James King

Drag coefficient and plant form response to wind speed in three plant species: Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus), Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens glauca.), and Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum)

[1] Whole-plant drag coefficients (C d ) for three plant species: Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus), Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens glauca.), and Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum) in five different porosity configurations were developed from force versus wind speed data collected with a force balance in a recirculating wind tunnel. The average C d for the Burning Bush, Colorado Spruce, and Fountain Grass in their untrimmed forms were 0.42 (±0. 03), 0.39 (±0. 04), and 0.34 (±0. 06), respectively. Drag curves (C d versus flow Reynolds number (R e ) function) for the Burning Bush and Colorado Spruce were found to exhibit, for the lower porosity configurations, a rise to a maximum around flow Reynolds numbers (R e = ρu h h/v) of 2 x 10 5 . Fountain Grass C d was shown to be dependent upon R e to values >5 x 10 5 . The Burning Bush and Colorado Spruce plants reduced their drag, upon reaching their maxima, by decreasing their frontal area and increasing their porosity. Maximum C d for these plants occurred at optical porosities of ∼0.20. The Fountain Grass reduced drag at high R e by decreasing frontal area and porosity. The mechanism of drag reduction in Fountain Grass was continual reconfiguration to a more aerodynamic form as evidenced by continual reduction of C d with R e .

Estimating aerodynamic roughness over complex surface terrain

[1] Surface roughness plays a key role in determining aerodynamic roughness length (zo) and shear velocity, both of which are fundamental for determining wind erosion threshold and potential. While zo can be quantified from wind measurements, large proportions of wind erosion prone surfaces remain too remote for this to be a viable approach. Alternative approaches therefore seek to relate zo to morphological roughness metrics. However, dust-emitting landscapes typically consist of complex small-scale surface roughness patterns and few metrics exist for these surfaces which can be used to predictzofor modeling wind erosion potential. In this study terrestrial laser scanning was used to characterize the roughness of typical dust-emitting surfaces (playa and sandar) where element protrusion heights ranged from 1 to 199mm, over which vertical wind velocity profiles were collected to enable estimation of zo. Our data suggest that, although a reasonable relationship (R 2 >0.79) is apparent between 3-D roughness density and zo, the spacing of morphological elements is far less powerful in explaining variations in zo than metrics based on surface roughness height (R 2 >0.92). This finding is in juxtaposition to wind erosion models that assume the spacing of larger-scale isolated roughness elements is most important in determining zo. Rather, our data show that any metric based on element protrusion height has a higher likelihood of successfully predicting zo. This finding has important implications for the development of wind erosion and dust emission models that seek to predict the efficiency of aeolian processes in remote terrestrial and planetary environments.

In situ observations of soil minerals and organic matter in the early phases of prescribed fires

[1] We examined the chemical composition of aerosol samples collected during a prescribed fire at a Great Basin Desert site in the context of samples collected from controlled combustion of vegetation clippings from the same site and resuspension of soil samples obtained prior to and after the burn event. We observed a distinct difference in the composition of organic carbon resuspended soil dust after the burn, reflecting changes caused by the heating of the soil. The relative abundances of minerals and organic carbon fractions in aerosols collected during the first period of the burn were identical to those measured in soil dust. For aerosol samples collected for the remaining two periods of the burn event, the profiles of both minerals and organic carbon matched quite well those observed for vegetation combustion. Reconstruction of aerosol samples collected during the burn event showed that vegetation combustion dominated emissions but mineral soil dust may account for about 10% of PM10 emissions (reconstructed) during the early stages of the fire. A large fraction of emissions during the first two hours was also unaccounted mainly because of the insufficient conversion of organic carbon to organic mass. The abundance of heavier non-volatile organics in soil dust suggested the presence of humic/fulvic acids that exhibit higher OM-to-OC ratios and thus, account for a proportion of the unaccounted emissions. These findings indicated that soil dust may be released into the air during a fire event, probably due to the enhanced turbulent mixing near the burn front.

