A new simulation-optimization methodology is developed for cost-effective sampling network design associated with long-term monitoring of large-scale contaminant plumes. The new methodology is similar in concept to the one presented by Reed et al. (Reed, P.M., Minsker, B.S., Valocchi, A.J., 2000a. Cost-effective long-term groundwater monitoring design using a genetic algorithm and global mass i...

Polar plumes are cool, dense, linear, magnetically open structures that arise from predominantly unipolar magnetic footpoints in the solar polar coronal holes. As the Alfvén speed is decreased in plumes in comparison with the surrounding medium, these structures are natural waveguides for fast and slow magnetoacoustic waves. The simplicity of the geometry of polar plumes makes them an ideal tes...

We present an analysis of ozone (O3) photochemistry observed by aircraft measurements of boreal biomass burning plumes over eastern Canada in the summer of 2011. Measurements of O3 and a number of key chemical species associated with O3 photochemistry, including non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and total nitrogen containing species (NOy), were made from the UK FAAM BAe-14...

We use the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) to determine the concentrations of the trace gases CO, O3, NH3, and formic acid (HCOOH) within boreal biomass burning plumes. We focus on 22 plumes observed by TES between June 15 and July 15, 2008 as part of the summer Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS-B) campaign. Only four of these pl...

We present a systematic experimental study of geometric and physical properties of thermal plumes in turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection using the thermochromic-liquid-crystal (TLC) technique. The experiments were performed in three water-filled cylindrical convection cells with aspect ratios 2, 1 and 0.5 and over the Rayleigh number range 5× 107 6 Ra 6 1011. TLC thermal images of horizontal p...

A high-resolution model is used to characterize the dominant patterns of sea surface salinity (SSS) variability generated by the freshwater discharges of the Rio de la Plata (RdlP) and the Patos/Mirim Lagoon in the southwestern Atlantic region. We identify three dominant modes of SSS variability. The first two, which have been discussed in previous studies, represent the seasonal and the intera...

Robots are needed to locate the sources of toxic chemical plumes. Lobsters, which track odor plumes for many ecologically crucial activities, can provide inspiration for robot designers. Before accurate search strategies for robots can be developed, how odor molecules are captured by the lobster's chemosensors must be understood. A recent study by Koehl et al. shows how lobster olfactory antenn...

Introduction: Volcanic plumes potentially provide us with evidence of some of a planet's dominant geologic and atmospheric processes, and can be the primary agent controlling the environment and the evolution of a planetary surface over modest time scales. This is especially true for Io, where the volcanic plumes are an ongoing phenomenon of nearly global scale that resurfaces the moon at rates...