Atmospheric chemistry and climate

Atmospheric chemistry is a branch of atmospheric science where major focus is the composition of the Earth's atmosphere. Knowledge of atmospheric composition is essential due to its interaction with (solar and terrestrial) radiation and interactions of atmospheric species (gaseous and particulate matter) with living organisms. Since atmospheric chemistry covers a vast range of topics, in this article the focus is on the chemistry of atmospheric aerosols with special emphasis on the Indian region. I present a review of the current state of knowledge of aerosol chemistry in India and propose future directions.

Synthesis and characterization of nano silicon and titanium nitride powders using atmospheric microwave plasma technique

We have demonstrated a simple, scalable and inexpensive method based on microwave plasma for synthesizing 5 to 10 g/h of nanomaterials. Luminescent nano silicon particles were synthesized by homogenous nucleation of silicon vapour produced by the radial injection of silicon tetrachloride vapour and nano titanium nitride was synthesized by using liquid titanium tetrachloride as the precursor. The synthesized nano silicon and titanium nitride powders were characterized by XRD, XPS, TEM, SEM and BET. The characterization techniques indicated that the synthesized powders were indeed crystalline nanomaterials.

How good are the simulations of tropical SST-rainfall relationship by IPCC AR4 atmospheric and coupled models?

The failure of atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs) forced by prescribed SST to simulate and predict the interannual variability of Indian/Asian monsoon has been widely attributed to their inability to reproduce the actual sea surface temperature (SST)-rainfall relationship in the warm Indo-Pacific oceans. This assessment is based on a comparison of the observed and simulated correlation between the rainfall and local SST. However, the observed SSTconvection/rainfall relationship is nonlinear and for this a linear measure such as the correlation is not an appropriate measure. We show that the SST-rainfall relationship simulated by atmospheric and coupled general circulation models in IPCC AR4 is nonlinear, as observed, and realistic over the tropical West Pacific (WPO) and the Indian Ocean (IO). The SST-rainfall pattern simulated by the coupled versions of these models is rather similar to that from the corresponding atmospheric one, except for a shift of the entire pattern to colder/warmer SSTs when there is a cold/warm bias in the coupled version.

Climate response to changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and solar irradiance on the time scale of days to weeks

Recent studies show that fast climate response on time scales of less than a month can have important implications for long-term climate change. In this study, we investigate climate response on the time scale of days to weeks to a step-function quadrupling of atmospheric CO2 and contrast this with the response to a 4% increase in solar irradiance. Our simulations show that significant climate effects occur within days of a stepwise increase in both atmospheric CO2 content and solar irradiance. Over ocean, increased atmospheric CO2 warms the lower troposphere more than the surface, increasing atmospheric stability, moistening the boundary layer, and suppressing evaporation and precipitation. In contrast, over ocean, increased solar irradiance warms the lower troposphere to a much lesser extent, causing a much smaller change in evaporation and precipitation. Over land, both increased CO2 and increased solar irradiance cause rapid surface warming that tends to increase both evaporation and precipitation. However, the physiological effect of increased atmospheric CO2 on plant stomata reduces plant transpiration, drying the boundary layer and decreasing precipitation. This effect does not occur with increased solar irradiance. Therefore, differences in climatic effects from CO2 versus solar forcing are manifested within days after the forcing is imposed.

An experimental set-up for carbon isotopic analysis of atmospheric CO2 and an example of ecosystem response during solar eclipse 2010

We present here, an experimental set-up developed for the first time in India for the determination of mixing ratio and carbon isotopic ratio of air-CO2. The set-up includes traps for collection and extraction of CO2 from air samples using cryogenic procedures, followed by the measurement of CO2 mixing ratio using an MKS Baratron gauge and analysis of isotopic ratios using the dual inlet peripheral of a high sensitivity isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) MAT 253. The internal reproducibility (precision) for the PC measurement is established based on repeat analyses of CO2 +/- 0.03 parts per thousand. The set-up is calibrated with international carbonate and air-CO2 standards. An in-house air-CO2 mixture, `OASIS AIRMIX' is prepared mixing CO2 from a high purity cylinder with O-2 and N-2 and an aliquot of this mixture is routinely analyzed together with the air samples. The external reproducibility for the measurement of the CO2 mixing ratio and carbon isotopic ratios are +/- 7 (n = 169) mu mol.mol(-1) and +/- 0.05 (n = 169) parts per thousand based on the mean of the difference between two aliquots of reference air mixture analyzed during daily operation carried out during November 2009-December 2011. The correction due to the isobaric interference of N2O on air-CO2 samples is determined separately by analyzing mixture of CO2 (of known isotopic composition) and N2O in varying proportions. A +0.2 parts per thousand correction in the delta C-13 value for a N2O concentration of 329 ppb is determined. As an application, we present results from an experiment conducted during solar eclipse of 2010. The isotopic ratio in CO2 and the carbon dioxide mixing ratio in the air samples collected during the event are different from neighbouring samples, suggesting the role of atmospheric inversion in trapping the emitted CO2 from the urban atmosphere during the eclipse.

