Strong Scale Dependence Research Articles

Intensification of submesoscale frontogenesis and forward energy cascade driven by upper-ocean convergent flows

Upper-ocean fronts are an important component of the global climate system, regulating both the oceanic energy cycle and material transports. In the common paradigm, upper-ocean fronts are generated by frontogenesis at the mesoscale (20–300 km), driven predominantly by confluent horizontal flows initiated by a background straining field. However, the mechanisms by which this frontogenesis extends down to and influences the submesoscale (0.2–20 km), which dominates vertical transports in the ocean, are still understudied. Here, we provide direct observational evidence that submesoscale frontogenesis, defined as the rate at which submesoscale buoyancy gradients intensify, is closely linked to convergent flows. Analysis of year-long measurements by a mooring array in the North Atlantic indicates that both the upper-ocean frontogenetic rate and the horizontal convergence exhibit strong seasonality and scale dependence, with larger magnitudes in winter and at smaller horizontal scales (down to at least 2 km). The frontogenetic rate is found to correlate more strongly with horizontal convergence as the scale decreases, suggesting that convergent flows are the main driver of submesoscale frontogenesis. Crucially, a rapid forward cascade of kinetic energy and enhanced vertical velocities preferentially occur during periods of submesoscale frontogenesis. Our findings highlight a mechanism underpinning the key role of submesoscale fronts in the oceanic kinetic energy cascade and as a focus of vertical transports, and call for a parameterization of such effects in climate-scale ocean models.

Scaling artificial heat islands to enhance precipitation in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract. Potential for regional climate engineering is gaining interest as a means of solving regional environmental problems like water scarcity and high temperatures. In the hyper-arid United Arab Emirates (UAE), water scarcity is reaching a crisis point due to high consumption and over-extraction and is being exacerbated by climate change. To counteract this problem, the UAE has conducted cloud-seeding operations and intensive desalination for many years but is now considering other means of increasing water resources. Very large “artificial black surfaces” (ABSs), made of black mesh, black-painted, or solar photovoltaic (PV) panels have been proposed as a means of enhancing convective precipitation via surface heating and amplification of vertical motion. Under the influence of the daily UAE sea breeze, this can lead to convection initiation under the right conditions. Currently it is not known how strong this rainfall enhancement would be or what scale of black surface would need to be employed. This study simulates the impacts at different ABS scales using the WRF-Noah-MP model chain and investigates impacts on precipitation quantities and underlying convective processes. Simulations of five square ABSs of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 km sizes were made on four 1 d cases, each for a period of 24 h. These were compared with a Control model run, with no land use change, to quantify impacts. The ABSs themselves were simulated by altering land cover static data and prescribing a unique set of land surface parameters like albedo and roughness length. On all 4 d, rainfall is enhanced by low-albedo surfaces of 20 km or larger, primarily through a reduction of convection inhibition and production of convergence lines and buoyant updrafts. The 10 km square ABS had very little impact. From 20 km upwards there is a strong scale dependency, with ABS size influencing the strength of convective processes and volume of rainfall. In terms of rainfall increases, 20 km produces a mean rainfall increase over the Control simulation of 571 616 m3 d−1, with the other sizes as follows: 30 km (∼ 1 million m3 d−1), 40 km (∼ 1.5 million m3 d−1), and 50 km (∼ 2.3 million m3 d−1). If we assume that such rainfall events happen only on 10 d in a year, this would equate to respective annual water supplies for > 31 000, > 50 000, > 79 000, and > 125 000 extra people yr−1 at UAE per capita consumption rates. Thus, artificial heat islands made from black panels or solar PV offer a means of enhancing rainfall in arid regions like the UAE and should be made a high priority for further research.

Stop comparing resummation methods

I argue that the consistency of any resummation method can be established if the method follows a power counting derived from a hierarchy of scales. I.e. whether it encodes a top-down effective field theory. This resolves much confusion over which resummation method to use once an approximation scheme is settled on. And if no hierarchy of scales exists, you should be wary about resumming. I give evidence from the study of phase transitions in thermal field theory, where adopting a consistent power-counting scheme and performing a strict perturbative expansion dissolves many common problems of such studies: gauge dependence, strong renormalization scale dependence, the Goldstone boson catastrophe, IR divergences, imaginary potentials, mirages (illusory barriers), perturbative breakdown, and linear terms.

