Influence of vertical wind on stratospheric aerosol transport

The main goals of this work are climatological analysis of characteristics of vertical wind in the stratosphere and estimation of potential opportunities of its influence on stratospheric aerosol particles. High-altitude, temporal, and latitude dependences of zonal mean vertical wind velocity for the period of 1992?C2006 from the UKMO atmospheric general circulation model are analyzed. It is shown that monthly averaged amplitudes of the vertical wind are approximately ±5?mm/s, while annual averaged ones are ±1?mm/s. The upward wind can provide the vertical lifting against gravity for sufficiently large (up to 3?C5???m) aerosol particles with a density up to 1.0?C1.5?g/cm³ at stratospheric and mesospheric altitudes. The vertical wind, probably, is a substantial factor for particle motion up to altitudes of 30?C40?km and can change essentially the sedimentation velocities and the residence times of stratospheric aerosols. The structure of the averaged fields of vertical wind supposes the opportunity of formation of dynamically stable aerosol layers in the middle stratosphere. With the problem regarding the action of a permanent source of monodisperse particles near the stratopause taken as an example, it is shown that if the action of the averaged vertical component is taken into account along with the gravitational sedimentation and turbulent diffusion, the standard vertical profiles of the relative concentration of particles change cardinally. Estimations for the levitation heights for particles of different densities and sizes in the stratosphere under action of gravity and vertical wind pressure are presented.     

Seasonal variations of gravity waves revealed in rawinsonde data at Pohang,Korea

Summary Seasonal variations of gravity wave characteristics are investigated using rawinsonde data observed at Pohang observatory, Korea (36°2′N, 129°23′E) during the one-year period of 1998. Analysis is carried out for two atmospheric layers representing the troposphere (2–9 km) and stratosphere (17–30 km). There exist clear seasonal variations in amplitudes of temperature and wind perturbations and wave energy in the stratosphere, with their maxima in wintertime and minima in summertime. A strong correlation is found between the wave activity and the strength of the jet stream, but there is no clear correlation between the wave activity and the vertical gradient of static stability. The intrinsic frequency and vertical and horizontal wavelengths of gravity waves in the stratosphere are 2f–3f, where f is the Coriolis parameter, and 2–3 km and 300–500 km, respectively. The intrinsic phase velocity directs westward in January and northeastward in July. The vertical flux of the stratospheric zonal momentum is mostly negative except in summertime with a maximum magnitude in January. Topography seems to be a major source of stratospheric gravity waves in wintertime. Convection can be a source of gravity waves in summertime, but it is required to know convective sources at nearby stations, due to their intermittency and locations relative to floating balloons.     

Peculiarities of seasonal variations of atmospheric aerosol concentration in the surface air of Moscow environs

The seasonal variations of the concentration of particles of different sizes in the atmospheric surface layer are studied on the basis of the data of daily measurements of atmospheric aerosol characteristics in the town of Dolgoprudny (20 km from the center of Moscow) carried out in 2006–2009. It is revealed that the steady variations of monthly mean aerosol concentration are observed within the particle diameter interval of 0.02–1 μm. The annual course of concentration of these particles has two maxima, in February-March and in September–October, and one minimum in June. The concentrations of particles with the size of 0.01–0.02 μm defined by the general atmospheric background and the concentrations of particles of >1 μm associated with the local sources do not have clearly pronounced seasonal variations. It is shown that the regularities of the annual concentration variations of particles with the size of 0.02–1 μm are mainly explained by the sign and value of the lapse rate in the layer up to 925 hPa that indicates the prevalence of the vertical mixing in the processes of aerosol scattering in the surface layer as compared with the horizontal transfer.     

