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Global urban expansion has altered surface aerodynamics and hydrothermal dynamics, aggravating environmental challenges such as urban heat and urban dry islands. To identify such environmental responses, various physical models, including urban canyon models (UCMs) and land surface models (LSMs), have been developed to represent surface hydrothermal processes. However, UCMs often treat a city as a unified entity and overlook subcity heterogeneity. LSMs are generally designed for natural land cover types and lack the capability to capture urban characteristics. To address these limitations, the aim of this study is to couple an urban module with a sophisticated LSM, i.e. the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model. This coupled model, i.e. the VIC-urban model, is characterized by its ability to coordinate certain critical urban features, including urban geometry, radiative interactions, and human impacts. Adopting Beijing as an evaluation site, the VIC-urban model shows higher performance than the original version, with excellent accuracy in simulating sensible heat, latent heat, runoff, and land surface temperature (LST). The absolute error is smaller than 25 % for the sensible heat and latent heat and smaller than 12 % and 30 % for the LST and runoff, respectively, which indicates that VIC-urban can effectively simulate hydrological and thermal fluxes in urban systems. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the roof emissivity and interception capacity exert the greatest impact on the roof temperature and evaporation and the height-to-width ratio has the greatest influence on the canyon. Our work introduces a reliable option for large-scale land surface simulations that accounts for urban environments and is among the first attempts to establish a systematic urban modelling framework of the VIC model. The VIC-urban model enables the analysis of urbanization-induced environmental changes and quantification of environmental variations among different urban configurations. The proposed model can thus offer invaluable insights for urban planners and landscape designers.

The impact of climate change on power demand and power generation has become increasingly significant. Changes in temperature, relative humidity, and other climate variables affect cooling and heating demand for households and industries and, therefore, power generation. Accurately predicting power generation is crucial for energy system planning and management. It is also crucial to understand the evolution of power generation to estimate the amount of CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere, allowing stakeholders to make informed plans to reduce emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Artificial intelligence techniques have been used to investigate energy-demand-side responses to external factors at various scales in recent years. However, few have explored the impact of climate and weather variability on power demand. This study proposes a data-driven approach to model daily power demand provided by the Carbon Monitor Power project by combining climate variables and human activity indices as predictive features. Our investigation spans the years 2020 to 2022 and focuses on eight countries or groups of countries selected to represent different climates and economies, accounting for over 70 % of global power consumption. These countries include Australia, Brazil, China, the European Union (EU), India, Russia, South Africa, and the United States. We assessed various machine-learning regressors to simulate daily power demand at the national scale. For countries within the EU, we extended the analysis to one group of countries. We evaluated the models based on key evaluating metrics: coefficient of determination (R2), mean absolute error (MAE), root mean squared error (RMSE), and median absolute error (MedAE). We also used the models to identify the most influential variables that impact power demand and determine their relationship with it. Our findings provide insight into variations in important predictive features among countries, along with the role played by distinct climate variables and indicators of the level of economic activity, such as weekends and working days, vacations and holidays, and the influence of COVID-19.

Comprehensive observations of hydroxyl (OH) and hydroperoxy (HO2) radicals were conducted in October 2019 at a coastal continental site in the Pearl River Delta (YMK site, 22.55∘ N, 114.60∘ E). The daily maximum OH and HO2 concentrations were (4.7–9.5) × 106 and (4.2–8.1) × 108 cm−3, respectively. The synchronized air mass transport from the northern cities and the South China Sea exerted a time-varying influence on atmospheric oxidation. Under a typical ocean-atmosphere (OCM), reasonable measurement model agreement was achieved for both OH and HO2 using a 0-D chemical box model incorporating the regional atmospheric chemistry mechanism version 2-Leuven isoprene mechanism (RACM2-LIM1), with daily averages of 4.5 × 106 and 4.9 × 108 cm−3, respectively. Land mass (LAM) influence promoted more active photochemical processes, with daily averages of 7.1 × 106 and 5.2 × 108 cm−3 for OH and HO2, respectively. Heterogeneous uptake had certain effects on HOx chemistry, but the influence of the halogen mechanism was limited by NOx level. Intensive photochemistry occurred after precursor accumulation, allowing local net ozone production comparable with surrounding suburban environments (5.52 ppb h−1 during the LAM period). The rapid oxidation process was accompanied by a higher diurnal nitrous acid (HONO) concentration (> 400 ppt). After a sensitivity test, HONO-related chemistry elevated the ozone production rate by 33 % and 39 % during the LAM and OCM periods, respectively. The nitric acid (P(HNO3)) and sulfuric acid (P(H2SO4)) formation rates also increased simultaneously (∼ 43 % and ∼ 48 % for LAM and OCM sectors, respectively). In the ozone-prediction test, simulated O3 decreased from ∼ 75 ppb to a global background (∼ 35 ppb) without the HONO constraint, and daytime HONO concentrations were reduced to a low level (∼ 70 ppt). For coastal cities, the particularity of the HONO chemistry tends to influence the ozone-sensitive system and eventually magnifies the background ozone. Therefore, the promotion of oxidation by elevated precursors deserves a lot of attention when aiding pollution mitigation policies.

Under future net-zero emission policies, reductions in emissions of ozone (O3) precursors are expected to alter the temporal and spatial distributions of tropospheric O3. In this study, we quantify changes in the tropospheric O3 budget and in the spatiotemporal distribution of surface O3 in east Asia and the contributions of regional emissions, intercontinental transport and climate change between the present day and 2060 under a net-zero scenario using the NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM) with online tagging of O3 and its precursors. The results reveal that the global tropospheric O3 burden is likely to decrease by more than 20 %, from 316 Tg in the present day to 247 Tg in 2060, under a net-zero scenario. The burden of stratospheric O3 in the troposphere is expected to increase from 69 to 77 Tg. The mean lifetime of tropospheric O3 is expected to increase by 2 d (∼10 %). Changes in climate under a net-zero pathway are relatively small and only lead to small increases in tropospheric O3. Over eastern China, surface O3 increases in winter due to the weakened titration of O3 by NO associated with reduced anthropogenic NO emissions and due to enhanced stratospheric input. In summer, surface O3 decreases by more than 30 ppbv, and peak concentrations shift from July to May. Local contributions from anthropogenic emissions to surface O3 over east Asia are highest in summer but drop substantially, from 30 % to 14 %, under a net-zero scenario. The contribution of biogenic NO sources is enhanced and forms the dominant contributor to future surface O3, especially in summer (∼40 %). This enhanced contribution is mainly due to the increased O3 production efficiency under lower anthropogenic precursor emissions. Over eastern China, local anthropogenic contributions decrease from 50 % to 30 %. The decreases in surface O3 are strongly beneficial and are more than sufficient to counteract the increases in surface O3 observed in China over recent years. This study thus highlights the important co-benefits of net-zero policies that target climate change in addressing surface O3 pollution over east Asia.

The studies of intracloud discharges may shed light on the microphysical structure of thunderclouds, as both the magnitude and the sign of charge separation due to graupel collides with ice crystals within the strong updrafts are influenced by the surrounding environment. Here, a compact all-fiber coherent Doppler wind lidar (CDWL) working at the 1.5 µm wavelength is applied for probing the dynamics and microphysics structure of thunderstorms. Thanks to the precise spectrum measurement, multi-component spectra signals of thunderstorms can be analyzed by the CDWL. The spectrum width, skewness, and Doppler velocity of CDWL is used to separate and identify the particle composition and polarity. In the experiment, the thundercloud properties are detected by the CDWL, 10.6 cm Doppler weather radar (DWR), and Advanced Geosynchronous Radiation Imager (AGRI) onboard Fengyun-4 satellites. In particular, the spectrum width and skewness of the thundercloud below the 0 ∘C isotherm are increased, and when a cloud-ground lightning occurs, there is additional graupel with a velocity greater than 5 m s−1. It indicates that this region is a melting layer, and lightning activity changes the motion characteristics of graupel, affecting the charge structure of the whole thundercloud. In general, our findings provide details on the velocity, phase, and composition of particles in the outside updraft region of the thunderstorm. The identification and analysis of graupel is particularly important. It is proved that the precise spectrum of CDWL is a promising indicator for studying the charge structure of thunderstorms.

