Characteristics of Lake Breezes and Their Impacts on Energy and Carbon Fluxes in Mountainous Areas

In mountainous lake areas, lake–land and mountain–valley breezes interact with each other, leading to an "extended lake breeze". These extended lake breezes can regulate and control energy and carbon cycles at different scales. Based on meteorological and turbulent fluxes data from an eddy covariance observation site at Erhai Lake in the Dali Basin,southwest China, characteristics of daytime and nighttime extended lake breezes and their impacts on energy and carbon dioxide exchange in 2015 are investigated. Lake breezes dominate during the daytime while, due to different prevailing circulations at night, there are two types of nighttime breezes. The mountain breeze from the Cangshan Mountain range leads to N1 type nighttime breeze events. When a cyclonic circulation forms and maintains in the southern part of Erhai Lake at night, its northern branch contributes to the formation of N2 type nighttime breeze events. The prevailing wind directions for daytime, N1, and N2 breeze events are southeast, west, and southeast, respectively. Daytime breeze events are more intense than N1 events and weaker than N2 events. During daytime breeze events, the lake breeze decreases the sensible heat flux(Hs) and carbon dioxide flux(F_{CO_2}) and increases the latent heat flux(LE). During N1 breeze events, the mountain breeze decreases Hs and LE and increases F_{CO_2}. For N2 breeze events, the southeast wind from the lake surface increases Hs and LE and decreases suppress carbon dioxide exchange.     

STATISTICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF SEA LAND BREEZES IN HAINAN ISLAND

The sea-land breeze circulation （SLBC） occurs regularly at coastal locations and influences the local weather and climate significantly. In this study, based on the observed surface wind in 9 conventional meteorological stations of Hainan Island, the frequency of sea-land breeze （SLB） is studied to depict the diurnal and seasonal variations. The statistics indicated that there is a monthly average of 12.2 SLB days and an occurrence frequency of about 40%, with the maximum frequency （49%） in summer and the minimum frequency （29%） in autumn. SLB frequencies （41%） are comparable in winter and spring. A higher frequency of SLB is present in the southern and central mountains due to the enhancement effect of the mountain-valley breeze. Due to the synoptic wind the number of SLB days in the northern hilly area is less than in other areas. Moreover, the WRF model, adopted to simulate the SLBC over the island for all seasons, performs reasonably well reproducing the phenomenon, evolution and mechanism of SLBC. Chiefly affected by the difference of temperature between sea and land, the SLBC varies in coverage and intensity with the seasons and reaches the greatest intensity in summer. The typical depth is about 2.5 km for sea breeze circulation and about 1.5 km for land breeze circulation. A strong convergence zone with severe ascending motion appears on the line parallel to the major axis of the island, penetrating 60 to 100 km inland. This type of weak sea breeze convergence zone in winter is north-south oriented. The features of SLBC in spring are similar both to that in summer with southerly wind and to that in winter with easterly wind. The coverage and intensity of SLBC in autumn is the weakest and confined to the southwest edge of the central mountainous area. The land breeze is inherently very weak and easily affected by the topography and weather. The coverage and intensity of the land breeze convergence line is significantly less than those of the sea breeze. The orographic forcing of the cen     

Characteristics of sea breeze front development with various synoptic conditions and its impact on lower troposphere ozone formation

To examine the correlation between the sizes of sea breeze fronts and pollutants under the influence of synoptic fields, a numerical simulation was conducted in the southeast coastal area of the Korean Peninsula, where relatively high concentrations of pollutants occur because of the presence of various kinds of industrial developments. Sea breeze and sea breeze front days during the period 2005-09 were identified using wind profiler data and, according to the results, the number of days were 72 and 53, respectively. When synoptic forcing was weak, sea breeze fronts moved fast both in horizontal fields and in terms of wind velocity, while in the case of strong synoptic forcing, sea breeze fronts remained at the coast or moved slowly due to strong opposing flows. In this case, the sea breeze front development function and horizontal potential temperature difference were larger than with weak synoptic forcing. The ozone concentration that moves together with sea breeze fronts was also formed along the frontal surfaces. Ozone advection and diffusion in the case of strong synoptic forcing was suppressed at the frontal surface and the concentration gradient was large. The vertical distribution of ozone was very low due to the Thermal Internal Boundary Layer (TIBL) being low.     

