Quantifying the uncertainty of the annular mode time scale and the role of the stratosphere

The impact of high resolution modern vegetation cover on the West African climate is examined using the International Centre for Theoretical Physics Regional Climate Model implementing the NCAR Community Land Model. Two high resolution 25 km long-term simulations driven by the output from a coarser 50-km resolution simulation are performed for the period 1998–2010. One high resolution simulation uses an earlier and coarser-resolution version of plant functional type distribution and leaf area index, while the other uses a more recent, higher-quality, and finer-resolution version of the data. The results indicate that the new land cover distribution substantially alters the distribution of temperature with warming in Central Nigeria, northern Gulf of Guinea and part of the Sahel due to the replacement of C4 grass with corn; and cooling along the coastlines of the Gulf of Guinea and in Central Africa due to the replacement of C4 grass with tropical broadleaf evergreen trees. Changes in latent heat flux appear to be largely responsible for these temperature changes with a net decrease (increase) in regions of warming (cooling). The improved land cover distribution also results in a wetter monsoon season. The presence of corn tends to favor larger precipitation amounts via more intense events, while the presence of tropical broadleaf evergreen trees tends to favor the occurrence of both more intense and more frequent events. The wetter conditions appear to be sustained via (1) an enhanced soil moisture feedback; and (2) elevated moisture transport due to increased low-level convergence in regions south of 10N where the most substantial land cover differences are present. Overall the changes induced by the improved vegetation cover improve, to some extent, the performance of the high resolution regional climate model in simulating the main West African summer monsoon features.     

Modeling the evolution of the family of Mediterranean cyclones using the regional model of the atmosphere

Due to the complex orography and the presence of the moisture-saturated air, the Mediterranean region is characterized by the increased baroclinic and convective instability, that leads to the sudden cyclogenesis and the formation of dangerous weather phenomena. The results are given of the investigation of formation mechanisms of Mediterranean cyclones, peculiarities of stages of their evolution and dynamical processes, which occur throughout the atmosphere, using the regional numerical ETA model of the atmosphere by the example of individual cases of the cyclogenesis over the Mediterranean Sea. It is revealed that the cold Arctic air outbreak (the intrusion of the cold Arctic air) to the south of the Western Europe, leading to the formation of the areas of the baroclinic instability and the increased moisture content of the air in the area of the vortex origin, favors the cyclogenesis. The use of the vertical coordinate η in the model enabled to compute more precisely the vertical wind speed, therefore, the influence of the orography on the moisture content and precipitation increase became pronounced. The transformation of the structure of meteorological fields in the course of the development of vortexes is considered. The computation of the helicity is made, and it is shown that this characteristic can be one of the earliest predictors of cyclogenesis.     

西伯利亚高压强度与北大西洋海温异常的关系

利用NCEP/NCAR再分析资料和NOAA海温等资料,采用EOF、相关分析等方法,研究了西伯利亚高压(Siberian High,SH)强度和北大西洋海表温度(SST)的变化特征,揭示了二者的联系及其时空变化。结果表明:1)冬季SH在1960s中后期开始偏弱,2003年后略增强。2)各季北大西洋SST指数(全区平均SST的标准化距平)均在1960s中期后偏低,1990s末后偏高。北大西洋海温三极子位相由正转负的时间在春冬季(1970s初)晚于夏秋季(1960s初),而后均在1990s中期后进入正位相。3)各季偏高(低)的北大西洋SST指数和海温三极子正(负)位相均有利于冬季SH偏强(弱),但前者与SH的关系更显著,且冬季最强。北大西洋北部和西南部是影响SH强度的关键区,但SH对北部SST异常的响应范围在冬季最大,而对西南部的响应范围在夏季最大。4)当冬季大西洋SST指数异常偏高时,下游激发出的罗斯贝波列使乌拉尔山高压脊加强,使SH上空负相对涡度平流增大,高层辐合和低层辐散增强,整个对流层下沉气流深厚,促使SH增强,反之亦然。     

