe tornadoes) and 25 May 2011 (16 severe tornadoes), and find similar statistical distributions with robust scaling. We believe that our robust scaling results provide evidence that touchdown path lengths can be used as quantitative measures of the systematic properties of severe tornadoes and severe tornado outbreaks.
-
Remote sensing measurements from the Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescope for the Atmosphere – New Frontiers (CRISTA-NF) during a flight on 29 July 2006 are presented. This flight is part of the AMMA-SCOUT-O3 measurement campaign, where CRISTA-NF was deployed on the high-flying research aircraft M55-Geophysica. The flight path was located over Italy and the Mediterranean Sea and crossed over the subtropical jet twice. Measurements of temperature, and the volume mixing ratios of water vapor (H<sub>2</sub>O), ozone (O<sub>3</sub>), nitric acid (HNO<sub>3</sub>) and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) are available with a vertical resolution of up to 500 m between about 6 to 21 km altitude. CRISTA-NF observes these trace gases simultaneously and provides a quasi-2-D view of the transition region between the troposphere and the stratosphere. The observation of these different trace gases allows to determine tropospheric and stratospheric air masses. As expected, higher abundances are found where the main source of the trace gases is located: in the stratosphere for O<sub>3</sub> and in the troposphere for H<sub>2</sub>O and PAN. Tracer-tracer correlations between O<sub>3</sub> and PAN are used to identify the mixed tropospheric and lowermost stratospheric air at the subtropical jet and around the thermal tropopause north of the jet. An intrusion of stratospheric air into the troposphere associated with the subtropical jet is found in the CRISTA-NF observations. The observations indicate that the intrusion is connected to a tropopause fold which is not resolved in the ECMWF analysis data. The intrusion was reproduced in a simulation with the Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS). The CLaMS simulation shows, that the lowermost stratospheric air masses in the intrusion where transported along the the subtropical jet. The tropospheric air masses around the intrusion originate from the vicinity of the Asian monsoon anticyclone. This work discusses the nature of the observed processes at the subtropical jet based on the CRISTA-NF observations and the CLaMS simulation.
-
The climate change and environmental literature, including that on aerosols, is replete with mention of black carbon (BC), but neither reliable samples nor standards exist. Thus, there is uncertainty about its exact nature. That confusion can be avoided if terms are defined and widely understood. Here we discuss an ambiguity between BC and soot and propose a more precise definition for soot as a specific material, which we call ns-soot, where "ns" refers to carbon nanospheres. We define ns-soot as particles that consist of nanospheres, typically with diameters < 100 nm, that possess distinct structures of concentrically wrapped, graphene-like layers of carbon and with grape-like (acinoform) morphologies. We additionally propose that, because of their importance for climate modeling and health issues, distinctions are made among bare, coated, and embedded ns-soot. BC, on the other hand, is not a well-defined material. We propose that the term should be restricted to light-absorbing refractory carbonaceous matter of uncertain character and that the uncertainty is stated explicitly.
-
Positive matrix factorization (PMF) was applied to the merged high resolution mass spectra of organic and inorganic aerosols from aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) measurements to investigate the sources and evolution processes of submicron aerosols in New York City in summer 2009. This new approach is able to study the distribution of organic and inorganic species in different types of aerosols, the acidity of organic aerosol (OA) factors, and the fragment ion patterns related to photochemical processing. In this study, PMF analysis of the unified AMS spectral matrix resolved 8 factors. The hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA) and cooking OA (COA) factors contain negligible amounts of inorganic species. The two factors that are primarily ammonium sulfate (SO<sub>4</sub>-OA) and ammonium nitrate (NO<sub>3</sub>-OA), respectively, are overall neutralized. Among all OA factors the organic fraction of SO<sub>4</sub>-OA shows the highest degree of oxidation (O/C = 0.69). Two semi-volatile oxygenated OA (OOA) factors, i.e., a less oxidized (LO-OOA) and a more oxidized (MO-OOA), were also identified. MO-OOA represents local photochemical products with a diurnal profile exhibiting a pronounced noon peak, consistent with those of formaldehyde (HCHO) and O<sub>x</sub>(= O<sub>3</sub> + NO<sub>2</sub>). The NO<sup>+</sup>/NO<sub>2</sub><sup>+</sup> ion ratio in MO-OOA is much higher than that in NO<sub>3</sub>-OA and in pure ammonium nitrate, indicating the formation of organic nitrates. The nitrogen-enriched OA (NOA) factor contains ~25% of acidic inorganic salts, suggesting the formation of secondary OA via acid-base reactions of amines. The size distributions of OA factors derived from the size-resolved mass spectra show distinct diurnal evolving behaviors but overall a progressing evolution from smaller to larger particle mode as the oxidation degree of OA increases. Our results demonstrate that PMF analysis of the unified aerosol mass spectral matrix which contains both inorganic and organic aerosol signals may enable the deconvolution of more OA factors and gain more insights into the sources, processes, and chemical characteristics of OA in the atmosphere.
