Development and validation of a regional coupled atmosphere lake model for the Caspian Sea Basin

We present a validation analysis of a regional climate model coupled to a distributed one dimensional (1D) lake model for the Caspian Sea Basin. Two model grid spacings are tested, 50 and 20 km, the simulation period is 1989–2008 and the lateral boundary conditions are from the ERA-Interim reanalysis of observations. The model is validated against atmospheric as well as lake variables. The model performance in reproducing precipitation and temperature mean seasonal climatology, seasonal cycles and interannual variability is generally good, with the model results being mostly within the observational uncertainty range. The model appears to overestimate cloudiness and underestimate surface radiation, although a large observational uncertainty is found in these variables. The 1D distributed lake model (run at each grid point of the lake area) reproduces the observed lake-average sea surface temperature (SST), although differences compared to observations are found in the spatial structure of the SST, most likely as a result of the absence of 3 dimensional lake water circulations. The evolution of lake ice cover and near surface wind over the lake area is also reproduced by the model reasonably well. Improvements resulting from the increase of resolution from 50 to 20 km are most significant in the lake model. Overall the performance of the coupled regional climate—1D lake model system appears to be of sufficient quality for application to climate change scenario simulations over the Caspian Sea Basin.     

Impact of the winter North-Atlantic weather regimes on subtropical sea-surface height variability

Interannual variability of subtropical sea-surface-height (SSH) anomalies, estimated by satellite and tide-gauge data, is investigated in relation to wintertime daily North-Atlantic weather regimes. Sea-level anomalies can be viewed as proxies for the subtropical gyre intensity because of the intrinsic baroclinic structure of the circulation. Our results show that the strongest correlation between SSH and weather regimes is found with the so-called Atlantic-Ridge (AR) while no significant values are obtained for the other regimes, including those related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), known as the primary actor of the Atlantic dynamics. Wintertime AR events are characterized by anticyclonic wind anomalies off Europe leading to a northward shift of the climatological wind-stress curl. The latter affects subtropical SSH annual variability by altered Sverdrup balance and ocean Rossby wave dynamics propagating westward from the African coast towards the Caribbean. The use of a simple linear planetary geostrophic model allows to quantify those effects and confirms the primary importance of the winter season to explain the largest part of SSH interannual variability in the Atlantic subtropical gyre. Our results open new perspectives in the comprehension of North-Atlantic Ocean variability emphasizing the role of AR as a driver of interannual variability at least of comparable importance to NAO.     

The Indo-Australian monsoon and its relationship to ENSO and IOD in reanalysis data and the CMIP3/CMIP5 simulations

A large spread exists in both Indian and Australian average monsoon rainfall and in their interannual variations diagnosed from various observational and reanalysis products. While the multi model mean monsoon rainfall from 59 models taking part in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3 and CMIP5) fall within the observational uncertainty, considerable model spread exists. Rainfall seasonality is consistent across observations and reanalyses, but most CMIP models produce either a too peaked or a too flat seasonal cycle, with CMIP5 models generally performing better than CMIP3. Considering all North-Australia rainfall, most models reproduce the observed Australian monsoon-El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnection, with the strength of the relationship dependent on the strength of the simulated ENSO. However, over the Maritime Continent, the simulated monsoon-ENSO connection is generally weaker than observed, depending on the ability of each model to realistically reproduce the ENSO signature in the Warm Pool region. A large part of this bias comes from the contribution of Papua, where moisture convergence seems to be particularly affected by this SST bias. The Indian summer monsoon-ENSO relationship is affected by overly persistent ENSO events in many CMIP models. Despite significant wind anomalies in the Indian Ocean related to Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) events, the monsoon-IOD relationship remains relatively weak both in the observations and in the CMIP models. Based on model fidelity in reproducing realistic monsoon characteristics and ENSO teleconnections, we objectively select 12 “best” models to analyze projections in the rcp8.5 scenario. Eleven of these models are from the CMIP5 ensemble. In India and Australia, most of these models produce 5–20 % more monsoon rainfall over the second half of the twentieth century than during the late nineteenth century. By contrast, there is no clear model consensus over the Maritime Continent.     

Probing the IRC+10 ° 216 circumstellar envelope using spectroscopic observations of background stars

A unique and novel set of observations has been undertaken to study the circumstellar envelope (CSE) of the nearby (130 pc) carbon star IRC +10° 216 using optical absorption spectroscopy towards twobackground stars lying beyond the envelope.The primary aim of the observations is to search for diffuse band (DIB)carriers in the CSE. The circumstellar H+2H₂column density expected along the line of sight towards the targets islarge compared to that derived from the small interstellar reddening inthis region, E _B-V< 0.03 mag. We summarise our mainfindings, already reported in Kendall et al. (2002): The 6284Å DIB is detected in the VLT/UVES spectrum of one target, but clearly arises inthe foreground ISM. No other DIB is seen. Hence the DIB carriers, if present in the CSE, have a low abundance relative to H in the C-rich envelope of IRC +10°216, in comparison with this ratio in theISM. An important new result, previously unreported, concerns the detectionof circumstellar C₂ via absorption of the Phillips bandnear 8760Å.     

Solar abundance of praseodymium

16 lines of Pr ii possibly present in the solar photospheric spectrum have been studied. When including hyperfine structure in synthetic calculations, investigations of 9 lines result in an abundance A _Pr = 0.71 ± 0.08 in the log A _H = 12.00 scale.     

First detection of polarization of the submillimeter diffuse Galactic dust emission by Archeops

We present the first determination of the Galactic polarized emission at 353 GHz by Archeops. The data were taken during the Arctic night of February 7, 2002 after the balloon-borne instrument was launched by CNES from the Swedish Esrange base near Kiruna. In addition to the 143 and 217 GHz frequency bands dedicated to CMB studies, Archeops had one 545 GHz and six 353 GHz bolometers mounted in three polarization sensitive pairs that were used for Galactic foreground studies. We present maps of the I,Q,U Stokes parameters over 17% of the sky and with a 13 arcmin resolution at 353 GHz (850 μm). They show a significant Galactic large scale polarized emission coherent on the longitude ranges [100°,120°] and [180°,200°] with a degree of polarization at the level of 4–5%, in agreement with expectations from starlight polarization measurements. Some regions in the Galactic plane (Gem OB1, Cassiopeia) show an even stronger degree of polarization in the range 10–20%. Those findings provide strong evidence for a powerful grain alignment mechanism throughout the interstellar medium and a coherent magnetic field coplanar to the Galactic plane. This magnetic field pervades even some dense clouds. Extrapolated to high Galactic latitude, these results indicate that interstellar dust polarized emission is the major foreground for PLANCK-HFI CMB polarization measurement.     

Cadmium,copper and lead in the western Mediterranean Sea

The results of determinations of cadmium, copper and lead in western Mediterranean waters collected during the PHYCEMED 81 cruise are discussed in this paper. The analyses were carried out according to two different methods: flameless atomic absorption and anodic stripping voltammetry. Very strict conditions of sampling and treatment were maintained in order to reduce the chance of contamination. The concentrations found are considerably lower than those usually reported for Mediterranean waters. The distributions are homogeneous, both vertically and from one station to another. The average concentrations are 8 ng 1^?1 for Cd, 90 ng 1^?1 for Cu and 30–40 ng^?1 for Pb. This homogeneity, as well as the concentrations of cadmium and lead, may be explained by the hydrological conditions of the Mediterranean Sea.