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SUMMARY High-precision and high-resolution satellite altimetry data from CryoSat-2 are widely utilized for marine gravity inversion. The vertical gravity gradient is a crucial parameter of the Earth's gravity field. To evaluate the performance of vertical gravity gradient determined from CryoSat-2 altimeter data, the pre-processed along-track sea surface heights (SSHs) are obtained through error correction. The study area focused on the Arabian Sea and its surrounding region, where the along-track geoid was derived by subtracting the mean dynamic topography of the ocean from the along-track SSH of CryoSat-2. The residual along-track geoidal gradients were obtained by adjusting the along-track geoid gradients calculated from CryoSat-2 altimeter data using the remove-restore method. This was done by subtracting the geoid gradients calculated by the gravity field model XGM2019e_2159. After obtaining the residual along-track geoidal gradients, the residual gridded deflections of the vertical (DOV) are calculated using the least-squares collocation (LSC) method. The residual gridded DOV are then used to compute the residual gridded gravity anomaly gradients in the study area using the finite-difference method. After restoring the gravity anomaly gradients computed by the XGM2019e_2159 model, a high-resolution gravity anomaly gradient model with a resolution of 1′ ×1′ is obtained for the Arabian Sea and its surrounding area. To evaluate the accuracy of the gravity anomaly gradient model derived from CryoSat-2, it was compared with the SIO V32.1 gravity anomaly gradient model released by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The comparison showed that the root mean square (RMS) of the differences between the two models is 7.69E, demonstrating the high accuracy and precision of the vertical gravity gradient determined from CryoSat-2 altimeter data.

Water uptake properties of organic matter (OM) are critical for aerosol direct and indirect effects. OM contains various chemical species that have a wide range of water solubility. However, the role of water solubility on water uptake by OM has poorly been investigated. We experimentally retrieved water solubility distributions of water-soluble OM (WSOM) from combustion of mosquito coil and tropical peat using the 1-octanol-water partitioning method. In addition, hygroscopic growth and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity of solubility-segregated WSOM were measured. The dominant fraction of WSOM from mosquito coil smoldering was highly soluble (water solubility (

Organic aerosol (OA) is a ubiquitous component of atmospheric aerosol and affects radiative forcing not only by scattering but also by absorbing solar radiation. The light absorption property of OA should vary depending on its composition, which is not well understood to date. Humic-like substances (HULIS), a medium polar part of OA, constitute significant part of water-soluble organic matter (WSOM) and have light-absorbing capacity. In addition, recent studies showed that less polar water-insoluble organic matter (WISOM) absorbed light stronger than WSOM. Knowledge on the light absorption property of all the parts of OA in atmospheric aerosols is important to understand their contribution to aerosol light absorption. In this study, the light absorption property of extractable organics with low-to-high polarity in submicron aerosols collected at a forest site was characterized.PM0.95 samples (particles with a diameter smaller than 0.95 mm) were collected on quartz filters in Tomakomai Experimental Forest of Hokkaido University, Japan, from June 2012 to May 2013. Organic aerosol components in the samples were extracted and fractionated by the combination of solvent extraction and solid-phase extraction methods. WSOM and WISOM were extracted sequentially by using multiple solvents. HULIS and highly-polar water-soluble organic matter (HP-WSOM) were fractionated from WSOM by solid-phase extraction. The light absorption by the OA fractions were measured using a UV-visible spectrometer. Further, a high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer was used to quantify the OA fractions and to analyze the types of generated ions.The mass absorption efficiency at 365 nm (MAE365) for WISOM was highest among all OA fractions (mean ± standard deviation: 0.37 ± 0.22 m2g-1), followed by the efficiencies for HULIS (0.14 ± 0.09 m2g-1) and HP-WSOM (0.07 ± 0.05 m2g-1). HULIS was shown to be whiter (more transparent) than that reported from previous studies. WISOM was the predominant light-absorbing OA fraction among three OA fractions. The absorption of solar radiation by the OA fractions relative to that by elemental carbon (f) was analyzed, and it showed an increase with the decrease of polarity: on average, the f values were 12%, 8%, and 2%, for WISOM, HULIS, and HP-WSOM, respectively, for the solar spectrum in a range from 300 to 500 nm. HULIS and WISOM showed noticeable seasonal changes in MAE365, which were higher in winter than in summer. Pearson’s correlation analyses between MAE365 and ion groups of OA fractions indicate that organic compounds with N, O, and S atoms may contribute substantially to the light absorption of OA components.

