Comparison of D-region Doppler drift winds measured by the SuperDARN Finland HF radar over an annual cycle using the Kiruna VHF meteor radar

The SuperDARN chain of oblique HF radars has provided an opportunity to generate a unique climatology of horizontal winds near the mesopause at a number of high latitude locations, via the Doppler shifted echoes from sources of ionisation in the D-region. Ablating meteor trails form the bulk of these targets, but other phenomena also contribute to the observations. Due to the poor vertical resolution of the radars, care must be taken to reduce possible biases from sporadic-E layers and Polar Mesospheric Summer echoes that can affect the effective altitude of the geophysical parameters being observed. Second, there is strong theoretical and observational evidence to suggest that the radars are picking up echoes from the backward looking direction that will tend to reduce the measured wind strengths. The effect is strongly frequency dependent, resulting in a 20% reduction at 12 MHz and a 50% reduction at 10 MHz. A comparison of the climatologies observed by the Super-DARN Finland radar between September 1999 and September 2000 and that obtained from the adjacent VHF meteor radar located at Kiruna is also presented. The agreement between the two instruments was very good. Extending the analysis to the SuperDARN Iceland East radar indicated that the principles outlined above could be applied successfully to the rest of the SuperDARN network.

A time-series method to identify and correct range sidelobes in meteorological radar data

The use of pulse compression techniques to improve the sensitivity of meteorological radars has become increasingly common in recent years. An unavoidable side-effect of such techniques is the formation of ‘range sidelobes’ which lead to spreading of information across several range gates. These artefacts are particularly troublesome in regions where there is a sharp gradient in the power backscattered to the antenna as a function of range. In this article we present a simple method for identifying and correcting range sidelobe artefacts. We make use of the fact that meteorological targets produce an echo which fluctuates at random, and that this echo, like a fingerprint, is unique to each range gate. By cross-correlating the echo time series from pairs of gates therefore we can identify whether information from one gate has spread into another, and hence flag regions of contamination. In addition we show that the correlation coefficients contain quantitative information about the fraction of power leaked from one range gate to another, and we propose a simple algorithm to correct the corrupted reflectivity profile.

Measurements of stratospheric ozone at a mid-latitude observing station Valentia, Ireland (51.94° N, 10.25° W), using ground-based and ozonesonde observations from 1994 to 2009

Sixteen years (1994 – 2009) of ozone profiling by ozonesondes at Valentia Meteorological and Geophysical Observatory, Ireland (51.94° N, 10.23° W) along with a co-located MkIV Brewer spectrophotometer for the period 1993–2009 are analyzed. Simple and multiple linear regression methods are used to infer the recent trend, if any, in stratospheric column ozone over the station. The decadal trend from 1994 to 2010 is also calculated from the monthly mean data of Brewer and column ozone data derived from satellite observations. Both of these show a 1.5 % increase per decade during this period with an uncertainty of about ±0.25 %. Monthly mean data for March show a much stronger trend of ~ 4.8 % increase per decade for both ozonesonde and Brewer data. The ozone profile is divided between three vertical slots of 0–15 km, 15–26 km, and 26 km to the top of the atmosphere and a 11-year running average is calculated. Ozone values for the month of March only are observed to increase at each level with a maximum change of +9.2 ± 3.2 % per decade (between years 1994 and 2009) being observed in the vertical region from 15 to 26 km. In the tropospheric region from 0 to 15 km, the trend is positive but with a poor statistical significance. However, for the top level of above 26 km the trend is significantly positive at about 4 % per decade. The March integrated ozonesonde column ozone during this period is found to increase at a rate of ~6.6 % per decade compared with the Brewer and satellite positive trends of ~5 % per decade.