Effects of Thermal Stability and Incoming Boundary-Layer Flow Characteristics on Wind-Turbine Wakes: A Wind-Tunnel Study

Wind-tunnel experiments were carried out to study turbulence statistics in the wake of a model wind turbine placed in a boundary-layer flow under both neutral and stably stratified conditions. High-resolution velocity and temperature measurements, obtained using a customized triple wire (cross-wire and cold wire) anemometer, were used to characterize the mean velocity, turbulence intensity, turbulent fluxes, and spectra at different locations in the wake. The effect of the wake on the turbulence statistics is found to extend as far as 20 rotor diameters downwind of the turbine. The velocity deficit has a nearly axisymmetric shape, which can be approximated by a Gaussian distribution and a power-law decay with distance. This decay in the near-wake region is found to be faster in the stable case. Turbulence intensity distribution is clearly non-axisymmetric due to the non-uniform distribution of the incoming velocity in the boundary layer. In the neutral case, the maximum turbulence intensity is located above the hub height, around the rotor tip location and at a distance of about 4–5.5 rotor diameters, which are common separations between wind turbines in wind farms. The enhancement of turbulence intensity is associated with strong shear and turbulent kinetic energy production in that region. In the stable case, the stronger shear in the incoming flow leads to a slightly stronger and larger region of enhanced turbulence intensity, which extends between 3 and 6 rotor diameters downwind of the turbine location. Power spectra of the streamwise and vertical velocities show a strong signature of the turbine blade tip vortices at the top tip height up to a distance of about 1–2 rotor diameters. This spectral signature is stronger in the vertical velocity component. At longer downwind distances, tip vortices are not evident and the von Kármán formulation agrees well with the measured velocity spectra.     

Temporal variations in ozone concentrations derived from Principal Component Analysis

Summary The application of principal components and cluster analysis to vertical ozone concentration profiles in Tsukuba, Japan, has been explored. Average monthly profiles and profiles of the ratio between standard deviation and the absolute ozone concentration (SDPR) of 1 km data were calculated from the original ozone concentration data. Mean (first) and gradient (second) components explained more than 80% of the variation in both the 0–6 km tropospheric and 11–20 km troposphere–stratosphere (interspheric) layers. The principal components analysis not only reproduced the expected inverse relationship between mean ozone concentration and tropopause height (r ² = 0.41) and that in the tropospheric layer this is larger in spring and summer, but also yielded new information as follows. The larger gradient component score in summer for the interspheric layer points to the seasonal variation of the troposphere–stratosphere exchange. The minimum SDPR was at about 3 km in the tropospheric layer and the maximum was at about 17 km in the interspheric layer. The tropospheric SDPR mean component score was larger in summer, possibly reflecting the mixing of Pacific maritime air masses with urban air masses. The cluster analysis of the monthly ozone profiles for the 1970s and 2000s revealed different patterns for winter and summer. The month of May was part of the winter pattern in the 1970s but part of the summer pattern during the 2000s. This statistically detected change likely reflects the influence of global warming. Thus, these two statistical analysis techniques can be powerful tools for identifying features of ozone concentration profiles. Authors’ addresses: S. Yonemura, S. Kawashima, S. Inoue, National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0031, Japan; H. Matsueda, Y. Sawa, Meteorological Research Institute, 1-1 Nagamine, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0052, Japan; H. Tanimoto, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan.     

Aerosol black carbon measurements in the Arctic haze during AGASP-II

During the second Arctic Gas and Aerosol Sampling Program conducted in April 1986, we performed measurements of the optically absorbing carbonaceous component of the ambient aerosol from the NOAA WP-3D aircraft operating between sea level and 10 km altitude. We collected the aerosol of filters that were exposed for several hours; we also operated the aethalometer to measure the concentration of aerosol black carbon in real time. The filter analyses represent averages over the altitude range and time span during which the filter was collecting. The real-time results were sorted by altitude to calculate vertical profiles of black carbon concentration. Values typically ranged from 300 to 500 ng m^–3 at lower altitudes, decreasing gradually to 25 to 100 ng m^–3 at 8–10 km. Strong stratification at lower altitudes was frequently observed. The magnitude of these concentrations suggests that the sources are distant regions of considerable fuel consumption. The presence of this material in the tropospheric column and its probable deposition to the high-albedo surface may result in perturbations of the solar radiation balance. The concentrations measured at the highest altitudes may mean that particulate carbon and accompanying emissions for which it is a tracer are mixing into the stratosphere.     

