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Reward is essential for shaping behavior. Using sensory cues to imply forthcoming rewards, previous studies have demonstrated powerful effects of rewards on behavior. Nevertheless, the impact of reward on the sensorimotor transformation, particularly when reward is linked to behavior remains uncertain. In this study, we investigated how reward modulates smooth pursuit eye movements in monkeys. Three distinct associations between reward and eye movements were conducted in independent blocks. Results indicated that reward increased eye velocity during the steady-state pursuit, rather than during the initiation. The influence depended on the particular association between behavior and reward: a faster eye velocity was linked with reward. Neither rewarding slower eye movements nor randomizing rewards had a significant effect on behavior. The findings support the existence of distinct mechanisms involved in the initiation and steady-state phases of pursuit, and contribute to a deeper understanding of how reward interacts with these two periods of pursuit.

Abstract Emission Trading System (ETS) is an innovative practice under the progress of green development in China. It is also an important method for China to achieve market-oriented environmental governance in ecological civilization construction. The ETS pilot policy has implemented for more than 10 years. However, the co-benefits of ETS pilot policy by the integration of energy consumption, carbon and sulfur dioxide emissions, and wastewater has not been evaluated. In order to fill this gap, we use the 2003–2017 annual data of 30 China’s provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions), and utilize the Difference-in-Differences (DID) model and Propensity Score Matching (PSM-DID) methodology to evaluate the co-benefits of ETS pilot policy on energy conservation and emission reduction. We find that the ETS pilot policy significantly promote energy conservation and emission reduction. Eastern and central China have significantly benefited from the policy, while the western China has not due to the limited technology and innovation as well as an imbalance of the industrial structure. The results provide the policy reference for China’s government and institutions as well as the governments and institutions around the world to fulfill their commitments to save energy and reduce emissions, and early achieve the carbon peaking and carbon neutralization.

In order to investigate the hydrogen permeation behavior of 316L stainless steel during the microstructural evolution induced by laser peening (LP), an electrochemical hydrogen charging system for initial hydrogen charging of LPed and non-LPed specimen was developed. Afterward, the microhardness, residual stress, and microstructures of the samples were determined and analyzed. Finally, electrochemical hydrogen permeation experiments were undertaken to verify LP's influence on hydrogen permeation parameters of 316L. The results showed that LP reduced the hydrogen-induced hardening rate of the alloy and additionally invoked high magnitude compressive residual stress on its surface. At the layer close to the face of the specimen, the grain refinement rate was as high as 56.18%, which was accompanied by the appearance of high-density dislocations. Compared with the non-LPed sample, the hydrogen permeation time increased significantly, and the saturation current density in steady state hydrogen permeation also decreased gradually.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) microfluidic system, which enables rapid detection of chemical and biological analytes, offers an effective platform to monitor various food contaminants and disease diagnoses. The efficacy of SERS microfluidic systems is greatly dependent on the sensitivity and reusability of SERS detection substrates to ensure repeated use for prolonged periods. This study proposed a novel process of femtosecond laser nanoparticle array (NPA) implantation to achieve homogeneous forward transfer of gold NPA on a flexible polymer film and accurately integrated it within microfluidic chips for SERS detection. The implanted Au-NPA strips show a remarkable electromagnetic field enhancement with the factor of 9 × 10 ^8 during SERS detection of malachite green (MG) solution, achieving a detection limit lower than 10 ppt, far better than most laser-prepared SERS substrates. Furthermore, Au-NPA strips show excellent reusability after several physical and chemical cleaning, because of the robust embedment of laser-implanted NPA in flexible substrates. To demonstrate the performance of Au-NPA, a SERS microfluidic system is built to monitor the online oxidation reaction between MG/NaClO reactants, which helps infer the reaction path. The proposed method of nanoparticle implantation is more effective than the direct laser structuring technique. It provides better performance for SERS detection, robustness of detection, and substrate flexibility and has a wider range of applications for microfluidic systems without any negative impact.

