Southern Great Plain Research Articles

RACORO continental boundary layer cloud investigations: 3. Separation of parameterization biases single‐column model CAM5 simulations of shallow cumulus

AbstractClimatically important low‐level clouds are commonly misrepresented in climate models. The FAst‐physics System TEstbed and Research (FASTER) Project has constructed case studies from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility's Southern Great Plain site during the RACORO aircraft campaign to facilitate research on model representation of boundary‐layer clouds. This paper focuses on using the single‐column Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (SCAM5) simulations of a multi‐day continental shallow cumulus case to identify specific parameterization causes of low‐cloud biases. Consistent model biases among the simulations driven by a set of alternative forcings suggest that uncertainty in the forcing plays only a relatively minor role. In‐depth analysis reveals that the model's shallow cumulus convection scheme tends to significantly under‐produce clouds during the times when shallow cumuli exist in the observations, while the deep convective and stratiform cloud schemes significantly over‐produce low‐level clouds throughout the day. The links between model biases and the underlying assumptions of the shallow cumulus scheme are further diagnosed with the aid of large‐eddy simulations and aircraft measurements, and by suppressing the triggering of the deep convection scheme. It is found that the weak boundary layer turbulence simulated is directly responsible for the weak cumulus activity and the simulated boundary layer stratiform clouds. Increased vertical and temporal resolutions are shown to lead to stronger boundary layer turbulence and reduction of low‐cloud biases.

Különleges formájú jelképes trepanációk a Dél-Alföldről

Különleges formájú jelképes trepanációk a Dél-Alföldről

Újkőkori népességek csonttani leletei a Dél-Alföldről – A makroszkópos megfigyelések alkalmazási lehetőségei történeti népességek demográfiai és patológiai vizsgálata során

The osteological evidence of Neolithic populations from the Southern Great Plain of Hungary – An insight into the potential of macroscopic observations for the demographic and pathological analyses of past populations. This doctoral research provides a unique contribution to our knowledge of the Early Farmers of Europe in general and the Neolithic populations from the Southern Great Plain of Hungary in particular. The potential of macroscopic observations for the demographic and pathological analyses of past populations was demonstrated on this exceptional Neolithic sample, revealing despite the lack of contextual data, the damaged and fragmentary skeletal remains, and the restriction to morphological analyses, a mostly non-violent population prone to infections, with a physically stressful way of life and a diet leading to a high rate of dental disease and (at least occasionally) lack of vitamin C. In particular, the palaeopathological analysis uncovered the oldest cases of tuberculosis in Europe so far, as well as the probable oldest cases of scurvy. In addition, a potential case of leprosy and one of cancer were also discovered, which would be of great significance for the palaeopathological record if these can be confirmed by further studies.

KULTÚRAALAPÍTÁS A MAGYAR KIRÁLYSÁG DÉLI VIDÉKEIN

A vajdasági magyar kultúra történetére koncentrálva jelen dolgozat Margócsy István szintézis-értrelmezésének szellemében kísérli meg a vajdasági magyar kultúrtörténet alapvetésének, a magyar királyság déli vidéke, (a Dél-Alföld) kultúraalapítási csomópontjainak (Csanád, Aracs, Bodrog, Bács, Szerém) a szintetizálását. A Magyar Királyság déli országrészein kialakuló multietnikus közösségek alkotta kultúrkörök kelet és nyugat határán egy sokszínű, traumatizált kulturális entitás aktualitását (ha lehet szó ilyesmiről), továbbélési lehetőségeit is vizsgálja.

The effect of soil moisture and atmospheric conditions on the development of shallow cumulus convection: A coupled large-eddy simulation–land surface model study

Many processes and feedback mechanisms are involved in land-atmosphere interactions that play an important role in determining the boundary layer structure throughout the diurnal cycle. Here, the effect of soil moisture on the development of shallow cumulus convection is investigated using a coupled large-eddy simulation (LES)–land surface model (LSM) framework. First, the coupled model is run for an idealised case based on measurements at the ARM Southern Great Plain site on 21 June 1997 to demonstrate that many characteristics of the subcloud layer turbulence and of the cumulus layer can be modelled successfully. Moreover, an extensive sensitivity study is performed with different amounts of soil moisture and varying atmospheric conditions. Our results support the hypothesis that the response of shallow cumulus clouds due to a change of soil moisture severely depends on the thermal stability conditions. Furthermore, they also point out that the atmospheric moisture content is as important as the static stability in determining the boundary layer characteristics and in particular the fractional cloud cover. The results demonstrate that the soil moisturecloud cover coupling is positive in most of the cases. However, we show that under specific conditions (a less stably stratified moist atmosphere) convective activity and cloud formation is stronger over dry soils, where the principle driving mechanism for cloud development is the boundary layer growth that tends to increase relative humidity by adiabatic cooling of the air at the top of the boundary layer. This leads to a soil moisture cloud cover relationship in which the cloud cover fraction decreases with an increase of soil moisture. Moreover, our findings suggest that in the limiting case of a water saturated soil the mean cloud cover is independent of static stability, but only depends on the vertical integrated atmospheric moisture content.

