We consider a simplified model based on the Navier-Stokes-Fourier system coupled to a transport equation and the Maxwell system, proposed to describe radiative flows in stars. We establish global- in-time existence for the associated initial-boundary value problem in the framework of weak solutions. Next, we study a hydrodynamical model describing the motion of internal stellar layers based on compressible Navier-Stokes-Fourier-Poisson system. We suppose that the medium is electrically charged, we include energy exchanges through radiative transfer and we assume that the system is steadily rotating. We analyze the singular limit of this system when the Mach number, the Alfven number, the Peclet number and the Froude number go to zero in a certain way and prove convergence to a 3D incompressible MHD system with a stationary linear transport equation for transport of radiation intensity. Finally, we show that the energy equation reduces to a steady equation for the temperature corrector.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden optische Schichteigenschaften von Zirren durch räumlich und zeitlich kombinierte flugzeuggetragene Messungen zusammen mit Strahlungstransfersimulationen untersucht. Diese räumlich koordinierten Strahlungs– und Mikrophysikmessungen oberhalb, unterhalb und innerhalb des Zirrus werden mittels eines Forschungsflugzeuges (Learjet 35A) in Kombination mit einem Schleppkörper namens AIRTOSS (AIRcraft TOwed Sensor Shuttle) realisiert. AIRTOSS wird dabei vom Flugzeug aus mittels einer Winde abgelassen und wieder eingeholt. Die maximale Seillänge beträgt 4 km. Im Rahmen des AIRTOSS–ICE–Projekts (Inhomogeneous Cirrus Experiment) wurden während zweier Messkampagnen über der Nord– und Ostsee im Frühjahr und Spätsommer 2013 flugzeuggetragene Beobachtungen der Zirruseigenschaften durchgeführt. Beispielmessungen eines Messfluges werden in dieser Arbeit gezeigt, welche den Nutzen der simultanen Strahlungsmessungen mittels zweier Messplattformen aufzeigen. Aus den Messungen der spektralen Flussdichten oberhalb und unterhalb des Zirrus werden die optischen Schichteigenschaften wie Transmissivität, Reflektivität und Absorptivität und die Albedo der Wolkenschicht ermittelt. Die flugzeuggetragenen Untersuchungen werden durch Sensitivitätsstudien gestützt, basierend auf einem eindimensionalen Strahlungstransfermodell. Dies dient der Charaktierisierung des Einflusses variierender, optischer und mikrophysikalischer Zirruseigenschaften (Eiskristallform, Partikelgröße und optische Dicke) auf die optischen Schichteigenschaften und den solaren Strahlungsantrieb des Zirrus. Weitere Studien zeigen den Einfluss einer darunterliegenden Flüssigwasserwolke auf die Zirruseigenschaften. Eine niedrige Wolkenschicht führt zu Abweichungen der Schichteigenschaften des Zirrus von 85%. Die Nichtberücksichtigung niedriger Wolken unterhalb einer Zirrusschicht führt zu einer deutlichen Überschätzung des Strahlungsantriebs des Zirrus um Faktor 5. / In this thesis cirrus optical layer properties are investigated by truly collocated measurements and supplementary radiative transfer simulations. The close collocation of the radiative and microphysical measurements, above, beneath and inside the cirrus, is obtained by using a research aircraft (Learjet 35A) in tandem with a towed platform called AIRTOSS (AIRcraft TOwed Sensor Shuttle). AIRTOSS can be released from and retracted back to the research aircraft by means of a cable up to a distance of 4 km. Data were collected in two field campaigns above the North and Baltic Sea in spring and late summer 2013 in the framework of the AIRTOSS–ICE (AIRTOSS – Inhomogeneous Cirrus Experiment) project. Exemplary, results from one measuring flight are discussed also to illustrate the benefits of collocated sampling. The spectral optical layer properties of cirrus are derived from simultaneous and vertically collocated measurements of spectral upward and downward solar irradiance above and below the cloud layer and concurrent in situ microphysical sampling of the ice particle size distributions. From the irradiance data the optical layer properties (transmissivity, reflectivity, and absorptivity) and the cloud top albedo of the observed cirrus layer are obtained. These airborne observations are supported by sensitivity studies using one–dimensional radiative transfer modelling to characterize the effect of varying cirrus optical and microphysical properties (ice crystal shape, particle size, and cloud optical thickness) on the cirrus optical layer properties, as well as on the solar cirrus radiative forcing. Further studies show the impact of an underlying low–level liquid water cloud on the mentioned cirrus properties. A low–level cloud causes differences in the layer properties of the cirrus by 85%. If low–level clouds below cirrus are not considered the solar cooling due to the cirrus is significantly overestimated by up to a factor of 5.