Aerosol–cloud interaction (ACI) in fog and planetary boundary layer (PBL) conditions plays critical roles in the fog life cycle. However, it is not clear how ACI in the first fog (Fog1) affects the PBL and subsequently affects ACI in the second fog (Fog2), which is important information for understanding the interaction between ACI and the PBL, as well as their effects on fog properties. To fill this knowledge gap, we simulate two successive radiation fog events in the Yangtze River Delta, China, using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem). Our simulations indicate that the PBL conditions conducive to Fog2 formation are affected by ACI with high aerosol loading in Fog1; subsequently, the PBL promotes ACI in Fog2, resulting in a higher liquid water content, higher droplet number concentration, smaller droplet size, larger fog optical depth, wider fog distribution, and longer fog lifetime in Fog2 than in Fog1. This phenomenon is related to the following physical factors. The first factor involves meteorological conditions conducive to Fog2 formation, including low temperature, high humidity, and high stability. The second factor is the feedbacks between microphysics and radiative cooling. A higher fog droplet number concentration increases the liquid water path and fog optical depth, thereby enhancing long-wave radiative cooling and condensation near the fog top. The third factor is the feedbacks between macrophysics, radiation, and turbulence. A higher fog top presents stronger long-wave radiative cooling near the fog top than near the fog base, which weakens temperature inversion and strengthens turbulence, ultimately increasing the fog-top height and fog area. In summary, under polluted conditions, ACI postpones the dissipation of Fog1 owing to these two feedbacks and generates PBL meteorological conditions that are more conducive to the formation of Fog2 than those prior to Fog1. These conditions promote the earlier formation of Fog2, further enhancing the two feedbacks and strengthening the ACI in Fog2. Our findings are critical for studying the interaction between aerosols, fog, and the PBL; moreover, they shed new light on ACI.

Water-induced erosion and associated particulate carbon (PC), particulate nitrogen (PN) and particulate phosphorus (PP) nutrient losses are vital parts of biogeochemical cycling. Identifying their intensity and distribution characteristics is of great significance for the control of soil and water loss and nitrogen/phosphorus nonpoint source pollution. This study incorporated modules of physical soil erosion and associated PC, PN and PP losses into a process-oriented hydro-biogeochemical model (Catchment Nutrients Management Model coupled with DeNitrification–DeComposition, CNMM-DNDC) to enable it to predict soil and water loss. The results indicated that the upgraded CNMM-DNDC (i) performed well in simulating the observed temporal dynamics and magnitudes of surface runoff, sediment and PN/PP yields in the lysimetric plot of the Jieliu catchment in Sichuan Province and (ii) successfully predicted the observed monthly dynamics and magnitudes of stream flow, sediment yield and PN yields at the catchment outlet, with significant univariate linear regressions and acceptable Nash–Sutcliffe indices higher than 0.74. The upgraded CNMM-DNDC demonstrated that a greater proportion of PN to total nitrogen (TN) during the period with large precipitation events and amounts than that during the drought period (16.2 %–26.6 % versus 2.3 %–12.4 %). The intensities of soil erosion and particulate nutrient yields in the Jieliu catchment were closely related to land use type in the following order: sloping cultivated upland (SU) > residential areas (RA) > forest land (FL). The scenario analysis demonstrated that high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions scenarios provided a greater risk of soil erosion than did low GHG emissions scenarios and that land use change (i.e., from SU to FL) could help to mitigate soil and water loss accelerated by climate change in the future. The upgraded model was demonstrated to have the ability of predicting ecosystem productivity, hydrologic nitrogen loads, emissions of GHGs and pollutant gases, soil erosion and particulate nutrient yields, which renders it a potential decision support tool for soil erosion and nonpoint source pollution control coordinated with increasing production and reducing GHG and pollutant gases emissions in a catchment.

The vast majority of reductions in aerosol emissions are projected to take place in the near future; however, associated impacts on the large-scale circulation over the populated Asian monsoon region remain uncertain. Using the state-of-the-art UK Earth System Model version 1 (UKESM1), this study examines the response of the South Asian summer monsoon and East Asian summer monsoon (SASM and EASM, respectively) to idealized reductions in anthropogenic emissions of carbonaceous aerosols and SO2. The analysis focuses on changes in the monsoon temporal extent and intensity of precipitation following decreases in either scattering (SCT) or absorbing (ABS) aerosols or decreases in both. For SCT, the combination of the early transition of land–sea thermal contrast and sea level pressure gradient during the pre-monsoon season, together with the late transition in the post-monsoon season associated with the tropospheric warming, advances the monsoon onset but delays its withdrawal, which leads to an extension of the summer rainy season across South Asia and East Asia. The northward shift of the upper-tropospheric Asian jet forced by the SCT reduction causes the anomalous convergence of tropospheric moisture and low-level ascent over northern India and eastern China. The intensification of the South Asian high (SAH) due to the warming over land also contributes to the dynamic instability over Asia. These changes enhance the rainy season of these regions in boreal summer. Reductions in absorbing aerosol act in the opposite sense, making the Asia's rainy season shorter and weaker due to the opposite impacts on land–sea contrast, Asian jet displacement and SAH intensity. With reductions in both SCT and ABS aerosol together the monsoon systems intensify, as the overall impact is dominated by aerosol scattering effects and results in the strengthening of monsoon precipitation and 850 hPa circulation. Although aerosol scattering and absorption play quite different roles in the radiation budget, their effects on the monsoon precipitation seem to add almost linearly. Specifically, the patterns of monsoon-related large-scale responses from reducing both SCT and ABS together are similar to the linear summation of separate effect of reducing SCT or ABS alone; this is despite the inherent nonlinearity of the atmospheric systems. The opposing adjustments of Asian rainy season forced by the ABS and SCT aerosol emission reductions suggest that emission controls that target factors like emissions of black carbon that warm the climate would have a different response to those that target overall aerosol emissions.

Tropospheric ozone, an important secondary pollutant, is greatly impacted by aerosols within boundary layer (BL). Previous studies have mainly attributed ozone variation to either aerosol–BL or aerosol–photolysis interactions at the near-surface level. In this study, we analyze the sensitivities of ozone response to aerosol mixing states (e.g., mixing behavior hypothesis of scattering and absorbing components) in the vertical direction and address the effects of aerosol–BL and aerosol–photolysis interactions on ozone profiles in autumn by Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) simulations. The aerosol internal mixing state experiment reasonably reproduces the vertical distribution and time variation in meteorological elements and ozone. Sensitivity experiments show that aerosols lead to turbulent suppression, precursor accumulation, lower-level photolysis reduction, and upper-level photolysis enhancement. Consequently, ozone basically decreases within entire the BL during daytime (08:00–17:00 LT), and the decrease is the least in the external mixing state (2.0 %) when compared with internal (10.5 %) and core shell mixing states (8.6 %). The photolysis enhancement is the most significant in the external mixing state due to its strong scattering ability. By process analysis, lower-level ozone chemical loss is enhanced due to photolysis reduction and NOx accumulation under a volatile organic compound (VOC)-limited regime. Upper-level ozone chemical production is accelerated due to a higher photolysis rate resulting from aerosol backscattering. Therefore, the increased ozone entrainment from BL aloft to the surface induced by the boosted ozone vertical gradient outweighs the decreased ozone entrainment induced by turbulent suppression after 11:00 LT. Additional simulations support the finding that the aerosol effect on precursors, photolysis, and ozone is consistent under different underlying surface and pollution conditions.

