Bob Blog

Bob McDavitt's ideas for sailing around the South Pacific.
Disclaimer: Weather is a mix of pattern and chaos; these ideas are from the
patterned world.
Compiled Sunday 19 November 2023

"Characterization of Microplastics in Clouds over Eastern China"
Environmental Science & Technology Letters

Researchers characterized the properties of microplastics in clouds at the
top of Mount Tai (shown here), finding the particles could play a role in
cloud formation.
Microplastics - plastic fragments smaller than five millimeters - originate
from a myriad of items used daily, such as clothing, packaging and car
tires. As research in the field evolves, scientists are not only detecting
microplastics in the atmosphere but also investigating how they may play a
role in cloud formation. For example, a group of researchers recently
detected plastic granules, which had water-attracting surfaces, in Japanese
mountaintop clouds. So, to learn more, Yan Wang and colleagues set out to
look for microplastics in mountain clouds, used computer models to figure
out how they could have gotten there, and tested how the particles could
have impacted - and been impacted by - the clouds.

Wang and the team first collected 28 samples of liquid from clouds at the
top of Mount Tai in eastern China. Then they analyzed the samples and found:

. Low-altitude and denser clouds contained greater amounts of microplastics.

. Particles were made of common polymers, including polyethylene
terephthalate, polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene and polyamide.

. The microplastics tended to be smaller than 100 micrometers in length,
although some were as long as 1,500 micrometers.

. Older, rougher particles had more lead, mercury and oxygen attached to
their surfaces, which the researchers suggest could facilitate cloud
development.

TROPICS
Finally, a weekend with no named storms.

MAL visited NW Fiji with some strong winds and heavy rain, frightening many
yachts into the mangroves, but things quickly returned to normal.
The MJO, a burst of extra energy in the tropics, is now reforming in the
Indian Ocean.

WEATHER ZONES
The South Pacific Convergence zone is located from Solomons to Tokelau and
then SE towards Southern Cooks.

HIGHS and LOWS
HIGH H1 is travelling east along around 50S to east of NZ, blocking the
movement of L1.
It is leaving behind another HIGH H2 in the Tasman Sea which fades away on
Thursday,
LOW L1 is moving off northland on Monday and being pushed off to the NE and
expected to fade by mid-week.
LOW L2 from Sydney area by Tuesday is expected to merge with a low from
Southern Ocean and become a large Low across NZ to east of North Island by
next Saturday with a southerly blast over NZ. Avoid.
This also may bring Southerly swells to 3m as far north as 30S between 170
and 175E in the North Tasman Sea by Saturday. Avoid.

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If you would like more details about your voyage, then check metbob.com to
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Weathergram archive (with translator) is at weathergram.blogspot.co.nz.
Contact is bob@metbob.com or text 64277762212.
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