Vertical Variation of Madden-Jullian Oscillations in the Normal Monsoon Season as Revealed Through MST Radar Wind Data

Summary  Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar wind data for the period June through September 1996 have been examined to study vertical variation of Madden-Jullian Oscillations in wind and eddy kinetic energy (eke) in the normal monsoon season. The domain of analysis in the vertical is from 6 to 20 km with a height resolution of 150 m. Fast-Fourier-Transformation (FFT) has been applied to zonal (u), meridional(v) components of wind to extract the Madden-Jullian oscillations and eke. There are three dominant modes viz., 50–70, 30–40 and 10–20 day periodicity, which contain considerable fraction of energy and show high degree of vertical variability. The peak amplitude of 50–70 day mode in u, 30–40 mode in v and eke were observed at 16–17 km just below the tropopause level. The peak amplitudes of 30–40 day mode in u and 50–70 day mode in v were found in the height region of 13–16 km. To understand the origin and propagation of these waves, wave energy is calculated. The wave energy is higher at tropospheric heights than at lower stratospheric heights indicating that the origin of these waves is in the troposphere, and a part of the energy leaks into the stratosphere. Received September 17, 1998/Revised September 26, 1999     

Effect of Vertical Wind Shear on Concentration Fluctuation Statistics in a Point Source Plume

Measurements of concentration fluctuation intensity, intermittency factor, and integral time scale were made in a water channel for a plume dispersing in a well-developed, rough surface, neutrally stable, boundary layer, and in grid-generated turbulence with no mean velocity shear. The water-channel simulations apply to full-scale atmospheric plumes with very short averaging times, on the order of 1–4 min, because plume meandering was suppressed by the water-channel side walls. High spatial and temporal resolution vertical and crosswind profiles of fluctuations in the plume were obtained using a linescan camera laser-induced dye tracer fluorescence technique. A semi-empirical algebraic mean velocity shear history model was developed to predict these concentration statistics. This shear history concentration fluctuation model requires only a minimal set of parameters to be known: atmospheric stability, surface roughness, vertical velocity profile, and vertical and crosswind plume spreads. The universal shear history parameter used was the mean velocity shear normalized by surface friction velocity, plume travel time, and local mean wind speed. The reference height at which this non-dimensional shear history was calculated was important, because both the source and the receptor positions influence the history of particles passing through the receptor position.     

A comparison of reanalyses in the tropical stratosphere. Part 3: inclusion of the pre-satellite data era

 In this study, previous evaluations of the monthly mean structure of the tropical lower stratosphere in reanalyzed datasets are extended to include the period 1958–1978, when no satellite-based observations were available. It is shown that a large discontinuity, in temperatures near the tropical tropopause, in the NCEP data occurred when the Tiros Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) became operational. When only rawinsonde data were available, the tropopause temperatures in the NCEP dataset are in better agreement with ERA data for TOVS period. Both NCEP and NASA reanalyses show similar deviations from the ERA data in the TOVS renalyses show similar deviations from the ERA data in the TOVS period. There is also a stepwise change in the lower stratospheric meridional velocity when the TOVS data were introduced into the NCEP reanalyses. This discontinuity is such that in the 1958–1978 period, the annual cycle in zonal mean meridional velocity in the NCEP data resembles that of the ERA data in the 1979–1993 period. The differences are shown to result from large changes in the local meridional flow in the Indonesian region. The temporal consistency of the QBO is examined; it is shown that the NCEP assimilation system is sensitive to the data available. There is a change in the zonally asymmetric structure of the zonal wind over time, presumably related to the changes in input data and the inability of the model to represent the three-dimensional structure of the tropical lower stratosphere. These results provide further evidence of the value of rawinsonde data in data assimilation systems as well as the need to use satellite radiance data in an appropriate manner. Received: 7 April 1997 / Accepted: 4 September 1998     

Atmospheric aerosol characterization in 2010 anomalous summer season in the Moscow region