A compact online proton spectrometer based on a CMOS plate detector was proposed for the diagnosis of picosecond intense-laser accelerated protons. Inside the CMOS plate detector, a composite structure that composed of a scintillator screen, a fiber optic plate (FOP), and a CMOS sensor was designed to detect the protons safely and efficiently. The scintillator screen converted the incident protons to visible light, which, in turn, was collected by using the FOP and detected by using the CMOS sensor. An additional aluminum housing was designed to decrease the strong electromagnetic pulse (EMP) impact on the electronic readout system from picosecond laser–plasma interaction. This online spectrometer is compact and cost-effective than the system based on the micro-channel plate or scintillator screen in combination with an electron multiplying CCD camera and has better resistance to radiation damage than the system based on a single CMOS sensor.

To investigate the accidental shutdown process for a large vertical and submersible mixed-flow pump unit in a drainage pumping station, a three-dimensional numerical method for this transition process was proposed according to the angular momentum balance theorem and rigid body rotation technology. We obtained the transient performance curves of the unit and the internal flow characteristics of the full flow channel. In addition, we also analyzed the energy loss distribution of the through-flow components during this progress based on the entropy production theory. The results show that the whole runaway process needs to go through four stages: the pump mode, the pump braking mode, the turbine mode, and the stable runaway mode. The pressure amplitude changes greatly in impeller and guide vanes, and the main fluctuation frequency is the blade frequency. There are higher harmonic frequencies in the dynamic rotor-stator interface. As the rotating speed increases in turbine mode, the negative pressure area near the impeller blade’s trailing edge gradually increases. The entropy production method can be used to determine the location, intensity of energy loss during the transient process. If the rotating speed exceeds the allowed value in the runaway turbine mode, the interaction between blade tip vortex and hub vortex rope may cause loss of stability.

Russia is the largest natural gas supplier to the European Union (EU). The invasion of Ukraine was followed by a cutoff of gas supplies from Russia to many EU countries, and the EU is planning to ban or drastically reduce its dependence on Russia. We provide a dataset of daily gas consumption in five sectors (household and public building heating, power, industry, and other sectors) with supply source shares in the EU27 (27 EU member countries) and UK from 2016 to 2022. The datasets are available at Zenodo platform: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7549233 (Zhou et al., 2022). The dataset separates the contributions of Russian imports, liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, and other supply sources to both direct supply and storage supply for gas consumption estimations. The dataset was developed with a gas network flow simulation model based on mass flow balance by combining data from multiple datasets including daily ENTSOG (European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas) pipeline gas transport and storage, ENTSOE (European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity) daily power production from gas, and Eurostat monthly gas consumption statistics per sector. The annual consumption data were validated against the BP Statistical Review of World Energy and Eurostat datasets. We secondly analyzed the share of gas supplied by Russia in each country to quantify the “gap” that would result from a cessation of all Russian exports to Europe. Thirdly, we collected multiple data sources to assess how national gaps could be alleviated by (1) reducing the demand for heating in a plausible way using the lower envelope of gas empirical consumption – temperature functions, (2) increasing power generation from sources other than gas, (3) transferring gas savings from countries with surplus to those with deficits, and (4) increasing imports from other countries like Norway, the USA, Australia, and northern African countries from either pipelines or LNG imports, accounting for existing capacities. Our results indicate that it should be theoretically possible for the EU to collectively make up for a sudden shortfall of Russian gas by combining the four solutions together, provided a perfect collaboration between EU countries and the UK to redistribute gas from countries with surplus to those with deficits. Further analyses are required to investigate the implications with respect to the costs, including social, economic, and institutional dimensions; political barriers; and negative impacts on climate policies, with inevitable increases in CO2 emissions if the use of coal is ramped up in the power sector.

Visibility data are fundamental meteorological observation data widely used in many fields. When using visibility data, it is often necessary to calculate the average visibility, which used to be the arithmetic average of the visibility data directly. In this study, we first analyze the relationship between the visibility, the extinction coefficient, and the atmospheric compositions. Then we propose to use the harmonic average of visibility data as the average visibility, which can better reflect changes in atmospheric extinction coefficients and aerosol concentrations. It is recommended to use the harmonic average visibility in the studies of climate change, atmospheric radiation, air pollution, environmental health, etc.

The ambient radical concentrations were measured continuously by laser-induced fluorescence during the STORM (STudy of the Ozone foRmation Mechanism) campaign at the Shenzhen site, located in the Pearl River Delta in China, in the autumn of 2018. The diurnal maxima were 4.5×106 cm−3 for OH radicals and 4.2×108 cm−3 for HO2 radicals (including an estimated interference of 23 %–28 % from RO2 radicals during the daytime), respectively. The state-of-the-art chemical mechanism underestimated the observed OH concentration, similar to the other warm-season campaigns in China. The OH underestimation was attributable to the missing OH sources, which can be explained by the X mechanism. Good agreement between the observed and modeled OH concentrations was achieved when an additional numerical X equivalent to 0.1 ppb NO concentrations was added into the base model. The isomerization mechanism of RO2 derived from isoprene contributed approximately 7 % to the missing OH production rate, and the oxidation of isoprene oxidation products (MACR and MVK) had no significant impact on the missing OH sources, demonstrating further exploration of unknown OH sources is necessary. A significant HO2 heterogeneous uptake was found in this study, with an effective uptake coefficient of 0.3. The model with the HO2 heterogeneous uptake can simultaneously reproduce the OH and HO2 concentrations when the amount of X changed from 0.1 to 0.25 ppb. The ROx primary production rate was dominated by photolysis reactions, in which the HONO, O3, HCHO, and carbonyls photolysis accounted for 29 %, 16 %, 16 %, and 11 % during the daytime, respectively. The ROx termination rate was dominated by the reaction of OH+NO2 in the morning, and thereafter the radical self-combination gradually became the major sink of ROx in the afternoon. As the sum of the respective oxidation rates of the pollutants via reactions with oxidants, the atmospheric oxidation capacity was evaluated, with a peak of 11.8 ppb h−1 around noontime. The ratio of P(O3)net to AOCVOCs, which indicates the yield of net ozone production from VOC oxidation, trended to increase and then decrease as the NO concentration increased. The median ratios ranged within 1.0–4.5, with the maximum existing when the NO concentration was approximately 1 ppb. The nonlinear relationship between the yield of net ozone production from VOC oxidation and NO concentrations demonstrated that optimizing the NOx and VOC control strategies is critical to controlling ozone pollution effectively in the future.

Urban heat island (UHI) and urban air pollution are two major environmental problems faced by many metropolises. The UHI affects air pollution by changing the local circulation and the chemical reaction environment, e.g. air temperature and relative humidity. In this study, the WRF-CMAQ (Weather Research and Forecasting Community Multiscale Air Quality) model was used to investigate the impact of an UHI on the vertical distribution of aerosol particles, especially secondary inorganic aerosol (SIA), taking the strong UHI in Hangzhou, China, as an example. The results show that during the day with the strongest UHI case of the 8 d simulation, the UHI effect resulted in a decrease in the PM2.5 concentrations in the boundary layer (BL) by about 33 %, accompanied by an increase in the lower free troposphere (LFT) by about 19 %. This is mostly attributed to the UHI circulation (UHIC) effect, which accounted for 91 % of the UHI-induced variations in PM2.5, rather than the UHI temperature or humidity effects, which contributed only 5 % and 4 %, respectively. The UHIC effect plays a dominant role, ranging from 72 % to 93 %, in UHI-induced PM2.5 variation in all eight UHI cases. The UHIC not only directly transports aerosol particles from ground level to the LFT but also redistributes aerosol precursors. During the strongest UHI case, about 80 % of the UHIC-induced increase in the aerosol particles in the LFT is due to direct transport of aerosol particles, whereas the other 20 % is due to secondary aerosol formation resulting from the transport of aerosol precursor gases. Of this 20 %, 91 % is contributed by SIA, especially ammonium nitrate aerosol formed from ammonia and nitric acid. In the atmosphere, ammonium nitrate is in equilibrium with ammonia and nitric acid, and the equilibrium depends on the ambient temperature. In the lower urban BL, the temperature is higher than in the LFT, and the ammonium nitrate equilibrium in the lower BL is more toward the gas phase than in the LFT; when these gases are transported by the UHIC into the colder LFT, the equilibrium shifts to the aerosol phase. Hence, the UHIC changes the vertical distribution of SIA, which may have potential implications on the radiation budget, cloud formation, and precipitation in the urban and surrounding areas.

