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At least 1,747 records · Page 97

Radiometer system requirements for microwave remote sensing from satellites

An area of increasing interest is the establishment of a significant research program in microwave remote sensing from satellites, particularly geosynchronous satellites. Due to the relatively small resolution cell sizes, a severe requirement is placed on beam efficiency specifications for the radiometer antenna. Geostationary satellite microwave radiometers could continuously monitor several important geophysical parameters over the world's oceans. These parameters include the columnar content of atmospheric liquid water (both cloud and rain) and water vapor, air temperature profiles, and possibly sea surface temperature. Two principle features of performance are of concern. The first is the ability of the radiometer system to resolve absolute temperatures with a very small absolute error, a capability that depends on radiometer system stability, on frequency bandwidth, and on footprint dwell time. The second is the ability of the radiometer to resolve changes in temperature from one resolution cell to the next when these temperatures are subject to wide variation over the overall field-of-view of the instrument. Both of these features are involved in the use of the radiometer data to construct high-resolution temperature maps with high absolute accuracy.

Juang, Jeng-Nan↗

THE PROPERTIES OF HEAVY ELEMENTS IN GIANT PLANET ENVELOPES

The core-accretion model for giant planet formation suggests a two-layer picture for the initial structure of Jovian planets, with heavy elements in a dense core and a thick H–He envelope. Late planetesimal accretion and core erosion could potentially enrich the H–He envelope in heavy elements, which is supported by the threefold solar metallicity that was measured in Jupiter’s atmosphere by the Galileo entry probe. In order to reproduce the observed gravitational moments of Jupiter and Saturn, models for their interiors include heavy elements, Z , in various proportions. However, their effect on the equation of state of the hydrogen–helium mixtures has not been investigated beyond the ideal mixing approximation. In this article, we report results from ab initio simulations of fully interacting H–He– Z mixtures in order to characterize their equation of state and to analyze possible consequences for the interior structure and evolution of giant planets. Considering C, N, O, Si, Fe, MgO, and SiO{sub 2}, we show that the behavior of heavy elements in H–He mixtures may still be represented by an ideal mixture if the effective volumes and internal energies are chosen appropriately. In the case of oxygen, we also compute the effect on the entropy. We find the resulting changes in the temperature–pressure profile to be small. A homogeneous distribution of 2% oxygen by mass changes the temperature in Jupiter’s interior by only 80 K.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A molecular dynamics study of phase transition in strongly coupled pair-ion plasmas

Existence of phase transition in strongly coupled pair-ion plasmas with soft core is investigated. Extensive Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations are performed in the canonical ensemble, for such plasmas, at different temperatures, to analyze phase stability. Our studies show interesting phase co-existence between liquid-like and vapor-like phases. The different phases are identified by calculating the ensemble averaged density. This and the corresponding critical properties are calculated directly from MD simulation. The critical temperature of vapor-liquid coexistence is obtained, and the corresponding critical value of density is also estimated for different sizes of the soft core. We have used a novel method that allows the location of phase coexistence through a constant density simulation in which the temperature is changed in a single time-step (quenching) in order to place the system in a thermodynamically and mechanically unstable state, resulting in spontaneous separation of two coexisting phases. The results obtained from this temperature quench MD method also show the coexistence of vapor-liquid phase in pair-ion plasmas. The critical exponents obtained directly from MD simulation are found to be in close agreement with the values predicted by a mean-field theory.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Synthesis and characterization of natural red dye from Caesalpinia sappan linn

The study reports the synthesis and characterization of natural red dye. The dyes were extracted from woods of Caesalpiniasappanlinn at varied temperatures of 70, 80, 90, and 100°C for three hours. The dry wood chips and water at a ratio of 6:1 were immersed in the reactor of 150 liters. The absorbance spectra of the natural red dyes were measured by ultra-violet-visible spectroscopy. Meanwhile, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to investigate the functional groups of the natural red dyes. In addition, the basic production cost was calculated and the fastness property towards cotton fabrics was investigated according to the Indonesia national standard of 105-C06:2010, 105-B01:2010, and 0288-2008. The results showed that the functional groups found the extracted red dyes indicated the complex bond of brazilein with peak absorbance at a wavelength of 538-540 nm. The extraction temperature also changed the functional group of brazilein. From the color, the absorbance peak, the functional groups, and the main production cost, the best parameter to synthesize the natural red dyes from Caesalpiniasappanlinn was at a temperature of 80°C for two hours. Moreover, the natural red dyes has the fastness to wash resistance, light resistance, and scrub resistance by 4-5, 4, and 3-4, respectively. However, further studies for synthesis the natural red dyes by using a continuous reactor are required to identify the naturally complex compounds in brazilein for improving the fastness properties and for reducing the cost.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

