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An overview is given of 50-year Cabauw observations and research on the structure and dynamics of the atmospheric boundary layer. It is shown that over time this research site with its 200-m meteorological tower has grown into an atmospheric observatory with a comprehensive observational program encompassing almost all aspects of the atmospheric column including its boundary conditions. This is accomplished by the Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research (CESAR) a consortium of research institutes. CESAR plays an important role in the educational programs of the CESAR universities. The current boundary-layer observational program is described in detail, and other parts of the CESAR observational program discussed more briefly. Due to an open data policy the CESAR datasets are used by researchers all over the world. Examples are given of the use of the long time series for model evaluation, satellite validation, and process studies. The role of tall towers is discussed in relation to the development of more and better ground-based remote sensing techniques. CESAR is now incorporated into the Ruisdael observatory, the large-scale atmospheric research infrastructure in the Netherlands. With Ruisdael the embedding of the Dutch atmospheric community in national policy landscape, and in the European atmospheric research infrastructures is assured for the coming decade.

The potential role of aerosol loading on the Indian summer monsoon rainfall during the El Nino years are examined using satellite-derived observations and a state of the art fully interactive aerosol-chemistry-climate model. The Aerosol Index (AI) from TOMS (1978–2005) and Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from MISR spectroradiometer (2000–2010) indicate a higher-than-normal aerosol loading over the Indo-Gangetic plain (IGP) during the pre-monsoon season with a concurrent El Nino. Sensitivity experiments using ECHAM5-HAMMOZ climate model suggests that this enhanced loading of pre-monsoon absorbing aerosols over the Indo-Gangetic plain can reduce the drought during El Nino years by invoking the ‘Elevated-Heat-Pump’ mechanism through an anomalous aerosol-induced warm core in the atmospheric column. This anomalous heating upshot the relative strengthening of the cross-equatorial moisture inflow associated with the monsoon and eventually reduces the severity of drought during El Nino years. The findings are subject to the usual limitations such as the uncertainties in observations, and limited number of El Nino years (during the study period).

Using model results from the first phase of the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP) and four experiments with CAM4, the intensified African summer monsoon (ASM) in the mid-Piacenzian and corresponding mechanisms are analyzed. The results from PlioMIP show that the ASM intensified and summer precipitation increased in North Africa during the mid-Piacenzian, which can be explained by the increased net energy in the atmospheric column above North Africa. Further experiments with CAM4 indicated that the combined changes in the mid-Piacenzian of atmospheric CO2 concentration and SST, as well as the vegetation change, could have substantially increased the net energy in the atmospheric column over North Africa and further intensified the ASM. The experiments also demonstrated that topography change had a weak effect. Overall, the combined changes of atmospheric CO2 concentration and SST were the most important factor that brought about the intensified ASM in the mid-Piacenzian.

Hyper-spectral remote sensing may provide an effective solution to retrieve the methane (CH4) concentration in an atmospheric column. As a result of exploring the absorptive characteristics of CH4, an appropriate band is selected from hyperspectral data for the detection of its column concentration with high precision. Following the most recent inversion theory and methods, the line-by-line radiative transfer model (LBLRTM) is employed to forward model the impact of four sensitive factors on inversion precision, including CH4 initial profile, temperature, overlapping gases, and surface albedo. The results indicate that the four optimized factors could improve the inversion precision of atmospheric CH4 column concentration.

Automated detection of fog and low stratus in nighttime satellite data has been implemented on the basis of numerous satellite systems in past decades. Commonly, differences in small-droplet emissivities at 11μm and 3.9μm are utilized. With Meteosat SEVIRI, however, this method cannot be applied with a fixed threshold due to instrument design: The 3.9μm band is exceptionally wide and overlaps with the 4μm CO2 absorption band. Therefore, the emissivity difference varies with the length of the slant atmospheric column between sensor and object. To account for this effect, the new technique presented in this paper is based on the dynamical extraction of emissivity difference thresholds for different satellite viewing zenith angles. In this way, varying concentrations of CO2 and column depths are accounted for. The new scheme is exemplified in a plausibility study and shown to provide reliable results.

A study has been made of the deformation of an atmospheric column as a result of overloading during transportation, tilting, and lifting during installation. Loading schemes are compiled and calculations are performed on the strength and loss of stability in the column shell. Recommendations are made on preventing column deformation.

Progress of waves through open sea sends vibrations that magnify with height up the entire atmospheric column.

In earlier papers a qualitative and quantitative model was developed for predicting the number of forest fires occurring per day. This model permits the forecast at 00.00 hours Universal Time Convention (UTC) of any day (d), the number of forest fires per day for a range of several days (d tod+5) over a particular region. Input data are the number of forest fires in the region during two preceding days (d−2 andd−1) and the type of day (real and evaluated from radiosonde ford−2,d−1,d and predicted from meteorological medium-range forecasts, i.e. of European Centre, ford+1,d+2,d+3,d+4 andd+5. As this model requires data obtained by radiosonde, particularly temperatures and geopotentials at 850 and 700 hPa and dew points (or specific humidity) at 850 hPa, this study investigates the spatial validity of the model in relation to the distance from the radiosonde station (RS). The highest quality forecast is obtained for the region immediately surrounding the RS, and diminishes with increasing distance from it, this being due to the data obtained from the RS not being representative of the atmospheric column over the region. Hence, the derivation of the critical distance for a particular quality level of measurement. Conversely, fixed quality level implies a specific separation between RS and the region for the prediction, with a higher predictive quality implying a shorter distance.

1. The basic operating characteristics of the atmospheric vacuum pipestill AVT-6 were obtained at the designed and higher capacities. 2. It was demonstrated that the capacity of the column could be increased considerably by increasing the depth of recovery of gasoline in column K-1.