Downslope flows and regions of enhanced cooling have important impacts on society and the environment. Parameterisation of these often subgrid-scale phenomena in numerical models requires a sound understanding of the underlying physical processes, which has been the overarching aim of this work. A numerical model has been used to characterise the development of a region of enhanced cooling in an idealised alpine valley with width and depth of order 10 and 1 km, respectively, under stable, decoupled, poorly-drained conditions. A focus of this work has been to remove the uncertainty surrounding the forcing mechanisms behind the development of regions of enhanced cooling. The average valley-atmosphere cooling has been found to be almost equally partitioned between radiative and dynamics effects. Complex interactions between the downslope flows and the region of enhanced cooling have been quantified for the first time. For example, relatively large variations in the downslope flows are generally restricted to the region of enhanced cooling and cannot solely be attributed to the analytical model of [McNider, 1982a]. These flow variations generally coincide with return flows above the downslope flows, where a thin region of unstable air occurs, as well as coinciding with elongated downslope flow structures. The impact of these interactions on the dispersion of passive pollutants has been investigated. For example, pollutants are generally trapped within the region of enhanced cooling. The concentration of pollutants within the region of enhanced cooling, emitted over the lower half of the slopes, increase as the emission source moves away from the ground-based inversion that expands from the bottom of the valley. The concentration of pollutants within the region of enhanced cooling is very similar when varying the location of the emission source over the top half of the valley slopes. This work includes a test of the effects of varying the horizontal numerical grid resolution on average valley-atmosphere temperature changes.

A 'model-to-radiance' comparison of simulated brightness temperatures and radiances from the Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model 2 (HadGEM2-A) with longwave measurements from the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder/4 (HIRS/4) and the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interfermeter (IASI) onboard the MetOp-A satellite is presented for all-sky and clear-sky global means. The fast Radiative Transfer model for TOVS 10 (RTTOV-10) is applied to HadGEM2 output to simulate observational-equivalent data. The results are compared with corresponding broadband analyses. A method is developed to extend hyperspectral IASI radiances to cover the whole outgoing terrestrial spectrum, in order to identify any compensating biases, and explore wavebands in the unobserved Far Infrared (FIR) region. For the all-sky HIRS analysis, the model overestimates brightness temperatures in the atmospheric window region with the greatest biases over areas associated with deep convective cloud. In contrast to many global climate models, much smaller clear-sky biases are found indicating that model clouds are the dominating source of error. Simulated values in upper atmospheric CO2 channels approximate observations better as a result of compensating cold biases at the poles and warm biases at lower latitudes, due to a poor representation of the Brewer Dobson circulation in the 38 level 'low-top' configuration of the model. Simulated all and clear-sky outgoing longwave radiation evaluated against the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) and HIRS OLR products reveal good agreement, in part due to cancellation of positive and negative biases. Through physical arguments relating to the spectral energy balance within a cloud, it is suggested that broadband agreement could be the result of a balance between positive window biases and unseen negative biases originating from the water vapour rotational band in the FIR (not sampled by HIRS). Simple sensitivity tests show that dramatically altering existing cloud properties has little effect on the prominent window biases, however raising clouds a maximum of 5 atmospheric levels minimises the error in cloud contaminated channels, due to the introduction of spatially compensating errors. Sensitivities to the way ice clouds are parameterised in RTTOV-10 display a range of up to 2.5 K in window channels but absolute biases still exceed 3 K for all choices. Because of the lack of satellite based FIR observations due to a technological gap in the spectral region, an algorithm is created to 'fill in' the available data. Correlations between selected IASI channels and simulated