Soil humic-like organic compounds in prescribed fire emissions using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Here we present the chemical characterization of the water-soluble organic carbon fraction of atmospheric aerosol collected during a prescribed fire burn in relation to soil organic matter and biomass combustion. Using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we observed that humic-like substances in fire emissions have been associated with soil organic matter rather than biomass. Using a chemical mass balance model, we estimated that soil organic matter may contribute up to 41% of organic hydrogen and up to 27% of water-soluble organic carbon in fire emissions. Dust particles, when mixed with fresh combustion emissions, substantially enhances the atmospheric oxidative capacity, particle formation and microphysical properties of clouds influencing the climatic responses of atmospheric aeroso. Owing to the large emissions of combustion aerosol during fires, the release of dust particles from soil surfaces that are subjected to intense heating and shear stress has, so far, been lacking.

Effect of Soil Type and Momentum on Unpaved Road Particulate Matter Emissions from Wheeled and Tracked Vehicles

Excluding windblown dust, unpaved road dust PM 10 emissions in the US EPAs 2002 National Emission Inventory account for more than half of all PM 10 emissions in the arid states of the western U.S. (i.e., CA, AZ, NV, NM, and TX). Despite the large size of the source, substantial uncertainty is associated with both the vehicle activity (i.e., number of kilometers traveled at a particular speed) and the emission factors (i.e., grams of PM 10 per kilometer traveled). In this study, emission factors were measured using the flux tower method for both tracked and wheeled military vehicles at three military bases in the Western U.S. Test vehicle weights ranged from 2400 kg to 60,000 kg. Results from both previously published and unpublished field studies are combined to link emission factors to three related variables: soil type, vehicle momentum, and tred type (i.e., tire or track). Current emission factor models in US EPAs AP-42 Emission Factor Compendium do not factor both speed and weight into unpaved road emission factor calculations. Tracked vehicle emission factors from Ft. Carson, CO, and Ft. Bliss, TX were related to vehicle momentum (speed * mass) with ratios ranging from 0.004–0.006 (g-PM vkt− 1)/(kg m s− 1). For similar vehicle momentum, wheeled vehicles emitted approximately 2 to 4 times more PM 10 than tracked vehicles. At Yakima, WA, tracked vehicle PM 10 emission factors were substantially higher (0.38 (g-PM vkt− 1)/(kg m s− 1)) due to the unique volcanic ash soil characteristics (48% silt). Results from PI-SWERL, a portable wind tunnel surrogate, are presented to assess its utility to predict unpaved road dust emissions without the deployment of flux tower systems. PI-SWERL showed only a factor of 6 variation between sites in comparison with the 60-fold variation as measured by the flux towers.

The dynamism of salt crust patterns on playas

Playas are common in arid environments and can be major sources of mineral dust that can influence global climate. These landforms typically form crusts that limit evaporation and dust emission, modify surface erosivity and erodibility, and can lead to over prediction or underprediction of (1) dust-emission potential and (2) water and heat fluxes in energybalance modeling. Through terrestrial laser scanning measurements of part of the Makgadikgadi Pans of Botswana (a Southern Hemisphere playa that emits significant amounts of dust), we show that over weeks, months, and a year, the shapes of these surfaces change considerably (ridge thrusting of >30 mm/week) and can switch among continuous, ridged, and degraded patterns. Ridged pattern development changes the measured aerodynamic roughness of the surface (as much as 3 mm/week). The dynamic nature of these crusted surfaces must be accounted for in dust entrainment and moisture balance formulae to improve regional and global climate models.

The continuous 1.5D terrain guarding problem: Discretization, optimal solutions, and PTAS

In the NP-hard continuous 1.5D Terrain Guarding Problem (TGP) we are given an

Genome sequencing reveals that Streptococcus pneumoniae possesses a large and diverse repertoire of antimicrobial toxins

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Genome Sequencing Reveals a Large and Diverse Repertoire of Antimicrobial Peptides

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Trans-Atlantic Connections between North African Dust Flux and Tree Growth in the Florida Keys, United States

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