Lidar multiple scattering measurements provide the probability distribution of the distance laser light travels inside snow. Based on an analytic two-stream radiative transfer solution, the present study demonstrates why/how these lidar measurements can be used to derive snow depth and snow density. In particular, for a laser wavelength with little snow absorption, an analytical radiative transfer solution is leveraged to prove that the physical snow depth is half of the average distance photons travel inside snow and that the relationship linking lidar measurements and the extinction coefficient of the snow is valid. Theoretical formulas that link lidar measurements to the extinction coefficient and the effective grain size of snow are provided. Snow density can also be derived from the multi-wavelength lidar measurements of the snow extinction coefficient and snow effective grain size. Alternatively, lidars can provide the most direct snow density measurements and the effective discrimination between snow and trees by adding vibrational Raman scattering channels.

We describe the PACE-MAPP algorithm that simultaneously retrieves aerosol and ocean optical parameters using multiangle and multispectral polarimeter measurements from the SPEXone, Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter 2 (HARP2), and Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) instruments onboard the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) observing system. PACE-MAPP is adapted from the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) Microphysical Aerosol Properties from Polarimetry (RSP-MAPP) algorithm. The PACE-MAPP algorithm uses a coupled vector radiative transfer model such that the atmosphere and ocean are always considered together as one system. Consequently, this physically consistent treatment of the system across the ultraviolet, (UV: 300–400 nm), visible (VIS: 400–700 nm), near-infrared (NIR: 700–1100 nm), and shortwave infrared (SWIR: 1100–2400 nm) spectral bands ensures that negative water-leaving radiances do not occur. PACE-MAPP uses optimal estimation to simultaneously characterize the optical and microphysical properties of the atmosphere’s aerosol and ocean constituents, find the optimal solution, and evaluate the uncertainties of each parameter. This coupled approach, together with multiangle, multispectral polarimeter measurements, enables retrievals of aerosol and water properties across the Earth’s oceans. The PACE-MAPP algorithm provides aerosol and ocean products for both the open ocean and coastal areas and is designed to be accurate, modular, and efficient by using fast neural networks that replace the time-consuming vector radiative transfer calculations in the forward model. We provide an overview of the PACE-MAPP framework and quantify its expected retrieval performance on simulated PACE-like data using a bimodal aerosol model for observations of fine-mode absorbing aerosols and coarse-mode sea salt particles. We also quantify its performance for observations over the ocean of dust-laden scenes using a trimodal aerosol model that incorporates non-spherical coarse-mode dust particles. Lastly, PACE-MAPP’s modular capabilities are described, and we discuss plans to implement a new ocean bio-optical model that uses a mixture of coated and uncoated particles, as well as a thin cirrus model for detecting and correcting for sub-visual ice clouds.

The year 2023 marked the tenth anniversary of the first published description of global ocean plankton stocks based on measurements from a satellite lidar. Diverse studies have since been conducted to further refine and validate the lidar retrievals and use them to discover new characteristics of plankton seasonal dynamics and marine animal migrations, as well as evaluate geophysical products from traditional passive ocean color sensors. Surprisingly, all of these developments have been achieved with lidar instruments not designed for ocean applications. Over this same decade, we have witnessed unprecedented changes in ocean ecosystems at unexpected rates and driven by a multitude of environmental stressors, with a dominant factor being climate warming. Understanding, predicting, and responding to these ecosystem changes requires a global ocean observing network linking satellite, in situ, and modeling approaches. Inspired by recent successes, we promote here the creation of a lidar global ocean climate record as a key element in this envisioned advanced observing system. Contributing to this record, we announce the development of a new satellite lidar mission with ocean-observing capabilities and then discuss additional technological advances that can be envisioned for subsequent missions. Finally, we discuss how a potential near-term gap in global ocean lidar data might, at least partially, be filled using on-orbit or soon-to-be-launched lidars designed for other disciplinary purposes, and we identify upcoming needs for in situ support systems and science community development.

The extreme marine weather is a very vital factor and has important implications for of marine economic development. However, there is a lack of systematic and quantitative analyses of its impact on the marine economic development. Here, we study the impacts of extreme marine weather on marine economic development of 11 coastal regions in China, using the dynamic panel model. We found that extreme marine weather exerts a significant negative impact on the marine economic development. The marine scientific and technological innovation promotes marine economic development in a prominent manner. The marine scientific and technological innovation slows down the unfavorable impact of extreme marine weather on the marine economy. After considering different industries for marine economic development and heterogeneity, we found that extreme marine weather and marine scientific and technological innovation have a great impact on marine economic development in the tertiary industry and the areas with high development concerning marine economy level, while deliver a small impact on the marine economic development in the primary industry and the areas low development level. This paper empirically studies the relationship between the two variables of marine extreme weather and marine science and technology innovation and its impact on marine economic development, enriches the research perspective of extreme weather on marine economic development, and provides new method evidence for improving the level of marine scientific and technological innovation and promoting the development of marine economy.