Numerical study of the evolution of a sea-breeze front under two environmental flows

The evolution of a sea-breeze front(SBF)in parallel and offshore environmental flows was investigated by using high-resolution simulations of two SBF cases from the Bohai Bay region,China.The results show that the combination of a distinct vertical wind shear caused by the sea-breeze circulation with a neutral or slightly stable atmospheric stratification associated with the thermal inner boundary layer promoted the occurrence and maintenance of a Kelvin-Helmholtz billow(KHB).In a parallel environmental flow,the SBF evolved into a few connected segments because of the inhomogeneity of the sea-breeze direction and intensity as it penetrated inland.A significant upward vertical motion occurred at the two ends of the SBF segment owing to the sea-breeze convergence and was accelerated by the KHB.The KHB made a notable contribution to the intensity at the ends of the segment,whereas the intensity at the middle segment was primarily attributed to the convergence between the sea breeze and the parallel flow.In the offshore environmental flow,the clockwise rotation of the offshore flow varying with time increased the downstream convergence of the interface between the sea breeze and the offshore flow and pushed the downstream convergence zone to an orientation consistent with the offshore flow.The air parcels ascending from the downstream part of the SBF were continuously lifted by the downstream convergence zone during their advection,leading to a significant downstream development of the SBF.The significant upward vertical motion caused by the sea-breeze convergence behind the upstream end of the SBF was shifted to the upstream end of the SBF by the KHB,which enhanced the intensity of the upstream end of the SBF.     

Numerical Simulations of a Florida Sea Breeze and Its Interactions with Associated Convection: Effects of Geophysical Representation and Model Resolution

The Florida peninsula in the USA has a frequent occurrence of sea breeze(SB)thunderstorms.In this study,the numerical simulation of a Florida SB and its associated convective initiation(CI)is simulated using the mesoscale community Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF)model in one-way nested domains at different horizontal resolutions.Results are compared with observations to examine the accuracy of model-simulated SB convection and factors that influence SB CI within the simulation.It is found that the WRF model can realistically reproduce the observed SB CI.Differences are found in the timing,location,and intensity of the convective cells at different domains with various spatial resolutions.With increasing spatial resolution,the simulation improvements are manifested mainly in the timing of CI and the orientation of the convection after the sea breeze front(SBF)merger into the squall line over the peninsula.Diagnoses indicate that accurate representation of geophysical variables(e.g.,coastline and bay shape,small lakes measuring 10-30 km2),better resolved by the high resolution,play a significant role in improving the simulations.The geophysical variables,together with the high resolution,impact the location and timing of SB CI due to changes in low-level atmospheric convergence and surface sensible heating.More importantly,they enable Florida lakes(30 km2 and larger)to produce noticeable lake breezes(LBs)that collide with the SBFs to produce CI.Furthermore,they also help the model reproduce a stronger convective squall line caused by merging SBs,leading to more accurate locations of postfrontal convective systems.     

THE SPATIOTEMPORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT RAIN DAYS AND LOW CLOUD COVER UNDER HEAVY POLLUTION OVER SOUTH CHINA

By using the data set of light rain days and low cloud cover at 51 stations in South China (SC), and the method of linear regression and correlative analysis, we analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of the light rain days and low cloud cover including annual variation and long-term seasonal change. The results are as follows: (1) The trends of light rain days and low cloud cover over SC are opposite (light rain days tended to decrease and low cloud cover tended to increase in the past 46 years). The value distributed in east is higher than that in west, and coastal area higher than inland area. (2) The regression coefficients of light rain days and low cloud cover during 1960–2005 are 4.88 d/10 years and 1.14%/10 years respectively, which had all passed the 0.001 significance level. (3) Variations of light rain days are relatively small in spring and summer, but their contributions are larger for annual value than that of autumn and winter. (4) There are two regions with large values of aerosol optical depth (AOD), which distribute in central and southern Guangxi and Pearl River Delta (PRD) of Guangdong, and the value of AOD in PRD is up to 0.7. The aerosol index distributed in coastal area is higher than in the inland area, which is similar to the light rain days and low cloud cover over SC. Aerosol indexes in SC kept increasing with fluctuation during the past 27 years. The GDP of the three provinces in SC increased obviously during the past 28 years, especially in Guangdong, which exhibited that there is simultaneous correlation between light rain days with the variables of low cloud cover and release of aerosols over SC during 1960 to 2005.     