On the forecast of the onset and end of the convective season in the Amazon

Summary ?Some features of the climate system that can be considered predictors of the onset and end of the convective season over the Amazon were identified using one-month lag correlations and field composites. The fields analyzed were sea surface temperature (SST), outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR), vertical velocity and upper tropospheric winds. Warm (cold) anomalies in the SST in the tropical North Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea tend to be associated with delayed (early) onsets. Likewise, there is a tendency towards a delayed (early) end of the convective season with cold (warm) anomalies in these ocean regions. In addition, the SST in the cold tongue region of the equatorial Pacific is negatively, though weakly correlated with the onset date. The signal of this SST is more evident in the case of the end date, which is earlier with respect to its mean date in most of El Ni?o cases. The convective activity intensity itself conditions the onset and the end of the convective season, as it is evidenced by the behavior of the OLR and the vertical velocity fields. The more (less) intense the convective activity over South America during the preceding month, the earlier the onset and the later the end of the convective season on the Amazon region. The prediction of the onset and end dates of the convective season in the Amazon region was explored using a simple multiple regression technique based on the variables that have shown precursor signals with respect to these dates. The correlation coefficient between the predicted and the observed onset date is 0.81, and in the case of the end date, it is 0.76. The skill to predict early, delayed and normal categories was high, since in more than two thirds of the cases the category was successfully predicted, and there were no predictions of categories opposed to those observed. Received July 23, 2001; revised February 22, 2002; accepted April 26, 2002     

平流层强、弱极涡事件的演变过程及其对我国冬季天气的影响

本文利用1979～2010年的NCEP再分析资料,通过北半球环状模NAM指数挑选出的强、弱极涡个例,分析了北半球平流层异常变化过程中行星波的演变以及与之相联系的我国天气的变化特征。结果表明,在强极涡事件前,行星波1波会被反射回对流层,极地波导减弱,低纬波导增强,中高纬地区的E-P通量矢量有着从平流层传播到对流层的趋势;强极涡事件后,极地波导增强,低纬波导减弱。在弱极涡事件前,中、高纬度行星波1波沿着极地波导的传播明显增强;弱极涡事件后,极地波导明显减弱。与此对应的我国天气也有明显变化,在强极涡事件前,我国大部分地区温度偏低,南方地区偏湿而新疆西北部和云南西部地区偏干;在强极涡事件后,东亚冬季风进一步增强,冷空气加强南下,南方地区可降水量减少,新疆西北部仍然偏干,而云南大部分地区可将水量增加。在弱极涡事件前,东亚冬季风显著增强,使我国气温偏冷,降水减少,而弱极涡事件后,我国气温明显回升,中、东部地区和新疆西北部地区降水明显增加。     

Triggering the low-carbon transition in the aftermath of the global financial crisis

An assessment of the post-Kyoto climate change negotiations, and the altered role of climate finance post-financial crisis, is presented. First, the paradigm shift of the Cancun Agreements is examined from an historical perspective and it is shown that the impasse in the negotiations, caused by the underlying over-emphasis on burden sharing reductions in emissions, can be overcome. Second, using information from two modelling exercises, it is demonstrated how climate finance can encourage the decoupling of carbon emissions from economic growth and thereby help align the development pattern with global climate goals. Third, a framework to place carbon finance within current discussions is sketched regarding both the reformation of the world financial systems and the facilitation of a sustainable economic recovery that is beneficial for North and South while addressing the low-carbon transition. It is concluded that upgrading climate finance is the key to triggering the shift to a low-carbon society and a system is proposed in which an agreed social cost of carbon is used to support the establishment of carbon emissions certificates to reorient a significant portion of global savings towards low-carbon investments.

Policy relevance

Investments that align development and climate objectives are shown to substantially lower the social cost of carbon and deliver long-term carbon emissions reductions. These reductions are greater than those contributed by the sole carbon price signal generated by a world cap-and-trade system. Carbon finance, as a part of the broader reform of financial systems and overseas aid, can help overcome the dual adversity of climate and financial crisis contexts. The carbon certificate, with an upfront agreed social cost of carbon, can be used as its instrument. The portion of the banking system that intends to reorient a significant part of world savings towards low-carbon investments could thus issue such carbon certificates. By giving carbon assets the status of a reserve currency, the system could even respond to the need of emerging countries to diversify their foreign exchange reserves and trigger a wave of worldwide sustainable growth through infrastructure markets.     

On the use of the Boussinesq equations,the reduced system,and the primitive equations for the computation of geophysical flows