This study simulates V-band sea surface reflectance and normalized radar cross-section (NRCS) for sea surface air pressure barometry using a differential absorption radar operating at three spectrally even spaced close frequency bands (65.5, 67.75 and 70.0 GHz) with ± 15° cross-track scanning angle. The reflectance ratios of two neighboring frequency pairs and the ratio of the two ratios or three-channel approach are the focus of this study. Impacts of major sea surface geophysical variables such as sea surface temperature, wind, salinity, whitecap, and incidence angle on these reflection properties are analyzed. The reflection simulation is essentially based on geometric optics of rough sea surface. Simulation shows that NRCS values are sufficiently strong within the scanning angle and sea surface salinity would only introduce minimal variations in the surface reflection. The impact of sea surface reflection variations with sea surface temperature, wind, and whitecaps on sea surface barometry are mitigated when the ratios of frequency-paired radar signals are used. Furthermore, the ratios of a three-channel approach are very close to unity and calibration or compensation for the reflectance ratios may not be needed for sea level pressure retrievals. These results improve our understanding of sea surface reflection variations and would help the system design and development.

Well logging data contain abundant information on stratigraphic sedimentology. Artificial identification is usually strongly subjective and time-consuming. Pattern recognition algorithms like SVM may not adequately capture the depth-related variations in logging curve shape. This paper defines logging sedimentary microfacies as unidirectional 2D image segmentation and builds an improved U-net model to meet the requirements of logging sedimentary microfacies acquaintance. The proposed model contains three characteristics: (1) It removes pooling layers to avoid the loss of spatial features; (2) it utilizes multi-scale convolution blocks for mining multi-scale spatial features in logging data; (3) a one dimensional convolution layer is added to achieve deep single-direction segmentation. In this model, a 2D image composed of several standardized logging curves is used as the network’s input. In addition, we propose an effective data enhancement method and calculate the geometric feature attributes of well logging curves to reduce the complexity of the data characteristics. We tested the model on manually annotated validation datasets. Our method automatically measures fine sedimentary microfacies characteristics, improving the accuracy of sedimentary microfacies identification and achieving the desired result. Additionally, the model was tested on unlabeled actual logging data, which shows the generalizability of this deep learning method on different datasets.

Oxygen A-band measurements can provide important information about cloud top height, cloud physical and optical thickness, and surface atmospheric pressure. So far, O2 A-band measurements are typically made with spectrometers at a spectral resolution of 40 p.m. (such as in the OCO-2 satellite) or a coarser resolution. This paper reports a new CubeSat measurement concept with higher spectral resolution over the O2 A-band using integrated photonic circuits and solar photon counting techniques. An integrated Micro-ring filter (MRR) chip with 10 p.m. resonant linewidth with an extinction ratio of 25 dB or higher is designed, fabricated, and used for precise measurements of the atmospheric oxygen A-band absorption line-shapes around 770 nm. With solar-photon counting and using a narrow-band filter made of an integrated, fast-swept MRR on lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI), we have demonstrated a high-resolution measurement of the O2 A-band absorption spectrum, exhibiting good agreement with the HITRAN database.

The strengthening mechanisms behind surface modification processes must be evaluated to optimize surface treatment methods. This study developed a physics-based crystal plasticity finite element framework to evaluate multiple-laser-peening impacts on enhancing the high-cycle fatigue properties of AA2195-T6 friction stir welded joints. For this purpose, different contributions of laser peening effects were quantified on the variations of fatigue indicator parameters in the joint region. Extreme-value fatigue indicator parameters evaluated the laser peening effects in decreasing the driving force for fatigue crack initiation at near-surface grain boundaries. Moreover, grain-average fatigue indicator parameters investigated the fatigue property modification trends with depth. Experimental high-cycle fatigue tests were applied to validate the related modeling outputs. According to the crystal plasticity model, the improvement in joint near-surface fatigue properties majorly stemmed from cyclic mean stress alleviation under laser-peening-induced compressive residual stresses. This effect was followed by the increased resistance against cyclic plastic deformation under the growth in dislocation density and crystallographic texture intensity and the reduction in texture heterogeneity under the crystal morphology homogenization effects after laser peening. Fatigue tests revealed the enhancement in the joint fatigue life under the relocation of fatigue crack initiation regions to depth after LP and validated the numerical approaches.

