Short-time Variability Research Articles

Spatial distributions of PN and PO in the shock region L1157-B1

Phosphorus plays an essential role in prebiotic chemistry. The origin of P-bearing molecules in the protostellar gas remains highly uncertain. Only PO and PN have been detected towards low-mass star-forming regions and their emission is mainly associated with outflow shocks. In order to make progress in the characterisation of P-chemistry, we present NOEMA observations of PO and PN at 3″−4″ resolution towards the outflow shock region L1157-B1. Our resolved observations confirm the association of both P species with the apex of the bow shock. High-velocity emission is detected in the compact region where the jet impacts the shock. Analysis of the spatial distributions of PO and PN indicates that these molecules are not sputtered from the icy mantles of dust grains; they are the gas-phase products of a P-mother species released in the shock. PO appears to form first in the gas phase, followed by PN, which remains longer in the shock, when PO is no longer detected. Variations of the PO/PN abundance ratio in the range 1–5 are detected over the apex and confirm the short time variability of P-chemistry, which typically lasts a few hundred years. These results are consistent with the previous modelling of P-chemistry in L1157-B1. Complementary observations of N-bearing species at high angular resolution are needed to better understand the formation pathways of PO and PN.

Dependence of subhourly solar variability statistics on time interval and cloud vertical position

Solar variability corresponds to strong variations of the solar irradiance, caused mainly by the presence of clouds. Practical uses of solar resource data, such as the design of photovoltaic solar plants, usually employ several years of hourly data, neglecting subhourly features. The effect of clouds on short-time variability can differ by cloud type, suggesting that some cloud effects could be ignored when working with hourly data. In this work, we compare statistics of solar variability calculated at different time intervals and separate the analysis by cloud categories. We use 1 min solar data and cloud radar products from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) cloud, aerosol, and complex terrain interactions campaign in Córdoba, Argentina, where a wide variety of clouds exist. We classify the clouds based on their vertical position and observe solar variability using the mean and standard deviation of the clear sky index for varying time intervals of 5, 15, 30, and 60 min. Time intervals affect the mean and standard deviation of the clear sky index differently for each cloud type: longer time intervals neglect small variability and overestimate the mean clear sky index of low and mid-clouds, while high clouds do not change as much. The effect is also palpable when measuring ramps: the percentile 95 of the ramps obtained for 1 min is 21 times greater compared to 1 h. This ratio varies per cloud type with the strongest differences occurring for mid-clouds, having ramps that are 73 times stronger.

Variability of nitrogen oxide emission fluxes and lifetimes estimated from Sentinel-5P TROPOMI observations

Abstract. Satellite observations of the high-resolution TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on Sentinel-5 Precursor can be used to observe nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at city scales to quantify short time variability of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and lifetimes on a daily and seasonal basis. In this study, 2 years of TROPOMI tropospheric NO2 columns, having a spatial resolution of up to 3.5 km × 5.5 km, have been analyzed together with wind and ozone data. NOx lifetimes and emission fluxes are estimated for 50 different NOx sources comprising cities, isolated power plants, industrial regions, oil fields, and regions with a mix of sources distributed around the world. The retrieved NOx emissions are in agreement with other TROPOMI-based estimates and reproduce the variability seen in power plant stack measurements but are in general lower than the analyzed stack measurements and emission inventory results. Separation into seasons shows a clear seasonal dependence of NOx emissions with in general the highest emissions during winter, except for isolated power plants and especially sources in hot desert climates, where the opposite is found. The NOx lifetime shows a systematic latitudinal dependence with an increase in lifetime from 2 to 8 h with latitude but only a weak seasonal dependence. For most of the 50 sources including the city of Wuhan in China, a clear weekly pattern of NOx emissions is found, with weekend-to-weekday ratios of up to 0.5 but with a high variability for the different locations. During the Covid-19 lockdown period in 2020, strong reductions in the NOx emissions were observed for New Delhi, Buenos Aires, and Madrid.