unobserved wavelengths in the far infrared are used to estimate radiances between 25.25 - 644.75 cm-1 at 0.5 cm-1 intervals. The same method is used in the 2760 - 3000 cm-1 region. The spectrum is validated by comparing the Integrated Nadir Longwave Radiance (INLR) product (spanning the whole 25.25 - 3000 cm-1 range) with the corresponding broadband measurements from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument on the Terra and Aqua satellites at simultaneous nadir overpasses, revealing mean differences of 0.3 Wm-2sr-1 (0.5% relative difference) lower for IASI relative to CERES and significantly lower biases in nighttime only scenes. Averaged global data over a single month produces mean differences of about 1 Wm-2sr-1 in both the all and the clear-sky (1.2% relative difference). The new high resolution spectrum is presented for global mean clear and total skies where the far infrared is shown to contribute 44% and 47% to the total OLR respectively, which is consistent with previous estimates. In terms of spectral cloud radiative forcing, the FIR contributes 19% and in some subtropical instances appears to be negative, results that would go un-observed with a traditional broadband analysis. The equivalent complete IASI OLR model product is simulated from GCM data using RTTOV-10. The same process of applying predictors to the satellite measurements is applied to the model simulated radiances, with appropriate modifications, to produce a directly comparable model product. Annual mean all-sky radiances are still greatly overestimated at all wavenumbers with a total radiance bias of 4.52 Wm-2 across the whole range. Compensating negative biases outside of the HIRS coverage that were hypothesised are absent, with the far infrared contributing to the overall bias rather than cancelling it. Equivalent clear-sky biases are much lower overall at 0.39 Wm-2, in part due to spectral and spatial cancellation of errors. A flux-to-flux comparison is enabled by estimating the spatial distribution of anisotropic factors, using collated HIRS OLR fluxes and IASI OLR radiances, which yields global mean model fluxes in excess of 12 Wm-2 higher than observations in the all-sky. The difference between this and the fluxes calculated using the climate model's broadband radiation code (Edward-Slingo) are around 10 Wm-2 which is outside the range of uncertainty in the method used to estimate the flux. However, it is discussed that tuning of the climate model's broadband code to known flux values is a required practice to ensure global energy budgets balance but can produce inaccurate parameterised variables. An equivalent analysis adjusting the ice cloud parametrisation to reflect the radiances that have the biggest differences to the original configuration selected showed a bias reduction of 4.5 Wm-2, which is still not enough to completely explain its size, suggesting the existence of residual cloud problems. Finally, it is suggested that the way forward in separating and constraining cloud errors, in both radiative transfer codes, is a rigorous process of testing them with observation cloud properties and reanalysis data as inputs.

Nano-manufacturing is receiving significant attention in industry due to the ever-growing interest in nanotechnology in research institutions. It is hypothesized that single-step or direct-write nano-scale machining might be achieved by coupling nano-probe field emission with radiation transfer. A laser may be used to heat a workpiece within a microscopic region that encloses an even smaller nanoscopic region subjected to a focused electron beam. The electron-beam supplies marginal heat sufficient to remove a minute volume of material by evaporation or sublimation. Experimentally investigating this hypothesis requires an estimate of the power needed in the electron-beam. To this end, a detailed numerical study is conducted to study the possibility of using the nano-probe field emission for nano-machining. The modeling effort in this case is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the electron-beam propagation inside a target workpiece. The second part considers the temperature increase due to the energy transfer between the electron-beam and the workpiece itself. A Monte Carlo/Ray Tracing technique is used in modeling the electron-beam propagation. This approach is identical to that of a typical Monte Carlo simulation in radiative transfer, except that proper electron scattering properties are employed. The temperature distribution inside a gold film is predicted using the heat conduction equations. Details of the various numerical models employed in the simulation and a series of representative results will be presented in this dissertation.

