NRLMSIS® 2.0 is an empirical atmospheric model that extends from the ground to the exobase and describes the average observed behavior of temperature, eight species densities, and mass density via a ...parametric analytic formulation. The model inputs are location, day of year, time of day, solar activity, and geomagnetic activity. NRLMSIS 2.0 is a major, reformulated upgrade of the previous version, NRLMSISE‐00. The model now couples thermospheric species densities to the entire column, via an effective mass profile that transitions each species from the fully mixed region below ~70 km altitude to the diffusively separated region above ~200 km. Other changes include the extension of atomic oxygen down to 50 km and the use of geopotential height as the internal vertical coordinate. We assimilated extensive new lower and middle atmosphere temperature, O, and H data, along with global average thermospheric mass density derived from satellite orbits, and we validated the model against independent samples of these data. In the mesosphere and below, residual biases and standard deviations are considerably lower than NRLMSISE‐00. The new model is warmer in the upper troposphere and cooler in the stratosphere and mesosphere. In the thermosphere, N2 and O densities are lower in NRLMSIS 2.0; otherwise, the NRLMSISE‐00 thermosphere is largely retained. Future advances in thermospheric specification will likely require new in situ mass spectrometer measurements, new techniques for species density measurement between 100 and 200 km, and the reconciliation of systematic biases among thermospheric temperature and composition data sets, including biases attributable to long‐term changes.
Key Points
A major, reformulated upgrade to NRLMSISE‐00 is presented using extensive new data sets from the ground to ~100 km altitude
Vertical structure of the atmosphere is now self‐consistently coupled; O density now extends down to 50 km
New model is warmer in upper troposphere, cooler in stratosphere and mesosphere; thermospheric N2 and O densities are lower
The slot region marks the equatorward boundary of the energetic electron precipitation (EEP). There are, however, numerous reports where energetic electrons cross these boundaries and fill the slot ...region. The ensuing EEP will occur long after the geomagnetic activity subsides. This is a missing energy input in current EEP estimates scaled by geomagnetic indices. This study explores the occurrence rate, duration, and local time dependence of slot region filling events using observations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites over a full solar cycle from 2004 to 2014. The EEP flux estimates are based on the Medium Energy Proton Electron Detector 0° and 90° detectors and the theory of pitch angle diffusion by wave‐particle interaction. The occurrence rates of >43, >114, and >292 keV events are found to be strongly energy and solar cycle dependent. Higher energy events are more likely to be associated with Coronal Mass Ejections and stronger geomagnetic deflections compared to lower energy events. Solar wind speed, Bz, and Ey reveal a calm period before the events, potentially important for preconditioning the ensuing magnetospheric mass convection. The slot region reforms more efficiently closer to the plasmapause, which creates a double EEP band throughout the recovery period. The slot region EEP maximizes around noon throughout the afternoon/evening sector, consistent with pitch angle scattering from plasmaspheric hiss and lightning induced whistler mode waves. Concurrent with slot region filling events, the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding/Envisat nitric oxide density show an increase at <55° corrected geomagnetic latitudes. This demonstrates the importance of including slot region EEP when assessing the EEP impact on the atmosphere.
Key Points
Electron precipitation from slot region filling events increases mesospheric nitric oxide density at corrected geomagnetic latitudes well below 55°
The occurrence rate of >292 keV slot region filling events is about half of the >43 keV slot region filling events
Local time precipitation pattern is in line with pitch angle scattering by plasmaspheric hiss and lightning‐generated whistler mode waves
Molecular genetic testing informs diagnosis, prognosis, and risk assessment for patients and their family members. Recent advances in low‐cost, high‐throughput DNA sequencing and computing ...technologies have enabled the rapid expansion of genetic test content, resulting in dramatically increased numbers of DNA variants identified per test. To address this challenge, our laboratory has developed a systematic approach to thorough and efficient assessments of variants for pathogenicity determination. We first search for existing data in publications and databases including internal, collaborative and public resources. We then perform full evidence‐based assessments through statistical analyses of observations in the general population and disease cohorts, evaluation of experimental data from in vivo or in vitro studies, and computational predictions of potential impacts of each variant. Finally, we weigh all evidence to reach an overall conclusion on the potential for each variant to be disease causing. In this report, we highlight the principles of variant assessment, address the caveats and pitfalls, and provide examples to illustrate the process. By sharing our experience and providing a framework for variant assessment, including access to a freely available customizable tool, we hope to help move towards standardized and consistent approaches to variant assessment.