The roles of photochemical and non-photochemical quenching in regulating photosynthesis depend on the phases of fluctuating light conditions

We report the induction and relaxation of photochemistry and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) are not instantaneous and require time to respond to fluctuating environments. There is a lack of integrated understanding on how photochemistry and NPQ influence photosynthesis in fluctuating environments. We measured the induction and relaxation of chlorophyll a fluorescence and gas exchange in poplar and cotton at varying temperatures under saturating and fluctuating lights. When the light shifted from dark to high, the fraction of open reaction centers in photosystem II (q L ) gradually increased while NPQ increased suddenly and then remained stable. Temperature significantly changed the response of q L but not that of NPQ during the dark to high light transition. Increased q L led to higher photosynthesis but their precise relationship was affected by NPQ and temperature. q L was significantly related to biochemical capacity. Thus, q L appears to be a strong indicator of the activation of carboxylase, leading to the similar dynamics between q L and photosynthesis. When the light shifted from high to low intensity, NPQ is still engaged at a high level, causing a stronger decline in photosynthesis. Our finding suggests that the dynamic effects of photochemistry and NPQ on photosynthesis depend on the phases of environmental fluctuations and interactive effects of light and temperature. Across the full spectra of light fluctuation, the slow induction of q L is a more important limiting factor than the slow relaxation of NPQ for photosynthesis in typical ranges of temperature for photosynthesis. The findings provided a new perspective to improve photosynthetic productivity with molecular biology under natural fluctuating environments.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Metastability and hysteretic vortex pinning near the order-disorder transition in NbSe 2 : Interplay between plastic and elastic energy barriers

We studied thermal and dynamic history effects in the vortex lattice (VL) near the order-disorder transition in clean NbSe 2 single crystals. Comparing the evolution of the effective vortex pinning and the bulk VL structure, we observed metastable superheated and supercooled VL configurations that coexist with a hysteretic effective pinning response due to thermal cycling of the system. A novel scenario, governed by the interplay between (lower) elastic and (higher) plastic energy barriers, is proposed as an explanation for our observations: Plastic barriers, which prevent the annihilation or creation of topological defects, require dynamic assistance to be overcome and to achieve a stable VL at each temperature. Conversely, thermal hysteresis in the pining response is ascribed to low energy barriers, which inhibit rearrangement within a single VL correlation volume and are easily overcome as the relative strength of competing interactions changes with temperature.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

System with a direct contact desublimating heat exchanger and temperature regulation

A process to prevent fouling using a desublimating heat exchanger is disclosed. An outlet stream from the desublimating heat exchanger may be split into a plurality of parallel streams. The parallel streams may be sent through a plurality of discrete unit operations, and the unit operations may change the temperature of at least one of the parallel streams. Parallel streams of differing temperature may emerge from the unit operations. The parallel streams which are of a similar temperature may be mixed to form a warm stream and a cool stream. The warm stream and the cool stream may be sent to a mixing chamber. A mixed stream of substantially uniform temperature may emerge from the mixing chamber, and the mixed stream may be recycled back to the desublimating heat exchanger. The mixing chamber may be separate from the desublimating heat exchanger, or the parallel streams of differing temperature may be mixed in the desublimating heat exchanger.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Electrical and seismic response of saline permafrost soil during freeze - Thaw transition

