A Numerical Research on the Influences of the Diurnal Variation of Solar Radiation on the Medium-Range Weather Processes

In this paper, we use a spectral model for the medium-range numerical weather forecast to discuss the impact of the diurnal variation of solar radiation on the medium-range weather processes. Under the tests of two typical winter and summer cases, we find that the influences of the diurnal variation of solar radiation on summer weather are really important, especially on its rainfall, surface heat transport and 500 hPa height field. On winter weather, however, the influences are very weak.     

Achievements on the Study of the Continent Atmospheric Baseline

The Study of the Continent Atmospheric Baseline (SCAB) is one of Fundamental Research Projects of the PRC Ministry of Science and Technology. It was formally started at the beginning of 2000. Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Mt. Wa Liguan GAW/ WMO baseline observatory (Qinghai Province), atmospheric background stations in Lin'an (Zhejiang Province), Shangdianzi (Beijing) and Longfengshan (Heilongjiang Province) participated in the project. The main stipulated tasks are fulfilled, and the final summery report is being prepared. The main advances and achievements in the SCAB are as follows:     

Dependence of Upper Atmosphere Photochemistry on the Shape of the Diurnal Cycle of the Photolysis Rates

A photochemical model of the atmosphere constitutes a non–linear, non–autonomous dynamical system, enforced by the Earth’s rotation. Some studies have shown that the region of the mesopause tends towards non–linear responses such as period-doubling cascades and chaos. In these studies, simple approximations for the diurnal variations of the photolysis rates are assumed. The goal of this article is to investigate what happens if the more realistic, calculated photolysis rates are introduced. It is found that, if the usual approximations—sinusoidal and step fiunctions—are assumed, the responses of the system are similar: it converges to a 2–day periodic solution. If the more realistic, calculated diurnal cycle is introduced, a new 4–day subharmonic appear.     

Analytical Studies on the Variations of the Antarctic Ozone Layer

The Antarctic ozone hole which was discovered in the mid 1980s has caused much attention from the scientists and politicians throughout the world.For the formation of the Antarctic ozone hole, most scientists believe that the man-made chemical materials such as CFCs etc. are main cause. On the other hand, the electrochemistry-dynamics theory presented by Wei (Guang Ming Daily Dec. 11 ,1990) two years ago has also caused some attention.In the paper the data of ozone, solar activity meteorology over Antarctica have been used for statistical analytical studies. Our results present some new evidence to support Wei's theory. However the influence of the human activities can never be slighted.     

The Theory Study of the Influence of the Topography on the Cold Frontal Motion

In order to study the characteristics of cold frontal motion over the arbitrary topography, the velocity of cold frontal movement is derived by using the one layer shallow-water model. The results show that there exist the retardation in upwind side and rapid descent in the lee slope when the cold front crosses the topography.     

Numerical Experiments of the Effects of Initial Desert Moisture on the Climate Change

A numerical model with the p-sigma incorporated coordinate system and primitive equations is used to simulate the effect of initial soil moisture in desert areas on the climate change. The results show that the present deserts have a tendency to expand. When the initial soil moisture in the desert regions increases,the desert areas will shrink but can not disappear. The small deserts may not remain any longer when there are sources of water vapour around. Both the land-sea contrast and the topography are the background conditions of the present desert distribution through the mechanism of the downdrafts and the rare precipitation over the desert regions. The increase of the initial desert soil moisture will weaken the summer monsoon circulation and, consequently, the monsoonal precipitation.     

Influence of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation on the Winter Climate of East China

The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation （AMO）, the multidecadal variation of North Atlantic sea surface temperature （SST）, exhibits an oscillation with a period of 65-80 years and an amplitude of 0.4℃. Observational composite analyses reveal that the warm phase AMO is linked to warmer winters in East China, with enhanced precipitation in the north of this region and reduced precipitation in the south, on multidecadal time scales. The pattern is reversed during the cold phase AMO. Whether the AMO acts as a forcing of the multidecadal winter climate of East China is explored by investigating the atmospheric response to warm AMO SST anomalies in a large ensemble of atmospheric general circulation model （AGCM） experiments. The results from three AGCMs are consistent and suggest that the AMO warmth favors warmer winters in East China. This influence is realized through inducing negative surface air pressure anomalies in the hemispheric-wide domain extending from the midlatitude North Atlantic to midlatitude Eurasia. These negative surface anomalies favor the weakening of the Mongolian Cold High, and thus induce a weaker East Asian Winter Monsoon.     