Accurate matching of multimodal remote sensing (RS) images (e.g., optical, infrared, LiDAR, SAR, and rasterized maps) is still an ongoing challenge because of nonlinear radiometric differences (NRD) between these images. Considering that structural properties are preserved between multimodal images, this paper proposes a robust matching method based on multi-directional and multi-scale structural features, which consist of two critical steps. Firstly, a novel structural descriptor named the Steerable Filters of first- and second-Order Channels (SFOC) is constructed to address severe NRD, which combines the first- and second-order gradient information by using the steerable filters to depict multi-directional and multi-scale structural features of images. Meanwhile, SFOC is further enhanced by performing the dilated Gaussian convolutions with different dilated rates on it, which can capture multi-level context structural features and improve the ability to resist noise. Then, a fast similarity measure, called Fast Normalized Cross-Correlation (Fast-NCCSFOC), is established to detect correspondences by a template matching scheme, which employs the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique and the integral image to improve the matching efficiency. The performance of the proposed SFOC has been evaluated with many different kinds of multimodal RS images, and experimental results show its superior matching performance compared with the state-of-the-art methods.

Registration for multi-sensor or multi-modal image pairs with a large degree of distortions is a fundamental task for many remote sensing applications. To achieve accurate and low-cost remote sensing image registration, we propose a multiscale unsupervised network (MU-Net). Without costly ground truth labels, MU-Net directly learns the end-to-end mapping from the image pairs to their transformation parameters. MU-Net performs a coarse-to-fine registration pipeline by stacking several deep neural network models on multiple scales, which prevents the backpropagation being falling into a local extremum and resists significant image distortions. In addition, a novel loss function paradigm is designed based on structural similarity, which makes MU-Net suitable for various types of multi-modal images. MU-Net is compared with traditional feature-based and area-based methods, as well as supervised and other unsupervised learning methods on the Optical-Optical, Optical-Infrared, Optical-SAR and Optical-Map datasets. Experimental results show that MU-Net achieves more robust and accurate registration performance between these image pairs with geometric and radiometric distortions.We share the datasets and the code implemented by Pytorch at https://github.com/yeyuanxin110/MU-Net.

The received signal strength (RSS) fingerprint based localization is a widely used technique for location estimation in the indoor environment with the fifth generation (5G) wireless communication. However, the RSS feature is easily affected by the noise and other variations of the propagation channel, thus limiting the localization accuracy. In this paper, we propose a multiple RSS fingerprint based localization scheme in the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) assisted system, where the RSS values under different RIS configurations are leveraged as the fingerprints. However, it is challenging to set the favorable RIS configurations. To tackle this challenge, we design an optimization method based on Cramér-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) to derive the optimal RIS configurations to achieve a robust and accurate location estimation, where the CRLB is minimized, and projected gradient descent (PGD) method is applied to solve this optimization problem. After the fingerprints are collected, deep neural network (DNN) is employed for location estimation. Simulation results reveal that the proposed scheme performs well in terms of localization accuracy and stability.

Observations suggest that the vertical distributions of air pollutants, such as black carbon (BC), present as various types depending on the emission sources and meteorological diffusion conditions. However, the formation process and source appointment of some special BC profiles are not fully understood. In this paper, by using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) with a BC-tagging technique, we investigate the formation mechanism and regional sources of a BC peak in the free troposphere observed by an aircraft flight in Beijing (BJ) on 5 May 2018. The results show that the contribution rate of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region to the surface BC of BJ exceeded 80 % in this case. Local sources dominated BC in BJ from the surface to approximately 700 m (78.5 %), while the BC peak in the free troposphere (∼4000 m) was almost entirely imported from external sources (99.8 %). Combining BC tracking and process analysis, we find that horizontal advection (HADV) and vertical advection (VADV) processes played an important role in the convergent and upward movement and the transport of BC. The BC originating from the surface in central provinces, including Shanxi (SX), Henan (HN), and Hebei (HB), had been uplifted through a cyclone system 16 h previously, was transported to a height of approximately 3000 m above BJ, and was then lifted by the VADV process to approximately 4000 m. At the surface, BJ and its surroundings were under the control of a weak pressure gradient, leading to the accumulation of BC within the boundary layer. Our results indicate that cyclone systems can quickly lift air pollutants, such as BC, up to the free troposphere, as well as extend their lifetimes and further affect the regional atmospheric environment and climate.

Light absorption and radiative forcing of black carbon (BC) is influenced by both BC itself and its interactions with other aerosol chemical compositions. Although the changes in BC concentrations in response to emission reduction measures have been well documented, the influence of emission reductions on the light absorption properties of BC and its influence on BC-boundary-layer interactions has been less explored. In this study, we used the online coupled WRF-Chem model to examine how emission control measures during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit affect the mixing state and light absorption of BC, and the associated implications for BC-PBL interactions. We found that both the mass concentration of BC and the BC coating materials declined during the APEC week, which reduced the light absorption and light absorption enhancement (Eab) of BC. The reduced absorption aerosol optical depth (AAOD) during APEC was caused by both the decline in the mass concentration of BC itself (52.0 %), and the lensing effect of BC (48.0 %). The reduction in coating materials (39.4 %) contributed the most to the influence of the lensing effect, and the reduced light absorption capability (Eab) contributed 3.2 % to the total reduction in AAOD. Reduced light absorption of BC due to emission control during APEC enhanced planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) by 8.2 m. PM2.5 and O3 were found to have different responses to the changes in the light absorption of BC. Reduced light absorption of BC due to emission reductions decreased near-surface PM2.5 concentrations but near-surface O3 concentrations were enhanced in the North China Plain. These results suggest that current measures to control SO2, NOx, etc. would be effective in reducing the absorption enhancement of BC and in inhibiting the feedback of BC on the boundary layer. However, enhanced ground O3 might be a side effect of current emission control strategies. How to control emissions to offset this side effect of current emission control measures on O3 should be an area of further focus.

Abstract Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in inexpensive low magnetic field (

Visibility is an indicator of atmospheric transparency, and it is widely used in many research fields, including air pollution, climate change, ground transportation, and aviation. Although efforts have been made to improve the performance of visibility meters, a significant error exists in measured visibility data. This study conducts a well-designed simulation calibration of visibility meters, which proves that current methods of visibility measurement include a false assumption, leading to the long-term neglect of an important source of visibility error caused by erroneous values of Ångström exponents. This error has two characteristics, namely (1) independence, which means that the magnitude of the error is independent of the performance of the visibility meter. It is impossible to reduce this error by improving the performance of visibility meters. The second characteristic is (2) uncertainty, which means the magnitude of the error does not show a clear change pattern but can be substantially larger than the measurement error of visibility meters. It is impossible to accurately estimate the magnitude of this error or its influence on visibility measurements. Our simulations indicate that, as errors in visibility caused by erroneous values of Ångström exponents are inevitable using current methods of visibility measurement, reliable visibility data cannot be obtained without major adjustments to current measurement methods.