RuII(α-diimine) or RuIII(α-diimine·–)? Structural, spectroscopic, and theoretical evidence for the stabilization of a prominent metal-to-Ligand charge- transfer excited-state configuration in the ground state

The new compounds [Ru(R-DAB)(acac)2] (R-DAB = 1,4-diorganyl- 1,4-diazabuta-1,3-diene; R = tert-butyl, 4-methoxyphenyl, 2,6-dimethylphenyl; acac– = 2,4-pentanedionate) exhibit intrachelate ring bond lengths 1.297

'Penetrating' foreign lands: contestations over African landscape. A case study from Eastern Zimbabwe

While it was happening, European expansion was often legitimised by evoking frontier images: pioneers setting off from the metropolis, penetrating wilderness in order to open access to resources, like minerals, living-space, and fertile lands. Central to the ideology of the frontier is the notion of 'no-man's land'. These 'pioneers', however, often had to face local inhabitants and their interpretations and uses of this land. Thus it will be argued that contestations over landscape were at the same time battles over the legitimation of European expansion, as well as over local perceptions of this process. Ideologically, contestations by Europeans and Africans become apparent in the sexualisation of landscape. This paper is based on the case study of a Valley in eastern Zimbabwe on the border with Mozambique, and more specifically of two tea estates which were established in the rainforest. Unusually late for the region, European influence in this remote area only began to become significant in the 1950s which were an important turning point regarding land and landscape in the area. These years of great change will be analysed in order to map out different strands of interest by the main parties involved. It will be demonstrated that their readings of landscape translated into contestations over land. A recent example of such a conflict will be given.

The role of soil microbes in the global carbon cycle: tracking the below-ground microbial processing of plant-derived carbon for manipulating carbon dynamics in agricultural systems.

It is well known that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) (and other greenhouse gases) have increased markedly as a result of human activity since the industrial revolution. It is perhaps less appreciated that natural and managed soils are an important source and sink for atmospheric CO2 and that, primarily as a result of the activities of soil microorganisms, there is a soil-derived respiratory flux of CO2 to the atmosphere that overshadows by tenfold the annual CO2 flux from fossil fuel emissions. Therefore small changes in the soil carbon cycle could have large impacts on atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Here we discuss the role of soil microbes in the global carbon cycle and review the main methods that have been used to identify the microorganisms responsible for the processing of plant photosynthetic carbon inputs to soil. We discuss whether application of these techniques can provide the information required to underpin the management of agro-ecosystems for carbon sequestration and increased agricultural sustainability. We conclude that, although crucial in enabling the identification of plant-derived carbon-utilising microbes, current technologies lack the high-throughput ability to quantitatively apportion carbon use by phylogentic groups and its use efficiency and destination within the microbial metabolome. It is this information that is required to inform rational manipulation of the plant–soil system to favour organisms or physiologies most important for promoting soil carbon storage in agricultural soil.

The grass-free lawn: management and species choice for optimum ground cover and plant diversity

In Britain, managed grass lawns provide the most traditional and widespread of garden and landscape practices in use today. Grass lawns are coming under increasing challenge as they tend to support a low level of biodiversity and can require substantial additional inputs to maintain. Here we apply a novel approach to the traditional monocultural lawnscape by replacing grasses entirely with clonal perennial forbs. We monitored changes in plant coverage and species composition over a two year period and here we report the results of a study comparing plant origin native, non-native and mixed) and mowing regime. This allows us to assess the viability of this construct as an alternative to traditional grass lawns. Grass-free lawns provided a similar level of plant cover to grass lawns. Both the mowing regime and the combination of species used affected this outcome, with native plant species seen to have the highest survival rates, and mowing at 4cm to produce the greatest amount of ground coverage and plant species diversity within grass-free lawns. Grass-free lawns required over 50% less mowing than a traditionally managed grass lawn. Observations suggest that plant forms that exhibited: a) a relatively fast growth rate, b) a relatively large individual leaf area, and c) an average leaf height substantially above the cut to be applied, were unsuitable for use in grass-free lawns. With an equivalent level of ground coverage to grass lawns, increased plant diversity and a reduced need for mowing, the grass-free lawn can be seen as a species diverse, lower input and potentially highly ornamental alternative to the traditional lawn format.