A Note on “Metal Distribution and Short-Time Variability in Recent Sediments from the Ganges River towards the Bay of Bengal (India)” by Bonnail et al. (2019)

A careful reading of Bonnail et al. (2019)’s work points out some issues in the description of the Ganges River, e.g., describing it in a way that gives impression to the readers unfamiliar with the Indian rivers that it flows by the national capital New Delhi, after reading “it receives inputs from highly populated cities of India, including New Delhi and …”. However, as a matter of fact, it is not the Ganges, but the Yamuna River, a tributary of the Ganges, that passes through the National Capital Region of Delhi. Moreover, authors identify the studied river as the Ganges, whereas it is one of the distributaries of the Ganges called Hooghly (anglicized version of its local name Hugli). They have referred to the seasonality of the studied river; however, the flow of the studied (Hooghly) river is controlled by a barrage on the Ganges River. Moreover, Hooghly River receives input from its own tributaries; viz., Mayurakshi and Damodar, flowing through highly mineralized and coaliferous areas of Jharkhand state of India. Bonnail et al. (2019) have attributed the contamination of the river sediments to anthropogenic activities alone, by not evaluating likely natural sources. A correction factor for the underestimated total organic carbon (TOC) content obtained using Walkley-Black method should have been applied before using TOC values for factor analysis to overcome the underestimation issue with this method. This work intends to serve as a compendium, rather than a critique, to otherwise commendable work by Bonnail et al. (2019).

A Self-Regulation Strategy for the Power Fluctuation of the Islanded Voltage Source Converter (VSC) Station Delivering Large-Scale Wind Power

When the power source of a voltage source converter (VSC) station at the sending end solely depends on wind power generation, the station is operating in an islanding mode. In this case, the power fluctuation of the wind power will be entirely transmitted to the receiving-end grid. A self-regulation scheme of power fluctuation is proposed in this paper to solve this problem. Firstly, we investigated the short-time variability characteristic of the wind power in a multi-terminal direct-current (MTDC) project in China. Then we designed a virtual frequency (VF) control strategy at the VSC station based on the common constant voltage constant frequency (CVCF) control of VSC station. By cooperating with the primary frequency regulation (PFR) control at the wind farms, the self-regulation of active power pooling at the VSC station was realized. The control parameters of VF and PFR control were carefully settled through the steady-state analysis of the MTDC grid. The self-regulation effect had been demonstrated by a twenty-four-hour simulation. The results showed that the proposed scheme could effectively smoothen the power fluctuation.

Metal Distribution and Short-Time Variability in Recent Sediments from the Ganges River towards the Bay of Bengal (India)

The Ganges River receives inputs from highly populated cities of India (New Delhi, Calcutta, among others) and a strong influence of anthropogenic activities until reaching the Bay of Bengal. It is a seasonal river with 80% of discharges occurring between July and October during monsoon. The land-based activities next to the shore lead to discharges of untreated domestic and industrial effluents, inputs of agricultural chemicals, discharges of organic matter (cremations), and discharges of chemicals from aquaculture farms. In spite of the UNESCO declaring Human Patrimony the National Park Sundarbans, located in the delta, contamination has increased over time and it dramatically intensifies during the monsoon period due to the flooding of the drainage basin. Vertical element distribution (Cd, Co, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn) was studied in sediments collected in different stations towards the Hügli Estuary. Results determined no vertical gradient associated with the analyzed sediment samples, which informs about severe sediment dynamic in the area that probably relates to tidal hydrodynamics and seasonal variation floods. The multivariate analysis results showed different associations among metals and in some cases between some of them (Co, Zn, Pb, and Cu) and the organic carbon. These allow the identification of different geochemical processes in the area and their relationship with the sources of contamination such as discharge of domestic and industrial effluents and diffuse sources enhanced by the monsoons. Also, an environmental risk value was given to the studied area by comparing the analyzed concentrations to quality guidelines adopted in other countries. It showed an estimated risk associated with the concentration of the metal Cu measured in the area of Kadwip.

