ALBERT

Description: Hydrodynamics characteristics like flow pattern, shear rate distribution, power consumption, axial pumping capacity, mixing time, and mixing efficiency of an ellipse gate (EG) impeller were investigated by experimental and numerical methods. The numerical simulation results were validated by experimental data of power consumption and mixing time. Results indicate that the axial pumping number of the EG impeller is larger than that of any other reported large-scale impeller under laminar regime, and that the shear rate formed by this impeller is less sensitive to Reynolds numbers. In-depth analysis reveals the different function of each part of the EG impeller under different flow regimes. This impeller provides an almost similar mixing efficiency like the double-helical ribbon impeller under laminar regime, but much higher mixing efficiency both under transitional and turbulent flow regimes. An ellipse gate impeller was designed for fermentation processes with varying fluid viscosities in order to cover turbulent to transient or even laminar flow regimes in a reactor. Hydrodynamics characteristics were investigated by experimental and numerical methods, indicating excellent mixing properties of this impeller in a wide range of Reynolds numbers.

Description: We study the interaction between coronal holes (CHs) and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) using a resultant force exerted by all the coronal holes present on the disk and is defined as the coronal hole influence parameter (CHIP). The CHIP magnitude for each CH depends on the CH area, the distance between the CH centroid and the eruption region, and the average magnetic field within the CH at the photospheric level. The CHIP direction for each CH points from the CH centroid to the eruption region. We focus on Solar Cycle 23 CMEs originating from the disk center of the Sun (central meridian distance ≤15°) and resulting in magnetic clouds (MCs) and non-MCs in the solar wind. The CHIP is found to be the smallest during the rise phase for MCs and non-MCs. The maximum phase has the largest CHIP value (2.9 G) for non-MCs. The CHIP is the largest (5.8 G) for driverless (DL) shocks, which are shocks at 1 AU with no discernible MC or non-MC. These results suggest that the behavior of non-MCs is similar to that of the DL shocks and different from that of MCs. In other words, the CHs may deflect the CMEs away from the Sun-Earth line and force them to behave like limb CMEs with DL shocks. This finding supports the idea that all CMEs may be flux ropes if viewed from an appropriate vantage point.

Description: We investigate the variability in the occurrence of energetic storm particle (ESP) events associated with shocks driven by coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The interplanetary shocks were detected during the period from 1996 to 2006. First, we analyze the CME properties near the Sun. The CMEs with an ESP-producing shock are faster ($\langle$VCME$\rangle$ = 1088 km/s) than those driving shocks without an ESP event ($\langle$VCME$\rangle$ = 771 km/s) and have a larger fraction of halo CMEs (67% versus 38%). The Alfvénic Mach numbers of shocks with an ESP event are on average 1.6 times higher than those of shocks without. We also contrast the ESP event properties and frequency in shocks with and without a type II radio burst by dividing the shocks into radio-loud (RL) and radio-quiet (RQ) shocks, respectively. The shocks seem to be organized into a decreasing sequence by the energy content of the CMEs: RL shocks with an ESP event are driven by the most energetic CMEs, followed by RL shocks without an ESP event, then RQ shocks with and without an ESP event. The ESP events occur more often in RL shocks than in RQ shocks: 52% of RL shocks and only ∼33% of RQ shocks produced an ESP event at proton energies above 1.8 MeV; in the keV energy range the ESP frequencies are 80% and 65%, respectively. Electron ESP events were detected in 19% of RQ shocks and 39% of RL shocks. In addition, we find that (1) ESP events in RQ shocks are less intense than those in RL shocks; (2) RQ shocks with ESP events are predominately quasi-perpendicular shocks; (3) their solar sources are located slightly to the east of the central meridian; and (4) ESP event sizes show a modest positive correlation with the CME and shock speeds. The observation that RL shocks tend to produce more frequently ESP events with larger particle flux increases than RQ shocks emphasizes the importance of type II bursts in identifying solar events prone to producing high particle fluxes in the near-Earth space. However, the trend is not definitive. If there is no type II emission, an ESP event is less likely but not absent. The variability in the probability and size of ESP events most likely reflects differences in the shock formation in the low corona and changes in the properties of the shocks as they propagate through interplanetary space and the escape efficiency of accelerated particles from the shock front.

Description: [1]  We study two methods of predicting interplanetary (IP) shock location and strength in the inner heliosphere: 1) the ENLIL simulation and 2) the kilometric type II (kmTII) prediction. To evaluate differences in the performance of the first method, we apply two sets of CME parameters from the cone model fitting and flux-rope (FR) model fitting as input to the ENLIL model for 16 halo CMEs. The results show that the ENLIL model using the actual CME speeds from FR-fit provided an improved shock arrival time (SAT) prediction. The mean prediction errors for the FR and cone-model inputs are 4.90 ± 5.92 hr and 5.48 ± 6.11 hr, respectively. A deviation of 100 kms − 1 from the actual CME speed has resulted in a SAT error of 3.46 hr on average. [2]  The simulations show that the shock dynamics in the inner heliosphere agrees with the drag-based model. The shock acceleration can be divided as two phases: a faster deceleration phase within 50 R s and a slower deceleration phase at distances beyond 50 R s . The linear fit deceleration in phase 1 is about one order magnitude lager than that in phase 2. When applying the kmTII method to 14 DH-km CMEs, we found that combining the kmTII method with the ENLIL outputs improved the kmTII prediction. Due to a better modeling of plasma density upstream of shocks and the kmTII location, we are able to provide a more accurate shock time-distance and speed profiles. [3]  The mean kmTII prediction error using the ENLIL model density is 6.7 ± 6.4 hr; it is 8.4 ± 10.4 hr when the average solar wind plasma density is used. Applying the ENLIL density has reduced the mean kmTII prediction error by ∼ 2 hr and the standard deviation by 4.0 hr. Especially, when we applied the combined approach to two interacting events, the kmTII prediction error was drastically reduced from 29.6 hr to −4.9 hr in one case and 10.6 hr to 4.2 hr in the other. Furthermore, the results derived from the kmTII method and the ENLIL simulation, together with white-light data, provide a valuable validation of shock formation location and strength. Such information has important implications for SEP acceleration.

