A Case Study on the Triggering of Thermal Convective Precipitation

Thermal convective precipitation （TCP） often occurs over China's Mainland in summer when the area is dominated by the western Pacific subtropical high （WPSH）. It is well known that the WPSH often brings about large scale subsidence, then why could deep moist convection occur and where does the water vapor come from？ In this paper, a deep convective precipitation case that happened on 2 August 2003 is studied in order to address these two questions. First, the characteristics of the TCP event are analyzed using the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission （TRMM） satellite data, automatic weather station observations, and the data from the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction （NCEP）. Second, water vapor sources are identified through examining surface evaporation, water vapor advection, and water vapor flux divergence calculated by using a regionally averaged water vapor budget equation. Furthermore, using an Advanced Regional Eta-coordinate Model （AREM）, contributions of sensible and latent heat fluxes to the TCP are compared through four sensitivity experiments. The results show that in the regions controlled by the WPSH, surface temperature rises rapidly after sunrise. Upon receiving enough sensible heat, the air goes up and leads to convergence in the lower atmosphere. Then the water vapor assembled from the surroundings and the ground surface is transported to the upper levels, and a favorable environment for the TCP forms. A model data diagnosis indicates that about half of precipitable water comes from the convergence of horizontal fluxes of water vapor, and the other half from surface evaporation, while little is from advection. Additional sensitivity experiments prove that both sensible and latent heating are essential for the onset of the TCP. The sensible heat flux triggers thermodynamic ascending motion, and the latent heat flux provides water vapor, but the contribution to TCP from the latter is a little smaller than that from the former.

The Formation of Wind Curl in the Marine Atmosphere Boundary Layer over the East China Sea Kuroshio in Spring

Various data are used to investigate the characteristics of the surface wind field and rainfall on the East China Sea Kuroshio(ESK) in March and April, 2011. In March, the wind speed maximum shows over the ESK front(ESKF) in the 10 meter wind field, which agrees with the thermal wind effect. A wind curl center is generated on the warm flank of the ESKF. The winds are much weaker in April, so is the wind curl. A rainband exists over the ESKF in both the months. The Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF) model is used for further researches. The winds on the top of the marine atmosphere boundary layer(MABL) indicate that in March, a positive wind curl is generated in the whole MABL over the warm flank of the ESKF. The thermal wind effect forced by the strong SST gradient overlying the background wind leads to strong surface northeasterly winds on the ESKF, and a positive shearing vorticity is created over the warm flank of the ESKF to generate wind curl. In the smoothed sea surface temperature experiment, the presence of the ESKF is responsible for the strong northeast winds in the ESKF, and essential for the distribution of the rainfall centers in March, which confirms the mechanism above. The same simulation is made for April, 2011, and the responses from the MABL become weak. The low background wind speed weakens the effect of the thermal wind, thus no strong Ekman pumping is helpful for precipitation. There is no big difference in rainfall between the control run and the smooth SST run. Decomposition of the wind vector shows that local wind acceleration induced by the thermal wind effect along with the variations in wind direction is responsible for the pronounced wind curl/divergence over the ESKF.

Effects of synthesis methods on the performance of Pt + Rh/Ce_(0.6)Zr_(0.4)O_2 three-way catalysts

The 0.7 wt% Pt ＋ 0.3 wt% Rh/Ce0.6Zr0.4O2 catalysts were fabricated via different methods, including ultrasonic-assisted membrane reduction （UAMR） co-precipitation, UAMR separation precipitation, co-impregnation, and sequential impregnation. The catalysts were physico-chemically characterized by N2 adsorption, XRD, TEM, and Hz-TPR techniques, and evaluated for three-way catalytic activities with simulated automobile exhaust. UAMR co-precipitation- and UAMR separation precipitation- prepared catalysts exhibited a high surface area and metal dispersion, wide λ window and excellent conversion for NOx reduction under lean conditions. Both fresh and aged catalysts from UAMR- precipitation showed the high surface areas of ca. 60-67 m^2/g and 18-22 m^2/g, respectively, high metal dispersion of 41%-55%, and small active particle diameters of 2.1-2.7 nm. When these catalysts were aged, the catalysts prepared by the UAMR method exhibited a wider working window （△λ = 0.284--0.287） than impregnated ones （△λ = 0.065-0.115） as well as excellent three-way catalytic performance, and showed lower/so （169℃） and T90 （195℃） for NO reduction than the aged catalysts from impregnation processes, which were at 265 and 309℃, respectively. This implied that the UAMR-separation precipitation has important potential for industrial applications to improve catalytic performance and thermal stability. The fresh and aged 0.7 wt% Pt ＋ 0.3 wt% Rh/Ce0.6Zr0.4O2 catalysts prepared by the UAMR-separation precipitation method exhibited better catalytic performance than the corresponding catalysts prepared by conventional impregnation routes.

In situ and ex situ synthesis of poly（vinyl alcohol）-Fe304 nanocomposite flame retardants

Application of flame retardants is limited because of environmental requirements. This work introduces conventional magnetic nanoparticles as a new class of nontoxic and effective flame retardant. Fe3O4 enhanced both the thermal stability and flame retardant properties of a poly（vinyl alcohol） matrix. Nanoparticles were synthesized via a simple precipitation reaction without using an inert atmosphere at room temperature. The effects of different precursors and acrylamide on the morphology of the products were investigated. Nanoparticles exhibited a ferrimagnetic behavior at room temperature. To prepare the magnetic nanocomposite, Fe3O4 nanoparticles were added to the poly（vinyl alcohol）. In the presence of a flame, the magnetic nanoparticles remained together, showed resistance to dripping and protected the polymer matrix. Dispersed nanoparticles play a role of a magnetic barrier layer, which slows product volatilization and prevents flames and oxygen from reaching the sample during decomposition of the polymer.