Mapping QTL for the traits associated with heat tolerance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

BackgroundHigh temperature (heat) stress during grain filling is a major problem in most of the wheat growing areas. Developing heat tolerant cultivars has become a principal breeding goal in the Southern and Central Great Plain areas of the USA. Traits associated with high temperature tolerance can be used to develop heat tolerant cultivars in wheat. The present study was conducted to identify chromosomal regions associated with thylakoid membrane damage (TMD), plasmamembrane damage (PMD), and SPAD chlorophyll content (SCC), which are indicative of high temperature tolerance.ResultsIn this study we have reported one of the first linkage maps in wheat using genotype by sequencing SNP (GBS-SNP) markers to extreme response to post anthesis heat stress conditions. The linkage map was comprised of 972 molecular markers (538 Bin, 258 AFLPs, 175 SSRs, and an EST). The genotypes of the RIL population showed strong variation for TMD, SCC and PMD in both generations (F10 and F9). Composite interval mapping identified five QTL regions significantly associated with response to heat stress. Associations were identified for PMD on chromosomes 7A, 2B and 1D, SCC on 6A, 7A, 1B and 1D and TMD on 6A, 7A and 1D. The variability (R2) explained by these QTL ranged from 11.9 to 30.6% for TMD, 11.4 to 30.8% for SCC, and 10.5 to 33.5% for PMD. Molecular markers Xbarc113 and AFLP AGCTCG-347 on chromosome 6A, Xbarc121 and Xbarc49 on 7A, gwm18 and Bin1130 on 1B, Bin178 and Bin81 on 2B and Bin747 and Bin1546 on 1D were associated with these QTL.ConclusionThe identified QTL can be used for marker assisted selection in breeding wheat for improved heat tolerance in Ventnor or Karl 92 genetic background.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12863-014-0097-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

In situ soil moisture coupled with extreme temperatures: A study based on the Oklahoma Mesonet

AbstractThe relationship between the observed (in situ) soil moisture and the percent hot days (%HD) in Oklahoma is examined using quantile regression. Consistent with results from previous modeling studies and observational studies using precipitation deficits as proxy, soil moisture is found to most strongly impact air temperature in the upper quantile of the %HD distribution. The utility of soil moisture for forecasting extreme heat events in Oklahoma is also assessed. Our results show that %HD can be predicted with reasonable skill using soil moisture anomalies from the previous month. These soil moisture‐based forecasts of extreme temperature events can be used to support public health and water resource planning and mitigation activities in the Southern Great Plain region of the United States.

Development Differences among the Regions of Hungary

The analysis of the regional inequality is essential for a country and it is also an important question whether the inequalities are growing or decreasing. The first, shorter part of the paper provides a number of reflections of the existing methods of the examinations of intertemporal change of spatial differences of various socio-economic indicators, mainly the per capita income. The diverse growth rate of spatial income level of various spatial units (regions, countries, provinces, counties etc.) is a historical-statistical fact which refers to an unrepeatable, unique and particular historical situation. The descriptions of the convergence or divergence of various spatial units in various time periods contribute to our historical knowledge and help to evaluate the effectiveness of regional policy.The subject of the second, larger part of our study is the regional disparities in Hungary. Our approach is mainly historical- descriptive, but by the help of Hungarian case study many theoretical issues will be presented also. The regional comparison includes the economic development of Central Hungary, Central Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia, Southern Transdanubia, Northern Hungary, Northern Great Plain, Southern Great Plain. Our study primarily analyses the macrostructure of the seven Hungarian regions between 1990 and 2010. It includes the social factors of Hungary such as the population allocation, the labour market situation, income and living conditions and some general economic indicators.These indicators are all the essential indices for the analysis of the economy of a country. If we examine a longer period, we can observe the changes whether the inequalities have grown or decreased and how large the changes are. With the help of these indicators we have tried to prove that the regional inequalities have grown in the last twenty years.

