We have developed Monte Carlo wave function simulation schemes to study cold collisions between magnesium atoms in a strong red-detuned laser field. In order to address the strong-field problem, we extend the Monte Carlo wave function framework to include the partial wave structure of the threedimensional system. The average heating rate due to radiative collisions is calculated with two differ...

The method of detailed balance, introduced by Shockley and Queisser, is often used to find an upper theoretical limit for the efficiency of semiconductor pn-junction based photovoltaics. Typically the solar cell is assumed to be at an ambient temperature of 300 K. In this paper, we describe and analyze the use of radiative cooling techniques to lower the solar cell temperature below the ambient...

[1] We explore the daily evolution of tropical intraseasonal oscillations in satellite-observed tropospheric temperature, precipitation, radiative fluxes, and cloud properties. The warm/rainy phase of a composited average of fifteen oscillations is accompanied by a net reduction in radiative input into the ocean-atmosphere system, with longwave heating anomalies transitioning to longwave coolin...

Emperor penguins Aptenodytes forsteri are able to survive the harsh Antarctic climate because of specialized anatomical, physiological and behavioural adaptations for minimizing heat loss. Heat transfer theory predicts that metabolic heat loss in this species will mostly depend on radiative and convective cooling. To examine this, thermal imaging of emperor penguins was undertaken at the breedi...

[1] Tropical convective anvil clouds detrain preferentially near 200 hPa. It is argued here that this occurs because clear-sky radiative cooling decreases rapidly near 200 hPa. This rapid decline of clear-sky longwave cooling occurs because radiative emission from water vapor becomes inefficient above 200 hPa. The emission from water vapor becomes less important than the emission from CO2 becau...

The troposphere is the region of the atmosphere characterized by low static stability, vigorous diabatic mixing, and widespread condensational heating in clouds. Previous research has argued that in the tropics, the upper bound on tropospheric mixing and clouds is constrained by the rapid decrease with height of the saturation water vapor pressure and hence radiative cooling by water vapor in c...

Robust stratospheric temperature trend patterns are suggested in the winter and spring seasons in the Southern Hemisphere high latitudes from the satellite-borne Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) measurement for 1979–2007. These patterns serve as indicators of key processes governing temperature and ozone changes in the Antarctic. The observed patterns are characterized by cooling and warming regio...