Latest Planetary boundary layer Stories

Preliminary research on Fusarium, a group of fungi that includes devastating pathogens of plants and animals, shows how these microbes travel through the air. Researchers now believe that with improvements on this preliminary research, there will be a better understanding about crop security, disease spread, and climate change. Engineers and biologists are steering their efforts towards a new aerobiological modeling technique, one they think may assist farmers in the future by providing an...

By Engelmann, Ronny Wandinger, Ulla; Ansmann, Albert; Muller, Detlef; Zeromskis, Egidijus; Althausen, Dietrich; Wehner, Birgit ABSTRACT The vertical aerosol transport in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) is investigated with lidars. Profiles of the vertical wind velocity are measured with a 2-[mu]m Doppler wind lidar. Aerosol parameters are derived from observations with an aerosol Raman lidar. Both instruments were operated next to each other at the Institute for Tropospheric Research...

ESA -- Strong turbulence in the upper atmosphere, a second ionospheric layer and possible lightning were among the surprises found by the Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI) during the descent to Titan's surface. HASI provided measurements from an altitude of 1400 km down to the surface of the physical characteristics of the atmosphere and surface, such as temperature and density profiles, electrical conductivity, and surface structure. The Huygens SSP made measurements just...