Improving a Penman–Monteith evapotranspiration model by incorporating soil moisture control on soil evaporation in semiarid areas

Penman–Monteith (PM) theory has been successfully applied to calculate land surface evapotranspiration (ET) for regional and global scales. However, soil surface resistance, related to soil moisture, is always difficult to determine over a large region, especially in arid or semiarid areas. In this study, we developed an ET estimation algorithm by incorporating soil moisture control, a soil moisture index (SMI) derived from the surface temperature and vegetation index space. We denoted this ET algorithm as the PM-SMI. The PM-SMI algorithm was compared with several other algorithms that calculated soil evaporation using relative humidity, and validated with Bowen ratio measurements at seven sites in the Southern Great Plain (SGP) that were covered by grassland and cropland with low vegetation cover, as well as at three eddy covariance sites from AmeriFlux covered by forest with high vegetation cover. The results show that in comparison with the other methods examined, the PM-SMI algorithm significantly improved the daily ET estimates at SGP sites with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.91 mm/d, bias of 0.33 mm/d, and R2 of 0.77. For three forest sites, the PM-SMI ET estimates are closer to the ET measurements during the non-growing season when compared with the other three algorithms. At all the 10 validation sites, the PM-SMI algorithm performed the best. PM-SMI 8-day ET estimates were also compared with MODIS 8-day ET products (MOD16A2), and the latter showed negligible bias at SGP sites. In contrast, most of the PM-SMI 8-day ET estimates are around the 1:1 line.

Rare Types of Trephination from Hungary Shed New Light on Possible Cross-cultural Connections in the Carpathian Basin

Symbolic or incomplete trephinations are very common in Hungary in 9th–11thcentury AD skeletal series connected to early Hungarians, although they also occur in the preceding Avar Age (6th–9th c. AD) material. During the compilation of a database of regional cranial modification data, the authors found rare almond-shaped symbolic trephinations in both periods, while these had formerly only been reported in Early Hungarian series. In this study, the new almond-shaped lesions are described along with other symbolic trephinations of 14 newly found skulls from the 8th–11thcenturies AD in the Southern Great Plain of Hungary. The authors review the research of the phenomenon. The new findings may strengthen the theory of direct and very close cultural connections of these two ethnic groups, adding a new aspect to the debate over the origin and relationship of Late Avar (late 7th–early 9th c. AD) and Early Hungarian (9th–11th c. AD) populations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mezőgazdasági társas vállalkozások vizsgálata a KSH Cég-Kód-Tár adatbázisa alapján

The enterprises which are involved in agriculture as their main activity represent about 1.7 percent of the Hungarian enterprises. Most of the food industry enterprises can be found in the Southern Great Plain Region, the Northern Great Plain and in Central Hungary (including the capital city). The most popular form of operation is the limited liability company (62%) and the limited partnership (25%). Nearly 90% can be considered as micro or small-sized companies, 55 percent has an annual income under 20 million HUF (-70.0006), 83 percent of the companies operate with less than 10 employees. Most of the firms are involved in growing of cereals (except rice), leguminous crops and oil seeds: support activities for crop production; raising of poultry; growing of vegetables and melons, roots and tubers; raising of swin^pigs; growing of pome fruits and stone fruits; raising of dairy cattle and support activities for animal production. By calculating association coefficients, moderate connection was found between the place of headquarter and the form of operation, the main activity. There was a little bit weaker connection detectable between the place of headquarter and the number of employees or the annual income.

Issues in the economic development and utilization of EU funds in a disadvantaged sub-region of the Southern Great Plain region

The development period between 2007 and 2013 had a historical significance for Hungary as the funds that were provided by the European Union and were supplemented by the domestic and public sectors naturally offered great possibilities for the country’s sub-statistical regions and regions to inspire their development and innovation. In order to use these funds efficiently it is essential to incorporate the developments into the area’s capabilities, to harmonize them and to increase the role of the sub-statistical regions and regions. This study ranks the sub-regions of the Southern Great Plain Region in terms of their economic characteristics and identifies the most disadvantageous ones. Using as an example a specific sub-region it determines the local effects of EU payments with the application of different statistical methods.

