Sample records for early sown rain-fed

  1. Influence of Drought and Sowing Time on Protein Composition, Antinutrients, and Mineral Contents of Wheat

    PubMed Central

    Singh, Sondeep; Gupta, Anil K.; Kaur, Narinder

    2012-01-01

    The present study in a two-year experiment investigated the influence of drought and sowing time on protein composition, antinutrients, and mineral contents of wheat whole meal of two genotypes differing in their water requirements. Different thermal conditions prevailing during the grain filling period under different sowing time generated a large effect on the amount of total soluble proteins. Late sown conditions offered higher protein content accompanied by increased albumin-globulin but decreased glutenin content. Fe content was increased to 20–23%; however, tannin decreased to 18–35% under early sown rain-fed conditions as compared to irrigated timely sown conditions in both the genotypes. Activity of trypsin inhibitor was decreased under rain-fed conditions in both genotypes. This study inferred that variable sowing times and irrigation practices can be used for inducing variation in different wheat whole meal quality characteristics. Lower temperature prevailing under early sown rain-fed conditions; resulted in higher protein content. Higher Fe and lower tannin contents were reported under early sown rain-fed conditions however, late sown conditions offered an increase in phytic acid accompanied by decreased micronutrients and glutenin contents. PMID:22629143

  2. Rain-fed fig yield as affected by rainfall distribution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bagheri, Ensieh; Sepaskhah, Ali Reza

    2014-08-01

    Variable annual rainfall and its uneven distribution are the major uncontrolled inputs in rain-fed fig production and possibly the main cause of yield fluctuation in Istahban region of Fars Province, I.R. of Iran. This introduces a considerable risk in rain-fed fig production. The objective of this study was to find relationships between seasonal rainfall distribution and rain-fed fig production in Istahban region to determine the critical rainfall periods for rain-fed fig production and supplementary irrigation water application. Further, economic analysis for rain-fed fig production was considered in this region to control the risk of production. It is concluded that the monthly, seasonal and annual rainfall indices are able to show the effects of rainfall and its distribution on the rain-fed fig yield. Fig yield with frequent occurrence of 80 % is 374 kg ha-1. The internal rates of return for interest rate of 4, 8 and 12 % are 21, 58 and 146 %, respectively, that are economically feasible. It is concluded that the rainfall in spring especially in April and in December has negatively affected fig yield due to its interference with the life cycle of Blastophaga bees for pollination. Further, it is concluded that when the rainfall is limited, supplementary irrigation can be scheduled in March.

  3. Hydrological behavior of a Vertisol under different soil management systems in a rain-fed olive orchard

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cabezas, Jose Manuel; Gómez, Jose Alfonso; Auxiliadora Soriano, María

    2016-04-01

    Soil water availability is a major subject in Mediterranean agricultural systems, mainly due to the limited and highly variable annual rainfall, high evaporative demand, and soil hydrological characteristics. The recent expansion of olive cultivation in the rolling-plains of the Guadalquivir valley, due to the higher profitability of new intensive olive orchards, expanded the presence of olive orchards on Vertisols, soils traditionally used for annual rain-fed crops. These soils have a high content of smectitic clays, which give them a high water storage capacity, and are characterized by vertical and deep shrinkage cracks in the dry season, associated to low soil moisture. Farmers make several tillage passes in these olive groves during the summer, in order to cover the cracks and thus reduce soil water loss by evaporation, which will impact especially in rain-fed in the next olive yield. This tillage practice involves removal of plant residues from the soil surface, as well as burying seeds produced by the plants, so this will remain bared at the beginning of the rainy season, when in the Mediterranean climate is frequent occurrence of high-intensity rainfall, which are ideal conditions for soil loss by water erosion, one of the most serious problems for the sustainability of olive cultivation in Andalusia. Although there are some studies showing that water loss by evaporation from deep horizons of a vertic soil might be elevated (eg. Ritchie and Adams, 1974), the presence of plant residues on the soil surface drastically reduced soil water loss (eg Adams et al., 1969). Thus the aim of this study was to assess of soil moisture dynamics in a rain-fed olive orchard growing on a Vertisol under different soil management practices, in Andalusia (southern Spain). Four different soil management treatments were applied, which combined a cover crop (Bromus rubens L.) or bare soil throughout the year by applying herbicides, with tillage in summer to cover the cracks or non

  4. Water for food and nature in drought-prone tropics: vapour shift in rain-fed agriculture.

    PubMed Central

    Rockström, Johan

    2003-01-01

    This paper quantifies the eco-hydrological challenge up until 2050 of producing food in balance with goods and services generated by water-dependent ecosystems in nature. Particular focus is given to the savannah zone, covering 40% of the land area in the world, where water scarcity constitutes a serious constraint to sustainable development. The analysis indicates an urgent need for a new green revolution, which focuses on upgrading rain-fed agriculture. Water requirements to produce adequate diets for humans are shown to be relatively generic irrespective of hydro-climate, amounting to a global average of 1,300 m(3) cap(-1) yr(-1). Present food production requires an estimated 6,800 km(3) yr(-1) of consumptive green water (5,000 km(3) yr(-1) in rain-fed agriculture and 1,800 km(3) yr(-1) from irrigated crops). Without considering water productivity gains, an additional 5,800 km(3) yr(-1) of water is needed to feed a growing population in 2,050 and eradicate malnutrition. It is shown that the bulk of this water will be used in rain-fed agriculture. A dynamic analysis of water productivity and management options indicates that large 'crop per drop' improvements can be achieved at the farm level. Vapour shift in favour of productive green water flow as crop transpiration could result in relative water savings of 500 km(3) yr(-1) in semi-arid rain-fed agriculture. PMID:14728794

  5. Water for food and nature in drought-prone tropics: vapour shift in rain-fed agriculture.

    PubMed

    Rockström, Johan

    2003-12-29

    This paper quantifies the eco-hydrological challenge up until 2050 of producing food in balance with goods and services generated by water-dependent ecosystems in nature. Particular focus is given to the savannah zone, covering 40% of the land area in the world, where water scarcity constitutes a serious constraint to sustainable development. The analysis indicates an urgent need for a new green revolution, which focuses on upgrading rain-fed agriculture. Water requirements to produce adequate diets for humans are shown to be relatively generic irrespective of hydro-climate, amounting to a global average of 1,300 m(3) cap(-1) yr(-1). Present food production requires an estimated 6,800 km(3) yr(-1) of consumptive green water (5,000 km(3) yr(-1) in rain-fed agriculture and 1,800 km(3) yr(-1) from irrigated crops). Without considering water productivity gains, an additional 5,800 km(3) yr(-1) of water is needed to feed a growing population in 2,050 and eradicate malnutrition. It is shown that the bulk of this water will be used in rain-fed agriculture. A dynamic analysis of water productivity and management options indicates that large 'crop per drop' improvements can be achieved at the farm level. Vapour shift in favour of productive green water flow as crop transpiration could result in relative water savings of 500 km(3) yr(-1) in semi-arid rain-fed agriculture.

  6. Response of Methanogenic Microbial Communities to Desiccation Stress in Flooded and Rain-Fed Paddy Soil from Thailand

    PubMed Central

    Reim, Andreas; Hernández, Marcela; Klose, Melanie; Chidthaisong, Amnat; Yuttitham, Monthira; Conrad, Ralf

    2017-01-01

    Rice paddies in central Thailand are flooded either by irrigation (irrigated rice) or by rain (rain-fed rice). The paddy soils and their microbial communities thus experience permanent or arbitrary submergence, respectively. Since methane production depends on anaerobic conditions, we hypothesized that structure and function of the methanogenic microbial communities are different in irrigated and rain-fed paddies and react differently upon desiccation stress. We determined rates and relative proportions of hydrogenotrophic and aceticlastic methanogenesis before and after short-term drying of soil samples from replicate fields. The methanogenic pathway was determined by analyzing concentrations and δ13C of organic carbon and of CH4 and CO2 produced in the presence and absence of methyl fluoride, an inhibitor of aceticlastic methanogenesis. We also determined the abundance (qPCR) of genes and transcripts of bacterial 16S rRNA, archaeal 16S rRNA and methanogenic mcrA (coding for a subunit of the methyl coenzyme M reductase) and the composition of these microbial communities by T-RFLP fingerprinting and/or Illumina deep sequencing. The abundances of genes and transcripts were similar in irrigated and rain-fed paddy soil. They also did not change much upon desiccation and rewetting, except the transcripts of mcrA, which increased by more than two orders of magnitude. In parallel, rates of CH4 production also increased, in rain-fed soil more than in irrigated soil. The contribution of hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis increased in rain-fed soil and became similar to that in irrigated soil. However, the relative microbial community composition on higher taxonomic levels was similar between irrigated and rain-fed soil. On the other hand, desiccation and subsequent anaerobic reincubation resulted in systematic changes in the composition of microbial communities for both Archaea and Bacteria. It is noteworthy that differences in the community composition were mostly detected

  7. Global rain-fed, irrigated, and paddy croplands: A new high resolution map derived from remote sensing, crop inventories and climate data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Salmon, J. Meghan; Friedl, Mark A.; Frolking, Steve; Wisser, Dominik; Douglas, Ellen M.

    2015-06-01

    Irrigation accounts for 70% of global water use by humans and 33-40% of global food production comes from irrigated croplands. Accurate and timely information related to global irrigation is therefore needed to manage increasingly scarce water resources and to improve food security in the face of yield gaps, climate change and extreme events such as droughts, floods, and heat waves. Unfortunately, this information is not available for many regions of the world. This study aims to improve characterization of global rain-fed, irrigated and paddy croplands by integrating information from national and sub-national surveys, remote sensing, and gridded climate data sets. To achieve this goal, we used supervised classification of remote sensing, climate, and agricultural inventory data to generate a global map of irrigated, rain-fed, and paddy croplands. We estimate that 314 million hectares (Mha) worldwide were irrigated circa 2005. This includes 66 Mha of irrigated paddy cropland and 249 Mha of irrigated non-paddy cropland. Additionally, we estimate that 1047 Mha of cropland are managed under rain-fed conditions, including 63 Mha of rain-fed paddy cropland and 985 Mha of rain-fed non-paddy cropland. More generally, our results show that global mapping of irrigated, rain-fed, and paddy croplands is possible by combining information from multiple data sources. However, regions with rapidly changing irrigation or complex mixtures of irrigated and non-irrigated crops present significant challenges and require more and better data to support high quality mapping of irrigation.

  8. N2O emission characteristics and its affecting factors in rain-fed potato fields in Wuchuan County, China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Liwei; Wang, Cheng; Pan, Zhihua; Xu, Hui; Gao, Lin; Zhao, Peiyi; Dong, Zhiqiang; Zhang, Jingting; Cui, Guohui; Wang, Sen; Han, Guolin; Zhao, hui

    2017-05-01

    Representing an important greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide (N2O) emission from cultivated land is a hot topic in current climate change research. This study examined the influences of nitrogen fertilisation, temperature and soil moisture on the ammonia monooxygenase subunit A ( amoA) gene copy numbers and N2O emission characteristics. The experimental observation of N2O fluxes was based on the static chamber-gas chromatographic method. The ammonia-oxidising bacteria (AOB) and ammonia-oxidising archaea (AOA) gene copy numbers in different periods were measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The results indicated that rain-fed potato field was a N2O source, and the average annual N2O emission was approximately 0.46 ± 0.06 kgN2O-N/ha/year. N2O emissions increased significantly with increase in fertilisation, temperatures below 19.6 °C and soil volumetric water content under 15%. Crop rotation appreciably decreases N2O emissions by 34.4 to 52.4% compared to continuous cropping in rain-fed potato fields. The significant correlation between N2O fluxes and AOB copy numbers implied that N2O emissions were primarily controlled by AOB in rain-fed potato fields. The research has important theoretical and practical value for understanding N2O emissions from rain-fed dry farmland fields.

  9. N2O emission characteristics and its affecting factors in rain-fed potato fields in Wuchuan County, China.

    PubMed

    Wang, Liwei; Wang, Cheng; Pan, Zhihua; Xu, Hui; Gao, Lin; Zhao, Peiyi; Dong, Zhiqiang; Zhang, Jingting; Cui, Guohui; Wang, Sen; Han, Guolin; Zhao, Hui

    2017-05-01

    Representing an important greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emission from cultivated land is a hot topic in current climate change research. This study examined the influences of nitrogen fertilisation, temperature and soil moisture on the ammonia monooxygenase subunit A (amoA) gene copy numbers and N 2 O emission characteristics. The experimental observation of N 2 O fluxes was based on the static chamber-gas chromatographic method. The ammonia-oxidising bacteria (AOB) and ammonia-oxidising archaea (AOA) gene copy numbers in different periods were measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The results indicated that rain-fed potato field was a N 2 O source, and the average annual N 2 O emission was approximately 0.46 ± 0.06 kgN 2 O-N/ha/year. N 2 O emissions increased significantly with increase in fertilisation, temperatures below 19.6 °C and soil volumetric water content under 15%. Crop rotation appreciably decreases N 2 O emissions by 34.4 to 52.4% compared to continuous cropping in rain-fed potato fields. The significant correlation between N 2 O fluxes and AOB copy numbers implied that N 2 O emissions were primarily controlled by AOB in rain-fed potato fields. The research has important theoretical and practical value for understanding N 2 O emissions from rain-fed dry farmland fields.

  10. Utility of remote sensing-based surface energy balance models to track water stress in rain-fed switchgrass under dry and wet conditions

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The ability of remote sensing-based surface energy balance (SEB) models to track water stress in rain-fed switchgrass has not been explored yet. In this paper, the theoretical framework of crop water stress index (CWSI) was utilized to estimate CWSI in rain-fed switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) usin...

  11. Constructed wetland attenuation of nitrogen exported in subsurface drainage from irrigated and rain-fed dairy pastures.

    PubMed

    Tanner, C C; Nguyen, M L; Sukias, J P S

    2005-01-01

    Nitrogen removal performance is reported for constructed wetlands treating subsurface drainage from irrigated and rain-fed dairy pastures in North Island, New Zealand. Flow-proportional sampling of inflow and outflow concentrations were combined with continuous flow records to calculate mass balances for the wetlands. Drainage flows from the irrigated catchment were 2.5-4 fold higher and N exports up to 5 fold higher per unit area than for the rain-fed catchment. Hydraulic and associated N loadings to the wetlands were highly pulsed, associated with rainfall, soil water status, and irrigation events. Transient pulses of organic nitrogen were an important form of N loss from the rain-fed landscape in the first year, and were very effectively removed in the wetland (> 90%). Median nitrate concentrations of approximately 10 g m(-3) in the drainage inflows were reduced by 15-67% during passage through the wetlands and annual nitrate-N loads by 16-61% (38-31 7 g N m(-2)y(-1)). Generation in the wetlands of net ammoniacal-N and organic-N (irrigated site) partially negated reduction in nitrate-N loads. The results show that constructed wetlands comprising 1-2% of catchment area can provide moderate reductions in TN export via pastoral drainage, but performance is markedly influenced by variations in seasonal loading and establishment/maturation factors.

  12. A 2,000-year reconstruction of the rain-fed maize agricultural niche in the US Southwest.

    PubMed

    Bocinsky, R Kyle; Kohler, Timothy A

    2014-12-04

    Humans experience, adapt to and influence climate at local scales. Paleoclimate research, however, tends to focus on continental, hemispheric or global scales, making it difficult for archaeologists and paleoecologists to study local effects. Here we introduce a method for high-frequency, local climate-field reconstruction from tree-rings. We reconstruct the rain-fed maize agricultural niche in two regions of the southwestern United States with dense populations of prehispanic farmers. Niche size and stability are highly variable within and between the regions. Prehispanic rain-fed maize farmers tended to live in agricultural refugia--areas most reliably in the niche. The timing and trajectory of the famous thirteenth century Pueblo migration can be understood in terms of relative niche size and stability. Local reconstructions like these illuminate the spectrum of strategies past humans used to adapt to climate change by recasting climate into the distributions of resources on which they depended.

  13. Nutritional adaptation to seasonal climatic change: a study for rain-fed farmers in northeast Thailand.

    PubMed

    Murayama, Nobuko

    2005-01-01

    Based on the author's study of anthropometry, energy expenditure and food consumption in four (pre-harvest, harvest, post-harvest and rainy) seasons among rain-fed rice growing farmers in Northeast Thailand, this article clarifies and discusses human adaptive (or maladaptive) strategies to seasonal climatic change. Total energy expenditure fluctuated markedly among the four seasons, but total energy intake did to a negligible extent. Change in body weight significantly differed between pre-harvest and post-harvest seasons, with a magnitude of 1.3 kg, or 2.3%, in males and 2.5 kg, or 4.3%, in females. Respiratory quotient (RQ) was the lowest in the post-harvest season when fat mass increased. These results demonstrated that physiological adaptation, through change in RQ in particular, to change in energy balance occurred in relatively short periods, and thus behavioral adaptation by means of changes in energy intake was observed not in specific seasons but in a year. The nutritional-ecological adaptive patterns of the rain-fed rice farmers were compared with those of various subsistence populations based on physical activity levels.

  14. An evaluation of the water utilization and grain production of irrigated and rain-fed croplands in China.

    PubMed

    Cao, Xinchun; Wang, Yubao; Wu, Pute; Zhao, Xining; Wang, Juan

    2015-10-01

    Irrigation plays a major role in Chinese agricultural production, as China is experiencing water and food scarcity. Assessing water use (WU) and water productivity (WP) will contribute to regional water management and grain production improvement. This paper quantifies the water use and productivity in grain production for 31 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities (PAMs) by distinguishing between irrigated and rain-fed farmland. An indicator of marginal productivity of blue water (MWPb) is established and calculated to evaluate irrigation profits. National water use (WUt) for grain cultivation from 1998 to 2010 was approximately 689.04 Gm(3) (42.26% blue water and 57.74% green water). The productive water proportions for irrigated and total croplands were 65.57% and 76.85%, respectively. Water use compositions from both blue-green and productive-unproductive perspectives changed slightly over time. The water use productivity (WPU) and water consumption productivity (WPC) for integrated grain products of China during the study period were 0.747 and 0.972 kg/m(3), respectively. The spatial distribution patterns of irrigated WPs (WPUI, WPCI) were consistent with those for total cropland. China has achieved sufficient food supply without increasing water use. The national MWPb was estimated to be 0.673 kg/m(3), revealing a higher increase in crop yield on irrigated land compared to rain-fed land. The northeast provinces urgently need to improve irrigation efficiency, and the North China Plain PAMs should promote rain-fed crop yield to increase grain production and control water use in the future. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. The value of forecasting key-decision variables for rain-fed farming

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Winsemius, Hessel; Werner, Micha

    2013-04-01

    Rain-fed farmers are highly vulnerable to variability in rainfall. Timely knowledge of the onset of the rainy season, the expected amount of rainfall and the occurrence of dry spells can help rain-fed farmers to plan the cropping season. Seasonal probabilistic weather forecasts may provide such information to farmers, but need to provide reliable forecasts of key variables with which farmers can make decisions. In this contribution, we present a new method to evaluate the value of meteorological forecasts in predicting these key variables. The proposed method measures skill by assessing whether a forecast was useful to this decision. This is done by taking into account the required accuracy of timing of the event to make the decision useful. The method progresses the estimate of forecast skill to forecast value by taking into account the required accuracy that is needed to make the decision valuable, based on the cost/loss ratio of possible decisions. The method is applied over the Limpopo region in Southern Africa. We demonstrate the method using the example of temporary water harvesting techniques. Such techniques require time to construct and must be ready long enough before the occurrence of a dry spell to be effective. The value of the forecasts to the decision used as an example is shown to be highly sensitive to the accuracy in the timing of forecasted dry spells, and the tolerance in the decision to timing error. The skill with which dry spells can be predicted is shown to be higher in some parts of the basin, indicating that these forecasts have higher value for the decision in those parts than in others. Through assessing the skill of forecasting key decision variables to the farmers we show that it is easier to understand if the forecasts have value in reducing risk, or if other adaptation strategies should be implemented.

  16. Forecasting The Onset Of The East African Rains

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    MacLeod, D.; Palmer, T.

    2017-12-01

    The timing of the rainy seasons is critical for East Africa, where many livelihoods depend on rain-fed agriculture. The exact onset date of the rains varies from year to year and a delayed start has significant implications for food security. Early warning of anomalous onset can help mitigate risks by informing farmer decisions on crop choice and timing of planting. Onset forecasts may also pre-warn governments and NGOs of upcoming need for financial support and humanitarian intervention. Here we assess the potential to forecast the onset of both the short and long rains over East Africa at subseasonal to seasonal timescales. Based on operational reforecasts from ECMWF, we will demonstrate skilful prediction of onset anomalies. An investigation to determine potential sources of this forecast skill will also be presented. This work has been carried out as part of the project ForPAc: "Towards forecast-based preparedness action".

  17. [Effects of plastic film mulching and nitrogen application rate on net global warming potential in semiarid rain-fed maize cropland].

    PubMed

    Liu, Jian Can; Wang, Ze Lin; Yue, Shan Chao; Li, Shi Qing

    2018-04-01

    A one-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of plastic film mulching (FM) and nitrogen application rates applied to rain-fed maize fields on net global warming potential (Net GWP) and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) at the Changwu Agricultural and Ecological Experimental Station. Both GWP and GHGI were affected by the plastic film mulching and nitrogen application rate. Under the FM treatment, maize yield ranged from 1643 to 16699 kg·hm -2 , the net GWP (CO 2 -eq) ranged from 595 to 4376 kg·hm -2 ·a -1 , and the GHGI (CO 2 -eq) ranged from 213 to 358 kg·t -1 . The grain yield of maize, net GWP and GHGI for the UM (no mulching) treatment were 956 to 8821 kg·hm -2 , 342 to 4004 kg·hm -2 ·a -1 and 204 to 520 kg·t -1 , respectively. The results suggested that plastic film mulching could simultaneously improve grain yield and decrease GHGI in rain-fed cropland along with nitrogen fertilizer of 250 kg·hm -2 .

  18. A modelling approach to evaluate the long-term effect of soil texture on spring wheat productivity under a rain-fed condition.

    PubMed

    He, Yong; Hou, Lingling; Wang, Hong; Hu, Kelin; McConkey, Brian

    2014-07-30

    Soil surface texture is an important environmental factor that influences crop productivity because of its direct effect on soil water and complex interactions with other environmental factors. Using 30-year data, an agricultural system model (DSSAT-CERES-Wheat) was calibrated and validated. After validation, the modelled yield and water use (WU) of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) from two soil textures (silt loam and clay) under rain-fed condition were analyzed. Regression analysis showed that wheat grown in silt loam soil is more sensitive to WU than wheat grown in clay soil, indicating that the wheat grown in clay soil has higher drought tolerance than that grown in silt loam. Yield variation can be explained by WU other than by precipitation use (PU). These results demonstrated that the DSSAT-CERES-Wheat model can be used to evaluate the WU of different soil textures and assess the feasibility of wheat production under various conditions. These outcomes can improve our understanding of the long-term effect of soil texture on spring wheat productivity in rain-fed condition.

  19. Sown species richness and realized diversity can influence functioning of plant communities differently.

    PubMed

    Rychtecká, Terezie; Lanta, Vojtěch; Weiterová, Iva; Lepš, Jan

    2014-08-01

    Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiments (BEF) typically manipulate sown species richness and composition of experimental communities to study ecosystem functioning as a response to changes in diversity. If sown species richness is taken as a measure of diversity and aboveground biomass production as a measure of community functioning, then this relationship is usually found to be positive. The sown species richness can be considered the equivalent of a local species pool in natural communities. However, in addition to species richness, realized diversity is also an important community diversity component. Realized diversity is affected by environmental filtering and biotic interactions operating within a community. As both sown species richness and the realized diversity in BEF studies (as well as local species pool vs observed realized richness in natural communities) can differ markedly, so can their effects on the community functioning. We tested this assumption using two data sets: data from a short-term pot experiment and data from the long-term Jena biodiversity plot experiment. We considered three possible predictors of community functioning (aboveground biomass production): sown species richness, realized diversity (defined as inverse of Simpson dominance index), and survivor species richness. Sown species richness affected biomass production positively in all cases. Realized diversity as well as survivor species richness had positive effects on biomass in approximately half of cases. When realized diversity or survivor species richness was tested together with sown species richness, their partial effects were none or negative. Our results suggest that we can expect positive diversity-productivity relationship when the local species pool size is the decisive factor determining realized observed diversity; in other cases, the shape of the diversity-functioning relationship may be quite opposite.

  20. Comparing the water-use-efficiency of maize and biomass sorghum grown in the rain-fed, Midwestern US.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roby, M.; VanLoocke, A. D.; Heaton, E.; Miguez, F.; Salas Fernandez, M.

    2015-12-01

    Uncertainty in the quantity and timing of precipitation in a changing climate, combined with an increased demand for non-grain ethanol feedstock, may necessitate expanding the production of more water-use-efficient and less drought sensitive crops for biofuel applications. Research suggests that biomass sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is more drought tolerant and can produce more biomass than maize in water-limiting environments; however, sorghum water use data are scarce for the rain-fed Midwestern US. To address this gap, a replicated (n=3) side-by-side trial was established in Ames, Iowa to determine cumulative water use and water-use-efficiency of maize and biomass sorghum throughout the 2014 and 2015 growing seasons. Latent heat flux was estimated using the residual in the energy balance technique. Continuous micrometeorological measurements were supplemented by periodic measurements of leaf area index (LAI) and above-ground biomass. Water use (WU), aboveground biomass, and water-use-efficiency (WUE) were found to be similar for both crop types in 2014; data from the 2015 growing season are currently being processed. In 2015, leaf gas exchange measurements were made with a portable photosynthesis instrument. Photosynthetic parameters from gas exchange measurements will be implemented in a semi-mechanistic crop model (BioCro) as a method for scaling WUE estimates across the rain-fed Midwestern US driven with future climate projections. This research highlights the importance of understanding the potential effects of expanding biomass sorghum production on the hydrologic cycle of the Midwestern, US.

  1. Is the Macronutrient Intake of Formula-Fed Infants Greater Than Breast-Fed Infants in Early Infancy?

    PubMed Central

    Hester, Shelly N.; Hustead, Deborah S.; Mackey, Amy D.; Singhal, Atul; Marriage, Barbara J.

    2012-01-01

    Faster weight gain early in infancy may contribute to a greater risk of later obesity in formula-fed compared to breast-fed infants. One potential explanation for the difference in weight gain is higher macronutrient intake in formula-fed infants during the first weeks of life. A systematic review was conducted using Medline to assess the macronutrient and energy content plus volume of intake in breast-fed and formula-fed infants in early infancy. All studies from healthy, term, singleton infants reporting values for the composition of breast milk during the first month of life were included. The energy content of colostrum (mean, SEM: 53.6 ± 2.5 kcal/100 mL), transitional milk (57.7 ± 4.2 kcal/100 mL), and mature milk (65.2 ± 1.1 kcal/100 mL) was lower than conventional infant formula (67 kcal/100 mL) on all days analyzed. The protein concentration of colostrum (2.5 ± 0.2 g/100 mL) and transitional milk (1.7 ± 0.1 g/100 mL) was higher than formula (1.4 g/100 mL), while the protein content of mature milk (1.3 ± 0.1 g/100 mL) was slightly lower. Formula-fed infants consume a higher volume and more energy dense milk in early life leading to faster growth which could potentially program a greater risk of long-term obesity. PMID:23056929

  2. Earth observing data and methods for advancing water harvesting technologies in the semi-arid rain-fed environments of India

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sharma, C.; Thenkabail, P.; Sharma, R. R.

    2011-01-01

    The paper develops approaches and methods of modeling and mapping land and water productivity of rain-fed crops in semi-arid environments of India using hyperspectral, hyperspatial, and advanced multispectral remote sensing data and linking the same to field-plot data and climate station data. The overarching goal is to provide information to advance water harvesting technologies in the agricultural croplands of the semi-arid environments of India by conducting research in a representative pilot site in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. ?? 2011 IEEE.

  3. [Dynamics of soil water reservoir of wheat field in rain-fed area of the Loess Tableland, China].

    PubMed

    Li, Peng Zhan; Wang, Li; Wang, Di

    2017-11-01

    Soil reservoir is the basis of stable grain production and sustainable development in dry farming area. Based on the long-term field experiment, this paper investigated the changes of soil moisture in wheat field located in the rain-fed Changwu Tableland, and analyzed the interannual and annual variation characteristics and dynamics trends of soil reservoir from 2012 to 2015. The results showed that the vertical distribution curves of average soil water content were double peaks and double valleys: first peak and valley occurred in the 10-20 and 50 cm soil layer, respectively, while for the second peak and valley, the corresponding soil layer was the 100 and 280 cm soil layer. Soil reservoir did not coincide with precipitation for all yearly precipitation patterns but lagged behind. Yearly precipitation patterns had a great influence on the interannual and annual dynamic changes of soil reservoir. Compared with rainy year, the depth of soil moisture consumption decreased and supplementary effect of precipitation on soil moisture became obvious under effects of drought year and normal year. In rainy year, soil reservoir had a large surplus (84.2 mm), water balance was compensated; in normal year, it had a slight surplus (9.5 mm), water balance was compensated; while in drought year, it was slightly deficient (1.5 mm), water balance was negatively compensated. The dynamics of soil water in winter wheat field in the rain-fed Changwu Tableland could be divided into four periods: seedling period, slow consumption period, large consumption period, and harvest period, the order of evapotranspiration was large consumption period> seedling period> harvest period> slow consumption period.

  4. Modeling rain-fed maize vulnerability to droughts using the standardized precipitation index from satellite estimated rainfall—Southern Malawi case study

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Funk, Christopher C.; Verdin, James; Adams Chavula,; Gregory J. Husak,; Harikishan Jayanthi,; Tamuka Magadzire,

    2013-01-01

    During 1990s, disaster risk reduction emerged as a novel, proactive approach to managing risks from natural hazards. The World Bank, USAID, and other international donor agencies began making efforts to mainstream disaster risk reduction in countries whose population and economies were heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture. This approach has more significance in light of the increasing climatic hazard patterns and the climate scenarios projected for different hazard prone countries in the world. The Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) has been monitoring the food security issues in the sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and in Haiti. FEWS NET monitors the rainfall and moisture availability conditions with the help of NOAA RFE2 data for deriving food security status in Africa. This paper highlights the efforts in using satellite estimated rainfall inputs to develop drought vulnerability models in the drought prone areas in Malawi. The satellite RFE2 based SPI corresponding to the critical tasseling and silking phases (in the months of January, February, and March) were statistically regressed with drought-induced yield losses at the district level. The analysis has shown that the drought conditions in February and early March lead to most damage to maize yields in this region. The district-wise vulnerabilities to drought were upscaled to obtain a regional maize vulnerability model for southern Malawi. The results would help in establishing an early monitoring mechanism for drought impact assessment, give the decision makers additional time to assess seasonal outcomes, and identify potential food-related hazards in Malawi.

  5. Balanced N and C input recommendations for rain-fed maize production in northern China based on N balances and grain yields.

    PubMed

    Wang, Xiaobin; Cai, Dianxiong; Zhao, Quansheng; Xie, Xiaohong; Hoogmoed, Willem B; Oenema, Oene

    2018-02-01

    This study aimed to assess longer-term (1993-2009) effects of combined applications of fertiliser, maize stover, and cattle manure on maize yields, partial nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) balances, and water and N-use efficiencies, to guide N and C input recommendations for rain-fed maize production in northern China. The field trial, with three factors at five levels and 12 treatments, was conducted at Shouyang Dryland-Farming Experimental Station, Shanxi, China. Data analysis revealed higher N balances but lower C balances significantly occurred in a dry year than in a wet year. Positive N balances related to higher N inputs resulted in higher soil available N, even downward to deep layers with increasing N inputs, while positive C balances due to higher C inputs could be benefit to increase soil organic C. Based on partial N balances and grain yields, N and C inputs at ranges of 100 kg N ha -1 and 1.9-2.9 Mg C ha -1 could be recommended for target yields of 6.7-7.2 Mg ha -1 in rain-fed maize production. The study suggests that N balances close to neutral be given priority to improving N-use efficiency, and more positive C balances also be important for sustaining target yields and soil fertility levels. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

  6. A comparison of water use and water-use-efficiency of maize and biomass sorghum in the rain-fed, Midwestern, US.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roby, M.; Salas Fernandez, M.; VanLoocke, A. D.

    2014-12-01

    There is growing consensus among model projections that climate change may increase the frequency and intensity of drought in the rain-fed, maize-dominated, Midwestern US. Uncertainty in the availability of water, combined with an increased demand for non-grain ethanol feedstock, may necessitate expanding the production of more water-use-efficient and less drought sensitive crops for biomass applications. Research suggests that biomass sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is more drought tolerant and can produce more biomass than maize in water-limiting environments; however, sorghum water use data are limited for the rain-fed Midwestern US. To address this gap, a replicated (n=3) side-by-side trial was established in Ames, Iowa to determine cumulative water use and water-use-efficiency of maize and biomass sorghum. Data were collected by micrometeorological stations located in the center of each plot and used to calculate cumulative evapotranspiration throughout the 2014 growing season using the residual energy balance method. Continuous micrometeorological measurements were supplemented by periodic measurements of leaf area index (LAI) and above-ground biomass. At mid-point of the growing season, preliminary data analysis revealed similar water use for sorghum and maize. Data collection will continue for the remainder of the growing season, at which point a stronger conclusion can be drawn. This research will provide important insight on the potential hydrologic effects of expanding biomass sorghum production in the Midwestern, US.

  7. Evidence of late Palaeocene-early Eocene equatorial rain forest refugia in southern Western Ghats, India.

    PubMed

    Prasad, V; Farooqui, A; Tripathi, S K M; Garg, R; Thakur, B

    2009-11-01

    Equatorial rain forests that maintain a balance between speciation and extinction are hot-spots for studies of biodiversity. Western Ghats in southern India have gained attention due to high tropical biodiversity and endemism in their southern most area. We attempted to track the affinities of the pollen fl ora of the endemic plants of Western Ghat area within the fossil palynoflora of late Palaeocene-early Eocene (approximately 55-50 Ma) sedimentary deposits of western and northeastern Indian region. The study shows striking similarity of extant pollen with twenty eight most common fossil pollen taxa of the early Palaeogene. Widespread occurrences of coal and lignite deposits during early Palaeogene provide evidence of existence of well diversified rain forest community and swampy vegetation in the coastal low lying areas all along the western and northeastern margins of the Indian subcontinent. Prevalence of excessive humid climate during this period has been seen as a result of equatorial positioning of Indian subcontinent, superimposed by a long term global warming phase (PETM and EECO) during the early Palaeogene. The study presents clear evidence that highly diversifi ed equatorial rain forest vegetation once widespread in the Indian subcontinent during early Palaeogene times, are now restricted in a small area as a refugia in the southernmost part of the Western Ghat area. High precipitation and shorter periods of dry months seem to have provided suitable environment to sustain lineages of ancient tropical vegetation in this area of Western Ghats in spite of dramatic climatic changes subsequent to the post India-Asia collision and during the Quaternary and Recent times.

  8. The interrelationship of households economics activities of upland rice farmers in rain-fed farming in Ponjong Sub-district, Gunungkidul District, Indonesia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rini, W. D. E.; Harisudin, M.; Supriyadi; Rahayu, E. S.

    2018-03-01

    Gunungkidul is one of the regencies at Yogyakarta, Indonesia which is 90% occupied by dry land, and thus vulnerable to climate change impact. Since dryland relies on water only from rain to meet crop water requirement, part of land management is rainfed. This condition encourages farmers to make the right decision regarding their additional income to meet household needs. Under the limited land resources, farmers decided to plant upland rice once or twice a year. The aim of the study is to analyze the interrelationship of households economics activities of upland rice farmers in rain-fed farming based on production, labor allocation, and consumption. The research method is descriptive analysis, with research site Ponjong sub-district, determined by the purposive method. Sampling method using proportional random sampling. Economics model was determined by using simultaneous equation model, with 2 SLS estimation method. The results showed that the household economics model of upland rice farmers in the rainfed land can be explained by using farmers household model and there is a linkage between production, labor allocation, and consumption.

  9. SNP-Based QTL Mapping of 15 Complex Traits in Barley under Rain-Fed and Well-Watered Conditions by a Mixed Modeling Approach.

    PubMed

    Mora, Freddy; Quitral, Yerko A; Matus, Ivan; Russell, Joanne; Waugh, Robbie; Del Pozo, Alejandro

    2016-01-01

    This study identified single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers associated with 15 complex traits in a breeding population of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) consisting of 137 recombinant chromosome substitution lines (RCSL), evaluated under contrasting water availability conditions in the Mediterranean climatic region of central Chile. Given that markers showed a very strong segregation distortion, a quantitative trait locus/loci (QTL) mapping mixed model was used to account for the heterogeneity in genetic relatedness between genotypes. Fifty-seven QTL were detected under rain-fed conditions, which accounted for 5-22% of the phenotypic variation. In full irrigation conditions, 84 SNPs were significantly associated with the traits studied, explaining 5-35% of phenotypic variation. Most of the QTL were co-localized on chromosomes 2H and 3H. Environment-specific genomic regions were detected for 12 of the 15 traits scored. Although most QTL-trait associations were environment and trait specific, some important and stable associations were also detected. In full irrigation conditions, a relatively major genomic region was found underlying hectoliter weight (HW), on chromosome 1H, which explained between 27% (SNP 2711-234) and 35% (SNP 1923-265) of the phenotypic variation. Interestingly, the locus 1923-265 was also detected for grain yield at both environmental conditions, accounting for 9 and 18%, in the rain-fed and irrigation conditions, respectively. Analysis of QTL in this breeding population identified significant genomic regions that can be used for marker-assisted selection (MAS) of barley in areas where drought is a significant constraint.

  10. SNP-Based QTL Mapping of 15 Complex Traits in Barley under Rain-Fed and Well-Watered Conditions by a Mixed Modeling Approach

    PubMed Central

    Mora, Freddy; Quitral, Yerko A.; Matus, Ivan; Russell, Joanne; Waugh, Robbie; del Pozo, Alejandro

    2016-01-01

    This study identified single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers associated with 15 complex traits in a breeding population of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) consisting of 137 recombinant chromosome substitution lines (RCSL), evaluated under contrasting water availability conditions in the Mediterranean climatic region of central Chile. Given that markers showed a very strong segregation distortion, a quantitative trait locus/loci (QTL) mapping mixed model was used to account for the heterogeneity in genetic relatedness between genotypes. Fifty-seven QTL were detected under rain-fed conditions, which accounted for 5–22% of the phenotypic variation. In full irrigation conditions, 84 SNPs were significantly associated with the traits studied, explaining 5–35% of phenotypic variation. Most of the QTL were co-localized on chromosomes 2H and 3H. Environment-specific genomic regions were detected for 12 of the 15 traits scored. Although most QTL-trait associations were environment and trait specific, some important and stable associations were also detected. In full irrigation conditions, a relatively major genomic region was found underlying hectoliter weight (HW), on chromosome 1H, which explained between 27% (SNP 2711-234) and 35% (SNP 1923-265) of the phenotypic variation. Interestingly, the locus 1923-265 was also detected for grain yield at both environmental conditions, accounting for 9 and 18%, in the rain-fed and irrigation conditions, respectively. Analysis of QTL in this breeding population identified significant genomic regions that can be used for marker-assisted selection (MAS) of barley in areas where drought is a significant constraint. PMID:27446139

  11. [Causes of drinking-water contamination in rain-fed cisterns in three villages in Ramallah and Al-Bireh District, Palestine].

    PubMed

    Al-Khatib, Issam A; Orabi, Moammar

    2004-05-01

    We studied the biological characteristics of drinking-water in three villages in Ramallah and al-Bireh district, by testing the total coliforms. Water samples were collected from rain-fed cisterns between October and November 2001. The results show that 87% of tested samples of drinking-water were highly contaminated and in need of coagulation, filtration and disinfection based on the World Health Organization guidelines for drinking-water, and 10.5% had low contamination and were in need of treatment by disinfection only. Only 2.5% of the tested samples were not contaminated and were suitable for drinking without treatment. The main cause of drinking-water con tamination was the presence of cesspits, wastewater and solid waste dumping sites near the cisterns.

  12. Grain Yield and Water Use Efficiency in Extremely-Late Sown Winter Wheat Cultivars under Two Irrigation Regimes in the North China Plain

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Bin; Zhang, Yinghua; Hao, Baozhen; Xu, Xuexin; Zhao, Zhigan; Wang, Zhimin; Xue, Qingwu

    2016-01-01

    Wheat production is threatened by water shortages and groundwater over-draft in the North China Plain (NCP). In recent years, winter wheat has been increasingly sown extremely late in early to mid-November after harvesting cotton or pepper. To improve water use efficiency (WUE) and guide the extremely late sowing practices, a 3-year field experiment was conducted under two irrigation regimes (W1, one-irrigation, 75 mm at jointing; W2, two-irrigation, 75 mm at jointing and 75 mm at anthesis) in 3 cultivars differing in spike size (HS4399, small spike; JM22, medium spike; WM8, large spike). Wheat was sown in early to mid-November at a high seeding rate of 800–850 seeds m−2. Average yields of 7.42 t ha−1 and WUE of 1.84 kg m−3 were achieved with an average seasonal evapotranspiration (ET) of 404 mm. Compared with W2, wheat under W1 did not have yield penalty in 2 of 3 years, and had 7.9% lower seasonal ET and 7.5% higher WUE. The higher WUE and stable yield under W1 was associated with higher 1000-grain weight (TGW) and harvest index (HI). Among the 3 cultivars, JM22 had 5.9%–8.9% higher yield and 4.2%–9.3% higher WUE than WM8 and HS4399. The higher yield in JM22 was attributed mainly to higher HI and TGW due to increased post-anthesis biomass and deeper seasonal soil water extraction. In conclusion, one-irrigation with a medium-sized spike cultivar JM22 could be a useful strategy to maintain yield and high WUE in extremely late-sown winter wheat at a high seeding rate in the NCP. PMID:27100187

  13. Grain Yield and Water Use Efficiency in Extremely-Late Sown Winter Wheat Cultivars under Two Irrigation Regimes in the North China Plain.

    PubMed

    Wang, Bin; Zhang, Yinghua; Hao, Baozhen; Xu, Xuexin; Zhao, Zhigan; Wang, Zhimin; Xue, Qingwu

    2016-01-01

    Wheat production is threatened by water shortages and groundwater over-draft in the North China Plain (NCP). In recent years, winter wheat has been increasingly sown extremely late in early to mid-November after harvesting cotton or pepper. To improve water use efficiency (WUE) and guide the extremely late sowing practices, a 3-year field experiment was conducted under two irrigation regimes (W1, one-irrigation, 75 mm at jointing; W2, two-irrigation, 75 mm at jointing and 75 mm at anthesis) in 3 cultivars differing in spike size (HS4399, small spike; JM22, medium spike; WM8, large spike). Wheat was sown in early to mid-November at a high seeding rate of 800-850 seeds m(-2). Average yields of 7.42 t ha(-1) and WUE of 1.84 kg m(-3) were achieved with an average seasonal evapotranspiration (ET) of 404 mm. Compared with W2, wheat under W1 did not have yield penalty in 2 of 3 years, and had 7.9% lower seasonal ET and 7.5% higher WUE. The higher WUE and stable yield under W1 was associated with higher 1000-grain weight (TGW) and harvest index (HI). Among the 3 cultivars, JM22 had 5.9%-8.9% higher yield and 4.2%-9.3% higher WUE than WM8 and HS4399. The higher yield in JM22 was attributed mainly to higher HI and TGW due to increased post-anthesis biomass and deeper seasonal soil water extraction. In conclusion, one-irrigation with a medium-sized spike cultivar JM22 could be a useful strategy to maintain yield and high WUE in extremely late-sown winter wheat at a high seeding rate in the NCP.

  14. Potential impacts of climate change on carbon dynamics in a rain-fed agro-ecosystem on the Loess Plateau of China.

    PubMed

    Qiu, Linjing; Hao, Mingde; Wu, Yiping

    2017-01-15

    Although many studies have been conducted on crop yield in rain-fed agriculture, the possible impacts of climate change on the carbon (C) dynamics of rain-fed rotation systems, particularly their direction and magnitude at the long-term scale, are still poorly understood. In this study, the sensitivity of C dynamics of a typical rotation system to elevated CO 2 and changed temperature and precipitation were first tested using the CENTURY model, based on data collected from a 30-year field experiment of a corn-wheat-wheat-millet (CWWM) rotation system in the tableland of the Loess Plateau. The possible responses of crop biomass C and soil organic C (SOC) accumulation were then evaluated under scenarios representing the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5. The results indicated that elevated CO 2 and increased precipitation exerted positive effect on biomass C in CWWM rotation system, while increasing the temperature by 1°C, 2°C and 4°C had negative effects on biomass C due to opposite responses of corn and winter wheat to warming. SOC accumulation was enhanced by increased CO 2 concentration and precipitation but impaired by increased temperature. Under future RCP scenarios with dynamic CO 2 , the biomass C of corn exhibited decrease during the period of 2046-2075 under RCP4.5 and the period of 2016-2075 under RCP8.5 due to reduced precipitation and a warmer climate. In contrast, winter wheat would benefit from increased CO 2 and temperature and was projected to have larger biomass C under both RCP scenarios. Although the climate condition had large differences between RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, the projected SOC had similar trends under two scenarios due to CO 2 fertilizer effect and precipitation fluctuation. These results implied that crop biomass C and SOC accumulation in a warmer environment are strongly related to precipitation, and increase in field water storage should be emphasized in coping with future climate. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B

  15. Dietary nucleotides and early growth in formula-fed infants: a randomized controlled trial.

    PubMed

    Singhal, Atul; Kennedy, Kathy; Lanigan, J; Clough, Helen; Jenkins, Wendy; Elias-Jones, Alun; Stephenson, Terrence; Dudek, Peter; Lucas, Alan

    2010-10-01

    Dietary nucleotides are nonprotein nitrogenous compounds that are found in high concentrations in breast milk and are thought to be conditionally essential nutrients in infancy. A high nucleotide intake has been suggested to explain some of the benefits of breastfeeding compared with formula feeding and to promote infant growth. However, relatively few large-scale randomized trials have tested this hypothesis in healthy infants. We tested the hypothesis that nucleotide supplementation of formula benefits early infant growth. Occipitofrontal head circumference, weight, and length were assessed in infants who were randomly assigned to groups fed nucleotide-supplemented (31 mg/L; n=100) or control formula without nucleotide supplementation (n=100) from birth to the age of 20 weeks, and in infants who were breastfed (reference group; n=101). Infants fed with nucleotide-supplemented formula had greater occipitofrontal head circumference at ages 8, 16, and 20 weeks than infants fed control formula (mean difference in z scores at 8 weeks: 0.4 [95% confidence interval: 0.1-0.7]; P=.006) even after adjustment for potential confounding factors (P=.002). Weight at 8 weeks and the increase in both occipitofrontal head circumference and weight from birth to 8 weeks were also greater in infants fed nucleotide-supplemented formula than in those fed control formula. Our data support the hypothesis that nucleotide supplementation leads to increased weight gain and head growth in formula-fed infants. Therefore, nucleotides could be conditionally essential for optimal infant growth in some formula-fed populations. Additional research is needed to test the hypothesis that the benefits of nucleotide supplementation for early head growth, a critical period for brain growth, have advantages for long-term cognitive development.

  16. Short-term soil loss by eolian erosion in response to different rain-fed agricultural practices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tanner, Smadar; Katra, Itzhak; Zaady, Eli

    2016-04-01

    Eolian (wind) erosion is a widespread process and a major form of soil degradation in arid and semi-arid regions. The present study examined changes in soil properties and eolian soil loss at a field scale in response to different soil treatments in two rain-fed agricultural practices. Field experiments with a boundary-layer wind tunnel and soil analysis were used to obtain the data. Two practices with different soil treatments (after harvest), mechanical tillage and stubble grazing intensities, were applied in the fallow phase of the rotation (dry season). The mechanical tillage and the stubble grazing had an immediate and direct effects on soil aggregation but not on the soil texture, and the contents of soil water, organic matter, and CaCO3. Higher erosion rates, that was measured as fluxes of total eolian sediment and particulate matter <10 μm (PM10), were recorded under mechanical tillage and grazing intensities compared with the undisturbed topsoil of the control plots. The erosion rates were higher in grazing plots than in tillage plots. The calculated soil fluxes in this study indicate potentially rapid soil degradation due to loss of fine particles by wind. The finding may have implications for long-term management of agricultural soils in semi-arid areas.

  17. In-season wheat sown area mapping for Afghanistan using high resolution optical and RADAR images in cloud platform

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Matin, M. A.; Tiwari, V. K.; Qamer, F. M.; Yadav, N. K.; Ellenburg, W. L.; Bajracharya, B.; Vadrevu, K.; Rushi, B. R.; Stanikzai, N.; Yusafi, W.; Rahmani, H.

    2017-12-01

    Afghanistan has only 11% of arable land while wheat is the major crop with 80% of total cereal planted area. The production of wheat is therefore highly critical to the food security of the country with population of 35 million among which 30% are food insecure. The lack of timely availability of data on crop sown area and production hinders decision on regular grain import policies as well as log term planning for self-sustainability. The objective of this study is to develop an operational in-season wheat area mapping system to support the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) for annual food security planning. In this study, we used 10m resolution sentinel - 2 optical images in combination with sentinel - 1 SAR data to classify wheat area. The available provincial crop calendar and field data collected by MAIL was used for classification and validation. Since the internet and computing infrastructure in Afghanistan is very limited thus cloud computing platform of Google Earth Engine (GEE) is used to accomplish this work. During the assessment it is observed that the smaller size of wheat plots and mixing of wheat with other crops makes it difficult to achieve expected accuracy of wheat area particularly in rain fed areas. The cloud cover during the wheat growing season limits the availability of valid optical satellite data. In the first phase of assessment important learnings points were captured. In an extremely challenging security situation field data collection require use of innovative approaches for stratification of sampling sites as well as use of robust mobile app with adequate training of field staff. Currently, GEE assets only contain Sentinel-2 Level 1C product which limits the classification accuracy. In representative areas, where Level 2A product was developed and applied a significant improvement in accuracy is observed. Development of high resolution agro-climatic zones map, will enable extrapolating crop growth calendars

  18. In-season wheat sown area mapping for Afghanistan using high resolution optical and RADAR images in cloud platform

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Matin, M. A.; Tiwari, V. K.; Qamer, F. M.; Yadav, N. K.; Ellenburg, W. L.; Bajracharya, B.; Vadrevu, K.; Rushi, B. R.; Stanikzai, N.; Yusafi, W.; Rahmani, H.

    2016-12-01

    Afghanistan has only 11% of arable land while wheat is the major crop with 80% of total cereal planted area. The production of wheat is therefore highly critical to the food security of the country with population of 35 million among which 30% are food insecure. The lack of timely availability of data on crop sown area and production hinders decision on regular grain import policies as well as log term planning for self-sustainability. The objective of this study is to develop an operational in-season wheat area mapping system to support the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) for annual food security planning. In this study, we used 10m resolution sentinel - 2 optical images in combination with sentinel - 1 SAR data to classify wheat area. The available provincial crop calendar and field data collected by MAIL was used for classification and validation. Since the internet and computing infrastructure in Afghanistan is very limited thus cloud computing platform of Google Earth Engine (GEE) is used to accomplish this work. During the assessment it is observed that the smaller size of wheat plots and mixing of wheat with other crops makes it difficult to achieve expected accuracy of wheat area particularly in rain fed areas. The cloud cover during the wheat growing season limits the availability of valid optical satellite data. In the first phase of assessment important learnings points were captured. In an extremely challenging security situation field data collection require use of innovative approaches for stratification of sampling sites as well as use of robust mobile app with adequate training of field staff. Currently, GEE assets only contain Sentinel-2 Level 1C product which limits the classification accuracy. In representative areas, where Level 2A product was developed and applied a significant improvement in accuracy is observed. Development of high resolution agro-climatic zones map, will enable extrapolating crop growth calendars

  19. Optimizing Winter Wheat Resilience to Climate Change in Rain Fed Crop Systems of Turkey and Iran.

    PubMed

    Lopes, Marta S; Royo, Conxita; Alvaro, Fanny; Sanchez-Garcia, Miguel; Ozer, Emel; Ozdemir, Fatih; Karaman, Mehmet; Roustaii, Mozaffar; Jalal-Kamali, Mohammad R; Pequeno, Diego

    2018-01-01

    Erratic weather patterns associated with increased temperatures and decreasing rainfall pose unique challenges for wheat breeders playing a key part in the fight to ensure global food security. Within rain fed winter wheat areas of Turkey and Iran, unusual weather patterns may prevent attaining maximum potential increases in winter wheat genetic gains. This is primarily related to the fact that the yield ranking of tested genotypes may change from one year to the next. Changing weather patterns may interfere with the decisions breeders make about the ideotype(s) they should aim for during selection. To inform breeding decisions, this study aimed to optimize major traits by modeling different combinations of environments (locations and years) and by defining a probabilistic range of trait variations [phenology and plant height (PH)] that maximized grain yields (GYs; one wheat line with optimal heading and height is suggested for use as a testing line to aid selection calibration decisions). Research revealed that optimal phenology was highly related to the temperature and to rainfall at which winter wheat genotypes were exposed around heading time (20 days before and after heading). Specifically, later winter wheat genotypes were exposed to higher temperatures both before and after heading, increased rainfall at the vegetative stage, and reduced rainfall during grain filling compared to early genotypes. These variations in exposure to weather conditions resulted in shorter grain filling duration and lower GYs in long-duration genotypes. This research tested if diversity within species may increase resilience to erratic weather patterns. For the study, calculated production of a selection of five high yielding genotypes (if grown in five plots) was tested against monoculture (if only a single genotype grown in the same area) and revealed that a set of diverse genotypes with different phenologies and PHs was not beneficial. New strategies of progeny selection are

  20. Optimizing Winter Wheat Resilience to Climate Change in Rain Fed Crop Systems of Turkey and Iran

    PubMed Central

    Lopes, Marta S.; Royo, Conxita; Alvaro, Fanny; Sanchez-Garcia, Miguel; Ozer, Emel; Ozdemir, Fatih; Karaman, Mehmet; Roustaii, Mozaffar; Jalal-Kamali, Mohammad R.; Pequeno, Diego

    2018-01-01

    Erratic weather patterns associated with increased temperatures and decreasing rainfall pose unique challenges for wheat breeders playing a key part in the fight to ensure global food security. Within rain fed winter wheat areas of Turkey and Iran, unusual weather patterns may prevent attaining maximum potential increases in winter wheat genetic gains. This is primarily related to the fact that the yield ranking of tested genotypes may change from one year to the next. Changing weather patterns may interfere with the decisions breeders make about the ideotype(s) they should aim for during selection. To inform breeding decisions, this study aimed to optimize major traits by modeling different combinations of environments (locations and years) and by defining a probabilistic range of trait variations [phenology and plant height (PH)] that maximized grain yields (GYs; one wheat line with optimal heading and height is suggested for use as a testing line to aid selection calibration decisions). Research revealed that optimal phenology was highly related to the temperature and to rainfall at which winter wheat genotypes were exposed around heading time (20 days before and after heading). Specifically, later winter wheat genotypes were exposed to higher temperatures both before and after heading, increased rainfall at the vegetative stage, and reduced rainfall during grain filling compared to early genotypes. These variations in exposure to weather conditions resulted in shorter grain filling duration and lower GYs in long-duration genotypes. This research tested if diversity within species may increase resilience to erratic weather patterns. For the study, calculated production of a selection of five high yielding genotypes (if grown in five plots) was tested against monoculture (if only a single genotype grown in the same area) and revealed that a set of diverse genotypes with different phenologies and PHs was not beneficial. New strategies of progeny selection are

  1. Detection of rain events in radiological early warning networks with spectro-dosimetric systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dąbrowski, R.; Dombrowski, H.; Kessler, P.; Röttger, A.; Neumaier, S.

    2017-10-01

    Short-term pronounced increases of the ambient dose equivalent rate, due to rainfall are a well-known phenomenon. Increases in the same order of magnitude or even below may also be caused by a nuclear or radiological event, i.e. by artificial radiation. Hence, it is important to be able to identify natural rain events in dosimetric early warning networks and to distinguish them from radiological events. Novel spectrometric systems based on scintillators may be used to differentiate between the two scenarios, because the measured gamma spectra provide significant nuclide-specific information. This paper describes three simple, automatic methods to check whether an dot H*(10) increase is caused by a rain event or by artificial radiation. These methods were applied to measurements of three spectrometric systems based on CeBr3, LaBr3 and SrI2 scintillation crystals, investigated and tested for their practicability at a free-field reference site of PTB.

  2. Panel Discussion: Application of Living Mulch for Spring-Sown Loblolly Pine

    Treesearch

    Paul Ensminger

    2005-01-01

    Those who grow hardwood seedlings are familiar with fall sowing seeds and using rye, wheat, or oats to over-winter the crop. Throughout this paper, reference to rye is GRAIN, NOT GRASS (do not use rye grass). The rye stabilizes and insulates the beds while retarding predation and weeds. Normally sown at 2 bushels/ac (5 bushels/ha), the rye is killed with Roundup™...

  3. Soil redistribution and nutrient delivery in a Mediterranean rain-fed agro-ecosystem with different crops and management: environmental and economic aspects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    López-Vicente, Manuel; Álvarez, Sara

    2017-04-01

    Mediterranean agro-ecosystems are characterised by fragmented fields and patched vegetation. This shape governs the spatial patterns of water, soil and nutrient redistribution. Rainfall parameters, human infrastructures, crop management, support practices, and land use changes (set aside crops, land abandonment) control the magnitude of these processes. Under rain-fed water supply conditions, runoff generation and soil water content are two important factors in determining crop yield. Soil erosion and nutrient delivery are two of the factors which limit crop yield and thus, the gross earning of the landowner. In hilly landscapes, farmers usually supply extra soil to fill in the ephemeral gullies, and nutrient replenishment with fertilizers is a common practice. The aim of this study is to evaluate the environmental (runoff yield, soil erosion and nutrient delivery) and economic (replenishment of soil and nutrient losses with new soil and fertilizers) consequences of different conventional and conservative practices (fallow/crop rotation, cover crops, land abandonment, buffer strips) in a Mediterranean rain-fed agro-ecosystem (27 ha) with vineyards, cereal crops, cultivated and abandoned olive orchards, several trails and patches of natural vegetation. The five winter cereal fields (wheat and barley) follow fallow/crop rotation. The four vineyards are devoted to the Garnacha variety: one planted in 2007 with white wine grapes, and three planted in 2008 with red wine grapes. The inter-crop strips are managed with a mixture of plant species as cover crop (CC), including: i) spontaneous vegetation, and ii) plantation of common sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia). The maintenance of the CC includes one mowing pass at the end of spring, between May and June. The appearance and development of ephemeral gullies and the deposition of soil at the bottom of the hillslope are two of the main concerns of the landowners. In some places, the accumulation of soil complicates grape

  4. Major quality trait analysis and QTL detection in hexaploid wheat in humid rain-fed agriculture.

    PubMed

    Li, H M; Tang, Z X; Zhang, H Q; Yan, B J; Ren, Z L

    2013-05-21

    Humid rain-fed agriculture is a special environment for wheat (Triticum aestivum) culture that tends to negatively affect wheat yield and quality. To identify quality characters of wheat in a humid environment, we conducted quality analysis and quantitative trait loci (QTL) detection in a recombinant inbred line whose parent had a high level of quality for several years. We found that high-quality wheat had less gluten content and lower protein content. Apparently, wheat quality and associated quantity traits were in a dynamic state of equilibrium. We detected 83 QTL for 10 wheat quality traits in this recombinant inbred line population. Nine QTL were detected in both evaluation years; Q.DT.scau-2A, linked to Xwmc522-2A, was detected at the same genetic location in both years. Other QTL for different traits were detected simultaneously in more than one location. Consequently, there appeared to be pleiotropic genes that control wheat quality. Based on previous studies and our research on QTL analysis of grain protein content, we conclude that there must be one or more genes for grain protein content on chromosome 6B, whose expression was little affected by environment. We constructed a consensus map and projected the QTL on it. It was useful for choosing optimal markers for marker-assisted breeding and map-based cloning.

  5. After the Rain.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Genan T.

    1999-01-01

    Describes the interactions among 4-year olds engaged in outdoor play at a preschool, where overnight rains filled the center's sand area and students improvised activities in the wet sand. Notes how, during the discovery exercise, students worked together as teams. Concludes that the measure of quality in early childhood programs must not be…

  6. Yield and soil carbon sequestration in grazed pastures sown with two or five forage species

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Increasing plant species richness is often associated with an increase in productivity and associated ecosystem services such as soil C sequestration. In this paper we report on a nine-year experiment to evaluate the relative forage production and C sequestration potential of grazed pastures sown to...

  7. Straw mulch prevents loss of fall-sown seeds to cold temperatures and wildlife predation

    Treesearch

    J. Wichman; R. Hawkins; P.M. Pijut

    2005-01-01

    A combination of cover crops and straw mulch effectively protect fall-sown hardwood seeds from cold temperature damage and predation at our nursery in central Indiana. Before using this treatment, we experienced 30% to 90% crop losses on a regular basis, but now our seedbed densities are consistently at target and the resulting seedlings are larger. Specialized...

  8. Heavy metal speciation, leaching and toxicity status of a tropical rain-fed river Damodar, India.

    PubMed

    Pal, Divya; Maiti, Subodh Kumar

    2018-03-26

    Speciations of metals were assessed in a tropical rain-fed river, flowing through the highly economically important part of the India. The pattern of distribution of heavy metals (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) were evaluated in water and sediment along with mineralogical characterization, changes with different water quality parameters and their respective health hazard to the local population along the Damodar River basin during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. The outcome of the speciation analysis using MINTEQ indicated that free metal ions, carbonate, chloride and sulfate ions were predominantly in anionic inorganic fractions, while in cationic inorganic fractions metal loads were negligible. Metals loads were higher in sediment phase than in the aqueous phase. The estimated values of I geo in river sediment during both the seasons showed that most of the metals were found in the I geo class 0-1 which represents unpolluted to moderately polluted sediment status. The result of partition coefficient indicated the strong retention capability of Cr, Pb, Co and Mn, while Cd, Zn, Cu and Ni have resilient mobility capacity. The mineralogical analysis of sediment samples indicated that in Damodar River, quartz, kaolinite and calcite minerals were dominantly present. The hazard index values of Cd, Co and Cr were > 1 in river water, which suggested potential health risk for the children. A combination of pragmatic, computational and statistical relationship between ionic species and fractions of metals represented a strong persuasion for identifying the alikeness among the different sites of the river.

  9. Do infants fed directly from the breast have improved appetite regulation and slower growth during early childhood compared with infants fed from a bottle?

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Background Behavioral mechanisms that contribute to the association between breastfeeding and reduced obesity risk are poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hypothesis that feeding human milk from the breast (direct breastfeeding) has a more optimal association with subsequent child appetite regulation behaviors and growth, when compared to bottle-feeding. Methods Children (n = 109) aged 3- to 6- years were retrospectively classified as directly breastfed (fed exclusively at the breast), bottle-fed human milk, or bottle-fed formula in the first three months of life. Young children's appetite regulation was examined by measuring three constructs (satiety response, food responsiveness, enjoyment of food) associated with obesity risk, using the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to test whether children bottle-fed either human milk or formula had reduced odds of high satiety and increased odds of high food responsiveness and high enjoyment of food compared to children fed directly from the breast. Current child weight status and growth trends from 6-36 months were also examined for their relation to direct breastfeeding and appetite regulation behaviors in early childhood. Results Children fed human milk in a bottle were 67% less likely to have high satiety responsiveness compared to directly breastfed children, after controlling for child age, child weight status, maternal race/ethnicity, and maternal education. There was no association of bottle-feeding (either human milk or formula) with young children's food responsiveness and enjoyment of food. There was neither an association of direct breastfeeding with current child weight status, nor was there a clear difference between directly breastfed and bottle-fed children in growth trajectories from 6- to 36-months. More rapid infant changes in weight-for-age score were associated with lower satiety responsiveness, higher food

  10. Estimating Rain Rates from Tipping-Bucket Rain Gauge Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wang, Jianxin; Fisher, Brad L.; Wolff, David B.