L'instabilité de Vishniac est invoquée pour expliquer la fragmentation et la filamentation de la coquille fine de matière choquée présente dans les restes de supernova radiatifs. Toutefois l'implication et les conséquences de ce processus spécifique sur la morphologie complexe des restes de supernova ne sont pas entièrement démontrées. Nous avons réalisé des simulations numériques 2D d'une onde de souffle perturbée qui se propage dans un milieu ambiant homogène afin de mieux comprendre le mécanisme de l'instabilité de Vishniac. Le code hydrodynamique HYDRO-MUSCL 2D a été utilisé afin de déclencher la perturbation de la coquille fine dans les géométries plan-parallèle et sphérique. Dans ce travail, je montrerai que nous avons obtenu la surstabilité de Vishniac (" Vishniac overstability ") comme prédit par l'analyse théorique. Ce processus repose sur une oscillation d'amplitude et de période temporelle croissante des grandeurs fluides et spatiales. Nous avons testé l'effet de paramètres spécifiques sur la variation de masse d'une région donnée dans le cadre d'une étude paramétrique que nous avons réalisée sur le supercalculateur Titane. Nous avons trouvé que la perturbation est atténuée après quelques oscillations de la variation de masse pour tous les jeux de paramètres. Ainsi nous concluons que dans notre modèle, l'instabilité de Vishniac ne permet pas la fragmentation de la coquille fine à cause d'effets qui ne sont pas pris en compte par l'analyse théorique.

Fluorinated compounds are environmentally persistent and have been demonstrated to bioaccumulate and contribute to climate change. The focus of this work was to better understand the atmospheric chemistry of poly- and per-fluorinated compounds in order to appreciate their impacts on the environment. Several fluorinated compounds exist for which data on climate impacts do not exist. Radiative efficiencies (REs) and atmospheric lifetimes of two new long-lived greenhouse gases (LLGHGs) were determined using smog chamber techniques: perfluoropolyethers and perfluoroalkyl amines. Through this, it was observed that RE was not directly related to the number of carbon-fluorine bonds. A structure-activity relationship was created to allow the determination of RE solely from the chemical structure of the compound. Also, a novel method was developed to detect polyfluorinated LLGHGs in the atmosphere. Using carbotrap, thermal desorption and cryogenic extraction coupled to GC-MS, atmospheric measurements can be made for a number of previously undetected compounds. A perfluoroalkyl amine was detected in the atmosphere using this technique, which is the compound with the highest RE ever detected in the atmosphere. Perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) are water soluble and non-volatile, suggesting they are not susceptible to long-range transport. A hypothesis was derived to explain the ubiquitous distribution of these compounds involving atmospheric formation of PFCAs from volatile precursors. Using smog chamber techniques with offline analysis, perfluorobutenes and fluorotelomer iodides were shown to yield PFCAs from atmospheric oxidation. Dehydrofluorination of perfluorinated alcohols (PFOHs) is poorly understood in the mechanism of PFCA atmospheric formation. Using density functional techniques, overtone-induced photolysis was shown to lead to dehydrofluorination of PFOHs. In the presence of water, this mechanism could be a sink of PFOHs in the atmosphere. Confirmation of the importance of volatile precursors was derived from examination of snow from High Arctic ice caps. This provided the first empirical evidence of atmospheric deposition. Through the analytes observed, fluxes and temporal trends, it was concluded that atmospheric oxidation of volatile precursors is an important source of PFCAs to the Arctic.