Supplementary feeding of wild birds indirectly affects ground beetle populations in suburban gardens

Supplementary feeding of wild birds by domestic garden-holders is a globally widespread and popular form of human–wildlife interaction, particularly in urban areas. Vast amounts of energy are thus being added to garden ecosystems. However, the potential indirect effects of this activity on non-avian species have been little studied to date, with the only two previous studies taking place under experimentally manipulated conditions. Here we present the first evidence of a localised depletive effect of wild bird feeding on ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in suburban gardens under the usual feeding patterns of the garden-holders. We trapped significantly fewer ground beetles directly under bird-feeding stations than in matched areas of habitat away from feeders. Video analysis also revealed significantly higher activity by ground-foraging birds under the feeding stations than in the control areas. Small mammal trapping revealed no evidence that these species differ in abundance between gardens with and without bird feeders. We therefore suggest that local increases in ground-foraging activity by bird species whose diets encompass arthropods as well as seed material are responsible for the reduction in ground beetle numbers. Our work therefore illustrates that providing food for wild birds can have indirect negative effects on palatable prey species under typical conditions.

The influence of plant species number on productivity, ground coverage and floral performance in grass-free lawns

The grass-free lawn is a novel development in modern ornamental horticulture where the traditional monoculture of grass is replaced by a variety of mowing-tolerant clonal forbs. It brings floral aesthetics and a diverse species approach to the use of lawn space. How the number of constituent forb species affects the aesthetic and structural performance of grass-free lawns was investigated using grass-free lawns composed of four, six and twelve British native clonal perennial forb species. Lawn productivity was seen to increase with increasing species number but the relationship was not linear. Plant cover was dynamic in all lawn types, varied between years and was not representative of individual species' floral performance. The behaviour of component species common to all lawns suggested that lawns with 12 species show greater structural stability than the lawns with a lower species number. Visual performance in lawns with the greatest species number was lower than in lawns with fewer species, with increasing variety in floral size and individual species floral productivity leading to a trade-off between diversity and floral performance. Individual species were seen to have different aesthetic functions in grass-free lawns either by providing flowers, ground coverage or both.

Urban integrated meteorological observations: practice and experience in Shanghai, China

Observations of atmospheric conditions and processes in citiesare fundamental to understanding the interactions between the urban surface and weather/climate, improving the performance of urban weather, air quality and climate models, and providing key information for city end-users (e.g. decision-makers, stakeholders, public). In this paper, Shanghai's urban integrated meteorological observation network (SUIMON) and some examples of intended applications are introduced. Its characteristics include being: multi- purpose (e.g. forecast, research, service), multi-function (high impact weather, city climate, special end-users), multi-scale (e.g. macro/meso-, urban-, neighborhood, street canyon), multi-variable (e.g. thermal, dynamic, chemical, bio-meteorological, ecological), and multi- platform (e.g. radar, wind profiler, ground-based, satellite based, in-situ observation/ sampling). Underlying SUIMON is a data management system to facilitate exchange of data and information. The overall aim of the network is to improve coordination strategies and instruments; to identify data gaps based on science and user driven requirements; and to intelligently combine observations from a variety of platforms by using a data assimilation system that is tuned to produce the best estimate of the current state of the urban atmosphere.

Phase calibration of the EISCAT Svalbard Radar interferometer using optical satellite signatures

The link between natural ion-line enhancements in radar spectra and auroral activity has been the subject of recent studies but conclusions have been limited by the spatial and temporal resolution previously available. The next challenge is to use shorter sub-second integration times in combination with interferometric programmes to resolve spatial structure within the main radar beam, and so relate enhanced filaments to individual auroral rays. This paper presents initial studies of a technique, using optical and spectral satellite signatures, to calibrate the received phase of a signal with the position of the scattering source along the interferometric baseline of the EISCAT Svalbard Radar. It is shown that a consistent relationship can be found only if the satellite passage through the phase fringes is adjusted from the passage predicted by optical tracking. This required adjustment is interpreted as being due to the vector between the theoretical focusing points of the two antennae, i.e. the true radar baseline, differing from the baseline obtained by survey between the antenna foot points. A method to obtain a measurement of the true interferometric baseline using multiple satellite passes is outlined.