Time-domain source parameter estimation ofMw 3–7 earthquakes in Japan from a large database of moment-rate functions

SUMMARYTime-domain analyses of seismic waveforms have revealed diverse source complexity in large earthquakes (Mw > 7). However, source characteristics of small earthquakes have been studied by assuming a simple rupture pattern on the frequency domain. This study utilizes high-quality seismic network data from Japan to systematically address the source complexities and radiated energies of Mw 3–7 earthquakes on the time domain. We first determine the apparent moment-rate functions (AMRFs) of the earthquakes using the empirical Green's functions. Some of the AMRFs show multiple peaks, suggesting complex ruptures at multiple patches. We then estimate the radiated energies (ER) of 1736 events having more than ten reliable AMRFs. The scaled energy (eR = ER/M0) does not strongly depend on the seismic moment (M0), focal mechanisms, or depth. The median value of eR is 3.7 × 10−5, which is comparable to those of previous studies; however, eR varies by approximately one order of magnitude among earthquakes. We measure the source complexity based on the radiated energy enhancement factor (REEF). The values of REEF differ among earthquakes, implying diverse source complexity. The values of REEF do not show strong scale dependence for Mw 3–7 earthquakes, suggesting that the source diversity of smaller earthquakes is similar to that of larger earthquakes at their representative spatial scales. Applying a simple spectral model (e.g. the ω2-source model) to complex ruptures may produce substantial estimation errors in source parameters.

On the Scale‐Dependence of Fault Surface Roughness

AbstractDefining roughness as the ratio of height to length, the standard approach to characterize amplitudes of single fault, joint and fracture surfaces is to measure average height as a function of profile length. Empirically, this roughness depends strongly on scale. The ratio is approximately 0.01 at a few mm but 10× smaller at a few tens of meters. Surfaces are rougher at small scales. However, these conclusions are metric‐dependent. If instead height is averaged over wavelength, roughness is nearly Brown spatial noise, having almost scale‐independent apparent surface height to wavelength ratio. The small deviation from scale‐independence is of the opposite sense than found using the standard metric; surfaces are slightly rougher at long wavelengths. Some natural surfaces may be Brownian within the measurement uncertainties. These contradictions are curiosities of surfaces that have Hurst exponents between 0.5 and 1, as natural fault surfaces do. The wavelength‐based analysis of roughness and how it changes with scale are straight‐forward; a normalized Fourier transform approximately preserves amplitude and its scale dependence in the wavelength domain. Among the conclusions from reconsideration of scale dependence are that the scale dependence is weak and much smaller than that of other fault and shear zone properties. Background and aftershock seismicity, jogs and step‐overs indicate strong localization (smoothing) with slip and scale. The lack of strong scale dependence to surface roughness suggests it is not the dominant control on brittle shear zone evolution.

Turbulent Regimes in Collisions of 3D Alfvén-wave Packets

Using three-dimensional gyrofluid simulations, we revisit the problem of Alfvén-wave (AW) collisions as building blocks of the Alfvénic turbulent cascade and their interplay with magnetic reconnection at magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) scales. Depending on the large-scale value of the nonlinearity parameter χ 0 (the ratio between the AW linear propagation time and nonlinear turnover time), different regimes are observed. For strong nonlinearities (χ 0 ∼ 1), turbulence is consistent with a dynamically aligned, critically balanced cascade—fluctuations exhibit a scale-dependent alignment , resulting in a spectrum and spectral anisotropy. At weaker nonlinearities (small χ 0), a spectral break marking the transition between a large-scale weak regime and a small-scale tearing-mediated range emerges, implying that dynamic alignment occurs also for weak nonlinearities. At χ 0 < 1 the alignment angle shows a stronger scale dependence than in the χ 0 ∼ 1 regime, namely at χ 0 ∼ 0.5, and at χ 0 ∼ 0.1. Dynamic alignment in the weak regime also modifies the large-scale spectrum, scaling approximately as for χ 0 ∼ 0.5 and as for χ 0 ∼ 0.1. A phenomenological theory of dynamically aligned turbulence at weak nonlinearities that can explain these spectra and the transition to the tearing-mediated regime is provided; at small χ 0, the strong scale dependence of the alignment angle combines with the increased lifetime of turbulent eddies to allow tearing to onset and mediate the cascade at scales that can be larger than those predicted for a critically balanced cascade by several orders of magnitude. Such a transition to tearing-mediated turbulence may even supplant the usual weak-to-strong transition.