Az elszegényedés térökonómiai vizsgálata Dél-Alföldön

A tanulmány a gazdasági válságnak és az azzal együtt járó negatív gazdasági jelenségeknek a hatását vizsgálja a Dél-Alföld régióban élők jövedelmi szegénységére. A jövedelmi szegénység regionális alakulását a keresőtevékenységből élők jövedelmi adataiból képzett szegénységi mérőszámok segítségével mutatja be. Ezt követően azt vizsgálja, hogy a gazdasági teljesítmény változása miként befolyásolja a szegénységi mutatókat. A számítások során beigazolódik, hogy nemcsak adott megye gazdasági növekedése, hanem a környező megyék gazdasági teljesítménye is jelentős hatást gyakorol a szegénységi ráta alakulására. A gazdasági növekedés azonban nem elegendő a szegénység mélységének csökkentésére, tehát a szegénységben élők helyzetének javítására más eszközöket is igénybe kell venni. Végül a területiautokorreláció meglétét, illetve hiányát vizsgálja meg a régióban.
 Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) kód: I32, R12

Comparative analysis of menus in the Northern and Southern Great Plain touristic regions

The background of the study is based on previous studies dealing with the areas of Transdanubia and Central Hungary. Those works have proved the hypothesis of author that local ingredients and dishes represent minimum role on menus. The question is how similar or different the choice of menus of Northern and Southern Great Plain is from the previously examined areas of Hungary.Additional questions may also arise in terms of the usage of local ingredients available near catering units. This piece of work has studied several menus of Northern and Southern Great Plain, Hungary. The material was collected from different types of restaurants, ‘csárda’-s and inns. The methodology was two-tier: data collecting on the one hand, and the detailed examination of differences between the catering units on the other hand: the number of dishes, the right order of dishes, the appearance of local ingredients and dishes, the consideration of seasonality, the usage of different cooking methods and group of dishes. The study reflects the main problems of countryside restaurants in Hungary. Only a minimum number of dishes could be connected to local dishes out of more thousands.All in all, dishes are not as precise and perfect as the ‘old ones’used to be; that is why it is important for every expert to keep traditions alive in daily routines and by way of strategic means too.

Comparative analysis of menus in the Northern and Southern Great Plain touristic regions

The background of the study is based on previous studies dealing with the areas of Transdanubia and Central Hungary. Those works have proved the hypothesis of author that local ingredients and dishes represent minimum role on menus. The question is how similar or different the choice of menus of Northern and Southern Great Plain is from the previously examined areas of Hungary.Additional questions may also arise in terms of the usage of local ingredients available near catering units. This piece of work has studied several menus of Northern and Southern Great Plain, Hungary.The material was collected from different types of restaurants, ‘csárda’-s and inns. The methodology was two-tier: data collecting on the one hand, and the detailed examination of differences between the catering units on the other hand: the number of dishes, the right order of dishes, the appearance of local ingredients and dishes, the consideration of seasonality, the usage of different cooking methods and group of dishes. The study reflects the main problems of countryside restaurants in Hungary. Only a minimum number of dishes could be connected to local dishes out of more thousands.All in all, dishes are not as precise and perfect as the ‘old ones’used to be; that is why it is important for every expert to keep traditions alive in daily routines and by way of strategic means too.

Anti-inflammatory compounds of the traditional Hungarian medicinal plant Centaurea sadleriana

The decoction of the aerial parts of Centaurea sadleriana JANKA (Asteraceae), a plant native to Hungary, is traditionally used to treat the wounds of sheep in the Southern Great Plain region. Phytochemical and pharmacological studies on this plant have not been performed so far. Only we have recently confirmed the wound healing effect of the plant on rats [1]. The objective of the present work was the in vivo and in vitro investigation of the anti-inflammatory effect of C. sadleriana and the isolation and identification of its active compounds. The concentrated methanol extract of aerial parts of C. sadleriana was partitioned using n-hexane and chloroform. These two fractions were further fractionated via VLC and the anti-inflammatory effects of the fractions were studied by in vitro (COX-1, COX-2 and LTB4 formation inhibitory activity) and in vivo (intraperitoneal and oral administration to rats) methods. Some of the fractions gained from the n-hexane extract possessed marked in vitro (70–85% LTB4 formation inhibition, 59–83% COX-1 inhibition, 80–92% COX-2 inhibition at a concentration of 50µg/ml) and in vivo anti-inflammatory effects (25–50% oedema volume reduction). Chromatographic purification (VLC, MPLC, HPLC, preparative TLC, CPC and gel filtration) of the active fractions resulted in the isolation of flavonoids, triterpenoids and lignans. Our present study confirmed the marked anti-inflammatory effect of C. sadleriana which may play role in the ethnomedicinal application of the plant.

