Several significant events of a geological nature occurred approximately 800 ka before the present: (1) Australasian tektite fall (AA), (2) Brunhes-Matuyama geomagnetic reversal (BMR), (3) mid-Pleistocene changes in i...Several significant events of a geological nature occurred approximately 800 ka before the present: (1) Australasian tektite fall (AA), (2) Brunhes-Matuyama geomagnetic reversal (BMR), (3) mid-Pleistocene changes in ice age cycles. Add to these the undated fault system (4) in the South-West (SW) of the South China Sea (SCS). Here we offer a unified cause for all four of these in (5), an impact in the SCS of a large, massive cosmic object, likely a comet, obliquely coming from the SW at an extremely shallow angle, striking the Sunda shelf yet unexploded with the shock of its compressed air bow wave, and causing the continual shelf and slope to collapse, resulting in the fault system (4), then traveling almost tangentially to the surface, exploding at impact with the sea surface, ejecting the tektites (1), creating the formation underlying the later atolls of Spratlies Archipelago (6), Nansha Islands in Chinese, & causing the BMR (2). An explanation of event (3) was Richard Muller’s hypothesis of planet Earth passing through an interplanetary dust cloud periodically due to ecliptic precession. Here we hypothesize this cloud actually is a belt of Australasian tektites ejected into space at super-orbital velocities that Earth encounters about every 100 ka.展开更多
Correlation between gas and dust column density has been studied for the dark globule L1523. The 13CO（J=1→0） emission is used for tracing the gas, and the IR emissions, for tracing the dust constituent. In order to...Correlation between gas and dust column density has been studied for the dark globule L1523. The 13CO（J=1→0） emission is used for tracing the gas, and the IR emissions, for tracing the dust constituent. In order to match the beam resolution between the images, a beam de-convolution algorithm based on the Maximum Correlation Method （MCM） was applied on the Infrared Astronomical Satellite （IRAS） data. The morphology of 13CO column density map shows a close correlation to that of 100μm dust optical depth. The distribution of the optical depth at 100 μm follows that of gas column density more closely than does the flux map at either 60 or 100μm. The ratio of the 13CO column density to the 100μm optical depth shows a decreasing trend with increasing dust optical depth in the central part, indicating possible molecular gas condensation onto dust particles. The excessive decrease in the CO column density in the envelope may most probably be due to the photo-dissociation of CO molecules.展开更多
This study evaluates the vertical profiles of aerosol and cloud optical properties in 40 dominated dust and smoke regions in Western-Northern Africa (WNA) and Central-Southern Africa (CSA), respectively, from the surf...This study evaluates the vertical profiles of aerosol and cloud optical properties in 40 dominated dust and smoke regions in Western-Northern Africa (WNA) and Central-Southern Africa (CSA), respectively, from the surface to 10km and from 2008 to 2011 based on LIVAS (LIdar climatology of Vertical Aerosol Structure for space-based lidar simulation studies). Aerosol extinction (AE), aerosol backscatter (AB), and aerosol depolarization (AD) generally increase from the surface to 1.2 km and decrease from 1.2 km to the upper layers in both WNA and CSA. AE and AB in CSA (maximum of 0.13 km<sup>-1</sup>, 0.14 km<sup>-1</sup>, 0.0021 km<sup>-1</sup>‧sr<sup>-1</sup>, 0.0033 km<sup>-1</sup>‧sr<sup>-1</sup>) are higher than in WNA (maximum of 0.07 km<sup>-1</sup>, 0.08 km<sup>-1</sup>, 0.0017 km<sup>-1</sup>‧sr<sup>-1</sup>, 0.0015 km<sup>-1</sup>‧sr<sup>-1</sup>) at 532 and 1064 nm respectively. AD in WNA (maximum of 0.25) is significantly higher than in CSA (maximum of 0.05). There is a smooth change with the height of cloud extinction and backscatter in WNA and CSA, while there is a remarkable increase of cloud depolarization with height, whereby it is high in CSA and low in WNA due to high and low fraction of cirrus respectively. Altocumulus has the highest extinction in NA (0.0139 km<sup>-1</sup>), CA (0.058 km<sup>-1</sup>), WA (0.013 km<sup>-1</sup>), while low overcast transparent (0.76 km<sup>-1</sup>) below 1 km in SA. The major findings of this study may contribute to the improvement of our understanding of aerosol-cloud interaction studies in dominated dust and smoke aerosol regions.展开更多
It is nontrivial to extract the dust top height（DTH） accurately from passive instruments over land due to the complexity of the surface conditions. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer（MODIS） deep blu...It is nontrivial to extract the dust top height（DTH） accurately from passive instruments over land due to the complexity of the surface conditions. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer（MODIS） deep blue（DB） algorithm can be used to infer the aerosol optical depth（AOD） over high-reflective surfaces. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder（AIRS） can simultaneously obtain the DTH and optical depth information. This study focuses on the synergistic use of AIRS observations and MODIS DB results for improving the DTH by using a stable relationship between the AIRS infrared and MODIS DB AODs. A one-dimensional variational（1DVAR） algorithm is applied to extract the DTH from AIRS. Simulation experiments indicate that when the uncertainty of the dust optical depth decreases from 50% to 20%, the improvement of the DTH retrieval accuracy from AIRS reaches 200 m for most of the assumed dust conditions. For two cases over the Taklimakan Desert, the results are compared against Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization（CALIOP） measurements. The results confirm that the MODIS DB product could help extract the DTH over land from AIRS.展开更多
文摘Several significant events of a geological nature occurred approximately 800 ka before the present: (1) Australasian tektite fall (AA), (2) Brunhes-Matuyama geomagnetic reversal (BMR), (3) mid-Pleistocene changes in ice age cycles. Add to these the undated fault system (4) in the South-West (SW) of the South China Sea (SCS). Here we offer a unified cause for all four of these in (5), an impact in the SCS of a large, massive cosmic object, likely a comet, obliquely coming from the SW at an extremely shallow angle, striking the Sunda shelf yet unexploded with the shock of its compressed air bow wave, and causing the continual shelf and slope to collapse, resulting in the fault system (4), then traveling almost tangentially to the surface, exploding at impact with the sea surface, ejecting the tektites (1), creating the formation underlying the later atolls of Spratlies Archipelago (6), Nansha Islands in Chinese, & causing the BMR (2). An explanation of event (3) was Richard Muller’s hypothesis of planet Earth passing through an interplanetary dust cloud periodically due to ecliptic precession. Here we hypothesize this cloud actually is a belt of Australasian tektites ejected into space at super-orbital velocities that Earth encounters about every 100 ka.
