EurekAlert February 4, 2020 Researchers at Rice University have created a deep learning computer system called “capsule neural network”. During training, it examines hundreds of pairs of maps. Each map shows surface temperatures and air pressures at five-kilometers height, and each pair shows those conditions several days apart. The training includes scenarios that produced extreme weather — extended hot and cold spells that can lead to deadly heat waves and winter storms. Once trained, the system was able to examine maps it had not previously seen and make five-day forecasts of extreme weather with 85% accuracy…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Tag Archives: Atmospheric science
Atmospheric river storms create $1 billion-a-year flood damage
Science Daily December 4, 2019 Researchers found that flooding has caused nearly $51 billion in damages to western states in the last 40 years. More than 84 percent of these damages were caused by atmospheric rivers (ARs), long narrow corridors of water vapor in the atmosphere, capable of carrying more than twice the volume of the Amazon river through the sky. A team of researchers in the US (UC San Diego, US Army) used 40 years of data from the National Flood Insurance Program to show that ARs are the primary drivers of flood damages in the western United States. […]
Researchers uncover key reaction that influences growth of potentially harmful particles in atmosphere
Phys.org November 25, 2019 An international team of researchers (USA – University of Nebraska, University of Pennsylvania, Finland, China) has identified a catalytic reaction between methanol and SO3, catalyzed by SA, DMA, or water that was previously overlooked. The catalytic reaction between methanol and SO3 can convert methanol into a methyl hydrogen sulfate (MHS). Their simulation results suggest that the formation of MHS consumes an appreciable amount of atmospheric SO3, disfavoring further reactions of SO3 with H2O. They show that MHS formation can cause a reduction of SA concentration up to 87%. Hence, a high abundance of methanol in the […]
Ammonia from agriculture influences cloud formation over Asia
Science Daily July 11, 2019 An international team of researchers (Germany, France, Italy) has shown that the presence of ammonium nitrate particles in the upper troposphere from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Western Pacific is fed by convection that transports large amounts of ammonia from surface sources into the upper troposphere. Solid ammonium nitrate particles in the upper troposphere play a hitherto neglected role in ice cloud formation and aerosol indirect radiative forcing…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Chaos theory produces map for predicting paths of particles emitted into the atmosphere
Eurekalert July 16, 2019 Floating air particles following disasters and other largescale geological events can have a lasting impact on life on Earth. Using available wind data, researchers in Hungary have developed a model for following air particles as they travel around the globe. They found that lifetimes of particles ranged from about two to 150 days for typical volcanic ash particles, more than 10% of smaller particles survive in the atmosphere as much as one year, and more than 1% survive two years, particles coming from the area around the equator remain in the atmosphere for the longest time, […]
Earth’s atmosphere stretches out to the moon – and beyond
Phys.org February 20, 2019 Where our atmosphere merges into outer space, there is a cloud of hydrogen atoms called the geocorona. An international team of researchers (Russia, France, Finland) found that the measurements made in 1996, 1997 and 1998 showed geocorona extends at least up to 100 Earth Radii encompassing the orbit of the Moon. The extra source of hydrogen is not significant enough to facilitate space exploration. These particles do not pose any threat for space travelers on future crewed missions orbiting the moon. But the Earth’s geocorona could interfere with future astronomical observations performed in the vicinity of […]
International research collaboration computes climate past, present, and future
Eurekalert February 18, 2019 An international team of researchers (Canada, Germany) is working on ClimEx Project to improve researchers’ understanding of severe flooding dynamics under changing climate conditions. To investigate extreme floods associated with long return periods, there is a relatively short time period to reference, often less than 30 years of accurate, detailed data. To predict flooding, the team further downscales the ClimEx simulations statistically to provide input data for hyper-accurate, high-resolution hydrological modeling. The team’s simulations showed good agreement with historical climate data, leaving them confident in its predictive power and its ability to help improve impact models […]
Lightning’s electromagnetic fields may have protective properties
Space Daily February 11, 2019 Researchers in Israel repot that in the course of numerous laboratory experiments, where they induced fields similar to those in the atmosphere, they witnessed significant effects on living heart cells of rats within 30-40 minutes. Extremely weak magnetic fields in the 7.6-8Hz frequency range induced several effects when applied to rat cardiac cells, including reductions in spontaneous contractions, calcium transients and the release of Creatine Kinase. It may explain why all living organisms have electrical activity in the same ELF spectral range. This may have some therapeutic implications down the line, since these ELF fields […]