Fractal geometry of aggregate snowflakes revealed by triple wavelength radar measurements

Radar reflectivity measurements from three different wavelengths are used to retrieve information about the shape of aggregate snowflakes in deep stratiform ice clouds. Dual-wavelength ratios are calculated for different shape models and compared to observations at 3, 35 and 94 GHz. It is demonstrated that many scattering models, including spherical and spheroidal models, do not adequately describe the aggregate snowflakes that are observed. The observations are consistent with fractal aggregate geometries generated by a physically-based aggregation model. It is demonstrated that the fractal dimension of large aggregates can be inferred directly from the radar data. Fractal dimensions close to 2 are retrieved, consistent with previous theoretical models and in-situ observations.

Nightside studies of coherent HF Radar spectral width behaviour

A previous case study found a relationship between high spectral width measured by the CUTLASS Finland HF radar and elevated electron temperatures observed by the EISCAT and ESR incoherent scatter radars in the postmidnight sector of magnetic local time. This paper expands that work by briefly re-examining that interval and looking in depth at two further case studies. In all three cases a region of high HF spectral width (>200 ms−1) exists poleward of a region of low HF spectral width (<200 ms^{−1}). Each case, however, occurs under quite different geomagnetic conditions. The original case study occurred during an interval with no observed electrojet activity, the second study during a transition from quiet to active conditions with a clear band of ion frictional heating indicating the location of the flow reversal boundary, and the third during an isolated substorm. These case studies indicate that the relationship between elevated electron temperature and high HF radar spectral width appears on closed field lines after 03:00 magnetic local time (MLT) on the nightside. It is not clear whether the same relationship would hold on open field lines, since our analysis of this relationship is restricted in latitude. We find two important properties of high spectral width data on the nightside. Firstly the high spectral width values occur on both open and closed field lines, and secondly that the power spectra which exhibit high widths are both single-peak and multiple-peak. In general the regions of high spectral width (>200 ms−1) have more multiple-peak spectra than the regions of low spectral widths whilst still maintaining a majority of single-peak spectra. We also find that the region of ion frictional heating is collocated with many multiplepeak HF spectra. Several mechanisms for the generation of high spectral width have been proposed which would produce multiple-peak spectra, these are discussed in relation to the data presented here. Since the regions of high spectral width are observed both on closed and open field lines the use of the boundary between low and high spectral width as an ionospheric proxy for the open/closed field line boundary is not a simple matter, if indeed it is possible at all.

Ground-based and satellite observations of high-latitude auroral activity in the dusk sector of the auroral oval

On 7 December 2000, during 13:30-15:30 UT the MIRACLE all-sky camera at Ny Alesund observed auroras at high-latitudes (MLAT similar to 76) simultaneously when the Cluster spacecraft were skimming the magnetopause in the same MLT sector (at similar to 16:00-18:00 MLT). The location of the auroras (near the ionospheric convection reversal boundary) and the clear correlation between their dynamics and IMF variations suggests their close relationship with R1 currents. Consequently, we can assume that the Cluster spacecraft were making observations in the magnetospheric region associated with the auroras, although exact magnetic conjugacy between the ground-based and satellite observations did not exist. The solar wind variations appeared to control both the behaviour of the auroras and the magnetopause dynamics. Auroral structures were observed at Ny Alesund especially during periods of negative IMF B-Z. In addition, the Cluster spacecraft experienced periodic (T similar to 4 - 6 min) encounters between magnetospheric and magnetosheath plasmas. These undulations of the boundary can be interpreted as a consequence of tailward propagating magnetopause surface waves. Simultaneous dusk sector ground-based observations show weak, but discernible magnetic pulsations (Pc 5) and occasionally periodic variations (T - 2 - 3 min) in the high-latitude auroras. In the dusk sector, Pc 5 activity was stronger and had characteristics that were consistent with a field line resonance type of activity. When IMF BZ stayed positive for a longer period, the auroras were dimmer and the spacecraft stayed at the outer edge of the magnetopause where they observed electromagnetic pulsations with T similar to 1 min. We find these observations interesting especially from the viewpoint of previously presented studies relating poleward-moving high-latitude auroras with pulsation activity and MHD waves propagating at the magnetospheric boundary layers.