The atmospheric effects of precipitating electrons are not fully understood, and uncertainties are large for electrons with energies greater than ~30 keV. These electrons are underrepresented in ...modeling studies today, primarily because valid measurements of their precipitating spectral energy fluxes are lacking. This paper compares simulations from the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) that incorporated two different estimates of precipitating electron fluxes for electrons with energies greater than 30 keV. The estimates are both based on data from the Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite Medium Energy Proton and Electron Detector (MEPED) instruments but differ in several significant ways. Most importantly, only one of the estimates includes both the 0° and 90° telescopes from the MEPED instrument. Comparisons are presented between the WACCM results and satellite observations poleward of 30°S during the austral winter of 2003, a period of significant energetic electron precipitation. Both of the model simulations forced with precipitating electrons with energies >30 keV match the observed descent of reactive odd nitrogen better than a baseline simulation that included auroral electrons, but no higher energy electrons. However, the simulation that included both telescopes shows substantially better agreement with observations, particularly at midlatitudes. The results indicate that including energies >30 keV and the full range of pitch angles to calculate precipitating electron fluxes is necessary for improving simulations of the atmospheric effects of energetic electron precipitation.
Plain Language Summary
The study presented here investigates the effects from energetic electron precipitation (EEP) in the southern hemisphere winter of 2003. Electron precipitation is common during periods of enhanced geomagnetic activity and can create reactive nitrogen oxides and hydrogen oxides that can destroy ozone. Most global climate models currently do not include precipitating electrons with energies greater than 30 keV. To test whether this deficiency is important, this investigation compares observations with model simulations that included electrons with energies greater than 30 keV, as observed by the Medium Energy Proton and Electron Detector (MEPED) satellite instruments. In addition, one of the EEP data sets used in the simulations included data from just one of the telescopes on the MEPED instruments, whereas the other included data from both of the telescopes. We found that including both of the telescopes is important for capturing chemistry changes at polar and subpolar latitudes. The model simulation that only included only one of the telescopes showed significant improvement compared to a simulation with only low energy electrons. However, it did not perform as well as the model simulation that included both MEPED telescopes. This work is important because it shows that including energies >30 keV and the full range of precipitating electron pitch angles is necessary to show the impact electrons have on the atmosphere and provides an EEP data set for use in future model simulations.
Key Points
Effects of energetic electron precipitation in southern hemisphere 2003 simulated with Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model
Simulations of middle atmosphere chemistry improve significantly by including >30‐keV precipitating electrons
Including the full range of pitch angles is necessary to capture precipitating electron impacts at subpolar latitudes
An extensive observational data set, consisting of more than 106 SF6 vertical profiles from MIPAS measurements distributed over the whole globe has been condensed into monthly zonal means of mean age ...of air for the period September 2002 to January 2010, binned at 10° latitude and 1–2 km altitude. The data were analysed with respect to their temporal variation by fitting a regression model consisting of a constant and a linear increase term, 2 proxies for the QBO variation, sinusoidal terms for the seasonal and semi-annual variation and overtones for the correction of the shapes to the observed data set. The impact of subsidence of mesospheric SF6-depleted air and in-mixing into non-polar latitudes on mid-latitudinal absolute age of air and its linear increase was assessed and found to be small. The linear increase of mean age of stratospheric air was found to be positive and partly larger than the trend derived by Engel et al. (2009) for most of the Northern mid-latitudes, the middle stratosphere in the tropics, and parts of the Southern mid-latitudes, as well as for the Southern polar upper stratosphere. Multi-year decrease of age of air was found for the lowermost and the upper stratospheric tropics, for parts of Southern mid-latitudes, and for the Northern polar regions. Analysis of the amplitudes and phases of the seasonal variation shed light on the coupling of stratospheric regions to each other. In particular, the Northern mid-latitude stratosphere is well coupled to the tropics, while the Northern lowermost mid-latitudinal stratosphere is decoupled, confirming the separation of the shallow branch of the Brewer-Dobson circulation from the deep branch. We suggest an overall increased tropical upwelling, together with weakening of mixing barriers, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, as a hypothetical model to explain the observed pattern of linear multi-year increase/decrease, and amplitudes and phase shifts of the seasonal variation.