    2007-01-01

    This paper describes the cubic spline based operational system for the generation of the TRMM one-minute rain rate product 2A-56 from Tipping Bucket (TB) gauge measurements. Methodological issues associated with applying the cubic spline to the TB gauge rain rate estimation are closely examined. A simulated TB gauge from a Joss-Waldvogel (JW) disdrometer is employed to evaluate effects of time scales and rain event definitions on errors of the rain rate estimation. The comparison between rain rates measured from the JW disdrometer and those estimated from the simulated TB gauge shows good overall agreement; however, the TB gauge suffers sampling problems, resulting in errors in the rain rate estimation. These errors are very sensitive to the time scale of rain rates. One-minute rain rates suffer substantial errors, especially at low rain rates. When one minute rain rates are averaged to 4-7 minute or longer time scales, the errors dramatically reduce. The rain event duration is very sensitive to the event definition but the event rain total is rather insensitive, provided that the events with less than 1 millimeter rain totals are excluded. Estimated lower rain rates are sensitive to the event definition whereas the higher rates are not. The median relative absolute errors are about 22% and 32% for 1-minute TB rain rates higher and lower than 3 mm per hour, respectively. These errors decrease to 5% and 14% when TB rain rates are used at 7-minute scale. The radar reflectivity-rainrate (Ze-R) distributions drawn from large amount of 7-minute TB rain rates and radar reflectivity data are mostly insensitive to the event definition.

  11. Rain, temperature, and child-adolescent height among Native Amazonians in Bolivia.

    PubMed

    Godoy, R; Goodman, E; Reyes-Garcia, V; Eisenberg, D T A; Leonard, W R; Huanca, T; McDade, T W; Tanner, S; Jha, N

    2008-01-01

    Global climate change and recent studies on early-life origins of well-being suggest that climate events early in life might affect health later in life. The study tested hypotheses about the association between the level and variability of rain and temperature early in life on the height of children and adolescents in a foraging-farming society of native Amazonians in Bolivia (Tsimane'). Measurements were taken for 525 children aged 2-12 and 218 adolescents aged 13-23 in 13 villages in 2005. Log of standing height was regressed on mean annual level and mean intra-annual monthly coefficient of variation (CV) of rain and mean annual level of temperature during gestation, birth year, and ages 2-4. Controls include age, quinquennium and season of birth, parent's attributes, and dummy variables for surveyors and villages. Climate variables were only related with the height of boys age 2-12. The level and CV of rain during birth year and the CV of rain and level of temperature during ages 2-4 were associated with taller stature. There were no secular changes in temperature (1973-2005) or rain (1943-2005). The height of young females and males is well protected from climate events, but protection works less well for boys ages 2-12.

  12. Comparison of winter wheat yield sensitivity to climate variables under irrigated and rain-fed conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xiao, Dengpan; Shen, Yanjun; Zhang, He; Moiwo, Juana P.; Qi, Yongqing; Wang, Rende; Pei, Hongwei; Zhang, Yucui; Shen, Huitao

    2016-09-01

    Crop simulation models provide alternative, less time-consuming, and cost-effective means of determining the sensitivity of crop yield to climate change. In this study, two dynamic mechanistic models, CERES (Crop Environment Resource Synthesis) and APSIM (Agricultural Production Systems Simulator), were used to simulate the yield of wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) under well irrigated (CFG) and rain-fed (YY) conditions in relation to different climate variables in the North China Plain (NCP). The study tested winter wheat yield sensitivity to different levels of temperature, radiation, precipitation, and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration under CFG and YY conditions at Luancheng Agro-ecosystem Experimental Stations in the NCP. The results from the CERES and APSIM wheat crop models were largely consistent and suggested that changes in climate variables influenced wheat grain yield in the NCP. There was also significant variation in the sensitivity of winter wheat yield to climate variables under different water (CFG and YY) conditions. While a temperature increase of 2°C was the threshold beyond which temperature negatively influenced wheat yield under CFG, a temperature rise exceeding 1°C decreased winter wheat grain yield under YY. A decrease in solar radiation decreased wheat grain yield under both CFG and YY conditions. Although the sensitivity of winter wheat yield to precipitation was small under the CFG, yield decreased significantly with decreasing precipitation under the rainfed YY treatment. The results also suggest that wheat yield under CFG linearly increased by ≈3.5% per 60 ppm (parts per million) increase in CO2 concentration from 380 to 560 ppm, and yield under YY increased linearly by ≈7.0% for the same increase in CO2 concentration.

  13. Acid rain and its environmental effects: Recent scientific advances

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Burns, Douglas A.; Aherne, Julian; Gay, David A.; Lehmann, Christopher M. B.

    2016-12-01

    The term 'acid rain' refers to atmospheric deposition of acidic constituents that impact the earth as rain, snow, particulates, gases, and vapor. Acid rain was first recognized by Ducros (1845) and subsequently described by the English chemist Robert Angus Smith (Smith, 1852) whose pioneering studies linked the sources to industrial emissions and included early observations of deleterious environmental effects (Smith, 1872). Smith's work was largely forgotten until the mid-20th century when observations began to link air pollution to the deposition of atmospheric sulfate (SO42-) and other chemical constituents, first near the metal smelter at Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, and later at locations in Europe, North America, and Australia (Gorham, 1961). Our modern understanding of acid rain as an environmental problem caused largely by regional emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) stems from observations in the 1960s and early 1970s in Sweden by Svante Odén (Odén, 1976), and in North America by Gene Likens and colleagues (Likens and Bormann, 1974). These scientists and many who followed showed the link to emissions from coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources, and documented the environmental effects of acid rain such as the acidification of surface waters and toxic effects on vegetation, fish, and other biota.

  14. Utility of remote sensing-based surface energy balance models to track water stress in rain-fed switchgrass under dry and wet conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bhattarai, Nishan; Wagle, Pradeep; Gowda, Prasanna H.; Kakani, Vijaya G.

    2017-11-01

    The ability of remote sensing-based surface energy balance (SEB) models to track water stress in rain-fed switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) has not been explored yet. In this paper, the theoretical framework of crop water stress index (CWSI; 0 = extremely wet or no water stress condition and 1 = extremely dry or no transpiration) was utilized to estimate CWSI in rain-fed switchgrass using Landsat-derived evapotranspiration (ET) from five remote sensing based single-source SEB models, namely Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL), Mapping ET with Internalized Calibration (METRIC), Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS), Simplified Surface Energy Balance Index (S-SEBI), and Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop). CWSI estimates from the five SEB models and a simple regression model that used normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), near-surface temperature difference, and measured soil moisture (SM) as covariates were compared with those derived from eddy covariance measured ET (CWSIEC) for the 32 Landsat image acquisition dates during the 2011 (dry) and 2013 (wet) growing seasons. Results indicate that most SEB models can predict CWSI reasonably well. For example, the root mean square error (RMSE) ranged from 0.14 (SEBAL) to 0.29 (SSEBop) and the coefficient of determination (R2) ranged from 0.25 (SSEBop) to 0.72 (SEBAL), justifying the added complexity in CWSI modeling as compared to results from the simple regression model (R2 = 0.55, RMSE = 0.16). All SEB models underestimated CWSI in the dry year but the estimates from SEBAL and S-SEBI were within 7% of the mean CWSIEC and explained over 60% of variations in CWSIEC. In the wet year, S-SEBI mostly overestimated CWSI (around 28%), while estimates from METRIC, SEBAL, SEBS, and SSEBop were within 8% of the mean CWSIEC. Overall, SEBAL was the most robust model under all conditions followed by METRIC, whose performance was slightly worse and better than SEBAL in dry and wet years

  15. Gypsy moth (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) consumption and utilization of northern red oak and white oak foliage exposed to simulated acid rain and ozone

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cannon, W.N. Jr.

    1993-06-01

    Two-year-old seedlings of white oak, Quercus alba L., and red oak, Q. rubra L., were exposed to ozone (O[sub 3]) fumigations in four continuously stirred tank reactor chambers in the greenhouse for 8 h/d, 3 d/wk for 6 wk. Fumigation treatments were charcoal-filtered air (CFA) and CFA + 0.15 ppm O[sub 3]. Two simulated rain treatments, pH 4.2 and pH 3.0, of-1.25 cm were applied once each week in rain-simulation chambers. Gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), third instars were allowed to feed on leaf disks from treated seedlings for 24 h. Leaf area consumed, food assimilated, weight gain, and relativemore » growth rate (RGR) were examined. Overall, larvae fed white oak foliage consumed more foliage and gained more weight than those fed red oak foliage. Response to the fumigation and rain treatments was different for each oak species. On white oak foliage, larvae consumed significantly less foliage treated with CFA + pH 3.0 rain, but the lowest RGR occurred with the 0.15 ppm O[sub 3] + pH 4.2 rain treatment. The most food assimilated, greatest weight gain, and highest RGR occurred with the CFA + pH 4.2 rain control. Red oak foliage consumed was equivalent for all treatments, but foliage exposed to CFA + pH 3.0 rain resulted in more food assimilated, greater weight gain, and higher RGR for that species.« less

  16. The emergence of modern type rain forests and mangroves and their traces in the palaeobotanical record during the Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mohr, Barbara; Coiffard, Clément

    2014-05-01

    The origin of modern rain forests is still very poorly known. This ecosystem could have potentially fully evolved only after the development of relatively high numbers of flowering plant families adapted to rain forest conditions. During the early phase of angiosperm evolution in the early Cretaceous the palaeo-equatorial region was located in a seasonally dry climatic belt, so that during this phase, flowering plants often show adaptations to drought, rather than to continuously wet climate conditions. Therefore it is not surprising that except for the Nymphaeales, the most basal members of extant angiosperm families have members that do not necessarily occur in the continuously wet tropics today. However, during the late Early Cretaceous several clades emerged that later would give rise to families that are typically found today mostly in (shady) moist places in warmer regions. This is especially seen among the monocotyledons, a group of the mesangiosperms, that developed in many cases large leaves often with very specific venation patterns that make these leaves very unique and well recognizable. Especially members of three groups are here of interest: the arum family (Araceae), the palms (Arecaceae) and the Ginger and allies (Zingiberales). The earliest fossil of Araceae are restricted to low latitudes during the lower Cretaceous. Arecaceae and Zingiberales do not appear in the fossil record before the early late Cretaceous and occur at mid latitudes. During the Late Cretaceous, Araceae are represented at mid latitudes by non-tropical early diverging members and at low latitudes by derived rainforest members. Palms became widespread during the Late Cretataceous and also Nypa, a typical element of tropical to subtropical mangrove environments evolved during this time period. During the Paleocene Arecaceae appear to be restricted to lower latitudes as well as Zingiberales. All three groups are again widespread during the Eocene, reaching higher latitudes and

  17. Retinal degeneration in cats fed casein. IV. The early receptor potential.

    PubMed

    Berson, E L; Watson, G; Grasse, K L; Szamier, R B

    1981-08-01

    Electroretinographic studies of casein-fed cats with retinal taurine deficiency revealed that the early receptor potential (ERP) was initially normal in amplitude at a time when the a-wave and b-wave of the electroretinogram were substantially reduced or even nondetectable. The preserved ERP's in these taurine-deficient cats could be correlated with the histologic finding that their outer segments were relatively intact over 90% of the retinal area subtended by the test flash. The sequence of electroretinographic changes in these taurine-deficient cats was also consistent with previous biochemical studies on the normal cat retina that have shown a relatively low concentration of taurine at the level of the outer segments and a higher concentration at the level of the inner segments. The responses in early stages from taurine-deficient cats differed from the responses obtained from vitamin A--deficient cats but resembled those from cats that received an intravitreal injection of ouabain. Similarities and a difference between the responses of taurine-deficient cats and those of patients with early retinitis pigmentosa are considered.

  18. QTL mapping for nine drought-responsive agronomic traits in bread wheat under irrigated and rain-fed environments

    PubMed Central

    Gahlaut, Vijay; Jaiswal, Vandana; Tyagi, Bhudeva S.; Singh, Gyanendra; Sareen, Sindhu; Balyan, Harindra S.

    2017-01-01

    In bread wheat, QTL interval mapping was conducted for nine important drought responsive agronomic traits. For this purpose, a doubled haploid (DH) mapping population derived from Kukri/Excalibur was grown over three years at four separate locations in India, both under irrigated and rain-fed environments. Single locus analysis using composite interval mapping (CIM) allowed detection of 98 QTL, which included 66 QTL for nine individual agronomic traits and 32 QTL, which affected drought sensitivity index (DSI) for the same nine traits. Two-locus analysis allowed detection of 19 main effect QTL (M-QTL) for four traits (days to anthesis, days to maturity, grain filling duration and thousand grain weight) and 19 pairs of epistatic QTL (E-QTL) for two traits (days to anthesis and thousand grain weight). Eight QTL were common in single locus analysis and two locus analysis. These QTL (identified both in single- and two-locus analysis) were distributed on 20 different chromosomes (except 4D). Important genomic regions on chromosomes 5A and 7A were also identified (5A carried QTL for seven traits and 7A carried QTL for six traits). Marker-assisted recurrent selection (MARS) involving pyramiding of important QTL reported in the present study, together with important QTL reported earlier, may be used for improvement of drought tolerance in wheat. In future, more closely linked markers for the QTL reported here may be developed through fine mapping, and the candidate genes may be identified and used for developing a better understanding of the genetic basis of drought tolerance in wheat. PMID:28793327

  19. Acid Rain

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bricker, Owen P.; Rice, Karen C.

    1993-01-01

    Acid deposition, or acid rain as it is more commonly referred to, has become a widely publicized environmental issue in the U.S. over the past decade. The term usually conjures up images of fish kills, dying forests, "dead" lakes, and damage to monuments and other historic artifacts. The primary cause of acid deposition is emission of S02 and NOx to the atmosphere during the combustion of fossil fuels. Oxidation of these compounds in the atmosphere forms strong acids - H2SO4 and HNO3 - which are returned to the Earth in rain, snow, fog, cloud water, and as dry deposition.Although acid deposition has only recently been recognized as an environmental problem in the U.S., it is not a new phenomenon (Cogbill & Likens 1974). As early as the middle of the 17th century in England, the deleterious effects of industrial emissions on plants, animals, and humans, and the atmospheric transport of pollutants between England and France had become issues of concern (Evelyn 1661, Graunt 1662). It is interesting that well over three hundred years ago in England, recommendations were made to move industry outside of towns and build higher chimneys to spread the pollution into "distant parts." Increasing the height of smokestacks has helped alleviate local problems, but has exacerbated others. In the U.S. the height of the tallest smokestack has more than doubled, and the average height of smokestacks has tripled since the 1950s (Patrick et al 1981). This trend occurred in most industrialized nations during the 20th century and has had the effect of transforming acid rain from a local urban problem into a problem of global scale.

  20. Acid Rain

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bricker, Owen P.; Rice, Karen C.; Dietrich, W.E.; Sposito, Garrison

    1997-01-01

    Acid deposition, or acid rain as it is more commonly referred to, has become a widely publicized environmental issue in the U.S. over the past decade. The term usually conjures up images of fish kills, dying forests, "dead" lakes, and damage to monuments and other historic artifacts. The primary cause of acid deposition is emission of S02 and NOx to the atmosphere during the combustion of fossil fuels. Oxidation of these compounds in the atmosphere forms strong acids - H2SO4 and HNO3 - which are returned to the Earth in rain, snow, fog, cloud water, and as dry deposition.Although acid deposition has only recently been recognized as an environmental problem in the U.S., it is not a new phenomenon (Cogbill & Likens 1974). As early as the middle of the 17th century in England, the deleterious effects of industrial emissions on plants, animals, and humans, and the atmospheric transport of pollutants between England and France had become issues of concern (Evelyn 1661, Graunt 1662). It is interesting that well over three hundred years ago in England, recommendations were made to move industry outside of towns and build higher chimneys to spread the pollution into "distant parts." Increasing the height of smokestacks has helped alleviate local problems, but has exacerbated others. In the U.S. the height of the tallest smokestack has more than doubled, and the average height of smokestacks has tripled since the 1950s (Patrick et al 1981). This trend occurred in most industrialized nations during the 20th century and has had the effect of transforming acid rain from a local urban problem into a problem of global scale.

  1. Performance and ruminal changes of early-weaned calves fed lasalocid.

    PubMed

    Anderson, K L; Nagaraja, T G; Morrill, J L; Reddy, P G; Avery, T B; Anderson, N V

    1988-03-01

    Twenty-two neonatal calves were assigned to a control or lasalocid-fed group and weaned at 3 wk of age. They were fed a prestarter diet from 3 d of age until they consumed 227 g/d and then a mixture of 227 g prestarter daily and starter diet in ad libitum amounts. The lasalocid-fed group received lasalocid in milk at 1 mg/kg body weight daily from 4 to 7 d and at .5 mg/kg body weight daily in milk and medicated prestarter diet (88 mg lasalocid/kg) during the 2nd wk. After 2 wk, lasalocid-fed calves were given medicated prestarter and starter (44 mg lasalocid/kg) diets. Four calves in each group were ruminally cannulated at 3 to 5 d of age, and ruminal contents were obtained at weekly intervals to monitor microbial activity. Rectal fecal samples were collected from all calves and examined for coccidial oocysts. Lasalocid-fed calves had a greater weekly feed intake and weight gain than control calves after 6 wk of age. Total ruminal volatile fatty acid concentrations were higher, but the acetate:propionate ratio was lower in lasalocid-fed calves than in control calves. Total viable anaerobic and amylolytic bacterial counts were higher in lasalocid-fed calves than in control calves. No significant treatment effect was found for ruminal NH3-N concentration or ruminal lasalocid-resistant, lactobacilli, lactate-utilizing, cellulolytic or methanogenic bacterial numbers. No evidence of coccidiosis was detected in either group. In general, lasalocid-fed calves had greater feed intake, weight gain and ruminal microbial activity than the calves fed no lasalocid in the diet.

  2. Evaluation of TRMM Ground-Validation Radar-Rain Errors Using Rain Gauge Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wang, Jianxin; Wolff, David B.

    2009-01-01

    Ground-validation (GV) radar-rain products are often utilized for validation of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spaced-based rain estimates, and hence, quantitative evaluation of the GV radar-rain product error characteristics is vital. This study uses quality-controlled gauge data to compare with TRMM GV radar rain rates in an effort to provide such error characteristics. The results show that significant differences of concurrent radar-gauge rain rates exist at various time scales ranging from 5 min to 1 day, despite lower overall long-term bias. However, the differences between the radar area-averaged rain rates and gauge point rain rates cannot be explained as due to radar error only. The error variance separation method is adapted to partition the variance of radar-gauge differences into the gauge area-point error variance and radar rain estimation error variance. The results provide relatively reliable quantitative uncertainty evaluation of TRMM GV radar rain estimates at various times scales, and are helpful to better understand the differences between measured radar and gauge rain rates. It is envisaged that this study will contribute to better utilization of GV radar rain products to validate versatile spaced-based rain estimates from TRMM, as well as the proposed Global Precipitation Measurement, and other satellites.

  3. Acid rain and its environmental effects: Recent scientific advances

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Burns, Douglas A.; Aherne, Julian; Gay, David A.; Lehmann, Christopher M.B.

    2016-01-01

    The term ‘acid rain’ refers to atmospheric deposition of acidic constituents that impact the earth as rain, snow, particulates, gases, and vapor. Acid rain was first recognized by Ducros (1845) and subsequently described by the English chemist Robert Angus Smith (Smith, 1852) whose pioneering studies linked the sources to industrial emissions and included early observations of deleterious environmental effects (Smith, 1872). Smith's work was largely forgotten until the mid-20th century when observations began to link air pollution to the deposition of atmospheric sulfate (SO42−) and other chemical constituents, first near the metal smelter at Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, and later at locations in Europe, North America, and Australia (Gorham, 1961). Our modern understanding of acid rain as an environmental problem caused largely by regional emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) stems from observations in the 1960s and early 1970s in Sweden by Svante Odén (Odén, 1976), and in North America by Gene Likens and colleagues (Likens and Bormann, 1974). These scientists and many who followed showed the link to emissions from coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources, and documented the environmental effects of acid rain such as the acidification of surface waters and toxic effects on vegetation, fish, and other biota.

  4. Soil moisture status in a set of rain-fed cereal fields: application of the DR2 model at monthly scale

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    López-Vicente, M.; Navas, A.

    2012-04-01

    One important issue in agricultural management and hydrological research is the assessment of water stored during a rainfall event. In this study, the new Distributed Rainfall-Runoff (DR2) model (López-Vicente and Navas, 2012) is used to estimate the volume of actual available water (Waa) and the soil moisture status (SMS) in a set of rain-fed cereal fields (65 ha) located in the Central Spanish Pre-Pyrenees. This model makes the most of GIS techniques (ArcMapTM 10.0) and distinguishes five configurations of the upslope contributing area, infiltration processes and climatic parameters. Results are presented on a monthly basis. The study site has a relatively long history (since the 10th century) of human occupation, agricultural practices and water management. The landscape is representative of the typical former rain-fed Mediterranean agro-ecosystem where small patches of natural and anthropogenic areas are heterogeneously distributed. Climate is continental Mediterranean with a dry summer with rainfall events of high intensity (I30max, higher than 30 mm / h between May and October). Average annual precipitation was 520 mm for the reference period (1961-1990), whereas the average precipitation during the last ten years (2001-2010) was 16% lower (439 mm). Measured antecedent topsoil moisture presented the highest values in autumn (18.3 vol.%) and the lowest in summer (11.2 vol.%). Values of potential overland flow per raster cell (Q0) during maximum rainfall intensity varied notably in terms of time and space. When rainfall intensity is high (May, August, September and October), potential runoff was predicted along the surface of the crops and variability of Q0 was very low, whereas areas with no runoff production appeared when rainfall intensity was low and variability of Q0 values was high. A variance components analysis shows that values of Q0 are mainly explained by variations in the values of saturated hydraulic conductivity (76% of the variability of Q0) and

  5. Rain-rate data base development and rain-rate climate analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Crane, Robert K.

    1993-01-01

    The single-year rain-rate distribution data available within the archives of Consultative Committee for International Radio (CCIR) Study Group 5 were compiled into a data base for use in rain-rate climate modeling and for the preparation of predictions of attenuation statistics. The four year set of tip-time sequences provided by J. Goldhirsh for locations near Wallops Island were processed to compile monthly and annual distributions of rain rate and of event durations for intervals above and below preset thresholds. A four-year data set of tropical rain-rate tip-time sequences were acquired from the NASA TRMM program for 30 gauges near Darwin, Australia. They were also processed for inclusion in the CCIR data base and the expanded data base for monthly observations at the University of Oklahoma. The empirical rain-rate distributions (edfs) accepted for inclusion in the CCIR data base were used to estimate parameters for several rain-rate distribution models: the lognormal model, the Crane two-component model, and the three parameter model proposed by Moupfuma. The intent of this segment of the study is to obtain a limited set of parameters that can be mapped globally for use in rain attenuation predictions. If the form of the distribution can be established, then perhaps available climatological data can be used to estimate the parameters rather than requiring years of rain-rate observations to set the parameters. The two-component model provided the best fit to the Wallops Island data but the Moupfuma model provided the best fit to the Darwin data.

  6. Symptomatic hypoglycemia causing brain injury in a term breast fed newborn following early discharge.

    PubMed

    Marwah, Ashish; Gathwala, Geeta

    2011-12-01

    Cerebral metabolism and functioning depends upon an adequate blood glucose supply which provides for majority of the brain's energy requirement. Studies from the past have shown that neonatal hypoglycemia is associated with acute and long term neurological sequelae. Early discharge without adequately established breast feeding may lead to feeding problems, post discharge hypoglycemia and its associated neurological complications. The authors describe one such case of an exclusively breast fed term newborn who presented on day 3 with symptomatic hypoglycemia and associated neurological injury.

  7. Large-scale modeling of rain fields from a rain cell deterministic model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    FéRal, Laurent; Sauvageot, Henri; Castanet, Laurent; Lemorton, JoëL.; Cornet, FréDéRic; Leconte, Katia

    2006-04-01

    A methodology to simulate two-dimensional rain rate fields at large scale (1000 × 1000 km2, the scale of a satellite telecommunication beam or a terrestrial fixed broadband wireless access network) is proposed. It relies on a rain rate field cellular decomposition. At small scale (˜20 × 20 km2), the rain field is split up into its macroscopic components, the rain cells, described by the Hybrid Cell (HYCELL) cellular model. At midscale (˜150 × 150 km2), the rain field results from the conglomeration of rain cells modeled by HYCELL. To account for the rain cell spatial distribution at midscale, the latter is modeled by a doubly aggregative isotropic random walk, the optimal parameterization of which is derived from radar observations at midscale. The extension of the simulation area from the midscale to the large scale (1000 × 1000 km2) requires the modeling of the weather frontal area. The latter is first modeled by a Gaussian field with anisotropic covariance function. The Gaussian field is then turned into a binary field, giving the large-scale locations over which it is raining. This transformation requires the definition of the rain occupation rate over large-scale areas. Its probability distribution is determined from observations by the French operational radar network ARAMIS. The coupling with the rain field modeling at midscale is immediate whenever the large-scale field is split up into midscale subareas. The rain field thus generated accounts for the local CDF at each point, defining a structure spatially correlated at small scale, midscale, and large scale. It is then suggested that this approach be used by system designers to evaluate diversity gain, terrestrial path attenuation, or slant path attenuation for different azimuth and elevation angle directions.

  8. Acid Rain

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bricker, Owen P.; Rice, Karen C.

    1995-01-01

    Although acid rain is fading as a political issue in the United States and funds for research in this area have largely disappeared, the acidity of rain in the Eastern United States has not changed significantly over the last decade, and it continues to be a serious environmental problem. Acid deposition (commonly called acid rain) is a term applied to all forms of atmospheric deposition of acidic substances - rain, snow, fog, acidic dry particulates, aerosols, and acid-forming gases. Water in the atmosphere reacts with certain atmospheric gases to become acidic. For example, water reacts with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to produce a solution with a pH of about 5.6. Gases that produce acids in the presence of water in the atmosphere include carbon dioxide (which converts to carbonic acid), oxides of sulfur and nitrogen (which convert to sulfuric and nitric acids}, and hydrogen chloride (which converts to hydrochloric acid). These acid-producing gases are released to the atmosphere through natural processes, such as volcanic emissions, lightning, forest fires, and decay of organic matter. Accordingly, precipitation is slightly acidic, with a pH of 5.0 to 5.7 even in undeveloped areas. In industrialized areas, most of the acid-producing gases are released to the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels. Major emitters of acid-producing gases include power plants, industrial operations, and motor vehicles. Acid-producing gases can be transported through the atmosphere for hundreds of miles before being converted to acids and deposited as acid rain. Because acids tend to build up in the atmosphere between storms, the most acidic rain falls at the beginning of a storm, and as the rain continues, the acids "wash out" of the atmosphere.

  9. The role of rain in dispersal of the primary inoculum of Plasmopara viticola.

    PubMed

    Rossi, Vittorio; Caffi, Tito

    2012-02-01

    Although primary infection of grapevines by Plasmopara viticola requires splash dispersal of inoculum from soil to leaves, little is known about the role of rain in primary inoculum dispersal. Distribution of rain splashes from soil to grapevine canopy was evaluated over 20 rain periods (0.2 to 64.2 mm of rain) with splash samplers placed within the canopy. Samplers at 40, 80, and 140 cm above the soil caught 4.4, 0.03, and 0.003 drops/cm(2) of sampler area, respectively. Drops caught at 40 and 80 cm (1.5 cm in diameter) were larger than drops at 140 cm (1.3 cm). Leaf coverage by splashed drops, total drop number, and drop size increased with an increase in the maximum intensity of rain (mm/h) during any rain period. Any rainfall led to infection in potted grapevines placed outside on leaf litter containing oospores, if the litter contained germinated oospores at the time of rain; infection severity was unrelated to rain amount or intensity. Results from vineyards also indicate that any rain can carry P. viticola inoculum from soil to leaves and should be considered a splash event in disease prediction systems. Sampling for early disease detection should focus on the lower canopy, where the probability of splash impact is greatest.

  10. Acid Rain.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Openshaw, Peter

    1987-01-01

    Provides some background information on acid deposition. Includes a historical perspective, describes some effects of acid precipitation, and discusses acid rain in the United Kingdom. Contains several experiments that deal with the effects of acid rain on water quality and soil. (TW)

  11. Understanding Acid Rain

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Damonte, Kathleen

    2004-01-01

    The term acid rain describes rain, snow, or fog that is more acidic than normal precipitation. To understand what acid rain is, it is first necessary to know what an acid is. Acids can be defined as substances that produce hydrogen ions (H+), when dissolved in water. Scientists indicate how acidic a substance is by a set of numbers called the pH…

  12. USGS Tracks Acid Rain

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Gordon, John D.; Nilles, Mark A.; Schroder, LeRoy J.

    1995-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been actively studying acid rain for the past 15 years. When scientists learned that acid rain could harm fish, fear of damage to our natural environment from acid rain concerned the American public. Research by USGS scientists and other groups began to show that the processes resulting in acid rain are very complex. Scientists were puzzled by the fact that in some cases it was difficult to demonstrate that the pollution from automobiles and factories was causing streams or lakes to become more acidic. Further experiments showed how the natural ability of many soils to neutralize acids would reduce the effects of acid rain in some locations--at least as long as the neutralizing ability lasted (Young, 1991). The USGS has played a key role in establishing and maintaining the only nationwide network of acid rain monitoring stations. This program is called the National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network (NADP/NTN). Each week, at approximately 220 NADP/NTN sites across the country, rain and snow samples are collected for analysis. NADP/NTN site in Montana. The USGS supports about 72 of these sites. The information gained from monitoring the chemistry of our nation's rain and snow is important for testing the results of pollution control laws on acid rain.

  13. Heavy rain effects

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dunham, R. Earl, Jr.

    1994-01-01

    This paper summarizes the current state of knowledge of the effect of heavy rain on airplane performance. Although the effects of heavy rain on airplane systems and engines are generally known, only recently has the potential aerodynamic effect of heavy rain been recognized. In 1977 the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted a study of 25 aircraft accidents and incidents which occurred between 1964 and 1976 in which low-altitude wind shear could have been a contributing factor. Of the 25 cases (23 approach or landing and 2 take-off) in the study, ten cases had occurred in a rain environment, and in five cases these were classified as intense or heavy rain encounters. These results led to the reconsideration of high-intensity, short-duration rainfall as a potential weather-related aircraft safety hazard, particularly in the take-off and/or approach phases of flight.

  14. Identification and validation of QTL for grain yield and plant water status under contrasting water treatments in fall-sown spring wheats.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Junli; Gizaw, Shiferaw Abate; Bossolini, Eligio; Hegarty, Joshua; Howell, Tyson; Carter, Arron H; Akhunov, Eduard; Dubcovsky, Jorge

    2018-05-16

    Chromosome regions affecting grain yield, grain yield components and plant water status were identified and validated in fall-sown spring wheats grown under full and limited irrigation. Increases in wheat production are required to feed a growing human population. To understand the genetic basis of grain yield in fall-sown spring wheats, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) including 262 photoperiod-insensitive spring wheat accessions grown under full and limited irrigation treatments. Analysis of molecular variance showed that 4.1% of the total variation in the panel was partitioned among accessions originally developed under fall-sowing or spring-sowing conditions, 11.7% among breeding programs within sowing times and 84.2% among accessions within breeding programs. We first identified QTL for grain yield, yield components and plant water status that were significant in at least three environments in the GWAS, and then selected those that were also significant in at least two environments in a panel of eight biparental mapping populations. We identified and validated 14 QTL for grain yield, 15 for number of spikelets per spike, one for kernel number per spike, 11 for kernel weight and 9 for water status, which were not associated with differences in plant height or heading date. We detected significant correlations among traits and colocated QTL that were consistent with those correlations. Among those, grain yield and plant water status were negatively correlated in all environments, and six QTL for these traits were colocated or tightly linked (< 1 cM). QTL identified and validated in this study provide useful information for the improvement of fall-sown spring wheats under full and limited irrigation.

  15. Soak Up the Rain

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Soak Up the Rain promotes green infrastructure practices such as rain barrels, rain gardens, permeable pavements and green roofs to reduce stormwater runoff and prevent water pollution while bringing about a broad range of community benefits.

  16. Rain attenuation studies from radiometric and rain DSD measurements at two tropical locations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Halder, Tuhina; Adhikari, Arpita; Maitra, Animesh

    2018-05-01

    Efficient use of satellite communication in tropical regions demands proper characterization of rain attenuation, particularly, in view of the available popular propagation models which are mostly based on temperate climatic data. Thus rain attenuations at frequencies 22.234, 23.834 and 31.4/30 GHz over two tropical locations Kolkata (22.57°N, 88.36°E, India) and Belem (1.45°S, 48.49° W, Brazil), have been estimated for the year 2010 and 2011, respectively. The estimation has been done utilizing ground-based disdrometer observations and radiometric measurements over Earth-space path. The results show that rain attenuation estimations from radiometric data are reliable only at low rain rates (<30 mm/h). However, the rain attenuation estimations from disdrometer measurements show good agreement with the ITU-R model, even at high rain rates (upto100 mm/h). Despite having significant variability in terms of drop size distribution (DSD), the attenuation values calculated from DSD data (disdrometer measurements) at Kolkata and Belem differ a little for the rain rates below 30 mm/h. However, the attenuation values, obtained from radiometric measurements at the two places, show significant deviations ranging from 0.54 dB to 3.2 dB up to a rain rate of 30 mm/h, on account of different rain heights, mean atmospheric temperatures and climatology of the two locations.

  17. A Robust, Microwave Rain Gauge

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mansheim, T. J.; Niemeier, J. J.; Kruger, A.

    2008-12-01

    Researchers at The University of Iowa have developed an all-electronic rain gauge that uses microwave sensors operating at either 10 GHz or 23 GHz, and measures the Doppler shift caused by falling raindrops. It is straightforward to interface these sensors with conventional data loggers, or integrate them into a wireless sensor network. A disadvantage of these microwave rain gauges is that they consume significant power when they are operating. However, this may be partially negated by using data loggers' or sensors networks' sleep-wake-sleep mechanism. Advantages of the microwave rain gauges are that one can make them very robust, they cannot clog, they don't have mechanical parts that wear out, and they don't have to be perfectly level. Prototype microwave rain gauges were collocated with tipping-bucket rain gauges, and data were collected for two seasons. At higher rain rates, microwave rain gauge measurements compare well with tipping-bucket measurements. At lower rain rates, the microwave rain gauges provide more detailed information than tipping buckets, which quantize measurement typically in 1 tip per 0.01 inch, or 1 tip per mm of rainfall.

  18. Rain rate duration statistics derived from the Mid-Atlantic coast rain gauge network

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Goldhirsh, Julius

    1993-01-01

    A rain gauge network comprised of 10 tipping bucket rain gauges located in the Mid-Atlantic coast of the United States has been in continuous operation since June 1, 1986. Rain rate distributions and estimated slant path fade distributions at 20 GHz and 30 GHz covering the first five year period were derived from the gauge network measurements, and these results were described by Goldhirsh. In this effort, rain rate time duration statistics are presented. The rain duration statistics are of interest for better understanding the physical nature of precipitation and to present a data base which may be used by modelers to convert to slant path fade duration statistics. Such statistics are important for better assessing optimal coding procedures over defined bandwidths.

  19. Acid Rain Study Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hunger, Carolyn; And Others

    Acid rain is a complex, worldwide environmental problem. This study guide is intended to aid teachers of grades 4-12 to help their students understand what acid rain is, why it is a problem, and what possible solutions exist. The document contains specific sections on: (1) the various terms used in conjunction with acid rain (such as acid…

  20. The Acid Rain Reader.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stubbs, Harriett S.; And Others

    A topic which is often not sufficiently dealt with in elementary school textbooks is acid rain. This student text is designed to supplement classroom materials on the topic. Discussed are: (1) "Rain"; (2) "Water Cycle"; (3) "Fossil Fuels"; (4) "Air Pollution"; (5) "Superstacks"; (6) "Acid/Neutral/Bases"; (7) "pH Scale"; (8) "Acid Rain"; (9)…

  1. No Rain, No Gain

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perna, Mark C.

    2005-01-01

    Marketing is like the rain. Some people are quickly aware of it, while others take repeated and consistent drops for quite an extended period of time before they take action. Building on the marketing principles discussed in previous issues, the next key principle to smart marketing is the "Rain Effect." The Rain Effect is the use of consistent…

  2. Dynamics of CO2 fluxes and environmental responses in the rain-fed winter wheat ecosystem of the Loess Plateau, China.

    PubMed

    Wang, Wen; Liao, Yuncheng; Wen, Xiaoxia; Guo, Qiang

    2013-09-01

    Chinese Loess Plateau plays an important role in carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems. Continuous measurement of CO2 fluxes in cropland ecosystem is of great significance to accurately evaluate the carbon sequestration potential and to better explain the carbon cycle process in this region. By using the eddy covariance system we conducted a long-term (from Sep 2009 to Jun 2010) CO2 fluxes measurement in the rain-fed winter wheat field of the Chinese Loess Plateau and elaborated the responses of CO2 fluxes to environmental factors. The results show that the winter wheat ecosystem has distinct seasonal dynamics of CO2 fluxes. The total net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) of -218.9±11.5 gC m(-2) in the growing season, however, after considering the harvested grain, the agro-ecosystem turned into a weak carbon sink (-36.2 gC m(-2)). On the other hand, the responses of CO2 fluxes to environmental factors depended on different growth stages of winter wheat and different ranges of environmental variables, suggesting that the variations in CO2 exchange were sensitive to the changes in controlling factors. Particularly, we found the pulse response of ecosystem respiration (Reco) to a large rainfall event, and the strong fluctuations of CO2 fluxes usually appeared after effective rainfall events (daily precipitation > 5 mm) during middle growing season. Such phenomenon also occurred in the case of the drastic changes in air temperature and within 5 days after field management (e.g. tillage and plough). Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Acid rain attack on outdoor sculpture in perspective

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Livingston, Richard A.

    2016-12-01

    A major concern motivating research in acid rain materials effects has been the potential for damage to cultural heritage, particularly outdoor marble and bronze sculpture. However, a combination of field and laboratory studies has failed to show a correlation between rain pH and loss of materials. In order to understand this counterintuitive lack of acid rain effect, an aqueous geochemical modeling approach was used to analyze rain runoff chemistry for the relative importance of acid rain neutralization, dry deposition, and in the case of marble, natural carbonate dissolution. This approach involved the development of pH - SO42- phase diagrams for marble (calcium carbonate) and bronze (copper) under ambient environmental conditions. This then enabled reaction path modeling of the acid neutralization process using the pH range typically found in wet deposition (3.5-6). The results were for marble that the theoretical maximum amount of Ca2+ ion that could be lost due acid rain neutralization would be 0.158 mmol/l compared to 10.5 mmol/l by dry deposition, and for bronze, the Cu2+ ion losses would be 0.21 mmol/l and 47.3 mmol/l respectively. Consequently dry deposition effects on these materials have the potential to dominate over wet deposition effects. To test these predictions the geochemical models were applied to examples of data sets from mass balance (runoff vs rainfall) studies on a marble statue in New York City and some bronze memorial plaques at Gettysburg PA. Although these data sets were collected in the early 1980s they remain valid for demonstrating the mass balance method. For the marble statue, the mean Ca2+ losses by dry deposition was about 69% of the total compared 0.3% for acid rain neutralization, which was less than the natural carbonate dissolution losses of 0.8%. For the bronze, the mean Cu2+ losses were 70.6% by SO42- dry deposition and 23% by NO3- dry deposition compared to 6.4% by acid rain neutralization. Thus for both cases the wet

  4. Self-Consistency of Rain Event Definitions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Teves, J. B.; Larsen, M.

    2014-12-01

    A dense optical rain disdrometer array was constructed to study rain variability on spatial scales less than 100 meters with temporal resolution of 1 minute. Approximately two months of data were classified into rain events using methods common in the literature. These methods were unable to identify an array-wide consensus as to the total number of rain events; instruments as little as 2 meters apart with similar data records sometimes identified different rain event totals. Physical considerations suggest that these differing event totals are likely due to instrument sampling fluctuations that are typically not accounted for in rain event studies. Detection of varying numbers of rain events impact many commonly used storm statistics including storm duration distributions and mean rain rate. A summary of the results above and their implications are presented.

  5. Life in Tropical Rain Forests.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    NatureScope, 1989

    1989-01-01

    Discusses the diversity of rain forest life, the adaptations of rain forest plants and animals, and ways these organisms interact. Includes activities on canopy critters with a copyable sheet, rain forest revue, design a plant, and jungle sleuths. (RT)

  6. Lessons from the Rain Forest.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phillips, Shelley

    2002-01-01

    Presents a first-grade art project after students learned about the rain forest and heard the story, "The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest" (Lynn Cherry). Explains that the students created pictures of the rain forest. (CMK)

  7. Inter-comparison of automatic rain gauges

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nystuen, Jeffrey A.

    1994-01-01

    The Ocean Acoustics Division (OAD) of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), in cooperation with NOAA/NESDIS and NASA, has deployed six rain gauges for calibration and intercomparison purposes. These instruments include: (1) a weighing rain gauge, (2) a RM Young Model 50202 capacitance rain gauge, (3) a ScTI ORG-705 (long path) optical rain gauge, (4) a ScTI ORG-105 (mini-ORG) optical rain gauge, (5) a Belfort Model 382 tipping bucket rain gauge, and (6) a Distromet RD-69 disdrometer. The system has been running continuously since July 1993. During this time period, roughly 150 events with maximum rainfall rate over 10 mm/hr and 25 events with maximum rainfall rates over 100 mm/hr have been recorded. All rain gauge types have performed well, with intercorrelations 0.9 or higher. However, limitations for each type of rain gauge have been observed.

  8. Particle transport patterns of short-distance soil erosion by wind-driven rain, rain and wind

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marzen, Miriam; Iserloh, Thomas; de Lima, João L. M. P.; Ries, Johannes B.

    2015-04-01

    Short distance erosion of soil surface material is one of the big question marks in soil erosion studies. The exact measurement of short-distance transported soil particles, prior to the occurrence of overland flow, is a challenge to soil erosion science due to the particular requirements of the experimental setup and test procedure. To approach a quantification of amount and distance of each type of transport, we applied an especially developed multiple-gutter system installed inside the Trier Portable Wind and Rainfall Simulator (PWRS). We measured the amount and travel distance of soil particles detached and transported by raindrops (splash), wind-driven rain (splash-saltation and splash-drift) and wind (saltation). The test setup included three different erosion agents (rain/ wind-driven rain/ wind), two substrates (sandy/ loamy), three surface structures (grain roughness/ rills lengthwise/ rills transversal) and three slope angles (0°/+7°/-7°). The results present detailed transport patterns of the three erosion agents under the varying soil and surface conditions up to a distance of 1.6 m. Under the applied rain intensity and wind velocity, wind-driven rain splash generates the highest erosion. The erodibility and travel distance of the two substrates depend on the erosion agent. The total erosion is slightly higher for the slope angle -7° (downslope), but for wind-driven rain splash, the inclination is not a relevant factor. The effect of surface structures (rills) changes with traveling distance. The wind driven rain splash generates a much higher amount of erosion and a further travel distance of the particles due to the combined action of wind and rain. The wind-driven rain factor appears to be much more significant than the other factors. The study highlights the effects of different erosion agents and surface parameters on short-distance particle transport and the powerful impact of wind-driven rain on soil erosion.

  9. Application of Virtual Rain and Stream Gauge Information Service for Improved Flood Early Warning System in Lower Mekong Countries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Basnayake, S. B.; Jayasinghe, S.; Meechaiya, C.; Markert, K. N.; Lee, H.; Towashiraporn, P.; Anderson, E.; Okeowo, M. A.

    2017-12-01

    Asia is the most vulnerable region in the world to hydro-meteorological extreme events, exacerbated by climate variability and change. Impacts of floods have been on the rapid increase in the recent decades. Myanmar is one of the most vulnerable countries in the lower Mekong region due to its socioeconomic situation (eg; Nargis in 2008, monsoon floods in 2015, etc). Early warning is an effective way to prepare for hydro-meteorological hazards, to minimize disaster risks; however, early warning systems in Myanmar are seriously hampered by limited observation networks. The Virtual Rain and Stream Gauge Information Service (VRSGIS) has been developed by SERVIR-Mekong program of Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) to address these gaps and to provide dense, satellite-based rainfall and water level data, which are calibrated and validated with available in-situ observations. This service would enhance decision making in lower Mekong countries, including Myanmar, to minimize impacts of impending disasters. This service contains rainfall data from GPM IMERG and GSMap, CMORPH, TRMM, and CHIRPS, and water levels for 15 locations using Jason-2/3 altimetry. The virtual daily rainfall data sets are being calibrated with Gamma distribution method and are made publicly accessible through a user-friendly web interface.This paper presents a case study of satellite-derived rainfall data accessed from VRSGIS for hydrological modeling in Myanmar, to estimate inundation areas in Kalay township area of Chindwin River basin during the country's worst flood in 2015. Twelve out of fourteen States of Myanmar were severely affected, 103 people were killed, and one million were displaced due to heavy rains associated with Komen cyclone. The aforementioned rainfall data products are used as inputs for HEC-HMS hydrological runoff model to calculate river flows along Chindwin River, and HEC-RAS hydraulic model is used to estimate inundation areas in downstream including Kalay township

  10. Rain Forest Murals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kleiner, Cheryl

    2010-01-01

    The rain forest murals in the author's school began as a request from her principal to have students decorate the cafeteria with their own paintings. She decided to brainstorm ideas with her eighth-grade students. Taking into consideration the architectural space and the environmental concerns they wanted to convey, students chose the rain forest…

  11. Pollen selection under acid rain stress

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zhang, Y.

    To investigate whether acid rain stress induces pollen selection in nature, three different approaches were used, based on the assumption that the response of pollen grains to acid rain is controlled by an acid sensitive gene product. Germination of pollen from homozygous and heterozygous individuals under acid rain stress was examined to detect any differences in rate of germination between populations of homogeneous and heterogeneous pollen grains. In vitro and in vivo bulked segregant analysis using RAPDs was used to search for differences in DNA constitution between the survivors of acid rain stressed and non-acid rain stressed pollen populations inmore » vitro and between the progenies of acid rain stressed and non-acid rain stressed populations during pollination, respectively. No evidence for the pollen selection under acid rain stress was obtained in any of the test systems. Inhibition of protein synthesis using cycloheximide led to significant reduction of tube elongation at 4 hr and had no effect on pollen germination at any time interval tested. Total proteins extracted from control and acid rain stressed pollen grain populations exhibited no differences. The reduction of corn pollen germination in vitro under acid rain stress was mainly due to pollen rupture. The present data indicates the reduction of pollen germination and tube growth under acid rain stress may be a physiological response rather than a genetic response. A simple, nontoxic, and effective method to separate germinated from ungerminated pollen grains has been developed using pollen from corn (Zea mays, L. cv. Pioneer 3747). The separated germinated pollen grains retained viability and continued tube growth when placed in culture medium.« less

  12. RAINE Public Communities

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The file geodatabase (fgdb) contains the New England Town Boundaries and information related specifically to the Resilience and Adaptation in New England (RAINE) web application. This includes data tables relating to particular aspects of towns notably features, funding, impacts, partners, plans, and programs (refer to V_MAP_STATIC tables). New England Town Boundary coverage is a compilation of coverages received from the six New England State GIS Offices. The EPA New England GIS Center appended the coverages together into a single file and generated attrributes to link to the Facility Identification Online system. These feature class points represent the communities (Communities in gdb) and featured RAINE communities (RAINE_Communities_201609), which contain more detailed information that is contained within the included data tables.

  13. 2011 Feds Feed Families

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-01

    NASA employees Anita Douglas (l to r), Amy Grose, Aaron Brooks and Cabrina Bell sort through early contributions to the 2011 Feds Feed Families Food Drive at Stennis Space Center. Each summer for three years, federal agencies across the nation have worked together to collect nonperishable food for local food banks across the country.

  14. Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of water soil erosion in a Mediterranean rain-fed crop

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    López-Vicente, M.; Quijano, L.; Gaspar, L.; Machín, J.; Navas, A.

    2012-04-01

    Fertile soil loss by raindrop impact and runoff processes in croplands presents significant variations at temporal and spatial scales. The combined use of advanced GIS techniques and detailed databases allows high resolution mapping of runoff and soil erosion processes. In this study the monthly values of soil loss are calculated in a medium size field of rain-fed winter barley and its drainage area located in the Central Spanish Pre-Pyrenees. The field is surrounded by narrow strips of dense Mediterranean vegetation (mainly holm oaks) and grass. Man-made infrastructures (paved trails and drainage ditches) modify the overland flow pathways and the study site appears hydrologically closed in its northern and western boundaries. This area has a continental Mediterranean climate with two humid periods, one in spring and a second in autumn and a dry summer with rainfall events of high intensity from July to October. The average annual rainfall is 495 mm and the average monthly rainfall intensity ranges from 1.1 mm / h in January to 7.4 mm / h in July. The predicted rates were obtained after running the RMMF model (Morgan, 2001) with the enhancements made to this model by Morgan and Duzant (2008) to the topographic module, and by López-Vicente and Navas (2010) to the hydrological module. A total of 613 soil samples were collected and all input and output maps were generated at high spatial resolution (1 x 1 m of cell size) with ArcMapTM 10.0. A map of effective cumulative runoff was calculated for each month of the year with a weighted multiple flow algorithm and four sub-catchments were distinguished within the field. The average soil erosion in the cultivated area is 1.32 Mg / ha yr and the corresponding map shows a high spatial variability (s.d. = 7.52 Mg / ha yr). The highest values of soil erosion appear in those areas where overland flow is concentrated and slope steepness is higher. The unpaved trail present the highest values of soil erosion with an average

  15. 40 CFR 76.8 - Early election for Group 1, Phase II boilers.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) ACID RAIN NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM § 76.8 Early election for Group 1... plan and: (i) If a Phase I Acid Rain permit governing the source at which the unit is located has been... chapter to include the early election plan; or (ii) If a Phase I Acid Rain permit governing the source at...

  16. 40 CFR 76.8 - Early election for Group 1, Phase II boilers.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) ACID RAIN NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM § 76.8 Early election for Group 1... plan and: (i) If a Phase I Acid Rain permit governing the source at which the unit is located has been... chapter to include the early election plan; or (ii) If a Phase I Acid Rain permit governing the source at...

  17. 40 CFR 76.8 - Early election for Group 1, Phase II boilers.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) ACID RAIN NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM § 76.8 Early election for Group 1... plan and: (i) If a Phase I Acid Rain permit governing the source at which the unit is located has been... chapter to include the early election plan; or (ii) If a Phase I Acid Rain permit governing the source at...

  18. 40 CFR 76.8 - Early election for Group 1, Phase II boilers.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) ACID RAIN NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM § 76.8 Early election for Group 1... plan and: (i) If a Phase I Acid Rain permit governing the source at which the unit is located has been... chapter to include the early election plan; or (ii) If a Phase I Acid Rain permit governing the source at...

  19. 40 CFR 76.8 - Early election for Group 1, Phase II boilers.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) ACID RAIN NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM § 76.8 Early election for Group 1... plan and: (i) If a Phase I Acid Rain permit governing the source at which the unit is located has been... chapter to include the early election plan; or (ii) If a Phase I Acid Rain permit governing the source at...

  20. Spread of acid rain over India

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khemani, L. T.; Momin, G. A.; Rao, P. S. Prakasa; Safai, P. D.; Singh, G.; Kapoor, R. K.

    Rain water and aerosol samples were collected at a few locations representative of urban and non-urban regions in India. Also, rain water samples were collected in and around a coal-fired power plant. All the rain water and aerosol samples were analyzed for major chemical components along with pH. The rain water at all the places of measurement, except near the industrial sources, has been found to be alkaline and was characterized by the presence of excess cations, particularly by Ca 2+. The acid rain near the industrial sources was associated with excess anions, especially SO 42-. The atmospheric aerosols at all the places of measurement were found rich with basic components, suggesting that the alkaline soil dust and fly ash are responsible at present for preventing the spread of acid rain in India.

  1. When It Rains, It Pours

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mills, Linda

    2012-01-01

    "It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring!" "The itsy, bitsy spider crawled up the waterspout, down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain, and the itsy, bitsy spider went up the spout again." What do children's nursery rhymes have to do with the school library? The author begins by telling a…

  2. Rainfall Intensity and Frequency Explain Production Basis Risk in Cumulative Rain Index Insurance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Muneepeerakul, Chitsomanus P.; Muneepeerakul, Rachata; Huffaker, Ray G.

    2017-12-01

    With minimal moral hazard and adverse selection, weather index insurance promises financial resilience to farmers struck by harsh weather conditions through swift compensation at affordable premium. Despite these advantages, the very nature of indexing gives rise to production basis risk as the selected weather indexes do not sufficiently correspond to actual damages. To address this problem, we develop a stochastic yield model, built upon a stochastic soil moisture model driven by marked Poisson rainfall. Our analysis shows that even under similar temperature and rainfall amount yields can differ significantly; this was empirically supported by a 2-year field experiment in which rain-fed maize was grown under very similar total rainfall. Here, the year with more intense, less-frequent rainfall produces a better yield—a rare counter evidence to most climate change projections. Through a stochastic yield model, we demonstrate the crucial roles of rainfall intensity and frequency in determining the yield. Importantly, the model allows us to compute rainfall pattern-related basis risk inherent in cumulative rain index insurance. The model results and a case study herein clearly show that total rainfall is a poor indicator of yield, imposing unnecessary production basis risk on farmers and false-positive payouts on insurers. Incorporating rainfall intensity and frequency in the design of rain index insurance can offer farmers better protection, while maintaining the attractive features of the weather index insurance and thus fulfilling its promise of financial resilience.

  3. Annual monsoon rains recorded by Jurassic dunes.

    PubMed

    Loope, D B; Rowe, C M; Joeckel, R M

    2001-07-05

    Pangaea, the largest landmass in the Earth's history, was nearly bisected by the Equator during the late Palaeozoic and early Mesozoic eras. Modelling experiments and stratigraphic studies have suggested that the supercontinent generated a monsoonal atmospheric circulation that led to extreme seasonality, but direct evidence for annual rainfall periodicity has been lacking. In the Mesozoic era, about 190 million years ago, thick deposits of wind-blown sand accumulated in dunes of a vast, low-latitude desert at Pangaea's western margin. These deposits are now situated in the southwestern USA. Here we analyse slump masses in the annual depositional cycles within these deposits, which have been described for some outcrops of the Navajo Sandstone. Twenty-four slumps, which were generated by heavy rainfall, appear within one interval representing 36 years of dune migration. We interpret the positions of 20 of these masses to indicate slumping during summer monsoon rains, with the other four having been the result of winter storms. The slumped lee faces of these Jurassic dunes therefore represent a prehistoric record of yearly rain events.

  4. Torrential Rain in China

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2007-01-01

    Concentric ovals of red, orange, yellow, and green are draped over southern China, showing rainfall totals for the week of June 4 through June 11, 2007. The rainfall totals are from the Goddard Space Flight Center Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis, which is based on rainfall measurements taken by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Though seasonal rains are not unexpected in the area, the rain that fell during the week was torrential and relentless. As the image shows, a broad stretch of China received up to 200 millimeters (8 inches) of rain, and some areas were inundated with up to 500 millimeters (20 inches). Floods and landslides resulted, destroying crops and forcing some 643,000 people from their homes, reported the Xinhua News Agency on ReliefWeb. As of June 11, 71 people had died and 13 were missing. The most affected area was the southern coast, where rainfall totals are highest in this image. Heavy tropical rains combined with steep mountains make southeastern China prone to devastating landslides. Monitoring landslide-producing conditions typically requires extensive networks of ground-based rain gauges and weather instruments. But many developing countries in high-risk areas lack the resources to maintain such systems; heavy rains and flooding often wash away ground-based instruments. Robert Adler, a senior scientist in the Laboratory for Atmospheres at Goddard Space Flight Center, and Yang Hong, a research scientist at Goddard Earth Sciences Technology Center, are confronting the problem by developing a satellite-based system for predicting landslides. The system relies on TRMM data to predict when rainfall in different areas has reached a landslide-triggering threshold. The system makes data available on the Internet just a few hours after the satellite makes its observations. To read more about the landslide-monitoring system, please read the feature article Satellite Monitors Rains That Trigger Landslides, http

  5. Rain, Snow, and Spring Runoff Revisited.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bohren, Craig F.

    1995-01-01

    Explores the theory behind the correlation between warm rain, rapid snowmelt, and the subsequent runoff using the concepts of enthalpy, thermal transfer, and energy transfer. Concludes that rapid runoff is not a consequence of rain per se but of the high humidities associated with the rain. (JRH)

  6. Rain Rate Statistics in Southern New Mexico

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Paulic, Frank J., Jr.; Horan, Stephen

    1997-01-01

    The methodology used in determining empirical rain-rate distributions for Southern New Mexico in the vicinity of White Sands APT site is discussed. The hardware and the software developed to extract rain rate from the rain accumulation data collected at White Sands APT site are described. The accuracy of Crane's Global Model for rain rate predictions is analyzed.

  7. Vibration (?) spikes during natural rain events

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Short, David A.

    1994-01-01

    Limited analysis of optical rain gauge (ORG) data from shipboard and ground based sensors has shown the existence of spikes, possibly attributable to sensor vibration, while rain is occurring. An extreme example of this behavior was noted aboard the PRC#5 on the evening of December 24, 1992 as the ship began repositioning during a rain event in the TOGA/COARE IFA. The spikes are readily evident in the one-second resolution data, but may be indistinguishable from natural rain rate fluctuations in subsampled or averaged data. Such spikes result in increased rainfall totals.

  8. Acid Rain: What We Must Do.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gorham, Eville

    1983-01-01

    Addresses questions about the nature, source, and history of acid rain. In addition, discusses the questions: Why is acid rain a problem? Is acid rain getting worse? What is the threat of further problems? Concludes that it is time to act on the problem and recommends an appropriate course of action. (JN)

  9. Presenting the Rain-Sea Interaction Facility

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bliven, Larry F.; Elfouhaily, Tonas M.

    1993-01-01

    The new Rain-Sea Interaction Facility (RSIF) was established at GSFC/WFF and the first finds are presented. The unique feature of this laboratory is the ability to systematically study microwave scattering from a water surface roughened by artificial rain, for which the droplets are at terminal velocity. The fundamental instruments and systems (e.g., the rain simulator, scatterometers, and surface elevation probes) were installed and evaluated during these first experiments - so the majority of the data were obtained with the rain simulator at 1 m above the water tank. From these initial experiments, three new models were proposed: the square-root function for NCS vs. R, the log Gaussian model for ring-wave elevation frequency spectrum, and the Erland probability density distribution for back scattered power. Rain rate is the main input for these models, although the coefficients may be dependent upon other factors (drop-size distribution, fall velocity, radar configuration, etc.). The facility is functional and we foresee collaborative studies with investigators who are engaged in measuring and modeling rain-sea interaction processes.

  10. Effects of acid rain on grapevines

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Forsline, P.L.; Musselman, R.C.; Dee, R.J.

    1983-01-01

    Mature vineyard-growing Concord grapevines were sprayed with simulated acid rain solutions ranging from pH 2.5 to 5.5 both as acute treatments at anthesis and chronically throughout the season in 1980 and 1981. In 1981, 8 additional varieties were also treated with simulated acid rain solutions at pH 2.75 and 3.25. With Concord in 1981, few foliar lesions on leaves were visible at pH 2.75. In contrast, many leaf lesions with decreased fruit soluble solids were observed at pH 2.5 in 1980. The relationship between acid-rain and oxidant stipple, chlorosis, and soluble solids in the absence of acid rain leaf lesionsmore » at pH>2.5 remains unclear. Acute sprays (pH2.75) at anthesis reduced pollen germination in four grape cultivars. However, fruit set was reduced in only one of these. Grape yields were not influenced by acid rain treatments. There was no evidence that acid-rain at ambient pH levels had negative effects on grape production or fruit quality.« less

  11. Theoretical Analysis of Rain Attenuation Probability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roy, Surendra Kr.; Jha, Santosh Kr.; Jha, Lallan

    2007-07-01

    Satellite communication technologies are now highly developed and high quality, distance-independent services have expanded over a very wide area. As for the system design of the Hokkaido integrated telecommunications(HIT) network, it must first overcome outages of satellite links due to rain attenuation in ka frequency bands. In this paper theoretical analysis of rain attenuation probability on a slant path has been made. The formula proposed is based Weibull distribution and incorporates recent ITU-R recommendations concerning the necessary rain rates and rain heights inputs. The error behaviour of the model was tested with the loading rain attenuation prediction model recommended by ITU-R for large number of experiments at different probability levels. The novel slant path rain attenuastion prediction model compared to the ITU-R one exhibits a similar behaviour at low time percentages and a better root-mean-square error performance for probability levels above 0.02%. The set of presented models exhibits the advantage of implementation with little complexity and is considered useful for educational and back of the envelope computations.

  12. Validating Microwave-Based Satellite Rain Rate Retrievals Over TRMM Ground Validation Sites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fisher, B. L.; Wolff, D. B.

    2008-12-01

    Multi-channel, passive microwave instruments are commonly used today to probe the structure of rain systems and to estimate surface rainfall from space. Until the advent of meteorological satellites and the development of remote sensing techniques for measuring precipitation from space, there was no observational system capable of providing accurate estimates of surface precipitation on global scales. Since the early 1970s, microwave measurements from satellites have provided quantitative estimates of surface rainfall by observing the emission and scattering processes due to the existence of clouds and precipitation in the atmosphere. This study assesses the relative performance of microwave precipitation estimates from seven polar-orbiting satellites and the TRMM TMI using four years (2003-2006) of instantaneous radar rain estimates obtained from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Ground Validation (GV) sites at Kwajalein, Republic of the Marshall Islands (KWAJ) and Melbourne, Florida (MELB). The seven polar orbiters include three different sensor types: SSM/I (F13, F14 and F15), AMSU-B (N15, N16 and N17), and AMSR-E. The TMI aboard the TRMM satellite flies in a sun asynchronous orbit between 35 S and 35 N latitudes. The rain information from these satellites are combined and used to generate several multi-satellite rain products, namely the Goddard TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), NOAA's CPC Morphing Technique (CMORPH) and Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks (PERSIANN). Instantaneous rain rates derived from each sensor were matched to the GV estimates in time and space at a resolution of 0.25 degrees. The study evaluates the measurement and error characteristics of the various satellite estimates through inter-comparisons with GV radar estimates. The GV rain observations provided an empirical ground-based reference for assessing the relative performance of each sensor and sensor

  13. Rain water chemistry in Ankara, Turkey

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tuncel, Semra G.; Ungör, Sevgi

    Samples of rain water were collected in Ankara for the period between September 1989 and May 1990, by using wet-only sampler. Concentrations of major cations (H +, Na + K + Ca 2+ and NH 4+) and major anions (Cl -, NO 3- and SO 42-) were determined for the first time in Turkey. The rain water was not acidic owing to high concentrations of alkaline soil particles in the atmosphere. However, the concentrations of acid forming ions, such as SO 4- and N03, were higher than the concentrations expected in a typical urban atmosphere. Most of the SO 4- in rain water was in the form of CaSO 4. Rain-aerosol coupling were examined by simultaneous sampling of aerosols with rain. The ions most efficiently scavenged from the atmosphere were found to be SO 42- and Ca 2+.

  14. Acid Rain: What It Is -- How You Can Help!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Wildlife Federation, Washington, DC.

    This publication discusses the nature and consequences of acid precipitation (commonly called acid rain). Topic areas include: (1) the chemical nature of acid rain; (2) sources of acid rain; (3) geographic areas where acid rain is a problem; (4) effects of acid rain on lakes; (5) effect of acid rain on vegetation; (6) possible effects of acid rain…

  15. What Is Acid Rain?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Likens, Gene E.

    2004-01-01

    Acid rain is the collective term for any type of acidified precipitation: rain, snow, sleet, and hail, as well as the presence of acidifying gases, particles, cloud water, and fog in the atmosphere. The increased acidity, primarily from sulfuric and nitric acids, is generated as a by-product of the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal and oil.…

  16. Rain Gardens: Stormwater Infiltrating Systems

    EPA Science Inventory

    The hydrological dynamics and changes in stormwater nutrient concentrations within rain gardens were studied by introducing captured stormwater runoff to rain gardens at EPA’s Urban Water Research Facility in Edison, New Jersey. The runoff used in these experiments was collected...

  17. [Soil seed bank formation during early revegetation of areas affected by mining in a tropical rain forest of Chocó, Colombia].