Online instruments have been widely applied for the measurement of PM2.5 and its chemical components; however, these instruments have a major shortcoming in terms of the lack or limited number of species in field measurements. To this end, a new mass closure PM2.5 online integrated system was developed and applied in this work to develop more comprehensive information on chemical species in PM2.5. For the new system, one isokinetic sampling system for PM2.5 was coupled with an aerosol chemical speciation monitor (Aerodyne, ACSM), an aethalometer (Magee, AE-31), an automated multi-metals monitor (Cooper Corporation, Xact-625) and a hybrid synchronized ambient particulate real-time analyzer monitor (Thermo Scientific, SHARP-5030i) to enable high-resolution temporal (1 h) measurements of organic matter, SO42-, NO3-, Cl−, NH4+, black carbon, important elements and PM2.5 mass concentrations. The new online integrated system was first deployed in Shenzhen, China, to measure the PM2.5 composition from 25 September to 30 October 2019. Our results showed that the average PM2.5 concentration in this work was 33 µg m−3, and the measured species reconstructed the PM2.5 well and almost formed a mass closure (94 %). The multi-linear engine (ME-2) model was employed for the comprehensive online PM2.5 chemical dataset to apportion the sources with predetermined constraints, in which the organic ion fragment m/z 44 in ACSM data was used as the tracer for secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Nine sources were determined and obtained reasonable time series and diurnal variations in this study, including identified SOA (23 %), secondary sulfate (22 %), vehicle emissions (18 %), biomass burning (11 %), coal burning (8.0 %), secondary nitrate (5.3 %), fugitive dust (3.8 %), ship emissions (3.7 %) and industrial emissions (2.1 %). The potential source contribution function (PSCF) analysis indicated that the major source area could be the region north of the sampling site. This is the first system in the world that can perform online measurements of PM2.5 components with a mass closure, thus providing a new powerful tool for PM2.5 long-term daily measurement and source apportionment.

Previous studies have emphasized that the decrease in photolysis rate at the surface induced by the light extinction of aerosols could weaken ozone photochemistry and then reduce surface ozone. However, quantitative studies have shown that weakened photochemistry leads to a much greater reduction in the net chemical production of ozone, which does not match the reduction in surface ozone. This suggests that in addition to photochemistry, some other physical processes related to the variation of ozone should also be considered. In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model coupled with the ozone source apportionment method was applied to determine the mechanism of ozone reduction induced by aerosols over central East China (CEC). Our results showed that weakened ozone photochemistry led to a significant reduction in ozone net chemical production, which occurred not only at the surface but also within the lowest several hundred meters in the planetary boundary layer (PBL). Meanwhile, a larger ozone gradient was formed in the vertical direction, which led to the high concentrations of ozone aloft being entrained by turbulence from the top of the PBL to the surface and partly counteracting the reduction in surface ozone. In addition, contribution from dry deposition was weakened due to the decrease in surface ozone concentration. The reduction in the ozone's sink also slowed down the rate of the decrease in surface ozone. Ozone in the upper layer of the PBL was also reduced, which was induced by much ozone aloft being entrained downward. Therefore, by affecting the photolysis rate, the impact of aerosols was a reduction in ozone not only at the surface but also throughout the entire PBL during the daytime over CEC in this study. The ozone source apportionment results showed that 41.4 %–66.3 % of the reduction in surface ozone came from local and adjacent source regions, which suggested that the impact of aerosols on ozone from local and adjacent regions was more significant than that from long-distance regions. The results also suggested that while controlling the concentration of aerosols, simultaneously controlling ozone precursors from local and adjacent source regions is an effective way to suppress the increase in surface ozone over CEC at present.

Co-Registration of aerial imagery and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data is quilt challenging because the different imaging mechanism causes significant geometric and radiometric distortions between such data. To tackle the problem, this paper proposes an automatic registration method based on structural features and three-dimension (3D) phase correlation. In the proposed method, the LiDAR point cloud data is first transformed into the intensity map, which is used as the reference image. Then, we employ the Fast operator to extract uniformly distributed interest points in the aerial image by a partition strategy and perform a local geometric correction by using the collinearity equation to eliminate scale and rotation difference between images. Subsequently, a robust structural feature descriptor is build based on dense gradient features, and the 3D phase correlation is used to detect control points (CPs) between aerial images and LiDAR data in the frequency domain, where the image matching is accelerated by the 3D Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Finally, the obtained CPs are employed to correct the exterior orientation elements, which is used to achieve co-registration of aerial images and LiDAR data. Experiments with two datasets of aerial images and LiDAR data show that the proposed method is much faster and more robust than state of the art methods.

Aside from many well-known sources, the greenhouse gas methane (CH4) was recently discovered entrapped in the sediments of Swiss Alpine glacier forefields derived from calcareous bedrock. A first study performed in one glacial catchment indicated that CH4 was ubiquitous in sediments and rocks and was largely of thermogenic origin. Here, we present the results of a follow-up study that aimed at (1) determining the occurrence and origin of sediment-entrapped CH4 in other calcareous glacier forefields across Switzerland and (2) providing an inventory of this sediment-entrapped CH4, i.e., determining the contents and total mass of CH4 present, and its spatial distribution within and between five different Swiss glacier forefields situated on calcareous formations of the Helvetic nappes in the Central Alps. Sediment and bedrock samples were collected at high spatial resolution from the forefields of Im Griess, Griessfirn, Griessen, Wildstrubel, and Tsanfleuron glaciers, representing different geographic and geologic regions of the Helvetic nappes. We performed geochemical analyses on gas extracted from sediments and rocks, including the determination of CH4 contents, stable carbon-isotope analyses (δ13CCH4), and the determination of gas-wetness ratios (ratio of CH4 to ethane and propane contents). To estimate the total mass of CH4 entrapped in glacier-forefield sediments, the total volume of sediment was determined based on the measured forefield area and either literature values of mean sediment thickness or direct depth measurements using electrical resistivity tomography. Methane was found in all sediments (0.08–73.81 µg CH4 g−1 dry weight) and most rocks (0.06–108.58 µg CH4 g−1) collected from the five glacier forefields, confirming that entrapped CH4 is ubiquitous in these calcareous formations. Geochemical analyses further confirmed a thermogenic origin of the entrapped CH4 (average δ13CCH4 of sediment of −28.23 (± 3.42) ‰; average gas-wetness ratio of 75.2 (± 48.4)). Whereas sediment-entrapped CH4 contents varied moderately within individual forefields, we noted a large, significant difference in the CH4 content and total CH4 mass (range of 200–3881 t CH4) between glacier forefields at the regional scale. The lithology and tectonic setting within the Helvetic nappes appeared to be dominant factors determining rock and sediment CH4 contents. Overall, a substantial quantity of CH4 was found to be entrapped in Swiss calcareous glacier forefields. Its potential release and subsequent fate in this environment is the subject of ongoing studies.

The remarkable development of China has resulted in rapid urbanization (urban heat island and dry island) and severe air pollution (aerosol pollution). Previous studies demonstrate that these two factors have either suppressing or promoting effects on fog, but what are the extents of their individual and combined effects? In this study, a dense radiation fog event in eastern China in January 2017 was reproduced by the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), and the individual and combined effects of urbanization and aerosols on fog (indicated by liquid water content – LWC) are quantitatively revealed. Results show that urbanization inhibits low-level fog, delays its formation and advances its dissipation due to higher temperatures and lower saturations. In contrast, upper-level fog could be enhanced because of the updraught-induced vapour convergence. Aerosols promote fog by increasing LWC, increasing droplet concentration and decreasing droplet effective radius. Further experiments show that the current pollution level in China could still be below the critical aerosol concentration that suppresses fog. Urbanization influences fog to a larger extent than aerosols do. When urbanization and aerosol pollution are combined, the much weaker aerosol-promoting effect is counteracted by the stronger urbanization-suppressing effect on fog. Budget analysis of LWC reveals that urban development (urbanization and aerosols) alters the LWC profile and fog structure mainly by modulating condensation–evaporation process. Our results infer that urban fog will be further reduced if urbanization keeps developing and air quality keeps deteriorating in the future.