Daily measurements of atmospheric aerosol characteristics were carried out in Dolgoprudny (Moscow region) in June–August 2010. The particle concentrations at 11 size gradations within the range of 0.01–10 μm and the concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei active at water vapor supersaturation of 0.2–1% were determined. It is shown that the long anticyclonic conditions and the burning of forests and peat bogs resulted in the increase in total aerosol concentration in surface air by more than 1.5 times and in concentrations of particles with the diameter of 0.1–1 μm and > 1 μm by 5 and 10 times, respectively. The fire smoke mainly consisted of the particles with the size of 0.1–3 μm. The particles with the size of more than 5 μm were not observed. The recurrent visibility decrease up to hundreds of meters was caused by the increase in the concentration of particles with the diameter of more than 0.32μm in the air. During the smoke blanketing, the concentration of active condensation nuclei in aerosol increased almost by 20 times that created an opportunity for watering of aerosol particles and formation of the acid smog.     

Signature of quasi–biennial oscillation and long-period equatorial disturbances in the lower atmosphere over Thiruvananthapuram

Summary An attempt has been made in this paper to examine different modes of oscillation in the wind field during different seasons over Thiruvananthapuram (lat. 8.29° N, long. 76.59° E, located at the extreme southwest coast of India) based on daily upper air observations for the period from January 1997 to December 1999. A power spectral analysis is carried out with the upper air data of the station. The study shows that one and half cycle of Quasi–Biennial Oscillation (QBO) and the power spectra of the meridional wind component exhibit peaks between the period of four days and seven days (corresponding frequency range between 0.25 day⁻¹ and 0.15 day⁻¹) during all seasons. The seasonal variation of these large-scale oscillations over the station depends upon the background mean zonal flow, which in turn closely related to the QBO structure. The time sequence of power spectra shows that the disturbances with periods between four days and seven days dominantly prevail in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere throughout the year. The regimes of high power spectral intensity in this period range are maintained in the levels where the mean zonal flow (westerly or easterly) weakens and changes with height. The study establishes the fact that disturbances (mixed Rossby-gravity waves) acquire maximum power in the winter season whereas the south-west monsoon exhibits minimum spectral intensity when spreading of energy over a frequency range takes place.     

Organised Motion in a Tall Spruce Canopy: Temporal Scales,Structure Spacing and Terrain Effects

This study investigates the organised motion near the canopy-atmosphere interface of a moderately dense spruce forest in heterogeneous, complex terrain. Wind direction is used to assess differences in topography and surface properties. Observations were obtained at several heights above and within the canopy using sonic anemometers and fast-response gas analysers over the course of several weeks. Analysed variables include the three-dimensional wind vector, the sonic temperature, and the concentration of carbon dioxide. Wavelet analysis was used to extract the organised motion from time series and to derive its temporal scales. Spectral Fourier analysis was deployed to compute power spectra and phase spectra. Profiles of temporal scales of ramp-like coherent structures in the vertical and longitudinal wind components showed a reversed variation with height and were of similar size within the canopy. Temporal scales of scalar fields were comparable to those of the longitudinal wind component suggesting that the lateral scalar transport dominates. The existence of a – 1 power law in the longitudinal power spectra was confirmed for a few cases only, with a majority showing a clear 5/3 decay. The variation of effective scales of organised motion in the longitudinal velocity and temperature were found to vary with atmospheric stability, suggesting that both Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and attached eddies dominate the flow with increasing convectional forcing. The canopy mixing-layer analogy was observed to be applicable for ramp-like coherent structures in the vertical wind component for selected wind directions only. Departures from the prediction of m = Λ _w L _s ⁻¹ = 8–10 (where Λ _w is the streamwise spacing of coherent structures in the vertical wind w and L _s is a canopy shear length scale) were caused by smaller shear length scales associated with large-scale changes in the terrain as well as the vertical structure of the canopy. The occurrence of linear gravity waves was related to a rise in local topography and can therefore be referred to as mountain-type gravity waves. Temporal scales of wave motion and ramp-like coherent structures were observed to be comparable.     

To what extent can the 2002 Antarctic major stratospheric warming be explained by horizontal advection of the vortex from the pole?

