Tropical Cyclones and Polar Lows: Velocity, Size, and Energy Scales, and Relation to the 26℃ Cyclone Origin Criteria

The goal of this paper is to quantitatively formulate some necessary conditions for the development of intense atmospheric vortices. Specifically, these criteria are discussed for tropical cyclones （TC） and polar lows （PL） by using bulk formulas for fluxes of momentum, sensible heating, and latent heating between the ocean and the atmosphere. The velocity scale is used in two forms： （1） as expressed through the buoyancy flux b and the Coriolis parameter Ic for rotating fluids convection, and （2） as expressed with the cube of velocity times the drag coefficient through the formula for total kinetic energy dissipation in the atmospheric boundary layer. In the quasistationary case the dissipation equals the generation of the energy. In both cases the velocity scale can be expressed through temperature and humidity differences between the ocean and the atmosphere in terms of the reduced gravity, and both forms produce quite comparable velocity scales. Using parameters b and Ic, we can form scales of the area and, by adding the mass of a unit air column, a scale of the total kinetic energy as well. These scales nicely explain the much smaller size of a PL, as compared to a TC, and the total kinetic energy of a TC is of the order 1018 - 1019 J. It will be shown that wind of 33 m s^-1 is produced when the total enthalpy fluxes between the ocean and the atmosphere are about 700 W m-2 for a TC and 1700 W m-2 for a PL, in association with the much larger role of the latent heat in the first case and the stricter geostrophic constraints and larger static stability in the second case. This replaces the mystical role of 26℃ as a criterion for TC origin. The buoyancy flux, a product of the reduced gravity and the wind speed, together with the atmospheric static stability, determines the rate of the penetrating convection. It is known from the observations that the formation time for a PL reaching an altitude of 5-6 km can be only a few hours, and a day, or even half a day, for a TC reaching 15-18 km. These two facts allow us to construct curves on the plane of Ts and ΔT = Ts - Ta to determine possibilities for forming an intense vortex. Here, Ta is the atmospheric temperature at the height z = 10 m. A PL should have AT 〉 20℃ in accordance with the observations and nmnerical simulations. The conditions for a TC are not so straightforward but our diagram shows that the temperature difference of a few degrees, or possibly even a fraction of a degree, might be sufficient for TC development for a range of static stabilities and development times.

A theoretical study of correlation between scaled energy and earthquake magnitude based on two source displacement models

The correlation of the scaled energy,e = Es/ Mo, versus earthquake magnitude, Ms, is studied based on two models： （1） Model 1 based on the use of the time function of the average displacements, with a ω^-2 source spectrum, across a fault plane; and （2） Model 2 based on the use of the time function of the average displacements, with a ω^-3 source spectrum, across a fault plane. For the second model, there are two cases： （a） As ζ= T, where r is the rise time and T the rupture time, lg（e） - -Ms; and （b） As ζ 〈〈 T, lg（e）- -（1/2）Ms. The second model leads to a negative value of e. This means that Model 2 cannot work for studying the present problem. The results obtained from Model 1 suggest that the source model is a factor, yet not a unique one, in controlling the correlation of e versus Ms.

Three－dimensional Global Scale Permanent－wave Solutions of the Nonlinear Quasigeostrophic Potential Vorticity Equation and Energy Dispersion

The three-dimensional nonlinear quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity equation is reduced to a linear form in the stream function in spherical coordinates for the permanent wave solutions consisting of zonal wavenumbers from 0 to n and rn vertical components with a given degree n.This equation is solved by treating the coefficient of the Coriolis parameter square in the equation as the eigenvalue both for sinusoidal and hyperbolic variations in vertical direction. It is found that these solutions can represent the observed long term flow patterns at the surface and aloft over the globe closely. In addition, the sinusoidal vertical solutions with large eigenvalue G are trapped in low latitude,and the scales of these trapped modes are longer than 10 deg. lat. even for the top layer of the ocean and hence they are much larger than that given by the equatorial β-plane solutions.Therefore such baroclinic disturbances in the ocean can easily interact with those in the atmosphere.Solutions of the shallow water potential vorticity equation are treated in a similar manner but with the effective depth H=RT/g taken as limited within a small range for the atmosphere.The propagation of the flow energy of the wave packet consisting of more than one degree is found to be along the great circle around the globe both for barotropic and for baroclinic flows in the atmosphere.