We conducted laboratory studies on the geophysical signals from Arctic saline permafrost soils to help understand the physical and mechanical processes during freeze-thaw cycles. Our results revealed low electrical resistivity (< 20 Ωm) and elastic moduli (7.7 GPa for Young's modulus and 2.9 GPa for shear modulus) at temperatures down to ~- 10 °C, indicating the presence of a significant amount of unfrozen saline water under the current field conditions. The spectral induced polarization signal showed a systematic shift during the freezing process, affected by concurrent changes of temperature, salinity, and ice formation. An anomalous induced polarization response was first observed during the transient period of supercooling and the onset of ice nucleation. Seismic measurements showed a characteristic maximal attenuation at the temperatures immediately below the freezing point, followed by a decrease with decreasing temperature. The calculated elastic moduli showed a non-hysteric response during the freeze – thaw cycle, which was different from the concurrently measured electrical resistivity response where a differential resistivity signal is observed depending on whether the soil is experiencing freezing or thawing. The differential electrical resistivity signal presents challenges for unfrozen water content estimation based on Archie's law. Using an improved formulation of Archie's law with a variable cementation exponent, the unfrozen water content estimation showed a large variation depending on the choice of the resistivity data during either a freezing or thawing cycle. Combining the electrical and seismic results, we suggest that, rather than a large hysteresis in the actual unfrozen water content, the shift of the resistivity response may reflect the changes of the distribution pattern of the unfrozen water (or ice) in the soil matrix during repeated freeze and thaw processes. Collectively, our results provide an improved petrophysical understanding of the physical and mechanical properties of saline permafrost during freeze – thaw transitions, and suggest that large uncertainty may exist when estimating the unfrozen water content using electrical resistivity data.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Reactive transport modeling of the Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) system at Stockton University, New Jersey during seasonal operations

Hydrogeochemical processes associated with Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) operations can often impact the system performance owing to mineral precipitation either at the wellbore or in the aquifer owing to changes in temperature and fluid disequilibria. Although failure of ATES systems due to mineral precipitation ("fouling") is common, predictive reactive-transport models have rarely been applied to plan their design and operation. Here, the objective of this study is to develop a reactive-transport model by coupling thermal, hydrological, and chemical (THC) processes to evaluate effects of introduced atmospheric oxygen on water chemistry, mineral precipitation/dissolution, porosity, and permeability changes associated with an ATES system at Stockton University (New Jersey, USA). The THC model builds on a Thermal-Hydrological-Mechanical (THM) model of the site that evaluated system failure owing to possible fracturing in the caprock or around the wellbore. The causes of the system failure are not known – potential causes include hydraulic fracturing owing to elevated pump pressures that took place, a flow pathway created by one of the boreholes, or a pre-existing natural hydrologic connection between the upper unconfined aquifer and the ATES aquifer, any of which could have led to oxygenated water entering the reservoir and causing the observed Fe-oxide fouling on well screens. The THC model is used to evaluate some of the hypotheses and observations regarding system failure owing to geochemical processes. The reactive-transport code TOUGHREACT V4 was used to model the THC processes during seasonal heating and cooling operations at the Stockton ATES site over 6 years of operation. In the THC simulations, the primary effects on geochemistry were observed when the injection water is saturated with atmospheric oxygen. Simulations show greater precipitation of goethite near the cold wells as compared to the warm wells. Although volume fractions of Fe-hydroxides were relatively small, the model was aimed at processes in the aquifer at the scale of meters and larger rather than at the scale of mm or cm (i.e., a well screen). Kaolinite is the dominant precipitating phase, also around the cold wells. Illite dissolves near the cold wells and precipitates near the warm wells. There is a net decrease in the porosity near the cold wells and increase near the warm wells, although a slight amount of thermal contraction near the cold wells and expansion near the warm wells is responsible for a significant proportion of the porosity change. Owing to the coarse discretization of the numerical grid near the wells (compared to the screen thickness) the magnitude of permeability changes at the wellbore are likely underestimated. The reactive transport model in this study can be used for characterization of aquifers, optimizing the operational parameters (temperature, pressure, pH etc.), and planning of mitigation strategies for ATES systems.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Hundreds-fold Sensitivity Enhancement of Photothermal Microscopy in Near-Critical Xenon

Photothermal absorption microscopy of single Au nanoparticles was conducted at temperatures and pressures near the critical point of Xenon ( T c = 16.583 °C, P c = 5.842 MPa). The divergence of the thermal expansion coefficient at the critical point makes the refractive index highly sensitive to changes in temperature, which directly translates to a large enhancement of the photothermal signal. We determine that measurements taken near the critical point of Xe give a signal enhancement factor of up to 440 ± 130 over those taken in glycerol. The highest sensitivity recorded here corresponds to power dissipation of 64 pW, achieving a signal-to-noise ratio of 9.4 for 5 nm Au nanoparticles with an integration time of 50 ms, making this the most sensitive of any absorption microscopy technique reported to date. Enhancing the sensitivity of absorption microscopy lowers the operating heating power, enabling the method to be more compatible with absorbers with absorption coefficient and photochemical stability lower than that of Au.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