We investigate the influence of Middle Range Energy Electrons (MEE; typically 30-300keV) precipitation on the atmosphere using the SOCOL3-MPIOM chemistry-climate model with coupled ocean. Model ...simulations cover the 2002-2010 period for which ionization rates from the AIMOS dataset and atmospheric composition observations from MIPAS are available. Results show that during geomagnetically active periods MEE significantly increase the amount of NOy and HOx in the polar winter mesosphere, in addition to other particles and sources, resulting in local ozone decreases of up to 35%. These changes are followed by an intensification of the polar night jet, as well as mesospheric warming and stratospheric cooling. The contribution of MEE also substantially enhances the difference in the ozone anomalies between geomagnetically active and quiet periods. Comparison with MIPAS NOy observations indicates that the additional source of NOy from MEE improves the model results, however substantial underestimation above 50km remains and requires better treatment of the NOy source from the thermosphere. A surface air temperature response is detected in several regions, with the most pronounced warming occurring in the Antarctic during austral winter. Surface warming of up to 2K is also seen over continental Asia during boreal winter.
•Middle energy electrons produce significant amount of NOx and HOx in the polar winter mesosphere which lead to catalytic ozone depletion in this region.•Boreal winter polar night jet intensifies.•During winter, mesospheric warming and stratospheric cooling have been found.•Surface temperature response shows warming over continental Asia and Antarctica during winters.
A new and improved setup of the SF6 retrieval together with a newly calibrated version of MIPAS-ENVISAT level 1b spectra (version 5, ESA data version 5.02/5.06) was used to obtain a new global SF6 ...data set, covering the total observational period of MIPAS from July 2002 to April 2012 for the first time. Monthly and zonally averaged SF6 profiles were converted into mean age of air using a tropospheric SF6-reference curve. The obtained data set of age of air was compared to airborne age of air measurements. The temporal evolution of the mean age of air was then investigated in 10° latitude and 1–2 km altitude bins. A regression model consisting of a constant and a linear trend term, two proxies for the quasi-biennial oscillation variation, sinusoidal terms for the seasonal and semiannual variation and overtones was fitted to the age of air time series. The annual cycle for particular regions in the stratosphere was investigated and compared to other studies. The age of air trend over the total MIPAS period consisting of the linear term was assessed and compared to previous findings of Stiller et al. (2012). While the linear increase of mean age is confirmed to be positive for the northern midlatitudes and southern polar middle stratosphere, differences are found in the northern polar upper stratosphere, where the mean age is now found to increase as well. The magnitude of trends in the northern midlatitude middle stratosphere is slightly lower compared to the previous version and the trends fit remarkably well to the trend derived by Engel et al. (2009). Negative age of air trends found by Stiller et al. (2012) are confirmed for the lowermost tropical stratosphere and lowermost southern midlatitudinal stratosphere. Differences to the previous data versions occur in the middle tropical stratosphere around 25 km, where the trends are now negative. Overall, the new latitude–altitude distribution of trends appears to be less patchy and more coherent than the previous one. The new data provide evidence of an accelerating shallow branch of the Brewer–Dobson circulation, at least in the Southern Hemisphere. Finally the age of air decadal trends are compared to trends calculated with simulated SF6 values by the Karlsruhe Simulation Model of the Middle Atmosphere (KASIMA) and good agreement is found. The hemispheric asymmetry in the trends found in the MIPAS data is also indicated in the trends calculated with simulated SF6 values by the KASIMA model.