    PubMed

    Valois-Cuesta, Hamleth; Martínez-Ruiz, Carolina; Urrutia-Rivas, Yorley

    2017-03-01

    Mining is one of the main economic activities in many tropical regions and is the cause of devastation of large areas of natural tropical forests. The knowledge of the regenerative potential of mining disturbed areas provides valuable information for their ecological restoration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of age of abandonment of mines and their distance from the adjacent forest, on the formation of soil seed bank in abandoned mines in the San Juan, Chocó, Colombia. To do this, we determined the abundance and species composition of the soil seed bank, and the dynamics of seed rain in mines of different cessation period of mining activity (6 and 15 years), and at different distances from the adjacent forest matrix (50 and 100 m). Seed rain was composed by five species of plants with anemocorous dispersion, and was more abundant in the mine of 6 years than in the mine of 15 years. There were no significant differences in the number of seeds collected at 50 m and 100 m from the adjacent forest. The soil seed bank was represented by eight species: two with anemocorous dispersion (common among the seed rain species) and the rest with zoochorous dispersion. The abundance of seeds in the soil did not vary with the age of the mine, but was higher at close distances to the forest edge than far away. During the early revegetation, the formation of the soil seed bank in the mines seems to be related to their proximity to other disturbed areas, rather than their proximity to the adjacent forest or the cessation activity period of mines. Therefore, the establishment of artificial perches or the maintenance of isolated trees in the abandoned mines could favour the arrival of bird-dispersed seeds at mines. However, since the soil seed bank can be significantly affected by the high rainfall in the study area, more studies are needed to evaluate management actions to encourage soil seed bank formation in mines of high-rainfall environments in the Choc

  18. Incremental amounts of Ascophyllum nodosum meal do not improve animal performance but increase milk iodine output in early lactation dairy cows fed high-forage diets

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of incremental amounts of Ascophyllum nodosum meal (ANOD) on milk production, milk composition including fatty acids and I, blood metabolites, and nutrient intake and digestibility in early lactation dairy cows fed high-forage diets. Twelve ...

  19. Rain Drop Charge Sensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    S, Sreekanth T.

    begin{center} Large Large Rain Drop Charge Sensor Sreekanth T S*, Suby Symon*, G. Mohan Kumar (1) , S. Murali Das (2) *Atmospheric Sciences Division, Centre for Earth Science Studies, Thiruvananthapuram 695011 (1) D-330, Swathi Nagar, West Fort, Thiruvananthapuram 695023 (2) Kavyam, Manacaud, Thiruvananthapuram 695009 begin{center} ABSTRACT To study the inter-relations with precipitation electricity and precipitation microphysical parameters a rain drop charge sensor was designed and developed at CESS Electronics & Instrumentation Laboratory. Simultaneous measurement of electric charge and fall speed of rain drops could be done using this charge sensor. A cylindrical metal tube (sensor tube) of 30 cm length is placed inside another thick metal cover opened at top and bottom for electromagnetic shielding. Mouth of the sensor tube is exposed and bottom part is covered with metal net in the shielding cover. The instrument is designed in such a way that rain drops can pass only through unhindered inside the sensor tube. When electrically charged rain drops pass through the sensor tube, it is charged to the same magnitude of drop charge but with opposite polarity. The sensor tube is electrically connected the inverted input of a current to voltage converter operational amplifier using op-amp AD549. Since the sensor is electrically connected to the virtual ground of the op-amp, the charge flows to the ground and the generated current is converted to amplified voltage. This output voltage is recorded using a high frequency (1kHz) voltage recorder. From the recorded pulse, charge magnitude, polarity and fall speed of rain drop are calculated. From the fall speed drop diameter also can be calculated. The prototype is now under test running at CESS campus. As the magnitude of charge in rain drops is an indication of accumulated charge in clouds in lightning, this instrument has potential application in the field of risk and disaster management. By knowing the charge

  20. Acid rain, air pollution, and tree growth in southeastern New York

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Puckett, L.J.

    1982-01-01

    Whether dendroecological analyses could be used to detect changes in the relationship of tree growth to climate that might have resulted from chronic exposure to components of the acid rain-air pollution complex was determined. Tree-ring indices of white pine (Pinus strobus L.), eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Cart.), pitch pine (Pinus rigida Mill.), and chestnut oak (Quercus prinus L.) were regressed against orthogonally transformed values of temperature and precipitation in order to derive a response-function relationship. Results of the regression analyses for three time periods, 1901–1920, 1926–1945, and 1954–1973 suggest that the relationship of tree growth to climate has been altered. Statistical tests of the temperature and precipitation data suggest that this change was nonclimatic. Temporally, the shift in growth response appears to correspond with the suspected increase in acid rain and air pollution in the Shawangunk Mountain area of southeastern New York in the early 1950's. This change could be the result of physiological stress induced by components of the acid rain-air pollution complex, causing climatic conditions to be more limiting to tree growth.

  1. Comparative Analysis of Nitrate Levels in Pensacola Area Rain Water

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jacobs, J.; Caffrey, J. M.; Maestre, A.; Landing, W. M.

    2017-12-01

    Nitrate is an important constituent of acid rain and often correlated with atmospheric NOx levels. This link between air and water quality was tested over a course of summer 2017 and compared to data from 2005-2012. Rain water samples collected from late May through early July of 2017 were tested for pH and nitrate concentrations. These months were among the stormiest on record for the Northwest Florida region with a total rainfall of 648 mm. The data analyzed from these rain events was compared to previous data to show the trends of nitrate and pH levels in the rainwater. Median pH for this study was 5.2, higher than the medians between 2015-2012 which ranged from 4.2 to 5.0, while nitrate concentrations for this study were 15.2 µM. This contrasts with a significant drop in nitrate concentrations from 41 µM in 2005 and 2006 to around 12 µM between 2007 and 2012. The drop between 2006-7 was suspected to be a result of implementation of NOx controls at Plant Crist coal fired power plant and other Clean Air Act requirements. These inputs of nitrate and H+ ions from rainwater can have a significant influence water quality throughout the region.

  2. Morphological and molecular analysis calls for a reappraisal of the red rain cells of Kerala.

    PubMed

    Gangappa, Rajkumar; Burchell, Mark J; Hogg, Stuart I

    2014-02-01

    Early studies on the coloured particles that fell as red rain over southern India identified them as unicellular eukaryotes such as members of the red algae or fungi; however, the results of the present investigation are not consistent with this designation. Using transmission electron microscopy, we have demonstrated significant differences in the ultrastructure when compared with representative species from these other groups. Most notably, the red rain cells show no evidence of typical eukaryotic internal structures such as mitochondria or endoplasmic reticulum. Furthermore, comparisons based on elemental composition using energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, as well as Raman spectral signatures demonstrate significant dissimilarities in their molecular composition. The identity and origins of the red rain cells remain an enigma; however, our findings are more consistent with an unidentified prokaryote, and thus suggest that previous attempts at their identification should be reappraised.

  3. Acid Rain: What's the Forecast?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bybee, Rodger

    1984-01-01

    Discusses various types of acid rain, considered to be a century-old problem. Topics include: wet and dry deposition, effects on a variety of environments, ecosystems subject to detrimental effects, and possible solutions to the problem. A list of recommended resources on acid rain is provided. (BC)

  4. Rain sampling device

    DOEpatents

    Nelson, Danny A.; Tomich, Stanley D.; Glover, Donald W.; Allen, Errol V.; Hales, Jeremy M.; Dana, Marshall T.

    1991-01-01

    The present invention constitutes a rain sampling device adapted for independent operation at locations remote from the user which allows rainfall to be sampled in accordance with any schedule desired by the user. The rain sampling device includes a mechanism for directing wet precipitation into a chamber, a chamber for temporarily holding the precipitation during the process of collection, a valve mechanism for controllably releasing samples of said precipitation from said chamber, a means for distributing the samples released from the holding chamber into vessels adapted for permanently retaining these samples, and an electrical mechanism for regulating the operation of the device.

  5. Growth and body composition of human milk-fed premature infants provided with extra energy and nutrients early after hospital discharge: 1-year follow-up.

    PubMed

    Aimone, Ashley; Rovet, Joanne; Ward, Wendy; Jefferies, Ann; Campbell, Douglas M; Asztalos, Elizabeth; Feldman, Mark; Vaughan, Jennifer; Westall, Carol; Whyte, Hilary; O'Connor, Deborah L

    2009-10-01

    Human milk (HM) is the optimal source of nutrition for premature infants; however, it is unclear whether HM alone is sufficient to meet their elevated nutritional requirements early after hospital discharge. We previously reported that premature infants (750-1800 g birth weight) fed HM containing extra nutrients for 12 weeks after discharge had dietary intakes closer to recommended levels and grew more rapidly than those fed HM alone. The objectives of the present article are to examine the impact of this intervention on bone mineralization, body composition, and HM use up to 1 year. Data are also presented on general developmental level at 18-month corrected age (CA). At discharge, predominantly HM-fed infants were randomized to receive for 12 weeks either approximately half of their feedings containing a multinutrient fortifier (intervention, n=19) or all of their feedings as HM alone (control, n=20). Intervention infants remained longer (P<0.001) and had greater whole-body bone mineral content (P=0.02) until 12-month CA compared with controls. Intervention infants born less than or equal to 1250 g continued to have a larger mean head circumference throughout the first year of life (P<0.0001). Human milk feeding (mL.kg(-1).day(-1)) differed between groups at 6- (P=0.035), but not 12-month CA. No statistically significant differences were found between groups in the mental, motor, or behavior rating scale scores of the Bayley II at 18-month CA. Adding a multinutrient fortifier to HM provided to predominantly HM-fed premature infants early after discharge results in sustained differences in weight, length, and whole-body bone mineral content, and in smaller babies, head circumference for the first year of life.

  6. Acid Rain: An Educational Opportunity?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marion, James I.

    1984-01-01

    Deals with how educators can handle the subject of acid rain; illustrates suggestions with experiences of grade nine students visiting Frost Valley Environmental Education Center (Oliverea, New York) to learn scientific concepts through observation of outdoor phenomena, including a stream; and discusses acid rain, pH levels, and pollution control…

  7. An Umbrella for Acid Rain.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Randal, Judith

    1979-01-01

    The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded several grants to study effects of and possible solutions to the problem of "acid rain"; pollution from atmospheric nitric and sulfuric acids. The research program is administered through North Carolina State University at Raleigh and will focus on biological effects of acid rain. (JMF)

  8. Create a Rain Forest in the Gym.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kane, Karen

    1995-01-01

    Describes a creative interdisciplinary program for K-3 students that involves setting up a rain forest in the gymnasium to teach students gymnastic skills in the context of the Amazon rain forest. The paper describes how to set up the rain forest and teach a variety of classes. Rainforest resources are included. (SM)

  9. Acid rain and its ecological consequences.

    PubMed

    Singh, Anita; Agrawal, Madhoolika

    2008-01-01

    Acidification of rain-water is identified as one of the most serious environmental problems of transboundary nature. Acid rain is mainly a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids depending upon the relative quantities of oxides of sulphur and nitrogen emissions. Due to the interaction of these acids with other constituents of the atmosphere, protons are released causing increase in the soil acidity Lowering of soil pH mobilizes and leaches away nutrient cations and increases availability of toxic heavy metals. Such changes in the soil chemical characteristics reduce the soil fertility which ultimately causes the negative impact on growth and productivity of forest trees and crop plants. Acidification of water bodies causes large scale negative impact on aquatic organisms including fishes. Acidification has some indirect effects on human health also. Acid rain affects each and every components of ecosystem. Acid rain also damages man-made materials and structures. By reducing the emission of the precursors of acid rain and to some extent by liming, the problem of acidification of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem has been reduced during last two decades.

  10. Multidimensional Modeling of Coronal Rain Dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fang, X.; Xia, C.; Keppens, R.

    2013-07-01

    We present the first multidimensional, magnetohydrodynamic simulations that capture the initial formation and long-term sustainment of the enigmatic coronal rain phenomenon. We demonstrate how thermal instability can induce a spectacular display of in situ forming blob-like condensations which then start their intimate ballet on top of initially linear force-free arcades. Our magnetic arcades host a chromospheric, transition region, and coronal plasma. Following coronal rain dynamics for over 80 minutes of physical time, we collect enough statistics to quantify blob widths, lengths, velocity distributions, and other characteristics which directly match modern observational knowledge. Our virtual coronal rain displays the deformation of blobs into V-shaped features, interactions of blobs due to mostly pressure-mediated levitations, and gives the first views of blobs that evaporate in situ or are siphoned over the apex of the background arcade. Our simulations pave the way for systematic surveys of coronal rain showers in true multidimensional settings to connect parameterized heating prescriptions with rain statistics, ultimately allowing us to quantify the coronal heating input.

  11. Influence of simulated acidic rain on root-infecting fungi

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Shafer, S.R.

    1983-01-01

    Influences of the acidity of simulated rain on root-infecting fungi were investigated. Effects of rain acidity on Phytophthora cinnamomi were studied. Propagule densities in soil depended upon the acidity (pH 5.6, 4.0, 3.2, or 2.4) of simulated rain and soil depth (1, 2, 4, or 8 cm). Lowest densities occurred in 1 to 2 cm soil layers exposed to rains at pH 3.2 or 2.4. Sporangium production on radicles of Lupinus angustifolius in Lakeland sand moistened with rain solution at pH 2.4 was 47% less than production with solution at pH 5.6. A linear response to solution acidity was exhibited.more » Infection of L. angustifolius roots by zoospores demonstrated a linear response to acidity of rain. Approximately 44% fewer lesions occurred on roots of seedlings exposed to rain at pH 2.4 than on roots of seedlings exposed to rain at pH 5.6. The acidity (pH 5.6, 4.0, 3.2, or 2.4) of repeated rains had no consistent effect on disease progress among L. augustifolius seedlings planted in infested soil. The formation of ectomycorrhizae on Pinus taeda seedlings exhibited a quadratic response to acidity of repeated rains. The percentage of short roots that were ectomycorrhizal was greatest among seedlings exposed to rains at pH 2.4 and least among seedlings exposed to rains at pH 4.0. The density of Macrophomina phaseolina propagules in Lakeland sand exposed to repeated rains at pH 2.4 was an average of 20% less than densities associated with rains at pH 5.6, 4.0, or 3.2.« less

  12. Acid Rain: The Scientific Challenge.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Godfrey, Paul J.

    1991-01-01

    Documents the workings and findings of the Massachusetts Acid Rain Monitoring Project, which has pooled the volunteer efforts of more than 1,000 amateur and professional scientists since 1983. Reports on the origins of air pollution, the prediction of acid rain, and its effects on both water life and land resources. (JJK)

  13. Role of lake regulation on glacier fed rivers in enhancing salmon productivity: The Cook Inlet watershed south central Alaska, USA

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hupp, C.R.

    2000-01-01

    Rivers fed by glaciers constitute a major part of the freshwater runoff into the Cook Inlet basin of south-central Alaska. This basin is very important to the economy of the State of Alaska because it is home to more than half of the population and it supports multi-million dollar commercial, subsistence and sport fisheries. Hence an understanding of how glacial runoff influences biological productivity is important for managing rivers that drain into Cook Inlet. This paper examines the ways in which the regulation of glacier-fed rivers by proglacial lakes affects salmon productivity, with particular reference to the Kenai River. Salmon escapement per unit channel length on the Kenai River is between two and ten times that found for rain-and-snowmelt dominated rivers and glacier-fed rivers lacking lake regulation. Lakes are shown to influence biological processes in glacier-fed rivers by attenuating peak flows, sustaining high flows throughout the summer, supplementing winter low flows, settling suspended sediment, and increasing river temperatures. Downstream from large lakes, glacier-fed rivers are less disturbed, channels are relatively stable and have well-developed salmonid habitats. The positive influences are indicated by the high diversity and abundances of benthic macroinvertebrates, which are important food resources for juvenile salmonids. High summer flows allow access for up-river salmon runs and lakes also provide both overwintering and rearing habitat. Copyright ?? 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Rivers fed by glaciers constitute a major part of the freshwater runoff into the Cook Inlet basin of south-central Alaska. This basin is very important to the economy of the State of Alaska because it is home to more than half of the population and it supports multi-million dollar commercial, subsistence and sport fisheries. Hence an understanding of how glacial runoff influences biological productivity is important for managing rivers that drain into Cook Inlet

  14. Amazon rain-forest fires.

    PubMed

    Sanford, R L; Saldarriaga, J; Clark, K E; Uhl, C; Herrera, R

    1985-01-04

    Charcoal is common in the soils of mature rain forests within 75 kilometers of San Carlos de Rio Negro in the north central Amazon Basin. Carbon-14 dates of soil charcoal from this region indicate that numerous fires have occurred since the mid-Holocene epoch. Charcoal is most common in tierra firme forest Oxisols and Ultisols and less common in caatinga and igapo forest soils. Climatic changes or human activities, or both, have caused rain-forest fires.

  15. Acid Rain: The Silent Environmental Threat.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zmud, Mia

    1992-01-01

    Describes the silent environmental threat posed by acid rain. Caused mainly by manmade pollutants, acid rain damages water and trees, decreases visibility, corrodes monuments, and threatens public health. The article includes guidelines for action. (SM)

  16. Rain sampling device

    DOEpatents

    Nelson, D.A.; Tomich, S.D.; Glover, D.W.; Allen, E.V.; Hales, J.M.; Dana, M.T.

    1991-05-14

    The present invention constitutes a rain sampling device adapted for independent operation at locations remote from the user which allows rainfall to be sampled in accordance with any schedule desired by the user. The rain sampling device includes a mechanism for directing wet precipitation into a chamber, a chamber for temporarily holding the precipitation during the process of collection, a valve mechanism for controllably releasing samples of the precipitation from the chamber, a means for distributing the samples released from the holding chamber into vessels adapted for permanently retaining these samples, and an electrical mechanism for regulating the operation of the device. 11 figures.

  17. A Demonstration of Acid Rain

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fong, Man Wai

    2004-01-01

    A demonstration showing acid rain formation is described. Oxides of sulfur and nitrogen that result from the burning of fossil fuels are the major pollutants of acid rain. In this demonstration, SO[subscript 2] gas is produced by the burning of matches. An acid-base indicator will show that the dissolved gas turns an aqueous solution acidic.

  18. Nature in the Classroom: Acid Rain.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Doyle, Charles

    1982-01-01

    As a lesson topic, acid rain is defined, its chemistry given, and its development since the 1950s described. The worldwide effects of acid rain are discussed along with the available technology for controlling the problem. (CM)

  19. Effects of acid rain on grapevines

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Forsline, P.L.; Musselman, R.C.; Dee, R.J.

    1983-01-01

    Mature vineyard-growing Concord grapevines (Vitis labrusca, Bailey) were sprayed with simulated acid rain solutions ranging from pH 2.5 to pH 5.5 both as acute treatments at anthesis and chronically throughout the season in 1980 and 1981. In 1981, eight additional varieties were also treated with simulated acid rain solutions at pH 2.75 and pH 3.25. With Concord in 1981, few foliar lesions on leaves were visible at pH 2.75. In contrast, many leaf lesions with decreased fruit soluble solids in the absence of acid rain leaf lesions at pH>2.5 remains unclear. Acute sprays (pH 2.75) at anthesis reduced pollen germinationmore » in four grape cultivars. However, fruit set was reduced in only one of these. Only the cultivars de Chaunac and Ives had reduced berry soluble solids with chronic weekly sprays at pH 2.75. Reduction in soluble solids was not associated with increased oxidant stipple (ozone injury) in Concord and de Chaunac cultivars, but this association was observed in Ives. There was no evidence that acid rain in combination with ozone increased oxidant stipple as occurs when ozone and SO/sub 2/ are combined. Grape yields were not influenced by acid rain treatments. There was no evidence that acid rain at ambient pH levels had negative effects on grape production or fruit quality.« less

  20. Optical Rain Gauge Performance: Second Workshop on Optical Rain Gauge Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Short, David A. (Editor); Thiele, Otto W. (Editor); Mcphaden, Michael J. (Editor)

    1994-01-01

    The primary focus of the workshop was on the performance and reliability of STi mini-Optical Rain Gauges in a number of environments, including deployments on ships and buoys in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean during the TOGA/COARE field experiment, deployments on buoys in U.S. coastal waters, and comparisons with other types of rain gauges on the Virginia coast and in Florida. The workshop was attended by 20 investigators, representing 10 different institutions, who gathered to present new results obtained since the first workshop (April 1993), to discuss problems, to consider solutions, and to chart future directions. Post-TOGA/COARE calibration studies were also presented.

  1. Wind scatterometry with improved ambiguity selection and rain modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Draper, David Willis

    Although generally accurate, the quality of SeaWinds on QuikSCAT scatterometer ocean vector winds is compromised by certain natural phenomena and retrieval algorithm limitations. This dissertation addresses three main contributors to scatterometer estimate error: poor ambiguity selection, estimate uncertainty at low wind speeds, and rain corruption. A quality assurance (QA) analysis performed on SeaWinds data suggests that about 5% of SeaWinds data contain ambiguity selection errors and that scatterometer estimation error is correlated with low wind speeds and rain events. Ambiguity selection errors are partly due to the "nudging" step (initialization from outside data). A sophisticated new non-nudging ambiguity selection approach produces generally more consistent wind than the nudging method in moderate wind conditions. The non-nudging method selects 93% of the same ambiguities as the nudged data, validating both techniques, and indicating that ambiguity selection can be accomplished without nudging. Variability at low wind speeds is analyzed using tower-mounted scatterometer data. According to theory, below a threshold wind speed, the wind fails to generate the surface roughness necessary for wind measurement. A simple analysis suggests the existence of the threshold in much of the tower-mounted scatterometer data. However, the backscatter does not "go to zero" beneath the threshold in an uncontrolled environment as theory suggests, but rather has a mean drop and higher variability below the threshold. Rain is the largest weather-related contributor to scatterometer error, affecting approximately 4% to 10% of SeaWinds data. A simple model formed via comparison of co-located TRMM PR and SeaWinds measurements characterizes the average effect of rain on SeaWinds backscatter. The model is generally accurate to within 3 dB over the tropics. The rain/wind backscatter model is used to simultaneously retrieve wind and rain from SeaWinds measurements. The simultaneous

  2. Scale Dependence of Spatiotemporal Intermittence of Rain

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kundu, Prasun K.; Siddani, Ravi K.

    2011-01-01

    It is a common experience that rainfall is intermittent in space and time. This is reflected by the fact that the statistics of area- and/or time-averaged rain rate is described by a mixed distribution with a nonzero probability of having a sharp value zero. In this paper we have explored the dependence of the probability of zero rain on the averaging space and time scales in large multiyear data sets based on radar and rain gauge observations. A stretched exponential fannula fits the observed scale dependence of the zero-rain probability. The proposed formula makes it apparent that the space-time support of the rain field is not quite a set of measure zero as is sometimes supposed. We also give an ex.planation of the observed behavior in tenus of a simple probabilistic model based on the premise that rainfall process has an intrinsic memory.

  3. Acid Rain: Activities for Science Teachers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Eric; And Others

    1983-01-01

    Seven complete secondary/college level acid rain activities are provided. Activities include overview; background information and societal implications; major concepts; student objectives; vocabulary/material lists; procedures; instructional strategies; and questions/discussion and extension suggestions. Activities consider effects of acid rain on…

  4. Acid rain stimulation of Lake Michigan phytoplankton growth

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Manny, Bruce A.; Fahnenstiel, G.L.; Gardner, W.S.

    1987-01-01

    Three laboratory experiments demonstrated that additions of rainwater to epilimnetic lake water collected in southeastern Lake Michigan stimulated chlorophyll a production more than did additions of reagent-grade water during incubations of 12 to 20 d. Chlorophyll a production did not begin until 3–5 d after the rain and lake water were mixed. The stimulation caused by additions of rain acidified to pH 3.0 was greater than that caused by additions of untreated rain (pH 4.0–4.5). Our results support the following hypotheses: (1) Acid rain stimulates the growth of phytoplankton in lake water; (2) phosphorus in rain appears to be the factor causing this stimulation. We conclude that acid rain may accelerate the growth of epilimnetic phytoplankton in Lake Michigan (and other similar lakes) during stratification when other sources of bioavailable phosphorus to the epilimnion are limited

  5. Coronal rain in magnetic bipolar weak fields

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xia, C.; Keppens, R.; Fang, X.

    2017-07-01

    Aims: We intend to investigate the underlying physics for the coronal rain phenomenon in a representative bipolar magnetic field, including the formation and the dynamics of coronal rain blobs. Methods: With the MPI-AMRVAC code, we performed three dimensional radiative magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation with strong heating localized on footpoints of magnetic loops after a relaxation to quiet solar atmosphere. Results: Progressive cooling and in-situ condensation starts at the loop top due to radiative thermal instability. The first large-scale condensation on the loop top suffers Rayleigh-Taylor instability and becomes fragmented into smaller blobs. The blobs fall vertically dragging magnetic loops until they reach low-β regions and start to fall along the loops from loop top to loop footpoints. A statistic study of the coronal rain blobs finds that small blobs with masses of less than 1010 g dominate the population. When blobs fall to lower regions along the magnetic loops, they are stretched and develop a non-uniform velocity pattern with an anti-parallel shearing pattern seen to develop along the central axis of the blobs. Synthetic images of simulated coronal rain with Solar Dynamics Observatory Atmospheric Imaging Assembly well resemble real observations presenting dark falling clumps in hot channels and bright rain blobs in a cool channel. We also find density inhomogeneities during a coronal rain "shower", which reflects the observed multi-stranded nature of coronal rain. Movies associated to Figs. 3 and 7 are available at http://www.aanda.org

  6. The Effects of Rain Garden Size on Performance

    EPA Science Inventory

    The presentation discusses the effect of rain garden size on the hydrologic and pollutant removal performance of rain garden systems. The slides will summarize data from both the full-scale rain garden project associated with the permeable pavement parking lot as well as the pilo...

  7. The development and adaption of early agriculture in Huanghe River Valley, China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, X.

    2017-12-01

    The expanding and developing of agriculture are the basic of population growth, the expansions of material cultures and civilization. The Huanghe River valley, as the origin center of millet agriculture, lies between the heartlands of wheat and rice, which gestates the flourishing Neolithic culture based on agriculture. Recent work using botanical remains has greatly expanded the knowledge concerning early agriculture. Here, we report the new progress on the development and adaption of early agriculture in Huanghe River valley and the surrounding areas. Based on the analysis of phytolith from 13 sites in middle reaches of Huanghe River and the survey of crop seeds from 5 sites in Guanzhong Basin, the rice have been cultivated around 7600 cal BP in semi-humid regions dominated by rain-fed agriculture. The mixed agriculture of common millet, foxtail millet, and rice continued to exist between 7600-3500 BP. In semi-arid region of Huanghe River valley, the agriculture was dominated by the production of common and foxtail millet and 3 major changes have taken place around 6500 BP, 5500 BP, and 4000 BP during Neolithic. The cultivating ratio of common and foxtail millet was adjusted by farmer for adapting the climate changes during Holocene. Approximately 5000 yr BP, the rain-fed agriculture continues to break geographical boundaries to expand to west and southwest from Huanghe River valley. Millet agriculture appeared in southern Ganshu and north eastern Tibetan Plateau. The common and foxtail millet spread to the arid-area of Hexi corridor, a major crossroad of the famous Silk Road, around 4500 yr BP. Wheat was added as a new crop to the existing millet based agricultural systems around 4100-4000 cal yr BP in Hexi corridor. Between 3800 and 3400 cal yr BP, the proportion of wheat and barley in agriculture was up to 90%,which have replaced the local millet and become the main crops. And now, some new evidences of wheat agriculture from NW Xijiang have been obtained and

  8. GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE RESEARCH PROGRAM: Rain Gardens

    EPA Science Inventory

    the National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) rain garden evaluation is part of a larger collection of long-term research that evaluates a variety of stormwater management practices. The U.S. EPA recognizes the potential of rain gardens as a green infrastructure manag...

  9. Rain attenuation measurements: Variability and data quality assessment

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Crane, Robert K.

    1989-01-01

    Year to year variations in the cumulative distributions of rain rate or rain attenuation are evident in any of the published measurements for a single propagation path that span a period of several years of observation. These variations must be described by models for the prediction of rain attenuation statistics. Now that a large measurement data base has been assembled by the International Radio Consultative Committee, the information needed to assess variability is available. On the basis of 252 sample cumulative distribution functions for the occurrence of attenuation by rain, the expected year to year variation in attenuation at a fixed probability level in the 0.1 to 0.001 percent of a year range is estimated to be 27 percent. The expected deviation from an attenuation model prediction for a single year of observations is estimated to exceed 33 percent when any of the available global rain climate model are employed to estimate the rain rate statistics. The probability distribution for the variation in attenuation or rain rate at a fixed fraction of a year is lognormal. The lognormal behavior of the variate was used to compile the statistics for variability.

  10. Pyrite oxidation under simulated acid rain weathering conditions.

    PubMed

    Zheng, Kai; Li, Heping; Wang, Luying; Wen, Xiaoying; Liu, Qingyou

    2017-09-01

    We investigated the electrochemical corrosion behavior of pyrite in simulated acid rain with different acidities and at different temperatures. The cyclic voltammetry, polarization curve, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results showed that pyrite has the same electrochemical interaction mechanism under different simulated acid rain conditions, regardless of acidity or environmental temperature. Either stronger acid rain acidity or higher environmental temperature can accelerate pyrite corrosion. Compared with acid rain having a pH of 5.6 at 25 °C, the prompt efficiency of pyrite weathering reached 104.29% as the acid rain pH decreased to 3.6, and it reached 125.31% as environmental temperature increased to 45 °C. Increasing acidity dramatically decreases the charge transfer resistance, and increasing temperature dramatically decreases the passivation film resistance, when other conditions are held constant. Acid rain always causes lower acidity mine drainage, and stronger acidity or high environmental temperatures cause serious acid drainage. The natural parameters of latitude, elevation, and season have considerable influence on pyrite weathering, because temperature is an important influencing factor. These experimental results are of direct significance for the assessment and management of sulfide mineral acid drainage in regions receiving acid rain.

  11. The Effect of Rain on Air-Water Gas Exchange

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ho, David T.; Bliven, Larry F.; Wanninkhof, Rik; Schlosser, Peter

    1997-01-01

    The relationship between gas transfer velocity and rain rate was investigated at NASA's Rain-Sea Interaction Facility (RSIF) using several SF, evasion experiments. During each experiment, a water tank below the rain simulator was supersaturated with SF6, a synthetic gas, and the gas transfer velocities were calculated from the measured decrease in SF6 concentration with time. The results from experiments with IS different rain rates (7 to 10 mm/h) and 1 of 2 drop sizes (2.8 or 4.2 mm diameter) confirm a significant and systematic enhancement of air-water gas exchange by rainfall. The gas transfer velocities derived from our experiment were related to the kinetic energy flux calculated from the rain rate and drop size. The relationship obtained for mono-dropsize rain at the RSIF was extrapolated to natural rain using the kinetic energy flux of natural rain calculated from the Marshall-Palmer raindrop size distribution. Results of laboratory experiments at RSIF were compared to field observations made during a tropical rainstorm in Miami, Florida and show good agreement between laboratory and field data.

  12. Rain gauge calibration and testing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wilkerson, John

    1994-01-01

    Prior to the Tropical Oceans Global Atmosphere-Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA-COARE), 42 Model 100 series optical gauges were tested in the rain simulator facility at Wallops Island before shipment to the field. Baseline measurements at several rain rates were made simultaneously with collector cans, tipping bucket, and a precision weighing gauge and held for post-COARE evaluation with a repeat set of measurements that were to be recorded after the instruments were returned. This was done as a means of detecting any calibration changes that might have occurred while deployed. Although it was known that the artificial rain in the simulator did not contain the required exponential distribution for accurate optical rain gauge rate measurements, use of the facility was necessary because it was the only means available for taking controlled observations with instruments that were received, tested, and shipped out in groups over a period of months. At that point, it was believed that these measurements would be adequately precise for detecting performance changes over time. However, analysis of the data by STI now indicates that this may not be true. Further study of the data will be undertaken to resolve this.

  13. Canada issues booklet describing acid rain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    A booklet recently released by Environment Canada describes acid rain in terms easily understood by the general public. Although Acid Rain — The Facts tends somewhat to give the Canadian side of this intercountry controversial subject, it nevertheless presents some very interesting, simple statistics of interest to people in either the U.S. or Canada. Copies of the booklet can be obtained from Inquiry Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A OH3, Canada, tel. 613-997-2800.The booklet points out that acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Once released into the atmosphere, these substances can be carried long distances by prevailing winds and return to Earth as acidic rain, snow, fog, or dust. The main sources of SO2 emissions in North America are coal-fired power generating stations and nonferrous ore smelters. The main sources of NOx emissions are vehicles and fuel combustion. From economical and environmental viewpoints, Canada believes acid rain is one of the most serious problems presently facing the country: increasing the acidity of more than 20% of Canada's 300,000 lakes to the point that aquatic life is depleted and acidity of soil water and shallow groundwater is increasing, causing decline in forest growth and water fowl populations, and eating away at buildings and monuments. Acid rain is endangering fisheries, tourism, agriculture, and forest resources in an area of 2.6 million km2 (one million square miles) of eastern Canada, about 8% of Canada's gross national product.

  14. Rain Hampers Tsunami Relief Efforts

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2005-01-01

    The cleanup and relief efforts from the recent tsunamis continue in coastal communities that were ravaged by the waves all across the Indian Ocean. Heavy rains have further complicated the matter and added to the misery in parts of eastern Sri Lanka. Between December 28, 2004, and January 5, 2005, up to 10 to 15 inches of rain may have fallen along the southeast coast of the island, and as much as 20 inches (red areas) fell just offshore. This rainfall map was created by the TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, which monitors rainfall over the global tropics. The map shows that many other regions around the Indian Ocean were also affected by the rains, including Malaysia and parts of Sumatra. The heaviest rains fell on December 31 and January 4. The rains were likely the result of a combination of the northeast monsoon interacting with the topography and an active phase of what is known as the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) (or 30-60 day oscillation). The MJO is a large-scale disturbance that propagates eastward from the Indian Ocean into the West Pacific Ocean, bringing extended periods of unsettled weather with it. Individual convective complexes within the MJO can last on the order of a day. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. NASA image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).

  15. The mixing of rain with near-surface water

    Treesearch

    Dennis F. Houk

    1976-01-01

    Rain experiments were run with various temperature differences between the warm rain and the cool receiving water. The rain intensities were uniform and the raindrop sizes were usually uniform (2.2 mm, 3.6 mm, and 5.5 mm diameter drops). Two drop size distributions were also used.

  16. Rain-induced spring wheat harvest losses

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bauer, A.; Black, A. L. (Principal Investigator)

    1983-01-01

    When rain or a combination of rain and high humidity delay wheat harvest, losses can occur in grain yield and/or grain quality. Yield losses can result from shattering, from reduction in test weight, and in the case of windrowed grain, from rooting of sprouting grain at the soil: windrow contact. Losses in grain quality can result from reduction in test weight and from sprouting. Sprouting causes a degradation of grain proteins and starches, hence flour quality is reduced, and the grain price deteriorates to the value of feed grain. Although losses in grain yield and quality are rain-induced, these losses do not necessarily occur because a standing or windrowed crop is wetted by rain. Spike water concentration in hard red spring wheat must be increased to about 45-49% before sprouting is initiated in grain that has overcome dormancy. The time required to overcome this dormancy after the cultivar has dried to 12 to 14% water concentration differs with hard red spring cultivars. The effect of rain on threshing-ready standing and windrowed hard red spring wheat grain yeild and quality was evaluated. A goal was to develop the capability to forecast the extent of expected loss of grain yield and quality from specific climatic events that delay threshing.

  17. Rain garden guidelines for southwest Ohio

    EPA Science Inventory

    Rain gardens are a unique and practical landscape feature that can enhance the beauty of home gardens. When properly installed, they are one method of limiting the negative effects of rainfall runoff in urban areas. Indeed, rain gardens turn a "negative" into a "positive" by capt...

  18. Evaluation of SEVIRI-Derived Rain Rates and Accumulated Rainfall with TRMM-TMI and Rain Gauge Data over West-Africa

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wolters, E. L. A.; Roebeling, R. A.; Stammes, P.; Wang, P.; Ali, A.; Brissebrat, G.

    2009-11-01

    Clouds are of paramount importance to the hydrological cycle, as they influence the surface energy balance, thereby constraining the amount of energy available for evaporation, and their contribution through precipitation. Especially in regions where water availability is critical, such as in West-Africa, accurate determination of various terms of the hydrological cycle is warranted. At the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), an algorithm to retrieve Cloud Physical Properties (CPP) from mainly visible and near-infrared spectral channel radiances from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) onboard Meteosat-8 and -9 has been developed. Recently, this algorithm as been extended with a rain rate retrieval method. Evaluation of this geophysical quantity has been done with rain radar data over the Netherlands. This paper presents the first results of this rain rate retrieval over West-Africa for June 2006. In addition, the added value of the high temporal and spatial resolution of the SEVIRI instrument is shown. Over land, retrievals are compared with rain gauge observations performed during the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (AMMA) project and with a kriged dataset of the Comite Inter-Estate pour la Lutte contre la Secheresse au Sahel (CILSS) rain gauge network, whereas rain rate retrievals over ocean are evaluated using Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) data.

  19. Rain erosion considerations for launch vehicle insulation systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Daniels, D. J.; Sieker, W. D.

    1977-01-01

    In recent years the Delta launch vehicle has incorporated the capability to be launched through rain. This capability was developed to eliminate a design constraint which could result in a costly launch delay. This paper presents the methodology developed to implement rain erosion protection for the insulated exterior vehicle surfaces. The effect of the interaction between insulation material rain erosion resistance, rainstorm models, surface geometry and trajectory variations is examined. It is concluded that rain erosion can significantly impact the performance of launch vehicle insulation systems and should be considered in their design.

  20. The potential influence of rain on airfoil performance

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dunham, R. Earl, Jr.

    1987-01-01

    The potential influence of heavy rain on airfoil performance is discussed. Experimental methods for evaluating rain effects are reviewed. Important scaling considerations for extrapolating model data are presented. It is shown that considerable additional effort, both analytical and experimental, is necessary to understand the degree of hazard associated with flight operations in rain.

  1. An increase of early rains in southern Israel following land-use change?

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Otterman, J.; Starr, D. O'C.; Manes, A.; Rubin, S.; Alpert, P.

    1990-01-01

    Rains at the onset of the October-April rainy season in southern Israel have steeply increased in the last 25 years relative to the previous 20 years, and are accompanied by an appreciable general increase of rainy-season rainfall. This increase in precipitation is specifically attributable to an intensification of the convection and advection processes due to afforestation and increased cultivation-induced enhancement of the daytime sensible heat flux from the generally dry surface; the enhancement proceeds from both the reduced surface albedo and the reduced soil heat flux in October, when insolation is strong. Greater daytime convection can lead to penetration of inversions capping the planetary boundary layer, while strengthened advection can furnish moist air from the Mediterranean.

  2. Effect of rain on Ku-band scatterometer wind measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Spencer, Michael; Shimada, Masanobu

    1991-01-01

    The impact of precipitation on scatterometer wind measurements is investigated. A model is developed which includes the effects of rain attenuation, rain backscatter, and storm horizontal structure. Rain attenuation is found to be the dominant error source at low radar incidence angles and high wind speeds. Volume backscatter from the rain-loaded atmosphere, however, is found to dominate for high incidence angles and low wind speeds.

  3. Rain in the U.S. Midwest

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2007-01-01

    The powerful storms that moved across the U.S. Midwest during the first week of May 2007 brought wind, hail, tornadoes, and drenching rain. This image shows rainfall totals over parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska between May 1 and May 8, based in part on measurements made by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. More than 400 millimeters (15.7 inches) of rain fell over some regions, corresponding with locations where the National Weather Service reported severe weather. A wide swath of red and orange (between 240 and 400 millimeters of rain) arcs in a clockwise direction from western Oklahoma, through central Kansas, and into southeastern Nebraska. The reddish-orange bull's-eye over southeastern Louisiana is evidence of the torrential rains that pounded visitors to the annual New Orleans Jazz Festival. South-central Texas' Edward Plateau was soaked with more than 240 millimeters of rain during the period, as well. From May 4 to May 8, the National Weather Service received approximately 683 reports of severe weather, 140 of which were reports of tornadoes, including the massive F5 tornado that devastated the city of Greensburg, Kansas. Beyond the damaging winds and tornadoes, the torrential rain triggered extensive flooding throughout the Central Plains. On the evening of May 7, flood warnings were in effect from South Dakota to southern Texas, and by May 8, the Hydrologic Information Center reported moderate to major flooding at 53 stream gauge sites in South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas. The floods could be as severe as the 1993 flood, one of the costliest floods in U.S. history, reported the Associated Press.

  4. Fog and rain in the Amazon

    PubMed Central

    Anber, Usama; Gentine, Pierre; Wang, Shuguang; Sobel, Adam H.

    2015-01-01

    The diurnal and seasonal water cycles in the Amazon remain poorly simulated in general circulation models, exhibiting peak evapotranspiration in the wrong season and rain too early in the day. We show that those biases are not present in cloud-resolving simulations with parameterized large-scale circulation. The difference is attributed to the representation of the morning fog layer, and to more accurate characterization of convection and its coupling with large-scale circulation. The morning fog layer, present in the wet season but absent in the dry season, dramatically increases cloud albedo, which reduces evapotranspiration through its modulation of the surface energy budget. These results highlight the importance of the coupling between the energy and hydrological cycles and the key role of cloud albedo feedback for climates over tropical continents. PMID:26324902

  5. Relating Convective and Stratiform Rain to Latent Heating

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tao, Wei-Kuo; Lang, Stephen; Zeng, Xiping; Shige, Shoichi; Takayabu, Yukari

    2010-01-01

    The relationship among surface rainfall, its intensity, and its associated stratiform amount is established by examining observed precipitation data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR). The results show that for moderate-high stratiform fractions, rain probabilities are strongly skewed toward light rain intensities. For convective-type rain, the peak probability of occurrence shifts to higher intensities but is still significantly skewed toward weaker rain rates. The main differences between the distributions for oceanic and continental rain are for heavily convective rain. The peak occurrence, as well as the tail of the distribution containing the extreme events, is shifted to higher intensities for continental rain. For rainy areas sampled at 0.58 horizontal resolution, the occurrence of conditional rain rates over 100 mm/day is significantly higher over land. Distributions of rain intensity versus stratiform fraction for simulated precipitation data obtained from cloud-resolving model (CRM) simulations are quite similar to those from the satellite, providing a basis for mapping simulated cloud quantities to the satellite observations. An improved convective-stratiform heating (CSH) algorithm is developed based on two sources of information: gridded rainfall quantities (i.e., the conditional intensity and the stratiform fraction) observed from the TRMM PR and synthetic cloud process data (i.e., latent heating, eddy heat flux convergence, and radiative heating/cooling) obtained from CRM simulations of convective cloud systems. The new CSH algorithm-derived heating has a noticeably different heating structure over both ocean and land regions compared to the previous CSH algorithm. Major differences between the new and old algorithms include a significant increase in the amount of low- and midlevel heating, a downward emphasis in the level of maximum cloud heating by about 1 km, and a larger variance between land and ocean in

  6. Acid Rain: A Teaching Focus for the Intermediate Grades.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adams, Renee B.; Adams, Neil D.

    1992-01-01

    The study of acid rain provides ample opportunities for active, interdisciplinary learning. This article describes 12 hands-on activities designed to expand students' understanding of acid rain. Background information on acid rain is included. (LB)

  7. Acid Rain Students Do Original Research.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Outdoor Communicator, 1984

    1984-01-01

    At Park Senior High School (Cottage Grove, Minnesota), 46 juniors and seniors planted 384 red pine seedlings in connection with their original research on acid rain, with advice from Dr. Harriet Stubbs, director of the Acid Precipitation Awareness Program (West Saint Paul), which has been developing acid rain teaching materials. (MH)

  8. CR@BaSO4: an acid rain-indicating material.

    PubMed

    Gao, Hong-Wen; Xu, Xin-Hui

    2011-12-28

    The CR@BaSO(4) hybrid was synthesized, characterized and used as an acid rain-indicating (ARI) material. A painted ARI umbrella was discolored after exposure to simulated acid rain of pH 5 or less and returned to the initial color after the rain stopped. Such a functionalized material may make acid rain visual to remind people in real-time. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

  9. Environmental Education about the Rain Forest.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berkmuller, Klaus

    Designed to help in the development of an educational program about the value of rain forests, this handbook presents a condensation of issues, facts, and concepts. The handbook is divided into three parts. Part one introduces the rain forest ecosystem and provides conceptual background material needed in the determination of problems, the…

  10. Development of one-minute rain-rate and rain-attenuation contour maps for satellite propagation system planning in a subtropical country: South Africa

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ojo, J. S.; Owolawi, P. A.

    2014-10-01

    Millimeter and microwave system design at higher frequencies require as input a 1-min rain-rate cumulative distribution function for estimating the level of degradation that can be encountered at such frequency bands. Owing to the lack of 1-min rain-rate data in South Africa and the availability of 5-min and hourly rainfall data, we have used rain-rate conversion models and the refined Moupfouma model to convert the available data into 1-min rain-rate statistics. The attenuation caused by these rain rates was predicted using the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recommendations model. The Kriging interpolation method was used to draw contour maps over different percentages of time for spatial interpolation of rain-rate values into a regular grid in order to obtain a highly consistent and predictable inter-gauge rain-rate variation over South Africa. The present results will be useful for system designers of modern broadband wireless access (BWA) and high-density cell-based Ku/Ka, Q/V band satellite systems, over the desired area of coverage in order to determine the appropriate effective isotropically radiated power (EIRP) and receiver characteristics of this region.

  11. What You Can Do to Soak Up the Rain

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Take steps around your home and community to reduce stormwater runoff. Use rain barrels, disconnect/redirect downspouts, plant trees and rain gardens, use drywells and permeable pavers, and plant green roofs. Take action to soak up the rain.

  12. EFFECTS OF SIMULATED ACIDIC RAIN APPLIED ALONE AND IN COMBINATION WITH AMBIENT RAIN ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF FIELD-GROWN SNAP BEAN

    EPA Science Inventory

    Field-grown snap bean plants were treated with simulated acidic rain applied either alone or in combination with ambient rain and the effects on growth and yield were determined. In plots where ambient rain was excluded, a retractable canopy was activated to shield the crop. Four...

  13. Early Deposition of Ceroid in Kupffer Cells of Mice Fed Hepatic Necrogenic Diets

    PubMed Central

    Porta, Eduardo A.; Hartroft, W. Stanley

    1963-01-01

    Experiments were undertaken to study the prenecrotic morphologic changes in liver of mice that were fed diets deficient in vitamin E and selenium. When these diets were fed to male albino mice the accumulation of ceroid pigment in Kupffer cells was observed within seven days of commencing the diets, long before any evidence of necrosis was observed. In later stages of the experiment the ceroid pigment deposited in Kupffer cells was so abundant that it appeared possible that interference with hepatic sinusoidal blood flow and impairment of physiologic activity of the reticuloendothelial system had resulted. ImagesFig. 1Fig. 2 PMID:20327568

  14. Analysis of hepatic transcript profile and plasma lipid profile in early lactating dairy cows fed grape seed and grape marc meal extract.

    PubMed

    Gessner, Denise K; Winkler, Anne; Koch, Christian; Dusel, Georg; Liebisch, Gerhard; Ringseis, Robert; Eder, Klaus

    2017-03-23

    It was recently reported that dairy cows fed a polyphenol-rich grape seed and grape marc meal extract (GSGME) during the transition period had an increased milk yield, but the underlying reasons remained unclear. As polyphenols exert a broad spectrum of metabolic effects, we hypothesized that feeding of GSGME influences metabolic pathways in the liver which could account for the positive effects of GSGME in dairy cows. In order to identify these pathways, we performed genome-wide transcript profiling in the liver and lipid profiling in plasma of dairy cows fed GSGME during the transition period at 1 week postpartum. Transcriptomic analysis of the liver revealed 207 differentially expressed transcripts, from which 156 were up- and 51 were down-regulated, between cows fed GSGME and control cows. Gene set enrichment analysis of the 155 up-regulated mRNAs showed that the most enriched gene ontology (GO) biological process terms were dealing with cell cycle regulation and the most enriched Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways were p53 signaling and cell cycle. Functional analysis of the 43 down-regulated mRNAs revealed that a great part of these genes are involved in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced unfolded protein response (UPR) and inflammatory processes. Accordingly, protein folding, response to unfolded protein, unfolded protein binding, chemokine activity and heat shock protein binding were identified as one of the most enriched GO biological process and molecular function terms assigned to the down-regulated genes. In line with the transcriptomics data the plasma concentrations of the acute phase proteins serum amyloid A (SAA) and haptoglobin were reduced in cows fed GSGME compared to control cows. Lipidomic analysis of plasma revealed no differences in the concentrations of individual species of major and minor lipid classes between cows fed GSGME and control cows. Analysis of hepatic transcript profile in cows fed GSGME during the

  15. Oral microbial profile discriminates breast-fed from formula-fed infants.

    PubMed

    Holgerson, Pernilla L; Vestman, Nelly R; Claesson, Rolf; Ohman, Carina; Domellöf, Magnus; Tanner, Anne C R; Hernell, Olle; Johansson, Ingegerd

    2013-02-01

    Little is known about the effect of diet on the oral microbiota of infants, although diet is known to affect the gut microbiota. The aims of the present study were to compare the oral microbiota in breast-fed and formula-fed infants, and investigate growth inhibition of streptococci by infant-isolated lactobacilli. A total of 207 mothers consented to participation of their 3-month-old infants. A total of 146 (70.5%) infants were exclusively and 38 (18.4%) partially breast-fed, and 23 (11.1%) were exclusively formula-fed. Saliva from all of their infants was cultured for Lactobacillus species, with isolate identifications from 21 infants. Lactobacillus isolates were tested for their ability to suppress Streptococcus mutans and S sanguinis. Oral swabs from 73 infants were analysed by the Human Oral Microbe Identification Microarray (HOMIM) and by quantitative polymerase chain reaction for Lactobacillus gasseri. Lactobacilli were cultured from 27.8% of exclusively and partially breast-fed infants, but not from formula-fed infants. The prevalence of 14 HOMIM-detected taxa, and total salivary lactobacilli counts differed by feeding method. Multivariate modelling of HOMIM-detected bacteria and possible confounders clustered samples from breast-fed infants separately from formula-fed infants. The microbiota of breast-fed infants differed based on vaginal or C-section delivery. Isolates of L plantarum, L gasseri, and L vaginalis inhibited growth of the cariogenic S mutans and the commensal S sanguinis: L plantarum >L gasseri >L vaginalis. The microbiota of the mouth differs between 3-month-old breast-fed and formula-fed infants. Possible mechanisms for microbial differences observed include species suppression by lactobacilli indigenous to breast milk.

  16. Evaluation of Improvements to the TRMM Microwave Rain Algorithm

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Yang, Song; Olson, Williams S.; Smith, Eric A.; Kummerow, Christian

    2002-01-01

    Improvements made to the Version 5 TRMM passive microwave rain retrieval algorithm (2A-12) are evaluated using independent data. Surface rain rate estimates from the Version 5 TRMM TMI (2A-12), PR (2A-25) and TMI/PR Combined (2B-31) algorithms and ground-based radar estimates for selected coincident subset datasets in 1998 over Melbourne and Kwajalein show varying degrees of agreement. The surface rain rates are then classified into convective and stratiform rain types over ocean, land, and coastal areas for more detailed comparisons to the ground radar measurements. These comparisons lead to a better understanding of the relative performances of the current TRMM rain algorithms. For example, at Melbourne more than 80% of the radar-derived rainfall is classified as convective rain. Convective rain from the TRMM rain algorithms is less than that from ground radar measurements, while TRMM stratiform rain is much greater. Rain area coverage from 2A-12 is also in reasonable agreement with ground radar measurements, with about 25% more over ocean and 25% less over land and coastal areas. Retrieved rain rates from the improved (Version 6) 2A-12 algorithm will be compared to 2A-25, 2B-31, and ground-based radar measurements to evaluate the impact of improvements to 2A-12 in Version 6. An important improvement to the Version 6 2A-12 algorithm is the retrieval of Q1/Q2 (latent heating/drying) profiles in addition to the surface rain rate and hydrometeor profiles. In order to ascertain the credibility of the new products, retrieved Q1/Q2 profiles are compared to independent ground-based estimates. Analyses of dual-Doppler radar data in conjunction with coincident rawinsonde data yield estimates of the vertical distributions of diabatic heating/drying at high horizontal resolution for selected cases over the Kwajalein and LBA field sites. The estimated vertical heating/drying structures appear to be reasonable. Comparisons of Q1/Q2 profiles from Version 6 2A-12 and the ground

  17. Acid Rain. LC Science Tracer Bullet.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hollmann, Pauline, Comp.

    The term "acid rain," also called "acid precipitation," generally refers to any precipitation having a pH value of less than 5.6. This guide to the literature on acid rain in the collections of the Library of Congress is not necessarily intended to be a comprehensive bibliography. It is designed to provide the reader with a set…

  18. Acid rain and sugar maple decline

    Treesearch

    Paul G. Schaberg

    2017-01-01

    Through the increased combustion of fossil fuels, humans have dramatically increased pollutant additions of sulfur and nitrogen into the atmosphere where it conbines with water to form sulfuric and nitric acids, creating acid rain (Driscoll et al. 2001). Incoming acid rain has various impacts on human and natural systems, including the accelerated degradation of built...

  19. Carbon speciation at the air-sea interface during rain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McGillis, Wade; Hsueh, Diana; Takeshita, Yui; Donham, Emily; Markowitz, Michele; Turk, Daniela; Martz, Todd; Price, Nicole; Langdon, Chris; Najjar, Raymond; Herrmann, Maria; Sutton, Adrienne; Loose, Brice; Paine, Julia; Zappa, Christopher

    2015-04-01

    This investigation demonstrates the surface ocean dilution during rain events on the ocean and quantifies the lowering of surface pCO2 affecting the air-sea exchange of carbon dioxide. Surface salinity was measured during rain events in Puerto Rico, the Florida Keys, East Coast USA, Panama, and the Palmyra Atoll. End-member analysis is used to determine the subsequent surface ocean carbonate speciation. Surface ocean carbonate chemistry was measured during rain events to verify any approximations made. The physical processes during rain (cold, fresh water intrusion and buoyancy, surface waves and shear, microscale mixing) are described. The role of rain on surface mixing, biogeochemistry, and air-sea gas exchange will be discussed.

  20. Role of lake regulation on glacier-fed rivers in enhancing salmon productivity: the Cook Inlet watershed, south-central Alaska, USA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dorava, Joseph M.; Milner, Alexander M.

    2000-10-01

    Rivers fed by glaciers constitute a major part of the freshwater runoff into the Cook Inlet basin of south-central Alaska. This basin is very important to the economy of the State of Alaska because it is home to more than half of the population and it supports multi-million dollar commercial, subsistence and sport fisheries. Hence an understanding of how glacial runoff influences biological productivity is important for managing rivers that drain into Cook Inlet. This paper examines the ways in which the regulation of glacier-fed rivers by proglacial lakes affects salmon productivity, with particular reference to the Kenai River. Salmon escapement per unit channel length on the Kenai River is between two and ten times that found for rain-and-snowmelt dominated rivers and glacier-fed rivers lacking lake regulation.Lakes are shown to influence biological processes in glacier-fed rivers by attenuating peak flows, sustaining high flows throughout the summer, supplementing winter low flows, settling suspended sediment, and increasing river temperatures. Downstream from large lakes, glacier-fed rivers are less disturbed, channels are relatively stable and have well-developed salmonid habitats. The positive influences are indicated by the high diversity and abundances of benthic macroinvertebrates, which are important food resources for juvenile salmonids. High summer flows allow access for up-river salmon runs and lakes also provide both overwintering and rearing habitat.

  1. 40 CFR 76.3 - General Acid Rain Program provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false General Acid Rain Program provisions. 76.3 Section 76.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) ACID RAIN NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM § 76.3 General Acid Rain Program provisions...

  2. 40 CFR 76.3 - General Acid Rain Program provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false General Acid Rain Program provisions. 76.3 Section 76.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) ACID RAIN NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM § 76.3 General Acid Rain Program provisions...

  3. 40 CFR 76.3 - General Acid Rain Program provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false General Acid Rain Program provisions. 76.3 Section 76.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) ACID RAIN NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM § 76.3 General Acid Rain Program provisions...

  4. 40 CFR 76.3 - General Acid Rain Program provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false General Acid Rain Program provisions. 76.3 Section 76.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) ACID RAIN NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM § 76.3 General Acid Rain Program provisions...

  5. 40 CFR 76.3 - General Acid Rain Program provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false General Acid Rain Program provisions. 76.3 Section 76.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) ACID RAIN NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM § 76.3 General Acid Rain Program provisions...

  6. Fog and rain in the Amazon

    DOE PAGES

    Anber, Usama; Gentine, Pierre; Wang, Shuguang; ...

    2015-08-31

    The diurnal and seasonal water cycles in the Amazon remain poorly simulated in general circulation models, exhibiting peak evapotranspiration in the wrong season and rain too early in the day. We show that those biases are not present in cloud-resolving simulations with parameterized large-scale circulation. The difference is attributed to the representation of the morning fog layer, and to more accurate characterization of convection and its coupling with large-scale circulation. The morning fog layer, present in the wet season but absent in the dry season, dramatically increases cloud albedo, which reduces evapotranspiration through its modulation of the surface energy budget.more » Finally, these results highlight the importance of the coupling between the energy and hydrological cycles and the key role of cloud albedo feedback for climates over tropical continents.« less

  7. Early vegetation development after grassland restoration by sowing low-diversity seed mixtures in former sunflower and cereal fields.

    PubMed

    Vida, Enikö; Valkó, Orsolya; Kelemen, A; Török, P; Deák, B; Miglécz, T; Lengyel, Sz; Tóthmérész, B

    2010-01-01

    We studied the early vegetation dynamics in former croplands (sunflower and cereal fields) sown with a low-diversity seed mixture (composed of 2 native grass species) in Egyek-Pusztakócs, Hortobágy National Park, East-Hungary. The percentage cover of vascular plants was recorded in 4 permanent plots per field on 7 restored fields between 2006 and 2009. Ten aboveground biomass samples per field were also collected in June in each year. We addressed two questions: (i) How do seed sowing and annual mowing affect the species richness, biomass and cover of weeds? (ii) How fast does the cover of sown grasses develop after seed sowing? Weedy species were characteristic in the first year after sowing. In the second and third year their cover and species richness decreased. From the second year onwards the cover of perennial grasses increased. Spontaneously immigrating species characteristic to the reference grasslands were also detected with low cover scores. Short-lived weeds were suppressed as their cover and biomass significantly decreased during the study. The amount of litter and sown grass biomass increased progressively. However, perennial weed cover, especially the cover of Cirsium arvense increased substantially. Our results suggest that grassland vegetation can be recovered by sowing low diversity mixtures followed up by yearly mowing. Suppression of perennial weed cover needs more frequent mowing (multiple times a year) or grazing.

  8. RAIN: RNA–protein Association and Interaction Networks

    PubMed Central

    Junge, Alexander; Refsgaard, Jan C.; Garde, Christian; Pan, Xiaoyong; Santos, Alberto; Alkan, Ferhat; Anthon, Christian; von Mering, Christian; Workman, Christopher T.; Jensen, Lars Juhl; Gorodkin, Jan

    2017-01-01

    Protein association networks can be inferred from a range of resources including experimental data, literature mining and computational predictions. These types of evidence are emerging for non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) as well. However, integration of ncRNAs into protein association networks is challenging due to data heterogeneity. Here, we present a database of ncRNA–RNA and ncRNA–protein interactions and its integration with the STRING database of protein–protein interactions. These ncRNA associations cover four organisms and have been established from curated examples, experimental data, interaction predictions and automatic literature mining. RAIN uses an integrative scoring scheme to assign a confidence score to each interaction. We demonstrate that RAIN outperforms the underlying microRNA-target predictions in inferring ncRNA interactions. RAIN can be operated through an easily accessible web interface and all interaction data can be downloaded. Database URL: http://rth.dk/resources/rain PMID:28077569

  9. Promoting nitrate removal in rain gardens | Science Inventory ...

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Rain gardens are vegetated surface depressions, often located at low points in landscapes, designed to receive stormwater runoff from roads, roofs, and parking lots. The gardens’ sandy soils allow stormwater to drain quickly to the native soils below and eventually to groundwater. The rain garden vegetation and soils remove pollutants and nutrients from stormwater runoff through biological and physical processes such as plant uptake and sorption to soil particles. In comparison with stormwater release to receiving waters through conventional storm drain systems, infiltrating stormwater through rain gardens reduces peak flows and loadings of both pollutants and nutrients. This reduction improves the physical and biological integrity of receiving streams by reducing stream bank erosion and negative effects on stream communities. While local governments and individual homeowners are building these systems, relatively few scientific studies have documented the ability of rain gardens to remove pollutants and nutrients. This U.S. EPA long-term research project investigates: 1) the performance of rain gardens in removing pollutants, and 2) whether currently-accepted design standards can be adjusted to improve nitrate removal capabilities. Typical rain garden designs provide large removals of pollutants of concern, including heavy metals, phosphorus, total nitrogen, and ammonium. The gardens have been less successful in removing nitrate, an importan

  10. Response of soybean seed germination to cadmium and acid rain.

    PubMed

    Liu, Ting Ting; Wu, Peng; Wang, Li Hong; Zhou, Qing

    2011-12-01

    Cadmium (Cd) pollution and acid rain are the main environmental issues, and they often occur in the same agricultural region. Nevertheless, up to now, little information on the combined pollution of Cd(2+) and acid rain action on crops were presented. Here, we investigated the combined effect of Cd(2+) and acid rain on the seed germination of soybean. The results indicated that the single treatment with the low level of Cd(2+) (0.18, 1.0, 3.0 mg L(-1)) or acid rain (pH ≥3.0) could not affect the seed germination of soybean, which was resulted in the increased activities of peroxidase and catalase. The single treatment with the high concentration of Cd(2+) (>6 mg L(-1)) or acid rain at pH 2.5 decreased the activities of peroxidase and catalase, damaged the cell membrane and then decreased the seed germination of soybean. Meanwhile, the same toxic effect was observed in the combined treatment with Cd(2+) and acid rain, and the combined treatment had more toxic effect than the single treatment with Cd(2+) or acid rain. Thus, the combined pollution of Cd(2+) and acid rain had more potential threat to the seed germination of soybean than the single pollution of Cd(2+) or acid rain.

  11. Rain attenuation statistics over millimeter wave bands in South Korea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shrestha, Sujan; Choi, Dong-You

    2017-01-01

    Rain induced degradations are significant for terrestrial microwave links operating at frequencies higher than 10 GHz. Paper presents analyses done on rain attenuation and rainfall data for three years between 2013 till 2015, in 3.2 km experimental link of 38 GHz and 0.1 km link at 75 GHz. The less link distance is maintained for 75 GHz operating frequency in order to have better recording of propagation effect as such attenuation induced by rain. OTT Parsivel is used for collection of rain rate database which show rain rate of about 50 mm/h and attenuation values of 20.89 and 28.55 dB are obtained at 0.01% of the time for vertical polarization under 38 and 75 GHz respectively. Prediction models, namely, ITU-R P. 530-16, Da Silva Mello, Moupfouma, Abdulrahman, Lin and differential equation approach are analyzed. This studies help to identify most suitable rain attenuation model for higher microwave bands. While applying ITU-R P. 530-16, the relative error margin of about 3%, 38% and 42% along with 80, 70, 61% were obtained in 0.1%, 0.01% and 0.001% of the time for vertical polarization under 38 and 75 GHz respectively. Interestingly, ITU-R P. 530-16 shows relatively closer estimation to measured rain attenuation at 75 GHz with relatively less error probabilities and additionally, Abdulrahman and ITU-R P. 530-16 results in better estimation to the measured rain attenuation at 38 GHz link. The performance of prominent rain attenuation models are judged with different error matrices as recommended by ITU-R P. 311-15. Furthermore, the efficacy of frequency scaling technique of rain attenuation between links distribution are also discussed. This study shall be useful for making good considerations in rain attenuation predictions for terrestrial link operating at higher frequencies.

  12. Influence of rain on the abundance of bioaerosols in fine and coarse particles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rathnayake, Chathurika M.; Metwali, Nervana; Jayarathne, Thilina; Kettler, Josh; Huang, Yuefan; Thorne, Peter S.; O'Shaughnessy, Patrick T.; Stone, Elizabeth A.