文摘Correlation between gas and dust column density has been studied for the dark globule L1523. The 13CO（J=1→0） emission is used for tracing the gas, and the IR emissions, for tracing the dust constituent. In order to match the beam resolution between the images, a beam de-convolution algorithm based on the Maximum Correlation Method （MCM） was applied on the Infrared Astronomical Satellite （IRAS） data. The morphology of 13CO column density map shows a close correlation to that of 100μm dust optical depth. The distribution of the optical depth at 100 μm follows that of gas column density more closely than does the flux map at either 60 or 100μm. The ratio of the 13CO column density to the 100μm optical depth shows a decreasing trend with increasing dust optical depth in the central part, indicating possible molecular gas condensation onto dust particles. The excessive decrease in the CO column density in the envelope may most probably be due to the photo-dissociation of CO molecules.
文摘This study evaluates the vertical profiles of aerosol and cloud optical properties in 40 dominated dust and smoke regions in Western-Northern Africa (WNA) and Central-Southern Africa (CSA), respectively, from the surface to 10km and from 2008 to 2011 based on LIVAS (LIdar climatology of Vertical Aerosol Structure for space-based lidar simulation studies). Aerosol extinction (AE), aerosol backscatter (AB), and aerosol depolarization (AD) generally increase from the surface to 1.2 km and decrease from 1.2 km to the upper layers in both WNA and CSA. AE and AB in CSA (maximum of 0.13 km<sup>-1</sup>, 0.14 km<sup>-1</sup>, 0.0021 km<sup>-1</sup>‧sr<sup>-1</sup>, 0.0033 km<sup>-1</sup>‧sr<sup>-1</sup>) are higher than in WNA (maximum of 0.07 km<sup>-1</sup>, 0.08 km<sup>-1</sup>, 0.0017 km<sup>-1</sup>‧sr<sup>-1</sup>, 0.0015 km<sup>-1</sup>‧sr<sup>-1</sup>) at 532 and 1064 nm respectively. AD in WNA (maximum of 0.25) is significantly higher than in CSA (maximum of 0.05). There is a smooth change with the height of cloud extinction and backscatter in WNA and CSA, while there is a remarkable increase of cloud depolarization with height, whereby it is high in CSA and low in WNA due to high and low fraction of cirrus respectively. Altocumulus has the highest extinction in NA (0.0139 km<sup>-1</sup>), CA (0.058 km<sup>-1</sup>), WA (0.013 km<sup>-1</sup>), while low overcast transparent (0.76 km<sup>-1</sup>) below 1 km in SA. The major findings of this study may contribute to the improvement of our understanding of aerosol-cloud interaction studies in dominated dust and smoke aerosol regions.
基金funded by the National Science Foundation (Grant no. 41375024)the China Public Science and Technology Research Funds Projects of Meteorology (Grant No. GYHY201406015)the Basic Research Program (Grant No. 2010CB950802)
文摘It is nontrivial to extract the dust top height（DTH） accurately from passive instruments over land due to the complexity of the surface conditions. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer（MODIS） deep blue（DB） algorithm can be used to infer the aerosol optical depth（AOD） over high-reflective surfaces. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder（AIRS） can simultaneously obtain the DTH and optical depth information. This study focuses on the synergistic use of AIRS observations and MODIS DB results for improving the DTH by using a stable relationship between the AIRS infrared and MODIS DB AODs. A one-dimensional variational（1DVAR） algorithm is applied to extract the DTH from AIRS. Simulation experiments indicate that when the uncertainty of the dust optical depth decreases from 50% to 20%, the improvement of the DTH retrieval accuracy from AIRS reaches 200 m for most of the assumed dust conditions. For two cases over the Taklimakan Desert, the results are compared against Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization（CALIOP） measurements. The results confirm that the MODIS DB product could help extract the DTH over land from AIRS.
