Considering current controversies regarding the health effects of low doses of ionizing radiation, study of the high background radiation areas such as Ramsar, Iran can help scientists better evaluate the validity of linear no-threshold (LNT) hypothesis. Ramsar is a coastal city in northern Iran with some areas known to have the highest levels of natural background radiation in the world. The m...

We have developed a spatially inexplicit model of canopy photosynthesis for balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) that accounts for key processes of light-shoot interaction including irradiance interception by the shoot, spatial aggregation of shoots into branches and crowns, the differential propagation of diffuse and direct light within the canopy, and an ideal representation of penumbra. Al...

[1] Understanding how a changing boreal fire regime is likely to influence regional climate requires detailed information about fire effects on the surface radiation budget. We used time series of satellite observations of surface albedo from 2000–2011 and fire perimeters since 1970 to study post-fire changes in surface net shortwave radiation along a latitudinal transect in central Canada. Fir...

A recently published paper by Roads et al (2003) describing the GCIP Water and Energy Balance Synthesis (WEBS) showed that the Variable Infiltration Capacity model (VIC) model under-simulates “observations” of net solar radiation by an average of 50 w/m in the summer months of 19961999 over the Mississippi basin. The net solar radiation “observations” used by Roads et al (2003) are a GOES-based...

[1] The error in the diurnal cycle of precipitation over land in the tropics in the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts forecast model is investigated using a single column model with idealized forcing of the omega field, as well as short-term and long runs of the full three-dimensional model. The model precipitates a few hours after sunrise, as it does not represent correctly th...

[1] This study is one of the few attempts to close water and heat budgets in tropical lakes and reservoirs on both daily and monthly time scales. A water budget of Kranji Reservoir is constructed for the year of 2007 using data for water level, reservoir gate operation records, and inflow predicted by a catchment rainfall-runoff model. A heat budget of Kranji Reservoir is also constructed for a...