Importance of including ammonium sulfate ((NH<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>) aerosols for ice cloud parameterization in GCMs

Abstract. A common deficiency of many cloud-physics parameterizations including the NASA's microphysics of clouds with aerosol-cloud interactions (hereafter called McRAS-AC) is that they simulate lesser (larger) than the observed ice cloud particle number (size). A single column model (SCM) of McRAS-AC physics of the GEOS4 Global Circulation Model (GCM) together with an adiabatic parcel model (APM) for ice-cloud nucleation (IN) of aerosols were used to systematically examine the influence of introducing ammonium sulfate (NH4)2SO4 aerosols in McRAS-AC and its influence on the optical properties of both liquid and ice clouds. First an (NH4)2SO4 parameterization was included in the APM to assess its effect on clouds vis-à-vis that of the other aerosols. Subsequently, several evaluation tests were conducted over the ARM Southern Great Plain (SGP) and thirteen other locations (sorted into pristine and polluted conditions) distributed over marine and continental sites with the SCM. The statistics of the simulated cloud climatology were evaluated against the available ground and satellite data. The results showed that inclusion of (NH4)2SO4 into McRAS-AC of the SCM made a remarkable improvement in the simulated effective radius of ice cloud particulates. However, the corresponding ice-cloud optical thickness increased even more than the observed. This can be caused by lack of horizontal cloud advection not performed in the SCM. Adjusting the other tunable parameters such as precipitation efficiency can mitigate this deficiency. Inclusion of ice cloud particle splintering invoked empirically further reduced simulation biases. Overall, these changes make a substantial improvement in simulated cloud optical properties and cloud distribution particularly over the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the GCM.

Technical Note: Determination of aerosol optical properties by a calibrated sky imager

Abstract. The calibrated ground-based sky imager developed in the Marine Physical Laboratory, the Whole Sky Imager (WSI), has been tested with data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) at the Southern Great Plain site (SGP) to determine optical properties of the atmospheric aerosol. Different neural network-based models calculate the aerosol optical depth (AOD) for three wavelengths using the radiance extracted from the principal plane of sky images from the WSI as input parameters. The models use data from a CIMEL CE318 photometer for training and validation and the wavelengths used correspond to the closest wavelengths in both instruments. The spectral dependency of the AOD, characterized by the Ångström exponent α in the interval 440–870 nm, is also derived using the standard AERONET procedure and also with a neural network-based model using the values obtained with a CIMEL CE318. The deviations between the WSI derived AOD and the AOD retrieved by AERONET are within the nominal uncertainty assigned to the AERONET AOD calculation (±0.01), in 80% of the cases. The explanation of data variance by the model is over 92% in all cases. In the case of α, the deviation is within the uncertainty assigned to the AERONET α (±0.1) in 50% of the cases for the standard method and 84% for the neural network-based model. The explanation of data variance by the model is 63% for the standard method and 77% for the neural network-based model.

Remote sensing of cirrus cloud vertical size profile using MODIS data

This paper describes an algorithm for inferring cirrus cloud top and cloud base effective particle sizes and cloud optical thickness from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 0.645, 1.64 and 2.13, and 3.75 μm band reflectances/radiances. This approach uses a successive minimization method based on a look‐up library of precomputed reflectances/radiances from an adding‐doubling radiative transfer program, subject to corrections for Rayleigh scattering at the 0.645 μm band, above‐cloud water vapor absorption, and 3.75 μm thermal emission. The algorithmic accuracy and limitation of the retrieval method were investigated by synthetic retrievals subject to the instrument noise and the perturbation of input parameters. The retrieval algorithm was applied to three MODIS cirrus scenes over the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program's southern Great Plain site, north central China, and northeast Asia. The reliability of retrieved cloud optical thicknesses and mean effective particle sizes was evaluated by comparison with MODIS cloud products and qualitatively good correlations were obtained for all three cases, indicating that the performance of the vertical sizing algorithm is comparable with the MODIS retrieval program. Retrieved cloud top and cloud base ice crystal effective sizes were also compared with those derived from the collocated ground‐based millimeter wavelength cloud radar for the first case and from the Cloud Profiling Radar onboard CloudSat for the other two cases. Differences between retrieved and radar‐derived cloud properties are discussed in light of assumptions made in the collocation process and limitations in radar remote sensing characteristics.

Információs rendszerek a dél-alföldi élelmiszeripari társas vállalkozásokban

Enterprise managers need reliable and processed information to make good decisions. To process the huge amount of data, computer based information systems are required. The self-made or standard information systems can be classified in many different ways: by the level of integration, level and type of decision support etc. Although computerized information systems are considered to give competitive advantage, it is not always easy to prove the return of investment when introducing such systems. According to the research conducted at bigger food industry enterprises in Hungary's Southern Great Plain region, the use of integrated information systems are widespread. On the other hand, there are a lot of enterprises, where some tasks are accomplished with different small systems that have no connection with each other. The systems are capable of analysing the current situation but are rarely used for forecasting.