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Abstract. Dynamic global vegetation models are used to predict the response of vegetation to climate change. They are essential for planning ecosystem management, understanding carbon cycle–climate feedbacks, and evaluating the potential impacts of climate change on global ecosystems. JULES (the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator) represents terrestrial processes in the UK Hadley Centre family of models and in the first generation UK Earth System Model. Previously, JULES represented five plant functional types (PFTs): broadleaf trees, needle-leaf trees, C3 and C4 grasses, and shrubs. This study addresses three developments in JULES. First, trees and shrubs were split into deciduous and evergreen PFTs to better represent the range of leaf life spans and metabolic capacities that exists in nature. Second, we distinguished between temperate and tropical broadleaf evergreen trees. These first two changes result in a new set of nine PFTs: tropical and temperate broadleaf evergreen trees, broadleaf deciduous trees, needle-leaf evergreen and deciduous trees, C3 and C4 grasses, and evergreen and deciduous shrubs. Third, using data from the TRY database, we updated the relationship between leaf nitrogen and the maximum rate of carboxylation of Rubisco (Vcmax), and updated the leaf turnover and growth rates to include a trade-off between leaf life span and leaf mass per unit area.Overall, the simulation of gross and net primary productivity (GPP and NPP, respectively) is improved with the nine PFTs when compared to FLUXNET sites, a global GPP data set based on FLUXNET, and MODIS NPP. Compared to the standard five PFTs, the new nine PFTs simulate a higher GPP and NPP, with the exception of C3 grasses in cold environments and C4 grasses that were previously over-productive. On a biome scale, GPP is improved for all eight biomes evaluated and NPP is improved for most biomes – the exceptions being the tropical forests, savannahs, and extratropical mixed forests where simulated NPP is too high. With the new PFTs, the global present-day GPP and NPP are 128 and 62 Pg C year−1, respectively. We conclude that the inclusion of trait-based data and the evergreen/deciduous distinction has substantially improved productivity fluxes in JULES, in particular the representation of GPP. These developments increase the realism of JULES, enabling higher confidence in simulations of vegetation dynamics and carbon storage.

Abstract Electronic properties of benzothiadiazole (BTD) unit containing dyes adsorbed on TiO2 nano-particles have been estimated using Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM). We found that short circuit photocurrent density Jsc and open circuit photovoltage Voc of the studied DSSCs are well related to the electronic properties of dyes, namely charges of BTD atomic basins of nitrogens, summary isodensity surface area and summary volume of hydrogen basins. Analysis of deviations of predicted and observed photovoltaic properties allowed to reveal device fabrication details influencing positively and negatively on device efficiency. Found relationships have been used for design of new promising dyes and recommendation of the better fabrication details of DSSCs with significantly higher photovoltaic properties as compared to the studied and published. For newly designed metal-free BTD-unit containing dyes, Jsc is expected to reach 20.7–25.8 mA/cm2, Voc – 0.858–1.029 V and power conversion efficiency η – 10.6–16.3%.

The increase in the use of converter-interfaced generators (CIGs) in today’s electrical grids will require these generators both to supply power and participate in voltage control and provision of grid stability. At the same time, new possibilities of secondary QU droop control in power grids with a large proportion of CIGs (PV panels, wind generators, micro-turbines, fuel cells, and others) open new ways for DSO to increase energy flexibility and maximize hosting capacity. This study extends the existing secondary QU droop control models to enhance the efficiency of CIG integration into electrical networks. The paper presents an approach to decentralized control of secondary voltage through converters based on a multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) algorithm. A procedure is also proposed for analyzing hosting capacity and voltage flexibility in a power grid in terms of secondary voltage control. The effectiveness of the proposed static MARL control is demonstrated by the example of a modified IEEE 34-bus test feeder containing CIGs. Experiments have shown that the decentralized approach at issue is effective in stabilizing nodal voltage and preventing overcurrent in lines under various heavy load conditions often caused by active power injections from CIGs themselves and power exchange processes within the TSO/DSO market interaction.