-
Two historical emission inventories of black carbon (BC), primary organic carbon (OC), and SO<sub>2</sub> emissions from land-based anthropogenic sources, ocean-going vessels, air traffic, biomass burning, and volcanoes are presented and discussed for the period 1980–2010. These gridded inventories are provided to the internationally coordinated AeroCom Phase II multi-model hindcast experiments. The horizontal resolution is 0.5°×0.5° and 1.0°×1.0°, while the temporal resolution varies from daily for volcanoes to monthly for biomass burning and aircraft emissions, and annual averages for land-based and ship emissions. One inventory is based on inter-annually varying activity rates of land-based anthropogenic emissions and shows strong variability within a decade, while the other one is derived from interpolation between decadal endpoints and thus exhibits linear trends within a decade. Both datasets capture the major trends of decreasing anthropogenic emissions over the USA and Western Europe since 1980, a sharp decrease around 1990 over Eastern Europe and the former USSR, and a steep increase after 2000 over East and South Asia. The inventory differences for the combined anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions in the year 2005 are 34% for BC, 46% for OC, and 13% for SO<sub>2</sub>. They vary strongly depending on species, year and region, from about 10% to 40% in most cases, but in some cases the inventories differ by 100% or more. Differences in emissions from wild-land fires are caused only by different choices of the emission factors for years after 1996 which vary by a factor of about 1 to 2 for OC depending on region, and by a combination of emission factors and the amount of dry mass burned for years up to 1996. Volcanic SO<sub>2</sub> emissions, which are only provided in one inventory, include emissions from explosive, effusive, and quiescent degassing events for 1167 volcanoes.
-
A new organic aerosol module has been implemented into the EMEP chemical transport model. Four different volatility basis set (VBS) schemes have been tested in long-term simulations for Europe, covering the six years 2002–2007. Different assumptions regarding partitioning of primary organic aerosol and aging of primary semi-volatile and intermediate volatility organic carbon (S/IVOC) species and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) have been explored. Model results are compared to filter measurements, aerosol mass spectrometry (AMS) data and source apportionment studies, as well as to other model studies. The present study indicates that many different sources contribute significantly to organic aerosol in Europe. Biogenic and anthropogenic SOA, residential wood combustion and vegetation fire emissions may all contribute more than 10% each over substantial parts of Europe. This study shows smaller contributions from biogenic SOA to organic aerosol in Europe than earlier work, but relatively greater anthropogenic SOA. Simple VBS based organic aerosol models can give reasonably good results for summer conditions but more observational studies are needed to constrain the VBS parameterisations and to help improve emission inventories. The volatility distribution of primary emissions is one important issue for further work. Emissions of volatile organic compounds from biogenic sources are also highly uncertain and need further validation. We can not reproduce winter levels of organic aerosol in Europe, and there are many indications that the present emission inventories substantially underestimate emissions from residential wood combustion in large parts of Europe.
-
Isoprene epoxydiol (IEPOX) isomers are key gas-phase intermediates of isoprene atmospheric oxidation. Secondary organic aerosols derived from such intermediates have important impacts on air quality and health. We report here convergent and unambiguous pathways developed for the synthesis of isomeric IEPOX species and the rearrangement products <i>cis</i>- and <i>trans</i>-3-methyl-3,4-dihydroxytetrahydrofuran in good yield. The availability of such compounds is necessary to expedite research on isoprene atmospheric oxidation mechanisms and subsequent aerosol formation as well as the toxicological properties of the aerosols.
-
-
Our knowledge on trends in surface solar radiation (SSR) involves uncertainties due to the scarcity of long-term time series of SSR, especially with records before the second half of the 20th century. Here we study the trends of all-sky SSR from 1885 to 2010 in Switzerland, which have been estimated using a homogenous dataset of sunshine duration series. This variable is shown to be a useful proxy data of all-sky SSR, which can help to solve some of the current open issues in the dimming/brightening phenomenon. All-sky SSR has been fairly stable with little variations in the first half of the 20th century, unlike the second half of the 20th century that is characterized also in Switzerland by a dimming from the 1950s to the 1980s and a subsequent brightening. Cloud cover changes seem to explain the major part of the decadal variability observed in all-sky SSR, at least from 1885 to the 1970s; at this point, a discrepancy in the sign of the trend is visible in the all-sky SSR and cloud cover series from the 1970s to the present. Finally, an attempt to estimate SSR series for clear-sky conditions, based also on sunshine duration records since the 1930s, has been made for the first time. The mean clear-sky SSR series shows no relevant changes between the 1930s to the 1950s, then a decrease, smaller than the observed in the all-sky SSR, from the 1960s to 1970s, and ends with a strong increase from the 1980s up to the present. During the three decades from 1981 to 2010 the estimated clear-sky SSR trends reported in this study are in line with previous findings over Switzerland based on direct radiative flux measurements. Moreover, the signal of the El Chichón and Pinatubo volcanic eruption visible in the estimated clear-sky SSR records further demonstrates the potential to infer aerosol-induced radiation changes from sunshine duration observations.
-
Some bacteria are among the most active ice nuclei found in nature due to the ice nucleation active proteins on their surface, which serve as active sites for ice nucleation. Their potential impact on clouds and precipitation is not well known and needs to be investigated. Bacteria as a new aerosol species were introduced into the global climate model (GCM) ECHAM5-HAM. The inclusion of bacteria acting as ice nuclei in a GCM leads to only minor changes in cloud formation and precipitation on a global level, however, changes in the liquid water path and ice water path are simulated, specifically in the boreal regions where tundra and forests act as sources of bacteria. Although bacteria contribute to heterogeneous freezing, their impact is reduced by their low numbers compared to other heterogeneous IN. This result confirms the outcome of several previous studies.
