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A large number of urban surface energy balance models now exist with different assumptions about the important features of the surface and exchange processes that need to be incorporated. To date, no comparison of these models has been conducted; in

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Urban land surface schemes have been developed to model the distinct features of the urban surface and the associated energy exchange processes. These models have been developed for a range of purposes and make different assumptions related to the inclusion and representation of the relevant processes. Here, the first results of Phase 2 from an international comparison project to evaluate 32 urban land surface schemes are presented. This is the first large-scale systematic evaluation of these models. In four stages, participants were given increasingly detailed information about an urban site for which urban fluxes were directly observed. At each stage, each group returned their models' calculated surface energy balance fluxes. Wide variations are evident in the performance of the models for individual fluxes. No individual model performs best for all fluxes. Providing additional information about the surface generally results in better performance. However, there is clear evidence that poor choice of parameter values can cause a large drop in performance for models that otherwise perform well. As many models do not perform well across all fluxes, there is need for caution in their application, and users should be aware of the implications for applications and decision making.

High-density bulk materials of a newly discovered 40K intermetallic MgB2 superconductor were prepared by high pressure sintering. Superconducting transition with the onset temperature of 39K was confirmed by both magnetic and resistive measurements. Magnetization versus field (M-H) curve shows the behavior of a typical Type II superconductor and the lower critical field Hc1(0) estimated from M-H curve is 0.032T. The bulk sample shows good connection between grains and critical current density Jc estimated from the magnetization hysteresis using sample size was 2x10 4 A/cm 2 at 20K and 1T. Upper critical field Hc2(0) determined by extrapolating the onset of resistive transition and assuming a dirty limit is 18T