Energetic particle precipitation (EPP) during the 2003–2004 Arctic winter led to the production and subsequent transport of reactive odd nitrogen (NOx = NO + NO2) from the mesosphere and lower ...thermosphere (MLT) into the stratosphere. This caused NOx enhancements in the polar upper stratosphere in April 2004 that were unprecedented in the satellite record. Simulations of the 2003–2004 Arctic winter with the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model using Specified Dynamics (SD‐WACCM) are compared to satellite measurements to assess our understanding of the observed NOx enhancements. The comparisons show that SD‐WACCM clearly displays the descent of NOx produced by EPP but underestimates the enhancements by at least a factor of four. Comparisons with NO measurements in January and February indicate that SD‐WACCM most likely underestimates EPP‐induced NO production locally in the mesosphere because it does not include precipitation of high energy electrons. Comparisons with temperature measurements suggest that SD‐WACCM does not properly simulate recovery from a sudden stratospheric warming in early January, resulting in insufficient transport from the MLT into the stratosphere. Both of these factors probably contribute to the inability of SD‐WACCM to simulate the stratospheric NOx enhancements, although their relative importance is unclear. The work highlights the importance of considering the full spectrum of precipitating electrons in order to fully understand the impact of EPP on the atmosphere. It also suggests a need for high‐quality meteorological data and measurements of NOx throughout the polar winter MLT.
Key Points
Energetic particle precipitation effects in Arctic winter 2003–2004 are modeled
Transport of EPP‐NOx into the stratosphere is significantly underestimated
Better knowledge of precipitating electrons and transport in MLT is needed
Aims. We aim at detecting water vapor in the atmosphere of the hot Jupiter HD 209458 b and perform a multi-band study in the near infrared with CARMENES. Methods. The water vapor absorption lines ...from the atmosphere of the planet are Doppler-shifted due to the large change in its radial velocity during transit. This shift is of the order of tens of km s−1, whilst the Earth’s telluric and the stellar lines can be considered quasi-static. We took advantage of this shift to remove the telluric and stellar lines using SYSREM, which performs a principal component analysis including proper error propagation. The residual spectra contain the signal from thousands of planetary molecular lines well below the noise level. We retrieve the information from those lines by cross-correlating the residual spectra with models of the atmospheric absorption of the planet. Results. We find a cross-correlation signal with a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 6.4, revealing H2O in HD 209458 b. We obtain a net blueshift of the signal of –5.2 −1.3+2.6 $^{+2.6}_{-1.3}$ −1.3+2.6 km s−1 that, despite the large error bars, is a firm indication of day- to night-side winds at the terminator of this hot Jupiter. Additionally, we performed a multi-band study for the detection of H2O individually from the three near infrared bands covered by CARMENES. We detect H2O from its 0.96–1.06 μm band with a S/N of 5.8, and also find hints of a detection from the 1.06–1.26 μm band, with a low S/N of 2.8. No clear planetary signal is found from the 1.26–1.62 μm band. Conclusions. Our significant H2O signal at 0.96–1.06 μm in HD 209458 b represents the first detection of H2O from this band individually, the bluest one to date. The unfavorable observational conditions might be the reason for the inconclusive detection from the stronger 1.15 and 1.4 μm bands. H2O is detected from the 0.96–1.06 μm band in HD 209458 b, but hardly in HD 189733 b, which supports a stronger aerosol extinction in the latter, in line with previous studies. Future data gathered at more stable conditions and with larger S/N at both optical and near-infrared wavelengths could help to characterize the presence of aerosols in HD 209458 b and other planets.
Cancer research has made great progress in the recent years. With the increasing number of options in diagnosis and therapy the implementation of tumorboards (TUBs) has become standard procedure in ...the treatment of cancer patients. Adherence tests on tumor board decisions are intended to enable quality assurance and enhancement for work in tumor boards in order to continuously optimize treatment options for cancer patients.
Subject of this study was the adherence of the recommendations made in three of 14 tumorboards, which take place weekly in the Center for Integrated Oncology (CIO) at the University Hospital Bonn. In total, therapy recommendations of 3815 patient cases were checked on their implementation. A classification into four groups has been made according to the degree of implementation. A second classification followed regarding the reasons for differences between the recommendation and the therapy which the patient actually received.
The study showed that 80.1% of all recommendations in the three TUBs were implemented. 8.3% of all recommendations showed a deviance. Most important reasons for the deviances were patient wish (36.5%), patient death (26%) and doctoral decision, due to the patient's comorbidities or side effects of the treatment (24.1%).Interestingly, deviance in all three tumor boards in total significantly decreased over time.
Aim of the study was to clarify the use of tumor boards and find approaches to make them more efficient. Based on the results efficiency might be optimized by increased consideration of patients` preferences, improved presentation of patient-related data, more detailed documentation and further structuring of the tumor board meetings.
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