Urban Heat Island and Boundary Layer Structures under Hot Weather Synoptic Conditions: A Case Study of Suzhou City, China

A strong urban heat island (UHI) appeared in a hot weather episode in Suzhou City during the period from 25 July to 1 August 2007. This paper analyzes the urban heat island characteristics of Suzhou City under this hot weather episode. Both meteorological station observations and MODIS satellite observations show a strong urban heat island in this area. The maximum UHI intensity in this hot weather episode is 2.2℃, which is much greater than the summer average of 1.0℃ in this year and the 37-year (from 1970 to 2006) average of 0.35℃. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulation results demonstrate that the rapid urbanization processes in this area will enhance the UHI in intensity, horizontal distribution, and vertical extension. The UHI spatial distribution expands as the urban size increases. The vertical extension of UHI in the afternoon increases about 50 m higher under the year 2006 urban land cover than that under the 1986 urban land cover. The conversion from rural land use to urban land type also strengthens the local lake-land breeze circulations in this area and modifies the vertical wind speed field.     

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE SEA BREEZE OVER SOUTHWESTERN BOHAI GULF

In this paper,a simulation study is made on the sea breeze process over southwestern Bohai Gulf byuse of the Pielke mesoscale meteorological model.The simulated results show that when a south wind of 8m/s blows over the top of the model,a strong wind zone of 15—25 km wide with a maximum speed more than14 m/s,which is close and nearly parallel to the south shore,will appear at 160 m above the sea surface.When a strong sea breeze penetrates inland,there often appears a thermal internal boundary layer(TIBL)near shore.The inversion above the TIBL can damp the vertical dispersion of atmospheric pollution.Besides,it is also found that,for a three-dimensional sea/land breeze circulation,if the divergence centre inthe return flow departs vertically far from the correspondent convergence centre in the sea breeze,a centre ofstrong descending movement will be formed at the middle and upper levels of the return flow.The resultsin this paper is also applicable to the Laizhou Bay.     

Some Characteristics of the Surface Boundary Layer of a Strong Cold Air Process over Southern China

In southern China,cold air is a common weather process during the winter season;it can cause strong wind,sharp temperature decreases,and even the snow or freezing rain events.However,the features of the atmospheric boundary layer during cold air passage are not clearly understood due to the lack of comprehensive observation data,especially regarding turbulence.In this study,four-layer gradient meteorological observation data and one-layer,10-Hz ultrasonic anemometer-thermometer monitoring data from the northern side of Poyang Lake were employed to study the main features of the surface boundary layer during a strong cold-air passage over southern China.The results show that,with the passage of a cold air front,the wind speed exhibits low-frequency variations and that the wind systematically descends.During the strong wind period,the wind speed increases with height in the surface layer.Regular gust packets are superimposed on the basic strong wind flow.Before the passage of cold air,the wind gusts exhibit a coherent structure.The wind and turbulent momentum fluxes are small,although the gusty wind momentum flux is slightly larger than the turbulent momentum flux.However,during the invasion of cold air,both the gusty wind and turbulent momentum fluxes increase rapidly with wind speed,and the turbulent momentum flux is larger than the gusty wind momentum flux during the strong wind period.After the cold air invasion,this structure almost disappears.     

Analysis of Turbulence Characteristics over the Northern Tibetan Plateau Area

Based on CAMP/Tibet [Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period (CEOP) Asia-Australia Monsoon Project (CAMP) on the Tibetan Plateau] turbulent data collected at the Bujiao (BJ) site of the Nagqu area, the turbulent structure and transportation characteristics in the near surface layer during summer are analyzed. The main results show that the relationship between the normalized standard deviation of 3D wind speed and stability satisfies the similarity law under both unstable and stable stratifications. The relations of normalized standard deviation of temperature and specific humidity to stability only obey the “?1/3 power law” under unstable conditions. In the case of stable stratifications, their relations to stability are dispersing. The sensible heat dominates in the dry period, while in the wet period, the latent heat is larger than the sensible heat.     