A regional fully coupled meteorology–chemistry model, Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), was employed to study the seasonality of ozone (O3) pollution and its sources in both China and India. Observations and model results suggest that O3 in the North China Plain (NCP), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), Pearl River Delta (PRD), and India exhibit distinctive seasonal features, which are linked to the influence of summer monsoons. Through a factor separation approach, we examined the sensitivity of O3 to individual anthropogenic, biogenic, and biomass burning emissions. We found that summer O3 formation in China is more sensitive to industrial and biogenic sources than to other source sectors, while the transportation and biogenic sources are more important in all seasons for India. Tagged simulations suggest that local sources play an important role in the formation of the summer O3 peak in the NCP, but sources from Northwest China should not be neglected to control summer O3 in the NCP. For the YRD region, prevailing winds and cleaner air from the ocean in summer lead to reduced transport from polluted regions, and the major source region in addition to local sources is Southeast China. For the PRD region, the upwind region is replaced by contributions from polluted PRD as autumn approaches, leading to an autumn peak. The major upwind regions in autumn for the PRD are YRD (11 %) and Southeast China (10 %). For India, sources in North India are more important than sources in the south. These analyses emphasize the relative importance of source sectors and regions as they change with seasons, providing important implications for O3 control strategies.

Flow around the Guide vanes (GV) in Francis turbine differs with the shape of hydrofoils. The difference in the pressure of fluid travelling to pressure side and suction side of GV contributes to flow behavior. This study presents the numerical technique using alternative clearance gap method to predict the flow around GV and its consequent effect on turbine performance. GV profile has a significant effect on the performance of the turbine with sediment contained fluid flow. In this paper, symmetrical NACA 0012 and cambered NACA 2412, NACA 4412 hydrofoils are studied introducing 0 mm, 2 mm, and 4 mm clearance gaps. Vortex filament can be seen when fluid leaves the clearance gap due to the leakage flow occurring through the gap. The intensity of vortex leaving clearance gap rises with an increase in the size of the clearance gap. However, in the case of asymmetrical GV profile, the velocity of fluid travelling along the vortex compared to that of symmetrical hydrofoil is lower. In case of low specific speed Francis turbines, this vortex is found to be a major reason to erode the runner surface due to high velocity of a sand particle travelling with them. With the alternative clearance gap approach, this paper compares the pressure pulsation downstream of GVs contributed by leakage flow for three NACA profiles, whose frequency is half of blade passing frequency.

Abstract Modifications such as degrading the retrieval quality of mixed pixels in the coastline area and revising surface characterization scheme have been made to the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collection 6.1 (C6.1) Dark Target (DT) aerosol optical depth (AOD) product to address inaccuracy over urban areas. In this study, comprehensive evaluations of modifications to the MODIS C6.1 DT AOD product, in comparison with Collection 6 (C6), are conducted over mainland China under different spatial distributions, seasons, and air quality for the period 2010–2017, combined with validation against Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) AOD measurements. The preliminary result showed that the C6.1 DT AOD product in China displayed an overall good performance with high R2 (0.87) and low root‐mean‐square error (0.23) against ground measurements. Moreover, the C6.1 DT AOD product was an overall improvement over C6, with greater correlation and lower uncertainty against ground measurements, especially for the North China Plain and Central China, although this was not the case for Western China. The improvement was also seasonal, being distinct in spring but less pronounced in winter, and negatively correlated with the level of air pollution. Furthermore, the analysis of DT AOD retrievals in different urbanized areas illustrated that the updated DT algorithm worked well in completely urbanized areas, where 97% of C6.1 DT AOD retrievals were an improvement over C6, while approximately 10% of C6.1 DT AOD retrievals were deteriorated in semiurbanized areas. Additionally, the DT AOD retrievals in areas with relatively low enhanced vegetation index and high surface reflectance were significantly improved, mitigating problems associated with the DT algorithm, further improving the reliability of MODIS DT AOD products.

Isolated many-body quantum systems do not thermalize with an external environment but in most cases the internal dynamics leads to the emergence of an effective thermal equilibrium for local degrees of freedom. Here the authors study this behaviour with a realization of a long-range spin model.

Cold frontal passages usually promote quick removal of atmospheric pollutants over North China (e.g. the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region). However, in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), cold fronts may bring air pollutants from the polluted North China Plain (NCP), thereby deteriorating the air quality in the YRD. In this study, a cold frontal passage and a subsequent stable weather event over YRD during 21–26 January 2015 was investigated with in situ observations and Weather Research and Forecasting – Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System simulations. Observations showed a burst of PM2.5 pollution and an obvious southward motion of PM2.5 peaks on the afternoon of 21 January, suggesting a strong inflow of highly polluted air masses to YRD by a cold frontal passage. Model simulations revealed an existing warm and polluted air mass over YRD ahead of the frontal zone, which climbed to the free troposphere along the frontal surface as the cold front passed, increasing the PM2.5 concentration at high altitudes. Strong north-westerly frontal airflow transported particles from the highly polluted NCP to the YRD. As the frontal zone moved downstream of YRD, high pressure took control over the YRD, which resulted in a synoptic subsidence that trapped PM2.5 in the boundary layer. After the cold frontal episode, a uniform pressure field took control over the YRD. Locally emitted PM2.5 started to accumulate under the weak winds and stable atmosphere. Tagging of PM2.5 by geophysical regions showed that the PM2.5 contribution from the YRD itself was 35 % and the contribution from the NCP was 29 % during the cold frontal passage. However, under the subsequent stable weather conditions, the PM2.5 contribution from the YRD increased to 61.5 % and the contribution from the NCP decreased to 14.5 %. The results of this study indicate that cold fronts are potential carriers of atmospheric pollutants when there are strong air pollutant sources in upstream areas, which may deteriorate air quality in downstream regions.

Soil respiration (Rs), a key process in the terrestrial carbon cycle, is very sensitive to climate change. In this study, we synthesized 54 measurements of annual Rs and 171 estimates of Q10 value (the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration) in grasslands across China. We quantitatively analyzed their spatial patterns and controlling factors in five grassland types, including temperate typical steppe, temperate meadow steppe, temperate desert steppe, alpine grassland, and warm, tropical grassland. Results showed that the mean (±SE) annual Rs was 582.0±57.9 g C m−2 yr−1 across Chinese grasslands. Annual Rs significantly differed among grassland types, and was positively correlated with mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation, soil temperature, soil moisture, soil organic carbon content, and aboveground biomass, but negatively correlated with soil pH (p Rs among grassland types. Based on the overall data across Chinese grasslands, the Q10 values ranged from 1.03 to 8.13, with a mean (±SE) of 2.60±0.08. Moreover, the Q10 values varied largely within and among grassland types and soil temperature measurement depths. Among grassland types, the highest Q10 derived by soil temperature at a depth of 5 cm occurred in alpine grasslands. In addition, the seasonal variation of soil respiration in Chinese grasslands generally cannot be explained well by soil temperature using the van't Hoff equation. Overall, our findings suggest that the combined factors of soil temperature and moisture would better predict soil respiration in arid and semi-arid regions, highlight the importance of precipitation in controlling soil respiration in grasslands, and imply that alpine grasslands in China might release more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere under climate warming.