Optical selection bias and projection effects in stacked galaxy cluster weak lensing

ABSTRACT Cosmological constraints from current and upcoming galaxy cluster surveys are limited by the accuracy of cluster mass calibration. In particular, optically identified galaxy clusters are prone to selection effects that can bias the weak lensing mass calibration. We investigate the selection bias of the stacked cluster lensing signal associated with optically selected clusters, using clusters identified by the redMaPPer algorithm in the Buzzard simulations as a case study. We find that at a given cluster halo mass, the residuals of redMaPPer richness and weak lensing signal are positively correlated. As a result, for a given richness selection, the stacked lensing signal is biased high compared with what we would expect from the underlying halo mass probability distribution. The cluster lensing selection bias can thus lead to overestimated mean cluster mass and biased cosmology results. We show that the lensing selection bias exhibits a strong scale dependence and is approximately 20–60 per cent for ΔΣ at large scales. This selection bias largely originates from spurious member galaxies within ±20–60 $h^{-1}\, \rm Mpc$ along the line of sight, highlighting the importance of quantifying projection effects associated with the broad redshift distribution of member galaxies in photometric cluster surveys. While our results qualitatively agree with those in the literature, accurate quantitative modelling of the selection bias is needed to achieve the goals of cluster lensing cosmology and will require synthetic catalogues covering a wide range of galaxy–halo connection models.

Biogeographic Patterns and Elevational Differentiation of Sedimentary Bacterial Communities across River Systems in China.

Bacterial biodiversity is tightly correlated with ecological functions of natural systems, and bacterial rare and abundant subcommunities make distinct contributions to ecosystem functioning. However, the biogeographic pattern and elevational differentiation of sedimentary bacterial diversity have rarely been studied in cross-river systems at a continental scale. This study analyzed the biogeographic patterns and elevational differentiations of the entire, abundant, and rare bacterial (sub)communities as well as the underlying mechanisms across nine rivers that span distinct geographic regions and large elevational gradients in China. We found that bacterial rare and abundant subcommunities shared similar biogeographic patterns and both demonstrated strong distance-decay relationships, despite their distinct community compositions. However, both null model and variation partitioning analysis results showed that while environmental selection governed rare subcommunity assemblies (contribution: 51.9%), dispersal limitation (62.7%) controlled the assembly of abundant subcommunities. The disparity was associated with the broader threshold width of abundant taxa to water temperature and pH variations than rare taxa. Elevation-induced bacterial composition variations were more evident than latitude-induced ones. Some specific operational taxonomic units (OTUs), representing 16.4% of the total sequences, much preferentially and even exclusively lived in high-elevation or low-elevation habitats and demonstrated some adaptations to local conditions. Greater positive: negative link ratios in bacterial co-occurrence networks of low elevations than high elevations (P < 0.05) partly resulted from their harboring higher organic carbon: nitrogen ratios. Together, this study draws a biogeographic picture of sedimentary bacterial communities in a continental-scale riverine system and highlights the importance of incorporating elevation-associated patterns of microbial diversity into riverine microbial ecology studies. IMPORTANCE Bacterial diversity is tightly correlated with the nutrient cycling of river systems. However, previous studies on bacterial diversity are mainly constrained to one single river system, although microbial biogeography and its drivers exhibit strong spatial scale dependence. Moreover, elevational differentiations of bacterial communities across river systems have also rarely been studied. Bacterial rare and abundant subcommunities make distinct contributions to ecosystem functioning, and they share similar biogeographic patterns in some environments but not in others. Therefore, we explored the biogeography of the entire, abundant, and rare (sub)communities in nine rivers that cover a wide space range and large elevational gradient in China. Our results revealed that bacterial rare and abundant subcommunities shared similar biogeographic patterns but their assembly mechanisms were much different in these rivers. Moreover, bacterial communities showed evident differentiations between high elevations and low elevations. These findings will facilitate a better understanding of bacterial diversity features in river systems.

