Utilising green and bluespace to mitigate urban heat island intensity.

Malaria during pregnancy can result in low birth weight (LBW), an important risk factor for infant mortality. This article reviews the pathological effects of malaria during pregnancy and the implications for the newborn's development and survival. Empirical data from throughout Africa on associations between placental malaria and birth weight outcome, birth weight outcome and infant mortality, and the rates of LBW in areas with various levels of malaria transmission are evaluated to assess the increased risks of LBW and infant mortality associated with malaria. It is estimated that in areas where malaria is endemic, around 19% of infant LBWs are due to malaria and 6% of infant deaths are due to LBW caused by malaria. These estimates imply that around 100,000 infant deaths each year could be due to LBW caused by malaria during pregnancy in areas of malaria endemicity in Africa.

https://cmr.asm.org/content/cmr/17/4/760.full.pdf

Impact of Malaria during Pregnancy on Low Birth Weight in Sub-Saharan Africa

Modeling the processing of aerosol and trace gases in clouds and fogs.

Sea-breeze circulation and photochemical pollution in Athens, Greece

Smoke from forest fires in southern Mexico was advected into the U.S. southern plains from April to June 1998. Cloud-to-ground lightning (CG) flash data from the National Lightning Detection Network matched against satellite-mapped aerosol plumes imply that thunderstorms forming in smoke-contaminated air masses generated large amounts of lightning with positive polarity (+CGs). During 2 months, nearly half a million flashes in the southern plains exhibited +CG percentages that were triple the climatological norm. The peak currents in these +CGs were double the expected value. These thunderstorms also produced abnormally high numbers of mesospheric optical sprites.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/282/5386/77.full.pdf

Enhanced Positive Cloud-to-Ground Lightning in Thunderstorms Ingesting Smoke from Fires

A classic lake breeze circulation cell that formed on the western shore of Lake Michigan on 4 September 1974 is studied in great detail. Wind measurements are made with surface anemometers and serial pibals, with air trajectories monitored via tetroons. Aircraft measurements map the thermal internal boundary layer and small and large aerosol distributions. Recirculation of pollutants is indicated from analysis of the tetroon data. Aerosol measurements suggest size sorting of small versus large particles as they are transported through the complex three-dimensional flow. These wind data also form the basis of a kinematic diagnostic study of mesoscale pollution transport in coastal areas, to be reported in a subsequent paper.

Lake/Land Breeze Circulations on the Western Shore of Lake Michigan.

It is known that Great Lakes snow squall convection occurs in a variety of different modes depending on various factors such as air-water temperature contrast, boundary-layer wind shear, and geostrophic wind direction. An exceptional and often neglected source of data for mesoscale cloud studies is the ultrahigh resolution multispectral data produced by Landsat satellites. On October 19, 1972, a clearly defined spiral vortex was noted in a Landsat-1 image near the southern end of Lake Michigan during an exceptionally early cold air outbreak over a still very warm lake. In a numerical simulation using a three-dimensional Eulerian hydrostatic primitive equation mesoscale model with an initially uniform wind field, a definite analog to the observed vortex was generated. This suggests that intense surface heating can be a principal cause in the development of a low-level mesoscale vortex.

Mesoscale spiral vortex embedded within a Lake Michigan snow squall band: High resolution satellite observations and numerical model simulations

It is generally accepted that atmospheric pollutants can be transported over distances described as synoptic in scale. However, the redistribution and removal of the various pollutant species may be significantly influenced, often in a highly episodic way, by phenomena which are inherently mesoscale in nature. Detailed mesoanalyses over a 31 hour period reveal the dramatic influence of several types of mesoscale convective systems on regional ozone and visibility. In the impacted air mass, afternoon ozone was significantly depleted (20–40 ppb vs 100–120 ppb in the polluted regional air mass). Visibilities, which prior to the wind shift/rain had typically been 4–13 km rose in a matter of a few hours to 27–80 km at many locations. This convective aerosol removal event covered Virginia, northern North Carolina, Delmarva, and more than 500 km into the Atlantic, as clearly evidenced by GOES satellite imagery. Assuming a relationship between visibility and surface aerosol mass concentrations, it is spe...

The Impact of Mesoscale Convective Systems on Regional Visibility and Oxidant Distributions during Persistent Elevated Pollution Episodes.

Intra-urban variations of neonatal and post-neonatal mortality in a developing city.

Data from a mesoscale wind analysis of a vigorous lake/land breeze circulation on 4 September 1974 along the western shoreline of Lake Michigan are available. A computer program takes subjectively analyzed observed and estimated u and v components of the wind for a 24 h period, calculates vertical motions, and then estimates the trajectory of any particle(s) released within the coastal zone. The computed three-dimensional trajectories are presented using computer graphics displays. They reveal highly complex transport processes for aerosols released from typical line and multistack point sources. Aerosol recirculation and size sorting can be found within the lake breeze cell.

Cecil S. Keen

Papers

Lake/Land Breeze Circulations on the Western Shore of Lake Michigan.

Mesoscale spiral vortex embedded within a Lake Michigan snow squall band: High resolution satellite observations and numerical model simulations

The Impact of Mesoscale Convective Systems on Regional Visibility and Oxidant Distributions during Persistent Elevated Pollution Episodes.

Intra-urban variations of neonatal and post-neonatal mortality in a developing city.

Air Pollution Transport Studies in a Coastal Zone Using Kinematic Diagnostic Analysis