Impact of Winter Ural Blocking on Arctic Sea Ice: Short-Time Variability

AbstractUsing daily reanalysis data from 1979 to 2015, this paper examines the impact of winter Ural blocking (UB) on winter Arctic sea ice concentration (SIC) change over the Barents and Kara Seas (BKS). A case study of the sea ice variability in the BKS in the 2015/16 and 2016/17 winters is first presented to establish a link between the BKS sea ice variability and UB events. Then the UB events are classified into quasi-stationary (QUB), westward-shifting (WUB), and eastward-shifting (EUB) UB types. It is found that the frequency of the QUB events increases significantly during 1999–2015, whereas the WUB events show a decreasing frequency trend during 1979–2015.Moreover, it is shown that the variation of the BKS-SIC is related to downward infrared radiation (IR) and surface sensible and latent heat flux changes due to different zonal movements of the UB. Calculations show that the downward IR is the main driver of the BKS-SIC decline for QUB events, while the downward IR and surface sensible heat flux make comparable contributions to the BKS-SIC variation for WUB and EUB events. The SIC decline peak lags the QUB and EUB peaks by about 3 days, though QUB and EUB require lesser prior SIC. The QUB gives rise to the largest SIC decline likely because of its longer persistence, whereas the BKS-SIC decline is relatively weak for the EUB. The WUB is found to cause a SIC decline during its growth phase and an increase during its decay phase. Thus, the zonal movement of the UB has an important impact on the SIC variability in BKS.

Trends and seasonality extracting from Home Blood Pressure Monitoring readings

Trends and seasonality extracting from Home Blood Pressure Monitoring readings

Time-varying Heliospheric Distance to the Heliopause

Using a three-dimensional MHD simulation, we examine the time-varying outer heliospheric structure and distance to the heliopause. Voyager 2 (V2) solar-wind observations show that a global merged interaction region (GMIR) with a ram-pressure of the order of several nPa normalized at 1 au enters the distant solar wind at an average rate of about one per year. This series of GMIRs adds an additional perturbative increase to the solar-wind ram-pressure in the inner heliosheath, and it also reduces the surrounding interstellar medium pressure acting on the heliopause; consequently, our simulation results in the distance to the heliopause being ~14 au larger when compared to the case when a series of GMIRs is not taken into account. In addition, OMNI data show that the solar-wind ram-pressure near the Earth increases from ~1.3 nPA in 2010 and before to 1.7–2.4 nPa after that until the present time. These variations in the overall ram-pressure of the solar wind are also included in our simulation. The inclusion of the time variable solar-wind ram-pressure and the series of GMIRs allows us to illustrate how the realistic distance to the heliopause varies in response to both long- and short time variability in solar activity. This simulation study also explains the puzzle of why V2 has not yet crossed the heliopause, although it is now almost 5 years since Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause in 2012.

Succession of phytoplankton assemblages in response to large-scale reservoir operation: a case study in a tributary of the Three Gorges Reservoir, China.

The Three Gorges Dam (TGD) has greatly altered ecological and environmental conditions within the reservoir region, but it is not known how these changes affect phytoplankton structure and dynamics. Here, a bimonthly monitoring program was implemented from 2007 to 2009 to study the impact of damming on phytoplankton assemblages in the backwater area of the Pengxi River (PBA). By application of the phytoplankton functional group (C strategists, competitive species; S strategists, stress-tolerant species; R strategists, rapid propagation species), seasonal changes in phytoplankton relative to environmental variations were evaluated using ordination analysis. Seasonal patterns of phytoplankton dynamics were detected during this study, with CS/S strategists causing algal blooms from mid-spring to early summer, CS/CR strategists often observed during flood season, and CS strategists dominant during mid-autumn. CR/R groups dominated during winter and caused algal blooms in February. Our results indicated that phytoplankton assemblages were directly related to reservoir operation effects. Generally, the TGD had a low water level during flood season, resulting in a relatively short hydraulic retention time and intensive variability, which supported the cooccurrence of CS and CR species. During the winter drought season, water storage in the TGD increased the water level and the hydraulic retention time in the PBA, enabling R/CR strategists to overcome the sedimentation effect and to out-compete S/CS species in winter. As expected, these diversity patterns were significantly correlated with the hydraulic retention time and nutrient limitation pattern in the PBA. This study provides strategic insight for evaluating the impacts of reservoir operations on phytoplankton adaptation.

