Acid-Base. Surface Electron Donatin6 &.Catai.Ytlc Properties Of Some Binary Mixed Oxides Containing Rare Earth Elements

Catalysis research underpins the science of modern chemical processing and fuel technologies. Catalysis is commercially one of the most important technologies in national economies. Solid state heterogeneous catalyst materials such as metal oxides and metal particles on ceramic oxide substrates are most common. They are typically used with commodity gases and liquid reactants. Selective oxidation catalysts of hydrocarbon feedstocks is the dominant process of converting them to key industrial chemicals, polymers and energy sources.[1] In the absence of a unique successfiil theory of heterogeneous catalysis, attempts are being made to correlate catalytic activity with some specific properties of the solid surface. Such correlations help to narrow down the search for a good catalyst for a given reaction. The heterogeneous catalytic performance of material depends on many factors such as [2] Crystal and surface structure of the catalyst. Thermodynamic stability of the catalyst and the reactant. Acid- base properties of the solid surface. Surface defect properties of the catalyst.Electronic and semiconducting properties and the band structure. Co-existence of dilferent types of ions or structures. Adsorption sites and adsorbed species such as oxygen.Preparation method of catalyst , surface area and nature of heat treatment. Molecular structure of the reactants. Many systematic investigations have been performed to correlate catalytic performances with the above mentioned properties. Many of these investigations remain isolated and further research is needed to bridge the gap in the present knowledge of the field.

Finite size effects on the electrical properties of sol–gel synthesized CoFe2O4 powders: deviation from Maxwell–Wagner theory and evidence of surface polarization effects

Fine particles of cobalt ferrite were synthesized by the sol–gel method. Subsequent heat treatment at different temperatures yielded cobalt ferrites having different grain sizes. X-ray diffraction studies were carried out to elucidate the structure of all the samples. Dielectric permittivity and ac conductivity of all the samples were evaluated as a function of frequency, temperature and grain size. The variation of permittivity and ac conductivity with frequency reveals that the dispersion is due to Maxwell–Wagner type interfacial polarization in general, with a noted variation from the expected behaviour for the cold synthesized samples. High permittivity and conductivity for small grains were explained on the basis of the correlated barrier-hopping model

Estimation of Effective Impervious Surface Area of Cochin using Satellite Images

Urbanization refers to the process in which an increasing proportion of a population lives in cities and suburbs. Urbanization fuels the alteration of the Land use/Land cover pattern of the region including increase in built-up area, leading to imperviousness of the ground surface. With increasing urbanization and population pressures; the impervious areas in the cities are increasing fast. An impervious surface refers to an anthropogenic ally modified surface that prevents water from infiltrating into the soil. Surface imperviousness mapping is important for the studies related to water cycling, water quality, soil erosion, flood water drainage, non-point source pollution, urban heat island effect and urban hydrology. The present study estimates the Total Impervious Area (TIA) of the city of Kochi using high resolution satellite image (LISS IV, 5m. resolution). Additionally the study maps the Effective Impervious Area (EIA) by coupling the capabilities of GIS and Remote Sensing. Land use/Land cover map of the study area was prepared from the LISS IV image acquired for the year 2012. The classes were merged to prepare a map showing pervious and impervious area. Supervised Maximum Likelihood Classification (Supervised MLC),which is a simple but accurate method for image classification, is used in calculating TIA and an overall classification accuracy of 86.33% was obtained. Water bodies are 100% pervious, whereas urban built up area are 100% impervious. Further based on percentage of imperviousness, the Total Impervious Area is categorized into various classes

Influence of Interface Surface Geometries In The Tensile Characteristics Of Friction Welded Joints From Aluminium Alloys