A Numerical Experiment of Mesolow on the Eastern Side of the Taihang Mountains

A numerical experiment on the formation and decay process of a mesolow on the plain east to the Taihang Mountains has been conducted. The dynamical effect of the special topography of the Taihang Mountains and the Yanshan Mountains on the formation of the mesolow is very important. Namely, the difference of the heating between the Taihang Mountains and the North China plain plays an important role in the formation and decay of the mesolow.     

Topographic Effect on the Energetics of Geostrophic Adjustment

1. IntroductionThe adjustment of mass and velocity fields tosome imposed state of imbalance, constitutes a clas-sical problem in meteorology and oceanography. Tak-ing into account of the earth's rotation, the process isusually referred to as 'geostrophic adjustment', and isconcerned with the wind and density fields that persistafter gravity waves have radiated excess energy away(Rossby, 1937), and with the form of the gravity-waveenergy itself. Since the pioneer work of Rossby (1937),the stud…     

Impacts of the Kuwait Oil Fires on the Mount Qomolangma Region

Mt. Qomolangma (also known as Mt. Everest), the world’s highest mountain, is situated over the world’s highest plateau, the Tibetan Plateau. Because of its height and because of its distance from industrialized areas, the environmental state of the Mt. Qomolangma region can normally be considered “undisturbed”. It is interesting to investigate how this “undisturbed” state has been changing with time and whether it has been influenced by large environmentally disruptive events such as the Kuwait oil fires of 1990 and 1991 (Small, 1991). In order to do this, riv-er water samples were collected from the Rongpu River at Rongpu Temple Station in the summers of 1992 and 1993, as was done in 1975, and aerosol samples were collected in the summer of 1992 at the same station as was done in 1980. River water samples were analyzed using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Aerosol samples were analyzed using proton-induced x-ray emission (PIXE) at the University of Fudan in Shanghai. The results show that the concentrations of chemical species in the river water at Rongpu Temple Station were much higher in the summer of 1992 than they were in 1975 and 1993, and the concentrations of atmospheric chemical species were much higher in 1992 than they were in 1980. The environment of the north slope of Mt. Qomolangma was therefore heavily polluted before and/or during the summer of 1992, possibly due to the Kuwait oil fires in 1990 and 1991.     

Effect of Atmospheric Haze on the Deterioration of Visibility over the Pearl River Delta

The studies on the effect of atmospheric aerosol on climate and environment are hot issues in the current circle of international science and technology. In recent years the pollution of aerosol is getting worse and worse over the Pearl River Delta. The clouds of aerosol occur all year round, with heavy pollution area located at the western side at the mouth of Pearl River. The haze weather mainly occurs from October to April next year, resulting in visibility deterioration. From the beginning of 1980s, visibility dramatically deteriorated, obviously increasing haze weather, in which there are three big fluctuations, showing the periods of pollutions of dust, sulphate and dust, fine particle from photochemical process and sulphate and dust accompanying with the development of economy respectively. The long-term tendency of visibility caused by fog and light fog does not show a tendency due to human activities or economic development, which mainly shows the interannual and interdecadal variation of climate. The deterioration of visibility has close relation to the fine particles over Pearl River Delta, with half of PM10 overpass the limited value set by national second graded standard (150μg m-3), meanwhile, all values of PM2.5 overpass the day-mean limited value of American national standard (65μg m-3), especially from October to January next year, monthly mean values of PM2.5 almost reach two times of standard value, indicating the fine particle concentration is very high. The ratio of PM2.5 to PM10 is also very high, reaching 58%-77%, higher especially in dry season than in rainy season. Thus it is the fine particle pollution in aerosol pollution over the Pearl River Delta. Compared with the data of 15 years ago, the ratio of fine particle to aerosol has obviously increased.     