    2017-02-01

    Assessing the environmental, health, and climate impacts of bioaerosols requires knowledge of their size and abundance. These two properties were assessed through daily measurements of chemical tracers for pollens (sucrose, fructose, and glucose), fungal spores (mannitol and glucans), and Gram-negative bacterial endotoxins in two particulate matter (PM) size modes: fine particles (< 2.5 µm) and coarse particles (2.5-10 µm) as determined by their aerodynamic diameter. Measurements were made during the spring tree pollen season (mid-April to early May) and late summer ragweed season (late August to early September) in the Midwestern US in 2013. Under dry conditions, pollen, and fungal spore tracers were primarily in coarse PM (> 75 %), as expected for particles greater than 2.5 µm. Rainfall on 2 May corresponded to maximum atmospheric pollen tracer levels and a redistribution of pollen tracers to the fine PM fraction (> 80 %). Both changes were attributed to the osmotic rupture of pollen grains that led to the suspension of fine-sized pollen fragments. Fungal spore tracers peaked in concentration following spring rain events and decreased in particle size, but to a lesser extent than pollens. A short, heavy thunderstorm in late summer corresponded to an increase in endotoxin and glucose levels, with a simultaneous shift to smaller particle sizes. Simultaneous increase in bioaerosol levels and decrease in their size have significant implications for population exposures to bioaerosols, particularly during rain events. Chemical mass balance (CMB) source apportionment modeling and regionally specific pollen profiles were used to apportion PM mass to pollens and fungal spores. Springtime pollen contributions to the mass of particles < 10 µm (PM10) ranged from 0.04 to 0.8 µg m-3 (0.2-38 %, averaging 4 %), with maxima occurring on rainy days. Fungal spore contributions to PM10 mass ranged from 0.1 to 1.5 µg m-3 (0.8-17 %, averaging 5 %), with maxima occurring after

  13. 40 CFR 72.31 - Information requirements for Acid Rain permit applications.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Information requirements for Acid Rain... (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Acid Rain Permit Applications § 72.31 Information requirements for Acid Rain permit applications. A complete Acid Rain permit application shall include the...

  14. 40 CFR 72.31 - Information requirements for Acid Rain permit applications.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Information requirements for Acid Rain... (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Acid Rain Permit Applications § 72.31 Information requirements for Acid Rain permit applications. A complete Acid Rain permit application shall include the...

  15. 40 CFR 72.31 - Information requirements for Acid Rain permit applications.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Information requirements for Acid Rain... (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Acid Rain Permit Applications § 72.31 Information requirements for Acid Rain permit applications. A complete Acid Rain permit application shall include the...

  16. 40 CFR 72.31 - Information requirements for Acid Rain permit applications.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Information requirements for Acid Rain... (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Acid Rain Permit Applications § 72.31 Information requirements for Acid Rain permit applications. A complete Acid Rain permit application shall include the...

  17. 40 CFR 72.31 - Information requirements for Acid Rain permit applications.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Information requirements for Acid Rain... (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Acid Rain Permit Applications § 72.31 Information requirements for Acid Rain permit applications. A complete Acid Rain permit application shall include the...

  18. Human Ecology: Acid Rain and Public Policy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bybee, Rodger W.

    1983-01-01

    A connection between science and society can be seen in the human and ecological dimensions of one contemporary problem: acid rain. Introduces a human ecological theme and relationships between acid rain and public policy, considering scientific understanding and public awareness, scientific research and public policy, and national politics and…

  19. Rain Volume Estimation over Areas Using Satellite and Radar Data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Doneaud, A. A.; Miller, J. R., Jr.; Johnson, L. R.; Vonderhaar, T. H.; Laybe, P.

    1984-01-01

    The application of satellite data to a recently developed radar technique used to estimate convective rain volumes over areas on a dry environment (the northern Great Plains) is discussed. The area time integral technique (ATI) provides a means of estimating total rain volumes over fixed and floating target areas of the order of 1,000 to 100,000 km(2) for clusters lasting 40 min. The basis of the method is the existence of a strong correlation between the area coverage integrated over the lifetime of the storm (ATI) and the rain volume. One key element in this technique is that it does not require the consideration of the structure of the radar intensities inside the area coverage to generate rain volumes, but only considers the rain event per se. This fact might reduce or eliminate some sources of error in applying the technique to satellite data. The second key element is that the ATI once determined can be converted to total rain volume by using a constant factor (average rain rate) for a given locale.

  20. Acid Rain Investigations.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hugo, John C.

    1992-01-01

    Presents an activity in which students investigate the formation of solid ammonium chloride aerosol particles to help students better understand the concept of acid rain. Provides activity objectives, procedures, sample data, clean-up instructions, and questions and answers to help interpret the data. (MDH)

  1. Environmental fog/rain visual display system for aircraft simulators

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chase, W. D. (Inventor)

    1982-01-01

    An environmental fog/rain visual display system for aircraft simulators is described. The electronic elements of the system include a real time digital computer, a caligraphic color display which simulates landing lights of selective intensity, and a color television camera for producing a moving color display of the airport runway as depicted on a model terrain board. The mechanical simulation elements of the system include an environmental chamber which can produce natural fog, nonhomogeneous fog, rain and fog combined, or rain only. A pilot looking through the aircraft wind screen will look through the fog and/or rain generated in the environmental chamber onto a viewing screen with the simulated color image of the airport runway thereon, and observe a very real simulation of actual conditions of a runway as it would appear through actual fog and/or rain.

  2. SMAP Salinity Artifacts Associated With Presence of Rain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jacob, M. M.; Santos-Garcia, A.; Jones, L.

    2016-02-01

    The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite carries an L-band radiometer, which measures sea surface salinity (SSS) over a swath of 1000 km @ 40 km resolution. SMAP can extend the Aquarius (AQ) salinity data record with improved temporal/spatial sampling. Previous studies [see references] have demonstrated significant differences between satellite and in-situ salinity measurements during rain. In the presence of precipitation, salinity stratification exists near the sea surface, which nullifies the presumption of a well-mixed salinity. In general, these salinity gradients last only a few hours and the upper layer becomes slightly fresher in salinity. This paper describes the Rain Impact Model (RIM) that simulates the effects of rain accumulation on the SSS [Santos-Garcia et al., 2014] applied to SMAP. This model incorporates rainfall information for the previous 24 hours to the measurement sample (in this case SMAP) and uses as initialization the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) data. Given the better resolution of SMAP, the goal of this paper is to continue the analysis previously done with AQ to better understand the effects of the instantaneous and accumulated rain on the salinity measurements. Boutin, J., N. Martin, G. Reverdin, X. Yin, and F. Gaillard (2013), Sea surface freshening inferred from SMOS and ARGO salinity: Impact of rain, Ocean Sci., 9(1), 183-192, doi:10.5194/os-9-183-2013. Santos-Garcia, A., M. Jacob, L. Jones, W. Asher, Y. Hejazin, H. Ebrahimi, and M. Rabolli (2014), Investigation of rain effects on Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity measurements, J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 119, 7605-7624, doi:10.1002/2014JC010137. Tang, W., S.H Yueh, A. Hayashi, A.G. Fore, W.L. Jones, A. Santos-Garcia, and M.M. Jacob, (2015), Rain-Induced Near Surface Salinity Stratification and Rain Roughness Correction for Aquarius SSS Retrieval, in Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, IEEE Journal of, 8(99), 1-11, doi: 10.1109/JSTARS.2015.2463768.

  3. Single-image-based Rain Detection and Removal via CNN

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Tianyi; Fu, Chengzhou

    2018-04-01

    The quality of the image is degraded by rain streaks, which have negative impact when we extract image features for many visual tasks, such as feature extraction for classification and recognition, tracking, surveillance and autonomous navigation. Hence, it is necessary to detect and remove rain streaks from single images, which is a challenging problem since we have no spatial-temporal information of rain streaks compared to the dynamic video stream. Inspired by the priori that the rain streaks have almost the same feature, such as the direction or the thickness, although they are in different types of real-world images. The paper aims at proposing an effective convolutional neural network (CNN) to detect and remove rain streaks from single image. Two models of synthesized rainy image, linear additive composite model (LACM model) and screen blend model (SCM model), are considered in this paper. The main idea is that it is easier for our CNN network to find the mapping between the rainy image and rain streaks than between the rainy image and clean image. The reason is that rain streaks have fixed features, but clean images have various features. The experiments show that the designed CNN network outperforms state-of-the-art approaches on both synthesized and real-world images, which indicates the effectiveness of our proposed framework.

  4. A meteorological potential forecast model for acid rain in Fujian Province, China.

    PubMed

    Cai, Yi Yong; Lin, Chang Cheng; Liu, Jing Xiong; Wu, De Hui; Lian, Dong Ying; Chen, Bin Bin

    2010-05-01

    Based on the acid rain and concurrent meteorological observational data during the past 10 years in Fujian Province, China, the dependence of distribution characteristics of acid rain on season, rain rate, weather pattern and dominant airflow in four regions of Fujian Province is analyzed. On the annual average, the acid rain frequency is the highest (above 40%) in the southern and mid-eastern regions, and the lowest (16.2%) in the western region. The acid rain occurs most frequently in spring and winter, and least frequent in summer. The acid rain frequency in general increases with the increase of precipitation. It also depend on the direction of dominant airflows at 850 hPa. In the mid-eastern region, more than 40% acid rains appear when the dominant wind directions are NW, W, SW, S and SE. In the southern region, high acid rain occurrence happens when the dominant wind directions are NW, W, SW and S. In the northern region, 41.8% acid rains occur when the southwesterly is pronounced. In the western region, the southwesterly is associated with a 17% acid rain rate. The examination of meteorological sounding conditions over Fuzhou, Xiamen and Shaowu cities shows that the acid rain frequency increases with increased inversion thickness. Based on the results above, a meteorological potential forecast model for acid rain is established and tested in 2007. The result is encouraging. The model provides an objective basis for the development of acid rain forecasting operation in the province.

  5. Rain Rate from IMERG as a Predictor for Salinity Stratification in the Upper Meter of the Ocean during SPURS-2 Rain Events

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Thompson, E. J.; Asher, W.; Drushka, K.; Schanze, J. J.; Jessup, A. T.; Clark, D.

    2016-12-01

    Rain can produce a lens of fresher and generally colder, less dense water at the ocean surface. These stable surface layers concentrate heat, freshwater, and momentum into a thin layer and reduce the exchange of these properties between the surface layer and deeper water, which can impact regional freshwater storage and air-sea fluxes of heat and moisture. Although in situ observations have shown that fresh lenses are common in the presence of rain, attempts to correlate the magnitude and lifetime of the surface freshening with rain rate using field data have not produced a definitive relationship. The reasons for this are most likely that in situ rain rate measurements represent the freshwater flux to the ocean surface at a single point in space and time, whereas the fresh lens is the result of the integrated rainfall over time and space, convoluted with the evolution of the fresh lens. Therefore, it is possible that integrated, upstream rainfall estimates might provide a better correlate for the presence of fresh lenses than in situ measurements at a point. This hindcast study seeks to determine the utility of NASA GPM IMERG satellite measurements of rain relative to in situ collocated rain measurements in predicting the occurrence and duration of 0-1 m freshwater stabilization of the ocean. Vertical gradients of temperature, salinity, and density between the surface and at most a few meters were measured using towed profilers and underway sampling during the 2016 SPURS-2 experiment conducted in the tropical east Pacific Ocean. Local wind speed was also measured and taken into account. These measurements were used to determine whether local or integrated upstream precipitation metrics could better predict the occurrence of rain-generated lenses of fresher water at the ocean surface and whether the strength and duration of rain events was correlated with the observed lifetime of fresh lenses.

  6. SSM/I Rain Retrievals Within a Unified All-Weather Ocean Algorithm

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wentz, Frank J.; Spencer, Roy W.

    1996-01-01

    A new method for the physical retrieval of rain rates from satellite microwave radiometers is presented and compared to two other rainfall climatologies derived from satellites. The method is part of a unified ocean parameter retrieval algorithm that is based on the fundamental principles of radiative transfer. The algorithm simultaneously finds near-surface wind speed W, columnar water vapor V, columnar cloud liquid water L, rain rate R, and effective radiating temperature T(sub U) for the upwelling radiation. The performance of the algorithm in the absence of rain is discussed in Wentz, and this paper focuses on the rain component of the algorithm. A particular strength of the unified algorithm is its ability to 'orthogonalize' the retrievals so that there is minimum cross-talk between the retrieved parameters. For example, comparisons of the retrieved water vapor with radiosonde observations show that there is very little correlation between the water vapor retrieval error and rain rate. For rain rates from 1 to 15 mm/h, the rms difference between the retrieved water vapor and the radiosonde value is 5 mm. A novel feature of the rain retrieval method is a beamfilling correction that is based upon the ratio of the retrieved liquid water absorption coefficients at 37 GHz and 19.35 GHz. This ratio decreases by about 40% when heavy and light rain co-exist within the SSM/I footprint as compared to the case of uniform rain. This correction has the effect of increasing the rain rate when the spectral ratio of the absorption coefficients is small. Even with this beamfilling correction, tropical rainfall is still unrealistically low when the freezing level in the tropics (approx. 5 km) is used to specify the rain layer thickness. We restore realism by reducing the assumed averaged tropical rain layer thickness to 3 km, thereby accounting for the existence of warm rain processes in which the rain layer does not extend to the freezing level. Global rain rates are produced

  7. Automatic single-image-based rain streaks removal via image decomposition.

    PubMed

    Kang, Li-Wei; Lin, Chia-Wen; Fu, Yu-Hsiang

    2012-04-01

    Rain removal from a video is a challenging problem and has been recently investigated extensively. Nevertheless, the problem of rain removal from a single image was rarely studied in the literature, where no temporal information among successive images can be exploited, making the problem very challenging. In this paper, we propose a single-image-based rain removal framework via properly formulating rain removal as an image decomposition problem based on morphological component analysis. Instead of directly applying a conventional image decomposition technique, the proposed method first decomposes an image into the low- and high-frequency (HF) parts using a bilateral filter. The HF part is then decomposed into a "rain component" and a "nonrain component" by performing dictionary learning and sparse coding. As a result, the rain component can be successfully removed from the image while preserving most original image details. Experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed algorithm.

  8. [Relationship between atmospheric particles and rain water chemistry character].

    PubMed

    Huo, Ming-Qun; Sun, Qian; Xie, Peng; Bai, Yu-Hua; Liu, Zhao-Rong; Li, Ji-Long; Lu, Si-Hua

    2009-11-01

    Rain and atmospheric particle samples were collected in the rural area of Taian and Shenzhen in 2007, respectively. Rain sampling was carried out during the precipitation process and several samples were got from the beginning of one precipitation to the end. The chemical character changes during precipitation and the changes of concentration of particles before and after rain were studied in this research to understand the contribution of particles on the rain chemical character and the rain-out effect for particles. The volume-weighted mean pH of rainwater in Taian was 5.97 and the total concentration of ions was 1 187.96 microeq x L(-1). The mass concentration of PM10 in Taian was 131.76 microg/m3 and that of PM2.5 was 103.84 microg/m3. The volume-weighted mean pH of rainwater in Shenzhen was 4.72 and the total concentration of ions was 175.89 microeq x L(-1). The mass concentration of PM10 in Shenzhen was 56.66 microg/m3 and that of PM2.5 was 41.52 microg/m3. During precipitation process pH and ion concentration of rain decrease and it is shown the neutralizing effect happens. The difference between rainwater of Taian and Shenzhen is due to cloud water acidity, atmospheric particles character and atmospheric acid-basic gases concentration. The clean-up effect of Na+ and Ca2+ by rain is high and which of NH4+ and NO3- is low. The clean-up effect for mass concentration, ions concentration and element concentration of particles by rain are significant.

  9. Improved Gradation for Rain Garden of Low Impact Development

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Sandra; Chang, Fu-Ming

    2016-04-01

    With rapid urban and economic development, living standard improves in urban areas but urban ecological environments deteriorate rapidly. Urban waterlogging and flooding have become a serious problem for urban water security. As urbanization continues, sustainability is the key to balance between urban development and healthy environment. Rain garden is recommended to be one of the best ways to reduce urban pollutants. It not only diminishes runoff flooding but also purify water in the urban area. The studies on rain gardens are mainly about how to incorporate rain garden to purify water quality, but lack of researches on runoff control. This project focuses on rain garden under Low Impact Development using indoor laboratory to test and quantify the water holding capacities of two different Taiwan indigenous rain garden plants, Taiwan Cyclosorus and Sour Grass. The results show that the water holding capacity of Sour Grass (10%-37%) is better than that of Taiwan Cyclosorus (6.8%-17.3%). The results could be a helpful reference for Low Impact Development in urban flood prevention and urban planning. Keywords: Low Impact Development; rain garden; indoor laboratory experiments; water holding capacity; porosity

  10. Characteristics of rain penetration through a gravity ventilator used for natural ventilation.

    PubMed

    Kim, Taehyeung; Lee, Dong Ho; Ahn, Kwangseog; Ha, Hyunchul; Park, Heechang; Piao, Cheng Xu; Li, Xiaoyu; Seo, Jeoungyoon

    2008-01-01

    Gravity ventilators rely simply on air buoyancy to extract air and are widely used to exhaust air contaminants and heat from workplaces using minimal energy. They are designed to maximize the exhaust flow rate, but the rain penetration sometimes causes malfunctioning. In this study, the characteristics of rain penetration through a ventilator were examined as a preliminary study to develop a ventilator with the maximum exhaust capacity while minimizing rain penetration. A model ventilator was built and exposed to artificial rain and wind. The paths, intensities and amounts of penetration through the ventilator were observed and measured in qualitative and quantitative fashions. In the first phase, the pathways and intensities of rain penetration were visually observed. In the second phase, the amounts of rain penetration were quantitatively measured under the different configurations of ventilator components that were installed based on the information obtained in the first-phase experiment. The effects of wind speed, grill direction, rain drainage width, outer wall height, neck height and leaning angle of the outer wall from the vertical position were analyzed. Wind speed significantly affected rain penetration. Under the low crosswind conditions, the rain penetration intensities were under the limit of detection. Under the high crosswind conditions, grill direction and neck height were the most significant factors in reducing rain penetration. The installation of rain drainage was also important in reducing rain penetration. The experimental results suggest that, with proper configurations of its components, a gravity ventilator can be used for natural ventilation without significant rain penetration problems.

  11. Acid Rain: A Teacher's Guide. Activities for Grades 4 to 12.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Wildlife Federation, Washington, DC.

    This guide on acid rain for elementary and secondary students is divided into three study areas: (1) What Causes Acid Rain; (2) What Problems Acid Rain Has Created; (3) How You and Your Students Can Help Combat Acid Rain. Each section presents background information and a series of lessons pertaining to the section topic. Activities include…

  12. Acid Rain. Activities for Grades 4 to 12. A Teacher's Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wood, David; Bryant, Jeannette

    This teacher's guide on acid rain is divided into three study areas to explain: (1) what causes acid rain; (2) what problems acid rain has created; and (3) what teachers and students can do to help combat acid rain. Instructions for activities within the study areas include suggested grade levels, objectives, materials needed, and directions for…

  13. Dust Rains Deliver Diverse Assemblages of Microorganisms to the Eastern Mediterranean

    PubMed Central

    Itani, Ghida Nouhad; Smith, Colin Andrew

    2016-01-01

    Dust rains may be particularly effective at delivering microorganisms, yet their biodiversities have been seldom examined. During 2011 and 2012 in Beirut, Lebanon, 16 of 21 collected rainfalls appeared dusty. Trajectory modelling of air mass origins was consistent with North African sources and at least one Southwest Asian source. As much as ~4 g particulate matter, ~20 μg DNA, and 50 million colony forming units were found deposited per square meter during rainfalls each lasting less than one day. Sequencing of 93 bacteria and 25 fungi cultured from rain samples revealed diverse bacterial phyla, both Gram positive and negative, and Ascomycota fungi. Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis of amplified 16S rDNA of 13 rains revealed distinct and diverse assemblages of bacteria. Dust rain 16S libraries yielded 131 sequences matching, in decreasing order of abundance, Betaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria, Epsilonproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Deltaproteobacteria. Clean rain 16S libraries yielded 33 sequences matching only Betaproteobacteria family Oxalobacteraceae. Microbial composition varied between dust rains, and more diverse and different microbes were found in dust rains than clean rains. These results show that dust rains deliver diverse communities of microorganisms that may be complex products of revived desert soil species and fertilized cloud species. PMID:26939571

  14. Dust Rains Deliver Diverse Assemblages of Microorganisms to the Eastern Mediterranean

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Itani, Ghida Nouhad; Smith, Colin Andrew

    2016-03-01

    Dust rains may be particularly effective at delivering microorganisms, yet their biodiversities have been seldom examined. During 2011 and 2012 in Beirut, Lebanon, 16 of 21 collected rainfalls appeared dusty. Trajectory modelling of air mass origins was consistent with North African sources and at least one Southwest Asian source. As much as ~4 g particulate matter, ~20 μg DNA, and 50 million colony forming units were found deposited per square meter during rainfalls each lasting less than one day. Sequencing of 93 bacteria and 25 fungi cultured from rain samples revealed diverse bacterial phyla, both Gram positive and negative, and Ascomycota fungi. Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis of amplified 16S rDNA of 13 rains revealed distinct and diverse assemblages of bacteria. Dust rain 16S libraries yielded 131 sequences matching, in decreasing order of abundance, Betaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria, Epsilonproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Deltaproteobacteria. Clean rain 16S libraries yielded 33 sequences matching only Betaproteobacteria family Oxalobacteraceae. Microbial composition varied between dust rains, and more diverse and different microbes were found in dust rains than clean rains. These results show that dust rains deliver diverse communities of microorganisms that may be complex products of revived desert soil species and fertilized cloud species.

  15. Rain Splash Dispersal of Gibberella zeae Within Wheat Canopies in Ohio.

    PubMed

    Paul, P A; El-Allaf, S M; Lipps, P E; Madden, L V

    2004-12-01

    ABSTRACT Rain splash dispersal of Gibberella zeae, causal agent of Fusarium head blight of wheat, was investigated in field studies in Ohio between 2001 and 2003. Samplers placed at 0, 30, and 100 cm above the soil surface were used to collect rain splash in wheat fields with maize residue on the surface and fields with G. zeae-infested maize kernels. Rain splash was collected during separate rain episodes throughout the wheat-growing seasons. Aliquots of splashed rain were transferred to petri dishes containing Komada's selective medium, and G. zeae was identified based on colony and spore morphology. Dispersed spores were measured in CFU/ml. Intensity of splashed rain was highest at 100 cm and ranged from 0.2 to 10.2 mm h(-1), depending on incident rain intensity and sampler height. Spores were recovered from splash samples at all heights in both locations for all sampled rain events. Both macroconidia and ascospores were found based on microscopic examination of random samples of splashed rain. Spore density and spore flux density per rain episode ranged from 0.4 to 40.9 CFU cm(-2) and 0.4 to 84.8 CFU cm(-2) h(-1), respectively. Spore flux density was higher in fields with G. zeae-infested maize kernels than in fields with maize debris, and generally was higher at 0 and 30 cm than at 100 cm at both locations. However, on average, spore flux density was only 30% lower at 100 cm (height of wheat spikes) than at the other heights. The log of spore flux density was linearly related to the log of splashed rain intensity and the log of incident rain intensity. The regression slopes were not significantly affected by year, location, height, and their interactions, but the intercepts were significantly affected by both sampler height and location. Thus, our results show that spores of G. zeae were consistently splash dispersed to spike heights within wheat canopies, and splashed rain intensity and spore flux density could be predicted based on incident rain intensity in

  16. A rain pixel recovery algorithm for videos with highly dynamic scenes.

    PubMed

    Jie Chen; Lap-Pui Chau

    2014-03-01

    Rain removal is a very useful and important technique in applications such as security surveillance and movie editing. Several rain removal algorithms have been proposed these years, where photometric, chromatic, and probabilistic properties of the rain have been exploited to detect and remove the rainy effect. Current methods generally work well with light rain and relatively static scenes, when dealing with heavier rainfall in dynamic scenes, these methods give very poor visual results. The proposed algorithm is based on motion segmentation of dynamic scene. After applying photometric and chromatic constraints for rain detection, rain removal filters are applied on pixels such that their dynamic property as well as motion occlusion clue are considered; both spatial and temporal informations are then adaptively exploited during rain pixel recovery. Results show that the proposed algorithm has a much better performance for rainy scenes with large motion than existing algorithms.

  17. Convective and stratiform rain: Multichannel microwave sensing over oceans

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Prabhakara, C.; Nucciarone, J. J.; Dalu, G.

    1993-01-01

    Measurements made by the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) radiometer over the oceans, at 19, 37, and 85 GHz in dual polarization, are used to develop a model to classify rain into light-stratiform, moderately convective, and heavy convective types in the mesoscale convective systems (MCS). It is observed that the bulk of the 19- and 37-GHz data are linearly correlated with respect to one another, and generally increase together in brightness as the mean rain rate in the field of view (FOV) of the radiometer increases. However, a significant fraction of the data from these channels departs from this linear relationship, reflecting the nonuniform rain that is convective vs. the relatively light stratiform rain. It is inferred from the SSM/I data, in a MCS, when the slope dT sub 3/dT sub 19 is greater than unity there are optically thin clouds which produce light uniform rain. On the other hand, when dT sub 3/dT sub 19 is close to unity, the rain cells have an open structure and correspond to the convective type of rain. The openings between the cells are apparently a result of the downdrafts and/or entrainment. Relatively low values of 85-GHz brightness temperatures that are present when dT sub 37/dT sub 19 is close to unity support these views and, in addition, leads us to conclude that when the convection is heavy this brightness temperature decreases due to scattering by hydrometeors. On the basis of this explanation of the SSM/I data, an empirical rain retrieval algorithm is developed. Radar backscatter observations over the Atlantic Ocean next to Florida are used to demonstrate the applicability of this method. Three monthly mean maps of rainfall over the oceans from 50 degrees N to 50 degrees S, are presented to illustrate the ability of this method to sense seasonal and interannual variations of rain.

  18. Assessing Applications of GPM and IMERG Passive Microwave Rain Rates in Modeling and Operational Forecasting

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zavodsky, B.; Le Roy, A.; Smith, M. R.; Case, J.

    2016-12-01

    In support of NASA's recently launched GPM `core' satellite, the NASA-SPoRT project is leveraging experience in research-to-operations transitions and training to provide feedback on the operational utility of GPM products. Thus far, SPoRT has focused on evaluating the Level 2 GPROF passive microwave and IMERG rain rate estimates. Formal evaluations with end-users have occurred, as well as internal evaluations of the datasets. One set of end users for these products is National Weather Service Forecast Offices (WFOs) and National Weather Service River Forecast Centers (RFCs), comprising forecasters and hydrologists. SPoRT has hosted a series of formal assessments to determine uses and utility of these datasets for NWS operations at specific offices. Forecasters primarily have used Level 2 swath rain rates to observe rainfall in otherwise data-void regions and to confirm model QPF for their nowcasting or short-term forecasting. Hydrologists have been evaluating both the Level 2 rain rates and the IMERG rain rates, including rain rate accumulations derived from IMERG; hydrologists have used these data to supplement gauge data for post-event analysis as well as for longer-term forecasting. Results from specific evaluations will be presented. Another evaluation of the GPM passive microwave rain rates has been in using the data within other products that are currently transitioned to end-users, rather than as stand-alone observations. For example, IMERG Early data is being used as a forcing mechanism in the NASA Land Information System (LIS) for real-time soil moisture product over eastern Africa. IMERG is providing valuable precipitation information to LIS in an otherwise data-void region. Results and caveats will briefly be discussed. A third application of GPM data is using the IMERG Late and Final products for model verification in remote regions where high-quality gridded precipitation fields are not readily available. These datasets can now be used to verify NWP

  19. Rain Fade Compensation for Ka-Band Communications Satellites

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mitchell, W. Carl; Nguyen, Lan; Dissanayake, Asoka; Markey, Brian; Le, Anh

    1997-01-01

    This report provides a review and evaluation of rain fade measurement and compensation techniques for Ka-band satellite systems. This report includes a description of and cost estimates for performing three rain fade measurement and compensation experiments. The first experiment deals with rain fade measurement techniques while the second one covers the rain fade compensation techniques. The third experiment addresses a feedback flow control technique for the ABR service (for ATM-based traffic). The following conclusions were observed in this report; a sufficient system signal margin should be allocated for all carriers in a network, that is a fixed clear-sky margin should be typically in the range of 4-5 dB and should be more like 15 dB in the up link for moderate and heavy rain zones; to obtain a higher system margin it is desirable to combine the uplink power control technique with the technique that implements the source information rate and FEC code rate changes resulting in a 4-5 dB increase in the dynamic part of the system margin. The experiments would assess the feasibility of the fade measurements and compensation techniques, and ABR feedback control technique.

  20. Randomized Trial of Introduction of Allergenic Foods in Breast-Fed Infants.

    PubMed

    Perkin, Michael R; Logan, Kirsty; Tseng, Anna; Raji, Bunmi; Ayis, Salma; Peacock, Janet; Brough, Helen; Marrs, Tom; Radulovic, Suzana; Craven, Joanna; Flohr, Carsten; Lack, Gideon

    2016-05-05

    The age at which allergenic foods should be introduced into the diet of breast-fed infants is uncertain. We evaluated whether the early introduction of allergenic foods in the diet of breast-fed infants would protect against the development of food allergy. We recruited, from the general population, 1303 exclusively breast-fed infants who were 3 months of age and randomly assigned them to the early introduction of six allergenic foods (peanut, cooked egg, cow's milk, sesame, whitefish, and wheat; early-introduction group) or to the current practice recommended in the United Kingdom of exclusive breast-feeding to approximately 6 months of age (standard-introduction group). The primary outcome was food allergy to one or more of the six foods between 1 year and 3 years of age. In the intention-to-treat analysis, food allergy to one or more of the six intervention foods developed in 7.1% of the participants in the standard-introduction group (42 of 595 participants) and in 5.6% of those in the early-introduction group (32 of 567) (P=0.32). In the per-protocol analysis, the prevalence of any food allergy was significantly lower in the early-introduction group than in the standard-introduction group (2.4% vs. 7.3%, P=0.01), as was the prevalence of peanut allergy (0% vs. 2.5%, P=0.003) and egg allergy (1.4% vs. 5.5%, P=0.009); there were no significant effects with respect to milk, sesame, fish, or wheat. The consumption of 2 g per week of peanut or egg-white protein was associated with a significantly lower prevalence of these respective allergies than was less consumption. The early introduction of all six foods was not easily achieved but was safe. The trial did not show the efficacy of early introduction of allergenic foods in an intention-to-treat analysis. Further analysis raised the question of whether the prevention of food allergy by means of early introduction of multiple allergenic foods was dose-dependent. (Funded by the Food Standards Agency and others; EAT

  1. Complementary effects of species and genetic diversity on productivity and stability of sown grasslands.

    PubMed

    Prieto, Iván; Violle, Cyrille; Barre, Philippe; Durand, Jean-Louis; Ghesquiere, Marc; Litrico, Isabelle

    2015-03-30

    Plant species diversity regulates the productivity(1-3) and stability(2,4) of natural ecosystems, along with their resilience to disturbance(5,6). The influence of species diversity on the productivity of agronomic systems is less clear(7-10). Plant genetic diversity is also suspected to influence ecosystem function(3,11-14), although empirical evidence is scarce. Given the large range of genotypes that can be generated per species through artificial selection, genetic diversity is a potentially important leverage of productivity in cultivated systems. Here we assess the effect of species and genetic diversity on the production and sustainable supply of livestock fodder in sown grasslands, comprising single and multispecies assemblages characterized by different levels of genetic diversity, exposed to drought and non-drought conditions. Multispecies assemblages proved more productive than monocultures when subject to drought, regardless of the number of genotypes per species present. Conversely, the temporal stability of production increased only with the number of genotypes present under both drought and non-drought conditions, and was unaffected by the number of species. We conclude that taxonomic and genetic diversity can play complementary roles when it comes to optimizing livestock fodder production in managed grasslands, and suggest that both levels of diversity should be considered in plant breeding programmes designed to boost the productivity and resilience of managed grasslands in the face of increasing environmental hazards.

  2. Estimation of Rain Intensity Spectra over the Continental US Using Ground Radar-Gauge Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lin, Xin; Hou, Arthur Y.

    2013-01-01

    A high-resolution surface rainfall product is used to estimate rain characteristics over the continental US as a function of rain intensity. By defining each data at 4-km horizontal resolutions and 1-h temporal resolutions as an individual precipitating/nonprecipitating sample, statistics of rain occurrence and rain volume including their geographical and seasonal variations are documented. Quantitative estimations are also conducted to evaluate the impact of missing light rain events due to satellite sensors' detection capabilities. It is found that statistics of rain characteristics have large seasonal and geographical variations across the continental US. Although heavy rain events (> 10 mm/hr.) only occupy 2.6% of total rain occurrence, they may contribute to 27% of total rain volume. Light rain events (< 1.0 mm/hr.), occurring much more frequently (65%) than heavy rain events, can also make important contributions (15%) to the total rain volume. For minimum detectable rain rates setting at 0.5 and 0.2 mm/hr which are close to sensitivities of the current and future space-borne precipitation radars, there are about 43% and 11% of total rain occurrence below these thresholds, and they respectively represent 7% and 0.8% of total rain volume. For passive microwave sensors with their rain pixel sizes ranging from 14 to 16 km and the minimum detectable rain rates around 1 mm/hr., the missed light rain events may account for 70% of train occurrence and 16% of rain volume. Statistics of rain characteristics are also examined on domains with different temporal and spatial resolutions. Current issues in estimates of rain characteristics from satellite measurements and model outputs are discussed.

  3. Weed seed resources for birds in fields with contrasting conventional and genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops

    PubMed Central

    Gibbons, David W; Bohan, David A; Rothery, Peter; Stuart, Rick C; Haughton, Alison J; Scott, Rod J; Wilson, Jeremy D; Perry, Joe N; Clark, Suzanne J; Dawson, Robert J.G; Firbank, Les G

    2006-01-01

    The UK Farm Scale Evaluations (FSEs) have shown that the use of broad spectrum herbicides on genetically modified herbicide-tolerant (GMHT) crops can have dramatic effects on weed seed production compared to management of conventional varieties. Here, we use FSE data and information on bird diets to determine how GMHT cropping might change the food resources available to farmland birds. More than 60 fields of each of four crops, spring- and winter-sown oilseed rape, beet and maize, were split, one half being sown with a conventional variety, the other with a GMHT variety. Seed rain from weeds known to be important in the diets of 17 granivorous farmland bird species was measured under the two treatments. In beet and spring oilseed rape, rain of weed seeds important in the diets of 16 bird species was significantly reduced in GMHT compared to conventional halves; for no species did it increase. In winter oilseed rape, rain of weed seeds important in the diets of 10 species was significantly reduced in GMHT halves; for only one species did it increase significantly. By contrast, in maize, rain of weed seeds important in the diets of seven species was significantly greater in GMHT halves; for no species was it reduced. Treatment effects for the total weed seed energy available to each bird species were very similar to those for seed rain alone. Measuring the effects on individual bird species was outside the scope of this study. Despite this, these results suggest that should beet, spring and winter rape crops in the UK be largely replaced by GMHT varieties and managed as in the FSEs, this would markedly reduce important food resources for farmland birds, many of which declined during the last quarter of the twentieth century. By contrast, GMHT maize would be beneficial to farmland birds. PMID:16822753

  4. Acid Thunder: Acid Rain and Ancient Mesoamerica

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kahl, Jonathan D. W.; Berg, Craig A.

    2006-01-01

    Much of Mesoamerica's rich cultural heritage is slowly eroding because of acid rain. Just as water dissolves an Alka-Seltzer tablet, acid rain erodes the limestone surfaces of Mexican archaeological sites at a rate of about one-half millimeter per century (Bravo et al. 2003). A half-millimeter may not seem like much, but at this pace, a few…

  5. Flow Dynamics and Nutrient Reduction in Rain Gardens

    EPA Science Inventory

    The hydrological dynamics and changes in stormwater nutrient concentrations within rain gardens were studied by introducing captured stormwater runoff to rain gardens at EPA’s Urban Water Research Facility in Edison, New Jersey. The runoff used in these experiments was collected...

  6. Sources of sulphur in rain collected below a wheat canopy.

    PubMed

    Raybould, C C; Unsworth, M H; Gregory, P J

    1977-05-12

    Vegetation plays an important role in the cycle of sulphur between the atmosphere and the soil. We have measured the quantity of sulphur in rain collected below a maturing wheat canopy. This sulphur has three sources: first, the atmosphere, from which falling rain gains SO2 and sulphate; second, leaf surfaces, from which rain washes sulphur which was previously deposited by turbulent transfer ('dry deposition'), and third, leaf tissue, from which rain leaches sulphur. We have now deduced from field and laboratory measurements that leaching supplied nearly 90% of the sulphur gained by rain as it fell through the wheat canopy. Only a small fraction of sulphur which had been dry-deposited on the surface of leaves could be washed off.

  7. Thinking in the Rain.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bartlett, Albert A.

    1989-01-01

    Four questions related to rain concerning aerodynamic drag force, pressure from the impact of raindrops, impact of wind on the pressure, and stopping force extended on the car by the water are proposed. (YP)

  8. SULFURIC ACID RAIN EFFECTS ON CROP YIELD AND FOLIAR INJURY

    EPA Science Inventory

    A study was undertaken to determine the relative sensitivity of major U.S. crops to sulfuric acid rain. Plants were grown under controlled environmental conditions and exposed to simulated acid rain of three sulfuric acid concentrations (pH 3.0, 3.5, 4.0) or to a control rain (pH...

  9. Effects of simulated rain acidified with sulfuric acid on host-parasite interactions

    Treesearch

    D. S. Shriner

    1976-01-01

    Wind-blown rain, rain splash, and films of free moisture play important roles in the epidemiology of many plant diseases. The effects of simulated rain acidified with sulfuric acid were studied on several host-parasite systems. Plants were exposed, in greenhouse or field, to simulated rain of pH 3.2 ? 0.1 or pH 6.0 ? 0.2. Simulated "rain" of pH 3.2 resulted...

  10. A comparative assessment of R. M. Young and tipping bucket rain gauges

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Goldhirsh, Julius; Gebo, Norman E.

    1992-01-01

    Rain rates as derived from standard tipping bucket rain gauges have variable integration times corresponding to the interval between bucket tips. For example, the integration time for the Weathertronics rain gauge is given by delta(T) = 15.24/R (min), where R is the rain rate expressed in mm/h and delta(T) is the time between tips expressed in minutes. It is apparent that a rain rate of 1 mm/h has an integration time in excess of 15 minutes. Rain rates larger than 15.24 mm/h will have integration times smaller than 1 minute. The integration time is dictated by the time it takes to fill a small tipping bucket where each tip gives rise to 0.254 mm of rainfall. Hence, a uniform rain rate of 1 mm/h over a 15 minute period will give rise to the same rain rate as 0 mm/h rainfall over the first 14 minutes and 15 mm/h between 14 to 15 minutes from the reference tip. Hence, the rain intensity fluctuations may not be captured with the tipping bucket rain gauge for highly variable rates encompassing lower and higher values over a given integration time. The objective of this effort is to provide an assessment of the features of the R. M. Young capacitive gauge and to compare these features with those of the standard tipping bucket rain gauge. A number of rain rate-time series derived from measurements with approximately co-located gauges are examined.

  11. Comparisons of Rain Estimates from Ground Radar and Satellite Over Mountainous Regions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lin, Xin; Kidd, Chris; Tao, Jing; Barros, Ana

    2016-01-01

    A high-resolution rainfall product merging surface radar and an enhanced gauge network is used as a reference to examine two operational surface radar rainfall products over mountain areas. The two operational rainfall products include radar-only and conventional-gauge-corrected radar rainfall products. Statistics of rain occurrence and rain amount including their geographical, seasonal, and diurnal variations are examined using 3-year data. It is found that the three surface radar rainfall products in general agree well with one another over mountainous regions in terms of horizontal mean distributions of rain occurrence and rain amount. Frequency of rain occurrence and fraction of rain amount also indicate similar distribution patterns as a function of rain intensity. The diurnal signals of precipitation over mountain ridges are well captured and joint distributions of coincident raining samples indicate reasonable correlations during both summer and winter. Factors including undetected low-level precipitation, limited availability of gauges for correcting the Z-R relationship over the mountains, and radar beam blocking by mountains are clearly noticed in the two conventional radar rainfall products. Both radar-only and conventional-gauge-corrected radar rainfall products underestimate the rain occurrence and fraction of rain amount at intermediate and heavy rain intensities. Comparison of PR and TMI against a surface radar-only rainfall product indicates that the PR performs equally well with the high-resolution radar-only rainfall product over complex terrains at intermediate and heavy rain intensities during the summer and winter. TMI, on the other hand, requires improvement to retrieve wintertime precipitation over mountain areas.

  12. Characterization of rain heights due to 0° isotherm in tropical and subtropical climates: implication on rain-induced attenuation prediction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ojo, J. S.; Owolawi, P. A.

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, the dynamics of the structure of the rain profile as related to the zero-degree isotherm height and the implications for attenuation prediction along the Earth-space propagation links at locations in Nigeria, a tropical region, and South Africa, a subtropical region, are presented. Five-year (January 2010-December 2014) precipitation data on board the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite have been analyzed over some selected locations in the two regions. The influences of the zero-degree isotherm height on some observed weather parameters are also discussed. The result on the influence of air temperature on rain height h r shows a significant increase in the tropical environment as compared with those in the subtropics. However, when h r results are compared with those obtained using rain height as recommended by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), there is a significant difference at the 0.01% unavailability of the signal in a year particularly at higher frequencies. Further comparison with the slant path attenuation at 0.01% unavailability of the signal in a year shows a slight deviation (between 1.04 and 2.13 dB) in rain height than those acquired using the measured rain height in the tropical locations. Nevertheless, the result is slightly less than those obtained using the measured rain height in the subtropical locations with the differences in dB between - 0.49 and - 1.18. The overall results will be useful for estimating the link budgeting for digital radio satellite broadcasting. It will also be applicable for radar propagation systems at higher-frequency bands in Nigeria and South Africa.

  13. Algorithm for Identifying Erroneous Rain-Gauge Readings

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rickman, Doug

    2005-01-01

    An algorithm analyzes rain-gauge data to identify statistical outliers that could be deemed to be erroneous readings. Heretofore, analyses of this type have been performed in burdensome manual procedures that have involved subjective judgements. Sometimes, the analyses have included computational assistance for detecting values falling outside of arbitrary limits. The analyses have been performed without statistically valid knowledge of the spatial and temporal variations of precipitation within rain events. In contrast, the present algorithm makes it possible to automate such an analysis, makes the analysis objective, takes account of the spatial distribution of rain gauges in conjunction with the statistical nature of spatial variations in rainfall readings, and minimizes the use of arbitrary criteria. The algorithm implements an iterative process that involves nonparametric statistics.

  14. RainCube 6U CubeSat

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2018-05-17

    The RainCube 6U CubeSat with fully-deployed antenna. RainCube, CubeRRT and TEMPEST-D are currently integrated aboard Orbital ATKs Cygnus spacecraft and are awaiting launch on an Antares rocket. After the CubeSats have arrived at the station, they will be deployed into low-Earth orbit and will begin their missions to test these new technologies useful for predicting weather, ensuring data quality, and helping researchers better understand storms. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22457

  15. Rain pollination provides reproductive assurance in a deceptive orchid.

    PubMed

    Fan, Xu-Li; Barrett, Spencer C H; Lin, Hua; Chen, Ling-Ling; Zhou, Xiang; Gao, Jiang-Yun

    2012-10-01

    Abiotic pollination by wind or water is well established in flowering plants. In some species pollination by rain splashes, a condition known as ombrophily, has been proposed as a floral strategy. However, evidence for this type of abiotic pollination has remained controversial and many reported cases have subsequently been shown to be false. This study investigates ombrophily in the deceptive orchid Acampe rigida to determine the mechanism by which this species is able to maintain high fecundity, despite flowering during the rainy season in south-west China when pollinators are scarce. The floral mechanisms promoting rain pollination in A. rigida were observed and described in detail. Controlled pollination experiments and observations of floral visitors were conducted. A field experiment using rain shelters at 14 sites in Guangxi, south-west China, evaluated the contribution of rain pollination to fruit-set. During rainfall, raindrops physically flicked away the anther cap exposing the pollinarium. Raindrops then caused pollinia to be ejected upwards with the strap-like stipe pulling them back and causing them to fall into the stigmatic cavity, resulting in self-pollination. Neither flower nor pollen function were damaged by water. Although A. rigida is self-compatible, it is incapable of autonomous self-pollination without the assistance of rain splashes. The results of the rain-sheltering experiment indicated that rain pollination contributed substantially to increasing fruit-set, although there was variation among sites in the intensity of this effect. A. rigida flowers during the rainy season, when pollinators are scarce, and ombrophily functions to provide reproductive assurance without compromising opportunities for outcrossing.

  16. Fatigue loading history reconstruction based on the rain-flow technique

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Khosrovaneh, A. K.; Dowling, N. E.

    1989-01-01

    Methods are considered for reducing a non-random fatigue loading history to a concise description and then for reconstructing a time history similar to the original. In particular, three methods of reconstruction based on a rain-flow cycle counting matrix are presented. A rain-flow matrix consists of the numbers of cycles at various peak and valley combinations. Two methods are based on a two dimensional rain-flow matrix, and the third on a three dimensional rain-flow matrix. Histories reconstructed by any of these methods produce a rain-flow matrix identical to that of the original history, and as a result the resulting time history is expected to produce a fatigue life similar to that for the original. The procedures described allow lengthy loading histories to be stored in compact form.

  17. A Rain Taxonomy for Degraded Visual Environment Mitigation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gatlin, P. N.; Petersen, W. A.

    2018-01-01

    This Technical Memorandum (TM) provides a description of a rainfall taxonomy that defines the detailed characteristics of naturally occurring rainfall. The taxonomy is based on raindrop size measurements collected around the globe and encompasses several different climate types. Included in this TM is a description of these rainfall observations, an explanation of methods used to process those data, and resultant metrics comprising the rain taxonomy database. Each of the categories in the rain taxonomy are characterized by a unique set of raindrop sizes that can be used in simulations of electromagnetic wave propagation through a rain medium.

  18. Occurrence of 4-Nonylphenol in rain and snow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fries, Elke; Püttmann, Wilhelm

    The present technical note reports on the endocrine disruptor 4-nonylphenol (4-NP) in rain and snow. In July 2001, November 2001 and January 2002, rain and snow sampling was conducted at different urban, suburban and rural areas in Germany and Belgium. The mean concentration of 4-NP in rain water and roof run off was 0.253 μg dm -3 ( n=8) with a higher mean concentration in suburban areas at 0.534 μg dm -3 and considerable lower mean concentrations in rural and urban areas at 0.099 and 0.062 μg dm -3, respectively. The mean concentration of 4-NP at 0.099 μg dm -3 ( n=3) was significantly lower in summer rain than in winter rain at 0.346 μg dm -3. In snow samples, 4-NP was detected with a mean value of 0.242 μg dm -3 ( n=8). A higher mean value of 4-NP in snow at 0.478 μg dm -3 ( n=4) was found at urban sites whereas in snow from suburban areas the mean concentration of 4-NP at 0.030 μg dm -3 ( n=2) was much lower. 4-NP was never detected above its determination limit in snow samples from rural areas.

  19. Millimeter wave propagation modeling of inhomogeneous rain media for satellite communications systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Persinger, R. R.; Stutzman, W. L.

    1978-01-01

    A theoretical propagation model that represents the scattering properties of an inhomogeneous rain often found on a satellite communications link is presented. The model includes the scattering effects of an arbitrary distribution of particle type (rain or ice), particle shape, particle size, and particle orientation within a given rain cell. An associated rain propagation prediction program predicts attenuation, isolation and phase shift as a function of ground rain rate. A frequency independent synthetic storm algorithm is presented that models nonuniform rain rates present on a satellite link. Antenna effects are included along with a discussion of rain reciprocity. The model is verified using the latest available multiple frequency data from the CTS and COMSTAR satellites. The data covers a wide range of frequencies, elevation angles, and ground site locations.

  20. Difficult Decisions: Acid Rain.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, John A.; Slesnick, Irwin L.

    1989-01-01

    Discusses some of the contributing factors and chemical reactions involved in the production of acid rain, its effects, and political issues pertaining to who should pay for the clean up. Supplies questions for consideration and discussion. (RT)

  1. 40 CFR 72.69 - Issuance and effective date of acid rain permits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ...) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Federal Acid Rain Permit Issuance Procedures § 72.69 Issuance and effective date of acid rain permits. (a) After the close of the public comment period, the Administrator will issue or deny an Acid Rain permit. The Administrator will serve a copy of any Acid Rain...

  2. 40 CFR 72.69 - Issuance and effective date of acid rain permits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ...) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Federal Acid Rain Permit Issuance Procedures § 72.69 Issuance and effective date of acid rain permits. (a) After the close of the public comment period, the Administrator will issue or deny an Acid Rain permit. The Administrator will serve a copy of any Acid Rain...

  3. 40 CFR 72.69 - Issuance and effective date of acid rain permits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ...) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Federal Acid Rain Permit Issuance Procedures § 72.69 Issuance and effective date of acid rain permits. (a) After the close of the public comment period, the Administrator will issue or deny an Acid Rain permit. The Administrator will serve a copy of any Acid Rain...

  4. 40 CFR 72.69 - Issuance and effective date of acid rain permits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ...) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Federal Acid Rain Permit Issuance Procedures § 72.69 Issuance and effective date of acid rain permits. (a) After the close of the public comment period, the Administrator will issue or deny an Acid Rain permit. The Administrator will serve a copy of any Acid Rain...

  5. 40 CFR 72.69 - Issuance and effective date of acid rain permits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ...) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Federal Acid Rain Permit Issuance Procedures § 72.69 Issuance and effective date of acid rain permits. (a) After the close of the public comment period, the Administrator will issue or deny an Acid Rain permit. The Administrator will serve a copy of any Acid Rain...

  6. Prediction of apparent extinction for optical transmission through rain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vasseur, H.; Gibbins, C. J.

    1996-12-01

    At optical wavelengths, geometrical optics holds that the extinction efficiency of raindrops is equal to two. This approximation yields a wavelength-independent extinction coefficient that, however, can hardly be used to predict accurately rain extinction measured in optical transmissions. Actually, in addition to the extinct direct incoming light, a significant part of the power scattered by the rain particles reaches the receiver. This leads to a reduced apparent extinction that depends on both rain characteristics and link parameters. A simple method is proposed to evaluate this apparent extinction. It accounts for the additional scattered power that enters the receiver when one considers the forward-scattering pattern of the raindrops as well as the multiple-scattering effects using, respectively, the Fraunhofer diffraction and Twersky theory. It results in a direct analytical formula that enables a quick and accurate estimation of the rain apparent extinction and highlights the influence of the link parameters. Predictions of apparent extinction through rain are found in excellent agreement with measurements in the visible and IR regions.

  7. Estimating 1 min rain rate distributions from numerical weather prediction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Paulson, Kevin S.

    2017-01-01

    Internationally recognized prognostic models of rain fade on terrestrial and Earth-space EHF links rely fundamentally on distributions of 1 min rain rates. Currently, in Rec. ITU-R P.837-6, these distributions are generated using the Salonen-Poiares Baptista method where 1 min rain rate distributions are estimated from long-term average annual accumulations provided by numerical weather prediction (NWP). This paper investigates an alternative to this method based on the distribution of 6 h accumulations available from the same NWPs. Rain rate fields covering the UK, produced by the Nimrod network of radars, are integrated to estimate the accumulations provided by NWP, and these are linked to distributions of fine-scale rain rates. The proposed method makes better use of the available data. It is verified on 15 NWP regions spanning the UK, and the extension to other regions is discussed.

  8. Scattering by Artificial Wind and Rain Roughened Water Surfaces at Oblique Incidences

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Craeye, C.; Sobieski, P. W.; Bliven, L. F.

    1997-01-01

    Rain affects wind retrievals from scatterometric measurements of the sea surface. To depict the additional roughness caused by rain on a wind driven surface, we use a ring-wave spectral model. This enables us to analyse the rain effect on K(u) band scatterometric observations from two laboratory experiments. Calculations based on the small perturbation method provide good simulation of scattering measurements for the rain-only case, whereas for combined wind and rain cases, the boundary perturbation method is appropriate.

  9. Mechanics of interrill erosion with wind-driven rain

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The vector physics of wind-driven rain (WDR) differs from that of wind-free rain, and the interrill soil detachment equations in the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model were not originally developed to deal with this phenomenon. This article provides an evaluation of the performance of the...

  10. 14 CFR 33.78 - Rain and hail ingestion.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS: AIRCRAFT ENGINES Design and Construction; Turbine Aircraft Engines § 33.78 Rain and... alternative to the requirements specified in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, for rotorcraft turbine engines... ingestion of rain with an overall ratio of water droplet flow to airflow, by weight, with a uniform...

  11. 14 CFR 33.78 - Rain and hail ingestion.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS: AIRCRAFT ENGINES Design and Construction; Turbine Aircraft Engines § 33.78 Rain and... alternative to the requirements specified in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, for rotorcraft turbine engines... ingestion of rain with an overall ratio of water droplet flow to airflow, by weight, with a uniform...

  12. 14 CFR 33.78 - Rain and hail ingestion.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS: AIRCRAFT ENGINES Design and Construction; Turbine Aircraft Engines § 33.78 Rain and... alternative to the requirements specified in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, for rotorcraft turbine engines... ingestion of rain with an overall ratio of water droplet flow to airflow, by weight, with a uniform...

  13. 14 CFR 33.78 - Rain and hail ingestion.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS: AIRCRAFT ENGINES Design and Construction; Turbine Aircraft Engines § 33.78 Rain and... alternative to the requirements specified in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, for rotorcraft turbine engines... ingestion of rain with an overall ratio of water droplet flow to airflow, by weight, with a uniform...

  14. Seasonal variability in hydrologic-system response to intense rain events, Matanuska Glacier, Alaska, U.S.A.

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Denner, J.C.; Lawson, D.E.; Larson, G.J.; Evenson, E.B.; Alley, R.B.; Strasser, J.C.; Kopczynski, S.

    1999-01-01

    Two rain events at Matanuska Glacier illustrate how subglacial drainage system development and snowpack conditions affect hydrologic response at the terminus. On 21 and 22 September 1995, over 56 mm of rain fell in the basin during a period usually characterized by much drier conditions. This event caused an 8-fold increase in discharge and a 47-fold increase in suspended-sediment concentration. Peak suspended-sediment concentration exceeded 20 kg m-3, suggesting rapid evacuation of stored sediment. While water discharge returned to its pre-storm level nine days after the rain ceased, suspended-sediment concentrations took about 20 days to return to pre-storm levels. These observations suggest that the storm influx late in the melt season probably forced subglacial water into a more distributed system. In addition, subglacially transported sediments were supplemented to an unknown degree by the influx of storm-eroded sediments off hillslopes and from tributary drainage basins. A storm on 6 and 7 June 1997, dropped 28 mm of rain on the basin demonstrating the effects of meltwater retention in the snowpack and englacial and subglacial storage early in the melt season. Streamflow before the storm event was increasing gradually owing to warming temperatures; however, discharge during the storm and the following week increased only slightly. Suspended-sediment concentrations increased only a small amount, suggesting the drainage system was not yet well developed, and much of the runoff occurred across the relatively clean surface of the glacier or through englacial channels.

  15. Polar Rain Gradients and Field-Aligned Polar Cap Potentials

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fairfield, D. H.; Wing, S.; Newell, P. T.; Ruohoniemi, J. M.; Gosling, J. T.; Skoug, R. M.

    2008-01-01

    ACE SWEPAM measurements of solar wind field-aligned electrons have been compared with simultaneous measurements of polar rain electrons precipitating over the polar cap and detected by DMSP spacecraft. Such comparisons allow investigation of cross-polarcap gradients in the intensity of otherwise-steady polar rain. The generally good agreement of the distribution functions, f, from the two data sources confirms that direct entry of solar electrons along open field lines is indeed the cause of polar rain. The agreement between the data sets is typically best on the side of the polar cap with most intense polar rain but the DMSP f's in less intense regions can be brought into agreement with ACE measurements by shifting all energies by a fixed amounts that range from tens to several hundred eV. In most cases these shifts are positive which implies that field-aligned potentials of these amounts exist on polar cap field lines which tend to retard the entry of electrons and produce the observed gradients. These retarding potentials undoubtedly appear in order to prevent the entry of low-energy electrons and maintain charge quasi-neutrality that would otherwise be violated since most tailward flowing magnetosheath ions are unable to follow polar rain electrons down to the polar cap. In more limited regions near the boundary of the polar cap there is sometimes evidence for field-aligned potentials of the opposite sign that accelerate polar rain electrons. A solar electron burst is also studied and it is concluded that electrons from such bursts can enter the magnetotail and precipitate in the same manner as polar rain.

  16. Polar Rain Gradients and Field-Aligned Polar Cap Potentials

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fairfield, D. H.; Wing, S.; Newell, P. T.; Ruohoniemi, J. M.; Gosling, J. T.; Skoug, R. M.

    2008-01-01

    ACE SWEPAM measurements of solar wind field-aligned electrons have been compared with simultaneous measurements of polar rain electrons precipitating over the polar cap and detected by DMSP spacecraft. Such comparisons allow investigation of cross-polar-cap gradients in the intensity of otherwise-steady polar rain. The generally good agreement of the distribution functions, f, from the two data sources confirms that direct entry of solar electrons along open field lines is indeed the cause of polar rain. The agreement between the data sets is typically best on the side of the polar cap with most intense polar rain but the DMSP f's in less intense regions can be brought into agreement with ACE measurements by shifting all energies by a fixed amounts that range from tens to several hundred eV. In most cases these shifts are positive which implies that field-aligned potentials of these amounts exist on polar cap field lines which tend to retard the entry of electrons and produce the observed gradients. These retarding potentials undoubtedly appear in order to prevent the entry of low-energy electrons and maintain charge quasi-neutrality that would otherwise be violated since most tailward flowing magnetosheath ions are unable to follow polar rain electrons down to the polar cap. In more limited regions near the boundary of the polar cap there is sometimes evidence for field-aligned potentials of the opposite sign that accelerate polar rain electrons. A solar electron burst is also studied and it is concluded that electrons from such bursts can enter the magnetotail and precipitate in the same manner as polar rain.

  17. Rain pollination provides reproductive assurance in a deceptive orchid

    PubMed Central

    Fan, Xu-Li; Barrett, Spencer C. H.; Lin, Hua; Chen, Ling-Ling; Zhou, Xiang; Gao, Jiang-Yun

    2012-01-01

    Background and Aims Abiotic pollination by wind or water is well established in flowering plants. In some species pollination by rain splashes, a condition known as ombrophily, has been proposed as a floral strategy. However, evidence for this type of abiotic pollination has remained controversial and many reported cases have subsequently been shown to be false. This study investigates ombrophily in the deceptive orchid Acampe rigida to determine the mechanism by which this species is able to maintain high fecundity, despite flowering during the rainy season in south-west China when pollinators are scarce. Methods The floral mechanisms promoting rain pollination in A. rigida were observed and described in detail. Controlled pollination experiments and observations of floral visitors were conducted. A field experiment using rain shelters at 14 sites in Guangxi, south-west China, evaluated the contribution of rain pollination to fruit-set. Key Results During rainfall, raindrops physically flicked away the anther cap exposing the pollinarium. Raindrops then caused pollinia to be ejected upwards with the strap-like stipe pulling them back and causing them to fall into the stigmatic cavity, resulting in self-pollination. Neither flower nor pollen function were damaged by water. Although A. rigida is self-compatible, it is incapable of autonomous self-pollination without the assistance of rain splashes. The results of the rain-sheltering experiment indicated that rain pollination contributed substantially to increasing fruit-set, although there was variation among sites in the intensity of this effect. Conclusions A. rigida flowers during the rainy season, when pollinators are scarce, and ombrophily functions to provide reproductive assurance without compromising opportunities for outcrossing. PMID:22851311

  18. Rain rate and modeled fade distributions at 20 GHz and 30 GHz derived from five years of network rain gauge measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Goldhirsh, Julius; Krichevsky, Vladimir; Gebo, Norman

    1992-01-01

    Five years of rain rate and modeled slant path attenuation distributions at 20 GHz and 30 GHz derived from a network of 10 tipping bucket rain gages was examined. The rain gage network is located within a grid 70 km north-south and 47 km east-west in the Mid-Atlantic coast of the United States in the vicinity of Wallops Island, Virginia. Distributions were derived from the variable integration time data and from one minute averages. It was demonstrated that for realistic fade margins, the variable integration time results are adequate to estimate slant path attenuations at frequencies above 20 GHz using models which require one minute averages. An accurate empirical formula was developed to convert the variable integration time rain rates to one minute averages. Fade distributions at 20 GHz and 30 GHz were derived employing Crane's Global model because it was demonstrated to exhibit excellent accuracy with measured COMSTAR fades at 28.56 GHz.

  19. Rain Characteristics and Large-Scale Environments of Precipitation Objects with Extreme Rain Volumes from TRMM Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zhou, Yaping; Lau, William K M.; Liu, Chuntao

    2013-01-01

    This study adopts a "precipitation object" approach by using 14 years of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Feature (PF) and National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data to study rainfall structure and environmental factors associated with extreme heavy rain events. Characteristics of instantaneous extreme volumetric PFs are examined and compared to those of intermediate and small systems. It is found that instantaneous PFs exhibit a much wider scale range compared to the daily gridded precipitation accumulation range. The top 1% of the rainiest PFs contribute over 55% of total rainfall and have 2 orders of rain volume magnitude greater than those of the median PFs. We find a threshold near the top 10% beyond which the PFs grow exponentially into larger, deeper, and colder rain systems. NCEP reanalyses show that midlevel relative humidity and total precipitable water increase steadily with increasingly larger PFs, along with a rapid increase of 500 hPa upward vertical velocity beyond the top 10%. This provides the necessary moisture convergence to amplify and sustain the extreme events. The rapid increase in vertical motion is associated with the release of convective available potential energy (CAPE) in mature systems, as is evident in the increase in CAPE of PFs up to 10% and the subsequent dropoff. The study illustrates distinct stages in the development of an extreme rainfall event including: (1) a systematic buildup in large-scale temperature and moisture, (2) a rapid change in rain structure, (3) explosive growth of the PF size, and (4) a release of CAPE before the demise of the event.

  20. Rain rate range profiling from a spaceborne radar

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Meneghini, R.

    1980-01-01

    At certain frequencies and incidence angles the relative invariance of the surface scattering properites over land can be used to estimate the total attenuation and the integrated rain from a spaceborne attenuation-wavelength radar. The technique is generalized so that rain rate profiles along the radar beam can be estimated, i.e., rain rate determination at each range bin. This is done by modifying the standard algorithm for an attenuating-wavelength radar to include in it the measurement of the total attenuation. Simple error analyses of the estimates show that this type of profiling is possible if the total attenuation can be measured with a modest degree of accuracy.

  1. The Acid Rain Debate.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oates-Bockenstedt, Catherine

    1997-01-01

    Details an activity designed to motivate students by incorporating science-related issues into a classroom debate. Includes "The Acid Rain Bill" and "Position Guides" for student roles as committee members, consumers, governors, industry owners, tourism professionals, senators, and debate directors. (DKM)

  2. Slouching in the Rain

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bailey, Herb

    2013-01-01

    A number of papers find the velocity that minimizes the wetness of a traveler caught in the rain. In this capsule we determine, in addition, the necessary amount of forward bend (slouching) so that the traveler stays as dry as possible.

  3. Acid Rain, pH & Acidity: A Common Misinterpretation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clark, David B.; Thompson, Ronald E.

    1989-01-01

    Illustrates the basis for misleading statements about the relationship between pH and acid content in acid rain. Explains why pH cannot be used as a measure of acidity for rain or any other solution. Suggests that teachers present acidity and pH as two separate and distinct concepts. (RT)

  4. Rain measurements from space using a modified Seasat-type radar altimeter

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Goldhirsh, J.; Walsh, E. J.

    1982-01-01

    The incorporation in the 13.5 GHz Seasat-type radar altimeter of a mode to measure rain rate is investigated. Specifically, an algorithm is developed relating the echo power at the various range bins, to the rain rate taking into consideration Mie scattering and path attenuation. The dependence of the algorithm on rain drop size distribution and nonuniform rain structure are examined and associated uncertainties defined. A technique for obtaining drop size distribution through the measurements of power at the top of the raincell and power difference through the cell also is investigated together with an associated error analysis. A description of the minor hardware modifications to the basic Seasat design is given for implementing the rain measurements.

  5. On validation of the rain climatic zone designations for Nigeria

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Obiyemi, O. O.; Ibiyemi, T. S.; Ojo, J. S.

    2017-07-01

    In this paper, validation of rain climatic zone classifications for Nigeria is presented based on global radio-climatic models by the International Telecommunication Union-Radiocommunication (ITU-R) and Crane. Rain rate estimates deduced from several ground-based measurements and those earlier estimated from the precipitation index on the Tropical Rain Measurement Mission (TRMM) were employed for the validation exercise. Although earlier classifications indicated that Nigeria falls into zones P, Q, N, and K for the ITU-R designations, and zones E and H for Crane's climatic zone designations, the results however confirmed that the rain climatic zones across Nigeria can only be classified into four, namely P, Q, M, and N for the ITU-R designations, while the designations by Crane exhibited only three zones, namely E, G, and H. The ITU-R classification was found to be more suitable for planning microwave and millimeter wave links across Nigeria. The research outcomes are vital in boosting the confidence level of system designers in using the ITU-R designations as presented in the map developed for the rain zone designations for estimating the attenuation induced by rain along satellite and terrestrial microwave links over Nigeria.