Inversion of electromagnetic (EM) signals reflected from or transmitted through a medium, or emitted by it due to internal sources can be used to investigate the optical and physical properties of a variety of scattering/absorbing/emitting materials. Such media encompass planetary atmospheres and surfaces (including water/snow/ice), and plant canopies. In many situations the signals emerging from such media can be described by a linear transport equation which in the case of EM radiation is the radiative transfer equation (RTE). Solutions of the RTE can be used as a forward model to solve the inverse problem to determine the medium state parameters giving rise to the emergent (reflected/transmitted/emitted) EM signals. A novel method is developed to determine layer-by-layer contributions to the emergent signals from such stratified, multilayered media based on the solution of the pertinent RTE. As a specific example of how this approach may be applied, the radiation reflected from a multilayered atmosphere is used to solve the problem relevant for EM probing by a space-based lidar system. The solutions agree with those obtained using the standard lidar approach for situations in which single scattering prevails, but this novel approach also yields reliable results for optically thick, multiple scattering aerosol and cloud layers that cannot be provided by the traditional lidar approach.

We present an overview and several important upgrades to the Vector Discrete Ordinate Radiative Transfer (VDISORT) code. VDISORT is a polarized (vector) radiative transfer code that can be applied to a wide range of research problems including the Earth’s atmosphere and ocean system. First, a solution is developed to the complex algebraic eigenvalue problem resulting when the b2 component of the Stokes scattering matrix is non-zero. This solution is needed to compute the V component of the Stokes vector I=[I∥,I⊥,U,V]T. Second, a significant improvement in computational efficiency is obtained by reducing the dimension of the algebraic eigenvalue by a factor of 2 resulting in a speed increase of about 23 = 8. Third, an important upgrade of the VDISORT code is obtained by developing and implementing a method to enable output at arbitrary polar angles by the integration of the source function (ISF) method for partially reflecting Lambertian as well as general non-Lambertian surfaces. Fourth, a pseudo-spherical treatment has been implemented to provide important corrections for Earth curvature effects at near horizontal solar zenith and observation (viewing) polar angles. Fifth, a post-processing single-scattering correction procedure has been developed to enhance the accuracy and speed for strongly forward-peaked scattering. With these significant improvements the results from the upgraded version of the VDISORT code match published benchmark results for Rayleigh scattering, Mie scattering, and scattering by non-spherical cirrus particles. The performance of VDISORT for a polarized incident beam source is equally satisfactory. The VDISORT vector radiative transfer code is made public and freely available for use by the growing polarimetric research community including the space-borne polarimeters on the future NASA PACE and AOS missions.

In this study, we propose a simple method to derive vertically resolved aerosol particle number concentration (Na) using combined polarimetric and lidar remote sensing observations. This method relies on accurate polarimeter retrievals of the fine-mode column-averaged aerosol particle extinction cross section and accurate lidar measurements of vertically resolved aerosol particle extinction coefficient such as those provided by multiwavelength high spectral resolution lidar. We compare the resulting lidar + polarimeter vertically resolved Na product to in situNa data collected by airborne instruments during the NASA aerosol cloud meteorology interactions over the western Atlantic experiment (ACTIVATE). Based on all 35 joint ACTIVATE flights in 2020, we find a total of 32 collocated in situ and remote sensing profiles that occur on 11 separate days, which contain a total of 322 cloud-free vertically resolved altitude bins of 150 m resolution. We demonstrate that the lidar + polarimeter Na agrees to within 106% for 90% of the 322 vertically resolved points. We also demonstrate similar agreement to within 121% for the polarimeter-derived column-averaged Na. We find that the range-normalized mean absolute deviation (NMAD) for the polarimeter-derived column-averaged Na is 21%, and the NMAD for the lidar + polarimeter-derived vertically resolved Na is 16%. Taken together, these findings suggest that the error in the polarimeter-only column-averaged Na and the lidar + polarimeter vertically resolved Na are of similar magnitude and represent a significant improvement upon current remote sensing estimates of Na.