Road map through the desert with scalars

In the context of the gauge coupling unification, we present a comprehensive analysis of the extensions of the Standard Model with vector-like fermions and scalars. We find 145 models that satisfy the unification condition, which are distinguishable by the number of new particles in the spectrum and by their transformation properties under the gauge symmetry group of the Standard Model. For all models we derive lower bounds on the exotic fermion and scalar masses, stemming from the measurement of the strong gauge coupling scale dependence, from the heavy stable charged particle searches, and from the electroweak precision tests. We also discuss the potential of testing the unification scenarios at the future 100 TeV collider and in the proton decay experiments. We show that many models can already be excluded based on the current data, while many others will be entirely probed in the coming years.

Identifying ecosystem service bundles and the spatiotemporal characteristics of trade-offs and synergies in coal mining areas with a high groundwater table

Understanding the spatiotemporal characteristics of the interactions among ecosystem services (ESs) is a crucial but challenging task for maintaining human well-being and achieving sustainable regional development. However, understanding the spatiotemporal interactions of multiple ESs at different grid scales and within different ecosystem services bundles (ESBs) is relatively limited, particularly in coal mining areas with a high groundwater table (CMA-HGT) where the land use has drastically changed as a result of mining subsidence. This study examines CMA-HGT in Huainan, aiming to identify ESBs and explore the spatiotemporal characteristics of trade-offs/synergies among ESs at distinct grid scales and ESBs. Five ESs relating to provisioning, regulation, and maintenance, including food production (FP), water yield (WY), soil conservation (SC), carbon sequestration (CS), and biodiversity maintenance (BM) were quantified using different biological models during the period 1987–2018. Spatiotemporal trade-offs/synergies among ESs were explored using correlation analysis and significance tests at different scales. The spatiotemporal distributions and main characteristics of distinct ESBs were identified using a self-organizing map (SOM) and Calinski criterion. The interactions among ESs in different ESBs were detected. Relationships between ESs and land use or coal production (CP) were explored using redundancy analysis (RDA). The results demonstrate that spatiotemporal trade-offs were generally observed among provisioning services at distinct grid scales and within different ESBs. Meanwhile, spatiotemporal synergies generally appeared between regulation and maintenance services at distinct grid scales. Interactions among ESs presented temporal dynamic, spatial heterogeneity and scales dependence due to the relationships of FP–BM or SC–CS had changed with the increasing of research scales. Three ESBs—ESB1, ESB2, and ESB3—were identified at a grid of scale of 1000 m, and their spatial locations varied across different periods, but the areas of variation covered less than 24% of the study area. BM was synergistic with FP, WY, SC, and CS; while WY had only a trade-off relationship with FP in ESB1. WY had trade-off relationships with FP, SC, CS, and BM in ESB2. In ESB3, BM was synergistic with FP, SC, and CS; while it was in a trade-off relationship with WY. Cultivated land, construction land and CP were the main driving factors in the WSA, ESB1, ESB2 and ESB3. There was a certain degree of change in the relationships between ESs and land use/CP, and the relationships among ESs at different grid scales and ESBs over time and space, which indicates strong regional heterogeneity and scale dependence. These results can provide detailed guidelines for formulating spatially targeted ecosystem management, restoration programs and ES payment policies.

Radial excitation of light mesons and the γγ*→π0 transition form factor

We investigate radial excitation of the quark-antiquark pair in the ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}$ meson and its effects on the $\ensuremath{\gamma}{\ensuremath{\gamma}}^{*}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}$ transition form factor in the framework of light cone perturbative QCD. The existing constraints on the light cone wave function of the lowest Fock state $|q\overline{q}⟩$ in the ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}$ meson allow a sizeable radial excitation of the quark-antiquark pair. We construct the light cone wave function for the quark-antiquark pair in the first radially excited state (the 2S state) using a simple harmonic oscillator potential. The distribution amplitude obtained for the 2S state has two nodes in $x$ at low scale of $Q$ and thereby has a much strong scale dependence than the 1S state. Contributions from this radial excitation to the $\ensuremath{\gamma}{\ensuremath{\gamma}}^{*}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}$ transition form factor exhibit different ${Q}^{2}$-dependence behavior from the ground state and thus can modify the prediction for the transition form factor in the medium-large region of ${Q}^{2}$.