Understanding how the sources of an atmospheric organic aerosol (OA) govern its burden is crucial for assessing its impact on the environment and adopting proper control strategies. In this study, the sources of OA over Beijing were assessed year-around based on the combination of two separation approaches for OA, one from chemical fractionation into the high-polarity fraction of water-soluble organic matter (HP-WSOM), humic-like substances (HULIS), and water-insoluble organic matter (WISOM), and the other from statistical grouping using positive matrix factorization (PMF) of high-resolution aerosol mass spectra. Among the three OA fractions, HP-WSOM has the highest O/C ratio (1.36), followed by HULIS (0.56) and WISOM (0.17). The major sources of different OA fractions were distinct: HP-WSOM was dominated by more oxidized oxygenated OA (96%); HULIS by cooking-like OA (40%), less oxidized oxygenated OA (27%), and biomass burning OA (21%); and WISOM by fossil fuel OA (77%). In addition, our results provide evidence that mass spectral-based PMF factors are associated with specific substructures in molecules. These structures are further discussed in the context of the FT-IR results. This study presents an overall relationship of OA groups monitored by chemical and statistical approaches for the first time, providing insights for future source apportionment studies.

Atmospheric aerosol affects the Earth’s radiation budget by directly scattering and absorbing solar radiation and indirectly acting as cloud condensation nuclei. Both of the effects are responsible for the uncertainties in the prediction of global climate change. A better understanding of the hygroscopicity of the organic aerosol is important because it is poorly characterized to date. In this study, the hygroscopicity of humic-like substances (HULIS), a ubiquitous mixture of water-soluble organic matter, isolated from aerosol samples collected in Beijing in different seasons, was measured using a hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA). The hygroscopicity parameter of the isolated HULIS fraction (κHULIS) was in the range of 0.03–0.13 (mean: 0.06). Considering the possible influence from small amounts of inorganic salts, the hygroscopicity parameter of pure organic HULIS (κ*HULIS) was found to be slightly lower (0–0.11, mean: 0.04). The κHULIS showed a seasonal variation; the values were highest in summer (0.08), followed by spring (0.06), autumn (0.06), and winter (0.04). The κ*HULIS showed a similar seasonal variation, with the highest and lowest values in summer (0.07) and autumn (0.01), respectively. Both κHULIS and κ*HULIS were correlated positively with the O/C ratio of the HULIS. Comparison of the hygroscopicity parameter values with factors from positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis of the mass spectra of the HULIS fractions showed that κHULIS correlated positively with more-oxidized oxygenated organic aerosol (MO-OOA) and less-oxidized OOA (LO-OOA), and correlated negatively with cooking-like OA (COA) and biomass burning OA (BBOA). The relationship between the hygroscopicity parameter and sources was further explored based on a multi-liner regression analysis. The variation in the hygroscopicity of HULIS and its connection to sources provide an insight into the contribution of organics to aerosol hygroscopicity, toward a better understanding of its link to climate.

