Experiments were conducted in a wind tunnel in which a turbulent boundary layer was naturally grown over flat beds of three types of nearly mono-disperse spherical particles with different diameters, densities and coefficient of restitution (r) (snow, 0.48 mm, 910 kg m −3 ; mustard seeds, 1.82 mm, 1670 kg m −3 , r = 0.7; ice particles, 2.80 mm, 910 kg m −3 , r = 0.8-0.9). The surface wind speeds (defined by the friction velocity u * ) were varied between 1.0 and 1.9 times the threshold surface wind speed (defined by u * t ). The trajectories, and ejection and impact velocities of the particles were recorded and analysed, even those that were raised only about one diameter into the flow.Measurements of the average horizontal flux of saltating particles per unit area, f(z), at each level z above the surface showed that, for u * /u * t 6 1.5, f(z) is approximately independent of the particle density and decreases exponentially over a vertical scale length l f , that is about 3 to 4 times the estimated mean height of the particle trajectories h . Numerical simulations of saltating grains were computed using the measured probabilities of ejection velocities and the mean velocity profile of the air flow, but neglecting the direct effect of the turbulence. The calculated mean values of the impact velocities and the trajectory dimensions were found to agree with the measurements in the saltation range, where u * /u * t < 1.5. Similarly, in this range the simulations of the horizontal flux profile and integral are also consistent with the measurements and with Bagnold's u 3 * formula, respectively. When u * /u * t > 1.5, and u * /V T > 1/10, where V T is the settling velocity, a transition from saltation to suspension occurs. This is indicated by the change in the mean mass flux profile which effectively becomes uniform with height (z) up to the top of the boundary layer. An explanation is provided for this low value of turbulence at transition relative to the settling velocity in terms of the random motion of the particles under the action of the turbulence when they reach the tops of their parabolic trajectories. The experiments show that, as u * /u * t increases from 1.0 to 1.9 the normalized mean vertical impact velocity V 3I /u * decreases by nearly 60% to about 0.6, which is less than 50% of the value for fluid particles. There is also a decrease in the vertical and horizontal component of the ejection velocity to values of 0.8 and 2.3, which are much less than their values in the saltation regime. We hypothesize that at the transition from saltation to suspension the ejection process changes quite sharply from being determined by impact collisions to being the result of aerodynamic lift forces and upward eddy motions. 78

Blowing snow observations were carried out at Mizuho station, Antarctica, from October to November 2000. A blowing snow observation system including snow particle counters, which can sense not only the number of snow particles, but also their diameters, was situated on a 30 m tower. All instruments worked correctly and the data obtained revealed profiles of mass flux and particle size distributions as a function of the friction velocity. Measurements were compared with a blowing snow model that accounted for most physical processes including aerodynamic entrainment, grain/bed collisions, wind modification, particle size distribution and turbulent fluctuations on the particle trajectories. Simulated and measured results showed close agreement, and the validity of the model was demonstrated. Vertical profiles of horizontal mass flux from saltation to suspension, as well as the particle size distributions were expressed precisely, which could not be achieved using the previous models.

[1] A new numerical model was developed to describe the development of drifting snow on a flat surface. The model uses Lagrangian stochastic theory to account for turbulence effects on the suspension of snow grains, and also includes aerodynamic entrainment, the grain-bed collision process, wind modification by the grains, and a distribution of grain sizes. The calculated wind profile, shear stress, and mass flux near the surface agreed quantitatively with previous wind tunnel experiments. Because of turbulence, snow grains can reach 10 m high, a results that agrees with recent measurements but had not previously been simulated using saltation models. We also found that the steady state fluid shear stress exceeded the threshold stress, meaning that the grains were continually entrained by the fluid. A distinct change in the mass flux profile occurred at 0.1 m high for the following reason. Below 0.1 m, the particle inertia dominated the grain motion and turbulence had only a small effect on the motion; in contrast, above 0.1 m, most particles were less than 100 mm in diameter and their motion was mainly affected by the turbulence and not inertia. That is, the particles above 0.1 m were in suspension mode.