Friction welding is a solid state joining process that produces coalescence in materials, using the heat developed between surfaces through a combination of mechanical induced rubbing motion and applied load. In rotary friction welding technique heat is generated by the conversion of mechanical energy into thermal energy at the interface of the work pieces during rotation under pressure. Traditionally friction welding is carried out on a dedicated machine because of its adaptability to mass production. In the present work, steps were made to modify a conventional lathe to rotary friction welding set up to obtain friction welding with different interface surface geometries at two different speeds and to carry out tensile characteristic studies. The surface geometries welded include flat-flat, flat-tapered, tapered-tapered, concave-convex and convex-convex. A comparison of maximum load, breaking load and percentage elongation of different welded geometries has been realized through this project. The maximum load and breaking load were found to be highest for weld formed between rotating flat and stationary tapered at 500RPM and the values were 19.219kN and 14.28 kN respectively. The percentage elongation was found to be highest for weld formed between rotating flat and stationary flat at 500RPM and the value was 21.4%. Hence from the studies it is cleared that process parameter like “interfacing surface geometries” of weld specimens have strong influence on tensile characteristics of friction welded joints

Optimization of Processing Technology for Commercial Drying of Bananas (Matooke)

Summary - Cooking banana is one of the most important crops in Uganda; it is a staple food and source of household income in rural areas. The most common cooking banana is locally called matooke, a Musa sp triploid acuminate genome group (AAA-EAHB). It is perishable and traded in fresh form leading to very high postharvest losses (22-45%). This is attributed to: non-uniform level of harvest maturity, poor handling, bulk transportation and lack of value addition/processing technologies, which are currently the main challenges for trade and export, and diversified utilization of matooke. Drying is one of the oldest technologies employed in processing of agricultural produce. A lot of research has been carried out on drying of fruits and vegetables, but little information is available on matooke. Drying of matooke and milling it to flour extends its shelf-life is an important means to overcome the above challenges. Raw matooke flour is a generic flour developed to improve shelf stability of the fruit and to find alternative uses. It is rich in starch (80 - 85%db) and subsequently has a high potential as a calorie resource base. It possesses good properties for both food and non-food industrial use. Some effort has been done to commercialize the processing of matooke but there is still limited information on its processing into flour. It was imperative to carry out an in-depth study to bridge the following gaps: lack of accurate information on the maturity window within which matooke for processing into flour can be harvested leading to non-uniform quality of matooke flour; there is no information on moisture sorption isotherm for matooke from which the minimum equilibrium moisture content in relation to temperature and relative humidity is obtainable, below which the dry matooke would be microbiologically shelf-stable; and lack of information on drying behavior of matooke and standardized processing parameters for matooke in relation to physicochemical properties of the flour. The main objective of the study was to establish the optimum harvest maturity window and optimize the processing parameters for obtaining standardized microbiologically shelf-stable matooke flour with good starch quality attributes. This research was designed to: i) establish the optimum maturity harvest window within which matooke can be harvested to produce a consistent quality of matooke flour, ii) establish the sorption isotherms