As an important solar radiation absorbing aerosol, the effect of black carbon (BC) on surface ozone, via reducing photolysis rate, has been widely discussed by offline model studies. However, BC–boundary layer (BL) interactions also influence surface ozone. Using the online model simulations and process analysis, we demonstrate the significant impact of BC–BL interaction on surface ozone in Nanjing. The absorbing effect of BC heats the air above the BL and suppresses and delays the development of the BL, which eventually leads to a change in surface ozone via a change in the contributions from chemical and physical processes (photochemistry, vertical mixing and advection). For chemical processes, the suppression of the BL leads to large amounts of ozone precursors being confined below the BL which has an increased effect on ozone chemical production and offsets the decrease caused by the reduction of the photolysis rate, thus enhancing ozone chemical formation from 10:00 to 12:00 LT. Furthermore, changes in physical processes, especially the vertical mixing process, show a more significant influence on surface ozone. The weakened turbulence, caused by the suppressed BL, entrains much less ozone aloft down to the surface. Finally, summing-up the changes in the processes, surface ozone reduces before noon and the maximum reduction reaches 16.4 ppb at 12:00 LT. In the afternoon, the changes in chemical process are small which inconspicuously influence surface ozone. However, change in the vertical mixing process still influences surface ozone significantly. Due to the delayed development of the BL, there are obvious ozone gradients around the top of BL. Therefore, high concentrations of ozone aloft can still be entrained down to the surface which offsets the reduction of surface ozone. Comparing the changes in the processes, the change in vertical mixing plays the most important role in impacting surface ozone. Our results highlight the great impacts BC–BL interactions have on surface ozone by influencing the ozone contribution from physical process. This suggests that more attention should be paid to the mechanism of aerosol–BL interactions when controlling ozone pollution.

Ambient instability has been proven challenging in black phosphorus field-effect transistors (BP FETs) and a capping layer is thus needed for their practical applications. In this paper, we have examined the effects of Al2O3 capping and O2 post-annealing on the conduction characteristic of BP FETs. With the Al2O3 capping, it forms p-type into ambipolar transport and the electron mobility dramatically increases to 20-110 cm2/V·s in our case. Interestingly, with the O2 post-annealing, the transport can be tuned from ambipolar back to p-type as the annealing time extends. It is attributed that the Al2O3 capping introduces an n-type doping in BP channel while the O2 post-annealing dopes BP back into p-type. Moreover, after the O2 post-annealing the interfacial POx might be formed, resulting in the degradation of subthreshold swing and on/off current ratio.

Reactive nitrogen (N) increase in the biosphere has been a noteworthy aspect of global change, producing considerable ecological effects on the functioning and dynamics of the terrestrial ecosystems. A number of observational studies have explored responses of plants to experimentally simulated N enrichment in boreal and temperate forests. Here we investigate how the dominant trees and different understory plants respond to experimental N enrichment in a subtropical forest in China. We conducted a 3.4-year N fertilization experiment in an old-aged subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest in eastern China with three treatment levels applied to nine 20 m × 20 m plots and replicated in three blocks. We divided the plants into trees, saplings, shrubs (including tree seedlings), and ground-cover plants (ferns) according to the growth forms, and then measured the absolute and relative basal area increments of trees and saplings and the aboveground biomass of understory shrubs and ferns. We further grouped individuals of the dominant tree species, Castanopsis eyrei, into three size classes to investigate their respective growth responses to the N fertilization. Our results showed that the plot-averaged absolute and relative growth rates of basal area and aboveground biomass of trees were not affected by N fertilization. Across the individuals of C. eyrei, the small trees with a DBH (diameter at breast height) of 5–10 cm declined by 66.4 and 59.5 %, respectively, in N50 (50 kg N ha−1 yr−1) and N100 fertilized plots (100 kg N ha−1 yr−1), while the growth of median and large trees with a DBH of > 10 cm did not significantly change with the N fertilization. The growth rate of small trees, saplings, and the aboveground biomass of understory shrubs and ground-cover ferns decreased significantly in the N-fertilized plots. Our findings suggested that N might not be a limiting nutrient in this mature subtropical forest, and that the limitation of other nutrients in the forest ecosystem might be aggravated by the enhanced N availability, potentially resulting in an adverse effect on the development of natural subtropical forest.

The relationship between relative humidity (RH) and extinction properties is of widespread concern. In this study, a hygroscopic parameter (κ) and the volume fraction of elemental carbon (EC) were used to characterize the chemical characteristics of particles, and a core-shell model was built based on these characteristics. The size distribution, chemical composition, and RH were measured in Nanjing from 15 October to 13 November 2013. The model-derived extinction coefficients of particles were fit with the program of coated spheres according to Bohren and Huffman (2008) (BHCOAT), and the modeled values correlated well with the measurement-derived extinction coefficients (r2 = 0. 81), which suggested that the core-shell model produced reasonable results. The results show that more than 81 % of the extinction coefficient in Nanjing was due to particles in the 0.2–1.0 µm size range. Under dry conditions, the higher mass fraction of particles in the 0.2–1.0 µm size range caused the higher extinction coefficient. An increase in RH led to a significant increase in the extinction coefficient, although the increases differed among the different size segments. For λ = 550 nm, the extinction coefficient from the 0.01–0.2, 0.2–0.5, and 1.0–2.0 µm size ranges increased significantly with the increase in RH, whereas the extinction contributions from the 0.5–1.0 and 2.0–10.0 µm size ranges to the extinction coefficient decreased slightly.

The atmospheric water tracer (AWT) method is implemented in the Community Atmosphere Model version 5.1 (CAM5.1) to quantitatively identify the contributions of various source regions to precipitation and water vapour over East Asia. Compared to other source apportionment methods, the AWT method was developed based on detailed physical parameterisations, and can therefore trace the behaviour of atmospheric water substances directly and exactly. According to the simulation, the northern Indian Ocean (NIO) is the dominant oceanic moisture source region for precipitation over the Yangtze River valley (YRV) and southern China (SCN) in summer, while the north-western Pacific (NWP) dominates during other seasons. Evaporation over the South China Sea (SCS) is responsible for only 2.7–3.7 % of summer precipitation over the YRV and SCN. In addition, the Indo-China Peninsula is an important terrestrial moisture source region (annual contribution of ∼ 10 %). The overall relative contribution of each source region to the water vapour amount is similar to the corresponding contribution to precipitation over the YRV and SCN. A case study for the SCS shows that only a small part ( ≤ 5.5 %) of water vapour originates from local evaporation, whereas much more water vapour is supplied by the NWP and NIO. In addition, because evaporation from the SCS represents only a small contribution to the water vapour over the YRV and SCN in summer, the SCS mainly acts as a water vapour transport pathway where moisture from the NIO and NWP meet.

A single specimen of exotic Amur catfish, Silurus asotus Linnaeus, 1758, was captured by gillnet in the Tibet stretch of the Lancang River for the first time. (The Lancang River is an international river and in its lower course is also known as the Mekong River.) It is the first record of this fish species in eastern Tibet. The most possible pathway of the Amur catfish introduction into the Tibet stretch of the Lancang River was a human-mediated release known as life liberation activities or life release ceremony.

Objective: This study investigates the emotional intelligence (EI), self-efficacy, and clinical communication ability of clinical nurses to explore the correlation among these three variables, and verify the mediating effect of self-efficacy on relationship between EI and communication skills. Methods: A total of 865 nurses were recruited and investigated using Wong and Law's Emotional Intelligence Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, and nurse clinical communication scale. Results: The scores for EI and self-efficacy of nurses were 14.23 ± 2.61 and 25.36 ± 5.67, respectively, which were lower than the international norm (p

Light scattering from a dense coherent medium is determined by the interplay of dispersive and radiative dipole–dipole interactions. Here, the authors control the motional effects that obscure the coherence of scattered light and study collective emission in a driven gas of cold strontium-88 atoms.

A Nationwide Nitrogen Deposition Monitoring Network (NNDMN) containing 43 monitoring sites was established in China to measure gaseous NH3, NO2, and HNO3 and particulate NH4+ and NO3− in air and/or precipitation from 2010 to 2014. Wet/bulk deposition fluxes of Nr species were collected by precipitation gauge method and measured by continuous-flow analyzer; dry deposition fluxes were estimated using airborne concentration measurements and inferential models. Our observations reveal large spatial variations of atmospheric Nr concentrations and dry and wet/bulk Nr deposition. On a national basis, the annual average concentrations (1.3–47.0 μg N m−3) and dry plus wet/bulk deposition fluxes (2.9–83.3 kg N ha−1 yr−1) of inorganic Nr species are ranked by land use as urban > rural > background sites and by regions as north China > southeast China > southwest China > northeast China > northwest China > Tibetan Plateau, reflecting the impact of anthropogenic Nr emission. Average dry and wet/bulk N deposition fluxes were 20.6 ± 11.2 (mean ± standard deviation) and 19.3 ± 9.2 kg N ha−1 yr−1 across China, with reduced N deposition dominating both dry and wet/bulk deposition. Our results suggest atmospheric dry N deposition is equally important to wet/bulk N deposition at the national scale. Therefore, both deposition forms should be included when considering the impacts of N deposition on environment and ecosystem health.