CALL FOR PAPERS Dec.2018 Special Issue on Large Scale Renewable Energy Integration

Guest Editor in Chief:Professor Xiao-Ping Zhang, University of Birmingham The potential for renewable energy to make contributions to mitigating the impact of climate change is expected to increase significantly in the longer term. Renewable energy generation technologies including onshore wind, offshore wind, wave,tidal, marine current, and ocean thermal energy generation as well as PV power generation, which are considered

Energy scaling and extended tunability of a ring cavity terahertz parametric oscillator based on KTiOPO_(4) crystal

A wide terahertz tuning range from 0.96 THz to 7.01 THz has been demonstrated based on ring-cavity THz wave parametric oscillator with a KTiOPO_(4)(KTP)crystal.The tuning range was observed intermittently from 0.96 THz to 1.87 THz,from 3.04 THz to 3.33 THz,from 4.17 THz to 4.48 THz,from 4.78 THz to 4.97 THz,from 5.125 THz to 5.168 THz,from5.44 THz to 5.97 THz,and from 6.74 THz to 7.01 THz.The dual-Stokes wavelengths resonance phenomena were observed in some certain tuning angle ranges.Through the theoretical analysis of the dispersion curve of the KTP crystal,the intermittent THz wave tuning range and dual-wavelength Stokes waves operation during angle tuning process were explained.The theoretical analysis was in good agreement with the experiment results.The maximum THz output voltage detected by Golay cell was 1.7 V at 5.7 THz under the pump energy of 210 mJ,corresponding to the THz wave output energy of5.47μJ and conversion efficiency of 2.6×10^(-5).

Energy Scaling of Terahertz Pulses Produced through Difference Frequency Generation

We study the energy scaling of terahertz (THz) emission through difference frequency generation of near-infrared pulses, and demonstrate that Gigawatt few-cycle THz transients at the central frequency of 30 THz are produced from GaSe crystal pumped by two pulses at 1.65 and 1.95 micrometers, with the high quantum yield of 28%. Our analysis indicates that the high yield of DFG originates from the largely reduced group velocity mismatch as the long-wavelength pumping pulses are employed.

Probing dynamics of dark energy with latest observations

We examine the validity of the ACDM model and probe the dynamics of dark energy with the latest astronomical observations. Using the Ore（z） diagnosis, we find that various kinds of observational data are in tension within the ACDM framework. We then allow for dynamics of dark energy and investigate the constraint on dark energy parameters. We find that for two different kinds of parametri- sations of the equation of state parameter w, a combination of current data mildly favours an evolving w, although the significance is not sufficient for it to be supported by Bayesian evidence. A forecast of the DESI survey shows that the dynamics of dark energy could be detected at the 7σ confidence level and would be decisively supported by Bayesian evidence, if the best-fit model of w derived from current data is the true model.

DEVELOPING AN ENERGY BENCHMARKING SYSTEM FOR HOTEL BUILDINGS USING THE STATISTICAL METHOD AND THE SIMULATION-BASED APPROACH

Due to increased tourist activity,many cities now have a large number of hotel buildings.It is necessary to establish measures to evaluate energy use intensity to effectively manage energy consumption in this sector.This study uses a combined strategy to establish an energy benchmark for hotel buildings in Vietnam.First,a survey and analysis of actual building stock data of 50 hotels in Danang,Vietnam,was conducted.The survey-based benchmark and its related data was then used to build a reference energy model to estimate an energy benchmark for other climatic regions in Vietnam by using the energy simulation method.The results reveal that the average energy use intensity for hotels in Danang was 87.4 kWh/m2.year or 8628.6 kWh/guestroom.year.However,this study proposes that because of the differing expectations of comfort standards,hotels of different grades should have separate benchmarks.This study also proposes an energy intensity-based rating scale,including 7 grades from the least energy intensive(grade A)to the most energy intensive(grade G),which can be used to manage,label,or encourage sustainable energy use in hotel buildings.The relationship between the energy use intensity and the occupancy rate of the hotels was reported,compared,and explained.It was found that occupancy rate has no significant impact on the energy use intensity.From the survey result,some predictive models were developed to estimate annual energy consumption of hotel buildings based on their grades.The simulated benchmarks for other regions were also achieved.The results demonstrate many potential applications in the management,design and construction,and renovation of this building type.

Testing cosmic transparency with the latest baryon acoustic oscillations and type Ia supernovae data

Observations show that Type Ia supernovae （SNe Ia） are dimmer than ex- pected from a matter dominated Universe. It has been suggested that this observed phenomenon can also be explained using light absorption instead of dark energy. However, there is a serious degeneracy between the cosmic absorption parameter and the present matter density parameter Ωm when one tries to place constraints on the cosmic opacity using SNe Ia data. We combine the latest baryon acoustic oscillation （BAO） and Union2 SNe Ia data in order to break this degeneracy. Assuming a fiat ACDM model, we find that, although an opaque Universe is favored by SNe Ia＋BAO since the best fit value of the cosmic absorption parameter is larger than zero, fire = 1 is ruled out at the 99.7% confidence level. Thus, cosmic opacity is not sufficient to account for the present observations and dark energy or modified gravity is still re- quired.