for matooke, iii) establish the effect of process parameters on drying characteristics of matooke, iv) optimize the drying process parameters for matooke, v) validate the models of maturity and optimum process parameters and vi) standardize process parameters for commercial processing of matooke. Samples were obtained from a banana plantation at Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development (PIBID), Technology Business Incubation Center (TBI) at Nyaruzunga – Bushenyi in Western Uganda. A completely randomized design (CRD) was employed in selecting the banana stools from which samples for the experiments were picked. The cultivar Mbwazirume which is soft cooking and commonly grown in Bushenyi was selected for the study. The static gravitation method recommended by COST 90 Project (Wolf et al., 1985), was used for determination of moisture sorption isotherms. A research dryer developed for this research. All experiments were carried out in laboratories at TBI. The physiological maturity of matooke cv. mbwazirume at Bushenyi is 21 weeks. The optimum harvest maturity window for commercial processing of matooke flour (Raw Tooke Flour - RTF) at Bushenyi is between 15-21 weeks. The finger weight model is recommended for farmers to estimate harvest maturity for matooke and the combined model of finger weight and pulp peel ratio is recommended for commercial processors. Matooke isotherms exhibited type II curve behavior which is characteristic of foodstuffs. The GAB model best described all the adsorption and desorption moisture isotherms. For commercial processing of matooke, in order to obtain a microbiologically shelf-stable dry product. It is recommended to dry it to moisture content below or equal to 10% (wb). The hysteresis phenomenon was exhibited by the moisture sorption isotherms for matooke. The isoteric heat of sorption for both adsorptions and desorption isotherms increased with decreased moisture content. The total isosteric heat of sorption for matooke: adsorption isotherm ranged from 4,586 – 2,386 kJ/kg and desorption isotherm from 18,194– 2,391 kJ/kg for equilibrium moisture content from 0.3 – 0.01 (db) respectively. The minimum energy required for drying matooke from 80 – 10% (wb) is 8,124 kJ/kg of water removed. Implying that the minimum energy required for drying of 1 kg of fresh matooke from 80 - 10% (wb) is 5,793 kJ. The drying of matooke takes place in three steps: the warm-up and the two falling rate periods. The drying rate constant for all processing parameters ranged from 5,793 kJ and effective diffusivity ranged from 1.5E-10 - 8.27E-10 m2/s. The activation energy (Ea) for matooke was 16.3kJ/mol (1,605 kJ/kg). Comparing the activation energy (Ea) with the net isosteric heat of sorption for desorption isotherm (qst) (1,297.62) at 0.1 (kg water/kg dry matter), indicated that Ea was higher than qst suggesting that moisture molecules travel in liquid form in matooke slices. The total color difference (ΔE*) between the fresh and dry samples, was lowest for effect of thickness of 7 mm, followed by air velocity of 6 m/s, and then drying air temperature at 70˚C. The drying system controlled by set surface product temperature, reduced the drying time by 50% compared to that of a drying system controlled by set air drying temperature. The processing parameters did not have a significant effect on physicochemical and quality attributes, suggesting that any drying air temperature can be used in the initial stages of drying as long as the product temperature does not exceed gelatinization temperature of matooke (72˚C). The optimum processing parameters for single-layer drying of matooke are: thickness = 3 mm, air temperatures 70˚C, dew point temperature 18˚C and air velocity 6 m/s overflow mode. From practical point of view it is recommended that for commercial processing of matooke, to employ multi-layer drying of loading capacity equal or less than 7 kg/m², thickness 3 mm, air temperatures 70˚C, dew point temperature 18˚C and air velocity 6 m/s overflow mode.