  6. Endangerment of cultural heritage sites by strong rain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Krauß, Thomas; Fischer, Peter

    2017-09-01

    Due to climate change extreme weather conditions become more and more frequent in the last years. Especially in Germany nearly every year a large flood event happens. Most of these events are caused by strong rain. There are at most two causes for these floodings: The first is locally strong rain in the area of damage, the second happens at damage sites located near confluxes and strong rain in the upper stream areas of the joining rivers. The amount of damage is often strongly correlated with unreasonable designation of new construction in such endangered regions. Our presented study is based on an earlier project together with a German insurance company. In this project we analyzed correlations of geographical settings with the insurance data of flood damages over ten years. The result of this study was a strong relation of the terrain with the amount and the probability of damages. Further investigations allow us to derive a system for estimating potential endangerment due to strong rain just from suitable digital terrain models (DTMs). In the presented study we apply this method to different types of cultural heritage (CH) sites in Germany and other parts of the world to detect which type of CH sites were build with potential endangerment of strong rain events in mind and which ones are prone to such events.

  7. Estimating the exceedance probability of rain rate by logistic regression

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chiu, Long S.; Kedem, Benjamin

    1990-01-01

    Recent studies have shown that the fraction of an area with rain intensity above a fixed threshold is highly correlated with the area-averaged rain rate. To estimate the fractional rainy area, a logistic regression model, which estimates the conditional probability that rain rate over an area exceeds a fixed threshold given the values of related covariates, is developed. The problem of dependency in the data in the estimation procedure is bypassed by the method of partial likelihood. Analyses of simulated scanning multichannel microwave radiometer and observed electrically scanning microwave radiometer data during the Global Atlantic Tropical Experiment period show that the use of logistic regression in pixel classification is superior to multiple regression in predicting whether rain rate at each pixel exceeds a given threshold, even in the presence of noisy data. The potential of the logistic regression technique in satellite rain rate estimation is discussed.

  8. Effects and mechanism of acid rain on plant chloroplast ATP synthase.

    PubMed

    Sun, Jingwen; Hu, Huiqing; Li, Yueli; Wang, Lihong; Zhou, Qing; Huang, Xiaohua

    2016-09-01

    Acid rain can directly or indirectly affect plant physiological functions, especially photosynthesis. The enzyme ATP synthase is the key in photosynthetic energy conversion, and thus, it affects plant photosynthesis. To clarify the mechanism by which acid rain affects photosynthesis, we studied the effects of acid rain on plant growth, photosynthesis, chloroplast ATP synthase activity and gene expression, chloroplast ultrastructure, intracellular H(+) level, and water content of rice seedlings. Acid rain at pH 4.5 remained the chloroplast structure unchanged but increased the expression of six chloroplast ATP synthase subunits, promoted chloroplast ATP synthase activity, and increased photosynthesis and plant growth. Acid rain at pH 4.0 or less decreased leaf water content, destroyed chloroplast structure, inhibited the expression of six chloroplast ATP synthase subunits, decreased chloroplast ATP synthase activity, and reduced photosynthesis and plant growth. In conclusion, acid rain affected the chloroplast ultrastructure, chloroplast ATPase transcription and activity, and P n by changing the acidity in the cells, and thus influencing the plant growth and development. Finally, the effects of simulated acid rain on the test indices were found to be dose-dependent.

  9. Rain Forests: Do They Hold Up the Sky?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shaw, Donna Gail; Dybdahl, Claudia S.

    1992-01-01

    This paper uses the topic of rain forests to demonstrate how a meaningful and relevant Science, Technology, and Society program can be designed for intermediate-level students. Students create and immerse themselves in a tropical rain forest, explore the forest ecosystem and peoples, and consider solutions to the problem of deforestation. (JDD)

  10. Acid Rain Classroom Projects.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Demchik, Michael J.

    2000-01-01

    Describes a curriculum plan in which students learn about acid rain through instructional media, research and class presentations, lab activities, simulations, design, and design implementation. Describes the simulation activity in detail and includes materials, procedures, instructions, examples, results, and discussion sections. (SAH)

  11. People & Tropical Rain Forests.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    NatureScope, 1989

    1989-01-01

    Discusses ways people who live in rain forests make a living and some of the products that enrich our lives. Provides activities covering forest people, tropical treats, jungle in the pantry, treetop explorers, and three copyable pages to accompany activities. (Author/RT)

  12. Disdrometer and Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge Handbook

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bartholomew. MJ

    2009-12-01

    The Distromet disdrometer model RD-80 and NovaLynx tipping bucket rain gauge model 260-2500E-12 are two devices deployed a few meters apart to measure the character and amount of liquid precipitation. The main purpose of the disdrometer is to measure drop size distribution, which it does over 20 size classes from 0.3 mm to 5.4 mm. The data from both instruments can be used to determine rain rate. The disdrometer results can also be used to infer several properties including drop number density, radar reflectivity, liquid water content, and energy flux. Two coefficients, N0 and Λ, from an exponential fit betweenmore » drop diameter and drop number density, are routinely calculated. Data are collected once a minute. The instruments make completely different kinds of measurements. Rain that falls on the disdrometer sensor moves a plunger on a vertical axis. The disdrometer transforms the plunger motion into electrical impulses whose strength is proportional to drop diameter. The rain gauge is the conventional tipping bucket type. Each tip collects an amount equivalent to 0.01 in. of water, and each tip is counted by a data acquisition system anchored by a Campbell CR1000 data logger.« less

  13. Rain rate instrument for deployment at sea, phase 2

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Steele, Jimmy W.

    1992-01-01

    This report describes, in detail, the SBIR Phase 2 contracting effort provided for by NASA Contract Number NAS8-38481 in which a prototype Rain Rate Sensor was developed. FWG Model RP101A is a fully functional rain rate and droplet size analyzing instrument. The RP101A is a fully functional rain rate and droplet size analyzing instrument. The RP101A consists of a fiber optic probe containing a 32-fiber array connected to an electronic signal processor. When interfaced to an IBM compatible personal computer and configured with appropriate software, the RP101A is capable of measuring rain rates and particles ranging in size from around 300 microns up to 6 to 7 millimeters. FWG Associates, Inc. intends to develop a production model from the prototype and continue the effort under NASA's SBIR Phase 3 program.

  14. Elementary Acid Rain Kit, Interdisciplinary, Grades 4-8.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stubbs, Harriett S.; And Others

    An interdisciplinary approach for teaching about acid rain is offered in this curriculum guide for teachers of grades 4-8. Skill and concept areas of science, math, social studies, art, and the language arts are developed in 12 activities which focus on the acid rain problems. A matrix of the activities and subject areas indicates the coverage…

  15. 2017 Campus RainWorks Challenge

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    EPA’s Office of Water is pleased to announce its fifth annual Campus RainWorks Challenge for undergraduate and graduate students to design innvoative green infrastructure practices for stormwater management.

  16. 2016 Campus RainWorks Challenge

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    EPA’s Office of Water is pleased to announce its fifth annual Campus RainWorks Challenge for undergraduate and graduate students to design innvoative green infrastructure practices for stormwater management.

  17. Detecting Sulfuric and Nitric Acid Rain Stresses on Quercus glauca through Hyperspectral Responses

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Shanqian; Zhang, Xiuying; Ma, Yuandan; Li, Xinhui; Zhang, Xiaomin; Liu, Lei

    2018-01-01

    Acid rain, which has become one of the most severe global environmental issues, is detrimental to plant growth. However, effective methods for monitoring plant responses to acid rain stress are currently lacking. The hyperspectral technique provides a cost-effective and nondestructive way to diagnose acid rain stresses. Taking a widely distributed species (Quercus glauca) in Southern China as an example, this study aims to monitor the hyperspectral responses of Q. glauca to simulated sulfuric acid rain (SAR) and nitric acid rain (NAR). A total of 15 periods of leaf hyperspectral data under four pH levels of SAR and NAR were obtained during the experiment. The results showed that hyperspectral information could be used to distinguish plant responses under acid rain stress. An index (green peak area index, GPAI) was proposed to indicate acid rain stresses, based on the significantly variations in the region of 500–660 nm. Light acid rain (pH 4.5 SAR and NAR) promoted Q. glauca growth relative to the control groups (pH 5.6 SAR and NAR); moderate acid rain (pH 3.0 SAR) firstly promoted and then inhibited plant growth, while pH 3.0 NAR showed mild inhibitory effects during the experiment; and heavy acid rain (pH 2.0) significantly inhibited plant growth. Compared with NAR, SAR induced more serious damages to Q. glauca. These results could help monitor acid rain stress on plants on a regional scale using remote sensing techniques. PMID:29522488

  18. Detecting Sulfuric and Nitric Acid Rain Stresses on Quercus glauca through Hyperspectral Responses.

    PubMed

    Wang, Shanqian; Zhang, Xiuying; Ma, Yuandan; Li, Xinhui; Cheng, Min; Zhang, Xiaomin; Liu, Lei

    2018-03-09

    Acid rain, which has become one of the most severe global environmental issues, is detrimental to plant growth. However, effective methods for monitoring plant responses to acid rain stress are currently lacking. The hyperspectral technique provides a cost-effective and nondestructive way to diagnose acid rain stresses. Taking a widely distributed species ( Quercus glauca ) in Southern China as an example, this study aims to monitor the hyperspectral responses of Q. glauca to simulated sulfuric acid rain (SAR) and nitric acid rain (NAR). A total of 15 periods of leaf hyperspectral data under four pH levels of SAR and NAR were obtained during the experiment. The results showed that hyperspectral information could be used to distinguish plant responses under acid rain stress. An index (green peak area index, GPAI) was proposed to indicate acid rain stresses, based on the significantly variations in the region of 500-660 nm. Light acid rain (pH 4.5 SAR and NAR) promoted Q. glauca growth relative to the control groups (pH 5.6 SAR and NAR); moderate acid rain (pH 3.0 SAR) firstly promoted and then inhibited plant growth, while pH 3.0 NAR showed mild inhibitory effects during the experiment; and heavy acid rain (pH 2.0) significantly inhibited plant growth. Compared with NAR, SAR induced more serious damages to Q. glauca . These results could help monitor acid rain stress on plants on a regional scale using remote sensing techniques.

  19. [Effects of simulated acid rain on water physiological characteristics of Myrica rubra seedlings].

    PubMed

    Yaho, Zhao-bin; Jiang, Hong; Yu, Shu-quan; Lu, Mei-juan

    2011-08-01

    Taking the seedlings of typical subtropical economic tree species Myrica rubra in Zhejiang Province as test materials, a pot experiment was conducted to study their water physiological characteristics under effects of simulated acid rain (pH 2.5 and pH 4.0), with water (pH 5.6) as the control. Season, year, and acid rain all had significant effects on the photosynthetic rate (Pn). Among the treatments, the Pn had a greater difference in summer than in spring and autumn, and was higher in treatment acid rain (pH 4.0). Season, year, acid rain, and the interactions of season and year and of the three factors had significant effects on the stomata conductance (Gs), and also, the Gs had a greater difference among the treatments in summer than in spring and autumn. Acid rain had inhibitory effect on Gs. Season, year, acid rain, and the interactions of season and year and of season and acid rain affected the transpiration rate (Tr) significantly. Same as Pn and Gs, the Tr had a greater difference among the treatments in summer than in spring and autumn. Acid rain (pH 2.5) had the strongest inhibitory effect on Tr. Acid rain and the interactions of season and year and of season and acid rain had significant effects on the water use efficiency (WUE), and acid rain (pH 2.5) had definitely positive effect on the WUE.

  20. 40 CFR 72.71 - Acceptance of State Acid Rain programs-general.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Acceptance of State Acid Rain programs... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Acid Rain Phase II Implementation § 72.71 Acceptance of State Acid... State Acid Rain program meeting the requirements of §§ 72.72 and 72.73. (b) The Administrator will...

  1. 40 CFR 72.71 - Acceptance of State Acid Rain programs-general.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Acceptance of State Acid Rain programs... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Acid Rain Phase II Implementation § 72.71 Acceptance of State Acid... State Acid Rain program meeting the requirements of §§ 72.72 and 72.73. (b) The Administrator will...

  2. 40 CFR 72.71 - Acceptance of State Acid Rain programs-general.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Acceptance of State Acid Rain programs... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Acid Rain Phase II Implementation § 72.71 Acceptance of State Acid... State Acid Rain program meeting the requirements of §§ 72.72 and 72.73. (b) The Administrator will...

  3. 40 CFR 72.71 - Acceptance of State Acid Rain programs-general.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Acceptance of State Acid Rain programs... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Acid Rain Phase II Implementation § 72.71 Acceptance of State Acid... State Acid Rain program meeting the requirements of §§ 72.72 and 72.73. (b) The Administrator will...

  4. 40 CFR 72.71 - Acceptance of State Acid Rain programs-general.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Acceptance of State Acid Rain programs... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) PERMITS REGULATION Acid Rain Phase II Implementation § 72.71 Acceptance of State Acid... State Acid Rain program meeting the requirements of §§ 72.72 and 72.73. (b) The Administrator will...

  5. Constructed Rain Garden Systems for Stormwater Quality Control under Tropical Climates

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mohd Sidek, Lariyah; Elyza Muha, Norshafa; Noor, Nur Asmaliza Md; Basri, Hidayah

    2013-06-01

    Malaysia has taken an integrated approach to manage storm water that is increasingly becoming a problem in big cities. Rain gardens are recommended as green technology for a new storm water management in Malaysia. The approach is applied in urban planning and design that integrates the total water cycle management into the development process areas. Rain gardens have been effective in reducing peak discharge and consistently reduce the number of storm water pollutants. This paper will examine some of guidelines, laboratory studies and field monitoring that shows great potential and benefit of rain garden. The preliminary results for rain garden performance were reported in this paper. The findings from this research will open avenues for researchers to advance the knowledge in rain garden systems to achieve the sustainable development in Malaysia.

  6. The Effects of Rain Garden Size on Hydrologic Performance

    EPA Science Inventory

    Rain gardens are vegetated depressions designed to accept stormwater runoff. Manuals and guidance documents recommend sizing rain garden cells from 3% to 43% of the associated drainage area, based on factors including soil type, slope, amount of impervious cover in the drainage ...

  7. Dispersal of Salmonella Typhimurium by rain splash onto tomato plants.

    PubMed

    Cevallos-Cevallos, Juan M; Danyluk, Michelle D; Gu, Ganyu; Vallad, Gary E; van Bruggen, Ariena H C

    2012-03-01

    Outbreaks of Salmonella enterica have increasingly been associated with tomatoes and traced back to production areas, but the spread of Salmonella from a point source onto plants has not been described. Splash dispersal by rain could be one means of dissemination. Green fluorescent protein-labeled, kanamycin-resistant Salmonella enterica sv. Typhimurium dispensed on the surface of plastic mulch, organic mulch, or soil at 10⁸ CFU/cm² was used as the point source in the center of a rain simulator. Tomato plants in soil with and without plastic or organic mulch were placed around the point source, and rain intensities of 60 and 110 mm/h were applied for 5, 10, 20, and 30 min. Dispersal of Salmonella followed a negative exponential model with a half distance of 3 cm at 110 mm/h. Dispersed Salmonella survived for 3 days on tomato leaflets, with a total decline of 5 log and an initial decimal reduction time of 10 h. Recovery of dispersed Salmonella from plants at the maximum observed distance ranged from 3 CFU/g of leaflet after a rain episode of 110 mm/h for 10 min on soil to 117 CFU/g of leaflet on plastic mulch. Dispersal of Salmonella on plants with and without mulch was significantly enhanced by increasing rain duration from 0 to 10 min, but dispersal was reduced when rainfall duration increased from 10 to 30 min. Salmonella may be dispersed by rain to contaminate tomato plants in the field, especially during rain events of 10 min and when plastic mulch is used.

  8. The Acid Rain Debate.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bybee, Rodger; And Others

    1984-01-01

    Describes an activity which provides opportunities for role-playing as industrialists, ecologists, and government officials. The activity involves forming an international commission on acid rain, taking testimony, and, based on the testimony, making recommendations to governments on specific ways to solve the problem. Includes suggestions for…

  9. 40 CFR 75.3 - General Acid Rain Program provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false General Acid Rain Program provisions. 75.3 Section 75.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTINUOUS EMISSION MONITORING General § 75.3 General Acid Rain Program provisions. The...

  10. 40 CFR 75.3 - General Acid Rain Program provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false General Acid Rain Program provisions. 75.3 Section 75.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTINUOUS EMISSION MONITORING General § 75.3 General Acid Rain Program provisions. The...

  11. 40 CFR 75.3 - General Acid Rain Program provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false General Acid Rain Program provisions. 75.3 Section 75.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTINUOUS EMISSION MONITORING General § 75.3 General Acid Rain Program provisions. The...

  12. 40 CFR 75.3 - General Acid Rain Program provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false General Acid Rain Program provisions. 75.3 Section 75.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTINUOUS EMISSION MONITORING General § 75.3 General Acid Rain Program provisions. The...

  13. 40 CFR 75.3 - General Acid Rain Program provisions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false General Acid Rain Program provisions. 75.3 Section 75.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTINUOUS EMISSION MONITORING General § 75.3 General Acid Rain Program provisions. The...

  14. [Change characteristics of soil moisture and nutrients in rain-fed winter wheat field under different fertilization modes in Southern Shanxi of China during summer fallow period].

    PubMed

    Li, Ting-Liang; Xie, Ying-He; Hong, Jian-Ping; Feng, Qian; Sun, Cheng-Hong; Wang, Zhi-Wei

    2013-06-01

    In 2009-2011, a field experiment was conducted in a rain-fed winter wheat field in Southern Shanxi of China to study the effects of different fertilization modes on the change characteristics of soil moisture and nitrate-N contents in 0-200 cm layer and of soil available phosphorus (Oslen-P) and potassium contents in 0-40 cm layer during summer fallow period (from June to September). Three fertilization modes were installed, i. e., conventional fertilization (CF), recommended fertilization (RF), and ridge film furrow planting (RFFP) combined with straw mulch. The results showed that the rainfall in summer fallow period could complement the consumed water in 0-200 cm soil layer in dryland wheat field throughout the growth season, and more than 94% of the water storage was in 0-140 cm soil layer, with the fallow efficiency ranged from 6% to 27%. The rainfall in summer fallow period caused the soil nitrate-N moving downward. 357-400 mm rainfall could make the soil nitrate-N leaching down to 100 cm soil layer, with the peak in 20-40 cm soil layer. Straw mulching or plastic film with straw mulch in summer fallow period could effectively increase the Oslen-P and available K contents in 0-40 cm soil layer, and the accumulative increment in three summer fallow periods was 16-45% and 36-49%, respectively. Among the three modes, the binary coverage mode of RFFP plus furrow straw mulching had the best effect in maintaining soil water and fertility. The accumulative water storage and mineral N in 0-200 cm soil layer in three summer fallow periods were up to 215 mm and 90 kg x hm(-2), and the accumulative Oslen-P and available K contents in plough layer were increased by 2.7 mg x kg(-1) and 83 mg x kg(-1), respectively, being significantly higher than those in treatments CF and RF. There were no significant differences in the change characteristics in the soil moisture and nutrients between treatments CF and RF.

  15. [Relationship between simulated acid rain stress and leaf reflectance].

    PubMed

    Song, Xiao-dong; Jiang, Hong; Yu, Shu-quan; Zhou, Guo-mo; Jiang, Zi-shan

    2010-01-01

    Acid rain is a worldwide environmental problem. Serious acid rain pollution in subtropical China has constituted a potential threat to the health of the local forest. In the present paper, the changing properties of the chlorophyll concentration and spectral reflectance at the visible wavelengths for the six subtropical broad-leaved tree species leaves under simulated acid rain (SAR) treatment with different pH levels were studied. With the increasing strength of the SAR, the chlorophyll concentrations of the experimental species under pH 2.5 and pH 4.0 treatment were higher than that under pH 5.6; the spectral reflectance at the visible wavelengths for pH 2.5 and pH 4.0 were lower than that for pH 5.6 in general; while there weren't significant differences between pH 2.5 and pH 4.0. After the treatment with different levels of SAR, the differences in spectral reflectance at the visible wavelengths mainly focused around the green peak and red edge on the reflectance curve. The subtropical broad-leaved tree species studied were relatively not sensitive to acid rain stresses; some stronger acid rain may accelerate the growth of the tree species used here to some extent.

  16. Climatology of contribution-weighted tropical rain rates based on TRMM 3B42

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Venugopal, V.; Wallace, J. M.

    2016-10-01

    The climatology of annual mean tropical rain rate is investigated based on merged Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B42 data. At 0.25° × 0.25° spatial resolution, and 3-hourly temporal resolution, half the rain is concentrated within only ˜1% of the area of the tropics at any given instant. When plotted as a function of logarithm of rain rate, the cumulative contribution of rate-ranked rain occurrences to the annual mean rainfall in each grid box is S shaped and its derivative, the contribution-weighted rain rate spectrum, is Gaussian shaped. The 50% intercept of the cumulative contribution R50 is almost equivalent to the contribution-weighted mean logarithmic rain rate RL¯ based on all significant rain occurrences. The spatial patterns of R50 and RL¯ are similar to those obtained by mapping the fraction of the annual accumulation explained by rain occurrences with rates above various specified thresholds. The geographical distribution of R50 confirms the existence of patterns noted in prior analyses based on TRMM precipitation radar data and reveals several previously unnoticed features.

  17. A new method for automated dynamic calibration of tipping-bucket rain gauges

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Humphrey, M.D.; Istok, J.D.; Lee, J.Y.; Hevesi, J.A.; Flint, A.L.

    1997-01-01

    Existing methods for dynamic calibration of tipping-bucket rain gauges (TBRs) can be time consuming and labor intensive. A new automated dynamic calibration system has been developed to calibrate TBRs with minimal effort. The system consists of a programmable pump, datalogger, digital balance, and computer. Calibration is performed in two steps: 1) pump calibration and 2) rain gauge calibration. Pump calibration ensures precise control of water flow rates delivered to the rain gauge funnel; rain gauge calibration ensures precise conversion of bucket tip times to actual rainfall rates. Calibration of the pump and one rain gauge for 10 selected pump rates typically requires about 8 h. Data files generated during rain gauge calibration are used to compute rainfall intensities and amounts from a record of bucket tip times collected in the field. The system was tested using 5 types of commercial TBRs (15.2-, 20.3-, and 30.5-cm diameters; 0.1-, 0.2-, and 1.0-mm resolutions) and using 14 TBRs of a single type (20.3-cm diameter; 0.1-mm resolution). Ten pump rates ranging from 3 to 154 mL min-1 were used to calibrate the TBRs and represented rainfall rates between 6 and 254 mm h-1 depending on the rain gauge diameter. All pump calibration results were very linear with R2 values greater than 0.99. All rain gauges exhibited large nonlinear underestimation errors (between 5% and 29%) that decreased with increasing rain gauge resolution and increased with increasing rainfall rate, especially for rates greater than 50 mm h-1. Calibration curves of bucket tip time against the reciprocal of the true pump rate for all rain gauges also were linear with R2 values of 0.99. Calibration data for the 14 rain gauges of the same type were very similar, as indicated by slope values that were within 14% of each other and ranged from about 367 to 417 s mm h-1. The developed system can calibrate TBRs efficiently, accurately, and virtually unattended and could be modified for use with other

  18. Assessment of rain water chemistry in the Lucknow metropolitan city

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sharma, Purnima; Rai, Vibhuti

    2018-05-01

    Lucknow metropolitan city is one of the most populated cities of India, which have been facing many problems such as chaotic urbanization, overpopulation, water scarcity, waterlogging, etc., among these water scarcity is one of the important problem. Rain water harvesting is a futuristic tool for mitigation of water scarcity problem through conservation and storage of rain water. This rain water can be used for all purposes by human beings, thus it is necessary to check the chemistry of rain water. The rain water samples were collected from the five zones of Lucknow city. For the comparative study, water samples have been collected from two different dates first from first rainfall and second after 3 days of interval in the second rainfall. The heavy metal concentrations were found in both first and second rainfall water samples in all zones of Lucknow city. The concentration of chromium, cadmium and lead were found to be sufficiently high in several samples. These heavy metals show the concentration above the permissible limit as set by WHO, which can cause various adverse health impacts.

  19. Discussions on the Design of the Pool Landscape in the Rain Garden Construction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zou, Shuzhen; Zhu, Yirong; Wei, Chaojun; Tao, Biaohong

    2018-03-01

    With rapid urbanization, the environmental problems are becoming increasingly prominent and diversified ecological landscape designs consequently appear with the rain garden landscape design as a typical. Based on the introduction to rain garden ecological functions and in combination with domestic and international rain garden landscape design cases, this paper discussed the rain garden pool landscape design.

  20. [Characteristics and the impact factors of acid rain in Fuzhou and Xiamen 1992-2012].

    PubMed

    Zheng, Qiu-Ping; Wang, Hong; Chen, Bin-Bin; Sui, Ping; Lin, Wen

    2014-10-01

    Based on the observed acid rain data, synoptic situations and mass concentrations of atmospheric pollutants data from 1992 to 2012, the temporal variation characteristics and the impact factors of acid rain were analyzed in Fuzhou and Xiamen. The results showed that acid rain and non-acid rain accounted for 38.1% and 61.9% respectively in Fuzhou, 40.6% and 59.4% respectively in Xiamen. The annual average pH was 4.1-5.5 in Fuzhou. Acid rain pollution alleviated after 2007 in Fuzhou, and alleviated after 2006 in Xiamen. Acid rain was more serious in winter and spring than in summer and autumn. Precipitation intensity could affect the acidity of rain. Acid rain was observed more serious in southeast, southwest, west and northwest wind in Fuzhou, and more serious in northeast, southwest, west and northwest wind in Xiamen. Acid rain was most severe under the condition of transformed surface cold high, while most light under the conditions of typhoon (intertropical convergence zone) and outside of typhoon (intertropical convergence zone). There was a negative correlation between the mass concentrations of atmospheric pollutants, such as SO2, NO2, PM10, and the pH of rain in Fuzhou.

  1. Aerodynamic penalties of heavy rain on a landing aircraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Haines, P. A.; Luers, J. K.

    1982-01-01

    The aerodynamic penalties of very heavy rain on landing aircraft were investigated. Based on severity and frequency of occurrence, the rainfall rates of 100 mm/hr, 500 mm/hr, and 2000 mm/hr were designated, respectively, as heavy, severe, and incredible. The overall and local collection efficiencies of an aircraft encountering these rains were calculated. The analysis was based on raindrop trajectories in potential flow about an aircraft. All raindrops impinging on the aircraft are assumed to take on its speed. The momentum loss from the rain impact was later used in a landing simulation program. The local collection efficiency was used in estimating the aerodynamic roughness of an aircraft in heavy rain. The drag increase from this roughness was calculated. A number of landing simulations under a fixed stick assumption were done. Serious landing shortfalls were found for either momentum or drag penalties and especially large shortfalls for the combination of both. The latter shortfalls are comparable to those found for severe wind shear conditions.

  2. Metabolism of early-lactation dairy cows as affected by dietary starch and monensin supplementation.

    PubMed

    McCarthy, M M; Yasui, T; Ryan, C M; Pelton, S H; Mechor, G D; Overton, T R

    2015-05-01

    The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of dietary starch content and monensin (MON) on metabolism of dairy cows during early lactation. Before parturition, primiparous (n=21) and multiparous (n=49) Holstein cows were fed a common controlled-energy close-up diet with a daily topdress of either 0 or 400mg/d monensin. From d 1 to 21 postpartum, cows were fed a high-starch (HS; 26.2% starch, 34.3% neutral detergent fiber, 22.7% acid detergent fiber, 15.5% crude protein) or low-starch (LS; 21.5% starch, 36.9% neutral detergent fiber, 25.2% acid detergent fiber, 15.4% crude protein) total mixed ration with a daily topdress of either 0mg/d monensin (CON) or 450mg/d monensin (MON), continuing with prepartum topdress assignment. From d 22 through 63 postpartum, all cows were fed HS and continued with the assigned topdress treatment until d 63. Cows fed HS had higher plasma glucose and insulin and lower nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) than cows fed LS during d 1 to 21 postpartum. Cows fed LS had elevated early-lactation β-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA) compared with cows fed HS. Cows fed HS had greater insulin resistance and increased plasma haptoglobin in the early lactation period. There was no effect of MON on postpartum plasma NEFA. Cows fed MON had higher plasma glucose compared with CON cows, which was driven by a MON × parity interaction in which primiparous cows fed MON had greater plasma glucose concentrations than cows fed CON. Cows fed MON had lower plasma BHBA compared with CON, which was contributed to by a MON × parity interaction in which primiparous cows fed MON had lower BHBA concentrations than CON. Starch treatment had no effect on overall liver triglyceride content. Primiparous cows fed MON had increased liver triglyceride content compared with CON primiparous cows, and multiparous cows fed MON had decreased liver triglyceride content compared with CON cows. Multiparous cows fed LS with MON had higher liver glycogen content than multiparous

  3. Large scale pre-rain vegetation green up across Africa.

    PubMed

    Adole, Tracy; Dash, Jadunandan; Atkinson, Peter M

    2018-05-16

    Information on the response of vegetation to different environmental drivers, including rainfall, forms a critical input to ecosystem models. Currently, such models are run based on parameters that, in some cases, are either assumed or lack supporting evidence (e.g., that vegetation growth across Africa is rainfall-driven). A limited number of studies have reported that the onset of rain across Africa does not fully explain the onset of vegetation growth, for example, drawing on the observation of pre-rain flush effects in some parts of Africa. The spatial extent of this pre-rain green-up effect, however, remains unknown, leaving a large gap in our understanding that may bias ecosystem modelling. This paper provides the most comprehensive spatial assessment to-date of the magnitude and frequency of the different patterns of phenology response to rainfall across Africa, and for different vegetation types. To define the relations between phenology and rainfall, we investigated the spatial variation in the difference, in number of days, between the start of rainy season (SRS) and start of vegetation growing season (SOS); and between the end of rainy season (ERS) and end of vegetation growing season (EOS). We reveal a much more extensive spread of pre-rain green-up over Africa than previously reported, with pre-rain green-up being the norm rather than the exception. We also show the relative sparsity of post-rain green-up, confined largely to the Sudano-Sahel region. While the pre-rain green-up phenomenon is well documented, its large spatial extent was not anticipated. Our results, thus, contrast with the widely held view that rainfall drives the onset and end of the vegetation growing season across Africa. Our findings point to a much more nuanced role of rainfall in Africa's vegetation growth cycle than previously thought, specifically as one of a set of several drivers, with important implications for ecosystem modelling. This article is protected by copyright. All

  4. Low-Latitude Ethane Rain on Titan

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dalba, Paul A.; Buratti, Bonnie J.; Brown, R. H.; Barnes, J. W.; Baines, K. H.; Sotin, C.; Clark, R. N.; Lawrence, K. J.; Nicholson, P. D.

    2012-01-01

    Cassini ISS observed multiple widespread changes in surface brightness in Titan's equatorial regions over the past three years. These brightness variations are attributed to rainfall from cloud systems that appear to form seasonally. Determining the composition of this rainfall is an important step in understanding the "methanological" cycle on Titan. I use data from Cassini VIMS to complete a spectroscopic investigation of multiple rain-wetted areas. I compute "before-and-after" spectral ratios of any areas that show either deposition or evaporation of rain. By comparing these spectral ratios to a model of liquid ethane, I find that the rain is most likely composed of liquid ethane. The spectrum of liquid ethane contains multiple absorption features that fall within the 2-micron and 5-micron spectral windows in Titan's atmosphere. I show that these features are visible in the spectra taken of Titan's surface and that they are characteristically different than those in the spectrum of liquid methane. Furthermore, just as ISS saw the surface brightness reverting to its original state after a period of time, I show that VIMS observations of later flybys show the surface composition in different stages of returning to its initial form.

  5. Physical initialization using SSM/I rain rates

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Krishnamurti, T. N.; Bedi, H. S.; Ingles, Kevin

    1993-01-01

    Following our recent study on physical initialization for tropical prediction using rain rates based on outgoing long-wave radiation, the present study demonstrates a major improvement from the use of microwave radiance-based rain rates. A rain rate algorithm is used on the data from a special sensor microwave instrument (SSM/I). The initialization, as before, uses a reverse surface similarity theory, a reverse cumulus parameterization algorithm, and a bisection method to minimize the difference between satellite-based and the model-based outgoing long-wave radiation. These are invoked within a preforecast Newtonian relaxation phase of the initialization. These tests are carried out with a high-resolution global spectral model. The impact of the initialization on forecast is tested for a complex triple typhoon scenario over the Western Pacific Ocean during September 1987. A major impact from the inclusion of the SSM/I is demonstrated. Also addressed are the spin-up issues related to the typhoon structure and the improved water budget from the physical initialization.

  6. Development of a New Rain Erosion Test Method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chung, Dong-Teak; Kang, Hyung; Jin, Doo-Han

    The nose of a missile, flying through raining region with a supersonic speed, is subjected to the rain erosion because the nose is made of a brittle ceramic material. Various test methods are used to address such a phenomenon. However, most of the methods are expensive and/or require complicated facilities. The simple yet very effective rain erosion test method is developed. It consists of (1) a low pressure air gun, (2) a sabot assembly for launching single rain drop, (3) a stopper, and (4) a specimen holder block. The sabot assembly similar to the hypodermic syringe carries specific amount of water toward the stopper launched by the low pressure air gun. When the impact occurs against the stopper which stops the sabot, the water and the steel plunger (at the back of the sabot) continues pushing the sabot to generate a high pressure in the chamber filled with resilient silicon rubber. The pressurized silicon rubber then is squeezed through the small opening in front of the sabot, thus, accelerates the water droplet to a much higher velocity. The velocity of the droplet is measured by the make-screen method, where there are two aluminum foils with an insulating layer in between. The droplet velocity up to 800 m/s is successfully attained using a low pressure air compressor. The specimen made of a ceramic material is placed in front of the high speed water droplet and the rain erosion damage on the surface of the specimen is observed.

  7. Data driven analysis of rain events: feature extraction, clustering, microphysical /macro physical relationship

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Djallel Dilmi, Mohamed; Mallet, Cécile; Barthes, Laurent; Chazottes, Aymeric

    2017-04-01

    The study of rain time series records is mainly carried out using rainfall rate or rain accumulation parameters estimated on a fixed integration time (typically 1 min, 1 hour or 1 day). In this study we used the concept of rain event. In fact, the discrete and intermittent natures of rain processes make the definition of some features inadequate when defined on a fixed duration. Long integration times (hour, day) lead to mix rainy and clear air periods in the same sample. Small integration time (seconds, minutes) will lead to noisy data with a great sensibility to detector characteristics. The analysis on the whole rain event instead of individual short duration samples of a fixed duration allows to clarify relationships between features, in particular between macro physical and microphysical ones. This approach allows suppressing the intra-event variability partly due to measurement uncertainties and allows focusing on physical processes. An algorithm based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Self Organising Maps (SOM) is developed to obtain a parsimonious characterisation of rain events using a minimal set of variables. The use of self-organizing map (SOM) is justified by the fact that it allows to map a high dimensional data space in a two-dimensional space while preserving as much as possible the initial space topology in an unsupervised way. The obtained SOM allows providing the dependencies between variables and consequently removing redundant variables leading to a minimal subset of only five features (the event duration, the rain rate peak, the rain event depth, the event rain rate standard deviation and the absolute rain rate variation of order 0.5). To confirm relevance of the five selected features the corresponding SOM is analyzed. This analysis shows clearly the existence of relationships between features. It also shows the independence of the inter-event time (IETp) feature or the weak dependence of the Dry percentage in event (Dd%e) feature. This confirms

  8. Does otitis media in early childhood affect later behavioural development? Results from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study.

    PubMed

    Da Costa, C; Eikelboom, R H; Jacques, A; Swanepoel, D W; Whitehouse, A J O; Jamieson, S E; Brennan-Jones, C G

    2018-03-01

    To examine the relationship between early life episodes of otitis media and later behavioural development with adjustment for confounders. Longitudinal cohort study. The Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study recruited 2900 pregnant women from King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH) in Perth, Western Australia, between 1989 and 1991. Data from the children born were collected at both the Year 3 and Year 5 follow-up. At Year 3, n = 611 were diagnosed with recurrent otitis media through parent-report and clinical examination. At Year 5, n = 299 were considered exposed to otitis media based upon tympanometry results. Performance in the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL), a questionnaire completed by the primary caregiver at Year 10. Significant associations were found between recurrent otitis media at Year 3 and internalising behaviours (P = .011), and the somatic (P = .011), withdrawn (P = .014), attention (P = .003) and thought problems domains (P = .021), and the total CBCL score (P = .010). A significant association was also found between exposure to otitis media at Year 5 and externalising behaviours (P = .026). A modest association was seen between recurrent otitis media at Year 3 and exposure to otitis media at Year 5 and a number of behaviour domains at Year 10. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  9. Time dependence of the pH of rain

    Treesearch

    John A. Kadlecek; Volkar A. Mohnen

    1976-01-01

    Standard procedures for determining the pH of rain samples usually involve substantial delays from the time of rainfall to the time of analysis. This assumes that no change in pH occurs during the storage period. We have found that this is not always true. We have determined that individual rain water samples possess a time dependent pH which can be correlated with the...

  10. Power law relationships for rain attenuation and reflectivity

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Devasirvatham, D. M. J.; Hodge, D. B.

    1978-01-01

    The equivalent reflectivity, specific attenuation and volumetric backscatter cross section of rain are calculated and tabulated at a number of frequencies from 1 to 500 GHz using classical Mie theory. The first two parameters are shown to be closely approximated as functions of rain rate by the power law aR to the b power. The a's and b's are also tabulated and plotted for convenient reference.

  11. Rain Forests: Tropical Treasures.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Braus, Judy, Ed.

    1989-01-01

    Ranger Rick's NatureScope is a creative education series dedicated to inspiring in children an understanding and appreciation of the natural world while developing the skills they will need to make responsible decisions about the environment. The topic of this issue is "Rain Forests: Tropical Treasures." Contents are organized into the…

  12. Rain Garden Research at EPA's Urban Watershed Research Facility

    EPA Science Inventory

    I have been invited to give a presentation at the 2009 National Erosion Conference in Hartford, CT, on October 27-28, 2009. My presentation discusses the research on sizing of rain gardens that is being conducted using the large, parking lot rain gardens on-site. I discuss the ...

  13. Atlantic forcing of Western Mediterranean winter rain minima during the last 12,000 years

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zielhofer, Christoph; Fletcher, William J.; Mischke, Steffen; De Batist, Marc; Campbell, Jennifer F. E.; Joannin, Sebastien; Tjallingii, Rik; El Hamouti, Najib; Junginger, Annett; Stele, Andreas; Bussmann, Jens; Schneider, Birgit; Lauer, Tobias; Spitzer, Katrin; Strupler, Michael; Brachert, Thomas; Mikdad, Abdeslam

    2017-02-01

    The limited availability of high-resolution continuous archives, insufficient chronological control, and complex hydro-climatic forcing mechanisms lead to many uncertainties in palaeo-hydrological reconstructions for the Western Mediterranean. In this study we present a newly recovered 19.63 m long core from Lake Sidi Ali in the North African Middle Atlas, a transition zone of Atlantic, Western Mediterranean and Saharan air mass trajectories. With a multi-proxy approach based on magnetic susceptibility, carbonate and total organic C content, core-scanning and quantitative XRF, stable isotopes of ostracod shells, charcoal counts, Cedrus pollen abundance, and a first set of diatom data, we reconstruct Western Mediterranean hydro-climatic variability, seasonality and forcing mechanisms during the last 12,000 yr. A robust chronological model based on AMS 14C dated pollen concentrates supports our high-resolution multi-proxy study. Long-term trends reveal low lake levels at the end of the Younger Dryas, during the mid-Holocene interval 6.6 to 5.4 cal ka BP, and during the last 3000 years. In contrast, lake levels are mostly high during the Early and Mid-Holocene. The record also shows sub-millennial- to centennial-scale decreases in Western Mediterranean winter rain at 11.4, 10.3, 9.2, 8.2, 7.2, 6.6, 6.0, 5.4, 5.0, 4.4, 3.5, 2.9, 2.2, 1.9, 1.7, 1.5, 1.0, 0.7, and 0.2 cal ka BP. Early Holocene winter rain minima are in phase with cooling events and millennial-scale meltwater discharges in the sub-polar North Atlantic. Our proxy parameters do not show so far a clear impact of Saharan air masses on Mediterranean hydro-climate in North Africa. However, a significant hydro-climatic shift at the end of the African Humid Period (∼5 ka) indicates a change in climate forcing mechanisms. The Late Holocene climate variability in the Middle Atlas features a multi-centennial-scale NAO-type pattern, with Atlantic cooling and Western Mediterranean winter rain maxima generally

  14. Phosphorus limits Eucalyptus grandis seedling growth in an unburnt rain forest soil

    PubMed Central

    Tng, David Y. P.; Janos, David P.; Jordan, Gregory J.; Weber, Ellen; Bowman, David M. J. S.

    2014-01-01

    Although rain forest is characterized as pyrophobic, pyrophilic giant eucalypts grow as rain forest emergents in both temperate and tropical Australia. In temperate Australia, such eucalypts depend on extensive, infrequent fires to produce conditions suitable for seedling growth. Little is known, however, about constraints on seedlings of tropical giant eucalypts. We tested whether seedlings of Eucalyptus grandis experience edaphic constraints similar to their temperate counterparts. We hypothesized that phosphorous addition would alleviate edaphic constraints. We grew seedlings in a factorial experiment combining fumigation (to simulate nutrient release and soil pasteurization by fire), soil type (E. grandis forest versus rain forest soil) and phosphorus addition as factors. We found that phosphorus was the principal factor limiting E. grandis seedling survival and growth in rain forest soil, and that fumigation enhanced survival of seedlings in both E. grandis forest and rain forest soil. We conclude that similar to edaphic constraints on temperate giant eucalypts, mineral nutrient and biotic attributes of a tropical rain forest soil may hamper E. grandis seedling establishment. In rain forest soil, E. grandis seedlings benefited from conditions akin to a fire-generated ashbed (i.e., an “ashbed effect”). PMID:25339968

  15. Ruminal Transcriptomic Analysis of Grass-Fed and Grain-Fed Angus Beef Cattle

    PubMed Central

    Li, Yaokun; Carrillo, José A.; Ding, Yi; He, YangHua; Zhao, Chunping; Zan, Linsen; Song, Jiuzhou

    2015-01-01

    Beef represents a major diet component and one of the major sources of protein in human. The beef industry in the United States is currently undergoing changes and is facing increased demands especially for natural grass-fed beef. The grass-fed beef obtained their nutrients directly from pastures, which contained limited assimilable energy but abundant amount of fiber. On the contrary, the grain-fed steers received a grain-based regime that served as an efficient source of high-digestible energy. Lately, ruminant animals have been accused to be a substantial contributor for the green house effect. Therefore, the concerns from environmentalism, animal welfare and public health have driven consumers to choose grass-fed beef. Rumen is one of the key workshops to digest forage constituting a critical step to supply enough nutrients for animals’ growth and production. We hypothesize that rumen may function differently in grass- and grain-fed regimes. The objective of this study was to find the differentially expressed genes in the ruminal wall of grass-fed and grain-fed steers, and then explore the potential biopathways. In this study, the RNA Sequencing (RNA-Seq) method was used to measure the gene expression level in the ruminal wall. The total number of reads per sample ranged from 24,697,373 to 36,714,704. The analysis detected 342 differentially expressed genes between ruminal wall samples of animals raised under different regimens. The Fisher’s exact test performed in the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software found 16 significant molecular networks. Additionally, 13 significantly enriched pathways were identified, most of which were related to cell development and biosynthesis. Our analysis demonstrated that most of the pathways enriched with the differentially expressed genes were related to cell development and biosynthesis. Our results provided valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms resulting in the phenotype difference between grass-fed and

  16. Controlling mechanisms of surface partial pressure of CO2 in Jiaozhou Bay during summer and the influence of heavy rain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Yunxiao; Yang, Xufeng; Han, Ping; Xue, Liang; Zhang, Longjun

    2017-09-01

    Due to the combined effects of natural processes and human activities, carbon source/sink processes and mechanisms in the coastal ocean are becoming more and more important in current ocean carbon cycle research. Based on differences in the ratio of total alkalinity (TA) to dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) associated with terrestrial input, biological process (production and respiration), calcium carbonate (CaCO3) process (precipitation and dissolution) and CO2 evasion/invasion, we discuss the mechanisms controlling the surface partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) in Jiaozhou Bay (JZB) during summer and the influence of heavy rain, via three cruises performed in mid-June, early July and late July of 2014. In mid-June and in early July, without heavy rain or obvious river input, sea surface pCO2 ranged from 521 to 1080 μatm and from 547 to 998 μatm, respectively. The direct input of DIC from sewage and the intense respiration produced large DIC additions and the highest pCO2 values in the northeast of the bay near the downtown of Qingdao. However, in the west of the bay, significant CaCO3 precipitation led to DIC removal but no obvious increase in pCO2, which was just close to that in the central area. Due to the shallow depth and longer water residence time in this region, this pattern may be related to the sustained release of CO2 into the atmosphere. In late July, heavy rain promoted river input in the western and eastern portions of JZB. Strong primary production led to a significant decrease in pCO2 in the western area, with the lowest pCO2 value of 252 μatm. However, in the northeastern area, the intense respiration remained, and the highest pCO2 value was 1149 μatm. The average air-sea CO2 flux in mid-June and early July was 20.23 mmol m- 2 d- 1 and 23.56 mmol m- 2 d- 1, respectively. In contrast, in late July, sources became sinks for atmospheric CO2 in the western and central areas of the bay, halving the average air-sea CO2 flux to a value of 10.58 mmol m- 2

  17. Direct effect of acid rain on leaf chlorophyll content of terrestrial plants in China.

    PubMed

    Du, Enzai; Dong, Dan; Zeng, Xuetong; Sun, Zhengzhong; Jiang, Xiaofei; de Vries, Wim

    2017-12-15

    Anthropogenic emissions of acid precursors in China have resulted in widespread acid rain since the 1980s. Although efforts have been made to assess the indirect, soil mediated ecological effects of acid rain, a systematic assessment of the direct foliage injury by acid rain across terrestrial plants is lacking. Leaf chlorophyll content is an important indicator of direct foliage damage and strongly related to plant productivity. We synthesized data from published literature on experiments of simulated acid rain, by directly exposing plants to acid solutions with varying pH levels, to assess the direct effect of acid rain on leaf chlorophyll content across 67 terrestrial plants in China. Our results indicate that acid rain substantially reduces leaf chlorophyll content by 6.71% per pH unit across the recorded plant species. The direct reduction of leaf chlorophyll content due to acid rain exposure showed no significant difference across calcicole, ubiquist or calcifuge species, implying that soil acidity preference does not influence the sensitivity to leaf injury by acid rain. On average, the direct effects of acid rain on leaf chlorophyll on trees, shrubs and herbs were comparable. The effects, however varied across functional groups and economic use types. Specifically, leaf chlorophyll content of deciduous species was more sensitive to acid rain in comparison to evergreen species. Moreover, vegetables and fruit trees were more sensitive to acid rain than other economically used plants. Our findings imply a potential production reduction and economic loss due to the direct foliage damage by acid rain. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. [Analysis of acid rain characteristics of Lin'an Regional Background Station using long-term observation data].

    PubMed

    Li, Zheng-Quan; Ma, Hao; Mao, Yu-Ding; Feng, Tao

    2014-02-01

    Using long-term observation data of acid rain at Lin'an Regional Background Station (Lin'an RBS), this paper studied the interannual and monthly variations of acid rain, the reasons for the variations, and the relationships between acid rain and meteorological factors. The results showed that interannual variation of acid rain at Lin'an RBS had a general increasing trend in which there were two obvious intensifying processes and two distinct weakening processes, during the period ranging from 1985 to 2012. In last two decades, the monthly variation of acid rain at Lin'an RBS indicated that rain acidity and frequency of severe acid rain were increasing but the frequency of weak acid rain was decreasing when moving towards bilateral side months of July. Acid rain occurrence was affected by rainfall intensity, wind speed and wind direction. High frequency of severe acid rain and low frequency of weak acid rain were on days with drizzle, but high frequency of weak acid rain and low frequency of severe acid rain occurred on rainstorm days. With wind speed upgrading, the frequency of acid rain and the proportion of severe acid rain were declining, the pH value of precipitation was reducing too. Another character is that daily dominant wind direction of weak acid rain majorly converged in S-W section ,however that of severe acid rain was more likely distributed in N-E section. The monthly variation of acid rain at Lin'an RBS was mainly attributed to precipitation variation, the increasing and decreasing of monthly incoming wind from SSE-WSW and NWN-ENE sections of wind direction. The interannual variation of acid rain could be due to the effects of energy consumption raising and significant green policies conducted in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shanghai.

  19. Early introduction of complementary foods and childhood overweight in breastfed and formula-fed infants in the Netherlands: the PIAMA birth cohort study.

    PubMed

    Pluymen, Linda P M; Wijga, Alet H; Gehring, Ulrike; Koppelman, Gerard H; Smit, Henriëtte A; van Rossem, L

    2018-02-22

    To investigate whether early introduction of complementary foods (CF) is associated with an increased risk of overweight during childhood, and whether this association differs between formula-fed and breastfed infants. We included 2611 participants that were born at term from a Dutch population-based birth cohort (n = 3963) designed to investigate the development of asthma and allergies. Parents kept records of their infant's age when CF were first introduced. Weight and height were parent reported yearly from age 1 to 8 years, and at ages 11, 14 and 17 years. We used multivariate generalized estimating equations analysis to investigate the association between timing of CF introduction (before 4 months vs at or after 4 months of age) and overweight at ages 1-17 years. Children with CF introduction before 4 months had higher odds of being overweight during childhood than children with CF introduction at or after 4 months (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.19, 1.47). This association was observed in formula-fed infants (OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.17, 1.94) and breastfed infants (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.19, 1.47). The duration of breastfeeding modified the association between CF introduction and overweight: children breastfed for shorter than 4 months, but not children breastfed for 4 months or longer with CF introduction before 4 months had higher odds of being overweight (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.19, 1.57 and 1.07, 95% CI 0.87, 1.32, respectively), compared to those with CF introduction at or after 4 months. In children born at term, formula-fed infants and infants who were breastfed for shorter than 4 months, but not infants who were breastfed for 4 months or longer, had a higher risk of being overweight during childhood when being introduced to CF before 4 months of age.

  20. The Acid Rain Game.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rakow, Steven J.; Glenn, Allen

    1982-01-01

    Provides rationale for and description of an acid rain game (designed for two players), a problem-solving model for elementary students. Although complete instructions are provided, including a copy of the game board, the game is also available for Apple II microcomputers. Information for the computer program is available from the author.…

  1. Rain pH estimation based on the particulate matter pollutants and wet deposition study.

    PubMed

    Singh, Shweta; Elumalai, Suresh Pandian; Pal, Asim Kumar

    2016-09-01

    In forecasting of rain pH, the changes caused by particulate matter (PM) are generally neglected. In regions of high PM concentration like Dhanbad, the role of PM in deciding the rain pH becomes important. Present work takes into account theoretical prediction of rain pH by two methods. First method considers only acid causing gases (ACG) like CO2, SO2 and NOx in pH estimation, whereas, second method additionally accounts for effect of PM (ACG-PM). In order to predict the rain pH, site specific deposited dust that represents local PM was studied experimentally for its impact on pH of neutral water. After incorporation of PM correction factor, it was found that, rain pH values estimated were more representative of the observed ones. Fractional bias (FB) for the ACG-PM method reduced to values of the order of 10(-2) from those with order of 10(-1) for the ACG method. The study confirms neutralization of rain acidity by PM. On account of this, rain pH was found in the slightly acidic to near neutral range, despite of the high sulfate flux found in rain water. Although, the safer range of rain pH blurs the severity of acid rain from the picture, yet huge flux of acidic and other ions get transferred to water bodies, soil and ultimately to the ground water system. Simple use of rain pH for rain water quality fails to address the issues of its increased ionic composition due to the interfering pollutants and thus undermines severity of pollutants transferred from air to rain water and then to water bodies and soil. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Acid rain research program. Annual progress report, September 1975--June 1976

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Evans, L.S.; Raynor, G.S.

    1976-09-01

    The aims of the research program are: (a) to observe the minimum threshold dose of simulated acid rain to produce visual and histological effects on plant foliage, (b) approach threshold limits of simulated sulfate acid rain that affect plant growth and reproduction, and (c) to measure chemical and meteorological parameters of incident rain. Acute leaf injury to several plant species resulted from exposure of foliage to simulated sulfate acid rain of pH level 2.3 to 2.9. Only slight injury occurred at 3.1. Scanning electron micrographs showed that injury to upper leaf surfaces occurred mostly at the base of trichomes (leafmore » hairs) and near stomata. An association of lesion development near vascular tissue was also noted. Histologically, lesions are characterized by an initial collapse of the epidermis with eventual lysis and collapse of more internal leaf tissues on the upper leaf surface of pinto beans which complemented detailed descriptions of visual lesion development after daily exposures to simulated rain. Initial experiments with gametophytes of Pteridium aquilinum show that reproduction of this fern species is very sensitive to solutions of pH 5.2 while vegetative development is not affected at pH levels of 2.2. Initial rain samples from the sequential sampler have been obtained. Initial portions of rain events exhibit a pH near 3.0 in some cases. More complete chemical analyses are anticipated.« less

  3. Validation of Rain Rate Retrievals for the Airborne Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jacob, Maria Marta; Salemirad, Matin; Jones, W. Linwood; Biswas, Sayak; Cecil, Daniel

    2015-01-01

    The NASA Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) mission is an aircraft field measurements program using NASA's unmanned Global Hawk aircraft system for remote sensing and in situ observations of Atlantic and Caribbean Sea hurricanes. One of the principal microwave instruments is the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD), which measures surface wind speeds and rain rates. For validation of the HIRAD wind speed measurement in hurricanes, there exists a comprehensive set of comparisons with the Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR) with in situ GPS dropwindsondes [1]. However, for rain rate measurements, there are only indirect correlations with rain imagery from other HS3 remote sensors (e.g., the dual-frequency Ka- & Ku-band doppler radar, HIWRAP), which is only qualitative in nature. However, this paper presents results from an unplanned rain rate measurement validation opportunity that occurred in 2013, when HIRAD flew over an intense tropical squall line that was simultaneously observed by the Tampa NEXRAD meteorological radar (Fig. 1). During this experiment, Global Hawk flying at an altitude of 18 km made 3 passes over the rapidly propagating thunderstorm, while the TAMPA NEXRAD perform volume scans on a 5-minute interval. Using the well-documented NEXRAD Z-R relationship, 2D images of rain rate (mm/hr) were obtained at two altitudes (3 km & 6 km), which serve as surface truth for the HIRAD rain rate retrievals. A preliminary comparison of HIRAD rain rate retrievals (image) for the first pass and the corresponding closest NEXRAD rain image is presented in Fig. 2 & 3. This paper describes the HIRAD instrument, which 1D synthetic-aperture thinned array radiometer (STAR) developed by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center [2]. The rain rate retrieval algorithm, developed by Amarin et al. [3], is based on the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) technique, which compares the observed Tb's at the HIRAD operating frequencies of 4, 5, 6 and 6.6 GHz with

  4. Early endothelial damage detected by circulating particles in baboons fed a diet high in simple carbohydrates in conjunction with saturated or unsaturated fat.

    PubMed

    Shi, Qiang; Hodara, Vida; Meng, Qinghe; Voruganti, V Saroja; Rice, Karen; Michalek, Joel E; Comuzzie, Anthony G; VandeBerg, John L

    2014-01-01

    Studies have shown that high-fat diets cause blood vessel damage, however, assessing pathological effects accurately and efficiently is difficult. In this study, we measured particle levels of static endothelium (CD31+ and CD105+) and activated endothelium (CD62E+, CD54+ and CD106+) in plasma. We determined individual responses to two dietary regimens in two groups of baboons. One group (n = 10), was fed a diet high in simple carbohydrates and saturated fats (the HSF diet) and the other (n = 8) received a diet high in simple carbohydrates and unsaturated fats (the HUF diet). Plasma samples were collected at 0, 3, and 7 weeks. The percentages of CD31+ and CD62E+ particles were elevated at 3 weeks in animals fed either diet, but these elevations were statistically significant only in animals fed the HUF diet. Surprisingly, both percentages and counts of CD31+ particles were significantly lower at week 7 compared to week 0 and 3 in the HSF group. The median absolute counts of CD105+ particles were progressively elevated over time in the HSF group with a significant increase from week 0 to 7; the pattern was somewhat different for the HUF group with significant increase from week 3 to 7. The counts of CD54+ particles exhibited wide variation in both groups during the dietary challenge, while the median counts of CD106+ particles were significantly lower at week 3 than at week 0 and week 7. Endothelial particles exhibited time-dependent changes, suggesting they were behaving as quantifiable surrogates for the early detection of vascular damage caused by dietary factors.

  5. TMI Rain Rate Estimation Over Land and Ocean Utilizing Convective and Stratiform Discrimination

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Prabhakara, C.; Iacovazzi, R., Jr.; Weinman, J. A.; Dalu, G.

    1999-01-01

    Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) radiometer brightness temperature data in the 85 GHz channel (T85) reveal distinct local minima in a regional map containing a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS). This is because of relatively small footprint size (approximately 5.5 km) and strong extinction properties in this channel of the TMI. A map of rain rate for that region, deduced from simultaneous measurements made by the Precipitation Radar (PR) on board the TRMM satellite, reveals that these T85 minima, produced by scattering, correspond to local PR rain maxima. Utilizing the PR rain rate map as a guide, we infer from TMI data the presence of three different kinds of thunderstorms or Cbs. They are young, mature, and decaying Cbs that have a scale of about 20 km on the average. Two parameters enable us to infer these three kinds of Cbs objectively: a) the magnitude of scattering depression deduced from local T85 minima and b) the mean horizontal gradient of T85 around such minima. Knowing the category of a given Cb, we can estimate the rain rate associated with it. Such estimation is done with the help of relationships linking T85 minimum to rain rate in each Cb type. Similarly, a weak background rain rate in all the areas where T85 is less than 260 K is deduced with another relationship linking T85 to rain rate. In our rain retrieval model, this background rain constitutes the stratiform rain where the Cbs are absent. Initially, these relationships are optimized or tuned utilizing the PR and TMI data of a few MCS events. After such tuning, the model is applied to independent MCS cases. The areal distribution of light (1-10 mm/hr), moderate (10-20 mm/hr), and intense (> 20 mm/hr) rain rates are retrieved satisfactorally. Accuracy in the estimates of the light, moderate and intense rain areas and the mean rain rates associated with such areas in these independent MCS cases is on the average about 15%. Taking advantage of this ability of our

  6. Loss of Intralipid®- but Not Sevoflurane-Mediated Cardioprotection in Early Type-2 Diabetic Hearts of Fructose-Fed Rats: Importance of ROS Signaling

    PubMed Central

    Zhang, Liyan; Affolter, Andreas; Gandhi, Manoj; Hersberger, Martin; Warren, Blair E.; Lemieux, Hélène; Sobhi, Hany F.; Clanachan, Alexander S.; Zaugg, Michael

    2014-01-01

    Background Insulin resistance and early type-2 diabetes are highly prevalent. However, it is unknown whether Intralipid® and sevoflurane protect the early diabetic heart against ischemia-reperfusion injury. Methods Early type-2 diabetic hearts from Sprague-Dawley rats fed for 6 weeks with fructose were exposed to 15 min of ischemia and 30 min of reperfusion. Intralipid® (1%) was administered at the onset of reperfusion. Peri-ischemic sevoflurane (2 vol.-%) served as alternative protection strategy. Recovery of left ventricular function was recorded and the activation of Akt and ERK 1/2 was monitored. Mitochondrial function was assessed by high-resolution respirometry and mitochondrial ROS production was measured by Amplex Red and aconitase activity assays. Acylcarnitine tissue content was measured and concentration-response curves of complex IV inhibition by palmitoylcarnitine were obtained. Results Intralipid® did not exert protection in early diabetic hearts, while sevoflurane improved functional recovery. Sevoflurane protection was abolished by concomitant administration of the ROS scavenger N-2-mercaptopropionyl glycine. Sevoflurane, but not Intralipid® produced protective ROS during reperfusion, which activated Akt. Intralipid® failed to inhibit respiratory complex IV, while sevoflurane inhibited complex I. Early diabetic hearts exhibited reduced carnitine-palmitoyl-transferase-1 activity, but palmitoylcarnitine could not rescue protection and enhance postischemic functional recovery. Cardiac mitochondria from early diabetic rats exhibited an increased content of subunit IV-2 of respiratory complex IV and of uncoupling protein-3. Conclusions Early type-2 diabetic hearts lose complex IV-mediated protection by Intralipid® potentially due to a switch in complex IV subunit expression and increased mitochondrial uncoupling, but are amenable to complex I-mediated sevoflurane protection. PMID:25127027

  7. Patterns of precipitation: Fine-scale rain dynamics in the South of England

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Callaghan, Sarah

    2010-05-01

    The consensus in the climate change community is that one of the (many) effects of climate change will be that the nature of rain events will change, and in all likelihood, they will become more extreme. Currently, most long-term rain rate data sets are hourly (or longer) rain accumulations, so investigating the rain events that occur for less than 0.01% (52.5 minutes) of a year is not possible. Rain datasets do exist with smaller temporal resolution, but these are either not continuous, or simply have not been in operation long enough to investigate any trends in climate change. The Chilbolton Observatory in the south of England is one of the world's most advanced meteorological radar experimental facilities, and is home to the world's largest fully steerable meteorological radar, the Chilbolton Advanced Meteorological Radar (CAMRa). It also hosts a wide range of meteorological and atmospheric sensing instruments, including cameras, lidars, radiometers and a wide selection of different types of rain gauges. The UK atmospheric science, hydrology and Earth Observation communities use the instruments located at Chilbolton to conduct research in weather, flooding and climate. This often involves observations of meteorological phenomena operating below the current resolution of (forecasting and climate) models and work on their effective parameterisation. The Chilbolton datasets contain a continuous drop counting rain gauge time series at 10 seconds integration time, spanning from January 2001 to the present. Though the length of the time series is not sufficient to confidently identify any effects of climate change, the time resolution is sufficient to investigate the differences in the extreme values of rain events over the nine years of the dataset, characterising the inter-annual and seasonal variability. Changes in the occurrence of different rain events have also been investigated by looking at event and inter-event durations to determine if there is any change

  8. Variation of rain intensity and drop size distribution with General Weather Patterns (GWL)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ghada, Wael; Buras, Allan; Lüpke, Marvin; Menzel, Annette

    2017-04-01

    Short-duration rainfall extremes may cause flash floods in certain catchments (e.g. cities or fast responding watersheds) and pose a great risk to affected communities. In order to predict their occurrence under future climate change scenarios, their link to atmospheric circulation patterns needs to be well understood. We used a comprehensive data set of meteorological data (temperature, rain gauge precipitation) and precipitation spectra measured by a disdrometer (OTT PARSIVEL) between October 2008 and June 2010 at Freising, southern Germany. For the 21 months of the study period, we integrated the disdrometer spectra over intervals of 10 minutes to correspond to the temporal resolution of the weather station data and discarded measurements with air temperatures below 0°C. Daily General Weather Patterns ("Großwetterlagen", GWL) were downloaded from the website of the German Meteorological Service. Out of the 29 GWL, 14 were included in the analysis for which we had at least 12 rain events during our study period. For the definition of a rain event, we tested different lengths of minimum inter-event times and chose 30 min as a good compromise between number and length of resulting events; rain events started when more than 0.001 mm/h (sensitivity of the disdrometer) were recorded. The length of the rain events ranged between 10 min and 28 h (median 130 min) with the maximum rain intensity recorded being 134 mm/h on 24-07-2009. Seasonal differences were identified for rain event average intensities and maximum intensities per event. The influence of GWL on rain properties such as rain intensity and drop size distribution per time step and per event was investigated based on the above mentioned rain event definition. Pairwise Wilcoxon-tests revealed that higher rain intensity and larger drops were associated with the GWL "Low over the British Isles" (TB), whereas low rain intensities and less drops per interval were associated with the GWL "High over Central Europe

  9. Urban Rain Gauge Siting Selection Based on Gis-Multicriteria Analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fu, Yanli; Jing, Changfeng; Du, Mingyi

    2016-06-01

    With the increasingly rapid growth of urbanization and climate change, urban rainfall monitoring as well as urban waterlogging has widely been paid attention. In the light of conventional siting selection methods do not take into consideration of geographic surroundings and spatial-temporal scale for the urban rain gauge site selection, this paper primarily aims at finding the appropriate siting selection rules and methods for rain gauge in urban area. Additionally, for optimization gauge location, a spatial decision support system (DSS) aided by geographical information system (GIS) has been developed. In terms of a series of criteria, the rain gauge optimal site-search problem can be addressed by a multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA). A series of spatial analytical techniques are required for MCDA to identify the prospective sites. With the platform of GIS, using spatial kernel density analysis can reflect the population density; GIS buffer analysis is used to optimize the location with the rain gauge signal transmission character. Experiment results show that the rules and the proposed method are proper for the rain gauge site selection in urban areas, which is significant for the siting selection of urban hydrological facilities and infrastructure, such as water gauge.