Forest-peat fires are notable for their difficulty in estimating carbon losses. Combined carbon losses from tree biomass and peat soil were estimated at an 8 ha forest-peat fire in the Moscow region after catastrophic fires in 2010. The loss of tree biomass carbon was assessed by reconstructing forest stand structure using the classification of pre-fire high-resolution satellite imagery and after-fire ground survey of the same forest classes in adjacent areas. Soil carbon loss was assessed by using the root collars of stumps to reconstruct the pre-fire soil surface and interpolating the peat characteristics of adjacent non-burned areas. The mean (median) depth of peat losses across the burned area was 15 ± 8 (14) cm, varying from 13 ± 5 (11) to 20 ± 9 (19). Loss of soil carbon was 9.22 ± 3.75–11.0 ± 4.96 (mean) and 8.0–11.0 kg m−2 (median); values exceeding 100 tC ha−1 have also been found in other studies. The estimated soil carbon loss for the entire burned area, 98 (mean) and 92 (median) tC ha−1, significantly exceeds the carbon loss from live (tree) biomass, which averaged 58.8 tC ha−1. The loss of carbon in the forest-peat fire thus equals the release of nearly 400 (soil) and, including the biomass, almost 650 tCO2 ha−1 into the atmosphere, which illustrates the underestimated impact of boreal forest-peat fires on atmospheric gas concentrations and climate.

Abstract The mathematical model of the ignition process of a drop of water-coal fuel (WCF) developed by the authors in the flow of a high-temperature oxidizer (air) has been presented. According to the results of the mathematical modeling, it has been established that the zone of ignition of the WCF particle with an increase in the flow velocity shifts to the area of the aerodynamic trace of the drop. A prognostic modeling of the ignition processes of the water-coal fuel drops under conditions corresponding to the furnace spaces (intensive radiation-convective heating, change in the dynamics of the aerodynamic spectrum of a fuel particle) of typical boiler units has been carried out. A comparative analysis of the ignition delay times (tign), obtained theoretically, and published earlier experimental values of (tign) has showed their good conformance. The results of the mathematical modeling have shown that the best option for stable ignition and burning of the WCF drop can be a combustion space consisting of two successive combustion chambers: in the first one, the thermal preparation and ignition of the WCF particle is carried out, and the second one is direct combustion.

Using X-ray diffraction analysis, the effect of Ar+ ions with an energy of 15-20 keV (at ion current densities of 100-300 μA/cm2) on the microstructure, the level of internal microstresses and the texture of cold rolled ribbons of alloy Ni-13.9 wt.% W was studied. It was found that short-term irradiation of 80 μm thick ribbons with a fluence of 3.1·1016 cm-2 (for 50 s) at temperatures T ≤ 370°C and T = 630°C leads to a decrease in microstresses in their entire volume, but at the same time the original texture is retained. With an increase in the fluence to 9.7·1017 cm-2 at T = 630°C, the texture also changes from (220) to (200). Changes in microstresses and texture on the irradiated and unirradiated sides of 80-μm-thick ribbons are comparable to each other, despite the fact that the projective range of Ar+ ions with an energy of 15-20 keV in the alloy is only ~7 nm. It is known that annealing in an oven (700°C, 30 min) of such ribbons does not lead to their recrystallization. At 850°C, microstresses are relieved and the texture drastically changed from (220) to (200) both as a result of annealing in a furnace (15 s) and as a result of irradiation with a fluence of 3.2·1016 cm-2 for 17 s, but the effect removal of stresses in the course of furnace annealing is 3 times lower than in the course of irradiation. Thus, the following facts have been established: 1) the occurrence of recrystallization processes in the alloy under study during irradiation at a temperature lower than the temperature of the onset of thermally activated recrystallization and 2) a higher rate of microstresses drop (and to lower values) in the course of irradiation than during furnace annealing. This indicates a significant role of nanoscale radiation-dynamic effects at the cascade-forming irradiation of metastable media.