Experimental study of sheath potential coefficient in the J-TEXT tokamak

Sheath potential coefficient α is a key parameter, which is used to estimate plasma potential(Vp)for edge plasma physics study. Recently, a series of experiments has been carried out under hydrogen plasmas in the J-TEXT tokamak with swept probe, which is employed for current–voltage(I–V) characteristic measurement. Electron temperature is evaluated from I–V curve by three-parameter fitting method, and the electron energy probability function shows that electron distribution is Maxwellian both outside and inside of last closed flux surface(LCFS). Plasma potential is obtained by crossing point between I–V exponential fitting curve and electron saturation current extrapolating line, which is in good agreement with first derivative probe technique. The α coefficient profile in the vicinity of the LCFS is obtained, which is in the range of 2.1–3, and decreases from outside to inside of LCFS.

Gravity field recovery from GOCE orbits using the energy conservation approach

The sum of the dissipative energy and energy constant of the GOCE satellite is found by a priori gravity field model at first, and the GOCE dissipative energy is obtained by computing the adjacent epoch difference via the differential method. Then, a gravity field model GOCE-ECPO1, which up to the degree and order 80, is recovered by the energy conservation approach from the 103-day precise orbital data of the GOCE satellite collected from November 1, 2009 to January 12, 2010. Finally, the model is compared with existing models EGM96, ITG-CHAMP05S, EIGEN-GRACE2010S, EIGEN-6C and GO CONS GCF 2 DIR_R3. The results show that at the same order and degree, the accuracy of model GOCE-EBPO1 is higher than those of models EGM96 and ITG-CHAMP05S, but lower than those of models EIGEN-GRACE2010S, EIGEN-6C and GO_CONS_GCF 2 DIR_R3, which is mainly caused by the pole gap.

Impact of Climate Change on Maize Potential Productivity and the Potential Productivity Gap in Southwest China

The impact of climate change on maize potential productivity and the potential productivity gap in Southwest China（SWC） are investigated in this paper.We analyze the impact of climate change on the photosynthetic,light-temperature,and climatic potential productivity of maize and their gaps in SWC,by using a crop growth dynamics statistical method.During the maize growing season from 1961 to 2010,minimum temperature increased by 0.20℃ per decade（p 〈 0.01） across SWC.The largest increases in average and minimum temperatures were observed mostly in areas of Yunnan Province.Growing season average sunshine hours decreased by 0.2 h day^（-1） per decade（p 〈 0.01） and total precipitation showed an insignificant decreasing trend across SWC.Photosynthetic potential productivity decreased by 298 kg ha^（-1）per decade（p 〈 0.05）.Both light-temperature and climatic potential productivity decreased（p 〈 0.05） in the northeast of SWC,whereas they increased（p 〈 0.05） in the southwest of SWC.The gap between lighttemperature and climatic potential productivity varied from 12 to 2729 kg ha^（-1）,with the high value areas centered in northern and southwestern SWC.Climatic productivity of these areas reached only 10%-24%of the light-temperature potential productivity,suggesting that there is great potential to increase the maize potential yield by improving water management in these areas.In particular,the gap has become larger in the most recent 10 years.Sensitivity analysis shows that the climatic potential productivity of maize is most sensitive to changes in temperature in SWC.The findings of this study are helpful for quantification of irrigation water requirements so as to achieve maximum yield potentials in SWC.

GRACE’s Implication of Temporal Inertia Moment and Length of Day

This paper aims to study the Earth's temporal inertia moment and its influence on length of day (LOD). First, the GRACE data are processed by wavelet analysis to remove abnormal jumps and noises. Then the theoretical impacts of the second-order potential coefficients on the inertia moment and LOD are studied. Finally, the processed GRACE data are applied and results show that mass redistribution has led to decreasing tendencies of inertia moment and LOD as well as some unexpected seasonal oscillations in the recent 6 years.