Dipolar interactions are ubiquitous in nature and rule the behavior of a broad range of systems spanning from energy transfer in biological systems to quantum magnetism. Here we study magnetization-conserving dipolar induced spin-exchange dynamics in dense arrays of fermionic erbium atoms confined in a deep three-dimensional lattice. Harnessing the special atomic properties of erbium, we demonstrate control over the spin dynamics by tuning the dipole orientation and changing the initial spin state within the large 20-spin hyperfine manifold. Furthermore, we demonstrate the capability to quickly turn on and off the dipolar exchange dynamics via optical control. The experimental observations are in excellent quantitative agreement with numerical calculations based on discrete phase-space methods, which capture entanglement and beyond-mean-field effects. Our experiment sets the stage for future explorations of rich magnetic behaviors in long-range interacting dipoles, including exotic phases of matter and applications for quantum information processing.

No abstract available.

Paddy rice is important for Chinese agriculture and crop production, which largely depends on the leaf nitrogen (N) levels. The purpose of this study is to discuss the relationship between the fluorescence parameters and leaf N content of paddy rice and to test their performance in inversing N content of crops through back-propagation (B-P) neural network. In the correlative analysis of the fluorescence parameters and the N content, we found that the correlation between fluorescence ratios (F740/F685 and F685/F525 (F740, F685, F525 - intensity of fluorescence at 740, 685 and 525 nm, respectively)) and the N content (R2 are 0.735 and 0.4342, respectively) is weaker than that between the intensity of fluorescence peaks (F685 and F740) and N content (R2 are 0.9743 and 0.9686, respectively). Our studies show that the accuracy and precision of N content inversion which is acquired from the intensity of fluorescence peaks through the B-P neural network model are significantly improved (root mean square error (MSRE) = 0.1702, the residual changes between -0.1-0.1 mg/g) compared with the fluorescence ratio (MSRE = 0.3655, the residual changes from -0.3-0.3 mg/g). Results demonstrate that the intensity of fluorescence peaks can be as a characteristic parameter to estimate N content of crops leaf. The B-P neural network model will be serviceable approach in inversing N content of paddy leaf.

Transcription factors play vital roles in stress signal transduction and gene expression modulation. The sequence analysis shows that MdCBF1 from Malus domestica Borkh. cv. Fuji contained an AP2 core domain of 56 amino acids. By comparison of deduced amino acid sequences of CBF related proteins, we deduced that MdCBF1 is a CBF transcription factor gene which belongs to AP2/EREBP family, DREB-A1 subfamily. Further, we reported that transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants expressing the MdCBF1 gene exhibited stronger growth than wild type plants under freezing stress. The analysis of RT-PCR for stress-responsive genes implied that MdCBF1 over-expressing plants had a higher expression of COR15a, RD29A, and RD29B genes than wild type plants. Collectively, our results indicate that MdCBF1 might play an important role in the response of transgenic Arabidopsis plants to freezing stress.

Current studies find that degenerated cartilage endplates (CEP) of vertebrae, with fewer diffusion areas, decrease nutrient supply and accelerate intervertebral disc degeneration. Many more apoptotic cells have been identified in degenerated than in normal endplates, and may be responsible for the degenerated grade. Previous findings suggest that inhibition of apoptosis is one possible approach to improve disc regeneration. It is postulated that inhibition of CEP cell apoptosis may be responsible for the regeneration of endplates. Caspase-3, involved in the execution phase of apoptosis, is a candidate for regulating the apoptotic process. In the present study, CEP cells were incubated in 1% fetal bovine serum. Activated caspases were detected to identify the apoptotic pathway, and apoptosis was quantified by flow cytometry. Lentiviral caspase-3 short hairpin RNA (shRNA) was employed to study its protective effects against serum deprivation. Silencing of caspase-3 expression was quantified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blots, and inhibition of apoptosis was quantified by flow cytometry. Serum deprivation increased apoptosis of rat CEP cells through activation of a caspase cascade. Lentiviral caspase-3 shRNA was successfully transduced into CEP cells, and specifically silenced endogenous caspase-3 expression. Surviving cells were protected by the downregulation of caspase-3 expression and activation. Thus, lentiviral caspase-3 shRNA-mediated RNAi successfully silenced endogenous caspase-3 expression, preventing inappropriate or premature apoptosis.

To investigate the effect of fertilization practice on dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in aggregates, the study was conducted and involved four fertilization treatments: no fertilizer; mineral fertilizer (MF); pig manure matched with mineral fertilizer (MFP) and crop straw matched with mineral fertilizer (MFR). The results showed that DON content and storage were the highest in > 5 mm aggregates and were the lowest in < 0.25 mm aggregates. Compared with MF, MFP and MFR significantly increased DON contents in > 5 mm by 404.7% and 184.4%. In comparison with MFR, DON content and storage in > 5 mm aggregates for MFP were significantly enhanced by 77.5% and 75.0%. A significantly positive linear correlation relationship between DON content and microbial biomass carbon content was observed in aggregates (R2 = 0.84; P < 0.01). The results suggest that pig manure matched with mineral fertilizer is a preferred strategy for retaining DON nutrient due to enhanced microbial biomass in aggregates on sloping upland of purple soil.

Soils are globally significant sources and sinks of atmospheric CO2. Increasing the resolution of soil carbon turnover estimates is important for predicting the response of soil carbon cycling to environmental change. We show that soil carbon turnover times can be more finely resolved using a dual isotope label like the one provided by elevated CO2 experiments that use fossil CO2. We modeled each soil physical fraction as two pools with different turnover times using the atmospheric 14C bomb spike in combination with the label in 14C and 13C provided by an elevated CO2 experiment in a California annual grassland. In sandstone and serpentine soils, the light fraction carbon was 21–54% fast cycling with 2–9 yr turnover, and 36–79% slow cycling with turnover slower than 100 yr. This validates model treatment of the light fraction as active and intermediate cycling carbon. The dense, mineral-associated fraction also had a very dynamic component, consisting of ∼7% fast-cycling carbon and ∼93% very slow cycling carbon. Similarly, half the microbial biomass carbon in the sandstone soil was more than 5 yr old, and 40% of the carbon respired by microbes had been fixed more than 5 yr ago. Resolving each density fraction into two pools revealed that only a small component of total soil carbon is responsible for most CO2 efflux from these soils. In the sandstone soil, 11% of soil carbon contributes more than 90% of the annual CO2 efflux. The fact that soil physical fractions, designed to isolate organic material of roughly homogeneous physico-chemical state, contain material of dramatically different turnover times is consistent with recent observations of rapid isotope incorporation into seemingly stable fractions and with emerging evidence for hot spots or micro-site variation of decomposition within the soil matrix. Predictions of soil carbon storage using a turnover time estimated with the assumption of a single pool per density fraction would greatly overestimate the near-term response to changes in productivity or decomposition rates. Therefore, these results suggest a slower initial change in soil carbon storage due to environmental change than has been assumed by simpler (one-pool) mass balance calculations.

Linkage disequilibrium (LD) plays an important role in genomic selection and mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL). In this study, the pattern of LD and effective population size (Ne) were investigated in Chinese beef Simmental cattle. A total of 640 bulls were genotyped with IlluminaBovinSNP50BeadChip and IlluminaBovinHDBeadChip. We estimated LD for each autosomal chromosome at the distance between two random SNPs of