A Comparison between Simulated and Observed Surface Energy Balance at the Svalbard Archipelago

AbstractThe surface energy balance at the Svalbard Archipelago has been simulated at high resolution with the Weather Research and Forecasting Model and compared with measurements of the individual energy fluxes from a tundra site near Ny-Ålesund (located north of Norway), as well as other near-surface measurements across the region. For surface air temperature, a good agreement between model and observations was found at all locations. High correlations were also found for daily averaged surface energy fluxes within the different seasons at the main site. The four radiation components showed correlations above 0.5 in all seasons (mostly above 0.9), whereas correlations between 0.3 and 0.8 were found for the sensible and latent heat fluxes. Underestimation of cloud cover and cloud optical thickness led to seasonal biases in incoming shortwave and longwave radiation of up to 30%. During summer, this was mainly a result of distinct days on which the model erroneously simulated cloud-free conditions, whereas the incoming radiation biases appeared to be more related to underestimation of cloud optical thickness during winter. The model overestimated both sensible and latent heat fluxes in most seasons. The model also initially overestimated the average Bowen ratio during summer by a factor of 6, but this bias was greatly reduced with two physically based model modifications that are related to frozen-ground hydrology. The seasonally averaged ground/snow heat flux was mostly in agreement with observations but showed too little short-time variability in the presence of thick snow. Overall, the model reproduced average temperatures well but overestimated diurnal cycles and showed considerable biases in the individual energy fluxes on seasonal and shorter time scales.

Cerebral oxygenation in health and disease.

Monitoring cerebral blood flow (CBF) and oxygenation has implications for both clinical practice and research interests; e.g., to provide insight into functional neurovascular coupling, to better understand orthostatic hypotension, and to evaluate the influence of vasopressors on cerebral oxygenation during anesthesia and/or surgery. These topics, and others, are addressed in this e-book by presenting original research, reviews, and opinion papers covering new, exciting but also controversial issues related to cerebral oxygenation in health and disease as evaluated by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).

Noise-controlled bistability in an excitable system with positive feedback

We study the interplay between noise and a positive feedback mechanism in an excitable system that generates events. We show that such a system can exhibit a bistability in the dynamics of the event generation (states of low and high activity). The stability of the two states is determined by the strength of the noise such that a change of noise intensity permits complete control over the probabilities with which the two states are occupied. The bistability also has strong implications for the regularity of the event generation. While the irregularity of the interevent interval (short-time variability) and the asymptotic Fano factor of the event count (long-time variability) are limited if the system is only in one of the two states, we show that both measures of variability display giant values if both states are equally likely. The long-time variability is additionally amplified by long-range positive correlations of the interevent intervals.

DYNAMICAL BEHAVIOR OF X-RAY SPECTRA FROM MARKARIAN 766

Mrk 766, a bright narrow-line Seyfert 1, has been observed eight times by the XMM-Newton satellite. We carried out the analysis of the composite data from all of these observations together by applying a dynamical method. Through this analysis, we noted a longer timescale variability in addition to rapid short-time variability. This longer term variability is manifested by the presence of two distinct branches in flux-flux plots. Moreover, the data show the presence of absorbing material whose average thickness decreases gradually from ~2 × 1023 cm–2 during the dim state to ~1022 cm–2 as the source brightens to brighter states. To explain this longer timescale behavior and others already found self-consistently, we offer a promising model. In this model, the source is dim when a small emission region is covered by a small, denser portion of a partial-covering cloud; the source brightens as it becomes larger and covered predominantly by a less dense, larger region of the covering cloud. The short rapid variability, in contrast, is consistent with the highly variable power-law component from the coronal primary emission region, which is superimposed onto a less variable, ionized relativistic reflection component. Last, a possible presence of some unique soft flares is suggested. Unlike many other flares seen in the light curves, these flares occur only in the 0.3-2.0 keV soft band. These soft flares may be attributed to hot spots on the accretion disk.

Vortical field amplification and particle acceleration at rippled shocks

Vortical field amplification and particle acceleration at rippled shocks

On the origin of the 6.4 keV line in the Galactic Center region

On the origin of the 6.4 keV line in the Galactic Center region

Solid-Set Sprinkler Irrigation Controllers Driven by Simulation Models: Opportunities and Bottlenecks

Farmers continue to show great differences in irrigation water use, even for a given location and crop. Irrigation advisory services have narrowed the gap between scientific knowledge and on-farm scheduling, but their success has been limited. The performance of sprinkler irrigation is greatly affected by factors such as wind speed, whose short-time variability requires tactical adjustments of the irrigation schedule. Mounting energy costs often require the consideration of interday and intraday tariff evolution. Opportunities have arisen that allow these challenges to be addressed through irrigation controllers guided by irrigation and crop simulation models. Remote control systems are often installed in collective pressurized irrigation networks. Agrometeorological information networks are available in regions worldwide. Water users’ associations use specialized databases for water management. Different configurations of irrigation controllers based on simulation models can develop, continuously update, and execute irrigation schedules aiming at maximizing irrigation adequacy and water productivity. Bottlenecks requiring action in the fields of research, development, and innovation are analyzed, with the goal of establishing agendas leading to the implementation and commercial deployment of advanced controllers for solid-set irrigation.

