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At least 127 records · Page 7

Relationship between solar activities and thunderstorm activities in the Beijing area and the northeast region of China

An analysis of the relationship between the IMF section boundary crossing, solar flares, the sunspot 11 year cycle variation and the thunderstorm index is given, using the superposition epoch method, for data from more than 13,000 thunderstorms from 10 meteorological stations in the Beijing area and the Northeast region during 1957 to 1978. The results show that for some years a correlation exists between the thunderstorm index and the positive IMF section boundary crossing. The thunderstorm index increases obviously within three days near the crossing and on the seventh day after the crossing. The influence of the crossing on thunderstorms is stronger in the first half year than the latter half year. For different classes of solar flares, the influences are not equally obvious. The solar flares which appeared on the west side, especially in the western region (from 0 to 30 deg) have the most obvious influence. There is no discernible correlation between the thunderstorm index and the sunspot eleven-year cycle.

Zhuang, Hong C.↗

The China Clipper - Fast advective transport of radon-rich air from the Asian boundary layer to the upper troposphere near California

A series of upper tropospheric radon concentration measurements made over the eastern Pacific and west coast of the U.S. during the summers of 1983 and 1984 has revealed the occurrence of unexpectedly high radon concentrations for 9 of the 61 measurements. A frequency distribution plot of the set of 61 observations shows a distinct bimodal distribution, with approximately 2/5 of the observations falling close to 1 pCi/SCM, and 3/5 falling in a high concentration mode centered at about 11 pCi/SCM. Trajectory and synoptic analyses for two of the flights on which such high radon concentrations were observed indicate that this radon-rich air originated in the Asian boundary layer, ascended in cumulus updrafts, and was carried eastward in the fast moving air on the anticyclonic side of the upper tropospheric jet. The results suggest that the combination of rapid vertical transport from the surface boundary layer to the upper troposphere, followed by rapid horizontal transport eastward represents an efficient mode of long-transport for other, chemically reactive atmospheric trace constituents.

Kritz, Mark A.↗

Precipitation observed over the South China Sea by the Nimbus-7 Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer during Winter Monex

Mesoscale cloud clusters near the northwestern coast of Borneo were observed by the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) on three occasions during the Winter Monsoon Experiment in December 1978. A nondimensional form of the SMMR 37 GHz polarization difference is introduced and used to identify regions of precipitation, and these are compared with visible and infrared imagery from the GMS-1 geostationary satellite. For two of the three cloud cluster cases, quantitative comparisons are made between nearly simultaneous SMMR observations and reflectivity observations made by the MIT WR-73 digital weather radar at Bintulu. Though limited in scope, these represent the first known direct comparisons between digital radar-derived rain parameters and satellite passive microwave observations of near-equatorial precipitation. SMMR 37 GHz observations are found to be much better indicators of fractional coverage of each SMMR footprint by rain than of average rain rate within the footprint. Total area coverage by precipitation is estimated for all three clusters using this result.

Petty, Grant W.↗

Analysis of gravity, magnetic, and seismic reflection data from Tibet and neighboring regions of China

Our principal effort was devoted to completing the analysis of the new gravity data over the Tibet plateau and its margins. A paper was completed discussing the statistical relationship between gravity and topography over the plateau. A paper on the structure of the Tarim Basin as constrained by Love wave dispersion is also under completion. This research project has also supported research on the newly-released gravity data from the former Soviet Union.

Mcnutt, Marcia↗

International Symposium on Microgravity Science and Application (ISMSA), Beijing, China, May 10-13, 1993

Papers at this conference on Microgravity Science and Technology concerned fluid science and biotechnology. Some representative titles include the following: Hydrodynamic Instabilities in Thermocapillary Flow; Marangoni Convection in Immiscible Double Liquid Layers; Note on the Instability of Capillary Jet with Thermocapillarity; Residual Gravity Jitter Effects on Fluid Processes; Responsive Motion of Bubbles to Periodic g-jitter; and Protein Crystallization in Space.

