accurate and self-consistent ocean color algorithm:simultaneous retrieval of aerosol optical properties and chlorphyll concentrations

A new algorithm has been developed for simultaneous retrieval of aerosol optical properties and chlorophyll concentrations in case I waters. This algorithm is based on an improved complete model for the inherent optical properties and accurate simulations of the radiative transfer process in the coupled atmosphere-ocean system. It has been tested against synthetic radiances generated for the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) channels and has been shown to be robust and accurate. A unique feature of this algorithm is that it uses the measured radiances in both near-IR and visible channels to find that combination of chlorophyll concentration and aerosol optical properties that minimizes the error across the spectrum. Thus the error in the retrieved quantities can be quantified.

Micro-shock waves generated inside a fluid jet impinging on plane wall

An Nd:glass laser pulse (18 ns, 1.38 J) is focused in a tiny area of about 100-mum diam under ambient conditions to produce micro-shock waves. The laser is focused above a planar surface with a typical standoff distance of about 4 mm, The laser energy is focused inside a supersonic circular jet of carbon dioxide gas produced by a nozzle with internal diameter of 2.9 mm and external diameter of 8 mm, Nominal value of the Mach number of the jet is around 2 with the corresponding pressure ratio of 7.5 (stagnation pressure/static pressure at the exit of the nozzle), The interaction process of the micro-shock wave generated inside the supersonic jet with the plane wall is investigated using double-pulse holographic interferometry. A strong surface vortex field with subsequent generation of a side jet propagating outward along the plane wail is observed. The interaction of the micro-shock wave with the cellular structure of the supersonic jet does not seem to influence the near surface features of the flowfield. The development of the coherent structures near the nozzle exit due to the upstream propagation of pressure waves seems to be affected by the outward propagating micro-shock wave. Mach reflection is observed when the micro-shock wave interacts with the plane wall at a standoff distance of 4 mm, The Mach stem is slightly deflected, indicating strong boundary-layer and viscous effects near the wall. The interaction process is also simulated numerically using an axisymmetric transient laminar Navier-Stokes solver. Qualitative agreement between experimental and numerical results is good.

Laminar/Turbulent Plasma Jets Generated At Reduced Pressure

Laminar do plasma jets are attractive for precisely controlled plasma-material processing. The design of a novel non-transferred plasma torch enabled the switching between turbulent and laminar plasma flows by simply changing the plasma generation parameters. Images of the plasma flows generated at different conditions are presented.

Statistical analysis of synthetic earthquake catalogs generated by models with various levels of fault zone disorder

The stress release model, a stochastic version of the elastic rebound theory, is applied to the large events from four synthetic earthquake catalogs generated by models with various levels of disorder in distribution of fault zone strength (Ben-Zion, 1996) They include models with uniform properties (U), a Parkfield-type asperity (A), fractal brittle properties (F), and multi-size-scale heterogeneities (M). The results show that the degree of regularity or predictability in the assumed fault properties, based on both the Akaike information criterion and simulations, follows the order U, F, A, and M, which is in good agreement with that obtained by pattern recognition techniques applied to the full set of synthetic data. Data simulated from the best fitting stress release models reproduce, both visually and in distributional terms, the main features of the original catalogs. The differences in character and the quality of prediction between the four cases are shown to be dependent on two main aspects: the parameter controlling the sensitivity to departures from the mean stress level and the frequency-magnitude distribution, which differs substantially between the four cases. In particular, it is shown that the predictability of the data is strongly affected by the form of frequency-magnitude distribution, being greatly reduced if a pure Gutenburg-Richter form is assumed to hold out to high magnitudes.

Sediment incipience in turbulence generated in a square tank by a vertically oscillating grid

The failure of hydraulic structures in many estuaries and coastal regions around the world has been attributed to sediment transport and local scour. The sediment incipience in homogenous turbulence generated by oscillating grid is studied in this paper. The turbulent flow is measured by particle tracer velocimetry (PTV) technique. The integral length scale and time scale of turbulence are obtained. The turbulent flow near the wall is measured by local optical magnification. The sediment incipience is described by static theory. The relationship of probability of sediment incipience and the turbulent kinetic energy were obtained experimentally and theoretically. The distribution of the turbulent kinetic energy near the wall is found to obey the power law and the turbulent energy is further identified as the dynamic mechanism of sediment incipience.

Naive asymptotic expansion of the water wave generated by a slowly moving body

It is pointed out that the naive asymptotic expansion does not satisfy all the body boundary condition. A nonhomogeneous body boundary condition is obtained from this expansion. It is this condition that the additional wave term must satisfy. Moreover, because of this condition, the wave term must appear. It is pointed out that the zeroth approximation in the naive asymptotic expansion has weak singularity and the singularities become still stronger in the subsequent approximations.