A PUFF MODEL REVISED BY MONTE-CARLO METHOD ON MESOSCALE RANGE

A puff model is developed in this study, which simultaneously considers the Monte-Carlo technique, the time and space changes of atmospheric parameters, multiple continuity pollutant sources, linear chemical transformation and removal of pollutants, and the effect of complex terrain. The continuously observed turbulent statistical quantities, Lagrangian time scales, mesoscale flow field, and mixing layer depth in the PBL in the Dian-chi area in China are directly put into the model, and the diurnal variations of air pollution are forecasted, which arc dominated by such mesoscale local circulations as mountain and valley breeze, land and lake breeze, and city heat island (Kunming City) . The results show that in the case of inputting the same data, they are in good agreement with the experimental data, as well as with the results of the three-dimensional advection-diffusion model (TD-ADM); the diurnal variation of mesoscale local circulation results in the obvious diurnal variation of mesoscale concentra     

Diagnostic study on the structural characteristics of a typical mei-yu front system and its maintenance mechanism

In this paper, a typical mei-yu front process with heavy rainfall from June 12 to 15 in 1998 is analyzed. The results show that the mei-yu front is a front system which consists of an iso-θe dense area with strong horizontal gradient, a deep-convective cloud tower band, a passageway transporting warm and moist air flow from the summer monsoon surge in the mid and low levels to the south of the mei-yu front,and a migrating synoptic scale trough to the north of the mei-yu front, which transports cold and dry air southward in the mid and upper levels. The maintenance of the mei-yu front is realized by: (1) is a positive feedback between the moist physical process enhancing frontogenesis and the development of the strong convective system in front of the mei-yu front; (2) the sustaining system to the north of the mei-yu front which is a migrating synoptic scale trough transporting cold and dry air to the mei-yu front and positive vorticity to the mesoscale system in front of the mei-yu front.     

Marine-Atmospheric Boundary Layer Characteristics over the South China Sea During the Passage of Strong Typhoon Hagupit

The structures and characteristics of the marine-atmospheric boundary layer over the South China Sea during the passage of strong Typhoon Hagupit are analyzed in detail in this paper. The typhoon was generated in the western Pacific Ocean, and it passed across the South China Sea, finally landfalling in the west of Guangdong Province. The shortest distance between the typhoon center and the observation station on Zhizi Island(10 m in height) is 8.5 km. The observation data capture the whole of processes that occurred in the regions of the typhoon eye, two squall regions of the eye wall, and weak wind regions,before and after the typhoon's passage. The results show that:(a) during the strong wind(average velocityˉu 10 m s-1) period, in the atmospheric boundary layer below 110 m, ˉu is almost independent of height,and vertical velocity ˉw is greater than 0, increasing with ˉu and reaching 2–4 m s-1in the squall regions;(b) the turbulent fluctuations(frequency 1/60 Hz) and gusty disturbances(frequency between 1/600 and1/60 Hz) are both strong and anisotropic, but the anisotropy of the turbulent fluctuations is less strong;(c) ˉu can be used as the basic parameter to parameterize all the characteristics of fluctuations; and(d) the vertical flux of horizontal momentum contributed by the average flow(ˉu ·ˉw) is one order of magnitude larger than those contributed by fluctuation fluxes(u w and v w), implying that strong wind may have seriously disturbed the sea surface through drag force and downward transport of eddy momentum and generated large breaking waves, leading to formation of a strongly coupled marine-atmospheric boundary layer. This results in ˉw 0 in the atmosphere, and some portion of the momentum in the sea may be fed back again to the atmosphere due to ˉu ·ˉw 0.     