Heat stress response for physiological traits in dairy and dual purpose cattle populations on phenotypic and genetic scales

The main objective of this thesis was to determine the potential impact of heat stress (HS) on physiological traits of lactating cows and semen quality of bulls kept in a temperate climate. The thesis is comprised of three studies. An innovative statistical modeling aspect common to all three studies was the application of random regression methodology (RRM) to study the phenotypic and genetic trajectory of traits in dependency of a continuous temperature humidity index (THI). In the first study, semen quality and quantity traits of 562 Holstein sires kept on an AI station in northwestern Germany were analyzed in the course of THI calculated from data obtained from the nearest weather station. Heat stress was identified based on a decline in semen quality and quantity parameters. The identified general HS threshold (THI = 60) and the thermoneutal zone (THI in the range from 50 to 60) for semen production were lower than detected in studies conducted in tropical and subtropical climates. Even though adult bulls were characterized by higher semen productivity compared to younger bulls, they responded with a stronger semen production loss during harsh environments. Heritabilities (low to moderate range) and additive genetic variances of semen characteristics varied with different levels of THI. Also, based on genetic correlations genotype, by environment interactions were detected. Taken together, these findings suggest the application of specific selection strategies for specific climate conditions. In the second study, the effect of the continuous environmental descriptor THI as measured inside the barns on rectal temperatures (RT), skin temperatures (ST), vaginal temperatures (VT), respiration rates (RR), and pulse rate (PR) of lactating Holstein Friesian (HF) and dual-purpose German black pied cattle (DSN) was analyzed. Increasing HS from THI 65 (threshold) to THI 86 (maximal THI) resulted in an increase of RT by 0.6 °C (DSN) and 1 °C (HF), ST by 3.5 °C (HF) and 8 °C (DSN), VT by 0.3 °C (DSN), and RR by 47 breaths / minute (DSN), and decreased PR by 7 beats / minute (DSN). The undesired effects of rising THI on physiological traits were most pronounced for cows with high levels of milk yield and milk constituents, cows in early days in milk and later parities, and during summer seasons in the year 2014. In the third study of this dissertation, the genetic components of the cow’s physiological responses to HS were investigated. Heat stress was deduced from indoor THI measurements, and physiological traits were recorded on native DSN cows and their genetically upgraded crosses with Holstein Friesian sires in two experimental herds from pasture-based production systems reflecting a harsh environment of the northern part of Germany. Although heritabilities were in a low range (from 0.018 to 0.072), alterations of heritabilities, repeatabilities, and genetic components in the course of THI justify the implementation of genetic evaluations including heat stress components. However, low repeatabilities indicate the necessity of using repeated records for measuring physiological traits in German cattle. Moderate EBV correlations between different trait combinations indicate the potential of selection for one trait to simultaneously improve the other physiological attributes. In conclusion, bulls of AI centers and lactating cows suffer from HS during more extreme weather conditions also in the temperate climate of Northern Germany. Monitoring physiological traits during warm and humid conditions could provide precious information for detection of appropriate times for implementation of cooling systems and changes in feeding and management strategies. Subsequently, the inclusion of these physiological traits with THI specific breeding values into overall breeding goals could contribute to improving cattle adaptability by selecting the optimal animal for extreme hot and humid conditions. Furthermore, the recording of meteorological data in close distance to the cow and visualizing the surface body temperature by infrared thermography techniques might be helpful for recognizing heat tolerance and adaptability in cattle.

Nitrifying and denitrifying bacterial communities in the sediment and rhizosphere of a free water surface constructed wetland

La contínua descàrrega de nutrients, sobretot fosfats i nitrogen, és la major causa d'eutrofització dels ecosistemes aquàtics. Els sistemes de tractament basats en aiguamolls construïts s'han emprat per reduir ells nivells de nitrogen a l'aigua com a alternativa de baix cost als mètodes de depuració convencionals. L'eliminació del nitrogen a aquests sistemes depèn en bona part de la vegetació, i l'alternança de condicions aeròbiques i anaeròbiques per promoure els processos de nitrificació i desnitrificació. En aquest treball hem volgut investigar les activitats microbianes de nitrificació i desnitrificació en relació a dues espècies de plantes macròfites en un sistema d'aiguamolls de tractament de flux superficial (FS-SAC), dissenyat per minimitzar l'impacte de l'alliberament d'aigua carregada de nutrients a la reserva natural dels Aiguamolls de l'Empordà (Girona, Espanya).

Solar influences on dynamical coupling between the stratosphere and troposphere

We use a simplified atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) to investigate the response of the lower atmosphere to thermal perturbations in the lower stratosphere. The results show that generic heating of the lower stratosphere tends to weaken the sub-tropical jets and the tropospheric mean meridional circulations. The positions of the jets, and the extent of the Hadley cells, respond to the distribution of the stratospheric heating, with low latitude heating displacing them poleward, and uniform heating displacing them equatorward. The patterns of response to the low latitude heating are similar to those found to be associated with solar variability in previous observational data analysis, and to the effects of varying solar UV radiation in sophisticated AGCMs. In order to investigate the chain of causality involved in converting the stratospheric thermal forcing to a tropospheric climate signal we conduct an experiment which uses an ensemble of model spin-ups to analyse the time development of the response to an applied stratospheric perturbation. We find that the initial effect of the change in static stability at the tropopause is to reduce the eddy momentum flux convergence in this region. This is followed by a vertical transfer of the momentum forcing anomaly by an anomalous mean circulation to the surface, where it is partly balanced by surface stress anomalies. The unbalanced part drives the evolution of the vertically integrated zonal flow. We conclude that solar heating of the stratosphere may produce changes in the circulation of the troposphere even without any direct forcing below the tropopause. We suggest that the impact of the stratospheric changes on wave propagation is key to the mechanisms involved.

