Design and implementation of the New York State Mesonet Flux Tower Network

The New York State Mesonet (NYSM) was established in 2014 to provide high-quality real-time meteorological data for weather monitoring and forecasting, emergency management, and research aimed at improving numerical weather prediction. The mainstay of the network consists of 126 surface weather stations located throughout New York State with an average spacing of 30 km. In 2017, 17 of the sites (“flux” sites) were equipped with additional (permanent) instrumentation to measure short and long-wave radiation components, soil heat flux, and turbulent fluxes of momentum, sensible and latent heat, and carbon dioxide (CO2). The mesoscale resolution of the 17-site NYSM Flux Tower Network is distinctive among existing flux tower networks. The data have potential to improve surface parameterizations in numerical weather models as well as to address many research questions related to the surface energy and carbon budgets, ecosystems and agriculture, hydrology, and surface layer exchange processes. This thesis presents site selection, instrumentation, data acquisition, flux computations, quality control, and operation protocols of the NYSM Flux Tower Network. Data from the first two years of operation are used to evaluate the land cover representation of measured fluxes, examine spatial and temporal variability of surface fluxes and CO2 concentration, and assess surface energy budget closure

Incorporating Autonomous Sensors and Climate Modeling to Gain Insight into Seasonal Hydrometeorological Processes within a Tropical Glacierized Valley

Aborda los problemas inminentes que enfrenta el Perú en torno al recurso del agua a medida que los glaciares se retraen y aumenta la demanda de agua, indicando que limitado de las observaciones y la resolución de los modelos dificultan el entendimiento de los procesos hidrometeorológicos a escalas locales y regionales. Este estudio pone énfasis en la estación lluviosa y señala que en 2004 y 2005 se instalo una red de sensores autónomos (ASN) dentro del valle glaciado de Llanganuco, en la Cordillera Blanca (9°S), consistente en anotadores de temperatura automáticos, discretos y efectivos, localizados a lo largo del eje del valle y anclados en dos estaciones meteorológicas automáticas; asimismo señala las comparaciones de estas medidas hidrometeorológicas incrustadas de los ASN y el modelado climático por reducción dinámica de la escala usando el modelo de Investigación Meteorológica y Pronóstico

Biogenic sulphur emissions and inferred non-sea-salt-sulphate cloud condensation nuclei in and around Antarctica.

Accumulation mode aerosol properties and biogenic sulphur emissions over the South Atlantic and Antarctic Oceans are examined. Two contrasting air masses, polar and maritime, each possessing distinct aerosol properties, were encountered during the summer months. By examining aerosol volatile properties, polar air masses arriving from the Antarctic continent were shown to consist primarily Of H2SO4 in the accumulation mode size range, with inferred NH+ 4 to SO= 4 molar ratios close to zero. By comparison, air masses of temperate maritime origin were significantly neutralized with molar ratios of ≈1. These results suggest a deficit of ammonia in polar air masses compared with that in maritime air masses. Dimethyl sulphide (DMS) exhibited no correlation with its putative aerosol oxidation products, although spatial coherence in atmospheric concentrations of DMS, methane sulphonic acid (MSA), and non-sea-salt (nss)-sulphate mass was observed. Volatility analysis, used to infer nss-sulphate cloud condensation nuclei (nss-sCCN) active at a supersaturation of ≈0.2%, indicates that nss-sCCN mass and number concentration were best correlated with MSA mass (r≈0.63). Aerosol volatility identified the presence of MSA in submicron non-sea-salt aerosol; however, its contribution to the aerosol mass was small relative to the contribution of sulphuric acid and ammonium bisulphate/sulphate aerosol. The marine sulphur cycle appears strongly coupled to the sea-salt cycle with, typically, 80–90% of nss-sulphate thought to be internally mixed with sea-salt aerosol. During the austral Summer of 1992/1993, a period of strong biological productivity in the Weddell Sea and sub-Antarctic Ocean, particularly during ice-melt, the cruise-average DMS flux of 61 μg m−2 d−1 corresponded to a very modest average nss-sCCN concentration of 21 cm−3. Observed peak values of DMS flux and inferred nss-CCN concentrations during the cruise were 477 μg m−2 d−1 and 64 cm−3, respectively. Events of new particle formation were identified in the Weddell Sea and occurred under conditions of high DMS flux and low aerosol surface area