The application of diffusion theory and Monte Carlo lidar radiative transfer simulations presented in Part I of this series of study suggests that snow depth can be derived from the first-, second- and third-order moments of the lidar backscattering pathlength distribution. These methods are now applied to the satellite ICESat-2 lidar measurements over the Arctic sea ice and land surfaces of Northern Hemisphere. Over the Arctic sea ice, the ICESat-2 retrieved snow depths agree well with co-located IceBridge snow radar measured values with a root-mean-square (RMS) difference of 7.8 cm or 29.2% of the mean snow depth. The terrestrial snow depths derived from ICESat-2 show drastic spatial variation of the snowpack along ICESat-2 ground tracks over the Northern Hemisphere, which are consistent with the University of Arizona (UA) and Canadian Meteorological Centre (CMC) gridded daily snow products. The RMS difference in snow depths between ICESat-2 and UA gridded daily snow products is 14 cm, or 28% of the mean UA snow depth. To better understand these results, we also discuss the possible sources of errors in ICESat-2 derived snow depths, including surface roughness within the laser footprint, atmospheric forward scattering, solar background noise, and detector dark current. Simulation results indicate that the snow depth errors would be less than 5 cm if the standard deviation of pulse spreading due to surface roughness is within 50 cm. Our results demonstrate that the ICESat-2 lidar measurements can be used to reliably derive snow depth, which is a critical geophysical parameter for cryosphere studies including sea ice thickness estimation and also provides important constraints in the modeling of terrestrial hydrological processes.

Snow is a crucial element in the Earth’s system, but snow depth and mass are very challenging to be measured globally. Here, we provide the theoretical foundation for deriving snow depth directly from space-borne lidar (ICESat-2) snow multiple scattering measurements for the first time. First, based on the Monte Carlo lidar radiative transfer simulations of ICESat-2 measurements of 532-nm laser light propagation in snow, we find that the lidar backscattering path length follows Gamma distribution. Next, we derive three simple analytical equations to compute snow depth from the average, second-, and third-order moments of the distribution. As a preliminary application, these relations are then used to retrieve snow depth over the Antarctic ice sheet and the Arctic sea ice using the ICESat-2 lidar multiple scattering measurements. The robustness of this snow depth technique is demonstrated by the agreement of snow depth computed from the three derived relations using both modeled data and ICESat-2 observations.

Water droplet size, or effective radius, of water clouds can be retrieved using measurements of the total reflectance in near-infrared channels (bi-spectral method) or the linearly polarized radiance of the cloud rainbow (polarimetric method). The retrieved droplet sizes from the bi-spectral method can be significantly larger than those from the polarimetric method. Droplet size vertical heterogeneity is considered as a likely cause of this difference. In this radiative transfer theoretical study, we find that partially melting droplets in mixed-phase clouds can be another cause of this difference. The theoretical study suggests that, when the clouds are dominated by large particles, the existence of partially melting droplets could cause the polarimetric method to underestimate the particle size; but for moderate-sized particles, the polarimetric method should be able to retrieve accurate particle size no matter if the clouds consist of partially melting droplets or not. However, the droplet effective radius of partially melting droplets retrieved by the bi-spectral method can be overestimated if the infrared channel of the bi-spectral method is at 1.6 μm, but is relatively insensitive to the presence of partially melted spherical droplets when the infrared channel is at 2.1 μm. The retrieved droplet size difference between droplet sizes from 1.6 μm and 2.1 μm channels can be used for detecting partially melting droplets.

A radiative transfer simulator was developed to compute the synthetic data of all three instruments onboard NASA’s Plankton Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) observatory, and at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). The instrument suite includes the ocean color instrument (OCI), the Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter 2 (HARP2), and the Spectro-Polarimeter for Planetary Exploration 1 (SPEXone). The PACE simulator is wrapped around a monochromatic radiative transfer model based on the successive order of scattering (RTSOS), which accounts for atmosphere and ocean coupling, polarization, and gas absorption. Inelastic scattering, including Raman scattering from pure ocean water, fluorescence due to chlorophyll, and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), is also simulated. This PACE simulator can be used to explore the sensitivity of the hyperspectral and polarized reflectance of the Earth system with tunable atmosphere and ocean parameters, which include aerosol and cloud number concentration, refractive indices, and size distribution, ocean particle microphysical parameters, and solar and sensor-viewing geometry. The PACE simulator is used to study two important case studies. One is the impact of the significant uncertainty in pure ocean water absorption coefficient to the radiance field in the ultraviolet (UV) spectral region, which can be as much as 6%. The other is the influence of different amounts of brown carbon aerosols and CDOM on the polarized radiance field at TOA. The percentage variation of the radiance field due to CDOM is mostly for wavelengths smaller than 600 nm, while brown aerosols affect the whole spectrum from 350 to 890 nm, primarily due to covaried soot aerosols. Both case studies are important for aerosol and ocean color remote sensing and have not been previously reported in the literature.