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) have been restricted for application for about 30 years in China. Intertidal zone is a sink for anthropogenic pollutants, and to better understand the current pollution status of OCPs in China, 324 surface sediment samples collected from 14 typical intertidal zones of China were analyzed for 22 OCPs. The total concentrations of OCPs ranged from 0.051 to 4141.711 ng/g, with DDTs and HCHs being the dominant components. Seasonal variations were not significant for most intertidal zones (p > 0.05), while significant spatial variations (p

Hydropower is one of the most important renewable energy sources. However, the safe construction of hydropower stations is seriously affected by disasters like rockburst, which, in turn, restricts the sustainable development of hydropower energy. In this paper, a method for rockburst prediction in the deep tunnels of hydropower stations based on the use of real-time microseismic (MS) monitoring information and an optimized probabilistic neural network (PNN) model is proposed. The model consists of the mean impact value algorithm (MIVA), the modified firefly algorithm (MFA), and PNN (MIVA-MFA-PNN model). The MIVA is used to reduce the interference from redundant information in the multiple MS parameters in the input layer of the PNN. The MFA is used to optimize the parameter smoothing factor in the PNN and reduce the error caused by artificial determination. Three improvements are made in the MFA compared to the standard firefly algorithm. The proposed rockburst prediction method is tested by 93 rockburst cases with different intensities that occurred in parts of the deep diversion and drainage tunnels of the Jinping II hydropower station, China (with a maximum depth of 2525 m). The results show that the rates of correct rockburst prediction of the test samples and learning samples are 100% and 86.75%, respectively. However, when a common PNN model combined with monitored microseismicity is used, the related rates are only 80.0% and 61.45%, respectively. The proposed method can provide a reference for rockburst prediction in MS monitored deep tunnels of hydropower projects.

Underwater topography survey is a basics part of hydrological research, and plays an important role in the development of resources in marine lakes and inland rivers. In this paper, the water depth was measured in some waters of Linyi Beng river by using Real time kinematic (RTK) based Qianxun Continuously Operating Reference System (CORS) services and depth sounder, and the underwater topographic map was obtained. In order to test the accuracy of underwater topographic survey, some of the checkpoints were simultaneously observed by the traditional sounding rope method, and the sounding accuracy of these checkpoints was analyzed. The results show that the average accuracy of the sounding with the CORS-RTK+ sounder is 0.12m, compared with the traditional method, which satisfies the accuracy requirements of underwater topography. On this basis, the items that need attention during the practical sounding are given. The above research results can provide a technical reference for underwater topography survey.

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is a huge area and rarely affected by human activity, and is regarded as one of the most remote regions on the earth. Many studies about the long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT) of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) were conducted in southern and central TP. However, there are very limited studies focused on PAHs in the western TP and the concentrations profiles, distribution and its controlling factors in this area remains unclear. Thus, to explore this knowledge gap, 37 surface soil samples and 23 lichen samples were collected and analyzed for PAHs. The total concentration of 16 US EPA's priority PAHs (∑16PAHs) in western TP ranges 14.4–59.5 ng/g and 38.0–133 ng/g dry weight (dw) with a mean value of 30.8 and 84.6 ng/g dw in soil and lichen, respectively, which is lower than the concentrations in most remote areas worldwide. In the western TP, low molecular weight PAHs (2–3 rings) are dominant (occupied 77.4% and 87.9% on average in soil and lichen, respectively), implying a significant contribution of LRAT in this area. The significant linear correlations (R2 = 0.372–0.627, p

High-altitude lake sediments can be used as natural archives to reconstruct the history of pollutants. In this work, the temporal distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was determined in a sediment core collected from the southern Tibetan Plateau (TP), which was dated by using the 210Pb dating method and validated with the 137Cs fallout peak. The concentrations of the anthropogenic PAHs (Σ8PAH) in the sediment core ranged from 0.83 to 12 ng/g dw, and the fluxes of the Σ8PAH were in the range of 2.1-27 g/cm2/year. The temporal variations in the concentration and input flux of anthropogenic PAHs were low with little variability before the 1950s, and then gradually increased from the 1950s to the 1980s, and an accelerated increase was observed after the early 1980s. The content of total organic carbon played an insignificant role in affecting the time trends of PAHs in the sediment core. Diagnostic concentration fractions of PAH components indicate PAHs in the lake sediment of the southern TP which are mainly from biomass burning and/or from long-range atmospheric transport.