Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Atmospheric Sciences Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

University at Albany, State University of New York

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type

Articles 241 - 254 of 254

Full-Text Articles in Atmospheric Sciences

Significance Of Hno3 Acid Photolysis On Surfaces In Tropospheric Chemistry, Honglian Gao Jan 2011

Significance Of Hno3 Acid Photolysis On Surfaces In Tropospheric Chemistry, Honglian Gao

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The reactive nitrogen trace gases (NOy) including nitrogen oxides (NOx) and their secondary products are known to cause ground-level ozone pollution, photochemical smog, acid deposition, and overall air quality degradation. NOx was believed to be permanently removed from the atmospheric by HNO3 formation and deposition. However, our laboratory experimental results show that HNO3 can be remobilized back to photochemically labile HONO and NOx (re-NOx-ification). We have verified and quantified HONO and NOx production from the photolysis of HNO3 on various surfaces, including Pyrex, leaves of plants, and other environmentally relevant …

Go to article

Easterly Waves And Tropical Cyclogenesis In The Caribbean, Kay Louise Shelton Jan 2011

Easterly Waves And Tropical Cyclogenesis In The Caribbean, Kay Louise Shelton

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis is concerned with the evolution of easterly waves in the Atlantic and Caribbean and their relationship to tropical cyclogenesis. Motivation for this study is the apparent "genesis hole" in the eastern Caribbean and the lack of knowledge regarding the evolution of the transient disturbances passing through this region. The environment of the Caribbean is reviewed revealing large vertical wind shear and dry mid-levels as the key factors determining the presence of the genesis hole.

Go to article

The Influence Of The Great Lakes On Mcs Formation And Development In The Warm Season, Alan Frederick Srock Jan 2011

The Influence Of The Great Lakes On Mcs Formation And Development In The Warm Season, Alan Frederick Srock

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study focuses on how near-surface thermal boundaries that form near the Great Lakes during the warm season can contribute to the formation of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). Differential heating across land-water interfaces can create a cold dome of air over the lake; convection may develop when the relatively-cold dome of air becomes deep enough to enable air parcels that intersect these boundaries to reach their level of free convection. A radar-based climatology of MCS events surrounding the Great Lakes for 2002-2005 showed that MCSs frequently form in the vicinity of the Great Lakes. Composites of MCS events over the …

Go to article

Northeast United States Heat Waves : A Statistical Analysis And Synoptic Climatology, Scott Cooper Runyon Jan 2011

Northeast United States Heat Waves : A Statistical Analysis And Synoptic Climatology, Scott Cooper Runyon

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The results of a statistical analysis of anomalously hot day and heat wave frequency in the United States (U.S.) are presented, along with a synoptic climatology of northeast U.S. heat waves (NHWs) for 1948-2001. This study used daily high temperatures retrieved from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) Daily Surface Dataset for 54 stations binned into the nine standard NCDC climate regions. Anomalously hot days were defined as when the daily high temperature exceeded the climatological 97.5-percentile temperature. Heat waves were defined as at least three consecutive anomalously hot days, whereas regional heat waves (e.g., NHWs) were defined as simultaneous …

Go to article

The Downstream Extratropical Flow Response To Recurving Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclones, Heather M. Archambault Jan 2011

The Downstream Extratropical Flow Response To Recurving Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclones, Heather M. Archambault

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The factors that govern the downstream flow response to recurving western North Pacific (WNP) tropical cyclones (TCs) are investigated from climatological, composite analysis, case study, and predictability perspectives. A 1979–2009 climatology of WNP TC recurvature indicates that TC recurvature is followed by a four-day period of above-normal North Pacific meridional flow. The relationship between TC recurvature and above-normal North Pacific meridional flow is found to be stronger in late summer through mid-fall than in early summer and early winter, and stronger for TCs that interact strongly with the jet stream than for TCs that interact weakly with the jet stream. …

Go to article

Origin And Maintenance Of The Stable Boundary Layer In A Patchy Landscape, Luiz Eduardo Medeiros Jan 2011

Origin And Maintenance Of The Stable Boundary Layer In A Patchy Landscape, Luiz Eduardo Medeiros

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Field observations made in Hudson Valley region, NY during the Hudson Valley Ambient Meteorology Study (HVAMS) are analyzed to examine how terrain and land cover influence nocturnal mixing in real-world landscapes. Important terrain features such as local topographic concavity and site sheltering are shown to exhibit systematic influence on turbulent intermittency and on the consequent nocturnal heat and momentum fluxes. Very local obstacles have their most important effects on mixing during strong winds (> 5m/s). Local terrain concavity was found to be the more important factor influencing surface fluxes than sheltering for all classes of winds.

Go to article

Persistence And Dissipation Of Lake Michigan-Crossing Mesoscale Convective Systems, Nicholas Metz Jan 2011

Persistence And Dissipation Of Lake Michigan-Crossing Mesoscale Convective Systems, Nicholas Metz

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis investigates mature mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) that traversed Lake Michigan to elucidate synoptic-scale and Lake Michigan-related features that discriminate between persistence and dissipation. Of the 110 coherent MCSs that crossed Lake Michigan during the warm seasons (April–September) of 2002–2007, 47 (43%) persisted, while 63 (57%) dissipated. Persistence was favored during July and August, when Lake Michigan was warmer and during the evening and overnight, when the low-level jet (LLJ) was most intense. However, a number of MCSs also persisted during the early warm season when the Lake Michigan water temperature was cooler than the surrounding land.