Remote sensing measurements from multi-angle polarimeters (MAPs) contain rich aerosol microphysical property information, and these sensors have been used to perform retrievals in optically complex atmosphere and ocean systems. Previous studies have concluded that, generally, five moderately separated viewing angles in each spectral band provide sufficient accuracy for aerosol property retrievals, with performance gradually saturating as angles are added above that threshold. The Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (HARP) instruments provide high angular sampling with a total of 90–120 unique angles across four bands, a capability developed mainly for liquid cloud retrievals. In practice, not all view angles are optimal for aerosol retrievals due to impacts of clouds, sunglint, and other impediments. The many viewing angles of HARP can provide resilience to these effects, if the impacted views are screened from the dataset, as the remaining views may be sufficient for successful analysis. In this study, we discuss how the number of available viewing angles impacts aerosol and ocean color retrieval uncertainties, as applied to two versions of the HARP instrument. AirHARP is an airborne prototype that was deployed in the ACEPOL field campaign, while HARP2 is an instrument in development for the upcoming NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission. Based on synthetic data, we find that a total of 20–30 angles across all bands (i.e., five to eight viewing angles per band) are sufficient to achieve good retrieval performance. Following from this result, we develop an adaptive multi-angle polarimetric data screening (MAPDS) approach to evaluate data quality by comparing measurements with their best-fitted forward model. The FastMAPOL retrieval algorithm is used to retrieve scene geophysical values, by matching an efficient, deep learning-based, radiative transfer emulator to observations. The data screening method effectively identifies and removes viewing angles affected by thin cirrus clouds and other anomalies, improving retrieval performance. This was tested with AirHARP data, and we found agreement with the High Spectral Resolution Lidar-2 (HSRL-2) aerosol data. The data screening approach can be applied to modern satellite remote sensing missions, such as PACE, where a large amount of multi-angle, hyperspectral, polarimetric measurements will be collected.

Abstract Remote sensing from Earth‐observing satellites is now providing valuable information about ocean phytoplankton distributions. This paper presents the new ocean subsurface optical properties obtained from two space‐based lidars: the Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) aboard the Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations satellite and the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) aboard the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite‐2 satellite. Obtaining reliable estimates of subsurface biomass necessitates removing instrument artifacts peculiar to each sensor, that is, polarization crosstalk artifacts in the CALIOP signals and after pulsing effects arising from the ATLAS photodetectors. We validate the optical properties derived from the corrected lidar backscatter signals using MODerate‐resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ocean color measurements and autonomous biogeochemical Argo float profiles. Our results support the continued use of present and future spaceborne lidars to study the global plankton system and characterize its vertical structures in the upper ocean.

Different ratios of Polylactic acid/Ground tire rubber (PLA/GTR) were prepared by melt blending and adding dicumyl peroxide (DCP) as a reactive compatibilizer. The compatibilizer could initiate a reaction between PLA and GTR to increase the compatibility and interfacial adhesion of the two phases, as indicated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Adding the compatibilizer significantly improved the impact strength of the PLA/GTR blends without compromising the tensile strength. The elongation at the break and notched Izod impact strength of the blend increased by 61.8% and 150%, respectively, but there was only a 4.1% decline in tensile strength compared with the neat PLA. The plastic deformation on the impact fractured surface showed that the improvement of toughness could be attributed to the compatibilization initiated by DCP. Therefore, the improvement of the interfacial adhesion and compatibility of the two phases induced a brittle–ductile transition that occurred in the failure of blends. Moreover, the crystallinity of blends reached 40.5% without a further annealing treatment, which was nearly 24 times of the neat PLA, and the crystallization rate was enhanced simultaneously. These exciting findings suggest that compatibilization can provide a promising avenue for fabricating GTR-toughened PLA blends with balanced stiffness–toughness.