  10. Can salt on an optical rain gauge lens affect performance?

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bliven, Larry F.

    1994-01-01

    The optical rain gauge (ORG) by ScTI is designed to be tolerant to reduction of infrared beam intensity due to a dirty lens. Recently there is interest in long term use of optical gauges onboard buoys at sea. Because of logistics, these systems are serviced infrequently, i.e., every several months. Due to the proximity of the gauges to the sea surface, salt can be expected to be deposited on the lens. To obtain an indication of the potential for dirty lens to affect the ORG calibration, two simple experiments were conducted. In the control experiment, a sample ORG was compared to three other ORG's during natural rain events. Next a translucent mask was placed on the transmitter lens of the sample ORG and again data were collected under natural rain conditions. The mask reduced the gain of the perturbed ORG by about 30%. The perturbed ORG operated rather well in that the mask only causes a change in the gain and does not cause data drop out at low rain rates. However, the reduced gain would seriously impact an assessment of rain statistics.

  11. Reconstructed high-resolution scatterometer data: a comparison with AVHRR vegetation index images for regional-scale monitoring of tropical rain forests

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hardin, Perry J.; Long, David G.

    1993-08-01

    There is considerable interest in utilizing microwave and visible spectrum imagery for the assessment of tropical rain forests. Because rain forest spans large sub-continental areas, medium resolution (1 - 16 km) imagery will play an important role in providing a global perspective of any forest removal or change. Since 1978, AVHRR imagery from NOAA polar orbiters has provided coverage of tropical regions at this desirable resolution, but much of the imagery is plagued with heavy cloud cover typical of equatorial regions. In contrast, no historical source of active microwave imagery at native 1 - 16 km resolution exists for all the global rain forest regions. In this paper, the authors compare the utility of Seasat scatterometer (SASS) ku-band microwave data to early-date AVHRR vegetation index products for discrimination of tropical vegetation formations. When considered separately, both the AVHRR imagery and the SASS imagery could be used to distinguish between broad categories of equatorial land cover, but the AVHRR imagery was slightly superior. When combined, the two data sets provided discrimination capability superior than could be obtained by using either set alone.

  12. [Spatiotemporal trends and the impact factors of acid rain in Anhui Province].

    PubMed

    Shi, Chun-E; Qiu, Ming-Yan; Zhang, Ai-Min; Zhang, Hao; Zhang, Su; Wang, Zi-Fa

    2010-06-01

    The observational data of acid rain at seven stations in Anhui province operated by China Meteorological Administration (CMA), as well as the coal consumptions in Anhui and some surrounding provinces along with satellite measured tropospheric NO2 columns, were used to analyze the spatiotemporal trends of acid rain in Anhui and the potential reasons of the increasing occurrence frequency of acid rain. In addition, the technique of back-trajectory-cluster analysis was used to examine the impacts of transport patterns on the precipitation acidity in Anhui. The occurrence frequency shows the lowest in summer and the highest in autumn, with 3-year average pH < 5.6 during 2006-2008 at all stations, hereinto, pH values are between 5.0 and 4.5 in Hefei, Anqing, Maanshan and Bengbu. In spatial, acid rain were the most severe in southern to middle Anhui and mitigated to north. The distributions of pH were concentrative at Fuyang, Tongling and Huangshan, with more than 75% occurred between 6.00-7.50 (Fuyang), 5.00-6.00 (Tongling) and 5.00-6.50 (Huangshan); quite dispersive at other stations, with the maximum at 4.00-4.50 (Hefei and Anqing), 5.00-5.50 (Maanshan) and 5.50-6.00 (Bengbu). The occurrence frequencies of acid rain increased evidently at all stations comparing with those in the end of 1990s. The results of back-trajectories-cluster analysis show that the acid rain is closely related with the regional-range transport of acid rain precursors at each station. The air-masses from southeast and northeast, especially those passing through Jiangsu and Zhejiang, associated with the highest frequencies of acid rain with pH < 5.0, indicating that the industrial emissions in the economy developed areas of Yangtze Delta play key roles in acid rain in Anhui province. In addition, statistics shows that the occurrence frequency of acid rain in Hefei was highly correlated with the trends of the provincial coal consumptions in Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, also tropospheric NO2 column

  13. Study of 1-min rain rate integration statistic in South Korea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shrestha, Sujan; Choi, Dong-You

    2017-03-01

    The design of millimeter wave communication links and the study of propagation impairments at higher frequencies due to a hydrometeor, particularly rain, require the knowledge of 1-min. rainfall rate data. Signal attenuation in space communication results are due to absorption and scattering of radio wave energy. Radio wave attenuation due to rain depends on the relevance of a 1-min. integration time for the rain rate. However, in practice, securing these data over a wide range of areas is difficult. Long term precipitation data are readily available. However, there is a need for a 1-min. rainfall rate in the rain attenuation prediction models for a better estimation of the attenuation. In this paper, we classify and survey the prominent 1-min. rain rate models. Regression analysis was performed for the study of cumulative rainfall data measured experimentally for a decade in nine different regions in South Korea, with 93 different locations, using the experimental 1-min. rainfall accumulation. To visualize the 1-min. rainfall rate applicable for the whole region for 0.01% of the time, we have considered the variation in the rain rate for 40 stations across South Korea. The Kriging interpolation method was used for spatial interpolation of the rain rate values for 0.01% of the time into a regular grid to obtain a highly consistent and predictable rainfall variation. The rain rate exceeded the 1-min. interval that was measured through the rain gauge compared to the rainfall data estimated using the International Telecommunication Union Radio Communication Sector model (ITU-R P.837-6) along with the empirical methods as Segal, Burgueno et al., Chebil and Rahman, logarithmic, exponential and global coefficients, second and third order polynomial fits, and Model 1 for Icheon regions under the regional and average coefficient set. The ITU-R P. 837-6 exhibits a lower relative error percentage of 3.32% and 12.59% in the 5- and 10-min. to 1-min. conversion, whereas the

  14. Combined effects of lead and acid rain on photosynthesis in soybean seedlings.

    PubMed

    Hu, Huiqing; Wang, Lihong; Liao, Chenyu; Fan, Caixia; Zhou, Qing; Huang, Xiaohua

    2014-10-01

    To explore how lead (Pb) and acid rain simultaneously affect plants, the combined effects of Pb and acid rain on the chlorophyll content, chlorophyll fluorescence reaction, Hill reaction rate, and Mg(2+)-ATPase activity in soybean seedlings were investigated. The results indicated that, when soybean seedlings were treated with Pb or acid rain alone, the chlorophyll content, Hill reaction rate, Mg(2+)-ATPase activity, and maximal photochemical efficiency (F(v)/F(m)) were decreased, while the initial fluorescence (F 0) and maximum quantum yield (Y) were increased, compared with those of the control. The combined treatment with Pb and acid rain decreased the chlorophyll content, Hill reaction rate, Mg(2+)-ATPase activity, F(v)/F(m), and Y and increased F 0 in soybean seedlings. Under the combined treatment with Pb and acid rain, the two factors showed additive effects on the chlorophyll content in soybean seedlings and exhibited antagonistic effects on the Hill reaction rate. Under the combined treatment with high-concentration Pb and acid rain, the two factors exhibited synergistic effects on the Mg(2+)-ATPase activity, F 0, F v/F m, as well as Y. In summary, the inhibition of the photosynthetic process is an important physiological basis for the simultaneous actions of Pb and acid rain in soybean seedlings.

  15. Rain Simulation for the Test of Automotive Surround Sensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hasirlioglu, Sinan; Riener, Andreas; Doric, Igor

    2017-04-01

    The WHO Global Health Observatory data indicates that over 1.25 million people die in traffic accidents annually. To save lives, car manufacturers spend lot of efforts on the development of novel safety systems aiming to avoid or mitigate accidents and provide maximum protection for vehicle occupants as well as vulnerable road users. All the safety features mainly rely on data from surround sensors such as radar, lidar and camera and intelligent vehicles today use these environmental data for instant decision making and vehicle control. As already small errors in sensor data measurements could lead to catastrophes like major injuries or road traffic fatalities, it is of utmost importance to ensure high reliability and accuracy of sensors and safety systems. This work focuses on the influence of environmental factors such as rain conditions, as it is known that rain drops scatter the electromagnetic waves. The result is incorrect measurements with a direct negative impact on environment detection. To identify potential problems of sensors under varying environmental conditions, systems are today tested in real-world settings with two main problems: First, tests are time-consuming and second, environmental conditions are not reproducible. Our approach to test the influence of weather on automotive sensors is to use an indoor rain simulator. Our artificial rain maker, installed at CARISSMA (Center of Automotive Research on Integrated Safety Systems and Measurement Area), is parametrized with rain characteristics measured in the field using a standard disdrometer. System behavior on artificial rain is compared and validated with natural rainfall. With this simulator it is finally possible to test environmental influence at various levels and under reproducible conditions. This saves lot of efforts required for the test process itself and furthermore has a positive impact on the reliability of sensor systems due to the fact that test driven development is enabled.

  16. Urban dew and rain in Paris, France: Occurrence and physico-chemical characteristics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Beysens, D.; Mongruel, A.; Acker, K.

    2017-06-01

    This paper summarizes one year (April 2011 to March 2012) measurements on planar condensing surfaces of dew and rain events and related physico-chemical characteristics in the urban environment of Paris (city center). Yearly collected water was 3.48 mm for dew (63 events) and 593 mm for rain (146 events). The latter value compares well with rain data (547 mm and 107 events) collected within 12 km at Paris-Orly airport. An estimation of dew yield based on meteo data gives 2.35 mm and 74 events, to be compared with 17.11 mm and 196 events at Paris-Orly. These differences highlight the large reduction in dew events and dew yields in an urban area as compared to a close rural-like area. This reduction is not due to a sky view reduction but to heat island that increases air temperature and decreases relative humidity. Analysis of dew (34) and rain (77) samples were done concerning pH, electrical conductivity (EC), major anions and cations as well as selected trace metals and other minor ions. Mean pH values are found similar for both, dew (6.5) and rain (6.1), rain being slightly more acidic than dew. The mean dew total ionic content (TIC 1.8 meq/l) and EC value (124 μS/cm) are about four times that of rain (0.45 meq/l; 35 μS/cm), meaning that total dissolved solids in dew is nearly four times that in rain. Sulfate and nitrate are the most acidifying components, calcium the most neutralizing constituent with ratio of mean total acidity/total alkalinity comparable for dew and rain ( 0.9). Sulfate and nitrate have mainly anthropogenic sources, whereas chloride and magnesium are mostly connected with marine air masses. Dew is a considerable factor of wet deposition of pollutants; dew and rain ion concentrations, however, meet the WHO requirements for drinking water.

  17. Evidence for multiple hydrogen-ion donor systems in rain

    Treesearch

    Sagar V. Krupa; M. R., Jr. Coscio; F. A. Wood

    1976-01-01

    An integrated analytical system consisting of combined scanning electron microscopy and x-ray analysis, atomic absorption, colorimetry and coulometry was used to study rain water chemistry. The coulometry facilitated the determination in molarities of strong and non-volatile and volatile weak acids. The pH of individual rains in St. Paul - Minneapolis, Minnesota ranged...

  18. Rain reverses diel activity rhythms in an estuarine teleost

    PubMed Central

    Payne, Nicholas L.; van der Meulen, Dylan E.; Gannon, Ruan; Semmens, Jayson M.; Suthers, Iain M.; Gray, Charles A.; Taylor, Matthew D.

    2013-01-01

    Activity rhythms are ubiquitous in nature, and generally synchronized with the day–night cycle. Several taxa have been shown to switch between nocturnal and diurnal activity in response to environmental variability, and these relatively uncommon switches provide a basis for greater understanding of the mechanisms and adaptive significance of circadian (approx. 24 h) rhythms. Plasticity of activity rhythms has been identified in association with a variety of factors, from changes in predation pressure to an altered nutritional or social status. Here, we report a switch in activity rhythm that is associated with rainfall. Outside periods of rain, the estuarine-associated teleost Acanthopagrus australis was most active and in shallower depths during the day, but this activity and depth pattern was reversed in the days following rain, with diurnality restored as estuarine conductivity and turbidity levels returned to pre-rain levels. Although representing the first example of a rain-induced reversal of activity rhythm in an aquatic animal of which we are aware, our results are consistent with established models on the trade-offs between predation risk and foraging efficiency. PMID:23173211

  19. Dew, fog, drizzle and rain water in Baku (Azerbaijan)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meunier, D.; Beysens, D.

    2016-09-01

    Dwindling supplies of fresh water and climate changes have drawn attention to the need to find alternative sources of water globally. This study examines the potential of the semi-arid region of Baku (Azerbaijan) to exploit in particular dew, but also fog, drizzle and rain water. The Absheron Peninsular suffers from scarceness of water and non-hazardous water sources. Measurements were taken in this region on a 30° inclined plane passive condenser over a year (1/4/2010-31/3/2011) to determine the contribution and validity of using these alternative sources of water. The results show a significant relative contribution from these sources during this period (rain: 84 mm; dew: 15 mm; fog: 6 mm; drizzle: 13 mm). The fact that rain was measured within 23 km from the main station leads to uncertainties in its relative contribution. However, at least for the year under study, there are fair indications that collecting dew, fog and drizzle in addition to rain can significantly increase the collected atmospheric water with value estimated on order 40% ± 20%.

  20. 9-year distributions of rain intensities measured in Prague and their utilization in telecommunications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kvicera, V.; Grabner, M.

    2012-04-01

    Experimental research in the Department of Frequency Engineering of the Czech Metrology Institute (CMI) in Prague, the Czech Republic, is focused on stability of received signals on terrestrial radio and optical communication paths. Hydrometeors (rain, snow, fog, hails) can cause serious attenuation of electromagnetic waves in the frequency bands above 10 GHz and the availability performances of terrestrial radio communication systems are seriously affected by heavy hydrometeors events. The rain intensity data is usually used for the calculations of attenuation due to rain on terrestrial radio links in accordance with either the relevant ITU-R Recommendation or other methods. Therefore, our experimental research is also focused on our own meteorological measurements in the vicinity of experimental radio and optical paths. The heated tipping-bucket rain gauge with the collector area of 500 cm2 and the rain amount per tip of 0.1 mm is used at CMI for the measurements of intensities of hydrometeors. The time of tips is recorded with uncertainty of 1 second. Hydrometeors intensity data obtained from January 2003 to December 2011 (9 years of observation) was statistically processed over the individual years. All the recorded individual hydrometeor events were compared with the concurrent meteorological conditions and were carefully categorized according to the types of individual hydrometeors, i.e. rain, rain with snow, rain with hails, snow, fog, fog with rain, fog with snow, and fog with rain and snow. The obtained cumulative distributions (CDs) of intensities of individual hydrometeors over 9 years of observation will be presented and compared with the CD of intensities of all hydrometeors together. The rain amounts were examined too. The obtained rain amounts for individual years and the average rain amounts for individual months over the 9-year period will be given. The obtained CD of average 1-minute rain intensities for the average year over the 9-year period of

  1. [Effects of fertilizer application on water consumption characteristics and yield of potato cultured under ridge-furrow and whole filed plastic mulching in rain-fed area.

    PubMed

    Yu, Xian Feng; Zhang, Xu Cheng; Wang, Hong Li; Ma, Yi Fan; Hou, Hui Zhi; Fang, Yan Jie

    2016-03-01

    Chemical fertilizer reduction and organic manure substitution are the useful methods to increase potato water-and nutrient use efficiency, which is cultured under ridge-furrow and whole soil surface mulched by plastic film in semiarid rain-fed area. A 4-year field experiment was carried out from 2011 to 2014 with three treatments: 1) traditional chemical fertilizer application (F), 2) chemical nitrogen fertilizer reduced by 25% and dressing at flowering stage (DF), and 3) chemical nitrogen fertilizer reduced by 50% and organic manure substitution (OF). The soil moisture and potato yield were investigated, and seasonal water consumption, water use efficiency (WUE) were calculated to study the regulations of different nutrient management methods on potato water use process, as well as its effects on potato tuber yield and WUE. The results showed that soil water storage in potato flowering stage was the highest under DF treatment, but there were no significant difference among these three treatments. The depth of soil water depletion in DF and OF showed an increasing trend at post-flowering stage. Potato water consumption decreased significantly at pre-flowering stage, but increased by 36.2%, 23.2%, 24.8% and 19.0% respectively at post-flowering stage in 2011-2014 under DF treatment, as compared with those under F treatment. OF treatment increased potato water consumption by 20.7% and 16.3% than that under F treatment at post-flowering stage from 2011 to 2012, respectively, but exerted no significant effect at pre-flowering stage. Compared with F, DF increased potato tuber yield averagely by 2595.1 kg·hm -2 from 2012 to 2014 and significantly increased the WUE by 14.4% and 6.3% in 2013 and 2014, respectively; OF significantly increased potato tuber yield averagely by 2945 kg·hm -2 tuber yield in 4 experimental years and WUE was significantly higher than that under F from 2012 to 2014. It was indicated that both DF and OF could regulate water consumption between pre

  2. Performance analysis of rain attenuation on earth-to-satellite microwave links design in Libya

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rafiqul Islam, Md; Hussein Budalal, Asma Ali; Habaebi, Mohamed H.; Badron, Khairayu; Fadzil Ismail, Ahmad

    2017-11-01

    Performances of earth-to-satellite microwave links operating in Ku, Ka, and V-bands are degraded by the environment and strongly attenuated by rain. Rain attenuation is the most significant consideration and challenge to design a reliable earth-to-satellite microwave links for these frequency bands. Hence, it is essential for satellite link designer to take into account rain fade margin accurately before system implementation. Rain rate is the main measured parameter to predict of rain attenuation. Rainfall statistical data measured and recorded in Libya for the period of 30 years are collected from 5 locations. The prediction methods require one minute integration time rain intensity. Therefore, collected data were analyzed and processed to convert into one-minute rain rate cumulative distribution in Libya. The model proposed by ITU-R is used to predict and investigate rain fade based on converted 1-minute rain rate data. Rain fade predicted at two locations are used for performance analysis in terms of link spectral efficiency and throughput. V-band downlink shows that 99.99% availability is possible in all the Southern part stations in Libya at 0.29 bps/Hz spectral efficiency and 20.74 Mbps throughput when 72 MHz transponder band width is used which is not feasible in Northern part. Results of this paper will be a very useful resource to design highly reliable earth-to-satellite communication links in Libya.

  3. Characterization of tropical precipitation using drop size distribution and rain rate-radar reflectivity relation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Das, Saurabh; Maitra, Animesh

    2018-04-01

    Characterization of precipitation is important for proper interpretation of rain information from remotely sensed data. Rain attenuation and radar reflectivity (Z) depend directly on the drop size distribution (DSD). The relation between radar reflectivity/rain attenuation and rain rate (R) varies widely depending upon the origin, topography, and drop evolution mechanism and needs further understanding of the precipitation characteristics. The present work utilizes 2 years of concurrent measurements of DSD using a ground-based disdrometer at five diverse climatic conditions in Indian subcontinent and explores the possibility of rain classification based on microphysical characteristics of precipitation. It is observed that both gamma and lognormal distributions are performing almost similar for Indian region with a marginally better performance by one model than other depending upon the locations. It has also been found that shape-slope relationship of gamma distribution can be a good indicator of rain type. The Z-R relation, Z = ARb, is found to vary widely for different precipitation systems, with convective rain that has higher values of A than the stratiform rain for two locations, whereas the reverse is observed for the rest of the three locations. Further, the results indicate that the majority of rainfall (>50%) in Indian region is due to the convective rain although the occurrence time of convective rain is low (<10%).

  4. An experimental study of microwave scattering from rain- and wind-roughened seas

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bliven, L. F.; Giovanangeli, J.-P.

    1993-01-01

    This paper investigates radar cross-section (RCS) characteristics of rain- and wind-roughened sea-surfaces. We conducted experiments in laboratory wind-wave tanks using artificial rain. The study includes light rain rates, light wind speeds, and combinations of these. A 36 Ghz scatterometer was operated at 30 deg incidence angle and with vertical polarization. RCS data were obtained not only with the scatterometer pointing up-wind but also as a function of azimuthal angle. We use a scatterometer rain and wind model SRWM-1, which relates the total average RCS in storms to the sum of the average RCS due to rain plus the average RCS due to wind. Implications of the study for operational monitoring of wind in rainy oceanic areas by satellite-borne instruments is discussed.

  5. Millimeter wave attenuation prediction using a piecewise uniform rain rate model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Persinger, R. R.; Stutzman, W. L.; Bostian, C. W.; Castle, R. E., Jr.

    1980-01-01

    A piecewise uniform rain rate distribution model is introduced as a quasi-physical model of real rain along earth-space millimeter wave propagation paths. It permits calculation of the total attenuation from specific attenuation in a simple fashion. The model predications are verified by comparison with direct attenuation measurements for several frequencies, elevation angles, and locations. Also, coupled with the Rice-Holmberg rain rate model, attenuation statistics are predicated from rainfall accumulation data.

  6. Acid rain in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Rice, Karen C.; Deviney, Frank A.; Olson, Gordon

    2007-01-01

    Visitors to Shenandoah National Park (SNP) enjoy the animal and plant life and the scenery but may not realize how vulnerable these features are to various threats, such as invasion of exotic plants and insects, improper use of park resources by humans, and air and water pollution. The National Park Service strives to protect natural resources from such threats to ensure that the resources will be available for enjoyment now and in the future. Because SNP has limited influence over the air pollution that envelops the region, acidic deposition--commonly known as acid rain--is one of the more challenging threats facing park managers. With the help of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists, park managers can understand how acid rain interacts with ground- and surface-water resources, which enables them to explain why reductions in air pollution can help preserve park resources. Such understanding also provides essential insight into ecosystem processes, as managers strive to unravel and resolve other environmental problems that are interrelated to acid rain.

  7. Characterizing the release of different composition of dissolved organic matter in soil under acid rain leaching using three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix spectroscopy.

    PubMed

    Liu, Li; Song, Cunyi; Yan, Zengguang; Li, Fasheng

    2009-09-01

    Although excitation-emission matrix spectroscopy (EEMS) has been widely used to characterize dissolved organic matter (DOM), there has no report that EEMS has been used to study the effects of acid rain on DOM and its composition in soil. In this work, we employed three-dimensional EEMS to characterize the compositions of DOM leached by simulated acid rain from red soil. The red soil was subjected to leaching of simulated acid rain of different acidity, and the leached DOM presented five main peaks in its EEMS: peak-A, related to humic acid-like (HA-like) material, at Ex/Em of 310-330/395-420nm; peak-B, related to UV fulvic acid-like (FA-like) material, at Ex/Em of 230-280/400-435nm; peak-C and peak-D, both related to microbial byproduct-like material, at Ex/Em of 250-280/335-355nm and 260-280/290-320nm, respectively; and peak-E, related to simple aromatic proteins, at Ex/Em of 210-240/290-340nm. EEMS analysis results indicated that most DOM could be lost from red soil in the early phase of acid rain leaching. In addition to the effects of the pH of acid rain, the loss of DOM also depended on the properties of its compositions and the solubility of their complexes with aluminum. HA-like and microbial byproduct-like materials could be more easily released from red soil by acid rain at both higher pH (4.5 and 5.6) and lower pH (2.5 and 3) than that at middle pH (3.5). On the contrary, FA-like material lost in a similar manner under the action of different acid rains with pH ranging from 2.5 to 5.6.

  8. Study of rain attenuation in Ka band for satellite communication in South Korea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shrestha, Sujan; Choi, Dong-You

    2016-10-01

    The important factor to be considered in the link budget estimation for satellite communication systems, operating at frequencies above 10 GHz is the rain attenuation. Scattering and absorption are the main concern for system designers at these frequency bands. This has resulted in the need for suitable prediction models that can best provide estimates of attenuation due to rain with available information of rain attenuation data. Researchers have developed models that can be used to estimate 1-min rainfall attenuation distribution for earth space link but there is still some confusion with regard to choosing the right model to predict attenuation for the location of interest. In this context, the existing prediction models need to be tested against the measured results. This paper presents studies on rain attenuation at 19.8 GHz, which specifies the performance parameters for Ka-Band under earth space communication system. It presents the experimental result of rain rates and rain-induced attenuation in 19.8 and 20.73 GHz for vertical and circular polarization respectively. The received signal data for rain attenuation and rain rate were collected at 10 s intervals over a three year periods from 2013 to 2015. The data highlights the impact of clear air variation and rain fade loss. Rain rate data was measured through OTT Parsivel. During the observation period, rain rates of about 50 mm/h and attenuation values of 11.6 dB for 0.01% of the time were noted. The experimental link was set up at Korea Radio Promotion Association, Mokdong, Seoul. Out of several models, this paper present discussion and comparison of ITU-R P.618-12, Unified Method, Dissanayake Allnutt and Haidara (DAH), Simple Attenuation (SAM), Crane Global and Ramachandran and Kumar models. The relative error margin of 27.51, 89.84,72.46% and 67.24, 130.84, 166.48% are obtained for 0.1%, 0.01% and 0.001% of the time for 19.8 and 20.73 GHz under vertical and circular polarization respectively from ITU

  9. Coastal and rain-induced wind variability depicted by scatterometers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Portabella, M.; Lin, W.; Stoffelen, A.; Turiel, A.; Verhoef, A.; Verspeek, J.; Ballabrera, J.; Vogelzang, J.

    2012-04-01

    A detailed knowledge of local wind variability near the shore is very important since it strongly affects the weather and microclimate in coastal regions. Since coastal areas are densely populated and most activity at sea occurs near the shore, sea-surface wind field information is important for a number of applications. In the vicinity of land sea-breeze, wave fetch, katabatic and current effects are more likely than in the open ocean, thus enhancing air-sea interaction. Also very relevant for air-sea interaction are the rain-induced phenomena, such as downbursts and convergence. Relatively cold and dry air is effectively transported to the ocean surface and surface winds are enhanced. In general, both coastal and rain-induced wind variability are poorly resolved by Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. Satellite real aperture radars (i.e., scatterometers) are known to provide accurate mesoscale (25-50 km resolution) sea surface wind field information used in a wide variety of applications. Nowadays, there are two operating scatterometers in orbit, i.e., the C-band Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) onboard Metop-A and the Ku-band scatterometer (OSCAT) onboard Oceansat-2. The EUMETSAT Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (OSI SAF) delivers several ASCAT level 2 wind products with 25 km and 12.5 km Wind Vector Cell (WVC) spacing, including a pre-operational coastal wind product as well as an OSCAT level 2 wind product with 50 km spacing in development status. Rain is known to both attenuate and scatter the microwave signal. In addition, there is a "splashing" effect. The roughness of the sea surface is increased because of splashing due to rain drops. The so-called "rain contamination" is larger for Ku-band scatterometer systems than for C-band systems. Moreover, the associated downdrafts lead to variable wind speeds and directions, further complicating the wind retrieval. The C-band ASCAT high resolution wind processing is validated under rainy

  10. A TRMM Microwave Radiometer Rain Rate Estimation Method with Convective and Stratiform Discrimination

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Prabhakara, C.; Iacovazzi, R., Jr.; Weinman, J. A.; Dalu, G.

    1999-01-01

    Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) radiometer brightness temperature data in the 85 GHz channel (T85) reveal distinct local minima (T85min) in a regional map containing a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS). This is because of relatively small footprint size (approximately 5.5 km) and strong extinction properties in this channel of the TMI. A map of surface rain rate for that region, deduced from simultaneous measurements made by the Precipitation Radar (PR) on board the TRMM satellite, reveals that these T85(sub min), produced by scattering, correspond to local PR rain maxima. Utilizing the PR rain rate map as a guide, we infer empirically from TMI data the presence of three different kinds of thunderstorms or Cbs. These Cbs are classified as young, mature, and decaying types, and are assumed to have a scale of about 20 km on the average. Two parameters are used to classify these three kinds of Cbs based on the T85 data: a) the magnitude of scattering depression deduced from local T85(sub min) and b) the mean horizontal gradient of T85 around such minima. Knowing the category of a given Cb, we can estimate the rain rate associated with it. Such estimation is done with the help of relationships linking T85min to rain rate in each Cb type. Similarly, a weak background rain rate in all the areas where T85 is less than 260 K is deduced with another relationship linking T85 to rain rate. In our rain retrieval model, this background rain constitutes stratiform rain where the Cbs are absent. Initially, these relationships are optimized or tuned utilizing the PR and TMI data of a few MCS events. After such tuning, the model is applied to independent MCS cases. The areal distribution of light (1-10 mm/hr), moderate (10-20 mm/hr), and intense (>= 20 mm/hr) rain rates are retrieved satisfactorily. Accuracy in the estimates of the light, moderate, and intense rain areas and the mean rain rates associated with such areas in these independent MCS

  11. Detail of old rain shed (Building No. 43) showing vertical ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    Detail of old rain shed (Building No. 43) showing vertical posts. Note rock foundations of wood tanks once located under the rain shed on the ground at center of photograph. - Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Water Collection System, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Volcano, Hawaii County, HI

  12. Warm Rain Processes Over the Tropical Oceans and Implications on Climate Change

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lau, William K. M.; Wu, H. T.

    2004-01-01

    In this talk, we will first show results from TRMM regarding the characteristics of warm rains over the tropical oceans, and the dependence of rate of warm rain production on sea surface temperature. Results lead to the hypothesis that warm rain production efficiency, i.e., autoconversion, may be increased in a warm climate. We use the GEOS-II GCM to test this hypothesis. Our modeling results show that in a climate with increased rate of autoconversion, the total rain amount is increased, with warm rain contributing to a larger portion of the increase. The abundant rainout of warm precipitation at middle to low levels causes a reduction of high cloud cover due to the depletion of water available for ice-phase rain production. As a result, more isolated, but more intense penetrative convection develops. Results also show that increased autoconversion reduces the convective adjustment time scale tends, implying a faster recycling of atmospheric water. Most interestingly, the increased low level heating associated with warm rain leads to more energetic Madden and Julian oscillations in the tropics, with well-defined eastward propagation. While reducing the autoconversion leads to an abundant mix of westward and eastward tropical disturbance on daily to weekly time scales. The causes of the sensitivity of the dynamical regimes to the microphysics parameterization in the GCM will be discussed.

  13. Comparative effects of sulfuric and nitric acid rain on litter decomposition and soil microbial community in subtropical plantation of Yangtze River Delta region.

    PubMed

    Liu, Xin; Zhang, Bo; Zhao, Wenrui; Wang, Ling; Xie, Dejin; Huo, Wentong; Wu, Yanwen; Zhang, Jinchi

    2017-12-01

    Acid rain is mainly caused by dissolution of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere, and has a significant negative effect on ecosystems. The relative composition of acid rain is changing gradually from sulfuric acid rain (SAR) to nitric acid rain (NAR) with the rapidly growing amount of nitrogen deposition. In this study, we investigated the impact of simulated SAR and NAR on litter decomposition and the soil microbial community over four seasons since March 2015. Results first showed that the effects of acid rain on litter decomposition and soil microbial were positive in the early period of the experiment, except for SAR on soil microbes. Second, soil pH with NAR decreased more rapidly with the amount of acid rain increased in summer than with SAR treatments. Only strongly acid rain (both SAR and NAR) was capable of depressing litter decomposition and its inhibitory effect was stronger on leaf than on fine root litter. Meanwhile, NAR had a higher inhibitory effect on litter decomposition than SAR. Third, in summer, autumn and winter, PLFAs were negatively impacted by the increased acidity level resulting from both SAR and NAR. However, higher acidity level of NAR (pH=2.5) had the strongest inhibitory impact on soil microbial activity, especially in summer. In addition, Gram-negative bacteria (cy19:0) and fungi (18:1ω9) were more sensitive to both SAR and NAR, and actinomycetes was more sensitive to SAR intensity. Finally, soil total carbon, total nitrogen and pH were the most important soil property factors affecting soil microbial activity, and high microbial indices (fungi/bacteria) with high soil pH. Our results suggest that the ratio of SO 4 2- to NO 3 - in acid rain is an important factor which could affect litter decomposition and soil microbial in subtropical forest of China. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  14. A Rain Garden for Our School: Becoming Environmental Stewards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McFadyen, Joy

    2012-01-01

    In this article, the author talks about a rain garden project at Hampton Elementary School in Bay City, Michigan. The goal of the project was to slow and filter silt-laden runoff (from parking lots, sidewalks, and playground) on its path to Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron. In addition, doing so, the rain gardens would demonstrate to the township, city,…

  15. Comparison between natural Rain drop size distributions and corresponding models near equilibrium state during warm rain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barthes, Laurent; Mallet, Cécile

    2010-05-01

    Keywords: Rain Drop Size Distribution, Breakup, coalescence, disdrometer The study of the vertical evolution of raindrop size distributions (DSDs) during rainfall, from the freezing level isotherm to ground level, is a key to improving our understanding of the microphysics of rain. In numerous domains such as remote sensing, telecommunications, soil erosion, and the study of the rain's efficiency in 'washing' the atmosphere, the DSD plays an important role. Among the different processes affecting the evolution of DSD, breakup and coalescence are two of the most significant. Models of coalescence and breakup lead to equilibrium of the raindrop size distribution (DSD) after a fall through sufficient vertical height. At equilibrium, the DSD no longer evolves, and its shape is unique whatever the rain rate or LWC. This implies that the DSD is known, to within a multiplication constant. These models based on experimental measurements have been developed over the past 40 years. The Low and List (1982a,b) parameterization (hereinafter LL82) and the Greg M. McFarquhar (2004) model are both based on the same laboratory experiments, which lead to an equilibrium drop size distribution (EDSD) with two or three peaks, and an exponential tail with a slope of approximately Λ=65 cm-1. Numerous measurements using disdrometer collected in different climatic areas: Paris, France (Mars to October 2000), Iowa-City (April to October 2002), and Djougou (Benin June to September 2006) corresponding to 537 hours of rain period have shown that for high rain rates, close to a state of equilibrium, this slope lies between Λ=20 - 22 cm-1. This latter value is corroborated by others measurements found in the literature (Hu & Srivastava, 1995). Hu & Srivastava suggested that the Low and List parameterization may overestimate the effects of the breakup process. This hypothesis is in adequation with recent laboratory experiments (A.P. Barros 2008) in which the authors conclude that the number of

  16. A scattering model for rain depolarization

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wiley, P. H.; Stutzman, W. L.; Bostian, C. W.

    1973-01-01

    A method is presented for calculating the amount of depolarization caused by precipitation for a propagation path. In the model the effects of each scatterer and their interactions are accounted for by using a series of simplifying steps. It is necessary only to know the forward scattering properties of a single scatterer. For the case of rain the results of this model for attenuation, differential phase shift, and cross polarization agree very well with the results of the only other model available, that of differential attenuation and differential phase shift. Calculations presented here show that horizontal polarization is more sensitive to depolarization than is vertical polarization for small rain drop canting angle changes. This effect increases with increasing path length.

  17. Dual-polarization characteristics of the radar ocean return in the presence of rain

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Meneghini, R.; Kumagai, H.; Kozu, T.

    1992-01-01

    Experimental data are presented on the polarimetric and dual-wavelength characteristics of the ocean surface in the presence of rain. To explain a portion of the variability observed in scatter plots under rain conditions, a storm model is used that incorporates measured drop size distributions. The fairly large variability indicates that effects of drop size distribution and the presence of partially melted particles can introduce a significant error in the estimate of attenuation. This effect is especially significant in the case of a 10-GHz radar under high rain rates. A surface reference method at this frequency will tend to overestimate the rain attenuation unless melting layer attenuation is properly taken into account. Observations of the cross-polarization return in stratiform rain over an ocean surface show three distinct components. Two of these correspond to aspherical, nonaligned particles in the melting layer seen in the direct and mirror-image returns. The remaining part depends both on the off-nadir depolarization by the surface and on the rain medium. A possible mechanism for this latter effect is the bistatic scattering from the rain to the surface.

  18. General probability-matched relations between radar reflectivity and rain rate

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rosenfeld, Daniel; Wolff, David B.; Atlas, David

    1993-01-01

    An improved method for transforming radar-observed reflectivities Ze into rain rate R is presented. The method is based on a formulation of a Ze-R function constrained such that (1) the radar-retrieved pdf of R and all of its moments are identical to those determined from the gauges over a sufficiently large domain, and (2) the fraction of the time that it is raining above a low but still has an accurately measurable rain intensity is identical for both the radar and for simultaneous measurements of collocated gauges on average. Data measured by a 1.65-deg beamwidth C-band radar and 22 gauges located in the vicinity of Darwin, Australia, are used. The resultant Ze-R functions show a strong range dependence, especially for the rain regimes characterized by strong reflectivity gradients and substantial attenuation. The application of these novel Ze-R functions to the radar data produces excellent matches to the gauge measurements without any systematic bias.

  19. The Study of Rain Specific Attenuation for the Prediction of Satellite Propagation in Malaysia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mandeep, J. S.; Ng, Y. Y.; Abdullah, H.; Abdullah, M.

    2010-06-01

    Specific attenuation is the fundamental quantity in the calculation of rain attenuation for terrestrial path and slant paths representing as rain attenuation per unit distance (dB/km). Specific attenuation is an important element in developing the predicted rain attenuation model. This paper deals with the empirical determination of the power law coefficients which allow calculating the specific attenuation in dB/km from the knowledge of the rain rate in mm/h. The main purpose of the paper is to obtain the coefficients of k and α of power law relationship between specific attenuation. Three years (from 1st January 2006 until 31st December 2008) rain gauge and beacon data taken from USM, Nibong Tebal have been used to do the empirical procedure analysis of rain specific attenuation. The data presented are semi-empirical in nature. A year-to-year variation of the coefficients has been indicated and the empirical measured data was compared with ITU-R provided regression coefficient. The result indicated that the USM empirical measured data was significantly vary from ITU-R predicted value. Hence, ITU-R recommendation for regression coefficients of rain specific attenuation is not suitable for predicting rain attenuation at Malaysia.

  20. [Aortic and cerebral trombosis caused by hypernatremic dehydration in an exclusively breast-fed infant].

    PubMed

    Iglesias Fernández, C; Chimenti Camacho, P; Vázquez López, P; Guerrero Soler, M; Blanco Bravo, D

    2006-10-01

    Complete aortic thrombosis is rare in neonates. Because it carries high morbidity and mortality, this entity requires aggressive and early treatment. This report describes an 8-day-old healthy and exclusively breast-fed infant, without specific coagulopathy, who developed complete aortic and cerebral venous thrombosis, which was attributed to inadequate breast-feeding and severe hypernatremic dehydration. Early systemic anticoagulation and thrombolytic therapy allowed complete resolution of the problem.

  1. Modeling the impact of crop rotation with legume on nitrous oxide emissions from rain-fed agricultural systems in Australia under alternative future climate scenarios.

    PubMed

    Ma, Yuchun; Schwenke, Graeme; Sun, Liying; Liu, De Li; Wang, Bin; Yang, Bo

    2018-07-15

    Limited information exists on potential impacts of climate change on nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions by including N 2 -fixing legumes in crop rotations from rain-fed cropping systems. Data from two 3-yr crop rotations in northern NSW, Australia, viz. chickpea-wheat-barley (CpWB) and canola-wheat-barley (CaWB), were used to gain an insight on the role of legumes in mitigation of N 2 O emissions. High-frequency N 2 O fluxes measured with an automated system of static chambers were utilized to test the applicability of Denitrification and Decomposition model. The DNDC model was run using the on-site observed weather, soil and farming management conditions as well as the representative concentration pathways adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its Fifth Assessment Report. The DNDC model captured the cumulative N 2 O emissions with variations falling within the deviation ranges of observations (0.88±0.31kgNha -1 rotation -1 for CpWB, 1.44±0.02kgNha -1 rotation -1 for CaWB). The DNDC model can be used to predict between modeled and measured N 2 O flux values for CpWB (n=390, RSR=0.45) and CaWB (n=390, RSR=0.51). Long-term (80-yr) simulations were conducted with RCP 4.5 representing a global greenhouse gas stabilization scenario, as well RCP 8.5 representing a very high greenhouse gas emission scenario based on RCP scenarios. Compared with the baseline scenarios for CpWB and CaWB, the long-term simulation results under RCP scenarios showed that, (1) N 2 O emissions would increase by 35-44% for CpWB and 72-76% for CaWB under two climate scenarios; (2) grain yields would increase by 9% and 18% under RCP 4.5, and 2% and 14% under RCP 8.5 for CpWB and CaWB, respectively; and (3) yield-scaled N 2 O-N emission would increase by 24-42% for CpWB and 46-54% for CaWB under climate scenarios, respectively. Our results suggest that 25% of the yield-scaled N 2 O-N emission would be saved by switching to a legume rotation under climate change conditions. Crown

  2. Rain Fade Compensation Alternatives for Ka Band Communication Satellites

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Acosta, Roberto J.

    1997-01-01

    Future satellite communications systems operating in Ka-band frequency band are subject to degradation produced by the troposphere which is much more severe than those found at lower frequency bands. These impairments include signal absorption by rain, clouds and gases, and amplitude scintillation's arising from refractive index irregularities. For example, rain attenuation at 20 GHz is almost three times that at 11 GHz. Although some of these impairments can be overcome by oversizing the ground station antennas and high power amplifiers, the current trend is using small (less than 20 inches apertures), low-cost ground stations (less than $1000) that can be easily deployed at user premises. As a consequence, most Ka-band systems are expected to employ different forms of fade mitigation that can be implemented relatively easily and at modest cost. The rain fade mitigation approaches are defined by three types of Ka-band communications systems - a low service rate (less than 1.5 Mb/s), a moderate service rate (1.5 to 6 Mb/s) system and a high service rate (greater than 43 Mb/s) system. The ACTS VSAT network, which includes an adaptive rain fade technique, is an example of a moderate service rate.

  3. High Impact Weather Associated with a Predecessor Rain Event Over Misawa Air Base

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-03-01

    1  1.  Tropical Storms and Predecessor Rain Events...34  B.  MISAWA STORM EVENT ..........................................................................45  C.  NAGASAKI...through 1200 UTC 24 September 2011 (green line), shaded rain events PRE( STORM ) on left(right) with max 24 h rain period shaded in red (After http

  4. Effects of wind and rain on thermal responses of humans in a mildly cold environment.

    PubMed

    Yamane, Motoi; Oida, Yukio; Ohnishi, Norikazu; Matsumoto, Takaaki; Kitagawa, Kaoru

    2010-05-01

    The purpose of the present study was to clarify the effects of wind and rain on peripheral heat loss by non-exercising minimally clothed humans in a mildly cold environment. Seven healthy young male subjects wearing only shorts rested in a standing position for 20 min at an ambient temperature of 15 degrees C under three conditions: without exposure to wind or rain (CON), with exposure to wind (3 m/s) (WIND) and with exposure to wind (3 m/s) and rain (40 mm/h) (WIND + RAIN). Mean heat loss measured using a heat flux transducer was significantly greater in the subjects exposed to WIND + RAIN compared to those exposed to CON and WIND conditions (p < 0.01). Metabolic heat production was significantly greater under WIND + RAIN than under CON and WIND (p < 0.01). Decrease in heat storage was significantly larger at WIND + RAIN compared with CON and WIND (p < 0.01). Mean skin temperature was significantly lower under WIND + RAIN than under CON and WIND conditions (p < 0.01). These results indicate that peripheral heat loss significantly increases when humans are exposed to wind and rain for a short period (20 min) under a mildly cold condition.

  5. Maternal antioxidant supplementation prevents adiposity in the offspring of Western diet-fed rats.

    PubMed

    Sen, Sarbattama; Simmons, Rebecca A

    2010-12-01

    Obesity in pregnancy significantly increases the risk of the offspring developing obesity after birth. The aims of this study were to test the hypothesis that maternal obesity increases oxidative stress during fetal development, and to determine whether administration of an antioxidant supplement to pregnant Western diet-fed rats would prevent the development of adiposity in the offspring. Female Sprague Dawley rats were started on the designated diet at 4 weeks of age. Four groups of animals were studied: control chow (control); control + antioxidants (control+Aox); Western diet (Western); and Western diet + antioxidants (Western+Aox). The rats were mated at 12 to 14 weeks of age, and all pups were weaned onto control diet. Offspring from dams fed the Western diet had significantly increased adiposity as early as 2 weeks of age as well as impaired glucose tolerance compared with offspring of dams fed a control diet. Inflammation and oxidative stress were increased in preimplantation embryos, fetuses, and newborns of Western diet-fed rats. Gene expression of proadipogenic and lipogenic genes was altered in fat tissue of rats at 2 weeks and 2 months of age. The addition of an antioxidant supplement decreased adiposity and normalized glucose tolerance. CONCLUSIONS; Inflammation and oxidative stress appear to play a key role in the development of increased adiposity in the offspring of Western diet-fed pregnant dams. Restoration of the antioxidant balance during pregnancy in the Western diet-fed dam is associated with decreased adiposity in offspring.

  6. Differential Gene Expression of Longan Under Simulated Acid Rain Stress.

    PubMed

    Zheng, Shan; Pan, Tengfei; Ma, Cuilan; Qiu, Dongliang

    2017-05-01

    Differential gene expression profile was studied in Dimocarpus longan Lour. in response to treatments of simulated acid rain with pH 2.5, 3.5, and a control (pH 5.6) using differential display reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (DDRT-PCR). Results showed that mRNA differential display conditions were optimized to find an expressed sequence tag (EST) related with acid rain stress. The potential encoding products had 80% similarity with a transcription initiation factor IIF of Gossypium raimondii and 81% similarity with a protein product of Theobroma cacao. This fragment is the transcription factor activated by second messenger substances in longan leaves after signal perception of acid rain.

  7. Application of Statistical Methods of Rain Rate Estimation to Data From The TRMM Precipitation Radar

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Meneghini, R.; Jones, J. A.; Iguchi, T.; Okamoto, K.; Liao, L.; Busalacchi, Antonio J. (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    The TRMM Precipitation Radar is well suited to statistical methods in that the measurements over any given region are sparsely sampled in time. Moreover, the instantaneous rain rate estimates are often of limited accuracy at high rain rates because of attenuation effects and at light rain rates because of receiver sensitivity. For the estimation of the time-averaged rain characteristics over an area both errors are relevant. By enlarging the space-time region over which the data are collected, the sampling error can be reduced. However. the bias and distortion of the estimated rain distribution generally will remain if estimates at the high and low rain rates are not corrected. In this paper we use the TRMM PR data to investigate the behavior of 2 statistical methods the purpose of which is to estimate the rain rate over large space-time domains. Examination of large-scale rain characteristics provides a useful starting point. The high correlation between the mean and standard deviation of rain rate implies that the conditional distribution of this quantity can be approximated by a one-parameter distribution. This property is used to explore the behavior of the area-time-integral (ATI) methods where fractional area above a threshold is related to the mean rain rate. In the usual application of the ATI method a correlation is established between these quantities. However, if a particular form of the rain rate distribution is assumed and if the ratio of the mean to standard deviation is known, then not only the mean but the full distribution can be extracted from a measurement of fractional area above a threshold. The second method is an extension of this idea where the distribution is estimated from data over a range of rain rates chosen in an intermediate range where the effects of attenuation and poor sensitivity can be neglected. The advantage of estimating the distribution itself rather than the mean value is that it yields the fraction of rain contributed by

  8. Rain core structure statistics derived from radar and disdrometer measurements in the mid-Atlantic coast of the US

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Goldhirsh, Julius; Musiani, Bert H.

    1989-01-01

    During a period spanning more than 5 years, low elevation radar measurements of rain were systematically obtained in the mid-Atlantic coast of the U.S. Drop size distribution measurements with a disdrometer were also acquired on the same rain days. The drop size data were utilized to convert the radar reflectivity factors to estimated rain rates for the respective rain days of operation. Applying high level algorithms to the rain data, core values of rain intensities were identified (peak rain rates), and families of rain rate isopleths analyzed. In particular, equicircle diameters of the family of isopleths enveloping peak rain intensities were statistically characterized. The presented results represents the analysis of two rain days, 12 radar scans, corresponding to 430 culled rain rate isopleths from an available data base of 22,000 contours, approximately 100 scans encompassing 17 rain days. The results presented show trends of the average rain rate vs. contour scale dimensions, and cumulative distributions of rain cell dimensions which belong to core families of precipitation.

  9. Validation of Rain Rate Retrievals for the Airborne Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jacob, Maria; Salemirad, Matin; Jones, W. Linwood; Biswas, Sayak; Cecil, Daniel

    2015-01-01

    On board of the NASA's Global Hawk (AV1) aircraft there are two microwave, namely: the passive microwave Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD), and the active microwave High-altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (HIWRAP). This paper presents results from an unplanned rain rate measurement validation opportunity that occurred in 2013, when the Global Hawk aircraft flew over an intense tropical squall-line that was simultaneously observed, by the Tampa NEXRAD meteorological radar. During this experiment, Global Hawk flying at an altitude of 18 km made 3 passes over the rapidly propagating thunderstorm, while the TAMPA NEXRAD perform volume scans on a 5-minute interval. NEXRAD 2D images of rain rate (mm/hr) were obtained at two altitudes (3 km & 6 km), which serve as surface truth for the HIRAD rain rate retrievals. In this paper, results are presented of the three-way inter-comparison of HIRAD Tb, HIWRAP dbZ and NEXRAD rain rate imagery.

  10. Digestion, milk production, milk composition, and blood composition of dairy cows fed whole flaxseed.

    PubMed

    Petit, Helene V

    2002-06-01

    A total of 90 lactating Holstein cows averaging 628 kg (SE = 8) of body weight (BW) were allotted at calving to 30 groups of three cows blocked for similar calving dates to determine the effects of feeding whole untreated flaxseed on milk production and composition, fatty acid composition of blood and milk, and digestibility, and to determine whether flaxseed could substitute for other sources of fat such as Megalac and micronized soybeans. Cows were fed a total mixed diet based on grass and corn silage and fat supplements for ad libitum intake. The experiment was carried out from calving up to wk 16 of lactation. Cows within each block were assigned to one of the three isonitrogenous, isoenergetic, and isolipidic supplements based on either whole flaxseed (FLA), Megalac (MEG), or micronized soybeans (SOY). Intake of dry matter and change in BW were similar among diets. Cows fed FLA had greater milk yield than those fed MEG (35.7 vs. 33.5 kg/d) and there was no difference between cows fed FLA and those fed SOY (34.4 kg/d). Fat percentage was higher in the milk of cows fed MEG (4.14%) than in the milk of those fed FLA (3.81%) or SOY (3.70%), but milk protein percentage was higher for cows fed FLA (2.98%) than for those fed MEG (2.86%) and SOY (2.87%). Digestibilities of acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, and ether extract were lower for cows fed FLA than for those fed SOY and MEG. Retention of N was similar among diets. Feeding FLA resulted in the lowest omega-6-to-omega-3-fatty-acids ratio, which would improve the nutritive value of milk from a human health point of view. The data suggest that micronized soybeans and Megalac can be completely substituted by whole untreated flaxseed as the fat source in the diet of early lactating cows without any adverse effect on production and that flaxseed increased milk protein percentage and its omega-6-to-omega-3-fatty-acids ratio.

  11. Validation of the TOPEX rain algorithm: Comparison with ground-based radar

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McMillan, A. C.; Quartly, G. D.; Srokosz, M. A.; Tournadre, J.

    2002-02-01

    Recently developed algorithms have shown the potential recovery of rainfall information from spaceborne dual-frequency altimeters. Given the long mission achieved with TOPEX and the prospect of several other dual-frequency altimeters, we need to validate the altimetrically derived values so as to foster their integration with rain information from different sensors. Comparison with some alternative climatologies shows the bimonthly means for TOPEX to be low. Rather than apply a bulk correction we investigate individual rain events to understand the cause of TOPEX's underestimation. In this paper we compare TOPEX with near-simultaneous ground-based rain radars based at a number of locations, examining both the detection of rain and the quantitative values inferred. The altimeter-only algorithm is found to flag false rain events in very low wind states (<3.8 m s-1) the application of an extra test, involving the liquid water path as sensed by the microwave radiometer, removes the spurious detections. Some false detections of rain also occur at high wind speeds (>20 m s-1), where the empirical dual-frequency relationship is less well defined. In the intermediate range of wind speeds, the TOPEX detections are usually good, with the instrument picking up small-scale variations that cannot be recovered from infrared or passive microwave techniques. The magnitude of TOPEX's rain retrievals can differ by a factor of 2 from the ground-based radar, but this may reflect the uncertainties in the validation data. In general, over these individual point comparisons TOPEX values appear to exceed the ``ground truth.'' Taking account of all the factors affecting the comparisons, we conclude that the TOPEX climatology could be improved by, in the first instance, incorporating the radiometric test and employing a better estimate of the melting layer height. Appropriate corrections for nonuniform beam filling and drizzle fraction are harder to define globally.

  12. Early mitochondrial dysfunction in glycolytic muscle, but not oxidative muscle, of the fructose-fed insulin-resistant rat

    PubMed Central

    Warren, Blair E.; Lou, Phing-How; Lucchinetti, Eliana; Zhang, Liyan; Clanachan, Alexander S.; Affolter, Andreas; Hersberger, Martin; Zaugg, Michael

    2014-01-01

    Although evidence that type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is accompanied by mitochondrial dysfunction in skeletal muscle has been accumulating, a causal link between mitochondrial dysfunction and the pathogenesis of the disease remains unclear. Our study focuses on an early stage of the disease to determine whether mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to the development of T2DM. The fructose-fed (FF) rat was used as an animal model of early T2DM. Mitochondrial respiration and acylcarnitine species were measured in oxidative (soleus) and glycolytic [extensor digitorum longus (EDL)] muscle. Although FF rats displayed characteristic signs of T2DM, including hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and hypertriglyceridemia, mitochondrial content was preserved in both muscles from FF rats. The EDL muscle had reduced complex I and complex I and II respiration in the presence of pyruvate but not glutamate. The decrease in pyruvate-supported respiration was due to a decrease in pyruvate dehydrogenase activity. Accumulation of C14:1 and C14:2 acylcarnitine species and a decrease in respiration supported by long-chain acylcarnitines but not acetylcarnitine indicated dysfunctional β-oxidation in the EDL muscle. In contrast, the soleus muscle showed preserved mitochondrial respiration, pyruvate dehydrogenase activity, and increased fatty acid oxidation, as evidenced by overall reduced acylcarnitine levels. Aconitase activity, a sensitive index of reactive oxygen species production in mitochondria, was reduced exclusively in EDL muscle, which showed lower levels of the antioxidant enzymes thioredoxin reductase and glutathione peroxidase. Here, we show that the glycolytic EDL muscle is more prone to an imbalance between energy supply and oxidation caused by insulin resistance than the oxidative soleus muscle. PMID:24425766

  13. THE ACID RAIN NOX PROGRAM

    EPA Science Inventory

    Between 350,000 and 400,000 tons of annual NOx emissions have been eliminated as a result of Phase I of the Acid Rain NOx Program. As expected. the utilities have chosen emissions averaging as the primary compliance option. This reflects that, in general, NO x reductions have ...

  14. Study on the relationship between meteorological conditions and acid rain in mid-eastern Fujian.

    PubMed

    Lin, C C; Liu, J X; Cai, Y Y; Li, B L; Wang, Z L; Chen, B B

    2009-08-01

    Based on the acid rain observation data and the contemporaneous historical synoptic charts of Mid-Eastern Fujian during the period of 1991 to 2003, we analyzed the distribution characteristics of acid rain in different seasons, weather types, precipitation grades and wind directions. The results showed that the acid pollution in Mid-Eastern Fujian was still serious. In winter, the precipitation pH value was 4.79, and the acid rain frequency was 60.62% which was twice higher than that in summer. The pH value of warm shear-type precipitation at 850 hPa was 4.79. Nearly half of these precipitations had the problems of acid rain pollution. The acid rain frequency of the inverted trough type was only 26.11% which was the lowest one in all types. There was no marked difference of the acid rain distribution characteristics between ahead-of-trough and behind-the-trough. The precipitation pH values of the five grades were lower than 5.30 and the acid rain frequency changed as an inverted U shape with the increasing of the rainfall. The pH values of precipitations in the eight wind directions were generally below 5.20, and the acid rain frequencies were about 40%.

  15. Pollen resistance to water in 80 angiosperm species: flower structures protect rain-susceptible pollen.

    PubMed

    Mao, Yun-Yun; Huang, Shuang-Quan

    2009-08-01

    Flowers exhibit adaptive responses to biotic and abiotic factors. It remains unclear whether pollen susceptibility to rain damage plays a role in the evolution of floral form. We investigated flower performance in rain and compared pollen longevity in dry conditions, pure water and solutions with different sucrose concentrations in 80 flowering species from 46 families with diverse floral shapes and pollination modes. A pollen viability test showed that pollen longevity in all studied species was greatly reduced by wetting. We found that pollen of species with complete protection by flower structures was susceptible to water damage and a high proportion of resistant pollen occurred in unprotected species. Flowers whose structures expose pollen to rain may also reduce rain damage through temporal patterns of pollen presentation. This prediction was supported by our direct measurement of pollen presentation duration on rainy days. Our observations showed that variation in pollen performance in water was associated with differences in floral forms. Water-resistant pollen and extended pollen presentation duration were favored by selection via rain contact in species in which pollen was not protected from rain. These findings support the functional hypothesis that flower structures protect susceptible pollen from rain, demonstrating that rain acts as a force shaping floral form.

  16. Pollution problem: acid rain and beekeeping

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hayes, B.

    1979-11-01

    Some of the problems caused by acid rain are presented with emphasis on the effects on bees, especially in the Northeast. Scientists believe that rain east of the Mississippi is below 5.6 and average Northeastern rainfall is now down to pH 4. Trace minerals are being leached out of the soils and nectar that lacks calcium is being passed by when the bees forage. The first plants to show the effects will be the wild varieties of the legumes, such as clover. This leaves only plants on the extreme end of the acid scale such as the blueberry for beemore » forage. This leads to the side effect of the movement of calcium in nectar which will be restricted due to a lack of calcium-lime.« less

  17. ACID RAIN AND SOIL MICROBIAL ACTIVITY: EFFECTS AND THEIR MECHANISMS

    EPA Science Inventory

    In the investigation, our aim was to determine if acid rain affects soil microbial activity and to identify possible mechanisms of observed effects. A Sierran forest soil (pH 6.4) planted with Ponderosa pine seedlings was exposed to simulated rain (pH 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and 5.6) with ...

  18. Tillage, Mulch and N Fertilizer Affect Emissions of CO2 under the Rain Fed Condition

    PubMed Central

    Tanveer, Sikander Khan; Wen, Xiaoxia; Lu, Xing Li; Zhang, Junli; Liao, Yuncheng

    2013-01-01

    A two year (2010–2012) study was conducted to assess the effects of different agronomic management practices on the emissions of CO2 from a field of non-irrigated wheat planted on China's Loess Plateau. Management practices included four tillage methods i.e. T1: (chisel plow tillage), T2: (zero-tillage), T3: (rotary tillage) and T4: (mold board plow tillage), 2 mulch levels i.e., M0 (no corn residue mulch) and M1 (application of corn residue mulch) and 5 levels of N fertilizer (0, 80, 160, 240, 320 kg N/ha). A factorial experiment having a strip split-split arrangement, with tillage methods in the main plots, mulch levels in the sub plots and N-fertilizer levels in the sub-sub plots with three replicates, was used for this study. The CO2 data were recorded three times per week using a portable GXH-3010E1 gas analyzer. The highest CO2 emissions were recorded following rotary tillage, compared to the lowest emissions from the zero tillage planting method. The lowest emissions were recorded at the 160 kg N/ha, fertilizer level. Higher CO2 emissions were recorded during the cropping year 2010–11 relative to the year 2011–12. During cropping year 2010–11, applications of corn residue mulch significantly increased CO2 emissions in comparison to the non-mulched treatments, and during the year 2011–12, equal emissions were recorded for both types of mulch treatments. Higher CO2 emissions were recorded immediately after the tillage operations. Different environmental factors, i.e., rain, air temperatures, soil temperatures and soil moistures, had significant effects on the CO2 emissions. We conclude that conservation tillage practices, i.e., zero tillage, the use of corn residue mulch and optimum N fertilizer use, can reduce CO2 emissions, give better yields and provide environmentally friendly options. PMID:24086256

  19. Brain Lesions among Orally Fed and Gastrostomy-Fed Dysphagic Preterm Infants: Can Routine Qualitative or Volumetric Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging Predict Feeding Outcomes?

    PubMed

    Kashou, Nasser H; Dar, Irfaan A; El-Mahdy, Mohamed A; Pluto, Charles; Smith, Mark; Gulati, Ish K; Lo, Warren; Jadcherla, Sudarshan R

    2017-01-01

    The usefulness of qualitative or quantitative volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in early detection of brain structural changes and prediction of adverse outcomes in neonatal illnesses warrants further investigation. Our aim was to correlate certain brain injuries and the brain volume of feeding-related cortical and subcortical regions with feeding method at discharge among preterm dysphagic infants. Using a retrospective observational study design, we examined MRI data among 43 (22 male; born at 31.5 ± 0.8 week gestation) infants who went home on oral feeding or gastrostomy feeding (G-tube). MRI scans were segmented, and volumes of brainstem, cerebellum, cerebrum, basal ganglia, thalamus, and vermis were quantified, and correlations were made with discharge feeding outcomes. Chi-squared tests were used to evaluate MRI findings vs. feeding outcomes. ANCOVA was performed on the regression model to measure the association of maturity and brain volume between groups. Out of 43 infants, 44% were oral-fed and 56% were G-tube fed at hospital discharge (but not at time of the study). There was no relationship between qualitative brain lesions and feeding outcomes. Volumetric analysis revealed that cerebellum was greater ( p  < 0.05) in G-tube fed infants, whereas cerebrum volume was greater ( p  < 0.05) in oral-fed infants. Other brain regions did not show volumetric differences between groups. This study concludes that neither qualitative nor quantitative volumetric MRI findings correlate with feeding outcomes. Understanding the complexity of swallowing and feeding difficulties in infants warrants a comprehensive and in-depth functional neurological assessment.

  20. Comparisons of Instantaneous TRMM Ground Validation and Satellite Rain Rate Estimates at Different Spatial Scales

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wolff, David B.; Fisher, Brad L.

    2007-01-01

    This study provides a comprehensive inter-comparison of instantaneous rain rates observed by the two rain sensors aboard the TRMM satellite with ground data from two regional sites established for long-term ground validation: Kwajalein Atoll and Melbourne, Florida. The satellite rain algorithms utilize remote observations of precipitation collected by the TRMM microwave imager (TMI) and the Precipitation Radar (PR) aboard the TRMM satellite. Three standard Level I1 rain products are generated from operational applications of the TMI, PR and Combined (COM) rain algorithms using rain information collected from the TMI and the PR along the orbital track of the TRMM satellite. In the first part of the study, 0.25 x 0.25 instantaneous rain rates obtained from the TRMM 3668 product were analyzed and compared to instantaneous GV rain rates gridded at a scale of 0.5deg x 0.5. In the second part of the study, TMI, PR, COM and GV rain rates were spatio-temporally matched and averaged at the scale of TMI footprint (- 150 sq km). This study covered a six-year period 1999-2004 and consisted of over 50,000 footprints for each GV site. In the first analysis our results showed that all of the respective rain rate estimates agree well, with some exceptions. The more salient differences were associated with heavy rain events in which one or more of the algorithms failed to properly retrieve these extreme events. Also, it appears that there is a preferred mode of precipitation for TMI rain rates at or near 2 mm/hr over the ocean. This mode was noted over ocean areas of Kwajalein and Melbourne and has been observed in TRMM tropical-global ocean areas as well.

  1. Early neonatal feeding is common and associated with subsequent breastfeeding behavior in rural Bangladesh.

    PubMed

    Sundaram, Maria E; Labrique, Alain B; Mehra, Sucheta; Ali, Hasmot; Shamim, Abu A; Klemm, Rolf D W; West, Keith P; Christian, Parul

    2013-07-01

    Exclusive breastfeeding of newborns, a practice recommended by WHO, is hindered in many countries by practices such as prelacteal feeding (feeding other foods before breast milk is fed to infants). This paper describes maternal and infant characteristics and trends over time associated with early neonatal feeding (ENF) in Bangladesh. The analysis used data from 24,992 participants in a randomized controlled trial supplementing vitamin A and β-carotene to women in northwestern rural Bangladesh. A majority of newborns (89.2%) were fed substances other than breast milk in the first 3 d of life. Early neonatal feeding practices were found to be significantly associated with lower maternal education, higher gravidity, lower socioeconomic status, and younger maternal age. A perceived inability to suckle normally after birth was closely related to the risk of an infant being fed a food other than breast milk in the first 3 d of life [OR = 0.09 (95% CI: 0.08, 0.11)]. Only 18.8% of newborns fed an early neonatal food were exclusively breastfed between 3 d and 3 mo postpartum compared with 70.6% of those not fed an early neonatal food during this period (P < 0.05). Early neonatal feeding practices should be addressed when scaling-up exclusive breastfeeding in South Asia. Maternal education, antenatal care, and support during labor and delivery may help reduce ENF and promote exclusive breastfeeding.

