Aerosol-cloud interactions remain the largest uncertainty in climate projections. Ultrafine aerosol particles smaller than 50 nanometers (UAP) can be abundant in the troposphere but are conventionally considered too small to affect cloud formation. Observational evidence and numerical simulations of deep convective clouds (DCCs) over the Amazon show that DCCs forming in a low-aerosol environment can develop very large vapor supersaturation because fast droplet coalescence reduces integrated droplet surface area and subsequent condensation. UAP from pollution plumes that are ingested into such clouds can be activated to form additional cloud droplets on which excess supersaturation condenses and forms additional cloud water and latent heating, thus intensifying convective strength. This mechanism suggests a strong anthropogenic invigoration of DCCs in previously pristine regions of the world.

A closed-loop process to recover lithium carbonate from cathode scrap of lithium-ion battery (LIB) is developed. Lithium could be selectively leached into solution using formic acid while aluminum remained as the metallic form, and most of the other metals from the cathode scrap could be precipitated out. This phenomenon clearly demonstrates that formic acid can be used for lithium recovery from cathode scrap, as both leaching and separation reagent. By investigating the effects of different parameters including temperature, formic acid concentration, HO amount, and solid to liquid ratio, the leaching rate of Li can reach 99.93% with minor Al loss into the solution. Subsequently, the leaching kinetics was evaluated and the controlling step as well as the apparent activation energy could be determined. After further separation of the remaining Ni, Co, and Mn from the leachate, LiCO with the purity of 99.90% could be obtained. The final solution after lithium carbonate extraction can be further processed for sodium formate preparation, and Ni, Co, and Mn precipitates are ready for precursor preparation for cathode materials. As a result, the global recovery rates of Al, Li, Ni, Co, and Mn in this process were found to be 95.46%, 98.22%, 99.96%, 99.96%, and 99.95% respectively, achieving effective resources recycling from cathode scrap of spent LIB.

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Isoprenoid biosynthesis in plant plastids occurs via the 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate (DXP) pathway. We used tobacco rattle virus (TRV) to posttranscriptionally silence the expression of the last two enzymes of this pathway, the IspG-encoded (E)-4-hydroxy-3-methylbut-2-enyl diphosphate synthase (HDS) and the IspH-encoded isopentenyl/dimethylallyl diphosphate synthase (IDDS), as well as isopentenyl/dimethylallyl diphosphate isomerase (IDI), the enzyme that interconverts IPP and DMAPP. TRV-IspG and TRV-IspH infected Nicotiana benthamiana plants had albino leaves that contained less than 4% of the chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments of control leaves. We applied [ C]DXP and [14 C]DXP to silenced leaves and found that 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 2,4-cyclodiphosphate accumulated in plants blocked at HDS while DXP, (E)-4-hydroxy-3-methylbut-2-enyl phosphate and (E)-2-methylbut-2-ene-1,4-diol accumulated in IDDS-blocked plants. Albino leaves from IspG-and IspHsilenced plants displayed a disorganized palisade mesophyll, reduced cuticle, fewer plastids, and disrupted thylakoid membranes. These findings demonstrate the participation of HDS and IDDS in the DXP pathway in plants, and support the view that plastid isoprenoid biosynthesis is metabolically and physically segregated from the mevalonate pathway. IDIsilenced plants had mottled white-pale green leaves with disrupted tissue and plastid structure, and showed an 80% reduction in pigments compared to controls. IPP pyrophosphatase activity was higher in chloroplasts isolated from IDI-silenced plants than in control plant chloroplasts. We suggest that a low level of isoprenoid biosynthesis via the DXP pathway can occur without IDI but that this enzyme is required for full function of the DXP pathway.Isoprenoids (also called terpenoids or terpenes) form one of the largest and most structurally diverse groups of metabolites in nature. Members of the plant kingdom alone are estimated to produce [30,000 isoprenoid compounds (Gershenzon, personal communication), many of them secondary metabolites with defensive or signaling properties (Croteau et al., 2000). Plants synthesize all isoprenoids from two C5 precursors, isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP), with DMAPP serving as a starter unit for chain elongation reactions that yield C10, C15, C20, C30, and C40 diphosphate esters. Such prenyl diphosphates are further metabolized to give monoterpenes (C10), sesquiterpenes (C15), diterpenes, and the phytol side chain of chlorophylls (C20), sterols (C30), and carotenoids (C40). In plants, IPP and DMAPP are synthesized by independent metabolic pathways, which are active in different cellular compartments. The mevalonate (MVA) pathway, which provides C5 precursors for the synthesis of some sesquiterpenes, sterols and the side chain of ubiquinone (in higher plants), is localized in the cytoplasm while the plastid localized 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate (DXP) pathway (Fig. 1) produces the IPP and DMAPP used to synthesize monoterpenes, some sesquiterpenes a...

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Cloud microphysical properties and precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau are unique because of the high terrains, clean atmosphere, and sufficient water vapor. With dual-polarization precipitation radar and cloud radar measurements during the Third Tibetan Plateau Atmospheric Scientific Experiment, the simulated microphysics and precipitation by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences (CAMS) microphysics and other microphysical schemes are investigated through a typical plateau rainfall event on 22 July 2014. Results show that the WRF-CAMS simulation reasonably reproduces the spatial distribution of 24 h accumulated precipitation but has limitations in simulating time evolution of precipitation rates. The model-calculated polarimetric radar variables have biases as well, suggesting bias in modeled hydrometeor types. The raindrop sizes in convective region are larger than those in stratiform region indicated by the small intercept of raindrop size distribution in the former. In addition, the warm rain processes generate heavier precipitation than the cold rain processes do over the rainfall centers during weak convection period. The sensitivity of precipitation to perturbing the warm rain microphysical processes show that doubling droplet condensation increases precipitation significantly and produces the best area-averaged rain rate, suggesting biases in thermodynamics in the baseline simulation. Halving raindrop evaporation results in an increase in weak rainfall areas along with a warmer subcloud layer. Increasing the initial cloud droplet size causes the rain rate reduced by half, an opposite effect to that of increasing droplet condensation.

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