Summary The importance of horizontal and vertical advection of temperature for the Antarctic major stratospheric warming in September 2002 has been investigated, by applying the thermodynamic energy equation to ECMWF temperature and wind data. The analysis, which is carried out for the one-week period 19–26 September, shows that the large temperature increase in this period in the polar stratosphere is mainly due to horizontal advection of temperature. In addition, it has been investigated to what extent the observed temperature increase, as well as the change in the zonal wind, can be simulated with a simple conceptual model of a moving polar vortex. The model consists of a horizontal, circular vortex whose centre moves with constant meridional velocity off from the South Pole. The temperature and zonal wind fields are prescribed, stationary and zonally symmetric (relative to the vortex centre). Despite its simplicity, the model simulates several important aspects of the observations, such as the zonal-mean temperature increase and zonal-mean zonal wind reversal poleward of 60° S, and the zonal-mean temperature decrease at middle latitudes.     

A comparison of reanalyses in the tropical stratosphere. Part 2: the quasi-biennial oscillation

 Reanalysis datasets potentially offer the opportunity to examine the tropical quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) in greater detail than in the past, including the associated meridional circulation and the links with other parts of the atmosphere. For such studies to be useful, the QBO represented by the reanalyses should be realistic. In this work, the QBO in the ERA and NCEP reanalyses is validated against rawinsonde observations from Singapore. Monthly mean data are used. In the lower stratosphere (at 50 hPa and 30 hPa) the ERA QBO is reasonable, although the wind extrema in both phases are too weak and the vertical shear and the temperature anomalies are too small. The NCEP QBO is weaker still. At 10 hPa neither reanalysis system performs well, both systems failing to reproduce the westerlies, possibly because of the proximity of the upper boundary. The Singapore wind is representative of the zonal means in the reanalyses. The weak wind extrema in the reanalyses would not support a wave-mean flow interaction theory of the QBO, because a large portion of the gravity wave spectrum which would be absorbed in reality would be transmitted beyond 10 hPa. The stronger shear zones captured in the ERA data are associated with larger, more realistic temperature perturbations near 30 hPa. The northward velocities in the NCEP data show a more realistic structure than in the ERA reanalysis, where they are dominated by a vertical “gridpoint wave” structure in the lowermost stratosphere. Despite the shortcomings of the reanalyses, the high correlations of the wind at 30 hPa and 50 hPa with the observations at Singapore mean that the reanalyses could potentially be used to examine the effects of the QBO away from the tropical stratosphere. Future reanalyses need to take full account of the wind shears evident in the rawinsonde observations and use models with an adequate resolution to capture these vertical scales. Received: 23 June 1997/Accepted 17 December 1998     

Cross-Spectrum of Wind Speed for Meso-Gamma Scales in the Upper Surface Layer over South-Eastern Australia

Analytical expressions for the cross-spectrum of wind speed are developed for the stochastic simulation of wind power in south-eastern Australia. The expressions are valid for heights above the ground in the range 40–80 m, site separations of 1–30 km, and frequencies of (1/6)–3 cycles h⁻¹. The influence of site separation distance is taken into account, as are variables that are defined for blocks of time. These variables include the mean and standard deviation of wind speed and the mean wind direction. The parameters of the model equations are determined by non-linear least-squares regression with cross-validation over 10 years of wind measurements from 84 towers in south-eastern Australia.     

Observations of the Daytime Boundary Layer in Deep Alpine Valleys

Mixing depth structure and its evolution have been diagnosed from radar wind profiler data in the Chamonix and the Maurienne valleys (France) during summer 2003. The behaviour of refractive index structure parameter C _n ² peaks coupled with the vertical velocity variance σ _w ² was used to estimate the height of the mixed layer. Tethersonde vertical profiles were carried out to investigate the lower layers of the atmosphere in the range of approximately 400–500 m above ground level. The tethersonde device was especially useful to study the reversal of the valley wind system during the morning transition period. Specific features such as wind reversal and the convective mixed layer up to approximately the altitude of the surrounding mountains were documented. The wind reversal was observed to be much more sudden in the Maurienne valley than in the Chamonix valley     