Significant X-ray variability and flaring has been observed from Sgr A* but is poorly understood from a theoretical standpoint. We perform general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations that take into account a population of non-thermal electrons with energy distributions and injection rates that are motivated by PIC simulations of magnetic reconnection. We explore the effects of including these non-thermal electrons on the predicted broadband variability of Sgr A* and find that X-ray variability is a generic result of localizing non-thermal electrons to highly magnetized regions, where particles are likely to be accelerated via magnetic reconnection. The proximity of these high-field regions to the event horizon forms a natural connection between IR and X-ray variability and accounts for the rapid timescales associated with the X-ray flares. The qualitative nature of this variability is consistent with observations, producing X-ray flares that are always coincident with IR flares, but not vice versa, i.e., there are a number of IR flares without X-ray counterparts.

The data harvest from the Voyagers' (V1 and V2) Ultraviolet Spectrometers (UVS) covers encounters with the outer planets, measurements of the heliosphere sky-background, and stellar spectrophotometry. Because their period of operation overlaps with many ultraviolet missions, the calibration of V1. and V2 UVS with other spectrometers is invaluable. Here we revisit the UVS calibration to assess the intriguing sensitivity enhancements of 243% (V1) and 156% (V2) proposed recently. Using the Ly alpha airglow from Saturn, observed in situ by both Voyagers, and remotely by International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE), we match the Voyager values to IUE, taking into account the shape of the Saturn Ly alpha line observed with the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope. For all known ranges of the interplanetary hydrogen density, we show that the V1 and V2 UVS sensitivities cannot be enhanced by the amounts thus far proposed. The same diagnostic holds for distinct channels covering the diffuse He I 58.4 nm emission. Our prescription is to keep the original calibration of the Voyager UVS with a maximum uncertainty of 30%, making both instruments some of the most stable EUV/FUV spectrographs in the history of space exploration. In that frame, we reassess the excess Ly alpha emission detected by Voyager UVS deep in the heliosphere, to show its consistency with a heliospheric but not galactic origin. Our finding confirms results obtained nearly two decades ago-namely, the UVS discovery of the distortion of the heliosphere and the corresponding obliquity of the local interstellar magnetic field (similar to 40 degrees from upwind) in the solar system neighborhood-without requiring any revision of the Voyager UVS calibration.

The Monte Carlo (MC) method is an effective approach to simulate the radiative transfer in an inhomogeneous cloudy atmosphere. It is based on the direct physical simulation of the extinction processes that solar and thermal photons incur when traveling through the atmosphere. A detailed description of the MC method is presented in the second chapter. A new three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative transfer model, based on a pre-existing model (Trautmann et al. [1999]), has been developed. Some outstanding characteristics of this model are discussed in chapter 3. Several simulations of reflectances, transmittances, absorptances and horizontal flux densities have been performed, the results of which have been compared with worldwide accepted codes (chapter 4). The two cases selected for the radiative transfer computations were taken from the Intercomparison of 3D Radiative Codes (I3RC) project: an ARM (Atmospheric Radiation Measurements) reconstructed cloud and a 3D marine boundary layer cloud / Die Monte Carlo (MC) Methode ist ein effektives Verfahren, um den Strahlungstransport in einer inhomogenen bewölkten Atmosphäre zu simulieren. Es begründet sich auf der direkten Simulation der Extinktionsprozesse eines solaren oder thermischen Photons auf seinem Weg durch die Atmosphäre. Eine detallierte Beschreibung der MC Methode erfolgt in Kapitel 2. In Kapitel 3 wird ein neues dreidimensionales MC-Strahlungstranportmodell vorgestellt, das, aufbauend auf einem schon bestehenden Modell (Trautmann et al. [1999]), entwickelt wurde. Mehrere Simulationen von Reflektanzen, Transmittanzen, Absorptanzen und Strahlungsflussdichten für zwei Fälle des \"Intercomparison of 3D radiative Codes\" projektes, nämlich eine ARM rekonstruierte Wolke und eine 3D marine Grenzschichwolke, wurden durchgeführt, und mit den Ergebnissen anderer weltweit akzeptierten Codes verglichen.