  2. [Dynamics of Quercus variabilis seed rain and soil seed bank in different habitats on the north slope of Qinling Mountains].

    PubMed

    Wu, Min; Zhang, Wen-Hui; Zhou, Jian-Yun; Ma, Chuang; Ma, Li-Wei

    2011-11-01

    In order to explore the dynamics of Quercus variabilis seed rain and soil seed bank in different habitats on the north slope of Qinling Mountains, three kinds of micro-habitats (understory, forest gap, and forest edge) were selected, with the seed rain quantity and quality of Q. variabilis, seed amount and viability in soil seed bank, as well as the seedling development of Q. variabilis studied. The seed rain of Q. variabilis started from mid August, reached the peak in mid September-early October, and ended at the beginning of November, and there existed differences in the dissemination process, occurrence time, and composition of the seed rain among the three micro-habitats. The seed rain had the maximum intensity (39.55 +/- 5.56 seeds x m(-2)) in understory, the seeds had the earliest landing time, the longest lasting duration, and the highest viability in forest gap, and the mature seeds had the largest proportion in forest edge, accounting for 58.7% of the total. From the ending time of seed rain to next August, the total reserve of soil seed bank was the largest in understory and the smallest in forest edge. In the three habitats, the amount of mature and immature seeds, that of seeds eaten by animals, and the seed viability in soil seed bank all decreased with time. In contrast, the number of moldy seeds increased. The seeds were mainly concentrated in litter layer, a few of them were in 0-2 cm soil layer, and few were in 2-5 cm soil layer. The density of the seedlings varied with habitats, being the largest in forest gap, followed by in forest edge, and the least in understory, which suggested that forest gap was more suitable for the seed germination and seedling growth of Q. variabilis, and thus, appropriate thinning should be taken to increase forest gap to provide favorable conditions for the natural regeneration of Q. variabilis forest.

  3. Voronoi Diagrams and Spring Rain

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perham, Arnold E.; Perham, Faustine L.

    2011-01-01

    The goal of this geometry project is to use Voronoi diagrams, a powerful modeling tool across disciplines, and the integration of technology to analyze spring rainfall from rain gauge data over a region. In their investigation, students use familiar equipment from their mathematical toolbox: triangles and other polygons, circumcenters and…

  4. Rain droplet erosion mechanisms in transparent plastic materials

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Schmitt, G. F., Jr.

    1974-01-01

    Tests were conducted to determine the damaging effects of rain erosion on optically transparent materials. The rotating arm test equipment used for the tests is described. Typical transparent materials such as those found in windshields, infrared windows, lasers, and television systems were tested. Nominal velocities of 400, 500, and 600 miles per hour and rainfall conditions of one inch per hour simulated rainfall were used in the tests. It was determined that an 80 percent reduction in laser transmittance can occur in plastics submitted to rain erosion. Significant results of the environmental tests are explained.

  5. Laboratory trials reveal that exposure to extreme raining events prior to metamorphosis affect the post-settlement performance of an estuarine crab

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rey, Felisa; Silva Neto, Gina M.; Rosa, Rui; Queiroga, Henrique; Calado, Ricardo

    2015-03-01

    Meteorological forcing can impact planktonic communities, with extreme raining events promoting salinity decreases and triggering larval mortality in estuarine plankton. The present study evaluated how exposure to low salinities prior to metamorphosis of Carcinus maenas megalopae (last larval stage) may affect its ability to metamorphose and the post-metamorphosis performance of juvenile crabs. An extreme raining event that promoted a generalized decrease in salinity (from 25 to 10) in the whole water column of one of the main channels of a coastal lagoon was mimicked in the laboratory. Wild megalopae of C. maenas were collected and kept individually without any food at salinities of 10 or 25 (S10 or S25) until they either died or metamorphosed to the first crab instar (C1). Specimens metamorphosing in 5 days or less following their collection were labeled as early settlers (ES10 and ES25), while those taking more than 5 days were labeled as late settlers (LS10 and LS25). All newly metamorphosed crabs were kept individually until C5 at a salinity of 25 and fed ad libitum, with their intermolt periods and carapace width (CW) being recorded. Osmotic stress did not affect the survival or ability to metamorphose of C. maenas megalopae, with 89% of all larvae in both salinities being able to metamorphose. This result is supported by the ability of this larval stage to hyper-regulate. Nonetheless, an exposure of late settling megalopae to low salinities prior to metamorphosis promotes the occurrence of juvenile crabs with a smaller CW. The deleterious effects of exposing late settling megalopae to low salinities appears to be magnified during early benthic life, with C5 originating from treatment LS10 displaying a significantly smaller CW (4.87 ± 0.28 mm) and lower wet weight (WW) (28.95 ± 4.62 mg). On the other side, C5 originating from ES25 exhibited a significantly higher CW (5.90 ± 0.33 mm) and WW (50.89 ± 8.14 mg). The nutritional vulnerability experienced by

  6. Implications of Warm Rain in Shallow Cumulus and Congestus Clouds for Large-Scale Circulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nuijens, Louise; Emanuel, Kerry; Masunaga, Hirohiko; L'Ecuyer, Tristan

    2017-11-01

    Space-borne observations reveal that 20-40% of marine convective clouds below the freezing level produce rain. In this paper we speculate what the prevalence of warm rain might imply for convection and large-scale circulations over tropical oceans. We present results using a two-column radiative-convective model of hydrostatic, nonlinear flow on a non-rotating sphere, with parameterized convection and radiation, and review ongoing efforts in high-resolution modeling and observations of warm rain. The model experiments investigate the response of convection and circulation to sea surface temperature (SST) gradients between the columns and to changes in a parameter that controls the conversion of cloud condensate to rain. Convection over the cold ocean collapses to a shallow mode with tops near 850 hPa, but a congestus mode with tops near 600 hPa can develop at small SST differences when warm rain formation is more efficient. Here, interactive radiation and the response of the circulation are crucial: along with congestus a deeper moist layer develops, which leads to less low-level radiative cooling, a smaller buoyancy gradient between the columns, and therefore a weaker circulation and less subsidence over the cold ocean. The congestus mode is accompanied with more surface precipitation in the subsiding column and less surface precipitation in the deep convecting column. For the shallow mode over colder oceans, circulations also weaken with more efficient warm rain formation, but only marginally. Here, more warm rain reduces convective tops and the boundary layer depth—similar to Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) studies—which reduces the integrated buoyancy gradient. Elucidating the impact of warm rain can benefit from large-domain high-resolution simulations and observations. Parameterizations of warm rain may be constrained through collocated cloud and rain profiling from ground, and concurrent changes in convection and rain in subsiding and convecting branches of

  7. Efficacy and immunogenicity of live-attenuated human rotavirus vaccine in breast-fed and formula-fed European infants.

    PubMed

    Vesikari, Timo; Prymula, Roman; Schuster, Volker; Tejedor, Juan-C; Cohen, Robert; Bouckenooghe, Alain; Damaso, Silvia; Han, Htay Htay

    2012-05-01

    Rotavirus is the main cause of severe gastroenteritis and diarrhea in infants and young children less than 5 years of age. Potential impact of breast-feeding on the efficacy and immunogenicity of human rotavirus G1P[8] vaccine was examined in this exploratory analysis. Healthy infants (N = 3994) aged 6-14 weeks who received 2 doses of human rotavirus vaccine/placebo according to a 0-1 or 0-2 month schedule were followed for rotavirus gastroenteritis during 2 epidemic seasons. Rotavirus IgA seroconversion rate (anti-IgA antibody concentration ≥ 20 mIU/mL) and geometric mean concentrations were measured prevaccination and 1-2 months post-dose 2. Vaccine efficacy against any and severe rotavirus gastroenteritis was analyzed according to the infants being breast-fed or exclusively formula-fed at the time of vaccination. Antirotavirus IgA seroconversion rate was 85.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 82.4-88.3) in breast-fed and 89.2% (95% CI: 84.2-93) in exclusively formula-fed infants; geometric mean concentrations in the respective groups were 185.8 U/mL (95% CI: 161.4-213.9) and 231.5 U/mL (95% CI: 185.9-288.2). Vaccine efficacy was equally high in breast-fed and exclusively formula-fed children in the first season but fell in breast-fed infants in the second rotavirus season. During the combined 2-year efficacy follow-up period, vaccine efficacy against any rotavirus gastroenteritis was 76.2% (95% CI: 68.7-82.1) and 89.8% (95% CI: 77.6-95.9) and against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis 88.4% (95% CI: 81.6-93) and 98.1% (95% CI: 88.2-100) in the breast-fed and exclusively formula-fed infants, respectively. The difference in immunogenicity of human rotavirus vaccine in breast-fed and exclusively formula-fed infants was small. Vaccine efficacy was equally high in breast-fed and exclusively formula-fed children in the first season. Breast-feeding seemed to reduce slightly the efficacy in the second season.

  8. Combined effects of lanthanum (III) chloride and acid rain on photosynthetic parameters in rice.

    PubMed

    Wang, Lihong; Wang, Wen; Zhou, Qing; Huang, Xiaohua

    2014-10-01

    Rare earth elements (REEs) pollution and acid rain are environmental issues, and their deleterious effects on plants attract worldwide attention. These two issues exist simultaneously in many regions, especially in some rice-growing areas. However, little is known about the combined effects of REEs and acid rain on plants. Here, the combined effects of lanthanum chloride (LaCl3), one type of REE salt, and acid rain on photosynthesis in rice were investigated. We showed that the combined treatment of 81.6 μM LaCl3 and acid rain at pH 4.5 increased net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatic conductance (Gs), intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci), Hill reaction activity (HRA), apparent quantum yield (AQY) and carboxylation efficiency (CE) in rice. The combined treatment of 81.6 μM LaCl3 and acid rain at pH 3.5 began to behave toxic effects on photosynthesis (decreasing Pn, Gs, HRA, AQY and CE, and increasing Ci), and the maximally toxic effects were observed in the combined treatment of 2449.0 μM LaCl3 and acid rain at pH 2.5. Moreover, the combined effects of LaCl3 and acid rain on photosynthesis in rice depended on the growth stage of rice, with the maximal effects occurring at the booting stage. Furthermore, the combined treatment of high-concentration LaCl3 and low-pH acid rain had more serious effects on photosynthesis in rice than LaCl3 or acid rain treatment alone. Finally, the combined effect of LaCl3 and acid rain on Pn in rice resulted from the changes in stomatic (Gs, Ci) and non-stomatic (HRA, AQY and CE) factors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. TECHNOLOGICAL OPTIONS FOR ACID RAIN CONTROL

    EPA Science Inventory

    Discussed are acid rain control options available to the electric utility industry. They include coal switching, flue gas desulfurization, and such emerging lower cost technologies as Limestone Injection Multistage Burners (LIMB) and Advanced Silicate (ADVACATE), both developed ...

  10. A numerical study of the acid rain in northern Taiwan in winter season

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Chen, Ching-Sen; Deng, Zen-Sing

    1996-12-31

    Two-thirds of the land mass of Taiwan island is covered by mountains. In winter precipitation could occur in northern Taiwan when the prevailing wind was from northeastern direction. In northern Taiwan the acid rain (pH value less than 5.0) in winter time could contribute about 30 rain in the whole year. A three-dimensional numerical model with terrain following coordinated system was used to simulate the precipitation system and the characteristics of acid rain. A smooth terrain was assumed in the model. A mean sounding was used to initialize the numerical model when acid rain occurred in northern Taiwan during wintermore » time from 1991 to 1993. Investigations of the effect of pollutions from abroad on the acid rain in northern Taiwan in winter are considered for the future.« less

  11. Stratiform and Convective Rain Discrimination from Microwave Radiometer Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Prabhakara, C.; Cadeddu, M.; Short, D. A.; Weinman, J. A.; Schols, J. L.; Haferman, J.

    1997-01-01

    A criterion based on the SSM/I observations is developed to discriminate rain into convective and stratiform types. This criterion depends on the microwave polarization properties of the flat melting snow particles that fall slowly in the stratiform clouds. Utilizing this criterion and some spatial and temporal characteristics of hydrometeors in TOGA-COARE area revealed by ship borne radars, we have developed an algorithm to retrieve convective and stratiform rain rate from SSM/I data.

  12. Validation of Rain Rate Retrievals for the Airborne Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jacob, Maria; Salemirad, Matin; Jones, Linwood; Biswas, Sayak; Cecil, Daniel

    2015-01-01

    NASA's Global Hawk aircraft (AV1)has two microwave sensors: the passive Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD), and the active High-altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler(HIWRAP). Results are presented for a rain measurement validation opportunity that occurred in 2013, when the AV1 flew over a tropical squall-line that was simultaneously observed by the Tampa NEXRAD radar. During this experiment, Global Hawk made 3 passes over the rapidly propagating thunderstorm, while the TAMPA NEXRAD performed volume scans every 5 minutes. In this poster, the three-way inter-comparison of HIRAD Tb (base temperature), HIWRAP dbZ (decibels relative to equivalent reflectivity) and NEXRAD rain rate imagery are presented. Also, observed HIRAD Tbs are compared with theoretical radiative transfer model results using HIWRAP Rain Rates.

  13. Wind-driven rain and its implications for natural hazard management

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marzen, Miriam; Iserloh, Thomas; de Lima, João L. M. P.; Fister, Wolfgang; Ries, Johannes B.

    2017-04-01

    Prediction and risk assessment of hydrological extremes are great challenges. Following climate predictions, frequent and violent rainstorms will become a new hazard to several regions in the medium term. Particularly agricultural soils will be severely threatened due to the combined action of heavy rainfall and accompanying winds on bare soil surfaces. Basing on the general underestimation of the effect of wind on rain erosion, conventional soil erosion measurements and modeling approaches lack related information to adequately calculate its impact. The presented experimental-empirical approach shows the powerful impact of wind on the erosive potential of rain. The tested soils had properties that characterise three different environments 1. Silty loam of semi-arid Mediterranean dryfarming and fallow, 2. clayey loam of humid agricultural sites and 3. cohesionless sandy substrates as found at coasts, dune fields and drift-sand areas. Erosion was found to increase by a factor of 1.3 to 7.1, depending on site characteristics. Complementary tests with a laboratory procedure were used to quantify explicitly the effect of wind on raindrop erosion as well as the influence of substrate, surface structure and slope on particle displacement. These tests confirmed the impact of wind-driven rain on total erosion rates to be of great importance when compared to all other tested factors. To successfully adapt soil erosion models to near-future challenges of climate change induced rain storms, wind-driven rain is supposed to be introduced into the hazard management agenda.

  14. Rain drop size densities over land and over sea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bumke, Karl

    2010-05-01

    A detailed knowledge of rain drop size densities is an essential presumption with respect to remote sensing of precipitation. Since maritime and continental aerosol is significantly different yielding to differences in cloud drop size densities, maritime and continental rain drop size densities may be different, too. In fact only a little is known about differences in rain drop size densities between land and sea due to a lack of suitable data over the sea. To fill in this gap measurements were performed during the recent 10 years at different locations in Germany and on board of research vessels over the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Ocean. Measurements were done by using an optical disdrometer (ODM 470, Großklaus et al., 1998), which is designed especially to perform precipitation measurements on moving ships and under high wind speeds. Temporal resolution of measurements is generally 1 minute, total number of time series is about 220000. To investigate differences in drop size densities over land and over sea measurements have been divided into four classes on the basis of prevailing continental or maritime influence: land measurements, coastal measurements, measurements in areas of semi-enclosed seas, and open sea measurements. In general differences in drop size densities are small between different areas. A Kolmogoroff Smirnoff test does not give any significant difference between drop size densities over land, coastal areas, semi-enclosed, and open seas at an error rate of 5%. Thus, it can be concluded that there are no systematic differences between maritime and continental drop size densities. The best fit of drop size densities is an exponential decay curve, N(D ) = 6510m -3mm -1mm0.14h- 0.14×R-0.14×exp(- 4.4mm0.25h-0.25×R- 0.25×D mm -1), it is estimated by using the method of least squares. N(D) is the drop size density normalized by the resolution of the optical disdrometer, D the diameter of rain drops in mm, and R the

  15. Parental and Early Childhood Influences on Adolescent Obesity: A Longitudinal Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chivers, Paola; Parker, Helen; Bulsara, Max; Beilin, Lawrence; Hands, Beth

    2012-01-01

    The influence of parental and early childhood factors on adolescent obesity was investigated using a longitudinal model of body mass index (BMI) from birth to 14 years. Trajectories of BMI using linear mixed model (LMM) analysis were used to investigate the influence of early parental and childhood factors on BMI at 14 years in the Raine birth…

  16. A simple model for the estimation of rain-induced attenuation along earth-space paths at millimeter wavelengths

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stutzman, W. L.; Dishman, W. K.

    1982-01-01

    A simple attenuation model (SAM) is presented for estimating rain-induced attenuation along an earth-space path. The rain model uses an effective spatial rain distribution which is uniform for low rain rates and which has an exponentially shaped horizontal rain profile for high rain rates. When compared to other models, the SAM performed well in the important region of low percentages of time, and had the lowest percent standard deviation of all percent time values tested.

  17. Scavenging of radioactive soluble gases from inhomogeneous atmosphere by evaporating rain droplets.

    PubMed

    Elperin, Tov; Fominykh, Andrew; Krasovitov, Boris

    2015-05-01

    We analyze effects of inhomogeneous concentration and temperature distributions in the atmosphere, rain droplet evaporation and radioactive decay of soluble gases on the rate of trace gas scavenging by rain. We employ a one-dimensional model of precipitation scavenging of radioactive soluble gaseous pollutants that is valid for small gradients and non-uniform initial altitudinal distributions of temperature and concentration in the atmosphere. We assume that conditions of equilibrium evaporation of rain droplets are fulfilled. It is demonstrated that transient altitudinal distribution of concentration under the influence of rain is determined by the linear wave equation that describes propagation of a scavenging wave front. The obtained equation is solved by the method of characteristics. Scavenging coefficients are calculated for wet removal of gaseous iodine-131 and tritiated water vapor (HTO) for the exponential initial distribution of trace gases concentration in the atmosphere and linear temperature distribution. Theoretical predictions of the dependence of the magnitude of the scavenging coefficient on rain intensity for tritiated water vapor are in good agreement with the available atmospheric measurements. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. A study of rain effects on radar scattering from water waves

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bliven, Larry F.; Giovanangeli, Jean-Paul; Norcross, George

    1988-01-01

    Results are presented from a laboratory investigation of microwave power return due to rain-generated short waves on a wind wave surface. The wind wave tank, sensor, and data processing methods used in the study are described. The study focuses on the response of a 36-GHz radar system, orientated 30 deg from nadir and pointing upwind, to surface waves generated by various combinations of rain and wind. The results show stronger radar signal levels due to short surface waves generated by rain impacting the wind wave surface, supporting the results of Moore et al. (1979) for a 14-GHz radar.

  19. Comparison of Instantaneous Frequency Scaling from Rain Attenuation and Optical Disdrometer Measurements at K/Q bands

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nessel, James; Zemba, Michael; Luini, Lorenzo; Riva, Carlo

    2015-01-01

    Rain attenuation is strongly dependent on the rain rate, but also on the rain drop size distribution (DSD). Typically, models utilize an average drop size distribution, such as those developed by Laws and Parsons, or Marshall and Palmer. However, individual rain events may possess drop size distributions which could be significantly different from the average and will impact, for example, fade mitigation techniques which utilize channel performance estimates from a signal at a different frequency. Therefore, a good understanding of the characteristics and variability of the raindrop size distribution is extremely important in predicting rain attenuation and instantaneous frequency scaling parameters on an event-toevent basis. Since June 2014, NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) and the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) have measured the attenuation due to rain in Milan, Italy, on the 20/40 GHz beacon signal broadcast from the Alphasat TDP#5 Aldo Paraboni Q/V-band Payload. Concomitant with these measurements are the measurements of drop size distribution and rain rate utilizing a Thies Clima laser precipitation monitor (disdrometer). In this paper, we discuss the comparison of the predicted rain attenuation at 20 and 40 GHz derived from the drop size distribution data with the measured rain attenuation. The results are compared on statistical and real-time bases. We will investigate the performance of the rain attenuation model, instantaneous frequency scaling, and the distribution of the scaling factor. Further, seasonal rain characteristics will be analysed.

  20. TRMM Observations of Polarization Difference in 85 GHz: Information About Hydrometeors and Rain Rate

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Prabhakara, C.; Iacovazzi, R., Jr.; Yoo, J.-M.; Einaudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    Observations made by the Precipitation Radar (PR) and the Microwave Imager (TMI) radiometer on board the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite help us to show the significance of the 85 GHz polarization difference, PD85, measured by TMI. Rain type, convective or stratiform, deduced from the PR allows us to infer that PD85 is generally positive in stratiform rain clouds, while PD85 can be markedly negative in deep convective rain clouds. Furthermore, PD85 increases in a gross manner as stratiform rain rate increases. On the contrary, in a crude fashion PD85 decreases as convective rain rate increases. From the observations of TMI and PR, we find that PD85 is a weak indicator of rain rate. Utilizing information from existing polarimetric radar studies, we infer that negative values of PD85 are likely associated with vertically-oriented small oblate or wet hail that are found in deep convective updrafts.

  1. Soak Up the Rain: What's the Problem?

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Why citizens and communities should soak up the rain with green infrastructure: to prevent water pollution, reduce flooding, protect water resources, beautify neighborhoods and other community benefits

  2. Acid-rain induced changes in streamwater quality during storms on Catoctin Mountain, Maryland

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Rice, Karen C.; Bricker, O.P.

    1992-01-01

    Catoctin Mountain receives some of the most acidic (lowest pH) rain in the United States. In 1990, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), began a study of the effects of acid rain on the quality of streamwater on the part of Catoctin Mountain within Cunningham Falls State Park, Maryland (fig. 1). Samples of precipitation collected on the mountain by the USGS since 1982 have been analyzed for acidity and concentration of chemical constituents. During 1982-91, the volume-weighted average pH of precipitation was 4.2. (Volume weighting corrects for the effect of acids being washed out of the atmosphere at the beginning of rainfall). The pH value is measured on a logarithmic scale, which means that for each whole number change, the acidity changes by a factor of 10. Thus rain with a pH of 4.2 is more than 10 times as acidic as uncontaminated rain, which has a pH of about 5.6. The acidity of rain during several rainstorms on Catoctin Mountain was more than 100 times more acidic than uncontaminated rain.

  3. Comparisons of Instantaneous TRMM Ground Validation and Satellite Rain Rate Estimates at Different Spatial Scales

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wolff, David B.; Fisher, Brad L.

    2007-01-01

    This study provides a comprehensive inter-comparison of instantaneous rain estimates from the two rain sensors aboard the TRMM satellite with ground data from thee designated Ground Validation Sites: Kwajalein Atoll, Melbourne, Florida and Houston, Texas. The satellite rain retrievals utilize rain observations collected by the TRMM microwave imager (TMI) and the Precipitation Radar (PR) aboard the TRMM satellite. Three standard instantaneous rain products are the generated from the rain information retrieved from the satellite using the TMI, PR and Combined (COM) rain algorithms. The validation data set used in this study was obtained from instantaneous rain rates inferred from ground radars at each GV site. The first comparison used 0.5(sup 0) x 0.5(sup 0) gridded data obtained from the TRMM 3668 product, and similarly gridded GV data obtained from ground-based radars. The comparisons were made at the same spatial and temporal scales in order to eliminate sampling biases in our comparisons. An additional comparison was made by averaging rain rates for the PR, COM and GV estimates within each TMI footprint (approx. 150 square kilometers). For this analysis, unconditional mean rain rates from PR, COM and GV estimates were calculated within each TMI footprint that was observed within 100 km from the respective GV site (and also observed by the PR). This analysis used all the available matching data from the period 1999-2004, representing a sample size of over 50,000 footprints for each site. In the first analysis our results showed that all of the respective rain rate estimates agree well, with some exceptions. The more salient differences were associated with heavy rain events in which one or more of the algorithms failed to properly retrieve these extreme events. Also, it appears that there is a preferred mode of precipitation for TMI rain rates at or near 2 mm per hour over the ocean. This mode was noted over ocean areas of Melbourne, Florida and Kwajalein

  4. Rain Garden Research at EPA’s Urban Watershed Research Facility: Promoting Nitrate Removal through Rain Garden Design

    EPA Science Inventory

    Rain gardens are designed to infiltrate stormwater, capture suspended solids, sorb heavy metals and phosphorus, and transform nutrients through biological processes. Most studies have found a low capacity for stormwater nitrate removal. Research at the Urban Watershed Managemen...

  5. Visualization of soil-moisture change in response to precipitation within two rain gardens in Ohio

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Dumouchelle, Denise H.; Darner, Robert A.

    2014-01-01

    Stormwater runoff in urban areas is increasingly being managed by means of a variety of treaments that reduce or delay runoff and promote more natural infiltration. One such treatment is a rain garden, which is built to detain runoff and allow for water infiltration and uptake by plants.Water flow into or out of a rain garden can be readily monitored with a variety of tools; however, observing the movement of water within the rain garden is less straightforward. Soil-moisture probes in combination with an automated interpolation procedure were used to document the infiltration of water into two rain gardens in Ohio. Animations show changes in soil moisture in the rain gardens during two precipitation events. At both sites, the animations demonstrate underutilization of the rain gardens.

  6. A cloud model-radiative model combination for determining microwave TB-rain rate relations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Szejwach, Gerard; Adler, Robert F.; Jobard, Esabelle; Mack, Robert A.

    1986-01-01

    The development of a cloud model-radiative transfer model combination for computing average brightness temperature, T(B), is discussed. The cloud model and radiative transfer model used in this study are described. The relations between rain rate, cloud and rain water, cloud and precipitation ice, and upwelling radiance are investigated. The effects of the rain rate relations on T(B) under different climatological conditions are examined. The model-derived T(B) results are compared to the 92 and 183 GHz aircraft observations of Hakkarinen and Adler (1984, 1986) and the radar-estimated rain rate of Hakkarinen and Adler (1986); good correlation between the data is detected.

  7. Raindrop and flow interactions for interrill erosion with wind-driven rain

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Wind-driven rain (WDR) experiments were conducted to evaluate interrill component of the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model with two-dimensional experimental set-up in wind tunnel. Synchronized wind and rain simulations were applied to soil surfaces on windward and leeward slopes of 7, 15...

  8. Activity of earthworm in Latosol under simulated acid rain stress

    Treesearch

    Jia-En Zhang; Jiayu Yu; Ying Ouyang

    2015-01-01

    Acid rain is still an issue of environmental concerns. This study investigated the impacts of simulated acid rain (SAR) upon earthworm activity from the Latosol (acidic red soil). Laboratory experiment was performed by leaching the soil columns grown with earthworms (Eisenia fetida) at the SAR pH levels ranged from 2.0 to 6.5 over a 34-day period....

  9. Scavenging of ice-nucleating microorganisms from the atmosphere by artificial rain events

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hanlon, Regina; Powers, Craig; Failor, Kevin; Vinatzer, Boris; Schmale, David

    2015-04-01

    Little is known about how microorganisms are scavenged from the atmosphere during rainfall. Microorganisms are abundant and diverse in rain (precipitation) collected near the surface of the earth. Some of these rain-associated microorganisms produce proteins that catalyze the nucleation of ice crystals at significantly warmer temperatures than would normally be required for ice formation, suggesting that they may play important roles in weather, including the onset of precipitation. We conducted a series of field experiments to test the hypothesis that ice-nucleating microorganisms are scavenged from the atmosphere by rainfall. Thirteen artificial rain events were conducted off the side of the Smart Road Bridge in Blacksburg, VA, USA. In each event, sterile water was dispensed over the side of the bridge (simulated rainfall), and recovered in sterile containers following gravitational settling from the side of the bridge to an open fallow agricultural field below (a distance of ~55m from the release site to the collection site). Microbes scavenged from the artificial rain events were cultured on six different types of agar media (R2A, TSA, CA; +/- cycloheximide) and the ice nucleation activity was examined for colonies cultured from the different media types. Mean CFUs scavenged by artificial rain ranged from 83 to 196 CFUs/mL across all six media types. Ice-nucleating microorganisms were recovered from 85% (11/13) of the simulated rain events, and represented about 1% of the total number of colonies assayed from each event. Strikingly, this percentage is nearly identical to the percentage of culturable ice-nucleating microorganisms occurring in about half of the natural rain events studied to date in Blacksburg, Virginia. This work expands our knowledge of the scavenging properties of rain, and suggests that at least some ice nucleators in natural precipitation events may have been stripped from the atmosphere during rainfall, thus negating their potential role in

  10. Isotopic equilibrium between precipitation and water vapor: evidence from continental rains in central Kenya

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Soderberg, K.; Gerlein, C.; Kemeny, P. C.; Caylor, K. K.

    2013-12-01

    An accurate understanding of the relationships between the isotopic composition of liquid water and that of water vapor in the environment can help describe hydrologic processes across many scales. One such relationship is the isotopic equilibrium between falling raindrops and the surrounding vapor. The degree of equilibration is used to model the isotopic composition of precipitation in isotope-enable general circulation models and land-atmosphere exchange models. Although this equilibrium has been a topic of isotope hydrology research for more than four decades, few studies have included vapor measurements to validate modeling efforts. Recent advances in laser technology have allowed for in situ vapor measurements at high temporal resolution (e.g., >1 Hz). Here we present concomitant rain and vapor measurements for a series of 17 rain events during the 'Continental' rainy season (June through August) at Mpala Research Center in central Kenya. Rain samples (n=218) were collected at intervals of 2 to 35 minutes (median of 3 minutes) depending on the rain rate (0.4 to 10.5 mm/hr). The volume-weighted mean rain values for δ18O, δ2H and D-excess (δ2H - 8* δ18O) were 0.1 ‰, 10.7 ‰, and 10.1 ‰. These values are more enriched than the annual weighted means reported for the area (-2.2 ‰, -7.6 ‰, and 11.0 ‰, respectively). Vapor was measured continuously at ~2Hz (DLT-100, Los Gatos Research), with an inverted funnel intake 4m above the ground surface. The mean vapor isotopic composition during the rain events was -10.0 +/- 1.2 ‰ (1 σ) for δ18O and -73.9 +/- 7.0 ‰ for δ2H. The difference between the rain sample isotopic composition and that of liquid in isotopic equilibrium with the corresponding vapor at the ambient temperature was 0.8 +/- 2.2 ‰ for δ18O and 6.2 +/- 7.0 ‰ for δ2H. This disequilibrium was found to correlate with the natural log of rain rate (R2 of 0.26 for δ18O and 0.46 for δ2H), with lower rain rates having larger

  11. Description and preliminary results of a 100 square meter rain gauge

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Grimaldi, Salvatore; Petroselli, Andrea; Baldini, Luca; Gorgucci, Eugenio

    2018-01-01

    Rainfall is one of the most crucial processes in hydrology, and the direct and indirect rainfall measurement methods are constantly being updated and improved. The standard instrument used to measure rainfall rate and accumulation is the rain gauge, which provides direct observations. Though the small dimension of the orifice allows rain gauges to be installed anywhere, it also causes errors due to the splash and wind effects. To investigate the role of the orifice dimension, this study, for the first time, introduces and demonstrates an apparatus for observing rainfall called a giant-rain gauge that is characterised by a collecting surface of 100 m2. To discuss the new instrument and its technical details, a preliminary analysis of 26 rainfall events is provided. The results suggest that there are significant differences between the standard and proposed rain gauges. Specifically, major discrepancies are evident for low time aggregation scale (5, 10, and 15 min) and for high rainfall intensity values.

  12. Leaching Characteristics of Calcium and Strontium from Phosphogypsum Under Acid Rain.

    PubMed

    Wang, Mei; Luo, Houqiao; Chen, Yong; Yang, Jinyan

    2018-02-01

    Phosphogypsum (PG) stored close to phosphorus chemical plants has caused worldwide environmental problems. Column leaching experiments were conducted to evaluate Ca and Sr leaching from PG under simulated acid rain at pH levels typical for rain in the study region (Shifang, China). High concentrations of Ca and Sr in leachates in the first five leaching events could pollute the soil and groundwater around the PG. Leachates pH was lower than and had no correlation with simulated rain pH. No correlations between simulated rain pH and cumulative Ca and Sr content in leachates were noted. Around 2.0%-2.2% of Ca and 0.5%-0.6% of Sr were leached out from PG by the simulated summer rainfall in Shifang. Electrical conductivity values, Ca and Sr concentrations at bottom sections of PG columns were higher than those of top sections, while pH values showed a reverse trend. More precautions should be taken to protect the environment around PG stacks.

  13. Learning About Acid Rain: A Teacher's Guide for Grades 6 through 8

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Find on this page a link to the Acid Rain Teacher's Guide for Students Grades 6-8. This guide contains information, class discussions and experiments teachers can use to teach students about acid rain.

  14. Rain events decrease boreal peatland net CO2 uptake through reduced light availability.

    PubMed

    Nijp, Jelmer J; Limpens, Juul; Metselaar, Klaas; Peichl, Matthias; Nilsson, Mats B; van der Zee, Sjoerd E A T M; Berendse, Frank

    2015-06-01

    Boreal peatlands store large amounts of carbon, reflecting their important role in the global carbon cycle. The short-term exchange and the long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ) in these ecosystems are closely associated with the permanently wet surface conditions and are susceptible to drought. Especially, the single most important peat forming plant genus, Sphagnum, depends heavily on surface wetness for its primary production. Changes in rainfall patterns are expected to affect surface wetness, but how this transient rewetting affects net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) remains unknown. This study explores how the timing and characteristics of rain events during photosynthetic active periods, that is daytime, affect peatland NEE and whether rain event associated changes in environmental conditions modify this response (e.g. water table, radiation, vapour pressure deficit, temperature). We analysed an 11-year time series of half-hourly eddy covariance and meteorological measurements from Degerö Stormyr, a boreal peatland in northern Sweden. Our results show that daytime rain events systematically decreased the sink strength of peatlands for atmospheric CO2 . The decrease was best explained by rain associated reduction in light, rather than by rain characteristics or drought length. An average daytime growing season rain event reduced net ecosystem CO2 uptake by 0.23-0.54 gC m(-2) . On an annual basis, this reduction of net CO2 uptake corresponds to 24% of the annual net CO2 uptake (NEE) of the study site, equivalent to a 4.4% reduction of gross primary production (GPP) during the growing season. We conclude that reduced light availability associated with rain events is more important in explaining the NEE response to rain events than rain characteristics and changes in water availability. This suggests that peatland CO2 uptake is highly sensitive to changes in cloud cover formation and to altered rainfall regimes, a process hitherto largely

  15. Methyl donor supplementation alters cognitive performance and motivation in female offspring from high-fat diet-fed dams.

    PubMed

    McKee, Sarah E; Grissom, Nicola M; Herdt, Christopher T; Reyes, Teresa M

    2017-06-01

    During gestation, fetal nutrition is entirely dependent on maternal diet. Maternal consumption of excess fat during pregnancy has been linked to an increased risk of neurologic disorders in offspring, including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, and schizophrenia. In a mouse model, high-fat diet (HFD)-fed offspring have cognitive and executive function deficits as well as whole-genome DNA and promoter-specific hypomethylation in multiple brain regions. Dietary methyl donor supplementation during pregnancy or adulthood has been used to alter DNA methylation and behavior. Given that extensive brain development occurs during early postnatal life-particularly within the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a brain region critical for executive function-we examined whether early life methyl donor supplementation ( e.g., during adolescence) could ameliorate executive function deficits observed in offspring that were exposed to maternal HFD. By using operant testing, progressive ratio, and the PFC-dependent 5-choice serial reaction timed task (5-CSRTT), we determined that F1 female offspring (B6D2F1/J) from HFD-fed dams have decreased motivation (decreased progressive ratio breakpoint) and require a longer stimulus length to complete the 5-CSRTT task successfully, whereas early life methyl donor supplementation increased motivation and shortened the minimum stimulus length required for a correct response in the 5-CSRTT. Of interest, we found that expression of 2 chemokines, CCL2 and CXCL10, correlated with the median stimulus length in the 5-CSRTT. Furthermore, we found that acute adult supplementation of methyl donors increased motivation in HFD-fed offspring and those who previously received supplementation with methyl donors. These data point to early life as a sensitive time during which dietary methyl donor supplementation can alter PFC-dependent cognitive behaviors.-McKee, S. E., Grissom, N. M., Herdt, C. T., Reyes, T. M. Methyl donor supplementation alters

  16. Methyl donor supplementation alters cognitive performance and motivation in female offspring from high-fat diet–fed dams

    PubMed Central

    McKee, Sarah E.; Grissom, Nicola M.; Herdt, Christopher T.; Reyes, Teresa M.

    2017-01-01

    During gestation, fetal nutrition is entirely dependent on maternal diet. Maternal consumption of excess fat during pregnancy has been linked to an increased risk of neurologic disorders in offspring, including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, and schizophrenia. In a mouse model, high-fat diet (HFD)–fed offspring have cognitive and executive function deficits as well as whole-genome DNA and promoter-specific hypomethylation in multiple brain regions. Dietary methyl donor supplementation during pregnancy or adulthood has been used to alter DNA methylation and behavior. Given that extensive brain development occurs during early postnatal life—particularly within the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a brain region critical for executive function—we examined whether early life methyl donor supplementation (e.g., during adolescence) could ameliorate executive function deficits observed in offspring that were exposed to maternal HFD. By using operant testing, progressive ratio, and the PFC-dependent 5-choice serial reaction timed task (5-CSRTT), we determined that F1 female offspring (B6D2F1/J) from HFD-fed dams have decreased motivation (decreased progressive ratio breakpoint) and require a longer stimulus length to complete the 5-CSRTT task successfully, whereas early life methyl donor supplementation increased motivation and shortened the minimum stimulus length required for a correct response in the 5-CSRTT. Of interest, we found that expression of 2 chemokines, CCL2 and CXCL10, correlated with the median stimulus length in the 5-CSRTT. Furthermore, we found that acute adult supplementation of methyl donors increased motivation in HFD-fed offspring and those who previously received supplementation with methyl donors. These data point to early life as a sensitive time during which dietary methyl donor supplementation can alter PFC-dependent cognitive behaviors.—McKee, S. E., Grissom, N. M., Herdt, C. T., Reyes, T. M. Methyl donor supplementation

  17. Whey Protein Reduces Early Life Weight Gain in Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet

    PubMed Central

    Tranberg, Britt; Hellgren, Lars I.; Lykkesfeldt, Jens; Sejrsen, Kristen; Jeamet, Aymeric; Rune, Ida; Ellekilde, Merete; Nielsen, Dennis S.; Hansen, Axel Kornerup

    2013-01-01

    An increasing number of studies indicate that dairy products, including whey protein, alleviate several disorders of the metabolic syndrome. Here, we investigated the effects of whey protein isolate (whey) in mice fed a high-fat diet hypothesising that the metabolic effects of whey would be associated with changes in the gut microbiota composition. Five-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were fed a high-fat diet ad libitum for 14 weeks with the protein source being either whey or casein. Faeces were collected at week 0, 7, and 13 and the fecal microbiota was analysed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analyses of PCR-derived 16S rRNA gene (V3-region) amplicons. At the end of the study, plasma samples were collected and assayed for glucose, insulin and lipids. Whey significantly reduced body weight gain during the first four weeks of the study compared with casein (P<0.001–0.05). Hereafter weight gain was similar resulting in a 15% lower final body weight in the whey group relative to casein (34.0±1.0 g vs. 40.2±1.3 g, P<0.001). Food intake was unaffected by protein source throughout the study period. Fasting insulin was lower in the whey group (P<0.01) and glucose clearance was improved after an oral glucose challenge (P<0.05). Plasma cholesterol was lowered by whey compared to casein (P<0.001). The composition of the fecal microbiota differed between high- and low-fat groups at 13 weeks (P<0.05) whereas no difference was seen between whey and casein. In conclusion, whey initially reduced weight gain in young C57BL/6 mice fed a high-fat diet compared to casein. Although the effect on weight gain ceased, whey alleviated glucose intolerance, improved insulin sensitivity and reduced plasma cholesterol. These findings could not be explained by changes in food intake or gut microbiota composition. Further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms behind the metabolic effects of whey. PMID:23940754

  18. 40 CFR 74.3 - Relationship to the Acid Rain program requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Relationship to the Acid Rain program requirements. 74.3 Section 74.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) SULFUR DIOXIDE OPT-INS Background and Summary § 74.3 Relationship to the Acid Rain...

  19. 40 CFR 74.3 - Relationship to the Acid Rain program requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Relationship to the Acid Rain program requirements. 74.3 Section 74.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) SULFUR DIOXIDE OPT-INS Background and Summary § 74.3 Relationship to the Acid Rain...

  20. 40 CFR 74.3 - Relationship to the Acid Rain program requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Relationship to the Acid Rain program requirements. 74.3 Section 74.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) SULFUR DIOXIDE OPT-INS Background and Summary § 74.3 Relationship to the Acid Rain...

  1. 40 CFR 74.3 - Relationship to the Acid Rain program requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Relationship to the Acid Rain program requirements. 74.3 Section 74.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) SULFUR DIOXIDE OPT-INS Background and Summary § 74.3 Relationship to the Acid Rain...

  2. 40 CFR 74.3 - Relationship to the Acid Rain program requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Relationship to the Acid Rain program requirements. 74.3 Section 74.3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) SULFUR DIOXIDE OPT-INS Background and Summary § 74.3 Relationship to the Acid Rain...

  3. Analysis of warm convective rain events in Catalonia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ballart, D.; Figuerola, F.; Aran, M.; Rigo, T.

    2009-09-01

    Between the end of September and November, events with high amounts of rainfall are quite common in Catalonia. The high sea surface temperature of the Mediterranean Sea near to the Catalan Coast is one of the most important factors that help to the development of this type of storms. Some of these events have particular characteristics: elevated rain rate during short time periods, not very deep convection and low lightning activity. Consequently, the use of remote sensing tools for the surveillance is quite useless or limited. With reference to the high rain efficiency, this is caused by internal mechanisms of the clouds, and also by the air mass where the precipitation structure is developed. As aforementioned, the contribution of the sea to the air mass is very relevant, not only by the increase of the big condensation nuclei, but also by high temperature of the low layers of the atmosphere, where are allowed clouds with 5 or 6 km of particles in liquid phase. In fact, the freezing level into these clouds can be detected by -15ºC. Due to these characteristics, this type of rainy structures can produce high quantities of rainfall in a relatively brief period of time, and, in the case to be quasi-stationary, precipitation values at surface could be very important. From the point of view of remote sensing tools, the cloud nature implies that the different tools and methodologies commonly used for the analysis of heavy rain events are not useful. This is caused by the following features: lightning are rarely observed, the top temperatures of clouds are not cold enough to be enhanced in the satellite imagery, and, finally, reflectivity radar values are lower than other heavy rain cases. The third point to take into account is the vulnerability of the affected areas. An elevated percentage of the Catalan population lives in the coastal region. In the central coast of Catalonia, the urban areas are surrounded by a not very high mountain range with small basins and

  4. Acid rain

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Boyle, R.H.; Boyle, R.A.

    1983-01-01

    Acid rain, says Boyle is a chemical leprosy eating into the face of North America and Europe, perhaps the major ecological problem of our time. Boyle describes the causes and scope of the phenomenon; the effects on man, wildlife, water, and our cultural heritage. He probes the delays of politicians and the frequent self-serving arguments advanced by industry in the face of what scientists have proved. The solutions he offers are to strengthen the Clean Air Act and require emission reductions that can be accomplished by establishing emission standards on a regional or bubble basis, burn low-sulfur coal, install scrubbersmore » at critical plants, and invest in alternative energy sources. 73 references, 1 figure.« less

  5. [Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in breast-fed and formula fed healthy infants].

    PubMed

    Decsi, T; Adamovich, K; Szász, M; Berthold, K

    1995-03-26

    While human milk contains considerable amounts of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCP), most formulae contain only the precursors of LCP synthesis (linoleic and alpha-linolenic acids) but are devoid of preformed dietary LCP such as are arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids. LCP contents in plasma phospholipids (PL), triglycerides (TG) and sterol esters (STE) were measured by high resolution capillary gas-liquid chromatography in healthy, term infants fed human milk of formula. Percentage contributions of the precursor fatty acids were similar or higher in plasma lipids in formula fed than in breast-fed infants, meanwhile values of the intermediary metabolites of LCP synthesis did not differ between the two groups. Percentage contributions of arachidonic acid were higher in breast-fed than in formula fed infants at the ages of 2 weeks (PL: 9.39 +/- 1.00 vs. 6.91 +/- 0.38, TG: 0.61 +/- 0.03 vs. 0.41 +/- 0.05, %weight/weight, mean +/- SEM), 1 month (PL: 9.06 +/- 1.04 vs. 6.16 +/- 0.35, TG: 0.62 +/- 0.10 vs. 0.32 +/- 0.04, STE: 4.50 +/- 0.45 vs. 2.84 +/- 0.39) and 2 months (PL: 8.41 +/- 1.19 vs. 5.74 +/- 0.37). Similarly, docosahexaenoic acid values were at the ages of 1 month (PL: 1.94 +/- 0.21 vs. 1.19 +/- 0.21, TG: 0.12 +/- 0.03 vs. 0.04 +/- 0.02) and 2 months (PL: 2.02 +/- 0.36 vs. 0.99 +/- 0.07) significantly higher in breast-fed infants than in those receiving formula.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

  6. Geochemical and stable isotope characteristics of urban heavy rain in the downtown of Tokyo, Japan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Uchiyama, Ryunosuke; Okochi, Hiroshi; Ogata, Hiroko; Katsumi, Naoya; Asai, Daisuke; Nakano, Takanori

    2017-09-01

    In order to make clear the impact of air pollution on the formation of sudden and locally-distributed heavy rain in urban area (hereafter Urban Heavy Rain: UHR), we analyzed inorganic ion concentration and stable isotope ratio of water (δD and δ18O) in rainwater. Rainwater samples were collected in Shinjuku, which is a representative downtown of Tokyo, Japan, during four years from October 2012 to December 2015. The concentration and wet deposition fluxes of acidic components (H+, NH4+, NO3-, and nss-SO42 -) in UHR were especially higher than those in other types of rain events, i.e. normal rain, typhoon heavy rain, and frontal heavy rain. UHR had distinctly lower stable isotope ratios than those in other urban rains with same rainfall amount and summer precipitation systems. There was a high negative correlation between δ18O and the distances from the sampling point to the formation area of UHR within 10 km, while there were high positive correlations between δ18O and the concentration of acidic components in UHR. These findings indicate that UHR could effectively scavenge acidic substances within cloud and suggest the use of stable isotope ratios as tracers of an urban heavy rain's water and in-cloud scavenging process.

  7. Cooling time of porous asphalt pavement affecting compaction process due to various raining condition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hashim, W.; Noor, M. N. M.; Shaffie, E.; Rahman, Z. A.; Arshad, A. K.

    2018-04-01

    While bright sunshine and warm temperatures make for the best paving weather, construction projects can get a bit rough in adverse weather conditions. In this case, porous asphalt is used on paving. Light sprinkles can usually be handled without any serious problems. Moderate rainfall events, on the other hand, will generally require the paving project to be postponed. Steady downpours will cool the porous asphalt mix and make proper compaction extremely difficult to obtain. For the viability of the project, contractors will always wait until the sky clears up. According to the JKR Specification 4(Clause 4.2.6.4), it clearly states that no pavement work should be done during rain. The rain is a cold medium where it will actually cools down everything that make contact with the water. Whereas, the mix porous asphalt (PA) is a hot medium. When these two elements combined, the surface and the PA will harden at a stage where it will not be well compacted. This will cause problems in the future. The test is conducted by pouring water onto the pavement(through raining simulation).Since the rain intensity can be determined by the size of the rain drops, the difference in the shower hole size is good enough to create different rain intensities to predict the PA cooling rate when it makes contact with water. These two variables will work as a comparison in this study between raining and no rain condition. As a result, whenever the water make a contact with the PA, the rates of cooling drops 98% from the normal rates of cooling of PA (without rain)giving the Time Available for Compaction (TAC) to be less than 60 seconds. This study may be a knowledge on how the rates of cooling work if the PA make contact with water. It can also be used as future reference on the study of cooling rates of porous pavement during raining condition.

  8. Acid Rain: Resource Materials for Schools.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    American Biology Teacher, 1983

    1983-01-01

    Provides listings of acid rain resource material groups under: (1) printed materials (pamphlets, books, articles); (2) audiovisuals (slide/tape presentations, tape, video-cassette); (3) miscellaneous (buttons, pocket lab, umbrella); (4) transparencies; (5) bibliographies; and (6) curriculum materials. Sources and prices (when applicable) are…

  9. Promoting nitrate removal in rain gardens

    EPA Science Inventory

    Rain gardens are vegetated surface depressions, often located at low points in landscapes, designed to receive stormwater runoff from roads, roofs, and parking lots. The gardens’ sandy soils allow stormwater to drain quickly to the native soils below and eventually to groundwate...

  10. Performance of broiler chickens fed diets supplemented with a direct-fed microbial.

    PubMed

    Angel, R; Dalloul, R A; Doerr, J

    2005-08-01

    From hatch to 18 d of age broilers were fed starter diets with (0.9 kg/ton) or without direct fed microbial (DFM). At 18 d, birds were weighed and, within DFM treatment (trt), randomly assigned to battery pens. In Exp 1, a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of nutrient density [control (C, 19.3% protein (CP), 0.84%, Ca 0.37% nonphytin P (nPP); and 17.1% CP, 0.8% Ca, and 0.3% nPP in the grower (Gr) and finisher (Fn) diets, respectively) and moderate (M) (17% CP, 0.69% Ca, 0.30% nPP; 15% CP, 0.66% Ca, 0.25% nPP in the Gr and Fn diets, respectively)] and DFM concentration [0 or 0.9 kg/ton (++)] was used. Exp 2 was a 2 (DSM at 0 and 0.45 kg/ton) x 3 (nutrient densities) factorial. Exp 2 included a low (L) nutrient density that differed from diet M only in Ca and nPP concentrations and an added trt, diet M with 0.45 kg/ ton DFM as in Exp 1. At the end of the Gr and Fn weight, feed efficiency, apparent nutrient retention were determined, and 4 birds per pen were sampled for tibia ash. In Exp 2, gains in the Gr phase were 1,122.0, 983.7, 1,121.5, 930.7, and 1,151.5 g in birds fed the C, M, M+, L, and L+ diets, respectively. Addition of DFM to the M diet overcame the negative effect of nutrient concentration on performance but not when the L diet was fed. Nutrient level and DFM affected apparent protein, Ca, and P retention at 32 or 42 d of age with retention increasing as nutrient level decreased and with DFM added to the diet. Ca and P retention at 28 d (Exp 1) was higher in birds fed M++ (45.8 and 46%, respectively) than in those fed the C diet (38.7 and 40.0%, respectively). Feeding the M and L diets resulted in lower tibia ash than that of birds fed the C diet, but the addition of DFM to low nutrient diets overcame this negative effect.

  11. Data-driven clustering of rain events: microphysics information derived from macro-scale observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Djallel Dilmi, Mohamed; Mallet, Cécile; Barthes, Laurent; Chazottes, Aymeric

    2017-04-01

    Rain time series records are generally studied using rainfall rate or accumulation parameters, which are estimated for a fixed duration (typically 1 min, 1 h or 1 day). In this study we use the concept of rain events. The aim of the first part of this paper is to establish a parsimonious characterization of rain events, using a minimal set of variables selected among those normally used for the characterization of these events. A methodology is proposed, based on the combined use of a genetic algorithm (GA) and self-organizing maps (SOMs). It can be advantageous to use an SOM, since it allows a high-dimensional data space to be mapped onto a two-dimensional space while preserving, in an unsupervised manner, most of the information contained in the initial space topology. The 2-D maps obtained in this way allow the relationships between variables to be determined and redundant variables to be removed, thus leading to a minimal subset of variables. We verify that such 2-D maps make it possible to determine the characteristics of all events, on the basis of only five features (the event duration, the peak rain rate, the rain event depth, the standard deviation of the rain rate event and the absolute rain rate variation of the order of 0.5). From this minimal subset of variables, hierarchical cluster analyses were carried out. We show that clustering into two classes allows the conventional convective and stratiform classes to be determined, whereas classification into five classes allows this convective-stratiform classification to be further refined. Finally, our study made it possible to reveal the presence of some specific relationships between these five classes and the microphysics of their associated rain events.

  12. CoQ10 plasmatic levels in breast-fed infants compared to formula-fed infants.

    PubMed

    Compagnoni, G; Giuffrè, B; Lista, G; Mosca, F; Marini, A

    2004-01-01

    Coenzyme Q10 has been recognized as an important antioxidant factor besides its main role in bioenergetic metabolism. CoQ10 tissue levels depend both on exogenous dietetic intake and on endogenous biosynthesis, as this compound can be partly synthesized in human cells. Q10 plasma levels reflect the tissue content of the coenzyme and can be used to evaluate the presence of this compound in the human organism. Aim of the study was to measure CoQ10 plasmatic levels in a newborn breast-fed population and to compare them to CoQ10 levels in a newborn formula-fed population in order to verify whether changes in CoQ10 plasmatic contents could be related to a different dietetic intakes. We measured CoQ10 plasmatic levels in 25 healthy term neonates with different dietetic intakes: 15 breast-fed and 10 bottle-fed with a common infant formula. These infants were evaluated prospectively during the first month of life. The analyses were performed on the mothers' blood samples and cord blood samples at the time of delivery, then on infants at 4 and 28 days of age. Our results showed markedly reduced Q10 levels in cord blood samples compared to maternal Q10 plasmatic levels at the time of delivery, suggesting placental impermeability towards this molecule or increased fetal utilization during labor and delivery. At 4 days of age Q10 levels had increased in both groups of neonates, but significantly more in breast-fed infants compared to formula-fed babies (p <0.05). At 4 weeks of age no significant changes occurred in breast-fed infants, while values increased significantly in formula-fed infants (p <0.05). The content of Q10 in breast milk samples was lower than in infant formula. The results of this study show that CoQ10 plasmatic levels are at least partly influenced by the exogenous dietetic supply.

  13. Distribution of rain height over subtropical region: Durban, South Africa for satellite communication systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Olurotimi, E. O.; Sokoya, O.; Ojo, J. S.; Owolawi, P. A.

    2018-03-01

    Rain height is one of the significant parameters for prediction of rain attenuation for Earth-space telecommunication links, especially those operating at frequencies above 10 GHz. This study examines Three-parameter Dagum distribution of the rain height over Durban, South Africa. 5-year data were used to study the monthly, seasonal, and annual variations using the parameters estimated by the maximum likelihood of the distribution. The performance estimation of the distribution was determined using the statistical goodness of fit. Three-parameter Dagum distribution shows an appropriate distribution for the modeling of rain height over Durban with the Root Mean Square Error of 0.26. Also, the shape and scale parameters for the distribution show a wide variation. The probability exceedance of time for 0.01% indicates the high probability of rain attenuation at higher frequencies.

  14. Effects of sulfuric, nitric, and mixed acid rain on Chinese fir sapling growth in Southern China.

    PubMed

    Liu, Xin; Fu, Zhiyuan; Zhang, Bo; Zhai, Lu; Meng, Miaojing; Lin, Jie; Zhuang, Jiayao; Wang, G Geoff; Zhang, Jinchi

    2018-09-30

    The influence of acid rain on plant growth includes direct effects on foliage as well as indirect soil-mediated effects that cause a reduction in root growth. In addition, the concentration of NO 3 - in acid rain increases along with the rapid growth of nitrogen deposition. In this study, we investigated the impact of simulated acid rain with different SO 4 2- /NO 3 - (S/N) ratios, which were 1:0, 5:1, 1:1, 1:5 and 0:1, on Chinese fir sapling growth from March 2015 to April 2016. Results showed that Chinese fir sapling height growth rate (HGR) and basal diameter growth rate (DGR) decreased as acid rain pH decreased, and also decreased as the percentage of NO 3 - increased in acid rain. Acid rain pH significantly decreased the Chlorophyll a (Chla) and Chlorophyll b (Chlb) content, and Chla and Chlb contents with acid rain S/N 1:5 were significantly lower than those with S/N 1:0 at pH 2.5. The chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, maximal efficiency of Photosystem II photochemistry (Fv/Fm) and non-photochemical quenching coefficient (NPQ), with most acid rain treatments were significantly lower than those with CK treatments. Root activities first increased and then decreased as acid rain pH decreased, when acid rain S/N ratios were 1:1, 1:5 and 0:1. Redundancy discriminant analysis (RDA) showed that the Chinese fir DGR and HGR had positive correlations with Chla, Chlb, Fv/Fm ratio, root activity, catalase and superoxide dismutase activities in roots under the stress of acid rain with different pH and S/N ratios. The structural equation modelling (SEM) results showed that acid rain NO 3 - concentration and pH had stronger direct effects on Chinese fir sapling HGR and DGR, and the direct effects of acid rain NO 3 - concentration and pH on HGR were lower than those on DGR. Our results suggest that the ratio of SO 4 2- to NO 3 - in acid rain is an important factor which could affect the sustainable development of monoculture Chinese fir plantations in southern China

  15. Determination of rain rate from a spaceborne radar using measurements of total attenuation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Meneghini, R.; Eckerman, J.; Atlas, D.

    1981-01-01

    Studies shows that path-integrated rain rates can be determined by means of a direct measurement of attenuation. For ground based radars this is done by measuring the backscattering cross section of a fixed target in the presence and absence of rain along the radar beam. A ratio of the two measurements yields a factor proportional to the attenuation from which the average rain rate is deduced. The technique is extended to spaceborne radars by choosing the ground as reference target. The technique is also generalized so that both the average and range-profiled rain rates are determined. The accuracies of the resulting estimates are evaluated for a narrow beam radar located on a low earth orbiting satellite.

  16. Acidification and Acid Rain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Norton, S. A.; Veselã½, J.

    2003-12-01

    endangers the existing biota. Concerns about acid (or acidic) rain in its modern sense were publicized by the Swedish soil scientist Svante Odén (1968). He argued, initially in the Swedish press, that long-term increases in the atmospheric deposition of acid could lower the pH of surface waters, cause a decline in fish stocks, deplete soils of nutrients, and accelerate damage to materials. By the 1970s, acidification of surface waters was reported in many countries in Europe as well as in North America. The late twentieth-century rush to understand the impact of acid rain was driven by: (i) reports of damaged or threatened freshwater fisheries and (ii) damaged forests. Perhaps the earliest linkage between acidic surface water and damage to fish was made by Dahl (1921) in southern Norway. There, spring runoff was sufficiently acidic to kill trout. It was not until the 1970s that a strong link was established between depressed pH, mobilization of aluminum from soil, and fish status ( Schofield and Trojnar,1980). The relationship between acidification of soils and forest health started with hypotheses in the 1960s and has slowly developed. Acid rain enhances the availability of some nutrients (e.g., nitrogen), and may either enhance or diminish the availability of others (e.g., calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus). Damage to anthropogenic structures, human health, and visibility have also raised concerns. The history of these early developments was summarized by Cowling (1982). Since the 1970s, sulfur and nitrogen emissions to the atmosphere have been reduced by 50-85% and 0-30%, respectively, both in North America and Europe. The emission reductions have occurred as a consequence of knowledge gained and economic factors. While recovery of water quality is underway in some areas, problems of acidification persist, and are now complicated by the effects of climate change ( Schindler, 1997).

  17. Plant Identity Exerts Stronger Effect than Fertilization on Soil Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in a Sown Pasture.

    PubMed

    Zheng, Yong; Chen, Liang; Luo, Cai-Yun; Zhang, Zhen-Hua; Wang, Shi-Ping; Guo, Liang-Dong

    2016-10-01

    Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi play key roles in plant nutrition and plant productivity. AM fungal responses to either plant identity or fertilization have been investigated. However, the interactive effects of different plant species and fertilizer types on these symbiotic fungi remain poorly understood. We evaluated the effects of the factorial combinations of plant identity (grasses Avena sativa and Elymus nutans and legume Vicia sativa) and fertilization (urea and sheep manure) on AM fungi following 2-year monocultures in a sown pasture field study. AM fungal extraradical hyphal density was significantly higher in E. nutans than that in A. sativa and V. sativa in the unfertilized control and was significantly increased by urea and manure in A. sativa and by manure only in E. nutans, but not by either fertilizers in V. sativa. AM fungal spore density was not significantly affected by plant identity or fertilization. Forty-eight operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of AM fungi were obtained through 454 pyrosequencing of 18S rDNA. The OTU richness and Shannon diversity index of AM fungi were significantly higher in E. nutans than those in V. sativa and/or A. sativa, but not significantly affected by any fertilizer in all of the three plant species. AM fungal community composition was significantly structured directly by plant identity only and indirectly by both urea addition and plant identity through soil total nitrogen content. Our findings highlight that plant identity has stronger influence than fertilization on belowground AM fungal community in this converted pastureland from an alpine meadow.

  18. Estimation of the rain signal in the presence of large surface clutter

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ahamad, Atiq; Moore, Richard K.

    1994-01-01

    The principal limitation for the use of a spaceborne imaging SAR as a rain radar is the surface-clutter problem. Signals may be estimated in the presence of noise by averaging large numbers of independent samples. This method was applied to obtain an estimate of the rain echo by averaging a set of N(sub c) samples of the clutter in a separate measurement and subtracting the clutter estimate from the combined estimate. The number of samples required for successful estimation (within 10-20%) for off-vertical angles of incidence appears to be prohibitively large. However, by appropriately degrading the resolution in both range and azimuth, the required number of samples can be obtained. For vertical incidence, the number of samples required for successful estimation is reasonable. In estimating the clutter it was assumed that the surface echo is the same outside the rain volume as it is within the rain volume. This may be true for the forest echo, but for convective storms over the ocean the surface echo outside the rain volume is very different from that within. It is suggested that the experiment be performed with vertical incidence over forest to overcome this limitation.

  19. A modified ATI technique for nowcasting convective rain volumes over areas. [area-time integrals

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Makarau, Amos; Johnson, L. Ronald; Doneaud, Andre A.

    1988-01-01

    This paper explores the applicability of the area-time-integral (ATI) technique for the estimation of the growth portion only of a convective storm (while the rain volume is computed using the entire life history of the event) and for nowcasting the total rain volume of a convective system at the stage of its maximum development. For these purposes, the ATIs were computed from the digital radar data (for 1981-1982) from the North Dakota Cloud Modification Project, using the maximum echo area (ATIA) no less than 25 dBz, the maximum reflectivity, and the maximum echo height as the end of the growth portion of the convective event. Linear regression analysis demonstrated that correlations between total rain volume or the maximum rain volume versus ATIA were the strongest. The uncertainties obtained were comparable to the uncertainties which typically occur in rain volume estimates obtained from radar data employing Z-R conversion followed by space and time integration. This demonstrates that the total rain volume of a storm can be nowcasted at its maximum stage of development.

  20. Convective rain rates and their evolution during storms in a semiarid climate

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Doneaud, A. A.; Miller, J. R., Jr.; Ionescu-Niscov, S.

    1984-01-01

    The semiarid climate of the U.S. northern High Plains region has been studied with respect to rain rates and their evolution during summertime convective storms, using radar data from a total of 750 radar echo clusters. Analysis of this data suggests that the average rain rate R among storms is in a first approximation independent of the total rain volume, if the entire storm duration is considered in the averaging process. R primarily depends on the reflectivity threshold considered in calculating the area coverage integrated over the lifetime of the storm. R evolution during storms is analyzed by dividing each storm lifetime into 10 min, 1, 2, and 4 hours, as well as growing and decaying periods. The value of R remained independent of the total rain volume when the growing or decaying periods of storms were considered separately.

  1. Polar rain: Solar coronal electrons in the Earth's magnetosphere

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fairfield, D. H.; Scudder, J. D.