Molecular simulation of oligomer inhibitors for calcite scale

Molecular simulation was performed to study the interaction between CaCO3 crystal and several oligomer inhibitors, by using the equilibrium morphology method to calculate the growth morphology of CaCO3 without inhibitors. The calculated morphology agreed well with SEM photographs. Then, a double-layer model was built to investigate the interaction between calcite crystal and oligomer inhibitors containing maleic anhydride （MA） and acrylic acid （AA）. Interaction energy per gram of an oligomer inhibitor was introduced as a scale of inhibition efficiency of different monomers. The results indicated that, for calcite scale inhibition, acrylamide （AM） and vinyl phosphonic acid （VPA） were the most efficient monomers, while allylsulfonic acid （AS） was the poorest. Increasing proportion of AM in dimer inhibitor molecule would improve the inhibition efficiency of MA, though, for a trimer, such as MA-AA-AM, certain sequence of monomers in the inhibitor molecule was necessary besides higher proportion of AM.

Energy Budgets on the Interactions between the Mean and Eddy Flows during a Persistent Heavy Rainfall Event over the Yangtze River Valley in Summer 2010

In this study,a persistent heavy rainfall event（PHRE） that lasted for around 9 days（from 0000 UTC 17 to0000 UTC 26 June 2010） and caused accumulated precipitation above 600 mm over the Yangtze River valley,was reasonably reproduced by the advanced research WRF model.Based on the simulation,a set of energy budget equations that divided the real meteorological field into the mean and eddy flows were calculated so as to understand the interactions between the precipitation-related eddy flows and their background circulations（BCs）.The results indicated that the precipitation-related eddy flows interacted with their BCs intensely during the PHRE.At different layers,the energy cycles showed distinct characteristics.In the upper troposphere,downscaled energy cascade processes appeared,which favored the maintenance of upper-level eddy flows;whereas,a baroclinic energy conversion,which reduced the upper-level jet,also occurred.In the middle troposphere,significant upscaled energy cascade processes,which reflect the eddy flows＇ reactionary effects on their BCs,appeared.These effects cannot be ignored with respect to the BCs＇ evolution,and the reactionary effects were stronger in the dynamical field than in the thermodynamical field.In the lower troposphere,a long-lived quasi-stationary lower-level shear line was the direct trigger for the PHRE.The corresponding eddy flows were sustained mainly through the baroclinic energy conversion associated with convection activities.Alongside this,the downscaled energy cascade processes of kinetic energy,which reflect the direct influences of BCs on the precipitation-related eddy flows,were also favorable.A downscaled energy cascade of exergy also appeared in the lower troposphere,which favored the precipitation-related eddy flow indirectly via the baroclinic energy conversion.

A fairy tale of winter -a theory about dark energy, dark matter, and inflation

This fairy tale begins with the journey of the famous Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly: I often do not know whether I am living in a dream, dreaming of a butterfly, or is a butterfly dreaming of me? Furthermore, there is the saying that those who believe it will see it, while for those who see it, it is then too late to believe it. The first thing I believe in is the holographic principle, and the holographic dark energy brought about by the holographic principle. Not until last year, I began to believe that there must be a new energy scale in between the Planck scale and the standard model scale. I also believe that this new scale is related to the minimal axion model. The results of the journey described in this paper are the following: 1. There is a new energy scale, which we will call the intermediate energy scale,and the best choice is 1012Ge V. 2. The minimal axion exists, and under the new scale, there is no new physics. The axion plays both the roles of inflation and dark matter. New physics between the new scale and the Planck scale may exist because in this energy range, quantum gravity becomes important. 3. The dark energy is holographic dark energy. Then all of the observable effects of all three predictions about dark energy, dark matter, and cosmic inflation are to be observed.

Study of fusion Q-value rule in sub-barrier fusion of heavy ions

A vast body of fusion data has been analyzed for different projectiles and target nuclei. It is indicated that the sub-barrier fusion depends on the fusion Q-value. In terms of a recently introduced fusion Q-value rule and an energy scaling reduction procedure, the experimental fusion excitation functions are reduced and compared with each other. It is found that the reduced fusion excitations of selected fusion systems show a similar trend. The fusion data for massive nuclei are in agreement with the Q-value rule. In the fusion process, the Q contribution should be considered. Within this approach, the sub-barrier fusion cross sections of most fusion systems can be predicted without involving any structure effects of colliding nuclei. Instances of disagreement are presented in a few fusion systems. The use of the energy scaling as a criterion of possible experimental data inconsistency is discussed. More precise experimental fusion data need to be measured.