ALBERT

Description: In this paper, the operational Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission combined radar–radiometer algorithm is thoroughly described. The operational combined algorithm is designed to reduce uncertainties in GPM Core Observatory precipitation estimates by effectively integrating complementary information from the GPM Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) into an optimal, physically consistent precipitation product. Although similar in many respects to previously developed combined algorithms, the GPM combined algorithm has several unique features that are specifically designed to meet the GPM objectives of deriving, based on GPM Core Observatory information, accurate and physically consistent precipitation estimates from multiple spaceborne instruments, and ancillary environmental data from reanalyses. The algorithm features an optimal estimation framework based on a statistical formulation of the Gauss–Newton method, a parameterization for the nonuniform distribution of precipitation within the radar fields of view, a methodology to detect and account for multiple scattering in Ka-band DPR observations, and a statistical deconvolution technique that allows for an efficient sequential incorporation of radiometer information into DPR precipitation retrievals.

Description: Using Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) observations from storms collected over the oceans surrounding East Asia, during summer, a method of creating physically consistent cloud-radiation databases to support satellite radiometer retrievals is introduced. In this method, vertical profiles of numerical model-simulated cloud and precipitation fields are optimized against TRMM radar and radiometer observations using a hybrid empirical orthogonal function (EOF)–one-dimensional variational (1DVAR) approach.The optimization is based on comparing simulated to observed radar reflectivity profiles and the corresponding passive microwave observations at the frequencies of the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) instrument. To minimize the discrepancies between the actual and the synthetic observations, the simulated cloud and precipitation profiles are optimized by adjusting the contents of the hydrometeors. To reduce the dimension of the hydrometeor content profiles in the optimization, multivariate relations among hydrometeor species are used. After applying the optimization method to modify the simulated clouds, the optimized cloud-radiation database has a joint distribution of reflectivity and associated brightness temperatures that is considerably closer to that observed by TRMM PR and TMI, especially at 85 GHz. This implies that the EOF–1DVAR approach can generate profiles with realistic distributions of frozen hydrometeors, such as snow and graupel. This approach may be similarly adapted to operate with the variety and capabilities of the passive microwave radiometers that compose the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) constellation. Furthermore, it can be extended to other oceanic regions and seasons.

Description: The ensemble square root Kalman filter (ESRF) is a variant of the ensemble Kalman filter used with deterministic observations that includes a matrix square root to account for the uncertainty of the unperturbed ensemble observations. Because of the difficulties in solving this equation, a serial approach is often used where observations are assimilated sequentially one after another. As previously demonstrated, in implementations to date the serial approach for the ESRF is suboptimal when used in conjunction with covariance localization, as the Schur product used in the localization does not commute with assimilation. In this work, a new algorithm is presented for the direct solution of the ESRF equations based on finding the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a sparse, square, and symmetric positive semidefinite matrix with dimensions of the number of observations to be assimilated. This is amenable to direct computation using dedicated, massively parallel, and mature libraries. These libraries make it relatively simple to assemble and compute the observation principal components and to solve the ESRF without using the serial approach. They also provide the eigenspectrum of the forward observation covariance matrix. The parallel direct approach described in this paper neglects the near-zero eigenvalues, which regularizes the ESRF problem. Numerical results show this approach is a highly scalable parallel method.

Description: Tropical cyclones (TCs) are among the most destructive natural phenomena with huge societal and economic impact. They form and evolve as the result of complex multiscale processes and nonlinear interactions. Even today the understanding and modeling of these processes is still lacking. A major goal of NASA is to bring the wealth of satellite and airborne observations to bear on addressing the unresolved scientific questions and improving our forecast models. Despite their significant amount, these observations are still underutilized in hurricane research and operations due to the complexity associated with finding and bringing together semicoincident and semicontemporaneous multiparameter data that are needed to describe the multiscale TC processes. Such data are traditionally archived in different formats, with different spatiotemporal resolution, across multiple databases, and hosted by various agencies. To address this shortcoming, NASA supported the development of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Tropical Cyclone Information System (TCIS)—a data analytic framework that integrates model forecasts with multiparameter satellite and airborne observations, providing interactive visualization and online analysis tools. TCIS supports interrogation of a large number of atmospheric and ocean variables, allowing for quick investigation of the structure of the tropical storms and their environments. This paper provides an overview of the TCIS’s components and features. It also summarizes recent pilot studies, providing examples of how the TCIS has inspired new research, helping to increase our understanding of TCs. The goal is to encourage more users to take full advantage of the novel capabilities. TCIS allows atmospheric scientists to focus on new ideas and concepts rather than painstakingly gathering data scattered over several agencies.