ABSTRACT. Field surveys of supraglacial ponds on debris-covered glaciers in the Nepal Himalaya clarify that ice-cliff calving occurs when the fetch exceeds $80 m. Thermal undercutting is important for calving processes in glacial lakes, and subaqueous ice melt rates during the melt and freeze seasons are therefore estimated under simple geomorphologic conditions. In particular, we focus on the differences between valley wind-driven water currents in various fetches during the melt season. Our results demonstrate that the subaqueous ice melt rate exceeds the ice-cliff melt rate when the fetch is >20 m and water temperature is 2-48 8C. Calculations suggest the onset of calving due to thermal undercutting is controlled by water currents driven by winds at the surface of the lake, which develop with expanding water surface.

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Abstract. Two consecutive cruises in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica, in winter 2013 provided the first direct observations of sea salt aerosol (SSA) production from blowing snow above sea ice, thereby validating a model hypothesis to account for winter time SSA maxima in the Antarctic. Blowing or drifting snow often leads to increases in SSA during and after storms. For the first time it is shown that snow on sea ice is depleted in sulfate relative to sodium with respect to seawater. Similar depletion in bulk aerosol sized ∼0.3–6 µm above sea ice provided the evidence that most sea salt originated from snow on sea ice and not the open ocean or leads, e.g. >90 % during the 8 June to 12 August 2013 period. A temporally very close association of snow and aerosol particle dynamics together with the long distance to the nearest open ocean further supports SSA originating from a local source. A mass budget estimate shows that snow on sea ice contains even at low salinity (<0.1 psu) more than enough sea salt to account for observed increases in atmospheric SSA during storms if released by sublimation. Furthermore, snow on sea ice and blowing snow showed no or small depletion of bromide relative to sodium with respect to seawater, whereas aerosol was enriched at 2 m and depleted at 29 m, suggesting that significant bromine loss takes place in the aerosol phase further aloft and that SSA from blowing snow is a source of atmospheric reactive bromine, an important ozone sink, even during winter darkness. The relative increase in aerosol concentrations with wind speed was much larger above sea ice than above the open ocean, highlighting the importance of a sea ice source in winter and early spring for the aerosol burden above sea ice. Comparison of absolute increases in aerosol concentrations during storms suggests that to a first order corresponding aerosol fluxes above sea ice can rival those above the open ocean depending on particle size. Evaluation of the current model for SSA production from blowing snow showed that the parameterizations used can generally be applied to snow on sea ice. Snow salinity, a sensitive model parameter, depends to a first order on snowpack depth and therefore was higher above first-year sea ice (FYI) than above multi-year sea ice (MYI). Shifts in the ratio of FYI and MYI over time are therefore expected to change the seasonal SSA source flux and contribute to the variability of SSA in ice cores, which represents both an opportunity and a challenge for the quantitative interpretation of sea salt in ice cores as a proxy for sea ice.

No abstract

Protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO; EC 1.3.3.4) is the enzyme that catalyzes in the penultimate step in the heme biosynthetic pathway. Hemes are essential components of redox enzymes, such as cytochromes. Thus, a hemG mutant strain of Escherichia coli deficient in PPO is defective in aerobic respiration and grows poorly even in rich medium. By complementation with a human placental cDNA library, we were able to isolate a clone that enhanced the poor growth of such a hemG mutant strain. The clone encoded the gene for human PPO. Sequence analysis revealed that PPO consists of 477 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 50.8 kilodaltons. The deduced protein exhibited a high degree of homology over its entire length to the amino acid sequence of PPO encoded by the hemY gene of Bacillus subtilis. The NH2-terminal amino acid sequence of the deduced PPO contains a conserved amino acid sequence that forms the dinucleotide-binding site in many flavin-containing proteins. Northern blot analysis revealed the synthesis of a 1.8-kilobase pair mRNA for PPO. A homogenate of the monkey kidney COS-1 cells that had been transfected with the cDNA had much higher PPO activity than an extract of control cells, and this activity was inhibited by acifluorfen, a specific inhibitor of PPO. Furthermore, the cDNA was expressed in vitro as 51-kilodalton protein, and after incubation with isolated mitochondria the protein was found to be located in the mitochondria, having just the same size as before, an indication that PPO is a mitochondrial enzyme and has no apparent transport-specific leader sequence.