Water vapor as an active scalar in tropical atmospheric dynamics

Water vapor is a constituent of the tropical atmosphere which, though to a significant extent locally controlled by vertical advection, precipitation, and surface evaporation, is also affected by horizontal advection. Water vapor affects the flow in turn, because a humid atmosphere supports deep, precipitating convection more readily than a dry atmosphere. Precipitation heats the atmosphere, and this heating drives the flow. Water vapor is thus a dynamically active constituent. Simplifications to the primitive equations of dynamical meteorology, based on the so-called weak temperature gradient approximation, are presented which highlight this behavior. The weak temperature gradient approximation is valid on large scales near the equator. It eliminates gravity waves, leaving only balanced dynamics, though the fundamental balance occurs in the temperature rather than the momentum equation (as is customary in most balance models of geophysical fluid dynamics). The dynamical role of water vapor is examined in a couple of idealized contexts, where either the vertical or horizontal structure of the flow is severely simplified. (c) 2002 American Institute of Physics.     

Evidence for an oscillatory signature in atmospheric neutrino oscillations

Muon neutrino disappearance probability as a function of neutrino flight length L over neutrino energy E was studied. A dip in the L/E distribution was observed in the data, as predicted from the sinusoidal flavor transition probability of neutrino oscillation. The observed L/E distribution constrained nu(micro)<-->nu(tau) neutrino oscillation parameters; 1.9x10(-3)0.90 at 90% confidence level.     

The boundary layer contribution to intertropical convergence zones in the quasi-equilibrium tropical circulation model framework

Theories for the position and intensity of precipitation over tropical oceans on climate time scales have a perplexing disagreement between those that focus on the momentum budget of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) and those that focus on thermodynamic factors. In the case of narrow intertropical convergence zones (ITCZs), there is some evidence for both classes of theories, and there are large open questions on the interpretation of the moist static energy (MSE) and momentum budgets of these regions. We develop a model in which both types of mechanisms can operate and the interaction between them can be analyzed. The model includes a mixed-layer ABL, coupled to a free troposphere whose vertical structure follows the quasi-equilibrium tropical circulation model (QTCM) of Neelin and Zeng. The case analyzed here is axisymmetric, using a fixed sea surface temperature (SST) lower boundary condition with an idealized off-equatorial SST maximum. We examine a regime with small values of the gross moist stability associated with tropospheric motions, which is realistic but poses theoretical challenges. In both rotating (equatorial β-plane) and nonrotating cases, the model ITCZ width and intensity are substantially controlled by the horizontal diffusion of moisture, which is hypothesized to be standing in for nonaxisymmetric transients. The inclusion of the ABL increases the amplitude and sharpness of the ITCZ, contributing to the importance of diffusion. Analytical solutions under simplifying assumptions show that the ABL contribution is not singular in the nondiffusive limit; it just features an ITCZ more intense than observed. A negative gross moist stability contribution associated with the flow component driven by ABL momentum dynamics plays a large role in this. Because of the ABL contribution, the flow imports, rather than exports, MSE in the ITCZ, but we show that this can be understood rather simply. The ABL contribution can be approximately viewed as a forcing to the tropospheric thermodynamics. The ABL forcing term is in addition to thermodynamic forcing by net flux terms in the MSE budget, which otherwise is much as in the standard QTCM. The ABL momentum budget suggests that divergent flow in the ABL is controlled to a significant extent by the pressure gradient imprinted on the ABL by the SST gradient—termed the Lindzen–Nigam contribution—although we also find that the thermodynamics mediating this is nontrivial, especially in the rotating case. Nonetheless, when this component of the pressure gradient is artificially removed, the peak ITCZ precipitation is reduced by a fraction on the order of 15 to 25%, less than might have been expected based on the diagnosis of the ABL momentum budget.     

Nanoscale Structuring of Surfaces by Using Atomic Layer Deposition

Controlled structuring of surfaces is interesting for a wide variety of areas, including microelectronic device fabrication, optical devices, bio(sensing), (electro‐, photo)catalysis, batteries, solar cells, fuel cells, and sorption. A unique feature of atomic layer deposition (ALD) is the possibility to form conformal uniform coatings on arbitrarily shaped materials with controlled atomic‐scale thickness. In this Minireview, we discuss the potential of ALD for the nanoscale structuring of surfaces, highlighting its versatile application to structuring both planar substrates and powder materials. Recent progress in the application of ALD to porous substrates has even made the nanoscale structuring of high‐surface‐area materials now feasible, thereby enabling novel applications, such as those in the fields of catalysis and alternative energy.     

Tau neutrinos favored over sterile neutrinos in atmospheric muon neutrino oscillations

The previously published atmospheric neutrino data did not distinguish whether muon neutrinos were oscillating into tau neutrinos or sterile neutrinos, as both hypotheses fit the data. Using data recorded in 1100 live days of the Super-Kamiokande detector, we use three complementary data samples to study the difference in zenith angle distribution due to neutral currents and matter effects. We find no evidence favoring sterile neutrinos, and reject the hypothesis at the 99% confidence level. On the other hand, we find that oscillation between muon and tau neutrinos suffices to explain all the results in hand.     

Oxidation state of BZ reaction mixtures

The unstirred, ferroin (Fe(phen)(3)2+)-catalyzed Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction1-4 is the prototype oscillatory chemical system. After an induction period of several minutes, one sees "spontaneous" formation of "pacemaker" sites, which oscillate between a blue, oxidized state (high [Fe(phen)3(3+)]) and a red, reduced state (low [Fe(phen)(3)3+]). The reaction medium appears red (reduced) during the induction phase, and the pacemaker sites generate target patterns of concentric, outwardly moving waves of oxidation (blue). Auto-oscillatory behavior is also seen in the Oregonator model of Field, Kor?s, and Noyes (FKN), a robust, reduced model which captures qualitative BZ kinetics in the auto-oscillatory regime. However, the Oregonator model predicts a blue (oxidized) induction phase. Here, we show that including reaction R8 of the FKN mechanism, not incorporated in the original Oregonator, accounts for bromide release during the induction phase, thus producing the observed red oxidation state.     

Zur Lezithinbestimniung im Bier

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Die Verfahren zur Bestimmung des Cholesterins

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