Description: Appropriate activation of the innate and adaptive immune system is crucial for the successful control of invasive aspergillosis (IA). Acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease as well as corticosteroids were described as major risk factors for the development of IA. In this study, we assessed the impact of immunosuppressive agents (dexamethasone, rapamycin, Cyclosporin A, FK506) on the A. fumigatus induced activation of monocyte-derived immature dendritic cells (iDC) and A. fumigatus-specific T-cell responses in well established cell culture models. Immature DCs were found to be activated and to differentiate into mature DCs in response to A. fumigatus antigens. The upregulation of CD86 was inhibited by dexamethasone (D) in 3 out of 3 experiments, and of CD40 and CD80 in 2/3. CSA and FK506 had a variable impact on the upregulation of CD86, but not on CD40 and CD80, whereas the expression of co-stimulatory molecules was found unchanged upon incubation with rapamycin. Autologous DCs were found to restore A. fumigatus-specific T-cell responses. T-cell proliferation to A. fumigatus hyphae and a cellular extract of the culture filtrate were found to be strongly inhibited by rapamycin and dexamethasone (n=3), whereas the effect of CSA and FK506 (n=3) at the concentrations analysed was variable. The release of IFN-g in culture supernatants upon stimulation with A. fumigatus antigens was strongly reduced in the presence of rapamycin (n=3), whereas the release of IL-4 was found to be increased in the majority of experiments (n=3). Comparable results were observed upon stimulation with tetanus toxoid and a CMV lysate (n=3). These data indicate, that A. fumigatus-spec. T-cell responses may be directed towards a TH2 phenotype in the presence of immunosuppressive agents. In summary, immunosuppressive agents were found to exert differential effects on adaptive and innate immune responses directed against A. fumigatus. Whereas dexamethasone was found to modulate the expression of co-stimulatory molecules on A. fumigatus activated iDCs and to suppress A. fumigatus-specific lymphoproliferation, rapamycin exerted only minor effects on DC-activation but had a strong impact on A. fumigatus-induced T-cell responses. These results may help to tailor immunosuppressive regimens in patients at high risk for invasive aspergillosis.

Description: Invasive aspergillosis is a life-threatening infection in immunocompromised patients. Activation of innate immune cells is crucial for the successful control of invasive aspergillosis. Monocytes play an important role in the cellular defense against Aspergillus fumigatus by attacking defined differentiation states of the fungus and by the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. In order to get a better understanding on pathways involved in these defense mechanism, genome-wide expression profiling was performed after incubation of CD14+ selected monocytes with A. fumigatus conidia and hyphae for 3, 6 and 9 hours using the Affymetrix HG-U133A array. Moreover, phagocytosis of conidia was analyzed by immunofluorescence. Expression of defined cytokines and chemokines was confirmed by Real-time PCR and on protein level by ELISA. Phagocytosis of conidia was observed during the first 3 hours (up to 2–3 conidia/monocyte). The conidia became swollen after 6 hours. By genome-wide expression profiling, ~600 genes were differentially regulated after 3 hours of incubation with hyphae and ~200 after incubation with conidia. At 6 and 9 hours of incubation, the number of differentially regulated genes showed no difference (~400 genes by both stimuli). Hyphae but not conidia strongly induced the expression of chemokines attracting neutrophils and T-lymphocytes as well as their receptors already after 3 hours, indicating that phagocytosis of conidia does not immediately induce expression of inflammatory genes. Pentraxin-3 was upregulated after 3 but not after 6 hours by both conidia and hyphae. PTX-3 binds to A. fumigatus and plays a role in initiating phagocytosis. Genes encoding for inflammatory cytokines and chemokines as well as their receptors were found to be up-regulated at 6 and 9 hours by both stimuli. Urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), which plays an essential role in regulating fibrinolysis and thereby monocyte/macrophage recruitment to sites of inflammation, was also found to be upregulated after stimulation with both stimuli. ELISA experiments confirmed these results on protein level, demonstrating a steady increase of chemokine and cytokine concentrations in culture supernatants from 3 to 9 hours. In conclusion, A. fumigatus differentially regulates a wide number of genes expressed by human monocytes, which play a crucial role in immune response during infection. The expression of these genes is dependent on the differentiation and germination state of the fungus and the incubation period.

