Relationship between temporal anomalies in PM2.5 concentrations and reported influenza/influenza-like illness activity

A small number of studies suggest atmospheric particulate matter with diameters 2.5 micron and smaller (PM2.5) may possibly play a role in the transmission of influenza and influenza-like illness (ILI) symptoms. Those studies were predominantly conducted under moderately to highly polluted outdoor atmospheres. The purpose of this study was to extend the data set to include a less polluted atmospheric environment. A relationship between PM2.5 and ILI activity extended to include lightly to moderately polluted atmospheres could imply a more complicated mechanism than that suggested by existing studies. We obtained concurrent PM2.5 mass concentration data, meteorological data and reported Influenza and influenza-like illness (ILI) activity for the light to moderately polluted atmospheres over the Tucson, AZ region. We found no relation between PM2.5 mass concentration and ILI activity. There was an expected relation between ILI, activity, temperature, and relative humidity. There was a possible relation between PM2.5 mass concentration anomalies and ILI activity. These results might be due to the small dataset size and to the technological limitations of the PM measurements. Further study is recommended since it would improve the understanding of ILI transmission and thereby improve ILI activity/outbreak forecasts and transmission model accuracies.

Physical Characterization of Tropical Oceanic Convection Observed in KWAJEX

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Kwajalein Experiment (KWAJEX) was designed to obtain an empirical physical characterization of precipitating convective clouds over the tropical ocean. Coordinated datasets were collected by three aircraft, one ship, five upper-air sounding sites, and a variety of continuously recording remote and in situ surface-based sensors, including scanning Doppler radars, profilers, disdrometers, and rain gauges. This paper describes the physical characterization of the Kwajalein cloud population that has emerged from analyses of datasets that were obtained during KWAJEX and combined with long-term TRMM ground validation site observations encompassing three rainy seasons. The spatial and temporal dimensions of the precipitation entities exhibit a lognormal probability distribution, as has been observed over other parts of the tropical ocean. The diurnal cycle of the convection is also generally similar to that seen over other tropical oceans. The largest precipitating cloud elements—those with rain areas exceeding 14 000 km2—have the most pronounced diurnal cycle, with a maximum frequency of occurrence before dawn; the smallest rain areas are most frequent in the afternoon. The large systems exhibited stratiform rain areas juxtaposed with convective regions. Frequency distributions of dual-Doppler radar data showed narrow versus broad spectra of divergence in the stratiform and convective regions, respectively, as expected because strong up- and downdrafts are absent in the stratiform regions. The dual-Doppler profiles consistently showed low-level convergence and upper-level divergence in convective regions and midlevel convergence sandwiched between lower- and upper-level divergence in stratiform regions. However, the magnitudes of divergence are sensitive to assumptions made in classifying the radar echoes as convective or stratiform. This sensitivity implies that heating profiles derived from satellite radar data will be sensitive to the details of the scheme used to separate convective and stratiform rain areas. Comparison of airborne passive microwave data with ground-based radar data indicates that the pattern of scattering of 85-GHz radiance by ice particles in the upper portions of KWAJEX precipitating clouds is poorly correlated with the precipitation pattern at lower levels while the emission channels (10 and 19 GHz) have brightness temperature patterns that closely correspond to the lower-level precipitation structure. In situ ice particle imagery obtained by aircraft at upper levels (∼11 km) shows that the concentrations of ice particles of all densities are greater in the upper portions of active convective rain regions and lower in the upper portions of stratiform regions, probably because the active updrafts convey the particles to upper levels, whereas in the stratiform regions sedimentation removes the larger ice particles over time. Low-level aircraft flying in the rain layer show similar total drop concentrations in and out of convective cells, but they also show a sudden jump in the concentration of larger raindrops at the boundaries of the cells, indicating a discontinuity in growth processes such as coalescence at the cell boundary.