Greger, Gottfried↗

Meteorite falls in China and some related human casualty events

Statistics of witnessed and recovered meteorite falls found in Chinese historical texts for the period from 700 B.C. to A.D. 1920 are presented. Several notable features can be seen in the binned distribution as a function of time. An apparent decrease in the number of meteorite reports in the 18th century is observed. An excess of observed meteorite falls in the period from 1840 to 1880 seems to correspond to a similar excess in European data. A chi sq probability test suggest that the association between the two data sets are real. Records of human casualities and structural damage resulting from meteorite falls are also given. A calculation based on the number of casualty events in the Chinese meteorite records suggests that the probability of a meteroite striking a human is far greater than previous estimates. However, it is difficult to verify the accuracy of the reported casualty events.

Yau, Kevin↗

Mapping Rice Production in China with AVHRR Imagery

The study of rice agriculture is necessary for both the importance of rice as a vital food source and because of the fact that cultivating it has an unfortunate byproduct, namely methane gas. As a food source, rice is a staple for a large majority of the world's population, especially in Asia. Because the populations of many Asian nations are increasing at rapid rates, the production of rice will need to similarly increase. In 1989, it was estimated that the demand for rice would increase by 65% by the year 2019. Rice crops are considered to be one of the primary anthropogenic sources of methane gas. A reason for concern is that this gas is a so-called "greenhouse" trace gas and given its increasing levels in the atmosphere, is thought to contribute to the suspected global warming phenomenon. Some estimate that methane may contribute up to 20% to the global warming effect. Trace gas emissions from anthropogenic sources is an issue that generates great worldwide interest because of the fact that mankind is very likely affecting the current and future climate in potentially negative ways. In an effort to better understand these effects, scientists and engineers are conducting research on all of the varied fronts which relate to climate change and biosphere/atmosphere interactions. The study of global warming through increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases is one area which has received much media and scientific attention. Research fueled by debates on this topic is being conducted on numerous, interrelated fronts in an effort to better understand the complex relationship between human activities and the earth's climate. The research ranges from attempting to verify if the observed data even supports the existence of an anthropogenically generated global-warming phenomenon, to identification of sources and sinks of the trace gases, to measuring the source strengths, to studies which focus on modeling the processes which generate the gases, and finally, to trying to project their impact on the global climatic system. Some of the more commonly known sources of greenhouse gases are related to industry and transportation. Carbon dioxide, CO2, from automobile emissions is one such example. Lesser known are sources from natural and cultivated vegetation, such as the methane, CH4, resulting from rice cropping. While the concentration of atmospheric methane is significantly less than that of carbon dioxide, CH4 has been estimated to have up to 32 times the insulating capability of carbon dioxide, making it an important gas to monitor. The remainder of this chapter will provide some additional background information on the effects of atmospheric methane, and the role that rice agriculture plays as a source in the methane budget. This will be followed by a brief description of efforts to model this source of atmospheric methane. Finally, this chapter will end with a statement of the hypotheses of this thesis, at which time a description of the information contained in the rest of this document will be provided.

Paliouras, Eleni J.↗

Multi-Discipline Analytical Modeling of a Cracked Disk in a Turbine Engine: Applied to TF41 Experiment at China Lake

The investigated crack detection method is based on the fact that the development of a disk crack results in a distorted strain field within the component. As a result, a minute deformation in the disk's geometry as well as a change in the system's center of mass occurs. Finite element analyses were conducted concerning a notched disk in order to define the sensitivity of the method. The notch was used to simulate an actual crack and will be the method utilized for upcoming experiments. Various notch sizes were studied and the geometric deformations and shifts of center of mass were documented as a function of rotational speed. In addition, a rotordynamic analysis of a two-bearing, disk and shaft system was conducted. The results of the FE analyses of the disk indicated that the overall changes in the disk's geometry and center of mass were rather small. Comparing the 9.25 in. disk's maximum radial displacements due centrifugal forces at 8000 RPM between an un-notched and a 0.962 in. notched disk, the difference was on the order of 0.00014 in. The shift in center of mass was also of this magnitude. The next step involves running experiments to verify the analysis.

Sawicki, Jerzy T.↗