A neural-network algorithm that uses CALIPSO lidar measurements to infer droplet effective radius, extinction coefficient, liquid-water content, and droplet number concentration for water clouds is described and assessed. These results are verified against values inferred from High-Spectral-Resolution Lidar (HSRL) and Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) measurements made on an aircraft that flew under CALIPSO. The global cloud microphysical properties are derived from 14+ years of CALIPSO lidar measurements, and the droplet sizes are compared to corresponding values inferred from MODIS passive imagery. This new product will provide constraints to improve modeling of Earth’s water cycle and cloud-climate interactions.

Laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) is proposed as a highly efficient and high-resolution printing technique. Tilting of the microjet in the LIFT process affects the deposition deviation, lowering the printing resolution. In this paper, the tilting behaviors of the metal microjet in the nanosecond LIFT process are investigated based on a high-speed observation. Experiments were conducted on the copper film under different laser fluences. Observations based on the pump-probe method were performed to capture the ejection behavior of microjets. It is found that the tilting direction is isotropic, and the tilting angle follows Gaussian distribution. The tilting behavior originates from the disturbance of residual stress within the film during jet generation because the statistical result of the tilting angle hardly varies with the propagation time. In addition, the tilting angle is found to decrease linearly with the laser fluence due to the ejection velocity increasing at a higher rate than the lateral velocity. The lateral offset of the tilting microjet at different flight distances matches well with the position deviations, verifying the tilting behavior of the microjet. This study provides essential comprehension of the tilting behavior of metal microjet in the LIFT process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant fraction of liquid clouds are not captured in existing CloudSat radar-based products because the clouds are masked by surface clutter or have insufficient reflectivities. To account for these missing clouds, we train a random forest regression model to predict cloud optical depth and cloud top effective radius from other CloudSat and CALIPSO observables that do not include the radar reflectivity profile. By assuming a subadiabatic cloud model, we are then able to retrieve a vertical profile of cloud microphysical properties for all liquid-phase oceanic clouds that are detected by CALIPSO's lidar but missed by CloudSat's radar. Daytime estimates of cloud optical depth, cloud top effective radius, and cloud liquid water path are robustly correlated with coincident estimates from the MODIS instrument onboard the Aqua satellite. This new algorithm offers a promising path forward for estimating the water contents of thin liquid clouds observed by CloudSat and CALIPSO at night, when MODIS observations that rely upon reflected sunlight are not available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-angle polarimeters (MAP) are powerful instruments to perform remote sensing of the environment. Joint retrieval algorithms of aerosols and ocean color have been developed to extract the rich information content of MAPs. These are optimization algorithms that fit the sensor measurements with forward models, which include radiative transfer simulations of the coupled atmosphere and ocean systems (CAOS) based on adjustable atmosphere and ocean properties. The forward model consists of sub-models to represent the optics of the atmosphere, ocean water surface, and ocean body. The representativeness of these models for observed scenes is important for retrieval success. In this study, we have evaluated the impact on MAP retrieval accuracy of three different ocean bio-optical models with 1, 3, and 7 optimization parameters that represent the spectral variation of inherent optical properties (IOP(λ)s) of the water body. The Multi-Angular Polarimetric Ocean coLor (MAPOL) joint retrieval algorithm was used to process data from the airborne Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) instrument acquired in different field campaigns. We performed ensemble retrievals along three RSP legs to evaluate the applicability of bio-optical models along geographically varying waters. The average differences between the MAPOL aerosol optical depth (AOD) and spectral remote sensing reflectance (Rrs(λ)) retrievals and the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products are also reported. We studied the distribution of retrieval cost function values obtained for the ensemble retrievals using the 3 bio-optical models under clear to highly turbid waters. For the 1-parameter model, retrieval cost function values show narrow distributions over any type of water, regardless of the cost function values, whereas for the 3 and 7- parameter models, the retrieval cost function distribution is water type dependent, showing the widest distribution over clear, open waters. We observed that the 3 and 7-parameter models have similar MAP retrieval performances relative to the 1- parameter model.We also demonstrated that the 3 and 7-parameter bio-optical models can be used to accurately represent both clear, open, and turbid, coastal waters, whereas the 1-parameter model is most successful over extremely clear waters. Given the computational efficiency requirements, we recommend the 3-parameter bio-optical model as the coastal water bio-optical model for future MAPOL studies. This study guides MAP algorithm development for current and future satellite missions such as NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission and ESA's Meteorological Operational-Second Generation (MetOp-SG) mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]