The response of a uniform horizontal temperature gradient to heating

The response of a uniform horizontal temperature gradient to prescribed fixed heating is calculated in the context of an extended version of surface quasigeostrophic dynamics. It is found that for zero mean surface flow and weak cross-gradient structure the prescribed heating induces a mean temperature anomaly proportional to the spatial Hilbert transform of the heating. The interior potential vorticity generated by the heating enhances this surface response. The time-varying part is independent of the heating and satisfies the usual linearized surface quasigeostrophic dynamics. It is shown that the surface temperature tendency is a spatial Hilbert transform of the temperature anomaly itself. It then follows that the temperature anomaly is periodically modulated with a frequency proportional to the vertical wind shear. A strong local bound on wave energy is also found. Reanalysis diagnostics are presented that indicate consistency with key findings from this theory.

Modeled and observed atmospheric radiation balance during the West African dry season: role of mineral dust, biomass burning aerosol, and surface albedo

The global radiation balance of the atmosphere is still poorly observed, particularly at the surface. We investigate the observed radiation balance at (1) the surface using the ARM Mobile Facility in Niamey, Niger, and (2) the top of the atmosphere (TOA) over West Africa using data from the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instrument on board Meteosat-8. Observed radiative fluxes are compared with predictions from the global numerical weather prediction (NWP) version of the Met Office Unified Model (MetUM). The evaluation points to major shortcomings in the NWP model's radiative fluxes during the dry season (December 2005 to April 2006) arising from (1) a lack of absorbing aerosol in the model (mineral dust and biomass burning aerosol) and (2) a poor specification of the surface albedo. A case study of the major Saharan dust outbreak of 6–12 March 2006 is used to evaluate a parameterization of mineral dust for use in the NWP models. The model shows good predictability of the large-scale flow out to 4–5 days with the dust parameterization providing reasonable dust uplift, spatial distribution, and temporal evolution for this strongly forced dust event. The direct radiative impact of the dust reduces net downward shortwave (SW) flux at the surface (TOA) by a maximum of 200 W m−2 (150 W m−2), with a SW heating of the atmospheric column. The impacts of dust on terrestrial radiation are smaller. Comparisons of TOA (surface) radiation balance with GERB (ARM) show the “dusty” forecasts reduce biases in the radiative fluxes and improve surface temperatures and vertical thermodynamic structure.

Sampling uncertainties in surface radiation budget calculations in RADAGAST

In the Radiative Atmospheric Divergence Using ARM Mobile Facility GERB and AMMA Stations (RADAGAST) project we calculate the divergence of radiative flux across the atmosphere by comparing fluxes measured at each end of an atmospheric column above Niamey, in the African Sahel region. The combination of broadband flux measurements from geostationary orbit and the deployment for over 12 months of a comprehensive suite of active and passive instrumentation at the surface eliminates a number of sampling issues that could otherwise affect divergence calculations of this sort. However, one sampling issue that challenges the project is the fact that the surface flux data are essentially measurements made at a point, while the top-of-atmosphere values are taken over a solid angle that corresponds to an area at the surface of some 2500 km2. Variability of cloud cover and aerosol loading in the atmosphere mean that the downwelling fluxes, even when averaged over a day, will not be an exact match to the area-averaged value over that larger area, although we might expect that it is an unbiased estimate thereof. The heterogeneity of the surface, for example, fixed variations in albedo, further means that there is a likely systematic difference in the corresponding upwelling fluxes. In this paper we characterize and quantify this spatial sampling problem. We bound the root-mean-square error in the downwelling fluxes by exploiting a second set of surface flux measurements from a site that was run in parallel with the main deployment. The differences in the two sets of fluxes lead us to an upper bound to the sampling uncertainty, and their correlation leads to another which is probably optimistic as it requires certain other conditions to be met. For the upwelling fluxes we use data products from a number of satellite instruments to characterize the relevant heterogeneities and so estimate the systematic effects that arise from the flux measurements having to be taken at a single point. The sampling uncertainties vary with the season, being higher during the monsoon period. We find that the sampling errors for the daily average flux are small for the shortwave irradiance, generally less than 5 W m−2, under relatively clear skies, but these increase to about 10 W m−2 during the monsoon. For the upwelling fluxes, again taking daily averages, systematic errors are of order 10 W m−2 as a result of albedo variability. The uncertainty on the longwave component of the surface radiation budget is smaller than that on the shortwave component, in all conditions, but a bias of 4 W m−2 is calculated to exist in the surface leaving longwave flux.