Stable atmospheric methane in the 2000s: key-role of emissions from natural wetlands

Two atmospheric inversions (one fine-resolved and one process-discriminating) and a process-based model for land surface exchanges are brought together to analyse the variations of methane emissions from 1990 to 2009. A focus is put on the role of natural wetlands and on the years 2000-2006, a period of stable atmospheric concentrations. From 1990 to 2000, the top-down and bottom-up visions agree on the time-phasing of global total and wetland emission anomalies. The process-discriminating inversion indicates that wetlands dominate the time-variability of methane emissions (90% of the total variability). The contribution of tropical wetlands to the anomalies is found to be large, especially during the post-Pinatubo years (global negative anomalies with minima between -41 and -19 Tg yr(-1) in 1992) and during the alternate 1997-1998 El-Nino/1998-1999 La-Nina (maximal anomalies in tropical regions between +16 and +22 Tg yr(-1) for the inversions and anomalies due to tropical wetlands between +12 and +17 Tg yr(-1) for the process-based model). Between 2000 and 2006, during the stagnation of methane concentrations in the atmosphere, the top-down and bottom-up approaches agree on the fact that South America is the main region contributing to anomalies in natural wetland emissions, but they disagree on the sign and magnitude of the flux trend in the Amazon basin. A negative trend (-3.9 +/- 1.3 Tg yr(-1)) is inferred by the process-discriminating inversion whereas a positive trend (+1.3 +/- 0.3 Tg yr(-1)) is found by the process model. Although processed-based models have their own caveats and may not take into account all processes, the positive trend found by the B-U approach is considered more likely because it is a robust feature of the process-based model, consistent with analysed precipitations and the satellite-derived extent of inundated areas. On the contrary, the surface-data based inversions lack constraints for South America. This result suggests the need for a re-interpretation of the large increase found in anthropogenic methane inventories after 2000.

SODAR observations of inertia- gravity waves in the atmospheric boundary layer during the passage of tropical cyclone

This study reports characteristics of inertia-gravity waves (IGWs) in the atmospheric boundary layer during the passage of Tropical Cylone-03B, using the Doppler Sound Detection and Ranging (SODAR) observations at the Indian tropical station of Gadanki (13.45 degrees N, 79.2 degrees E; near the east coast of India). Wavelet analysis of horizontal winds indicates significant wave motion (60h) near the characteristic inertial period. The hodograph analysis of the filtered winds shows an anti-cyclonic turning of horizontal wind with height and time, indicating the presence of IGW. This study finds important implications in boundary layer dynamics during the passage of tropical cyclones.

Studies on microscopic structure of diesel sprays under atmospheric and high gas pressures

In the present work, the spray structure of diesel from a 200-mu m, single-hole solenoid injector is studied using microscopic imaging at injection pressures of 700, 1000 and 1400 bar for various gas pressures. A long-distance microscope with a high resolution camera is used for spray visualization with a direct imaging technique. This study shows that even at very high injection pressures, the spray structure in an ambient environment of atmospheric pressure reveals presence of entangled ligaments and non-spherical droplets during the injection period. With increase in the injection pressure, the ligaments tend to get smaller and spread radially. The spray structure studies are also conducted at high gas pressures in a specially designed high pressure chamber with optical access. The near nozzle spray structure at the end of the injection shows that the liquid jet breakup is improved with increase in gas density. The droplet size measurement is possible only late in the injection duration when the breakup appears to be complete and mostly spherical droplets are observed. Hence, droplet size measurements are performed after 1.3 ms from start of the injection pulse. Spatial and temporal variation in Sauter Mean `Diameter (SMD) is observed and reported for the case corresponding to an injection pressure of 700 bar. Overall, this study has highlighted the importance of verifying the extentof atomization and droplet shape even in dense sprays before using conventional dropsizing methods such as PDPA.