Description: Dendritic cells (DCs), contribute to the initiation of immune responses to viral infection. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns and initiate antimicrobial immune responses. TLR3 in DCs recognizes viral double-stranded RNA and triggers downstream signals to activate the NF?B and the interferon ß promoter. Double-stranded RNA may also be produced by double-stranded DNA viruses, such as HCMV, through bidirectional transcription from the genome during infection. Here we investigated whether TLR3 mediates the interaction between monocyte-derived immature DCs (iDCs) and HCMV after either active viral replication or viral penetration. We observed that HCMV strains differ in their interactions with iDCs. Strains that show no tropism for DCs, such as AD169, only penetrate iDCs, whereas the DC-tropic strains, e.g. TB40-E, actively replicate in iDCs. This difference provides an opportunity to study different forms of virus-DC interaction. Genome-wide expression array analysis showed that although 23 genes encoding cytokines, chemokines, and transcription factors are upregulated in iDCs after incubation with either strain, subsets of genes are induced specifically by DC-tropic or DC-nontropic strains. Only interaction with the DC-tropic HCMV strain TB40E, which replicates and produces mature virions, led to up-regulation of the TLR3 gene as well as genes downstream of TLR3 in the TLR3-signaling pathway, including class I interferon genes, NF?B, TRAF family member-associated NFKB activator (TANK), TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1), CXCL10, and CXCL11. The DC-nontropic HCMV strain AD169, which penetrates iDCs without replicating, did not upregulate genes of the TLR3 pathways. For selected genes, array data were confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR assay and ELISA to detect the gene products. To further confirm that the DC-tropic HCMV strain TB40E interacts with iDCs via TLR3, we transfected DCs with TLR3-specific siRNA prior to infection. TLR3 gene expression was potently silenced, while levels of the hALAS housekeeping gene mRNA remained normal. After these transfected DCs were infected with TB40E, HCMV-induced TLR3 gene expression was still markedly downregulated (−219 x), as were the downstream genes of the TLR3-signaling pathway (IFNa, −2.8 x; IFNß, −12.8 x; NF?B, −7.7 x; CCL5, −14.4 x; CXCL10, −16.5 x; CXCL11, −10.9 x). In contrast, TLR3 siRNA alone did not significantly modulate the expression of NF?B, CCL5, CXCL10, and class I interferons. Our results are consistent with those of McWirther et al., who reported that mice with a deficiency of TBK1 which is downstream of TLR3 show marked defects in IFNa and IFNß gene expression after viral infection or after engagement of TLR3 by double-stranded RNA. Thus, a key mediator of HCMV-DC interaction, which activates both a MyD88-dependent pathway that leads to early NF?B activation and a MyD88-independent pathway that leads to a class I interferon response (IFNa and IFNß) via interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3). This activation of the TLR3 signalling pathway was not observed when the DC-nontropic HCMV strain AD169 penetrated DCs without replicating. The identification of pathways that enhance innate antiviral immune responses may provide new avenues of therapeutic intervention for viral infections.

Description: Precipitation estimation based on passive microwave (MW) observations from low Earth-orbiting satellites is one of the essential variables for understanding the global climate. However, almost all validation studies for such precipitation estimation have focused only on the surface precipitation rate. This study investigates the vertical precipitation profiles estimated by two passive MW-based retrieval algorithms, i.e., the Emissivity Principal Components (EPC) algorithm and the Goddard Profiling Algorithm (GPROF). The passive MW-based condensed water content profiles estimated from the Global Precipitation Measurement Microwave Imager (GMI) are validated using the GMI + Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar combined algorithm as the reference product. It is shown that the EPC generally underestimates the magnitude of the condensed water content profiles, described by the mean condensed water content, by about 20 - 50% in the middle-to-high latitudes, while GPROF overestimates it by about 20 - 50% in the middle-to-high latitudes and more than 50% in the tropics. Part of the EPC magnitude biases is associated with the representation of the precipitation type (i.e., convective and stratiform) in the retrieval algorithm. This suggests that a separate technique for precipitation type identification would aid in mitigating these biases. In contrast to the magnitude of the profile, the profile shapes are relatively well represented by these two passive MW-based retrievals. The joint analysis between the estimation performances of the vertical profiles and surface precipitation rate shows that the physically reasonable connections between the surface precipitation rate and the associated vertical profiles are achieved to some extent by the passive MW-based algorithms.