Ground-Based Remote Sensing of the Summer Atmospheric Boundary Layer in Reno, Nevada, USA, Using Infrared Spectroscopy

Abstract: The atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is the lowermost part of the atmosphere in the vicinity of the Earth's surface. It plays a vital role in the exchange of heat, momentum, humidity and other trace substances with the Earth's surface. The boundary layer is extremely important for air quality and health related issues as it is associated with the first few kilometers above the surface. Boundary layer height diurnally evolves as solar radiation waxes and wanes. Though balloon soundings of atmospheric temperature, pressure, and winds are performed in many world-wide locations, they are only done twice a day, primarily for large scale weather forecasting applications, leaving much of the boundary layer evolution and structure without assessment. Ground-based remote sensing methods have been developed to provide detailed knowledge of the boundary layer. This thesis presents the surface-based Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer measurements of the downwelling thermal infrared radiance spectrum emitted by various gases in the cloud-free atmosphere. Measurements were carried out both in early morning hours and late in the afternoon where the temperature profile changes from inverted due to overnight radiative cooling by the surface, to super adiabatic due to intense solar heating at the surface. The measured spectra are compared to the model spectra to infer the structure of the boundary layer.A simple approximate analytical expression for the weighting function, which is crucial to solve the radiative transfer equation (RTE) and retrieve the temperature and gaseous concentration profiles of the ABL, has been developed. The validity of the analytical form of the weighting function was evaluated by comparison with a numerical model

Phenomenology of Neutrino Oscillations

The phenomenology of solar, atmospheric, supernova and laboratory neutrino oscillations is described. Analytical formulae for matter effects are reviewed. The results from oscillations are confronted with neutrinoless double beta decay.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, latex, Plenary talk given at Workshop in High Energy Particle Physics-6, Chennai, Indi

Spatial variation of biomass energy supply and demand in rural Nepal

In Nepal, the share of biomass in total energy consumption is about 88 % and of biomass for cooking and heating about 90 % in 76 % of the households. Fuelwood, crop residues and dung are the three main biomass types. The lack of an integrated biomass inventory is hindering the formulation of effective policies and programs for sustainable resource management. This study evaluates the spatial variation of biomass supply and demand for cooking and heating in Nepalese rural households in three districts representing the country’s main topographic regions lowland, hills, and mountains. The analysis is based on information from household survey, field studies, laboratory analyses, national statistics and application of GIS. Only those households adopting at least one type of biomass for cooking and heating are considered. The household survey was conducted in 240 households to evaluate biomass consumption, whereas the use of crop residues and dung is assessed in field studies in 27 households for the three seasons in 2013/14. By considering the five main staple crops (paddy, wheat, corn, millet and barley), the residues were evaluated, while cattle and buffalo were taken as a basis to assess the dung. The residue-to-product ratio (RPR) is the evaluation basis of crop residue supply, while the dung supply was assessed by determining the daily dung yield. The supply module of the GIS-based wood fuel supply and demand model (WISDOM) was taken as reference for the estimation of the fuelwood supply. The annual per capita demand of biomass (dry matter) in terms of “fuelwood equivalent” in the lowland, hill and mountain districts is 435 kg, 660 kg, and 653 kg, respectively, where of the households only 57 %, (lowland district), 50 % (hill district) and 3 % (mountain district) have a surplus biomass supply. The fuelwood equivalent of crop residues (1 kg DM), dung (1 kg DM), LPG (1 kg) and biogas (1 m3) are 0.40 kg, 0.93 kg, 23 kg and 4.57 kg, respectively. The households in the mountain district only use fuelwood whereas multiple energy sources with different combinations exist in the hill and lowland districts. The average annual per capita dung (dry matter) supply potential is 262 kg (lowland district), 278 kg (hill district) and 93 kg (mountain district). Despite the higher crop residue (dry matter) production (954 kg capita-1 yr-1) in the lowland than in the hill (547 kg capita-1 yr-1) district, the net usable amount of crop residues for energy generation is observed to be higher in the hill (207 kg capita-1 yr-1) than in the lowland (152 kg capita-1 yr-1) district. The lowest production (263 kg capita-1 yr-1) of crop residues was observed in the mountain district of which only 10 % is available for energy production. Because of the relatively easier accessibility of forests in the hills and mountains, the households there do not burn crop residues or dung for energy production, and here the fuelwood exploitation rate is three times higher than the production potential. The fuelwood exploitation rate in the lowland district is double the production potential where about 66 % of the households utilize crop residues and dung for energy generation. The fuelwood deficit is the main reason for the use of crop residues and dung in the lowland district. The primary focus there should be on converting crop residues with bio-briquettes and dung with biogas. Awareness programs to prevent overexploitation of fuelwood by making balanced use of biomass should be initiated in all regions, while the use of other herbaceous materials for bio-briquettes and dung of small ruminants for biogas production should be initiated to fill the biomass supply gap in the mountains. Given the highly uneven distribution of biomass in all districts, the transportation of biomass from surplus to deficit areas could be one of the potential solutions to reduce overexploitation of fuelwood

Constraints on mixing angles of Majorana neutrinos

By combining the inputs from the neutrinoless double beta decay and the fits of cosmological models of dark matter with solar and atmospheric neutrino data, we obtain constraints on two of the mixing angles of Majorana neutrinos, which become stronger when coupled with the reactor neutrino data. These constraints are strong enough to rule out Majorana neutrinos if the small angle solution of solar neutrino puzzle is borne out.Comment: Some corrections and clarifications adde