Prediction of adhesion between randomly rough surfaces by order statistics

Understanding the adhesion between rough surfaces has practical significance. We derive a simple analytical formula on the basis of the classic order statistics to predict the interfacial binding energy between rough surfaces. It is found that the strong length scale dependence of adhesion ranging from the nominal size scale down to any artificially defined cutoff length scale in constructing a rough profile can be considered as a purely statistic performance resulted from different samplings and can be further described by a single parameter called sampling number. We compare the formula predictions with the experimental results and demonstrate that our simple formula holds its accuracy especially for the Derjaguin–Muller–Toporov adhesion case.

A novel determination of non-perturbative contributions to Bjorken sum rule

Based on the operator product expansion, the perturbative and nonperturbative contributions to the polarized Bjorken sum rule (BSR) can be separated conveniently, and the nonperturbative one can be fitted via a proper comparison with the experimental data. In the paper, we first give a detailed study on the pQCD corrections to the leading-twist part of BSR. Basing on the accurate pQCD prediction of BSR, we then give a novel fit of the non-perturbative high-twist contributions by comparing with JLab data. Previous pQCD corrections to the leading-twist part derived under conventional scale-setting approach still show strong renormalization scale dependence. The principle of maximum conformality (PMC) provides a systematic and strict way to eliminate conventional renormalization scale-setting ambiguity by determining the accurate alpha _s-running behavior of the process with the help of renormalization group equation. Our calculation confirms the PMC prediction satisfies the standard renormalization group invariance, e.g. its fixed-order prediction does scheme-and-scale independent. In low Q^2-region, the effective momentum of the process is small and in order to derive a reliable prediction, we adopt four low-energy alpha _s models to do the analysis, i.e. the model based on the analytic perturbative theory (APT), the Webber model (WEB), the massive pQCD model (MPT) and the model under continuum QCD theory (CON). Our predictions show that even though the high-twist terms are generally power suppressed in high Q^2-region, they shall have sizable contributions in low and intermediate Q^2 domain. Based on the more accurate scheme-and-scale independent pQCD prediction, our newly fitted results for the high-twist corrections at Q^2=1;mathrm{GeV}^2 are, f_2^{p-n}|_{mathrm{APT}}=-0.120pm 0.013, f_2^{p-n}|_mathrm{WEB}=-0.081pm 0.013, f_2^{p-n}|_{mathrm{MPT}}=-0.128pm 0.013 and f_2^{p-n}|_{mathrm{CON}}=-0.139pm 0.013; mu _6|_mathrm{APT}=0.003pm 0.000, mu _6|_{mathrm{WEB}}=0.001pm 0.000, mu _6|_mathrm{MPT}=0.003pm 0.000 and mu _6|_{mathrm{CON}}=0.002pm 0.000, respectively, where the errors are squared averages of those from the statistical and systematic errors from the measured data.

The P-wave charmonium annihilation into two photons chi _{c0, c2}rightarrow gamma gamma with high-order QCD corrections

In this paper, we present a new analysis on the P-wave charmonium annihilation into two photons up to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections by using the principle of maximum conformality (PMC). The conventional perturbative QCD prediction shows strong scale dependence and deviates largely from the BESIII measurements. After applying the PMC, we obtain a more precise scale-invariant pQCD prediction, which also agrees with the BESIII measurements within errors, i.e. R={Gamma _{gamma gamma }(chi _{c2})} /{Gamma _{gamma gamma }(chi _{c0})}=0.246pm 0.013, where the error is for Delta alpha _s(M_tau )=pm 0.016. By further considering the color-octet contributions, even the central value can be in agreement with the data. This shows the importance of a correct scale-setting approach. We also give a prediction for the ratio involving chi _{b0, b2} rightarrow gamma gamma , which could be tested in future Belle II experiment.