Go to article

Retrieval Of Atmospheric Elemental Carbon Records Using Lake Sediments : Implications In Radiative Forcing, Tanveer Ahmed Jan 2010

Retrieval Of Atmospheric Elemental Carbon Records Using Lake Sediments : Implications In Radiative Forcing, Tanveer Ahmed

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Elemental or black carbon (EC or BC) aerosols produced during incomplete combustion strongly absorb solar radiation and contribute to global warming, and cause cardiopulmonary disease. Long-term atmospheric EC measurements, [EC]atm, are needed to validate global climate models to estimate the impact of EC on earth's temperature. Such data is sparse.

Go to article

Effect Of Noise In Principal Component Analysis With An Application To Ozone Pollution, Katerina G. Tsakiri Jan 2010

Effect Of Noise In Principal Component Analysis With An Application To Ozone Pollution, Katerina G. Tsakiri

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis analyzes the effect of independent noise in principal components of k normally distributed random variables defined by a covariance matrix. We prove that the principal components as well as the canonical variate pairs determined from joint distribution of original sample affected by noise can be essentially different in comparison with those determined from the original sample. However when the differences between the eigenvalues of the original covariance matrix are sufficiently large compared to the level of the noise, the effect of noise in principal components and canonical variate pairs proved to be negligible. The theoretical results are supported …

Go to article

Tropical Cyclogenesis Associated With Extratropical Precursors In The North Atlantic Basin, Thomas J. Galarneau Jan 2010

Tropical Cyclogenesis Associated With Extratropical Precursors In The North Atlantic Basin, Thomas J. Galarneau

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis investigates genesis pathways of tropical cyclones (TCs) over the North Atlantic basin during 2004-2008 with a focus on TCs that form in conjunction with extratropical precursor disturbances. These genesis pathways are nonbaroclinic, low-level baroclinic, trough-induced, transient-trough interaction, weak tropical transition (TT), and strong TT. The transient-trough interaction, trough-induced, weak TT, and strong TT genesis pathways all occur in conjunction with extratropical precursor disturbances. This thesis will assess the physical and dynamical mechanisms relevant to TC genesis among these genesis pathways via composite and case study analyses.

Go to article

Role Of Equatorial Waves In Tropical Cyclogenesis, Carl J. Schreck, Iii Jan 2010

Role Of Equatorial Waves In Tropical Cyclogenesis, Carl J. Schreck, Iii

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Tropical cyclones typically form within preexisting wavelike disturbances that couple with convection. Using Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) multisatellite rainfall estimates, this study determines the relative number of tropical cyclones that can be attributed to various wave types, including the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO), Kelvin waves, equatorial Rossby (ER) waves, mixed Rossby-gravity (MRG) waves, and tropical depression (TD)-type disturbances. Tropical cyclogenesis is attributed to an equatorial wave's convection when the filtered rainfall anomaly exceeds a threshold value at the genesis location.

Go to article

African Easterly Waves And Convection, Gareth James Berry Jan 2009

African Easterly Waves And Convection, Gareth James Berry

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In this research the physical mechanisms relating synoptic scale African Easterly Waves (AEWs) and convection are explored using a variety of analysis techniques.

Go to article

Measurement Of Atmospheric Ammonia Species : Development, Validation, And Field Applications Of An Analytical Method, Jian Hou Jan 2009

Measurement Of Atmospheric Ammonia Species : Development, Validation, And Field Applications Of An Analytical Method, Jian Hou

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Ammonia is the primary base in the atmosphere. It reacts readily with atmospheric acids such as sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and hydrochloric acid to form ammonium salts that occur predominantly in the fine aerosol particle (PM2.5) fraction. The ability to measure ammonia species (NHx, the sum of gaseous NH3 and particulate NH4+) is essential for the investigation of atmospheric behaviors of NHx. In this dissertation work, a highly sensitive technique has been developed for the measurement of atmospheric NHx species. The method is based on aqueous scrubbing of the atmospheric NH3 and NH4+ using …

Go to article

The Investigation Of Snowfall Rate Using Optical Techniques, Gerald J. Mulvey Jan 1973

The Investigation Of Snowfall Rate Using Optical Techniques, Gerald J. Mulvey

Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Experiments involving the attenuation of light by falling snow, or hydrometeors in general, lend themselves to the study of at least two problems of meteorological interest. The first problem is that of visibility in adverse weather conditions, and the second is that of finding a better method to measure precipitation. From the late 1940's through the late 1960's, various investigators have attempted to apply forward light scattering theory in the geometric optics range (α ≥ 200, where α = (2π_r)/λ, λ=wavelength and r = radius)* to quantitatively describe the attenuation of a light beam, and thereby visibility changes due to …

Go to article

First Prev