Voronoi, Delaunay, and Block-Structured Mesh Refinement for Solution of the Shallow-Water Equations on the Sphere

Alternative meshes of the sphere and adaptive mesh refinement could be immensely beneficial for weather and climate forecasts, but it is not clear how mesh refinement should be achieved. A finite-volume model that solves the shallow-water equations on any mesh of the surface of the sphere is presented. The accuracy and cost effectiveness of four quasi-uniform meshes of the sphere are compared: a cubed sphere, reduced latitude–longitude, hexagonal–icosahedral, and triangular–icosahedral. On some standard shallow-water tests, the hexagonal–icosahedral mesh performs best and the reduced latitude–longitude mesh performs well only when the flow is aligned with the mesh. The inclusion of a refined mesh over a disc-shaped region is achieved using either gradual Delaunay, gradual Voronoi, or abrupt 2:1 block-structured refinement. These refined regions can actually degrade global accuracy, presumably because of changes in wave dispersion where the mesh is highly nonuniform. However, using gradual refinement to resolve a mountain in an otherwise coarse mesh can improve accuracy for the same cost. The model prognostic variables are height and momentum collocated at cell centers, and (to remove grid-scale oscillations of the A grid) the mass flux between cells is advanced from the old momentum using the momentum equation. Quadratic and upwind biased cubic differencing methods are used as explicit corrections to a fast implicit solution that uses linear differencing.

Does reactive surface area depend on grain size? Results from pH 3, 25 circle C far-from-equilibrium flow-through dissolution experiments on anorthite and biotite

