Planetary Wave Reflection and Its Impact on Tropospheric Cold Weather over Asia during January 2008

Reflection of stratospheric planetary waves and its impact on tropospheric cold weather over Asia during January 2008 were investigated by applying two dimensional Eliassen-Palm （EP） flux and three-dimensional Plumb wave activity fluxes.The planetary wave propagation can clearly be seen in the longitude-height and latitude-height sections of the Plumb wave activity flux and EP flux,respectively,when the stratospheric basic state is partially reflective.Primarily,a wave packet emanating from Baffin Island/coast of Labrador propagated eastward,equatorward and was reflected over Central Eurasia and parts of China,which in turn triggered the advection of cold wind from the northern part of the boreal forest regions and Siberia to the subtropics.The wide region of Central Eurasia and China experienced extreme cold weather during the second ten days of January 2008,whereas the extraordinary persistence of the event might have occurred due to an anomalous blocking high in the Urals-Siberia region.

Assessment of Photochemical Reflectance Index as a Tool for Evaluation of Chlorophyll Fluorescence Parameters in Cotton and Peanut Cultivars Under Water Stress Condition

The relationships between photochemical reflectance index （PRI） and the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were examined to assess suitability of PRI as a remote-sensing tool for the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters. A greenhouse experiment was conducted using cotton and peanut crops under water stress condition. Five cotton and six peanut cultivars were grown using Andosole soil in pots maintained at two water levels; the control and water stress treatment （WS） of 100 and 50% of the daily transpiration, respectively. Higher non-photochemical quenching （NPQ） was exhibited by peanut than that of cotton by the water stress. On the other hand, the decreases of the actual quantum yield of photosystem II （△F/F＇m） and PRI by the water stress in cotton were larger than those in peanut. There were positively significant correlation coefficients between PRI and △F/F＇m in cotton at noon and in the afternoon including the control and WS. The correlations of PRI with NPQ were negatively significant at noon and in the afternoon for cotton, and in the afternoon for peanut. No clear relationship was found among these parameters in the morning probably due to the diurnal increase in global solar radiation. It was concluded that there would be a possibility to detect the effects of water stress on △F/F＇m and NPQ by PRI with some exceptions, although PRI could not note varietals differences in △F/F＇m and NPQ for each treatment.

Simple method for extracting the seasonal signals of photochemical reflectance index and normalized difference vegetation index measured using a spectral reflectance sensor

A spectral reflectance sensor(SRS)fixed on the near-surface ground was developed to support the continuous monitoring of vegetation indices such as the normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI)and photochemical reflectance index(PRI).NDVI is useful for indicating crop growth/phenology,whereas PRI was developed for observing physiological conditions.Thus,the seasonal change patterns of NDVI and PRI are two valuable pieces of information in a crop-monitoring system.However,capturing the seasonal patterns is considered challenging because the vegetation index values estimated by the reflection from vegetation are often governed by meteorological conditions,such as solar irradiance and precipitation.Further,unlike growth/phenology,the physiological condition has diurnal changes as well as seasonal characteristics.This study proposed a novel filtering method for extracting the seasonal signals of SRS-based NDVI and PRI in paddy rice,barley,and garlic.First,the measurement accuracy of SRSs was compared with handheld spectrometers,and the R^(2)values between the two devices were 0.96 and 0.81 for NDVI and PRI,respectively.Second,the experimental study of threshold criteria with respect to meteorological variables(i.e.,insolation,cloudiness,sunshine duration,and precipitation)was conducted,and sunshine duration was the most useful one for excluding distorted values of the vegetation indices.After data processing based on sunshine duration,the R^(2)values between the measured vegetation indices and the extracted seasonal signals of vegetation indices increased by approximately 0.002–0.004(NDVI)and 0.065–0.298(PRI)on the three crops,and the seasonal signals of vegetation indices became noticeably improved.This method will contribute to an agricultural monitoring system by identifying the seasonal changes in crop growth and physiological conditions.