Motivated in part by the mathematical problems associated with the application of open boundary conditions to the hydrostatic primitive equations (PE), Browning et al. (1990, Dyn. Atmos. Oceans, 14: 303–332) proposed the use of the reduced system (RS) of equations to replace PE for oceanographic problems. The RS are essentially the Boussinesq equations (BO) with the non-hydrostatic terms in the vertical momentum equation multiplied by a constant δ² ? 1. This artificially alters the physics (e.g. changing the intemal-inertial wave properties) to facilitate numerical integration, but the changes are assumed to have negligible effects on the dynamics of interest. We assess the accuracy and utility of the RS (following the guidelines for the choice of δ) by comparing numerical finite difference solutions of RS, PE and BO for initial-value problems involving three-dimensional instability of an ocean front and atmospheric frontal development in a two-dimensional Eady wave. Both explicit (BO, PE) and semi-implicit (BOSI, PESI) time-difference schemes are used for the Boussinesq and primitive equations. For RS, the same explicit scheme as for BO is used where δ ? 1 allows larger time steps than with the other explicit models. It is found that relative to BO solutions, the errors for RS are small but increase rapidly and monotonically with increasing δ (over a range consistent with the guidelines) and are greater than the errors for the other models. The use of BOSI allows time steps at least as large as those for RS and results in smaller errors than RS. For these problems, BOSI is the preferable model to replace PE.     

准两年振荡对大气中微量气体分布的影响

NCAR的包含化学、辐射、动力相互作用的两维模式（SOCRATES）移植回国后进行了初步的模拟试验,用以研究某些对环境问题重要的微量气体的化学、辐射、动力传输过程。在不考虑极地平流层云和气溶胶表面非均相化学等情况下,模式积分多年,计算结果稳定,模拟的风场、温度场显示出正常的季节变化,模拟的微量气体分布与卫星实测资料对照,结果也比较一致。为了探讨热带平流层风场的准两年周期振荡（QBO）对平流层微量气体分布的影响,我们做了QBO强迫的数值试验,即在模式中加入QBO强迫,并与不考虑QBO强迫的模拟结果对比。结果表明,QBO与其相关的次级环流所引起动力输送的变化,使平流层微量气体分布发生变化。     

春季青藏高原西北侧一次平流层臭氧向对流层传输的模拟研究

利用NCEP/NCAR FNL客观分析资料和欧洲中期天气预报中心(ECMWF)的Interim再分析资料以及臭氧监测仪(OMI)的臭氧廓线资料,结合区域大气化学模式WRF-Chem对中国春季一次高空冷槽过境引起的对流层顶折卷过程(2012年3月19—21日)进行了分析,并从平流、湍流混合、对流输送等几个方面诊断分析了平流层臭氧向对流层的传输特征和细节。结果表明,发生于青藏高原西北侧的对流层顶折卷事件,其所在位置处于热带对流层顶向中纬度对流层顶的过渡区,由于陡峭的对流层顶南北梯度,在该区域发生的平流层-对流层物质交换(STE)比对流层顶东西方向折卷引起的物质交换要强烈和持久,跨越等熵面的物质交换和湍流混合对平流层-对流层物质交换有很大的贡献。大地形对平流层-对流层物质交换过程有显著的影响,且具有明显的日变化特征。早晚时段,大地形导致的爬坡上升气流显著,抑制了平流层空气与对流层空气的混合交换。午后,大地形热力作用增强,受背风坡局地环流的影响,靠近山顶处湍流混合作用对上对流层臭氧浓度升高的贡献显著增强,且地形越高,这种效应越显著。地形的湍流混合作用在2.5 km高度以上凸显,此高度之上地形平均高度每升高100 m,湍流混合的贡献增加约1%。     

On the Scale-dependence of the Gradient Richardson Number in the Residual Layer

We present results of a technique for examining the scale-dependence of the gradient Richardson number, Ri, in the nighttime residual layer. The technique makes use of a series of high-resolution, in situ, vertical profiles of wind speed and potential temperature obtained during CASES-99 in south-eastern Kansas, U.S.A. in October 1999. These profiles extended from the surface, through the nighttime stable boundary layer, and well into the residual layer. Analyses of the vertical gradients of both wind speed, potential temperature and turbulence profiles over a wide range of vertical scale sizes are used to estimate profiles of the local Ri and turbulence structure as a function of scale size. The utility of the technique lies both with the extensive height range of the residual layer as well as with the fact that the sub-metre resolution of the raw profiles enables a metre-by-metre ‘sliding’ average of the scale-dependent Richardson number values over hundreds of metres vertically. The results presented here show that small-scale turbulence is a ubiquitous and omnipresent feature of the residual layer, and that the region is dynamic and highly variable, exhibiting persistent turbulent structure on vertical scales of a few tens of metres or less. Furthermore, these scales are comparable to the scales over which the Ri is less than or equal to the critical value of Ri _c of 0.25, although turbulence is also shown to exist in regions with significantly larger Ri values, an observation at least consistent with the concept of hysteresis in turbulence generation and maintenance. Insofar as the important scale sizes are comparable to or smaller than the resolution of current models, it follows that, in order to resolve the observed details of small Ri values and the concomitant turbulence generation, future models need to be capable of significantly higher resolutions.