Non‐stationary drivers on fish sampling efforts in Brazilian freshwaters

AbstractAimClosing knowledge gaps in species taxonomy and distribution (i.e. Linnean and Wallacean shortfalls, respectively) require spatially distributed high‐quality data. However, studies on terrestrial taxa have shown that occurrence data are biased owing to higher sampling efforts towards areas with greater accessibility, research infrastructure and attractiveness. Here, we tested whether these biasing factors are also important drivers of freshwater fish species research by assessing fishes’ sampling efforts in Brazil, a continental‐sized and megadiverse country. We hypothesized that the influence of biasing factors is scale‐dependent, with differential effects across regions, that is that they present non‐stationarity.LocationBrazil.MethodsWe modelled sampling events of fish (gathered from online databases) as a function of accessibility (population density, distance from access routes and density of access routes), availability of research infrastructure (distance from research centres) and attractiveness of protected areas (distance from protected areas), by using a traditional stationary model (ordinary least square models—OLS) and a model taking into account non‐stationarity (geographically weighted regression—GWR).ResultsWe recorded 43,538 sampling events distributed across Brazil. Freshwater fish samplings were spatially biased with a tendency for major efforts to be concentrated in sites with a higher density of access routes, population and nearness to research centres and protected areas. However, GWR models performed better than the OLS model, revealing the non‐stationarity of the effects of predictors in explaining the number of sampling events.Main conclusionsOvercoming Linnean and Wallacean shortfalls for freshwater fish species in megadiverse regions such as Brazil can be aided by financially supporting the sampling efforts in less accessible and less populated sites farther from research centres and well‐studied protected areas. However, the source of biasing has strong scale dependency, so that reducing a specific source of bias is not expected to have the same effectiveness in all areas.

Cross‐Scale Seismic Anisotropy Analysis in Metamorphic Rocks From the COSC‐1 Borehole in the Scandinavian Caledonides

AbstractMetamorphic and deformed rocks in thrust zones show particularly high seismic anisotropy causing challenges for seismic imaging and interpretation. A good example is the Seve Nappe Complex in central Sweden, an old exhumed orogenic thrust zone that is characterized by a strong but incoherent seismic reflectivity and considerable seismic anisotropy. However, only little is known about their origin in relation to composition and structural influences on measurements at different seismic scales. Here, we present a new integrative study of cross‐scale seismic anisotropy analyses combining mineralogical composition, microstructural analyses, and seismic laboratory experiments from the COSC‐1 borehole, which sampled a 2.5‐km‐deep section of metamorphic rocks deformed in an orogenic root now preserved in the Lower Seve Nappe. While there is strong crystallographic preferred orientation in most samples in general, variations in anisotropy depend mostly on bulk mineral composition and dominant core lithology as shown by a strong correlation between these. This relationship enables to identify three distinct seismic anisotropy facies providing a continuous anisotropy profile along the borehole. Moreover, comparison of laboratory seismic measurements and electron‐backscatter diffraction data reveals a strong scale dependence, which is more pronounced in the highly deformed, heterogeneous samples. This highlights the need for comprehensive cross‐validation of microscale anisotropy analyses with additional lithological data when integrating seismic anisotropy over seismic scales.

Accounting for body mass effects in the estimation of field metabolic rates from body acceleration.

Dynamic body acceleration (DBA), measured through animal-attached tags, has emerged as a powerful method for estimating field metabolic rates of free-ranging individuals. Following respirometry to calibrate oxygen consumption rate (ṀO2) with DBA under controlled conditions, predictive models can be applied to DBA data collected from free-ranging individuals. However, laboratory calibrations are generally performed on a relatively narrow size range of animals, which may introduce biases if predictive models are applied to differently sized individuals in the field. Here, we tested the mass dependence of the ṀO2-DBA relationship to develop an experimental framework for the estimation of field metabolic rates when organisms differ in size. We performed respirometry experiments with individuals spanning one order of magnitude in body mass (1.74-17.15 kg) and used a two-stage modelling process to assess the intraspecific scale dependence of the ṀO2-DBA relationship and incorporate such dependencies into the coefficients of ṀO2predictive models. The final predictive model showed scale dependence; the slope of the ṀO2-DBA relationship was strongly allometric (M1.55), whereas the intercept term scaled closer to isometry (M1.08). Using bootstrapping and simulations, we evaluated the performance of this coefficient-corrected model against commonly used methods of accounting for mass effects on the ṀO2-DBA relationship and found the lowest error and bias in the coefficient-corrected approach. The strong scale dependence of the ṀO2-DBA relationship indicates that caution must be exercised when models developed using one size class are applied to individuals of different sizes.

Trait means or variance-What determines plant species' local and regional occurrence in fragmented dry grasslands?