    1984-01-01

    Low energy electron measurements collected by ISEE 1 reveal the frequent presence of field-aligned fluxes of few hundred eV electrons in he geomagnetic tail lobes. In the northern tail lobe these electrons are most prominent when the interplanetary magnetic field is directed away from the Sun. This characteristic helps identify the electrons as polar rain electrons. By mapping the tail lobe velocity distribution function into the solar wind, previous suggestions that the polar rain is indeed of solar wind origin and is due to the access of electrons to the magnetotail lobe were confirmed. It was demonstrated that the moe energetic component of the polar rain is composed of electrons from the solar wind strahl - a field-aligned component of the solar wind which is difficult to measure but which is thought to be caused by the collisionless transit of hundred eV electrons from the inner solar corona to 1 AU.

  2. Effect of heavy rain to the total received power

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Iguchi, Toshio

    1994-01-01

    If the average power at the receiver is substantially reduced by heavy rain, the AGC (automatic gain control) circuit of the rain gauge will try to compensate this reduction by increasing the gain. If this happens, then the pulses created by rain drops are amplified more than they should be and the rainfall rate may be overestimated. If the effective diameter (blocking efficiency) of a particle is 2 mm and if the beam width is 2 cm, each particle will reduce the received power by 10 percent when it crosses the beam. Since the beam is blocked by water drops 75 percent of the total time according to the above calculation, the total received power may be reduced by 7.5 percent. To compensate this reduction to the reference value, the gain of amplifier will be increased by 8.1 percent. This increase of gain will increase all pulse sizes by the same fraction and result in the overestimate of the rainfall rate.

  3. Nonlinear response in runoff magnitude to fluctuating rain patterns.

    PubMed

    Curtu, R; Fonley, M

    2015-03-01

    The runoff coefficient of a hillslope is a reliable measure for changes in the streamflow response at the river link outlet. A high runoff coefficient is a good indicator of the possibility of flash floods. Although the relationship between runoff coefficient and streamflow has been the subject of much study, the physical mechanisms affecting runoff coefficient including the dependence on precipitation pattern remain open topics for investigation. In this paper, we analyze a rainfall-runoff model at the hillslope scale as that hillslope is forced with different rain patterns: constant rain and fluctuating rain with different frequencies and amplitudes. When an oscillatory precipitation pattern is applied, although the same amount of water may enter the system, its response (measured by the runoff coefficient) will be maximum for a certain frequency of precipitation. The significant increase in runoff coefficient after a certain pattern of rainfall can be a potential explanation for the conditions preceding flash-floods.

  4. Seasonal rhythms of seed rain and seedling emergence in two tropical rain forests in southern Brazil.

    PubMed

    Marques, M C M; Oliveira, P E A M

    2008-09-01

    Seasonal tropical forests show rhythms in reproductive activities due to water stress during dry seasons. If both seed dispersal and seed germination occur in the best environmental conditions, mortality will be minimised and forest regeneration will occur. To evaluate whether non-seasonal forests also show rhythms, for 2 years we studied the seed rain and seedling emergence in two sandy coastal forests (flooded and unflooded) in southern Brazil. In each forest, one 100 x 30-m grid was marked and inside it 30 stations comprising two seed traps (0.5 x 0.5 m each) and one plot (2 x 2 m) were established for monthly monitoring of seed rain and a seedling emergence study, respectively. Despite differences in soil moisture and incident light on the understorey, flooded and unflooded forests had similar dispersal and germination patterns. Seed rain was seasonal and bimodal (peaks at the end of the wetter season and in the less wet season) and seedling emergence was seasonal and unimodal (peaking in the wetter season). Approximately 57% of the total species number had seedling emergence 4 or more months after dispersal. Therefore, both seed dormancy and the timing of seed dispersal drive the rhythm of seedling emergence in these forests. The peak in germination occurs in the wetter season, when soil fertility is higher and other phenological events also occur. The strong seasonality in these plant communities, even in this weakly seasonal climate, suggests that factors such as daylength, plant sensitivity to small changes in the environment (e.g. water and nutrient availability) or phylogenetic constraints cause seasonal rhythms in the plants.

  5. Breast-feeding at 12 months of age and dietary habits among breast-fed and non-breast-fed infants.

    PubMed

    Lande, Britt; Andersen, Lene Frost; Veierød, Marit B; Baerug, Anne; Johansson, Lars; Trygg, Kerstin U; Bjørneboe, Gunn-Elin Aa

    2004-06-01

    To analyse factors associated with breast-feeding and use of sweetened drinks at 12 months, and to compare dietary habits among breast-fed and non-breast-fed infants. Data were collected by a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire filled in by the parents. National dietary survey in Norway. In total, 1932 12-month-old infants were included. At 12 months, 36% of the infants were breast-fed. The odds of breast-feeding at this age were more than doubled both for mothers > or =35 years compared with mothers <25 years and for mothers in the highest educational group compared with mothers in the lowest. A negative association was found for maternal smoking, and the odds of breast-feeding were 40% lower for mothers who smoked than for non-smokers. Some dietary differences were observed between breast-fed and non-breast-fed infants apart from intake of milk. In particular, breast-fed infants had a significantly lower daily intake of sweetened drinks than non-breast-fed infants and a 16% lower mean daily intake of added sugars (P<0.001). Furthermore, breast-fed infants had 30% higher odds of not receiving sweetened drinks daily, compared with non-breast-fed infants. Maternal age, education and smoking status were important factors for breast-feeding at 12 months. Breast-fed infants had lower intakes of sweetened drinks and added sugars than non-breast-fed infants. From a public health perspective, continued promotion of breast-feeding is needed to reduce inequalities in breast-feeding. Moreover, prevention of high intakes of sweetened drinks and added sugars should start in infancy.

  6. Acid Rain Education and Its Implications for Curricular Development: A Teacher Survey.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barrow, Lloyd H.; Germann, Paul

    1987-01-01

    Describes a survey which was designed to obtain information on acid rain education. Reviews results pertaining to instructional time, instructional topics, use of labs from a common resource guide, and preference of materials related to acid rain education. (ML)

  7. The rain of terror

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zern, E.

    The problem of acid rain as it effects fish populations in the United States and Canada is briefly reviewed. The emphasis of the article is on the future of fishing in acid precipitation areas. The author concludes with a recommendation that fishermen write their Congressman urging support of Congressman Henry A. Waxman's House Bill 555. The bill would require a ten-year program to reduce sulfur-dioxide emisions in Central and Eastern states by approximately one-third. (JMT)

  8. Rain observations in tropical storm Cora

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wilheit, T. T.; Chang, A. T. C.; King, J. L.; Rodgers, E. B.; Nieman, R. A.; Krupp, B. M.; Siddalingaiah, H.; Diesen, B. C.; Stratigos, J.

    1979-01-01

    Passive microwave observations were made in tropical storm Cora at 19.35 and 94GHz. These observations suggest that 94GHz is appropriate for mapping the extent of rain over either land or ocean backgrounds and that some rainfall intensity measurement is also possible.

  9. TECHNOLOGICAL OPTIONS FOR ACID RAIN CONTROL

    EPA Science Inventory

    The paper discusses technological options for acid rain control. Compliance with Title IV of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 will require careful scrutiny of a number of issues before selecting control options to reduce sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions...

  10. Model studies of the beam-filling error for rain-rate retrieval with microwave radiometers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ha, Eunho; North, Gerald R.

    1995-01-01

    Low-frequency (less than 20 GHz) single-channel microwave retrievals of rain rate encounter the problem of beam-filling error. This error stems from the fact that the relationship between microwave brightness temperature and rain rate is nonlinear, coupled with the fact that the field of view is large or comparable to important scales of variability of the rain field. This means that one may not simply insert the area average of the brightness temperature into the formula for rain rate without incurring both bias and random error. The statistical heterogeneity of the rain-rate field in the footprint of the instrument is key to determining the nature of these errors. This paper makes use of a series of random rain-rate fields to study the size of the bias and random error associated with beam filling. A number of examples are analyzed in detail: the binomially distributed field, the gamma, the Gaussian, the mixed gamma, the lognormal, and the mixed lognormal ('mixed' here means there is a finite probability of no rain rate at a point of space-time). Of particular interest are the applicability of a simple error formula due to Chiu and collaborators and a formula that might hold in the large field of view limit. It is found that the simple formula holds for Gaussian rain-rate fields but begins to fail for highly skewed fields such as the mixed lognormal. While not conclusively demonstrated here, it is suggested that the notionof climatologically adjusting the retrievals to remove the beam-filling bias is a reasonable proposition.

  11. Preliminary Evaluation on the Effects of Feeds on the Growth and Early Reproductive Performance of Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

    PubMed Central

    2012-01-01

    This study evaluated the effects of several commercially available feeds and different feeding regimes on the growth and early reproductive performance of zebrafish (Danio rerio). Juvenile zebrafish (n= 20; 5.06 ± 0.69 mg) were stocked into each of 24 tanks (volume, 2 L); 3 tanks were assigned to each of 8 feeding combinations for a period of 60 d. At the end of 60 d, 2 male and 2 female fish from each tank were pooled by dietary treatment (n = 6) and used to evaluate the effects of feeding combinations on early reproductive performance. Zebrafish fed dietary treatments 3 and 7 had significantly greater weight gain than zebrafish fed diet 5. Mean spawning success was significantly greater in zebrafish fed the control diet (Artemiaonly) than in those fed diet 1. Mean hatch rates were greater in zebrafish fed the control feed and diets 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 than zebrafish fed diet 4. Additional results suggest that female zebrafish are sexually mature after 90 d post fertilization and that fertilization rates are the limiting factor in early reproduction. PMID:23043806

  12. The Role of Ecologists in Designing Rain Gardens: Enhancing Nitrate removal Performance

    EPA Science Inventory

    Rain gardens are vegetated surface depressions designed to receive stormwater runoff from roads, roofs, and parking lots. Stormwater infiltration through rain gardens’ sandy soils is intended to have both water quantity and quality benefits, through stream peak flow reduction and...

  13. The role of ecologists in designing rain gardens: Enhancing nitrate removal performance

    EPA Science Inventory

    Rain gardens are vegetated surface depressions designed to receive stormwater runoff from roads, roofs, and parking lots. Stormwater infiltration through rain gardens’ sandy soils is intended to have both water quantity and quality benefits, through stream peak flow reduction an...

  14. Satellite passive microwave rain rate measurement over croplands during spring, summer and fall

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Spencer, R. W.

    1984-01-01

    Rain-rate algorithms for spring, summer and fall that have been developed from comparisons between the brightness temperatures measured by the Nimbus-7 Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) and rain rates derived from operational WSR-57 radars over land are described. Data were utilized from a total of 25 SMMR passes and 234 radars, resulting in about 12,000 observations of about 1600 sq/km areas. Multiple correlation coefficients of 0.63, 0.80 and 0.75 are achieved for the spring, summer and fall algorithms, respectively. Most of this information is in the form of multifrequency contrast in brightness temperature, which is interpreted as a measurement of the degree to which the land-emitted radiation is attenuated by the rain systems. The SMMR 37-GHz channel has more information on rain rate than any other channel. By combining the lower frequency channels with the 37-GHz observations, variations in land and precipitation thermometric temperatures can be removed, leaving rain attenuation as the major effect on brightness temperature. Polarization screening at 37 GHz is found to be sufficient to screen out cases of wet ground, which is only important when the ground is relatively vegetation free. Heavy rain cases are found to be significant part of the algorithms' success, because of the strong microwve signatures (low-brightness temperatures) that result from the presence of precipitation-sized ice in the upper portions of heavily precipitating storms. If IR data are combined with the summer microwave data, an improved (0.85) correlation with radar rain rates is achieved.

  15. Salmonella can reach tomato fruits on plants exposed to aerosols formed by rain.

    PubMed

    Cevallos-Cevallos, Juan M; Gu, Ganyu; Danyluk, Michelle D; Dufault, Nicholas S; van Bruggen, Ariena H C

    2012-08-17

    Outbreaks of Salmonella enterica have been associated with tomatoes and traced back to production areas but the spread of Salmonella in agricultural fields is still poorly understood. Post-rain Salmonella transfer from a point source to the air and then to tomato plants was evaluated. GFP-labeled kanamycin-resistant S. enterica serovar Typhimurium (10(8)CFU/mL) with and without expression of the rdar morphotype (rough colonies; cells with fimbriae and cellulose) was used as the point source in the center of a rain simulator. Rain intensities of 60 and 110 mm/h were applied for 5, 10, 20, and 30 min. Petri dishes with lactose broth and tomato plants with fruit (50-80 cm high) were placed in the simulator after the rain had ceased. Salmonella recovery from air was maximum (300 CFU/plate) after a rain episode of 60 mm/h for 10 min at distances of at least 85.5 cm above the source and when the rdar morphotype strain was used. Small scale experiments showed that the smooth-colony strain without fimbriae precipitated from the air in significantly higher numbers than the rdar strain. Transfer of aerial Salmonella with the rdar morphotype to tomato fruits on plants followed a beta distribution (2.5950, 4.7393) within the generalized range from 0 to 30 min of rain. Results show for the first time that Salmonella may transfer from rain to the air and contaminate tomato fruits at levels that could possibly be infectious to humans. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Influence of acid rain upon water plumbosolvency.

    PubMed Central

    Moore, M R

    1985-01-01

    The West of Scotland has had particular problems in the past associated with soft acidic water supplies and uptake of lead from domestic plumbing systems by such water. As a consequence of this, health problems related to overexposure to lead have been identified. The current debate on acidification of ground waters by acid rain is therefore particularly pertinent to this area. Studies have shown that even a modest decrease in pH will result in very substantial increase in plumbosolvency. This was found to be of particular importance in the city of Glasgow and town of Ayr, where prior to water treatment, pH values were 6.3 and 5.4, respectively, and where, consequentially, large numbers of homes did not comply with lead in water standards. Closed-loop lime-dosing systems were introduced in both Glasgow and Ayr to increase the pH with immediate decrease in the lead content of the water and, subsequently, blood lead concentrations of the subjects living in these areas. Such closed-loop systems will compensate for any acidity in water supplies, whether of natural origin or originating from acid rain precipitation. However, when such treatment has not been applied, any increase in water acidity due to acid rain which is, in many cases, already unacceptable. which is, in many cases, already unacceptable. PMID:4076078

  17. Assistant for Analyzing Tropical-Rain-Mapping Radar Data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    James, Mark

    2006-01-01

    A document is defined that describes an approach for a Tropical Rain Mapping Radar Data System (TDS). TDS is composed of software and hardware elements incorporating a two-frequency spaceborne radar system for measuring tropical precipitation. The TDS would be used primarily in generating data products for scientific investigations. The most novel part of the TDS would be expert-system software to aid in the selection of algorithms for converting raw radar-return data into such primary observables as rain rate, path-integrated rain rate, and surface backscatter. The expert-system approach would address the issue that selection of algorithms for processing the data requires a significant amount of preprocessing, non-intuitive reasoning, and heuristic application, making it infeasible, in many cases, to select the proper algorithm in real time. In the TDS, tentative selections would be made to enable conversions in real time. The expert system would remove straightforwardly convertible data from further consideration, and would examine ambiguous data, performing analysis in depth to determine which algorithms to select. Conversions performed by these algorithms, presumed to be correct, would be compared with the corresponding real-time conversions. Incorrect real-time conversions would be updated using the correct conversions.

  18. Microbial ice nucleators scavenged from the atmosphere during simulated rain events

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hanlon, Regina; Powers, Craig; Failor, Kevin; Monteil, Caroline L.; Vinatzer, Boris A.; Schmale, David G.

    2017-08-01

    Rain and snow collected at ground level have been found to contain biological ice nucleators. These ice nucleators have been proposed to have originated in clouds, where they may have participated in the formation of precipitation via ice phase nucleation. We conducted a series of field experiments to test the hypothesis that at least some of the microbial ice nucleators (prokaryotes and eukaryotes) present in rain may not originate in clouds but instead be scavenged from the lower atmosphere by rainfall. Thirty-three simulated rain events were conducted over four months off the side of the Smart Road Bridge in Blacksburg, VA, USA. In each event, sterile water was dispensed over the side of the bridge and recovered in sterile containers in an open fallow agricultural field below (a distance of ∼55 m). Microbes scavenged from the simulated rain events were cultured and their ice nucleation activity was examined. Putative microbial ice nucleators were cultured from 94% (31/33) of the simulated rain events, and represented 1.5% (121/8331) of the total colonies assayed. Putative ice nucleators were subjected to additional droplet freezing assays, and those confirmed through these repeated assays represented 0.4% (34/8331) of the total. Mean CFUs scavenged by simulated rain ranged from 2 to 267 CFUs/mL. Scavenged ice nucleators belong to a number of taxa including the bacterial genera Pseudomonas, Pantoea, and Xanthomonas, and the fungal genera Fusarium, Humicola, and Mortierella. An ice-nucleating strain of the fungal genus Penicillium was also recovered from a volumetric air sampler at the study site. This work expands our knowledge of the scavenging properties of rainfall, and suggests that at least some ice nucleators in natural precipitation events may have been scrubbed from the atmosphere during rainfall, and thus are not likely to be involved in precipitation.

  19. Rain concentration and sheltering effect of solar panels on cultivated plots

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Elamri, Yassin; Cheviron, Bruno; Mange, Annabelle; Dejean, Cyril; Liron, François; Belaud, Gilles

    2018-02-01

    Agrivoltaism is the association of agricultural and photovoltaic energy production on the same land area, coping with the increasing pressure on land use and water resources while delivering clean and renewable energy. However, the solar panels located above the cultivated plots also have a seemingly yes unexplored effect on rain redistribution, sheltering large parts of the plot but redirecting concentrated fluxes on a few locations. The spatial heterogeneity in water amounts observed on the ground is high in the general case; its dynamical patterns are directly attributable to the mobile panels through their geometrical characteristics (dimensions, height, coverage percentage) and the strategies selected to rotate them around their support tube. A coefficient of variation is used to measure this spatial heterogeneity and to compare it with the coefficient of uniformity that classically describes the efficiency of irrigation systems. A rain redistribution model (AVrain) was derived from literature elements and theoretical grounds and then validated from experiments in both field and controlled conditions. AVrain simulates the effective rain amounts on the plot from a few forcing data (rainfall, wind velocity and direction) and thus allows real-time strategies that consist in operating the panels so as to limit the rain interception mainly responsible for the spatial heterogeneities. Such avoidance strategies resulted in a sharp decrease in the coefficient of variation, e.g. 0.22 vs. 2.13 for panels held flat during one of the monitored rain events, which is a fairly good uniformity score for irrigation specialists. Finally, the water amounts predicted by AVrain were used as inputs to Hydrus-2D for a brief exploratory study on the impact of the presence of solar panels on rain redistribution at shallow depths within soils: similar, more diffuse patterns were simulated and were coherent with field measurements.

  20. Soak Up the Rain Customizable Outreach Tools

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Get customizable Soak Up the Rain business card, posters, & a banner that can be downloaded & copied for use by citizens, municipalities, watershed & planning organizations & others in their stormwater/green infrastructure education & outreach efforts.

  1. Comparing Satellite Rainfall Estimates with Rain-Gauge Data: Optimal Strategies Suggested by a Spectral Model

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bell, Thomas L.; Kundu, Prasun K.; Lau, William K. M. (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    Validation of satellite remote-sensing methods for estimating rainfall against rain-gauge data is attractive because of the direct nature of the rain-gauge measurements. Comparisons of satellite estimates to rain-gauge data are difficult, however, because of the extreme variability of rain and the fact that satellites view large areas over a short time while rain gauges monitor small areas continuously. In this paper, a statistical model of rainfall variability developed for studies of sampling error in averages of satellite data is used to examine the impact of spatial and temporal averaging of satellite and gauge data on intercomparison results. The model parameters were derived from radar observations of rain, but the model appears to capture many of the characteristics of rain-gauge data as well. The model predicts that many months of data from areas containing a few gauges are required to validate satellite estimates over the areas, and that the areas should be of the order of several hundred km in diameter. Over gauge arrays of sufficiently high density, the optimal areas and averaging times are reduced. The possibility of using time-weighted averages of gauge data is explored.

  2. Vehicle Assembly Building In The Rain

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-07-09

    The NASA Vehicle Assembly Building is seen through a rain covered windshield at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, July 10, 2009. NASA is set to launch the space shuttle Endeavour with the crew of STS-127 on Saturday. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

  3. EFFECTS OF ACID RAIN ON GRAPEVINES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Mature vineyard-growing Concord grapevines were sprayed with simulated acid rain solutions ranging from pH 2.5 to 5.5 both as acute treatments at anthesis and chronically throughout the season in 1980 and 1981. In 1981, 8 additional varieties were also treated with simulated acid...

  4. 76 FR 71559 - Acid Rain Program: Notice of Annual Adjustment Factors for Excess Emissions Penalty

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-11-18

    ... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9494-6] Acid Rain Program: Notice of Annual Adjustment... annual adjustment factors for excess emissions penalty. SUMMARY: The Acid Rain Program under title IV of... emissions for sources that do not meet their annual Acid Rain emissions limitations. This notice states the...

  5. 78 FR 64496 - Acid Rain Program: Notice of Annual Adjustment Factors for Excess Emissions Penalty

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-10-29

    ... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9902-14-OAR] Acid Rain Program: Notice of Annual Adjustment... annual adjustment factors for excess emissions penalty. SUMMARY: The Acid Rain Program under title IV of... emissions for sources that do not meet their annual Acid Rain emissions limitations. This notice states the...

  6. TRMM-observed summer warm rain over the tropical and subtropical Pacific Ocean: Characteristics and regional differences

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qin, Fang; Fu, Yunfei

    2016-06-01

    Based on the merged measurements from the TRMM Precipitation Radar and Visible and Infrared Scanner, refined characteristics (intensity, frequency, vertical structure, and diurnal variation) and regional differences of the warm rain over the tropical and subtropical Pacific Ocean (40ffiS-40ffiN, 120ffiE-70ffiW) in boreal summer are investigated for the period 1998-2012. The results reveal that three warm rain types (phased, pure, and mixed) exist over these regions. The phased warm rain, which occurs during the developing or declining stage of precipitation weather systems, is located over the central to western Intertropical Convergence Zone, South Pacific Convergence Zone, and Northwest Pacific. Its occurrence frequency peaks at midnight and minimizes during daytime with a 5.5-km maximum echo top. The frequency of this warm rain type is about 2.2%, and it contributes to 40% of the regional total rainfall. The pure warm rain is characterized by typical stable precipitation with an echo top lower than 4 km, and mostly occurs in Southeast Pacific. Although its frequency is less than 1.3%, this type of warm rain accounts for 95% of the regional total rainfall. Its occurrence peaks before dawn and it usually disappears in the afternoon. For the mixed warm rain, some may develop into deep convective precipitation, while most are similar to those of the pure type. The mixed warm rain is mainly located over the ocean east of Hawaii. Its frequency is 1.2%, but this type of warm rain could contribute to 80% of the regional total rainfall. The results also uncover that the mixed and pure types occur over the regions where SST ranges from 295 to 299 K, accompanied by relatively strong downdrafts at 500 hPa. Both the mixed and pure warm rains happen in a more unstable atmosphere, compared with the phased warm rain.

  7. Household response to environmental incentives for rain garden adoption

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Newburn, David A.; Alberini, Anna

    2016-02-01

    A decentralized approach to encourage the voluntary adoption of household stormwater management practices is increasingly needed to mitigate urban runoff and to comply with more stringent water quality regulations. We analyze the household response to a hypothetical rebate program to incentivize rain garden adoption using household survey data from the Baltimore-Washington corridor. We asked respondents whether the household would adopt a rain garden without a rebate or when offered a randomly assigned rebate. An interval-data model is used to estimate household demand on the willingness to pay (WTP) for a rain garden as a function of demographic factors, gardening activities, environmental attitudes, and other household characteristics. Estimation results indicate that mean WTP for a rain garden in our sample population is approximately $6.72 per square foot, corresponding to almost three-fourths of the installation cost. The expected adoption rate more than tripled when comparing no rebate versus a government rebate set at one-third of the installation cost, indicating that economic incentives matter. There is substantial heterogeneity in the WTP among households. Higher levels of WTP are estimated for households with higher environmental concern for the Chesapeake Bay and local streams, garden experience, higher income, and non-senior citizen adults. We conclude that a cost-share rebate approach is likely to significantly affect household adoption decisions, and the partial contributions paid by households can assist with lowering the substantial compliance costs for local governments to meet water quality requirements.

  8. Impacts of heavy rain and typhoon on allergic disease.

    PubMed

    Park, Kwan Jun; Moon, Jong Youn; Ha, Jong Sik; Kim, Sun Duk; Pyun, Bok Yang; Min, Taek Ki; Park, Yoon Hyung

    2013-06-01

    Allergic disease may be increased by climate change. Recent reports have shown that typhoon and heavy rain increase allergic disease locally by concentration of airborne allergens of pollen, ozone, and fungus, which are causes of allergic disease. The objective of this study was to determine whether typhoon and heavy rain increase allergic disease in Korea. This study included allergic disease patients of the area declared as a special disaster zone due to storms and heavy rains from 2003 to 2009. The study used information from the Korea Meteorological Administration, and from the National Health Insurance Service for allergic diseases (asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis). During a storm period, the numbers of allergy rhinitis and atopic dermatitis outpatients increased [rate ratio (RR) = 1.191; range, 1.150-1.232] on the sixth lag day. However, the number of asthma outpatients decreased (RR = 0.900; range, 0.862-0.937) on the sixth lag day after a disaster period. During a storm period, the numbers of allergic rhinitis outpatients (RR = 1.075; range, 1.018-1.132) and atopy outpatients increased (RR = 1.134; range, 1.113-1.155) on the seventh lag day. However, the number of asthma outpatients decreased to RR value of 0.968 (range, 0.902-1.035) on the fifth lag day. This study suggests that typhoon and heavy rain increase allergic disease apart from asthma. More study is needed to explain the decrease in asthma.

  9. The depth-dependence of rain noise in the Philippine Sea.

    PubMed

    Barclay, David R; Buckingham, Michael J

    2013-05-01

    During the Philippine Sea experiment in May 2009, Deep Sound, a free-falling instrument platform, descended to a depth of 5.1 km and then returned to the surface. Two vertically aligned hydrophones monitored the ambient noise continuously throughout the descent and ascent. A heavy rainstorm passed over the area during the deployment, the noise from which was recorded over a frequency band from 5 Hz to 40 kHz. Eight kilometers from the deployment site, a rain gauge on board the R/V Kilo Moana provided estimates of the rainfall rate. The power spectral density of the rain noise shows two peaks around 5 and 30 kHz, elevated by as much as 20 dB above the background level, even at depths as great as 5 km. Periods of high noise intensity in the acoustic data correlate well with the rainfall rates recovered from the rain gauge. The vertical coherence function of the rain noise has well-defined zeros between 1 and 20 kHz, which are characteristic of a localized source on the sea surface. A curve-fitting procedure yields the vertical directional density function of the noise, which is sharply peaked, accurately tracking the storm as it passed over the sensor station.

  10. Acid Rain: A Selective Bibliography. Second Edition. Bibliography Series Twenty-One.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Neill, Gertrudis, Comp.

    Acid rain is a term for rain, snow, or other precipitation produced from water vapor in the air reacting with emissions from automobiles, factories, power plants, and other oil and coal burning sources. When these chemical compounds, composed of sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide, react with water vapor, the result is sulfuric acid and nitric acid.…

  11. Cool Space Bags Filled With Funny Voice Air Studying Space Rain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Halford, A. J.; MacDonald, E.

    2016-12-01

    Today I will tell you a bit about our work: big bags of funny voice air looking at space rain into the top of the sky, where there's not much sky left. So what makes stuff, both hot and cold tiny stuff, and I mean tiny tiny things, like really tiny things, fall into the top of the sky? Many different things. Some of these things are really really long waves, long waves, short waves that make angry cat noises, and short waves that sound like animals that fly in the morning along with other things. But how do we study this? We use big bags filled with funny voice air to fly near the top of the sky. When the tiny things that can't be seen rain into the top of the sky they make lights that can not be seen by eye, some move fast like the tiny things and many move slower. Our big bags of funny voice air carry computers and things that can see this light that can not be seen by eye. We use this not seen light to tell us what stuff fell into the top of the sky. Some waves will push the slower tiny stuff and some waves will push the faster tiny stuff. By looking at the number of slow and fast stuff we can help find out what pushed it. With our friends, computers who fly in space, we can see the different waves in space and see if it was where the tiny things rained into the top of the sky. Why do we study this? These tiny things can hurt our friends in space, both the computers as well as people in space and here in the world. We want to be able to know when this space rain will happen. But in order to know when these tiny tiny things will fall into the sky we have to first learn how to best look at and study them. Then we will know how often they rain down, where this space rain happens, and how large of an area this space rain falls in.

  12. Evaluating a slope-stability model for shallow rain-induced landslides using gage and satellite data

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Yatheendradas, S.; Kirschbaum, D.; Baum, Rex L.; Godt, Jonathan W.

    2014-01-01

    Improving prediction of landslide early warning systems requires accurate estimation of the conditions that trigger slope failures. This study tested a slope-stability model for shallow rainfall-induced landslides by utilizing rainfall information from gauge and satellite records. We used the TRIGRS model (Transient Rainfall Infiltration and Grid-based Regional Slope-stability analysis) for simulating the evolution of the factor of safety due to rainfall infiltration. Using a spatial subset of a well-characterized digital landscape from an earlier study, we considered shallow failure on a slope adjoining an urban transportation roadway near the Seattle area in Washington, USA.We ran the TRIGRS model using high-quality rain gage and satellite-based rainfall data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). Preliminary results with parameterized soil depth values suggest that the steeper slope values in this spatial domain have factor of safety values that are extremely close to the failure limit within an extremely narrow range of values, providing multiple false alarms. When the soil depths were constrained using a back analysis procedure to ensure that slopes were stable under initial condtions, the model accurately predicted the timing and location of the landslide observation without false alarms over time for gage rain data. The TRMM satellite rainfall data did not show adequately retreived rainfall peak magnitudes and accumulation over the study period, and as a result failed to predict the landslide event. These preliminary results indicate that more accurate and higher-resolution rain data (e.g., the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission) are required to provide accurate and reliable landslide predictions in ungaged basins.

  13. Midweek Increase in U.S. Summer Rain and Storm Heights, Suggests Air Pollution Invigorates Rainstorms

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bell, Thomas L.; Rosenfeld, Daniel; Kim, Kyu-Myong; Yoo, Jung-Moon; Hahnenberger, Maura

    2007-01-01

    Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite data show a significant midweek increase in summertime rainfall over the southeast U.S., due to afternoon intensification. TRMM radar data show a significant midweek increase in rain area and in the heights reached by afternoon storms. Weekly variations in model-reanalysis wind patterns over the region and in rain-gauge data are consistent with the satellite data. A midweek decrease of rainfall over the nearby Atlantic is also seen. EPA measurements of particulate concentrations show a midweek peak over much of the U.S. These observations are consistent with the theory that anthropogenic air pollution suppresses cloud-drop coalescence and early rainout during the growth of thunderstorms over land, allowing more water to be carried above the 0 C isotherm, where freezing yields additional latent heat, invigorating the storms--most dramatically evidenced by the shift in the midweek distribution of afternoon-storm heights--and producing large ice hydrometeors. The enhanced convection induces regional convergence, uplifting and an overall increase of rainfall. Compensating downward air motion suppresses convection over the adjacent ocean areas. Pre-TRMM-era data suggest that the weekly cycle only became strong enough to be detectable beginning in the 1980's. Rain-gauge data also suggest that a weekly cycle may have been detectable in the 1940's, but with peak rainfall on Sunday or Monday, possibly explained by the difference in composition of aerosol pollution at that time. This "weekend effect" may thus offer climate researchers an opportunity to study the regional climate-scale impact of aerosols on storm development and monsoon-like circulation.

  14. Haloacetates in fog and rain.

    PubMed

    Römpp, A; Klemm, O; Fricke, W; Frank, H

    2001-04-01

    Atmospheric haloacetates can arise from photochemical degradation of halogenated hydrocarbons and from direct anthropogenic emissions. Furthermore, there is also evidence of natural sources although these are quantitatively uncertain. As haloacetates are highly soluble in water, hydrometeors are most significant for their deposition. Fogwater (96 samples) and rainwater samples (over 100 samples) were collected from July 1998 to March 1999 at an ecological research site in northeastern Bavaria, Germany. They were analyzed for monofluoroacetate (MFA), difluoroacetate (DFA), trifluoroacetate (TFA), monochloroacetate (MCA), dichloroacetate (DCA), trichloroacetate (TCA), monobromoacetate (MBA), and dibromoacetate (DBA). The major inorganic ions were also determined. High concentrations of up to 11 microg/L MCA, 5 microg/L DCA, 2 microg/L TCA, and 2 microg/L TFA were found in fogwater associated with westerly winds. Backward trajectories were calculated to determine the origin of the air masses. MBA and DBA have highest concentrations in fogwater advected with air originating from the Atlantic, suggesting the marine origin of these two compounds. All analyzed substances show higher average concentrations in fog than in rain. Estimates of the deposition of haloacetates suggest that the contribution of fog may be more important than rain for the total burden of a forest ecosystem.

  15. STATE ACID RAIN RESEARCH AND SCREENING SYSTEM - VERSION 1.0 USER'S MANUAL

    EPA Science Inventory

    The report is a user's manual that describes Version 1.0 of EPA's STate Acid Rain Research and Screening System (STARRSS), developed to assist utility regulatory commissions in reviewing utility acid rain compliance plans. It is a screening tool that is based on scenario analysis...

  16. A Stochastic Fractional Dynamics Model of Space-time Variability of Rain

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kundu, Prasun K.; Travis, James E.

    2013-01-01

    Rainfall varies in space and time in a highly irregular manner and is described naturally in terms of a stochastic process. A characteristic feature of rainfall statistics is that they depend strongly on the space-time scales over which rain data are averaged. A spectral model of precipitation has been developed based on a stochastic differential equation of fractional order for the point rain rate, that allows a concise description of the second moment statistics of rain at any prescribed space-time averaging scale. The model is thus capable of providing a unified description of the statistics of both radar and rain gauge data. The underlying dynamical equation can be expressed in terms of space-time derivatives of fractional orders that are adjusted together with other model parameters to fit the data. The form of the resulting spectrum gives the model adequate flexibility to capture the subtle interplay between the spatial and temporal scales of variability of rain but strongly constrains the predicted statistical behavior as a function of the averaging length and times scales. We test the model with radar and gauge data collected contemporaneously at the NASA TRMM ground validation sites located near Melbourne, Florida and in Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands in the tropical Pacific. We estimate the parameters by tuning them to the second moment statistics of radar data. The model predictions are then found to fit the second moment statistics of the gauge data reasonably well without any further adjustment.

  17. Rain influences the physiological and metabolic responses to exercise in hot conditions.

    PubMed

    Ito, Ryo; Yamashita, Naoyuki; Suzuki, Eiko; Matsumoto, Takaaki

    2015-01-01

    Outdoor exercise often proceeds in rainy conditions. However, the cooling effects of rain on human physiological responses have not been systematically studied in hot conditions. The present study determined physiological and metabolic responses using a climatic chamber that can precisely simulate hot, rainy conditions. Eleven healthy men ran on a treadmill at an intensity of 70% VO2max for 30 min in the climatic chamber at an ambient temperature of 33°C in the presence (RAIN) or absence (CON) of 30 mm · h(-1) of precipitation and a headwind equal to the running velocity of 3.15 ± 0.19 m · s(-1). Oesophageal temperature, mean skin temperature, heart rate, rating of perceived exertion, blood parameters, volume of expired air and sweat loss were measured. Oesophageal and mean skin temperatures were significantly lower from 5 to 30 min, and heart rate was significantly lower from 20 to 30 min in RAIN than in CON (P < 0.05 for all). Plasma lactate and epinephrine concentrations (30 min) and sweat loss were significantly lower (P < 0.05) in RAIN compared with CON. Rain appears to influence physiological and metabolic responses to exercise in heat such that heat-induced strain might be reduced.

  18. [Effects of simulated acid rain on Quercus glauca seedlings photosynthesis and chlorophyll fluorescence].

    PubMed

    Li, Jia; Jiang, Hong; Yu, Shu-quan; Jiang, Fu-wei; Yin, Xiu-min; Lu, Mei-juan

    2009-09-01

    Taking the seedlings of Quercus glauca, a dominant evergreen broadleaf tree species in subtropical area, as test materials, this paper studied their photosynthesis, chlorophyll fluorescence, and chlorophyll content under effects of simulated acid rain with pH 2.5, 4.0, and 5.6 (CK). After 2-year acid rain stress, the net photosynthetic rate of Q. glauca increased significantly with decreasing pH of acid rain. The acid rain with pH 2.5 and 4.0 increased the stomatal conductance and transpiration rate, and the effect was more significant under pH 2.5. The intercellular CO2 concentration decreased in the order of pH 2.5 > pH 5.6 > pH 4.0. The maximum photosynthetic rate, light compensation point, light saturation point, and dark respiration rate were significantly higher under pH 2.5 and 4.0 than under pH 5.6, while the apparent quantum yield was not sensitive to acid rain stress. The maximal photochemical efficiency of PS II and the potential activity of PS II under pH 2.5 and 4.0 were significantly higher than those under pH 5.6. The relative chlorophyll content was in the order of pH 2.5 > pH 5.6 > pH 4.0, and there was a significant difference between pH 2.5 and 4.0. All the results suggested that the photosynthesis and chlorophyll fluorescence of Q. glauca increased under the effects of acid rain with pH 2.5 and 4.0, and the acid rain with pH 2.5 had more obvious effects.

  19. Methods for measuring bird-mediated seed rain: Insights from a Hawaiian mesic forest

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Rose, Eli; Stewart, Meredith; Brinkman, Andrew; Paxton, Eben H.; Yelenik, Stephanie G.

    2017-01-01

    Amount and diversity of bird-dispersed seed rain play important roles in determining forest composition, yet neither is easy to quantify. The complex ecological processes that influence seed movement make the best approach highly context specific. Although recent advances in seed rain theory emphasize quantifying source-specific seed shadows, many ecological questions can be addressed u sing a less mechanistic approach that requires fewer assumptions. Using seed rain rates from 0.38 m2 hoop traps sampled twice monthly over the course of a year, we show that number of traps required to identify changes in seed rain varies across seed species and forest type. Detecting a 50% increase in amount of seed rain required from 65 to >300 traps, while detecting a 200% increase generally required ≤⃒50 traps. Trap size and ecological context dictate the number of seeds found in each trap, but the coefficient of variation (CV) across traps in a given ecological context can help inform future studies about number of traps needed to detect change. To better understand factors influencing variation around estimates of seed rain, we simulated both clustered and evenly distributed patterns of fecal deposition using three different levels of seed aggregation (number of seeds in each fecal deposit). When patterns of fecal deposition were clustered, rather than evenly dispersed across the study area, they required >1.5 times the number of traps to identify a 100% increase in seed rain. Similarly, we found that low seed aggregation required >1.5 times the number of traps to detect a 100% change than when aggregation was medium or high. At low aggregations, fewer seed rain traps contained seeds (low, 33 ± 5%; medium, 23 ± 4%; high, 24 ± 5%), resulting in more variation across traps than medium and high aggregations. We also illustrate the importance of training observers to discern between morphologically similar seeds from different species and provide resources to help identify

  20. 77 FR 39404 - Safety Zone; Wicomico Community Fireworks Rain Date, Great Wicomico River, Mila, VA

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-07-03

    ...-AA00 Safety Zone; Wicomico Community Fireworks Rain Date, Great Wicomico River, Mila, VA AGENCY: Coast... zone on the Great Wicomico River in the vicinity of Mila, VA in support of the Wicomico Community Rain... as follows: Sec. 165.T05-0425 Safety Zone; Wicomico Community Fireworks Rain Date, Great Wicomico...

  1. Response of plasma membrane H+-ATPase in rice (Oryza sativa) seedlings to simulated acid rain.

    PubMed

    Liang, Chanjuan; Ge, Yuqing; Su, Lei; Bu, Jinjin

    2015-01-01

    Understanding the adaptation of plants to acid rain is important to find feasible approaches to alleviate such damage to plants. We studied effects of acid rain on plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase activity and transcription, intracellular H(+), membrane permeability, photosynthetic efficiency, and relative growth rate during stress and recovery periods. Simulated acid rain at pH 5.5 did not affect plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase activity, intracellular H(+), membrane permeability, photosynthetic efficiency, and relative growth rate. Plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase activity and transcription in leaves treated with acid rain at pH 3.5 was increased to maintain ion homeostasis by transporting excessive H(+) out of cells. Then intracellular H(+) was close to the control after a 5-day recovery, alleviating damage on membrane and sustaining photosynthetic efficiency and growth. Simulated acid rain at pH 2.5 inhibited plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase activity by decreasing the expression of H(+)-ATPase at transcription level, resulting in membrane damage and abnormal intracellular H(+), and reduction in photosynthetic efficiency and relative growth rate. After a 5-day recovery, all parameters in leaves treated with pH 2.5 acid rain show alleviated damage, implying that the increased plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase activity and its high expression were involved in repairing process in acid rain-stressed plants. Our study suggests that plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase can play a role in adaptation to acid rain for rice seedlings.

  2. Effects of simulated acid rain on soil fauna community composition and their ecological niches.

    PubMed

    Wei, Hui; Liu, Wen; Zhang, Jiaen; Qin, Zhong

    2017-01-01

    Acid rain is one of the severest environmental issues globally. Relative to other global changes (e.g., warming, elevated atmospheric [CO 2 ], and nitrogen deposition), however, acid rain has received less attention than its due. Soil fauna play important roles in multiple ecological processes, but how soil fauna community responds to acid rain remains less studied. This microcosm experiment was conducted using latosol with simulated acid rain (SAR) manipulations to observe potential changes in soil fauna community under acid rain stress. Four pH levels, i.e., pH 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, and 5.5, and a neutral control of pH 7.0 were set according to the current pH condition and acidification trend of precipitation in southern China. As expected, we observed that the SAR treatments induced changes in soil fauna community composition and their ecological niches in the tested soil; the treatment effects tended to increase as acidity increased. This could be attributable to the environmental stresses (such as acidity, porosity and oxygen supply) induced by the SAR treatments. In addition to direct acidity effect, we propose that potential changes in permeability and movability of water and oxygen in soils induced by acid rain could also give rise to the observed shifts in soil fauna community composition. These are most likely indirect pathways of acid rain to affect belowground community. Moreover, we found that nematodes, the dominating soil fauna group in this study, moved downwards to mitigate the stress of acid rain. This is probably detrimental to soil fauna in the long term, due to the relatively severer soil conditions in the deep than surface soil layer. Our results suggest that acid rain could change soil fauna community and the vertical distribution of soil fauna groups, consequently changing the underground ecosystem functions such as organic matter decomposition and greenhouse gas emissions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. TRMM Applications for Rainfall-Induced Landslide Early Warning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dok, A.; Fukuoka, H.; Hong, Y.

    2012-04-01

    Early warning system (EWS) is the most effective method in saving lives and reducing property damages resulted from the catastrophic landslides if properly implemented in populated areas of landslide-prone nations. For predicting the occurrence of landslides, it requires examination of empirical relationship between rainfall characteristics and past landslide occurrence. In developed countries like Japan and the US, precipitation is monitored by rain radars and ground-based rain gauge matrix. However, in developing regions like Southeast Asian countries, very limited number of rain gauges is available, and there is no implemented methodology for issuing effective warming of landslides yet. Correspondingly, satellite precipitation monitoring could be therefore a possible and promising solution for launching landslide quasi-real-time early warning system in those countries. It is due to the fact that TMPA (TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis) can provides a globally calibration-based sequential scheme for combining precipitation estimates from multiple satellites, and gauge analyses where feasible, at fine scales (3-hourly with 0.25°x0.25° spatial resolution). It is available both after and in quasi-real time, calibrated by TRMM Combined Instrument and TRMM Microwave Imager precipitation product. However, validation of ground based rain gauge and TRMM satellite data in the vulnerable regions is still not yet operative. Snake-line/Critical-line and Soil Water Index (SWI) are used for issuing warning of landslide occurrence in Japan; whereas, Caine criterion is preferable in Europe and western nations. Herewith, it presents rainfall behavior which took place in Beichuan city (located on the 2008 Chinese Wenchuan earthquake fault), Hofu and Shobara cities in Japan where localized heavy rainfall attacked in 2009 and 2010, respectively, from TRMM 3B42RT correlated with ground based rain gauge data. The 1-day rainfall intensity and 15-day cumulative rainfall

  4. The future of emissions trading in light of the acid rain experience

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    McLean, B.J.; Rico, R.

    1995-12-31

    The idea of emissions trading was developed more than two decades ago by environmental economists eager to provide new ideas for how to improve the efficiency of environmental protection. However, early emissions trading efforts were built on the historical {open_quotes}command and control{close_quotes} infrastructure which has dominated U.S. environmental protection until today. The {open_quotes}command and control{close_quotes} model initially had advantages that were of a very pragmatic character: it assured large pollution reductions in a time when large, cheap reductions were available and necessary; and it did not require a sophisticated government infrastructure. Within the last five years, large-scale emission trading programsmore » have been successfully designed and started that are fundamentally different from the earlier efforts, creating a new paradigm for environmental control just when our understanding of environmental problems is changing as well. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the largest national-scale program--the Acid Rain Program--and from that experience, forecast when emission trading programs may be headed based on our understanding of the factors currently influencing environmental management. The first section of this paper will briefly review the history of emissions trading programs, followed by a summary of the features of the Acid Rain Program, highlighting those features that distinguish it from previous efforts. The last section addresses the opportunities for emissions trading (and its probable future directions).« less

  5. Non-linear direct effects of acid rain on leaf photosynthetic rate of terrestrial plants.

    PubMed

    Dong, Dan; Du, Enzai; Sun, Zhengzhong; Zeng, Xuetong; de Vries, Wim

    2017-12-01

    Anthropogenic emissions of acid precursors have enhanced global occurrence of acid rain, especially in East Asia. Acid rain directly suppresses leaf function by eroding surface waxes and cuticle and leaching base cations from mesophyll cells, while the simultaneous foliar uptake of nitrates in rainwater may directly benefit leaf photosynthesis and plant growth, suggesting a non-linear direct effect of acid rain. By synthesizing data from literature on acid rain exposure experiments, we assessed the direct effects of acid rain on leaf photosynthesis across 49 terrestrial plants in China. Our results show a non-linear direct effect of acid rain on leaf photosynthetic rate, including a neutral to positive effect above pH 5.0 and a negative effect below that pH level. The acid rain sensitivity of leaf photosynthesis showed no significant difference between herbs and woody species below pH 5.0, but the impacts above that pH level were strongly different, resulting in a significant increase in leaf photosynthetic rate of woody species and an insignificant effect on herbs. Our analysis also indicates a positive effect of the molar ratio of nitric versus sulfuric acid in the acid solution on leaf photosynthetic rate. These findings imply that rainwater acidity and the composition of acids both affect the response of leaf photosynthesis and therefore result in a non-linear direct effect. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Measurements of rain effects on an 18-GHz dual-polarized propagation link

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bostian, C. W.; Stutzman, W. L.; Wiley, P. H.; Marshall, R. E.

    1976-01-01

    The paper presents highlights of rain attenuation and depolarization data collected between August 1972 and March 1974 in an experimental setup consisting of a 1.43-km line-of-sight path with 1.22-m diam dual-polarized parabolic reflector antennas at each end. The antennas used question-mark mounted scalar feeds oriented to transmit or receive linearly polarized 17.65-GHz signals having electric field vectors at +45 deg and -45 deg from the vertical. Rain data were collected and analyzed for 24 individual storms in which the rain rate exceeded 10 mm/hr. Received signal levels were sampled once each second and stored by a small digital computer which controlled the experiment and performed preliminary data processing. The results are compared with a theoretical model presented by Wiley et al. (1974). Experimental cross-polarization isolation data are found to agree well with theoretical values, especially at high rain rates where the antenna effects are the least significant.

  7. When listening to rain sounds boosts arithmetic ability

    PubMed Central

    De Benedetto, Francesco; Ferrari, Maria Vittoria; Ferrarini, Giorgia

    2018-01-01

    Studies in the literature have provided conflicting evidence about the effects of background noise or music on concurrent cognitive tasks. Some studies have shown a detrimental effect, while others have shown a beneficial effect of background auditory stimuli. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of agitating, happy or touching music, as opposed to environmental sounds or silence, on the ability of non-musician subjects to perform arithmetic operations. Fifty university students (25 women and 25 men, 25 introverts and 25 extroverts) volunteered for the study. The participants were administered 180 easy or difficult arithmetic operations (division, multiplication, subtraction and addition) while listening to heavy rain sounds, silence or classical music. Silence was detrimental when participants were faced with difficult arithmetic operations, as it was associated with significantly worse accuracy and slower RTs than music or rain sound conditions. This finding suggests that the benefit of background stimulation was not music-specific but possibly due to an enhanced cerebral alertness level induced by the auditory stimulation. Introverts were always faster than extroverts in solving mathematical problems, except when the latter performed calculations accompanied by the sound of heavy rain, a condition that made them as fast as introverts. While the background auditory stimuli had no effect on the arithmetic ability of either group in the easy condition, it strongly affected extroverts in the difficult condition, with RTs being faster during agitating or joyful music as well as rain sounds, compared to the silent condition. For introverts, agitating music was associated with faster response times than the silent condition. This group difference may be explained on the basis of the notion that introverts have a generally higher arousal level compared to extroverts and would therefore benefit less from the background auditory stimuli. PMID:29466472

  8. When listening to rain sounds boosts arithmetic ability.

    PubMed

    Proverbio, Alice Mado; De Benedetto, Francesco; Ferrari, Maria Vittoria; Ferrarini, Giorgia

    2018-01-01

    Studies in the literature have provided conflicting evidence about the effects of background noise or music on concurrent cognitive tasks. Some studies have shown a detrimental effect, while others have shown a beneficial effect of background auditory stimuli. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of agitating, happy or touching music, as opposed to environmental sounds or silence, on the ability of non-musician subjects to perform arithmetic operations. Fifty university students (25 women and 25 men, 25 introverts and 25 extroverts) volunteered for the study. The participants were administered 180 easy or difficult arithmetic operations (division, multiplication, subtraction and addition) while listening to heavy rain sounds, silence or classical music. Silence was detrimental when participants were faced with difficult arithmetic operations, as it was associated with significantly worse accuracy and slower RTs than music or rain sound conditions. This finding suggests that the benefit of background stimulation was not music-specific but possibly due to an enhanced cerebral alertness level induced by the auditory stimulation. Introverts were always faster than extroverts in solving mathematical problems, except when the latter performed calculations accompanied by the sound of heavy rain, a condition that made them as fast as introverts. While the background auditory stimuli had no effect on the arithmetic ability of either group in the easy condition, it strongly affected extroverts in the difficult condition, with RTs being faster during agitating or joyful music as well as rain sounds, compared to the silent condition. For introverts, agitating music was associated with faster response times than the silent condition. This group difference may be explained on the basis of the notion that introverts have a generally higher arousal level compared to extroverts and would therefore benefit less from the background auditory stimuli.

  9. Aerosol Fluxes over Amazon Rain Forest Measured with the Eddy Covariance Method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ahlm, L.; Nilsson, E. D.; Krejci, R.; Mårtensson, E. M.; Vogt, M.; Artaxo, P.

    2008-12-01

    We present measurements of vertical aerosol fluxes over the Amazon carried out on top of K34, a 50 meter high tower in the Cuieiras Reserve about 50 km north of Manaus in northern Brazil. The turbulent fluxes were measured with the eddy covariance method. The covariance of vertical wind speed from a sonic anemometer Gill Windmaster and total aerosol number concentration from a condensation particle counter (CPC) TSI 3010 provided the total number flux (diameter >0.01 μm). The covariance of vertical wind speed and size resolved number concentrations from an optical particle counter (OPC) Grimm 1.109 provided size resolved number fluxes in 15 bins from 0.25 μm to 2.5 μm diameter. Additionally fluxes of CO2 and H2O were derived from Li-7500 observations. The observational period, from early March to early August, includes both wet and dry season. OPC fluxes generally show net aerosol deposition both during wet and dry season with the largest downward fluxes during midday. CPC fluxes show different patterns in wet and dry season. During dry season, when number concentrations are higher, downward fluxes clearly dominate. In the wet season however, when number concentrations are lower, our data indicates that upward and downward fluxes are quite evenly distributed during course of a day. On average there is a peak in upward flux during late morning and another peak during the afternoon. Since the OPC fluxes in the same time show net deposition, there is an indication of net source of primary aerosol particles with diameters between 10 and 250 nm emitted from the rain forest. Future data analysis will hopefully shed light on origin and formation mechanism of these particles and thus provide a deeper insight in the rain forest - atmosphere interactions. The aerosol flux measurements were carried out as a part of the AMAZE project in collaboration with University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and financial support was provided by Swedish International Development Cooperation

  10. Reproduction and health of mallards fed endrin

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Spann, J.W.; Heinz, G.H.; Hulse, C.S.

    1986-01-01

    Concentrations of 0, 1 and 3 ppm endrin in dry duck mash were fed to mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) starting in December, and health and reproduction were measured the following spring and summer. One male fed 3 ppm endrin died with 2.0 ppm endrin (wet weight), a diagnostically lethal level, in its brain. Birds fed 1 ppm endrin reproduced as well as, if not better than, controls. Birds fed 1 ppm endrin had significantly greater hatching success of fertile eggs than did those fed 0 or 3 ppm, and their clutches hatched significantly earlier than did those of birds fed 3 ppm. Mallards fed 3 ppm endrin appeared to reproduce more poorly than controls, but this finding must be regarded with caution because the results of statistical tests often were not significant. Endrin accumulated in eggs to a mean of 1.1 and 2.9 ppm (wet weight) when fed to hens at 1 and 3 ppm. The concentration of endrin in the cacasses of adults was similar to that in eggs, but the concentration in the fat of adults was about 4 to 7 times higher than in eggs.

  11. Microbial ice nucleators are scavenged from the atmosphere during artificial rain events

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hanlon, Regina; Powers, Craig; Failor, Kevin; Vinatzer, Boris; Schmale, David

    2016-04-01

    Some microorganisms associated with rain may catalyze the nucleation of ice crystals at significantly warmer temperatures than would normally be required for ice formation, suggesting that they may play an important role in the onset of precipitation. Rain samples collected near the surface of the earth contain an array of microbial ice nucleators, but the little is known about their source(s) and life history. We conducted a series of field experiments to test the hypothesis that microbial ice nucleators are scavenged from the atmosphere by rainfall. Thirty three artificial rain events were conducted over four months (Nov 2014, Dec 2014, April 2015, and June 2015) off the side of the Smart Road Bridge in Blacksburg, VA, USA. In each event, sterile water was dispensed over the side of the bridge and recovered in sterile containers following gravitational settling from the bridge to an open fallow agricultural field below (a distance of ~55m). Microbes scavenged from the artificial rain events were cultured on six different types of agar media (R2A, TSA, CA; +/-cycloheximide), and the ice nucleation activity was examined for colonies cultured from the different media types. Mean CFUs scavenged by artificial rain ranged from 2 to 267 CFUs/mL. Microbial ice nucleators were cultured from 94% (31/33) of the simulated rain events, and represented 1.4% (121/8871) of the total number of colonies assayed. This percentage is similar to the percentage of culturable microbial ice nucleators occurring in about half of the natural rain events studied in Blacksburg, VA. Sequence-assisted identification of the repeatable microbial ice nucleators that were scavenged from the atmosphere showed a number of unique prokaryotic and eukaryotic taxa. This work expands our knowledge of the scavenging properties of rainfall, and suggests that at least some ice nucleators in natural precipitation events may have been scrubbed from the atmosphere during rainfall, and thus are not likely to be

  12. Airborne radar and radiometer experiment for quantitative remote measurements of rain

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kozu, Toshiaki; Meneghini, Robert; Boncyk, Wayne; Wilheit, Thomas T.; Nakamura, Kenji

    1989-01-01

    An aircraft experiment has been conducted with a dual-frequency (10 GHz and 35 GHz) radar/radiometer system and an 18-GHz radiometer to test various rain-rate retrieval algorithms from space. In the experiment, which took place in the fall of 1988 at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, VA, both stratiform and convective storms were observed. A ground-based radar and rain gauges were also used to obtain truth data. An external radar calibration is made with rain gauge data, thereby enabling quantitative reflectivity measurements. Comparisons between path attenuations derived from the surface return and from the radar reflectivity profile are made to test the feasibility of a technique to estimate the raindrop size distribution from simultaneous radar and path-attenuation measurements.

  13. Comparison of Imerg Half Hourly Final GPM data with Rain Gauge for Riyadh City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tekeli, E.; Dönmez, S.

    2016-12-01

    Being launched in 1997 with the main goal of measuring moderate to heavy rainfall, TRMM enabled invaluable service to remote sensing and hydrology community with data more than 17 years. Based on TRMM experience, GPM was launched in 2014. GPM with increased radar sensitivity and higher spatial resolutions, is expected to enable better light rain and snowfall detection. In here, light rainfall detection capacity of IMERG Half hourly final GPM (IFHH) product is investigated for Riyadh City in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A tipping bucket rain gauge located on the roof of King Saud University Civil Engineering Department provided rainfall measurements in 10 minute intervals from 22 November 2014 till 11 Jun 2015. Obtained rain gauge data indicated 72 light rain (rain rate [rr] ≤2.5mm/h) 5 medium rain (2.5mm/hPreliminary results indicate that IFHH overestimate most of the light rain. For the medium and heavy rain rates, IFHH showed under estimations. As one of the major goals of GPM is accurate light rain detection, similar studies should be continued and databases should be formed.

  14. Investigation of bacterial diversity in the feces of cattle fed different diets.

    PubMed

    Kim, M; Kim, J; Kuehn, L A; Bono, J L; Berry, E D; Kalchayanand, N; Freetly, H C; Benson, A K; Wells, J E

    2014-02-01

    The objective of this study is to investigate individual animal variation of bovine fecal microbiota including as affected by diets. Fecal samples were collected from 426 cattle fed 1 of 3 diets typically fed to feedlot cattle: 1) 143 steers fed finishing diet (83% dry-rolled corn, 13% corn silage, and 4% supplement), 2) 147 steers fed late growing diet (66% dry-rolled corn, 26% corn silage, and 8% supplement), and 3) 136 heifers fed early growing diet (70% corn silage and 30% alfalfa haylage). Bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicons were determined from individual fecal samples using next-generation pyrosequencing technology. A total of 2,149,008 16S rRNA gene sequences from 333 cattle with at least 2,000 sequences were analyzed. Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were dominant phyla in all fecal samples. At the genus level, Oscillibacter, Turicibacter, Roseburia, Fecalibacterium, Coprococcus, Clostridium, Prevotella, and Succinivibrio were represented by more than 1% of total sequences. However, numerous sequences could not be assigned to a known genus. Dominant unclassified groups were unclassified Ruminococcaceae and unclassified Lachnospiraceae that could be classified to a family but not to a genus. These dominant genera and unclassified groups differed (P < 0.001) with diets. A total of 176,692 operational taxonomic units (OTU) were identified in combination across all the 333 cattle. Only 2,359 OTU were shared across 3 diet groups. UniFrac analysis showed that bacterial communities in cattle feces were greatly affected by dietary differences. This study indicates that the community structure of fecal microbiota in cattle is greatly affected by diet, particularly between forage- and concentrate-based diets.

  15. Acid Rain. Teacher's Guide. LHS GEMS.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hocking, Colin; Barber, Jacqueline; Coonrod, Jan

    This teacher's guide presents a unit on acid rain and introduces hands-on activities for sixth through eighth grade students. In each unit, students act as real scientists and gather evidence by using science process skills such as observing, measuring and recording data, classifying, role playing, problem solving, critical thinking, synthesizing…

  16. Path attenuation statistics influenced by orientation of rain cells

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Goldhirsh, J.

    1976-01-01

    The influence of path azimuth on fade and space diversity statistics associated with propagation along earth-satellite paths at a frequency of 18 GHz is examined. A radar rain reflectivity data base obtained during the summer of 1973 is injected into a modeling program and the attenuation along parallel earth-satellite paths are obtained for a conglomeration of azimuths. Statistics are separated into two groupings: one pertaining to earth-satellite paths oriented in the northwest-southeast and the other in the northeast-southwest quadrants using a fixed elevation angle of 45 deg. The latter case shows fading to be greater with a degraded space diversity suggesting rain cells to be elongated along this direction. Cell dimensions are analyzed for both sets of quadrants and are found to have average values larger by 2 km in the northeast-southwest quadrants; a result consistent with the fade and space diversity results. Examination of the wind direction for the 14 rain days of data analyzed shows good correlation of the average or median wind directions with the directions of maximum fading and degraded space diversity.

  17. Interactive effects of cadmium and acid rain on photosynthetic light reaction in soybean seedlings.

    PubMed

    Sun, Zhaoguo; Wang, Lihong; Chen, Minmin; Wang, Lei; Liang, Chanjuan; Zhou, Qing; Huang, Xiaohua

    2012-05-01

    Interactive effects of cadmium (Cd(2+)) and acid rain on photosynthetic light reaction in soybean seedlings were investigated under hydroponic conditions. Single treatment with Cd(2+) or acid rain and the combined treatment decreased the content of chlorophyll, Hill reaction rate, the activity of Mg(2+)-ATPase, maximal photochemical efficiency and maximal quantum yield, increased initial fluorescence and damaged the chloroplast structure in soybean seedlings. In the combined treatment, the change in the photosynthetic parameters and the damage of chloroplast structure were stronger than those of any single pollution. Meanwhile, Cd(2+) and acid rain had the interactive effects on the test indices in soybean seedlings. The results indicated that the combined pollution of Cd(2+) and acid rain aggravated the toxic effect of the single pollution of Cd(2+) or acid rain on the photosynthetic parameters due to the serious damage to the chloroplast structure. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Acid Rain: A Resource Guide for Classroom, Laboratory, Field, and Debate Topics.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stoss, Frederick W.

    1987-01-01

    Provides a partially annotated bibliography of journals and book chapters which deal with acid rain. Includes selections which provide background information, ideas for introducing acid rain into science or social studies curricula, inventories of audio-visual aids, and non-print media to supplement classroom, laboratory, and field instruction.…

  19. On Study of Air/Space-borne Dual-Wavelength Radar for Estimates of Rain Profiles

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Liao, Liang; Meneghini, Robert

    2004-01-01

    In this study, a framework is discussed to apply air/space-borne dual-wavelength radar for the estimation of characteristic parameters of hydrometeors. The focus of our study is on the Global Precipitation Measurements (GPM) precipitation radar, a dual-wavelength radar that operates at Ku (13.8 GHz) and Ka (35 GHz) bands. As the droplet size distributions (DSD) of rain are expressed as the Gamma function, a procedure is described to derive the median volume diameter (D(sub 0)) and particle number concentration (N(sub T)) of rain. The correspondences of an important quantity of dual-wavelength radar, defined as deferential frequency ratio (DFR), to the D(sub 0) in the melting region are given as a function of the distance from the 0 C isotherm. A self-consistent iterative algorithm that shows a promising to account for rain attenuation of radar and infer the DSD without use of surface reference technique (SRT) is examined by applying it to the apparent radar reflectivity profiles simulated from the DSD model and then comparing the estimates with the model (true) results. For light to moderate rain the self-consistent rain profiling approach converges to unique and correct solutions only if the same shape factors of Gamma functions are used both to generate and retrieve the rain profiles, but does not converges to the true solutions if the DSD form is not chosen correctly. To further examine the dual-wavelength techniques, the self-consistent algorithm, along with forward and backward rain profiling algorithms, is then applied to the measurements taken from the 2nd generation Precipitation Radar (PR-2) built by Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It is found that rain profiles estimated from the forward and backward approaches are not sensitive to shape factor of DSD Gamma distribution, but the self-consistent method is.

  20. Combining Passive Microwave Rain Rate Retrieval with Visible and Infrared Cloud Classification.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Miller, Shawn William

    The relation between cloud type and rain rate has been investigated here from different approaches. Previous studies and intercomparisons have indicated that no single passive microwave rain rate algorithm is an optimal choice for all types of precipitating systems. Motivated by the upcoming Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), an algorithm which combines visible and infrared cloud classification with passive microwave rain rate estimation was developed and analyzed in a preliminary manner using data from the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere-Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA-COARE). Overall correlation with radar rain rate measurements across five case studies showed substantial improvement in the combined algorithm approach when compared to the use of any single microwave algorithm. An automated neural network cloud classifier for use over both land and ocean was independently developed and tested on Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data. The global classifier achieved strict accuracy for 82% of the test samples, while a more localized version achieved strict accuracy for 89% of its own test set. These numbers provide hope for the eventual development of a global automated cloud classifier for use throughout the tropics and the temperate zones. The localized classifier was used in conjunction with gridded 15-minute averaged radar rain rates at 8km resolution produced from the current operational network of National Weather Service (NWS) radars, to investigate the relation between cloud type and rain rate over three regions of the continental United States and adjacent waters. The results indicate a substantially lower amount of available moisture in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains than in the Midwest or in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.