A nanoscale photonic thermal transistor for sub-second heat flow switching

Abstract Control of heat flow is critical for thermal logic devices and thermal management and has been explored theoretically. However, experimental progress on active control of heat flow has been limited. Here, we describe a nanoscale radiative thermal transistor that comprises of a hot source and a cold drain (both are ~250 nm-thick silicon nitride membranes), which are analogous to the source and drain electrodes of a transistor. The source and drain are in close proximity to a vanadium oxide (VO x )-based planar gate electrode, whose dielectric properties can be adjusted by changing its temperature. We demonstrate that when the gate is located close ( < ~1 µm) to the source-drain device and undergoes a metal-insulator transition, the radiative heat transfer between the source and drain can be changed by a factor of three. More importantly, our nanomembrane-based thermal transistor features fast switching times ( ~ 500 ms as opposed to minutes for past three-terminal thermal transistors) due to its small thermal mass. Our experiments are supported by detailed calculations that highlight the mechanism of thermal modulation. We anticipate that the advances reported here will open new opportunities for designing thermal circuits or thermal logic devices for advanced thermal management.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Ferromagnetic domain behavior and phase transition in bilayer manganites investigated at the nanoscale

Understanding the underlying mechanism and phenomenology of colossal magnetoresistance in manganites has largely focused on atomic and nanoscale physics such as double exchange, phase separation, and charge order. Here in this article, we consider a more macroscopic view of manganite materials physics, reporting on the ferromagnetic domain behavior in a bilayer manganite sample with a nominal composition of La 2-2x Sr 1+2x Mn 2 O 7 with x = 0:38, studied using in-situ Lorentz transmission electron microscopy. The role of magnetocrystalline anisotropy on the structure of domain walls was elucidated. On cooling, magnetic domain contrast was seen to appear first at the Curie temperature within the a - b plane. With further reduction in temperature, the change in area fraction of magnetic domains was used to estimate the critical exponent describing the ferromagntic phase transition. Lastly, the ferromagnetic phase transition was accompanied by a distinctive nanoscale granular contrast close to the Curie temperature, which we infer to be related to the presence of ferromagnetic nanoclusters in a paramagnetic matrix, which has not yet been reported in bilayer manganites.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Effect of temperature coupling on ozone depletion prediction

The effects of chlorine perturbations on both the temperature and the ozone distribution in the stratosphere have been studied using a simplified radiative-photochemical model. The model solves the hydrostatic equation for total density in a self-consistent manner as the temperature is changed. Radiative coupling is found to have a significant effect on both the thermal structure and the ozone distribution, particularly in the 35-50-km region. By increasing the ClX mixing ratio by 5.0 ppbv, the temperature in this region is decreased by 5 to 10 K with a slight increase below 30 km. The local ozone depletion around 40 km due to added ClX is smaller compared with the estimate made by keeping the temperature fixed to the ambient condition. However, the integrated effect of radiative coupling is to increase the calculated column ozone depletion by 15% to 25% in this model.

Chandra, S.↗

Global patterns of cloud optical thickness variation with temperature

A global cloud climatology dataset is used to study patterns of cloud optical thickness variation with temperature. The data, which cover the period from July 1983 through June 1995, contain detailed information on the distribution of cloud radiative properties and their diurnal and seasonal variations, as well as information on the vertical distribution of temperature and humidity in the troposphere. For cold low clouds over land, the temperature coefficient of change in optical thickness has a value of about 0.04, which is similar to that deduced from Soviet aircraft observations and derived from thermodynamic considerations for the change of cloud liquid water with temperature. It is suggested that, in this cold-temperature range, cloud optical thickness variations are dominated by changes in the liquid water content of the cloud and that the liquid water content changes in accordance with the thermodynamic theory.