One of the few laws in ecology is that communities consist of few common and many rare taxa. Functional traits may help to identify the underlying mechanisms of this community pattern, since they correlate with different niche dimensions. However, comprehensive studies are missing that investigate the effects of species mean traits (niche position) and intraspecific trait variability (ITV, niche width) on species abundance. In this study, we investigated fragmented dry grasslands to reveal trait‐occurrence relationships in plants at local and regional scales. We predicted that (a) at the local scale, species occurrence is highest for species with intermediate traits, (b) at the regional scale, habitat specialists have a lower species occurrence than generalists, and thus, traits associated with stress‐tolerance have a negative effect on species occurrence, and (c) ITV increases species occurrence irrespective of the scale. We measured three plant functional traits (SLA = specific leaf area, LDMC = leaf dry matter content, plant height) at 21 local dry grassland communities (10 m × 10 m) and analyzed the effect of these traits and their variation on species occurrence. At the local scale, mean LDMC had a positive effect on species occurrence, indicating that stress‐tolerant species are the most abundant rather than species with intermediate traits (hypothesis 1). We found limited support for lower specialist occurrence at the regional scale (hypothesis 2). Further, ITV of LDMC and plant height had a positive effect on local occurrence supporting hypothesis 3. In contrast, at the regional scale, plants with a higher ITV of plant height were less frequent. We found no evidence that the consideration of phylogenetic relationships in our analyses influenced our findings. In conclusion, both species mean traits (in particular LDMC) and ITV were differently related to species occurrence with respect to spatial scale. Therefore, our study underlines the strong scale‐dependency of trait‐abundance relationships.

On the Nature of F‐Region Bottom‐Type Echoing Layer Over Gadanki

AbstractBottom‐type echoing layers observed from Gadanki are presented and analyzed. The analysis is based on observations made using a substantial database of the 30 MHz Gadanki Ionospheric Radar Interferometer (GIRI) during 2017–2019, collocated digisonde observations, and a few days of overlapping volume observations made using the GIRI and the 53 MHz Advanced Indian MST Radar (AIR) . The echoes commence well before the E‐ and F‐region sunsets and last as late as 23:00 Local Time. The echoing layers occur in the height range of 220–300 km with a thickness of 10–15 km and the Doppler spectra are narrow with spectral width confined to 10 m s−1. The echoing layers are very common during the entire observational period and do not show any noticeable seasonal dependence. The zonal velocities of the irregularities responsible for the radar echoes are close to zero irrespective of the height of the echoing region. The echoes are stronger at 30 MHz than at 53 MHz indicating strong Bragg scale dependence. The height of the echoing layer agrees very well with the height of the F‐region peak electron density (hmF2). Also, early commencement of the echoing layer is found to be associated with low hmF2 and corresponding high electron density (foF2). While the results indicate toward the wind‐driven interchange instability as their origin, the early onset of the echoing layer and its relationship with the background ionospheric parameters call for explanation. The results are discussed in the light of current understanding on the bottom‐type echoing layer.

Dynamic Phase Alignment in Inertial Alfvén Turbulence.

In weakly collisional plasma environments with sufficiently low electron beta, Alfvénic turbulence transforms into inertial Alfvénic turbulence at scales below the electron skin depth, k_{⊥}d_{e}≳1. We argue that, in inertial Alfvénic turbulence, both energy and generalized kinetic helicity exhibit direct cascades. We demonstrate that the two cascades are compatible due to the existence of a strong scale dependence of the phase alignment angle between velocity and magnetic field fluctuations, with the phase alignment angle scaling as cosα_{k}∝k_{⊥}^{-1}. The kinetic and magnetic energy spectra scale as ∝k_{⊥}^{-5/3} and ∝k_{⊥}^{-11/3}, respectively. As a result of the dual direct cascade, the generalized helicity spectrum scales as ∝k_{⊥}^{-5/3}, implying progressive balancing of the turbulence as the cascade proceeds to smaller scales in the k_{⊥}d_{e}≫1 range. Turbulent eddies exhibit a phase-space anisotropy k_{∥}∝k_{⊥}^{5/3}, consistent with critically balanced inertial Alfvén fluctuations. Our results may be applicable to a variety of geophysical, space, and astrophysical environments, including the Earth's magnetosheath and ionosphere, solar corona, and nonrelativistic pair plasmas, as well as to strongly rotating nonionized fluids.