Computation of turbulence-generated noise by large-eddy simulation

The hybrid method of large eddy simulation (LES) and the Lighthill analogy is being developed to compute the sound radiated from turbulent flows. The results obtained from the hybrid method are often contaminated by the absence of small scales in LES, since the energy level of sound is much smaller than that of turbulent flows. Previous researches investigate the effects of subgrid sacle (SGS) eddies on the frequency spectra of sound radiated by isotropic turbulence and suggest a SGS noise model to represent the SGS contributions to the frequency spectra. Their investigations are conducted in physical space and are unavoidably influenced by boundary conditions. In this paper, we propose to perform such calculations in Fourier space so that the effects of boundary conditions can be correctly treated. Posteriori tests are carried out to investigate the SGS contribution to the sound. The results obtained recover the -7/2 law within certain wave-number ranges, but under-estimate the amplitudes of the frequency spectra. The reason for the underestimation is also discussed.

A kinematic subgrid scale model for large-eddy simulation of turbulence generated sound

In the hybrid approach of large-eddy simulation (LES) and Lighthill’s acoustic analogy for turbulence-generated sound, the turbulence source fields are obtained using an LES and the turbulence-generated sound at far fields is calculated from Lighthill’s acoustic analogy. As only the velocity fields at resolved scales are available from the LES, the Lighthill stress tensor, serving as a source term in Lighthill’s acoustic equation, has to be evaluated from the resolved velocity fields. As a result, the contribution from the unresolved velocity fields is missing in the conventional LES. The sound of missing scales is shown to be important and hence needs to be modeled. The present study proposes a kinematic subgrid-scale (SGS) model which recasts the unresolved velocity fields into Lighthill’s stress tensors. A kinematic simulation is used to construct the unresolved velocity fields with the imposed temporal statistics, which is consistent with the random sweeping hypothesis. The kinematic SGS model is used to calculate sound power spectra from isotropic turbulence and yields an improved result: the missing portion of the sound power spectra is approximately recovered in the LES.

Fluctuation characteristics of arc voltage and jet flow in a non-transferred dc plasma generated at reduced pressure

A torch with a set of inter-electrode inserts between the cathode and the anode/nozzle with a wide nozzle exit was designed to generate plasma jets at chamber pressures of 500–10 000 Pa. The variation of the arc voltage was examined with the change in working parameters such as gas flow rate and chamber pressure. The fluctuation in the arc voltage was recorded with an oscilloscope, and the plasma jet fluctuation near the torch exit was observed with a high-speed video camera and detected with a double-electrostatic probe. Results show that the 300 Hz wave originated from the tri-phase rectified power supply was always detected under all generating conditions. Helmholtz oscillations over 3000 Hz was detected superposed on the 300 Hz wave at gas flow rates higher than 8.8 slm with a peak to valley amplitude lower than 5% of the average voltage value. No appreciable voltage fluctuation caused by the irregular arc root movement is detected, and mechanisms for the arc voltage and jet flow fluctuations are discussed.

Enhancing Kerr nonlinearity via spontaneously generated coherence

A theoretical investigation is carried out into the effect of spontaneously generated coherence on the Kerr nonlinearity of general three-level systems of Lambda, ladder, and V-shape types. It is found, with spontaneously generated coherence present, that the Kerr nonlinearity can be clearly enhanced. In the Lambda- and ladder-type systems, the maximal Kerr nonlinearity increases and at the same time enters the electromagnetically induced transparency window as the spontaneously generated coherence intensifies. As for the V-type system, the absorption property is significantly modified and therefore enhanced Kerr nonlinearity without absorption occurs for certain probe detunings. We attribute the enhancement of Kerr nonlinearity mainly to the presence of an extra atomic coherence induced by the spontaneously generated coherence.

Effect of phases on the dynamic evolution of a Lambda system with spontaneously generated coherence

The dynamic evolution of a A system coupled by two strong coherent fields is investigated by taking spontaneously generated coherence (SGC) into account. By numericaly simulation, it is shown that the relative phase of the two coherent fields affects significantly the time scale to the coherent population trapping state. In addition, an analytical expression to the evolution rate which is consistent with the numerical results is given. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Long lifetime plasma channel in air generated by multiple femtosecond laser pulses and an external electrical field

The lifetime of a plasma channel produced by self-guiding intense femtosecond laser pulses in air is largely prolonged by adding a high voltage electrical field in the plasma and by introducing a series of femtosecond laser pulses. An optimal lifetime value is realized through adjusting the delay among these laser pulses. The lifetime of a plasma channel is greatly enhanced to 350 ns by using four sequential intense 100fs( FWHM) laser pulses with an external electrical field of about 350kV/m, which proves the feasibility of prolonging the lifetime of plasma by adding an external electrical field and employing multiple laser pulses. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.

Controllable Kerr nonlinearity with perfect transparency in the existence of spontaneously generated coherence

We investigate the Kerr nonlinearity of a V-type three-level atomic system where the upper two states decay outside to another state and hence spontaneous generated coherence may exist. It is shown that dark state and hence perfect transparency present under certain conditions. Meanwhile, the Kerr nonlinearity can be controlled by manipulation of the decay rates and the splitting of the two excited states. Therefore, enhanced Kerr nonlinearity without absorption can be obtained under proper parameters.