Description: The 2010 April 03 solar event was studied using observations from STEREO SECCHI, SOHO LASCO, and Wind kilometric Type II data (kmTII) combined with WSA-Cone-ENLIL model simulations performed at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC). In particular, we identified the origin of the coronal mass ejection (CME) using STEREO EUVI and SOHO EIT images. A flux-rope model was fit to the SECCHI A and B, and LASCO images to determine the CME's direction, size, and actual speed. J-maps from STEREO COR2/HI-1/HI-2 and simulations from CCMC were used to study the formation and evolution of the shock in the inner heliosphere. In addition, we also studied the time-distance profile of the shock propagation from kmTII radio burst observations. The J-maps together with in-situ data from the Wind spacecraft provided an opportunity to validate the simulation results and the kmTII prediction. Here we report on a comparison of two methods of predicting interplanetary shock arrival time: the ENLIL model and the kmTII method; and investigate whether or not using the ENLIL model density improves the kmTII prediction. We found that the ENLIL model predicted the kinematics of shock evolution well. The shock arrival times (SAT) and linear-fit shock velocities in the ENLIL model agreed well with those measurements in the J-maps along both the CME leading edge and the Sun-Earth line. The ENLIL model also reproduced most of the large scale structures of the shock propagation and gave the SAT prediction at Earth with an error of ∼1 ± 7 hours. The kmTII method predicted the SAT at Earth with an error of ∼15 hours when using n0 = 4.16 cm−3, the ENLIL model plasma density near Earth; but it improved to ∼2 hours when using n0 = 6.64 cm−3, the model density near the CME leading edge at 1 AU.

Description: Satellite retrievals of environmental parameters can enable a global scale understanding of various atmospheric phenomena. Validation of these retrievals using in situ and other correlative measurements is critical to the success of our accurate interpretation of such phenomena. In this paper, we analyze the effect of dust on AIRS and IASI operational level 2 profiles using data obtained from the 2009–2011 AEROSE campaigns. We find that the presence of dust in the AIRS and IASI measurements biases the cloud-cleared radiances by as much as 4 K. In addition, we find that the temperature and surface temperature retrievals resultant from these cloud-cleared radiances show 2 to 3 K spurious oscillations throughout the troposphere.

Description: A coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with a type II burst and originating close to the center of the solar disk typically results in a shock at Earth in 2–3 days and hence can be used to predict shock arrival at Earth. However, a significant fraction (about 28%) of such CMEs producing type II bursts were not associated with shocks at Earth. We examined a set of 21 type II bursts observed by the Wind/WAVES experiment at decameter-hectometric (DH) wavelengths that had CME sources very close to the disk center (within a central meridian distance of 30 degrees), but did not have a shock at Earth. We find that the near-Sun speeds of these CMEs average to ∼644 km/s, only slightly higher than the average speed of CMEs associated with radio-quiet shocks. However, the fraction of halo CMEs is only ∼30%, compared to 54% for the radio-quiet shocks and 91% for all radio-loud shocks. We conclude that the disk-center radio-loud CMEs with no shocks at 1 AU are generally of lower energy and they drive shocks only close to the Sun and dissipate before arriving at Earth. There is also evidence for other possible processes that lead to the lack of shock at 1 AU: (i) overtaking CME shocks merge and one observes a single shock at Earth, and (ii) deflection by nearby coronal holes can push the shocks away from the Sun-Earth line, such that Earth misses these shocks. The probability of observing a shock at 1 AU increases rapidly above 60% when the CME speed exceeds 1000 km/s and when the type II bursts propagate to frequencies below 1 MHz.

Description: [1]  The empirical shock arrival (ESA) model was developed based on quadrature data from Helios (in-situ) and P-78 (remote-sensing) to predict the Sun-Earth travel time of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) [ Gopalswamy et al . 2005a]. The ESA model requires earthward CME speed as input, which is not directly measurable from coronagraphs along the Sun-Earth line. The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) were in quadrature during 2010 - 2012, so the speeds of Earth-directed CMEs were observed with minimal projection effects. We identified a set of 20 full halo CMEs in the field of view of SOHO that were also observed in quadrature by STEREO. We used the earthward speed from STEREO measurements as input to the ESA model and compared the resulting travel times with the observed ones from L1 monitors. We find that the model predicts the CME travel time within about 7.3 hours, which is similar to the predictions by the ENLIL model. We also find that CME-CME and CME-coronal hole interaction can lead to large deviations from model predictions.