Tselioudis, George↗

The Radiative Effects of Martian Water Ice Clouds on the Local Atmospheric Temperature Profile

Mars Pathfinder made numerous discoveries, one of which was a deep temperature inversion that extended from about 15 km down to 8 km above the surface. It has been suggested by Haberle et al. (1999. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 8957-8974.) that radiative cooling by a water ice cloud may generate such an inversion. Clouds can strongly affect the local air temperature due to their ability to radiate efficiently in the infrared and due to the low air mass of the martian atmosphere, which allows the temperature to change during the relatively short lifetime of a cloud. We utilize a time-dependent microphysical aerosol model coupled to a radiative--convective model to explore the effects water ice clouds have on the local martian temperature profile. We constrain the dust and water vapor abundance using data from the Viking Missions and Mars Pathfinder. Water t ice clouds with visible optical depths of r > 0.1 form readily in these simulations. These clouds alter the local air temperature directly, through infrared cooling, and indirectly, by redistributing atmospheric dust. With this model we are able to reproduce the temperature inversions observed by Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global t Surveyor 2000 Academic Press

Colaprete, Anthony↗

Mathematical Model and Experimental Results for Cryogenic Densification and Sub-Cooling Using a Submerged Cooling Source

Among the many factors that determine overall rocket performance, propellant density is important because it affects the size of the rocket. Thus, in order to decrease the size of a rocket, it may be desirable to increase the density of propellants. This study analyzes the concept of increasing the propellant density by employing a cooling source submerged in the liquid propellant. A simple, mathematical model was developed to predict the rate of densification and the propellant temperature profile. The mathematical model is generic and applicable to multiple propellants. The densification rate was determined experimentally by submerging a cooling source in liquid oxygen at constant, positive pressure, and measuring the time rate of change in temperature with respect to vertical position. The results from the mathematical model provided a reasonable fit when compared to experimental results.

Partridge, J. K.↗

Magnetoconductivity in Weyl semimetals: Effect of chemical potential and temperature

This work presents detailed analyses of magnetoconductivities in a Weyl semimetal within the Born and self-consistent Born approximations. In the presence of charged impurities, linear magnetoresistance can occur when the charge carriers are mainly from the zeroth (n = 0) Landau level. Interestingly, the linear magnetoresistance is very robust against changes of temperature as long as the charge carriers come mainly from the zeroth Landau level. We denote this parameter regime as the high-field regime. In contrast, the linear magnetoresistance disappears once the charge carriers from the higher Landau levels can provide notable contributions. Our analysis indicates that the deviation from linear magnetoresistance is mainly due to the deviation of the longitudinal conductivity from 1/B behavior. We discovered two important features of the self-energy approximation: (i) A dramatic jump of σ xx , when the n = 1 Landau level begins to contribute charge carriers, which is the beginning point of the middle-field regime, when decreasing the external magnetic field from high field; (ii) in the low-field regime, σ xx exhibits B -5/3 behavior, causing the magnetoresistance ρ xx to exhibit B 1/3 behavior. A detailed and careful numerical calculation indicates that the self-energy approximation (including both the Born and the self-consistent Born approximations) does not explain the recent experimental observation of linear magnetoresistance in Weyl semimetals.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Thermochemistry and growth mechanism of SiC nanowires

The chemical reaction thermodynamics and a novel two-stage growth mechanism of SiC nanowires synthesized by carbothermal reduction reactions were investigated based on the Si-C-O systems over a wide temperature range (1050 ≤ T ≤ 2000 K). The carbothermal reduction reaction process involves the fast formation of gaseous SiO and CO crucial intermediates, and the further carbon reduction of SiO to SiC. The relationship between the free energy changes and temperature at different pressures was also discussed. Some fundamental data in the work can help to analyze the thermochemistry of the carbothermal reduction reaction in the Si-C-O system, which is beneficial to optimize the temperature, pressure and the input precursors for controlling the SiC nanowire growth. - Graphical abstract: The chemical reaction thermodynamics of SiC nanowires synthesized by carbothermal reduction reactions was investigated, and a novel two-stage growth mechanism was proposed. The growth mechanism involved the formation of initial SiC embryos by heterogeneous nucleation and the growth of SiC nanowires by a gas-phase reaction. The process involved the fast formation of gaseous SiO and CO crucial intermediates, and the further carbon reduction of SiO to SiC. Display Omitted - Highlights: • The chemical reaction thermodynamics of SiC nanowires are investigated. • A novel two-stage growth mechanism of SiC nanowires is proposed. • The initial SiC particles/embryos can be formed by heterogeneous nucleation. • The gas-phase reaction of SiO and CO is the crucial step for the SiC nanowire growth.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