Three centuries of observation of stratospheric transparency

A chronology of stratospheric aerosol optical depth for the period 1671–1881 is derived from total lunar eclipse colors. It is compared with available proxy time series for the same period and with more refined data for more recent years. Contrary to previous speculations, the stratosphere from 1671 to 1881 seems to have been mostly undisturbed volcanically, with only two or three eruptions having injected into it truly significant amounts of aerosol-producing and climate-altering sulfur gases. It is confirmed that the full record for 1671–2000 shows a marked, though possibly quasiregular, ∼80 year periodicity in stratospheric aerosol optical depth, which appears also in polar ice-core acidity records and in volcanic eruption frequencies.     

Analysis of three-dimensional Eliassen-Palm fluxes in the lower stratosphere

Using the monthly mean NCEP/NCAR reanalysis dataset, the three-dimensional Eliassen-Palm (EP) fluxes of quasi-stationary wave propagation in the lower stratosphere were computed for each month from November to March for the period from 1958 to 2007. It is shown that the upward planetary wave propagation from the troposphere to the stratosphere generally occurs over the northern Eurasia, while their weak downward propagation is observed in Labrador and southern Greenland regions in the lower stratosphere. Interannual variations of the vertical EP fluxes also have the dipole-like spatial pattern with the opposite anomalies in the West and East hemispheres which are most prominent in January–February. Significant differences in the interaction of the zonal circulation of the stratosphere in the beginning of winter (November–December) and mid-to-late winter (January–March) are revealed. Intensification of the planetary waves’ penetration into the stratosphere in December causes changes in the stratospheric dynamics, creating the “preconditions” for the stratospheric warming appearances in January, but such a mechanism is not detected in February. In the years with the cold polar vortex, the “stratospheric bridge” is formed with the strengthening of the upward EP flux over the northern Eurasia and downward EP flux over the North Atlantic.     

Rain-aerosol coupling in the tropical atmosphere of Southeast Asia: distribution and scavenging ratios of major ionic species

Both aerosol and rainwater samples were collected and analyzed for ionic species at a coastal site in Southeast Asia over a period of 9 months (January–September 2006) covering different monsoons. In general, the occurrence and distribution of ionic species showed a distinct seasonal variation in response to changes in air mass origins. Real-time physical characterization of aerosol particles during rain events showed changes in particle number distributions which were used to assess particle removal processes associated with precipitation, or scavenging. The mean scavenging coefficients for particles in the range 10–500 nm and 500–10 μm were 7.0 × 10⁻⁵ ± 2.8 × 10⁻⁵ s⁻¹ and 1.9 × 10⁻⁴ ± 1.6 × 10⁻⁵ s⁻¹, respectively. A critical analysis of the scavenging coefficients obtained from this study suggested that the wet removal of aerosol particles was greatly influenced by rain intensity, and was particle size-dependent as well. The scavenging ratios, another parameter used to characterize particle removal processes by precipitation, for NH₄ ⁺, Cl⁻, SO₄ ²⁻, and NO₃ ⁻ were found to be higher than those of Na⁺, K⁺, and Ca²⁺ of oceanic and crustal origins. This enrichment implied that gaseous species NH₃, HCl, and HNO₃ could also be washed out readily. These additional sources of ions in precipitation presumably counter-balanced the dilution effect caused by high total precipitation volume in the marine and tropical area.     

A dust storm over the Ukraine and Belarus territory contaminated by radionuclides after the Chernobyl accident

A meteorological situation is under consideration during a dust storm observed on September 5–7, 1992 over the Ukraine and Belarus territory contaminated by radionuclide products after the Chernobyl accident. The highest average wind speed in Chernobyl and Pripyat was 10–12 m/s, wind gusts reached 20 m/s. It was found that the radioactive aerosol concentration in the zone of alienation of the Chernobyl NPP increased by one or two orders of magnitude. The transfer of radioactive dust particles to the Vilnius outskirts is recorded.