Inversion of Biochemical Parameters by Selection of Proper Vegetation Index in Winter Wheat

Recent studies have demonstrated the application of vegetation indices from canopy reflectedspectrum for inversion of chlorophyll concentration. Some indices are both response tovariations of vegetation and environmental factors. Canopy chlorophyll concentration, anindicator of photosynthesis activity, is related to nitrogen concentration in green vegetationand serves as an indicator of the crop response to soil nitrogen fertilizer application. Thecombination of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and photochemical reflectanceindex (PRI) can reduce the effect of leaf area index (LAI) and soil background. The canopychlorophyll inversion index (CCII) was proved to be sensitive to chlorophyll concentration andvery resistant to the other variations. This paper introduced the ratio of TCARI/OSAVI to makeaccurate predictions of winter wheat chlorophyll concentration under different cultivars. Itindicated that canopy chlorophyll concentration could be evaluated by some combined vegetationindices.

The Study of Using Near-infrared Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy Rapid Identify Wheat Drought Resistance-Ⅱ

[Objective] The aim was to build an evaluation method rapidly identifying wheat drought tolerance with near infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. [Method] In the research, 36 wheat varieties in 2007-2009 were chosen and drought-tolerance degrees of wheat were graded and identified according to Winter-wheat Drought Tol- erance Evaluation Technical Standards （GB/T 21127-2007）, and harvest wheat grains underwent spectrum collection, with a full-spectrum analyzer, to establish a database. [Result] Based on qualitative analysis and full-spectrum correlation research, the coef- ficient of determination （RSQ） and cross-validation coefficient of determination （1-VR） were concluded at 0.697 5 and 0.600 2, showing near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy is of significant differences among wheat varieties and of significant or extremely significant correlation with drought-tolerance indices. [Conclusion] The re- search indicates that to evaluate drought-tolerance of wheat with near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy is a rapid and feasible way, which is simple, convenient without damages on grains, and of practical values for construction wheat drought-tol- erance evaluation index system and identification of breeding materials.

Optical Absorption Enhancement Effects of Silver Nanodisk Arrays in the Application of Silicon Solar Cell

Surface plasmon resonance of noble metal nanoparticles leads to the optical absorption enhancement effects,which have great potential applications in solar cell.By using the general numerical method of discrete dipole approximation （DDA）,we study the absorption and scattering properties of two-dimensional square silver nanodisks （2D SSN） arrays on the single crystal silicon solar cell.Based on the effective reflective index model of the single crystal silicon solar cell,we investigate the optical enhancement absorption of light energy by varying the light incident direction,particle size,aspect ratio,and interparticle spacing of the silver nanodisks.The peak values and position of the optical extinction spectra of the 2D square arrays of noble metal nanodisks are obtained with the different array structures.

Cultivar,Nitrogen and Irrigation Influence on Grain Quality and Its Forecasting Methods by In situ Reflected Spectrum of Winter Wheat

Field experiments were conducted to examine the influence factors of cultivar, nitrogen application and irrigation on grain protein content, gluten content and grain hardness in three winter wheat cultivars under four levels of nitrogen and irrigation treatments. Firstly, the influence of cultivars and environment factors on grain quality were studied, the effective factors were cultivars, irrigation, fertilization, etc. Secondly, total nitrogen content around winter wheat anthesis stage was proved to be significantly correlative with grain protein content, and spectral vegetation index significantly correlated to total nitrogen content around anthesis stage were the potential indicators for grain protein content. Accumulation of total nitrogen content and its transfer to grain is the physical link to produce the final grain protein, and total nitrogen content at anthesis stage was proved to be an indicator of final grain protein content. The selected normalized photochemical reflectance index (NPRI) was proved to be able to predict grain protein content on the close correlation between the ratio of total carotenoid to chlorophyll a and total nitrogen content. The method contributes towards developing optimal procedures for predicting wheat grain quality through analysis of their canopy reflected spectrum at anthesis stage. Regression equations were established to forecast grain protein and dry gluten content by total nitrogen content at anthesis stage, so it is feasible for forecasting grain quality by establishing correlation equations between biochemical constitutes and canopy reflected spectrum.

Fiber in-line Fabry–Pérot interferometer for simultaneous measurement of reflective index and temperature

A fiber in-line Fabry-Perot interferometer is presented. The sensing head consists of a micro ellipsoidal air cavity and a small section of solid-core photonic crystal fiber. The reflective index （RI） and temperature can be interrogated simultaneously through a fast Fourier transform and by tracing the dip wavelength shift of the reflective spectrum. Experimental results show that the RI amplitude and wavelength sensitivities are 5.30/ RIU and 8.46 × 10-1 nm/RIU in the range from 1.34 to 1.43, and the temperature amplitude and wavelength sensitivities are 6.8 × 10-4/℃ and 2.48 × 10-3 nm/℃ in the range from 15℃ to 75℃, respectively. Easy fabrication, a simple system, and simultaneous measurement make it appropriate for aluM-parameter sensing application.

