A comparison of a GCM simulation of the seasonal cycle of the atmosphere with observations part II: Stationary waves and transient fluctuations

Abstract

This paper presents the seasonal dependence of the stationary and transient eddies of the GLAS/UMD GCM from a two‐year annual cycle integration.

The simulated Northern Hemisphere stationary waves are realistic in winter (below 250 mb) and in spring and fall; in winter a large anomalous ridge over the date‐line is noted above 250 mb. The model does not simulate the winter barotropic trough over eastern Canada. In summer the mid‐latitude stationary waves are poorly simulated (possibly owing to anomalous summer rainfall), but the monsoonal structure in the tropics is captured.

The stationary wave field at 500 mb in the Southern Hemisphere is not well simulated, with the range of season‐to‐season variability being much larger than observed. The zonally averaged stationary wave rms is realistic below 200 mb in winter and spring, but is less so in summer and autumn, possibly due to erroneous summertime precipitation.

The geographical distributions of 500‐mb transient and band‐pass height rms, of transient 850‐mb heat flux and of 200‐mb momentum flux in the Northern Hemisphere are well simulated except for summer. The latitude‐height dependence of height rms and low‐level transient heat flux is realistic in both summer and winter, but the transient momentum flux is not well simulated in summer. The mid‐level transient heat flux is too strong.

The overall pattern of transient activity at 500 mb in the Southern Hemisphere is reasonable in the GCM, although there is too much variability in the eastern Pacific, while the observed peak in rms in the New Zealand sector is displaced eastwards in the GCM. The latitude‐height dependence of transient height rms and transient fluxes of heat and momentum looks quite realistic, and is similar in accuracy to the Northern Hemispheric results.     

Evaluating Hydrological Responses to Urbanization in a Tropical River Basin: A Water Resources Management Perspective

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Estimation of site response functions for the central seismic gap of Himalaya,India

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Validation of SWH and SSHA from SARAL/AltiKa Using Jason-2 and In-Situ Observations

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Mass balance and morphological evolution of the Dokriani Glacier,central Himalaya,India during 1999–2014

Glaciological mass balance(MB)is considered the most direct,undelayed and unfiltered response of the glaciers to climatic perturbations.However,it may inherit errors associated with stake underrepresentation,averaging over the entire glacier and human bias.Therefore,proper validation of glaciological MB with geodetic MB is highly recommended by the World Glacier Monitoring Service(WGMS).The present study focuses on the Dokriani Glacier,central Himalaya which is one of the bench-mark glaciers in the region and has glaciological MB records from 1993 to 2013 with intermittent gaps.In the present study,firstly the glaciological MB series is extended to 2014 i.e.,field-based MB for one more year is computed and,to compare with it,the geodetic MB is computed for the 1999–2014 period using high resolution Cartosat-1 digital elevation model(DEM)and SRTM DEM.Finally,the study assesses the regional representation of the Dokriani Glacier in terms of MB and evaluates the influence of the MB regime on its morphological evolution.Results show that the average glaciological MB(-0.34±0.2 m water equivalent(w.e.)y-1)is more negative than the geodetic MB(-0.23±0.1 m w.e.y-1)for the 1999–2014 period.This is likely because of the partial representation of glacier margins in the glaciological MB,where melting is strikingly low owing to thick debris cover(>30 cm).In contrast,geodetic MB considers all marginal pixels leading to a comparatively low MB.A comparative assessment shows that the MB of Dokriani Glacier is less negative(possibly due to its huge accumulation area)than most other glacier-specific and regional MBs,restricting it to be a representative glacier in the region.Moreover,continuous negative MB has brought a peculiar change in the epiglacial morphology in the lower tongue of the glacier as differential debris thickness-induced differential melting has turned the glacier surface into a concave one.This concavity has led to development of a large(10–20 m deep)supraglacial channel which is expanding incessantly.The supraglacial channel is also connected with the snout wall and accelerates terminus disintegration.Given the total thickness of about 30–50 m in the lower glacier tongue,downwasting at its current pace,deepening/widening of supraglacial channel coupled with rapid terminus retreat may lead to the complete vanishing of the lower one km glacier tongue.     

Visual interpretation of landsat-1 imagery of central and southern districts of Haryana state,India

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