Laboratory determined mineral weathering rates need to be normalised to allow their extrapolation to natural systems. The principle normalisation terms used in the literature are mass, and geometric- and BET specific surface area (SSA). The purpose of this study was to determine how dissolution rates normalised to these terms vary with grain size. Different size fractions of anorthite and biotite ranging from 180-150 to 20-10 mu m were dissolved in pH 3, HCl at 25 degrees C in flow through reactors under far from equilibrium conditions. Steady state dissolution rates after 5376 h (anorthite) and 4992 h (biotite) were calculated from Si concentrations and were normalised to initial- and final- mass and geometric-, geometric edge- (biotite), and BET SSA. For anorthite, rates normalised to initial- and final-BET SSA ranged from 0.33 to 2.77 X 10(-10) mol(feldspar) m(-2) s(-1), rates normalised to initial- and final-geometric SSA ranged from 5.74 to 8.88 X 10(-10) mol(feldspar) m(-2) s(-1) and rates normalised to initial- and final-mass ranged from 0.11 to 1.65 mol(feldspar) g(-1) s(-1). For biotite, rates normalised to initial- and final-BET SSA ranged from 1.02 to 2.03 X 10(-12) mol(biotite) m(-2) s(-1), rates normalised to initial- and final-geometric SSA ranged from 3.26 to 16.21 X 10(-12) mol(biotite) m(-2) s(-1), rates normalised to initial- and final-geometric edge SSA ranged from 59.46 to 111.32 x 10(-12) mol(biotite) m(-2) s(-1) and rates normalised to initial- and final-mass ranged from 0.81 to 6.93 X 10(-12) mol(biotite) g(-1) s(-1). For all normalising terms rates varied significantly (p <= 0.05) with grain size. The normalising terms which gave least variation in dissolution rate between grain sizes for anorthite were initial BET SSA and initial- and final-geometric SSA. This is consistent with: (1) dissolution being dominated by the slower dissolving but area dominant non-etched surfaces of the grains and, (2) the walls of etch pits and other dissolution features being relatively unreactive. These steady state normalised dissolution rates are likely to be constant with time. Normalisation to final BET SSA did not give constant ratios across grain size due to a non-uniform distribution of dissolution features. After dissolution coarser grains had a greater density of dissolution features with BET-measurable but unreactive wall surface area than the finer grains. The normalising term which gave the least variation in dissolution rates between grain sizes for biotite was initial BET SSA. Initial- and final-geometric edge SSA and final BET SSA gave the next least varied rates. The basal surfaces dissolved sufficiently rapidly to influence bulk dissolution rate and prevent geometric edge SSA normalised dissolution rates showing the least variation. Simple modelling indicated that biotite grain edges dissolved 71-132 times faster than basal surfaces. In this experiment, initial BET SSA best integrated the different areas and reactivities of the edge and basal surfaces of biotite. Steady state dissolution rates are likely to vary with time as dissolution alters the ratio of edge to basal surface area. Therefore they would be more properly termed pseudo-steady state rates, only appearing constant because the time period over which they were measured (1512 h) was less than the time period over wich they would change significantly. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Understanding projections of sea level rise in a Hadley Centre coupled climate model

Sea level changes resulting from CO2-induced climate changes in ocean density and circulation have been investigated in a series of idealised experiments with the Hadley Centre HadCM3 AOGCM. Changes in the mass of the ocean were not included. In the global mean, salinity changes have a negligible effect compared with the thermal expansion of the ocean. Regionally, sea level changes are projected to deviate greatly from the global mean (standard deviation is 40% of the mean). Changes in surface fluxes of heat, freshwater and wind stress are all found to produce significant and distinct regional sea level changes, wind stress changes being the most important and the cause of several pronounced local features, while heat and freshwater flux changes affect large parts of the North Atlantic and Southern Ocean. Regional change is related mainly to density changes, with a relatively small contribution in mid and high latitudes from change in the barotropic circulation. Regional density change has an important contribution from redistribution of ocean heat content. In general, unlike in the global mean, the regional pattern of sea level change due to density change appears to be influenced almost as much by salinity changes as by temperature changes, often in opposition. Such compensation is particularly marked in the North Atlantic, where it is consistent with recent observed changes. We suggest that density compensation is not a property of climate change specifically, but a general behavior of the ocean.

Krakatoa lives: The effect of volcanic eruptions on ocean heat content and thermal expansion

A suite of climate model experiments indicates that 20th Century increases in ocean heat content and sea-level ( via thermal expansion) were substantially reduced by the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. The volcanically-induced cooling of the ocean surface is subducted into deeper ocean layers, where it persists for decades. Temporary reductions in ocean heat content associated with the comparable eruptions of El Chichon ( 1982) and Pinatubo ( 1991) were much shorter lived because they occurred relative to a non-stationary background of large, anthropogenically-forced ocean warming. Our results suggest that inclusion of the effects of Krakatoa ( and perhaps even earlier eruptions) is important for reliable simulation of 20th century ocean heat uptake and thermal expansion. Inter-model differences in the oceanic thermal response to Krakatoa are large and arise from differences in external forcing, model physics, and experimental design. Systematic experimentation is required to quantify the relative importance of these factors. The next generation of historical forcing experiments may require more careful treatment of pre-industrial volcanic aerosol loadings.