Helicity Dynamics of Atmospheric Flow

Helicity is an important physical variable which is similar to the energy and enstrophy in three-dimensional fluid. It can be used to describe the motion in the direction of fluid rotation and also can be regarded as a new physi-cal variable in turbulence theory. In recent years, it has been used in atmospheric dynamics. In this paper, helicity of atmospheric flow, especially helicity in the boundary layer and in the vicinity of front was discussed. These results show that helicity is usually positive in the boundary layer due to the effect of friction. The helicity of boundary layer flow is larger in anticyclone than that in cyclone, resulting from the different wind structures of boundary layers in an-ticyclone and cyclone under the geostrophic momentum approximation. It is possible that the helicity is negative at certain height in the baroclinic boundary layer. The influences of nonlinearity and baroclinity on the helicity are im-portant. The so called “Cloud Street” in the boundary layer is related to the dynamics of helicity. Helicity in the at-mosphere can be expressed as the temperature advection under some conditions, so helicity would be allowed to des-cribe the frontogenesis and development of frontal structure. The amplitude of helicity increases with time in the frontogenesis. A large gradient of helicity is generated in the region located to the northeast of the surface low and in which the front is formed. In warm frontal region, as well as behind the trough of temperature, the helicity is positive, while the helicity is negative in cold frontal sector and in the ahead ridge of temperature. The largest helicity occurs in the boundary.     

CHARACTERISTICS OF CLIMATE WARMING AND IMPACT ON CLIMATE ZONES CHANGE IN GUANGDONG

Based on temperature data in Guangdong in the past 50years, statistical methods are used to analyze the characteristics of temperature in spatial and temporal variation. The results show that land surface temperature warms by 0.16 °C/10a in Guangdong. The range of warming was lower than the average of nationwide and global land surface. Furthermore, the temperature has a larger increase tendency in winter and spring and coastal areas than in summer and autumn and inland areas. Climate zones move towards the north obviously. North tropical zone is expanding, south subtropical zone is reducing and central subtropical zone is relatively stable. Under the global climate warming, characteristics of climate warming in Guangdong were influenced by atmosphere general circulation, sea surface temperature and human activities etc.     

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH WIND DISTRIBUTION IN CHINA'S COASTAL REGION AND THEIR CAUSES

This work investigates the distribution of high winds above Beaufort scale 6 in the offshore zones of China using high-resolution satellite measurements.A numerical experiment is carried out in order to find out the effects of Taiwan Island on the formation of strong winds.The analysis indicates that the distribution of high wind occurrence is similar to that of the average wind velocity in winter.High winds tend to be anchored in special topographical regions,such as the Taiwan Strait,the Bashi Channel and the southeast coast of Vietnam.High winds occur much more frequently over the warmer than the colder flank of Kuroshio front as it meanders from Taiwan to Japan.The frequency of high winds decreases drastically in spring.The Taiwan Strait maintains the largest high wind occurrence.Besides,high winds remain frequent in the Bashi Channel,the southeast tip of Taiwan Island and the warmer flank of Kuroshio front.In summer,high winds generally occur infrequently except over a broad region off the southeast coast of Vietnam near 10°N and the frequency there decreases from southwest to northeast.High winds around Taiwan Island present near axisymmetric distribution with larger frequency along southeast-northwest direction and smaller frequency along southwest-northeast direction.The dominant direction of high winds exhibits a counterclockwise circulation surrounding the island.The frequency of high winds increases rapidly in autumn and almost repeats the distribution that appears in winter.The simulation results suggest that the effects of Taiwan Island topography on high winds vary with seasons.In winter,topography is the major cause of high winds in the surrounding oceanic zones.High winds in both Taiwan Strait and the southeast corner of the island disappear and the frequency decreases gradually from south to north when the terrain is removed.However,in summer,high wind frequency derived from two simulations with and without terrain is almost identical.We attribute this phenomenon to the factors which are responsible for the formation of high winds.     

PRELIMINARY STUDY ON RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DOUBLE VORTICES SELF-ORGANIZATION AND TYPHOON FORMATION IN BAROCLINIC ENVIRONMENT

The relationship between the self-organization of double vortices (SODVs) and the formation of typhoons was discussed based on six numerical experiments with the Fifth-Generation National Center for Atmospheric Research/Penn State Mesoscale Model (MM5) and further discussion was made with a real typhoon case. The results showed that there is a critical distance dc for SODVs in baroclinic atmosphere. When the distance between separated vortices is smaller than or equal to dc, the double vortices self-organize into a typhoon-like vortex with two spiral bands. But the double vortices cannot have such organization if the distance between them is larger than dc. The value of dc is about 380 km in the context of ideal conditions in this paper, larger than that achieved in a barotropic model. A typical typhoon case in 2005 (Haitang) was selected to verify the above-mentioned conclusions. It was found that the SODV is one of the important and typical ways for the formation of typhoons.     

