A numerical model has been used to characterize the development of a region of 6 enhanced cooling, in an alpine valley with a width of order 10 km, under decoupled stable 7 conditions. The region of enhanced cooling develops largely as a region of relatively dry 8 air that partitions the valley atmosphere dynamics into two volumes, with air flows partially 9 trapped within the valley by a devel...

Figure 2—Upper Mullins Valley, ADV. Arrows point to oriented polygon fields with radial/orthogonal geometry. Down valley is to image right. THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF ORIENTED-NETWORK POLYGONALLY PATTERNED GROUND; THE ANTARCTIC DRY VALLEYS AS MARS ANALOGUE. Joseph S. Levy, James W. Head, and David R. Marchant; 1 Dept. Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence RI, 02912, 2 Department of...

Contrary to earlier assumptions, molecular evidence has demonstrated the presence of diverse and localized soil bacterial communities in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Meanwhile, it remains unclear whether fungal signals so far detected in Dry Valley soils using both culture-based and molecular techniques represent adapted and ecologically active biomass or spores transported by wind. T...

A total of 475,431 mosquitoes representing 8 genera and 43 species were collected from a marsh in the western Kenya highlands to determine species composition and succession in relation to the epidemiology of Rift Valley fever virus. Culex pipiens was the most common species, totalling 92.3% of the collection, followed by Cx. zombaensis (2.2%), Anopheles coustani (1.1%), An. squamosus (0.8%), M...

Outbreaks of Rift Valley fever (RVF), a mosquito-borne viral zoonosis, have previously been associated with unusually heavy rainfall and extensive flooding. The disease is a serious public health problem in Africa and the Middle East, and is a potential global health threat. In Kenya, outbreaks of the disease have disproportionately affected impoverished pastoralist communities. This study soug...