TURBULENT AMPLIFICATION OF A MAGNETIC FIELD DRIVEN BY THE DYNAMO EFFECT AT RIPPLED SHOCKS

We derive analytically the vorticity generated downstream of a two-dimensional rippled hydromagnetic shock neglecting fluid viscosity and resistivity. The growth of the turbulent component of the downstream magnetic field is driven by the vortical eddies motion. We determine an analytic time-evolution of the magnetic field amplification at shocks, so far described only numerically, until saturation occurs due to seed-field reaction to field lines whirling. The explicit expression of the amplification growth rate and of the non-linear field back-reaction in terms of the parameters of shock and interstellar density fluctuations is derived from MHD jump conditions at rippled shocks. A magnetic field saturation up to the order of milligauss and a short-time variability in the $X$-ray observations of supernova remnants can be obtained by using reasonable parameters for the interstellar turbulence.

HubbleSpace Telescope detection of oxygen in the atmosphere of exoplanet HD 189733b

Detecting heavy atoms in the inflated atmospheres of giant exoplanets that orbit close to their parent stars is a key factor for understanding their bulk composition, and the processes that drive their expansion and interaction with the impinging stellar wind. Here, we use archive data obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space Telescope to report an absorption of ~6.4+/-1.8% by neutral oxygen during the HD 189733b transit. Scaling published HI results from a simple hydrodynamic model of HD 189733b, a vertical OI column density of ~8x10^15/cm2 produces only a 3.5% attenuation, implying that non-thermal line broadening or super-solar abundances are required. We also report evidence of short-time variability in the measured stellar flux, a variability that we analyze and compare to solar flaring activity. In that frame, we find that non-statistical uncertainties in the measured fluxes are not negligible, which calls for caution when reporting transit absorptions. Despite these uncertainties, we also show a possible detection for both a transit and early-ingress absorption in the ion CII 133.5nm lines. If confirmed, this would be the second exoplanet for which an early-ingress absorption is reported. Assuming the HD 189733b magnetosphere to be at the origin of the early absorption, we use the Parker model for the stellar wind and a particle-in-cell code for the magnetosphere to show that its orientation should be deflected ~10-30{\deg} from the planet-star line, while its nose's position should be at least ~16.7 Rp upstream of the exoplanet in order to fit the CII transit light curve. The derived stand-off distance is consistent with a surface magnetic field strength of ~5.3 Gauss for the exoplanet, and a supersonic stellar wind impinging at ~250 km/s, with a temperature of 1.2x10^5K and a density ~6.3x10^6/cm^3 at the planetary orbit, yet the fit is not unique.

MULTIWAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS OF GRB 110731A: GeV EMISSION FROM ONSET TO AFTERGLOW

We report on the multiwavelength observations of the bright, long gamma-ray burst \GRB, by the \Fermi and \Swift observatories, and by the MOA and GROND optical telescopes. The analysis of the prompt phase reveals that \GRB shares many features with bright Large Area Telescope bursts observed by \Fermi during the first 3 years on-orbit: a light curve with short time variability across the whole energy range during the prompt phase, delayed onset of the emission above 100 MeV, extra power law component and temporally extended high-energy emission. In addition, this the first GRB for which simultaneous GeV, X-ray, and optical data are available over multiple epochs beginning just after the trigger time and extending for more than 800 s, allowing temporal and spectral analysis in different epochs that favor emission from the forward shock in a wind-type medium. The observed temporally extended GeV emission is most likely part of the high-energy end of the afterglow emission. Both the single-zone pair transparency constraint for the prompt signal, and the spectral and temporal analysis of the forward shock afterglow emission, independently lead to an estimate of the bulk Lorentz factor of the jet $\Gamma\sim$ 500 - 550.