Historical Trends in Surface Air Temperature Estimated by Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition and Least Squares Linear Fitting

Ensemble empirical mode decomposition(EEMD) and least squares linear fitting(LSLF) are applied to estimate the historical trends of surface air temperature(SAT) from observations and Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5(CMIP5) simulations during the period 1901–2005. The magnitudes of trends estimated by the two approaches are comparable. The trend calculated by the EEMD approach is larger than that by the LSLF approach in most(23/27) of the models during 1901–2005. During the slow warming period, the EEMD trend is smaller than the LSLF trend. The rootmean-square errors(RMSEs) between the raw and reconstructed times series by the LSLF approach are larger than those by the EEMD trend component and multi-decadal variability components during 1901–2005 in most of the models and observations. During 1901–70(or 1971–2005), the RMSEs between the raw and reconstructed times series by LSLF are larger than those by the EEMD trend component. In this sense, the EEMD trend is a better choice to obtain the climate trends in observations and CMIP5 models, especially for short time periods. This is because the trend estimated by LSLF cannot capture the internal variability and the cooling in some years. The estimated global warming rates(trend) are consistently larger(smaller) than those from observations in 11 of 27 CMIP5 models during 1901–2005 in the slow and rapid warming periods. This implies these 11 models have consistent responses to greenhouse gases for any period.     

NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS ON THE TIBL PROFILES AND THE LOCAL SEA BREEZE CIRCULATION IN COASTAL AREAS

A two-dimensional nonlinear PBL numerical model using an energy closure (E-ε)method has been employed to study the sea breeze circulation and TIBL in coastal areas. The main characteristics of sea breeze obtained from numerical experiments agree with those from general observation facts. The depth of sea breeze ranges from 300 to 900 meters, maximum velocity from 1.5 m/s to 4 m/s, and its height from 100 m to 300 m. The agreement between comparisons reveals that the performance of the model is good, and the selected experiment conditions are reasonable. This paper refits the function of TIBL profiles using the Weisman's formula and the exponent value is considered to change with the different states of sea breeze. Numerical experiment results indicate that the exponent of the TIBL profile, ranging from 0.4 to 1.1, is related to the strength and depth of the sea breeze. The exponent of 0.5 is suitable only when sea breeze is fully developed. This paper also gives various exponents under different sea breezes.     

Analysis of a Convective Storm Crossing Poyang Lake in China

A convective storm crossing Poyang Lake(PL) in China during 1200–1600 UTC on 13 May 2015 is examined.The results show that this storm occurs ahead of a 500-hPa trough with weak low-level temperature advection and a convectively stable layer between 925 and 850 hPa, and the tail of the storm is enhanced when its spearhead sweeps over PL after the sunset. Due to the heating and moistening of PL, the convectively stable layer over PL is destabilized; and instead, a deep(below 700 hPa) convectively unstable layer is organized. Moreover, both the radiative cooling and the storm-induced cooling result in a rapid air(near-surface) and land temperature decrease in the surrounding areas. Thus, a large lake–land temperature difference(about 6°C) occurs, which is conducive to generating land–lake breeze and enhancing the convergence of the low-level wind. Finally, the PL-induced deep convectively unstable layer and the enhanced low-level convergence jointly strengthen the crossing storm. To further confirm this,two simulations(with or without PL) are conducted with the Weather Research and Forecast(WRF) model. The simulation with PL successfully reproduces the evolution of the storm crossing PL, while the simulation without PL fails.In the simulation with PL, a high μse tongue at 850 hPa associated with the storm moves eastward and downward, and merges with the PL-induced lake boundary layer, forming a deep convectively unstable layer under 700 hPa.However, in the simulation without PL, the stable layer constantly maintains under 900 hPa. In addition, the 900-hPa wind difference between the simulations with and without PL shows a land–lake breeze circulation that strengths the convergence of the low-level wind.