Performance analysis of FSO links under strong atmospheric turbulence conditions using various modulation schemes

Strong atmospheric turbulence is a major hindrance in wireless optical communication systems. In this paper, the performance of a wireless optical communication system is analyzed using different modulation formats such as, binary phase shift keying-subcarrier intensity modulation (BPSK-SIM), differential phase shift keying (DPSK), differential phase shift keying-subcarrier intensity modulation (DPSK-SIM), Mary pulse position modulation (M-PPM) and polarization shift keying (PoISK). The atmospheric channel is modeled for strong atmospheric turbulences with combined effect of turbulence and pointing errors. Novel closed-form analytical expressions for average bit error rate (BER), channel capacity and outage probability for the various modulation techniques, viz. BPSK-SIM, DPSK, DPSK-SIM, PoISK and M-PPM are derived. The simulated results for BER, channel capacity and outage probability of various modulation techniques are plotted and analyzed. (C) 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Economic tradeoffs in mitigation, due to different atmospheric lifetimes of CO2 and black carbon

Tradeoffs are examined between mitigating black carbon (BC) and carbon dioxide (CO2) for limiting peak global mean warming, using the following set of methods. A two-box climate model is used to simulate temperatures of the atmosphere and ocean for different rates of mitigation. Mitigation rates for BC and CO2 are characterized by respective timescales for e-folding reduction in emissions intensity of gross global product. There are respective emissions models that force the box model. Lastly there is a simple economics model, with cost of mitigation varying inversely with emission intensity. Constant mitigation timescale corresponds to mitigation at a constant annual rate, for example an e-folding timescale of 40 years corresponds to 2.5% reduction each year. Discounted present cost depends only on respective mitigation timescale and respective mitigation cost at present levels of emission intensity. Least-cost mitigation is posed as choosing respective e-folding timescales, to minimize total mitigation cost under a temperature constraint (e.g. within 2 degrees C above preindustrial). Peak warming is more sensitive to mitigation timescale for CO2 than for BC. Therefore rapid mitigation of CO2 emission intensity is essential to limiting peak warming, but simultaneous mitigation of BC can reduce total mitigation expenditure. (c) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Atmospheric pressure plasma chemical vapor deposition reactor for 100 mm wafers, optimized for minimum contamination at low gas flow rates

Gas discharge plasmas used for thinfilm deposition by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) must be devoid of contaminants, like dust or active species which disturb the intended chemical reaction. In atmospheric pressure plasma systems employing an inert gas, the main source of such contamination is the residual air inside the system. To enable the construction of an atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) system with minimal contamination, we have carried out fluid dynamic simulation of the APP chamber into which an inert gas is injected at different mass flow rates. On the basis of the simulation results, we have designed and built a simple, scaled APP system, which is capable of holding a 100 mm substrate wafer, so that the presence of air (contamination) in the APP chamber is minimized with as low a flow rate of argon as possible. This is examined systematically by examining optical emission from the plasma as a function of inert gas flow rate. It is found that optical emission from the plasma shows the presence of atmospheric air, if the inlet argon flow rate is lowered below 300 sccm. That there is minimal contamination of the APP reactor built here, was verified by conducting an atmospheric pressure PECVD process under acetylene flow, combined with argon flow at 100 sccm and 500 sccm. The deposition of a polymer coating is confirmed by infrared spectroscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that the polymer coating contains only 5% of oxygen, which is comparable to the oxygen content in polymer deposits obtained in low-pressure PECVD systems. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.

Characteristics of Argon Laminar DC Plasma Jet at Atmospheric Pressure

利用特殊设计的等离子体发生器,选择等离子体产生的工艺参数,实现工艺过程的精确控制,在大气压环境下获得了性能稳定的氖气直流层流等离子体射流。与湍流等离子体射流长度较短、径向尺寸较大、工作噪音高等特点相比,层流等离于体射流长度可达到550mm,而且沿整个射流长度其径向尺寸维持不变,工作噪音很小。当气流量为120cm~3/s、弧电流在70-200A的范围时,射流长度随弧电流的增加而增加,热效率起初略有降低然后维持平稳。随气流量的增加,层流等离子体射流的热效率也增加,在弧电流为200A时,可以达到40%。实验中测

Experimental Study on the Thermal Argon Plasma Generation and Jet Length Change Characteristics at Atmospheric Pressure

The generation, jet length and flow-regime change characteristics of argon plasma issuing into ambient air have been experimentally examined. Different torch structures have been used in the tests. Laminar plasma jets can be generated within a rather wide range of working-gas flow rates, and an unsteady transitional flow state exists between the laminar and turbulent flow regimes. The high-temperature region length of the laminar plasma jet can be over an order longer than that of the turbulent plasma jet and increases with increasing argon flow rate or arc current, while the jet length of the turbulent plasma is less influenced by the generating parameters. The flow field of the plasma jet has very high radial gradients of plasma parameters, and a Reynolds number alone calculated in the ordinary manner may not adequately serve as a criterion for transition. The laminar plasma jet can have a higher velocity than that of an unsteady or turbulent jet. The long laminar plasma jet has good stiffness to withstand the impact of laterally injected cold gas and particulate matter. It could be used as a rather ideal object for fundamental studies and be applied to novel materials processing due to its attractive stable and adjustable properties.