Remote Sensing Indices to Measure the Seasonal Dynamics of Photosynthesis in a Southern China Subtropical Evergreen Forest

The accurate measurement of the dynamics of photosynthesis in China’s subtropical evergreen forest ecosystems is an important contribution to carbon(C) sink estimates in global terrestrial ecosystems and their responses to climate change. Eddy covariance has historically been the only direct method to assess C flux of whole ecosystems with high temporal resolution, but it suffers from limited spatial resolution. During the last decade, continuous global monitoring of plant primary productivity from spectroradiometer sensors on flux towers and satellites has extended the temporal and spatial coverage of C flux observations. In this study, we evaluated the performance of two physiological remote sensing indices, fluorescence reflectance index(FRI) and photochemical reflectance index(PRI), to measure the seasonal variations of photosynthesis in a subtropical evergreen forest ecosystem using continuous canopy spectral and flux measurements in the Dinghushan Nature Reserve in southern China.The more commonly used NDVI has been shown to be saturated and mainly affected by illumination(R^2=0.88, p <0.001), but FRI and PRI could better track the seasonal dynamics of plant photosynthetic functioning by comparison and are less affected by illumination(R^2=0.13 and R^2=0.51, respectively) at the seasonal scale. FRI correlated better with daily gross primary production(GPP) in the morning hours than in the afternoon hours, in contrast to PRI which correlated better with light-use efficiency(LUE) in the afternoon hours. Both FRI and PRI could show greater correlations with GPP and LUE respectively in the senescence season than in the recovery-growth season. When incident PAR was taken into account, the relationship between GPP and FRI was improved and the correlation coefficient increased from 0.22 to 0.69(p < 0.001). The strength of the correlation increased significantly in the senescence season(R^2=0.79, p < 0.001). Our results demonstrate the application of FRI and PRI as physiological indices for the accurate measurement of the seasonal dynamics of plant community photosynthesis in a subtropical evergreen forest, and suggest these indices may be applied to carbon cycle models to improve the estimation of regional carbon budgets.

A New Parameter as an Indicator of the Degree of Deformation of Coals

The deformation of coal is effected by thermal effect, pressures and tectonic stress, and the tectonic stress is the principal influence factor. However, the proposition of a useful quantitative index that responds to the degree of deformation of coals quantitatively or semi-quantitatively has been a long-debated issue. The vitrinite reflectance ellipsoid, that is, the reflectance indication surface（RIS） ellipsoid is considered to be a strain ellipsoid that reflects the sum of the strain increment caused by stress in the process of coalification. It has been used to describe the degree of deformation of the coal, but the effect of the anisotropy on the RIS ellipsoid has not yet been considered with regards to non-structural factors. In this paper, Wei＇s parameter（ε） is proposed to express the deformation degree of the strain ellipsoid based on considering the combined influence of thermal effect, pressure and tectonic stress. The equation is as follows： ε=√[（ε_1-ε_0）~2＋（ε_2-ε_0）~2＋（ε_3-ε_0）~2]/3, where ε_1=lnR_（max）, ε_2=lnR_（int）, ε_3=lnR_（min）, and ε_0=（ε_1＋ε_2＋ε_3）/3. Wei＇s parameter represents the distance from the surface to the spindle of the RIS logarithm ellipsoid; thus, the degree of deformation of the strain ellipsoid is indicated quantitatively. The formula itself, meanwhile, represents the absolute value of the degree of relative deformation and is consequently suitable for any type of deformation of the strain ellipsoid. Wei＇s parameter makes it possible to compare degrees of deformation among different deformation types of the strain ellipsoid. This equation has been tested in four types of coal： highly metamorphic but weakly deformed coal of the southern Qinshui Basin, highly metamorphic and strongly deformed coal from the Tianhushan coal mining area of Fujian, and medium metamorphic and weakly or strongly deformed coal from the Huaibei Coalfield. The results of Wei＇s parameters are consistent with the actual deformation degrees of the coal reservoirs determined by other methods, which supports the effectiveness of this method. In addition, Wei＇s parameter is an important complement to the indicators of the degrees of deformation of coals, which possess certain theoretical significance and practical values.