Numerical Study on the Impacts of Heterogeneous Reactions on Ozone Formation in the Beijing Urban Area

The air quality model CMAQ-MADRID （Community Multiscale Air Quality-Model of Aerosol Dynamics, Reaction, Ionization and Dissolution） was employed to simulate summer O3 formation in Beijing China, in order to explore the impacts of four heterogeneous reactions on O3 formation in an urban area. The results showed that the impacts were obvious and exhibited the characteristics of a typical response of a VOC-limited regime in the urban area. For the four heterogeneous reactions considered, the NO2 and HO2 heterogeneous reactions have the most severe impacts on O3 formation. During the O3 formation period, the NO2 heterogeneous reaction increased new radical creation by 30%, raising the atmospheric activity as more NO→NO2 conversion occurred, thus causing the O3 to rise. The increase of O3 peak concentration reached a maximum value of 67 ppb in the urban area. In the morning hours, high NO titration reduced the effect of the photolysis of HONO, which was produced heterogeneously at night in the surface layer. The NO2 heterogeneous reaction in the daytime is likely one of the major reasons causing the O3 increase in the Beijing urban area. The HO2 heterogeneous reaction accelerated radical termination, resulting in a decrease of the radical concentration by 44% at the most. O3 peak concentration decreased by a maximum amount of 24 ppb in the urban area. The simulation results were improved when the heterogeneous reactions were included, with the O3 and HONO model results close to the observations.     

Effect of Merging of the Convective Cloud Clusters on Occurrence of Heavy Rainfall

Sun et al., (1983) have given some favourable environmental conditions and have shown that there are four common features in convective rainstorms. In this paper, an important process of evolution of cloud systems was revealed when heavy rainfall occurred based on the diagnostic analysis of heavy rainfall cases. When the different cloud systems merge into a large one, the mesoscale heavy rainfall occurs and enhances. In other words, the process of evolution of cloud systems emphasized in this paper is the process of interaction between two cloud systems when the heavy rainfall occurs. The favourable environmental condition is also investigated.     

Study on the Interaction of Non-axisymmetric Binary Vortices

In the context of advection dynamics,19 experiments(Exps.)are performed using a quasi-geostrophic barotropic vorticity equation model to explore the condition for the mergence of binary vortices and the self-organization of the larger scale vortex.Results show that the initial distance between the centers of binary vortices and the non-axisymmetric distributions of their initial vorticity are two factors affecting the mergence of binary vortices.There is a critical distance for the mergence of initial symmetric binary vortices, however,the mergence of initial non-axisymmetric binary vortices is also affected by the asymmetric structure of initial vortices.The self-organization processes in 19 experiments can be classified into two types:one is the merging of identical,axisymmetric binary vortices in which the interaction of the two vortices undergoes slowly change,rapid change,and the formation,stretching,and development of the filaments of vorticity, and the two vortices merge into a symmetric vortex,with its vorticity piled up in the inner region coming from the two initial vortices,and the vorticity of the spiral band in the outer region from the stretching of the filaments of the two initial vortices.And the other type is the merging of the two non-axisymmetric initial vortices of an elliptic vortex and an eccentric vortex in which the elliptic vortex,on the one hand, mutually rotates,and on the other hand moves towards the center of the computational domain,at the same time expands its vorticity area,and at last forms the inner core of resultant state vortex;and the eccentric vortex mutually rotates,meanwhile continuously stretches,and finally forms the spiral band of resultant state vortex.The interaction process is characteristic of the vorticity piled up in the inner core region of resultant state vortex originating from the elliptic vortex and the vorticity in spiral band mainly from the successive stretch and rupture of the eccentric vortex.     

Impacts of Drying on the Agricultural Structure of North China

It is one of subprojects of the National Basic Theoretical Research Project "The Living Environment Evolution and the Prediction Research on Drying Trend in North China." The project includes three parts:(1) the regionalization of ecological functional zones and discussions;(2) changes of water resources and their impacts on the agricultural production;(3) impacts of drying on the agricultural structure of arid or semiarid areas in North China and the corresponding countermeasures.     

Added Benefit of the Early-Morning-Orbit Satellite Fengyun-3E on the Global Microwave Sounding of the Three-Orbit Constellation

The three-orbit constellation can comprehensively increase the spatial coverage of polar-orbiting satellites, but the polar-orbiting satellites currently in operation are only mid-morning-orbit and afternoon-orbit satellites. Fengyun-3E(FY-3E) was launched successfully on 5 July 2021 in China. As an early-morning-orbit satellite, FY-3E can help form a complete three-orbit observation system together with the mid-morning and afternoon satellites in the current mainstream operational system. In th...     

