| 1. |
- Houard, Aurélien, et al.
(författare)
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Laser-guided lightning
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Photonics. - : Springer Nature. - 1749-4885 .- 1749-4893. ; 17:3, s. 231-235
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lightning discharges between charged clouds and the Earth's surface are responsible for considerable damages and casualties. It is therefore important to develop better protection methods in addition to the traditional Franklin rod. Here we present the first demonstration that laser-induced filaments-formed in the sky by short and intense laser pulses-can guide lightning discharges over considerable distances. We believe that this experimental breakthrough will lead to progress in lightning protection and lightning physics. An experimental campaign was conducted on the Santis mountain in north-eastern Switzerland during the summer of 2021 with a high-repetition-rate terawatt laser. The guiding of an upward negative lightning leader over a distance of 50 m was recorded by two separate high-speed cameras. The guiding of negative lightning leaders by laser filaments was corroborated in three other instances by very-high-frequency interferometric measurements, and the number of X-ray bursts detected during guided lightning events greatly increased. Although this research field has been very active for more than 20 years, this is the first field-result that experimentally demonstrates lightning guided by lasers. This work paves the way for new atmospheric applications of ultrashort lasers and represents an important step forward in the development of a laser based lightning protection for airports, launchpads or large infrastructures. A terawatt laser filament is shown to be able to guide lightning over a distance of 50 m in field trials on the Santis mountain in the Swiss Alps.
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| 2. |
- Mesman, Jorrit P., 1993-, et al.
(författare)
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Drivers of phytoplankton responses to summer wind events in a stratified lake : a modelling study
- 2022
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Ingår i: Limnology and Oceanography. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0024-3590 .- 1939-5590. ; 67:4, s. 856-873
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Extreme wind events affect lake phytoplankton amongst others by deepening the mixed layer and increasing internal nutrient loading. Both increases and decreases of phytoplankton biomass after storms have been observed, but the precise mechanisms driving these responses remain poorly understood or quantified. In this study, we coupled a one-dimensional physical model to a biogeochemical model to investigate the factors regulating short-term phytoplankton responses to summer storms, now and under expected warmer future conditions. We simulated physical, chemical and biological dynamics in Lake Erken, Sweden, and found that wind storms could increase or decrease the phytoplankton concentration one week after the storm, depending on antecedent lake physical and chemical conditions. Storms had little effect on phytoplankton biomass if the mixed layer was deep prior to storm exposure. Higher incoming shortwave radiation and hypolimnetic nutrient concentration boosted growth, whereas higher surface water temperatures decreased phytoplankton concentration after storms. Medium-intensity wind speeds resulted in more phytoplankton biomass after storms than high-intensity wind. Simulations under a future climate scenario did not show marked differences in the way wind affects phytoplankton growth following storms. Our study shows that storm impacts on lake phytoplankton are complex and likely to vary as a function of local environmental conditions.
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| 3. |
- Mesman, Jorrit P., 1993-, et al.
(författare)
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The role of internal feedbacks in shifting deep lake mixing regimes under a warming climate
- 2021
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Ingår i: Freshwater Biology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0046-5070 .- 1365-2427. ; 66:6, s. 1021-1035
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climate warming is causing changes in the physics of deep lakes, such as longer summer stratification, increased water column stability, reduced ice cover, and a shallower depth of winter overturns. An ultimate consequence of warming would be a transition to a different mixing regime. Here we investigate the role of physical, chemical, and biological feedback mechanisms that unfold during a shift in mixing regime, and whether these feedbacks could prompt and stabilise the new regime. Although climate, interannual temperature variation, and lake morphometry are the main determinants of a mixing regime, when climate change causes shifts in mixing regime, internal feedback mechanisms may gain in importance and modify lake ecosystem functioning.We review the role of these feedbacks in three mixing regime shifts: from polymictic to seasonally stratified, from dimictic to monomictic, and from holomictic to oligomictic or meromictic.Polymictic lakes of intermediate depth (c. 3–10 m mean depth) could experience seasonal stratification if a stratification event triggers phytoplankton blooms or dissolved organic matter release, reducing transparency and therefore further heating the surface layer. However, this feedback is only likely to have influence in small and clear lakes, it would be easily disturbed by weather conditions, and the resulting stratified state does not remain stable in the long term, as stratification is lost in winter.The ice-albedo feedback might cause an accelerated shift from ice-covered (dimictic) to ice-free (monomictic) winters in sufficiently deep (mean depth 50 m or more) lakes, where temperature memory is carried over from one winter to the next. Nevertheless, there is an ongoing debate into whether this process can persist during natural weather variations and overcome self-stabilising mechanisms such as thermal insulation by snow. The majority of studies suggest that a gradual transition from dimictic to monomictic is more likely than an abrupt transition.A shift from a holomictic to a meromictic regime can occur if anoxia is triggered by incomplete mixing and an increase in deep-water density—through the accumulation of solutes—exceeds a density decrease by hypolimnetic warming. A shift to meromixis would strongly alter the biology of a lake and might be difficult to reverse. If solutes accumulate only minimally in the hypolimnion, an oligomictic regime is formed, in which years with complete and incomplete mixing alternate.Understanding the importance of feedback mechanisms and the role of biogeochemistry when lakes shift in mixing regime could lead to a better understanding of how climate change affects lake ecosystems.
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