Effects of Heterogeneous Vegetation on the Surface Hydrological Cycle

Using the three-layer variable infiltration capacity (VIC-3L) hydrological model and the successive interpolation approach (SIA) of climate factors, the authors studied the effect of different land cover types on the surface hydrological cycle. Daily climate data from 1992 to 2001 and remotely-sensed leaf area index (LAI) are used in the model. The model is applied to the Baohe River basin, a subbasin of the Yangtze River basin, China, with an area of 2500 km2. The vegetation cover types in the Baohe River basin consist mostly of the mixed forest type (85%). Comparison of the modeled results with the observed discharge data suggests that: (1) Daily discharges over the period of 1992–2001 simulated with inputs of remotely-sensed land cover data and LAI data can generally produce observed discharge variations, and the modeled annual total discharge agrees with observations with a mean difference of 1.4%. The use of remote sensing images also makes the modeled spatial distributions of evapotranspiration physically meaningful. (2) The relative computing error (RCE) of the annual average discharge is ?24.8% when the homogeneous broadleaf deciduous forestry cover is assumed for the watershed. The error is 21.8% when a homogeneous cropland cover is assumed and ?14.32% when an REDC (Resource and Environment Database of China) land cover map is used. The error is reduced to 1.4% when a remotely-sensed land cover at 1000-m resolution is used.     

Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulations of the Effects of a Cold Water Surface on the Evolution and Propagation of Thunderstorms

The influences of large areas of semi-unbounded cold water surface on the evolution, propagation and precipitation production of thunderstorms are simulated by using a fully elastic three-dimensional numerical hailstorm model. Real sounding profiles for temperature, humidity and wind are employed. The model has successfully simulated the significant modification of the propagation path of thunderstorms near the cold water area. The path change can be either ‘along-bank’ or ‘toward-bank’, depending on the position of the storm system relative to convergence zone of the water-land circulation. The simulations also show that thunderstorms developing or propagating within the convergence zone of local circulation will be intensified and produce much heavier hail, whereas those over cold water surface or the air that has been cooled by the water will be strongly inhibited.The influence of the cold water surface on thunderstorm characters is largely dependent upon the direction and intensity of the low-level wind.     

Impact of the Thermal State of the Tropical Western Pacific on Onset Date and Process of the South China Sea Summer Monsoon

Since the early or late onset of the South China Sea summer monsoon （SCSM） has a large impact on summer monsoon rainfall in East Asia, the mechanism and process of early or late onset of the SCSM are an worthy issue to study. In this paper, the results analyzed by using the observed data show that the onset date and process of the SCSM are closely associated with the thermal state of the tropical western Pacific in spring. When the tropical western Pacific is in a warming state in spring, the western Pacific subtropical high shifts eastward, and twin cyclones are early caused over the Bay of Bengal and Sumatra before the SCSM onset. In this case, the cyclonic circulation located over the Bay of Bengal can be early intensified and become into a strong trough. Thus, the westerly flow and convective activity can be intensified over Sumatra, the Indo-China Peninsula and the South China Sea （SCS） in mid-May. This leads to early onset of the SCSM. In contrast, when the tropical western Pacific is in a cooling state, the western Pacific subtropical high anomalously shifts westward, the twin cyclones located over the equatorial eastern Indian Ocean and Sumatra are weakened, and the twin anomaly anticyclones appear over these regions from late April to mid-May. Thus, the westerly flow and convective activity cannot be early intensified over the Indo-China Peninsula and the SCS. Only when the western Pacific subtropical high moves eastward, the weak trough located over the Bay of Bengal can be intensified and become into a strong trough, the strong southwesterly wind and convective activity can be intensified over the Indo-China Peninsula and the SCS in late May. Thus, this leads to late onset of the SCSM. Moreover, in this paper, the influencing mechanism of the thermal state of the tropical western Pacific on the SCSM onset is discussed further from the Walker circulation anomalies in the different thermal states of the tropical western Pacific.