Mechanisms for the land/sea warming contrast exhibited by simulations of climate change

The land/sea warming contrast is a phenomenon of both equilibrium and transient simulations of climate change: large areas of the land surface at most latitudes undergo temperature changes whose amplitude is more than those of the surrounding oceans. Using idealised GCM experiments with perturbed SSTs, we show that the land/sea contrast in equilibrium simulations is associated with local feedbacks and the hydrological cycle over land, rather than with externally imposed radiative forcing. This mechanism also explains a large component of the land/sea contrast in transient simulations as well. We propose a conceptual model with three elements: (1) there is a spatially variable level in the lower troposphere at which temperature change is the same over land and sea; (2) the dependence of lapse rate on moisture and temperature causes different changes in lapse rate upon warming over land and sea, and hence a surface land/sea temperature contrast; (3) moisture convergence over land predominantly takes place at levels significantly colder than the surface; wherever moisture supply over land is limited, the increase of evaporation over land upon warming is limited, reducing the relative humidity in the boundary layer over land, and hence also enhancing the land/sea contrast. The non-linearity of the Clausius–Clapeyron relationship of saturation specific humidity to temperature is critical in (2) and (3). We examine the sensitivity of the land/sea contrast to model representations of different physical processes using a large ensemble of climate model integrations with perturbed parameters, and find that it is most sensitive to representation of large-scale cloud and stomatal closure. We discuss our results in the context of high-resolution and Earth-system modelling of climate change.     

A place-based model for understanding community resilience to natural disasters

There is considerable research interest on the meaning and measurement of resilience from a variety of research perspectives including those from the hazards/disasters and global change communities. The identification of standards and metrics for measuring disaster resilience is one of the challenges faced by local, state, and federal agencies, especially in the United States. This paper provides a new framework, the disaster resilience of place (DROP) model, designed to improve comparative assessments of disaster resilience at the local or community level. A candidate set of variables for implementing the model are also presented as a first step towards its implementation.     

A quantitative performance assessment of cloud regimes in climate models

Differences in the radiative feedback from clouds account for much of the variation in climate sensitivity amongst General Circulation Models (GCMs). Therefore metrics of model performance which are demonstrated to be relevant to the cloud response to climate change form an important contribution to the overall evaluation of GCMs. In this paper we demonstrate an alternative method for assigning model data to observed cloud regimes obtained from clustering histograms of cloud amount in joint cloud optical depth—cloud top pressure classes. The method removes some of the subjectivity that exists in previous GCM cloud clustering studies. We apply the method to ten GCMs submitted to the Cloud Feedback Model Intercomparison Project (CFMIP), evaluate the simulated cloud regimes and analyse the climate change response in the context of these regimes. We also propose two cloud regime metrics, one of which is specifically targeted at assessing GCMs for the purpose of obtaining the global cloud radiative response to climate change. Most of the global variance in the cloud radiative response between GCMs is due to low clouds, with 47% arising from the stratocumulus regime and 18% due to the regime characterised by clouds undergoing transition from stratocumulus to cumulus. This result is found to be dominated by two structurally similar GCMs. The shallow cumulus regime, though widespread, has a smaller contribution and reduces the variance. For the stratocumulus and transition regimes, part of the variance results from a large model spread in the radiative properties of the regime in the control simulation. Comparison with observations reveals a systematic bias for both the stratocumulus and transition regimes to be overly reflective. If this bias was corrected with all other aspects of the response unchanged, the variance in the low cloud response would reduce. The response of some regimes with high cloud tops differ between the GCMs. These regimes are simulated too infrequently in a few of the models. If the frequency in the control simulation were more realistic and changes within the regimes were unaltered, the variance in the cloud radiative response from high-top clouds would increase. As a result, use of observations of the mean present-day cloud regimes suggests that whilst improvements in the simulation of the cloud regimes would impact the climate sensitivity, the inter-model variance may not reduce. When the cloud regime metric is calculated for the GCMs analysed here, only one model is on average consistent with observations within their uncertainty (and even this model is not consistent with the observations for all regimes), indicating scope for improvement in the simulation of cloud regimes. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Characterization of manganese oxide precipitates from Appalachian coal mine drainage treatment systems

The removal of Mn(II) from coal mine drainage (CMD) by chemical addition/active treatment can significantly increase treatment costs. Passive treatment for Mn removal involves promotion of biological oxidative precipitation of manganese oxides (MnO_x). Manganese(II) removal was studied in three passive treatment systems in western Pennsylvania that differed based on their influent Mn(II) concentrations (20–150 mg/L), system construction (±inoculation with patented Mn(II)-oxidizing bacteria), and bed materials (limestone vs. sandstone). Manganese(II) removal occurred at pH values as low as 5.0 and temperatures as low as 2 °C, but was enhanced at circumneutral pH and warmer temperatures. Trace metals such as Zn, Ni and Co were removed effectively, in most cases preferentially, into the MnO_x precipitates. Based on synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction and Mn K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, the predominant Mn oxides at all sites were poorly crystalline hexagonal birnessite, triclinic birnessite and todorokite. The surface morphology of the MnO_x precipitates from all sites was coarse and “sponge-like” composed of nm-sized lathes and thin sheets. Based on scanning electron microscopy (SEM), MnO_x precipitates were found in close proximity to both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. The greatest removal efficiency of Mn(II) occurred at the one site with a higher pH in the bed and a higher influent total organic C (TOC) concentration (provided by an upstream wetland). Biological oxidation of Mn(II) driven by heterotrophic activity was most likely the predominant Mn removal mechanism in these systems. Influent water chemistry and Mn(II) oxidation kinetics affected the relative distribution of MnO_x mineral assemblages in CMD treatment systems.     

The first high-amplitude δ Scuti star in an eclipsing binary system

Consider radar ranging of a distant galaxy in a Friedman–Lemaître cosmological model. In this model the comoving coordinate of the galaxy is constant; hence, the equations of null geodesics for photons travelling to the distant galaxy and back imply Here, τ_e, τ_r and τ_o are, respectively, the times of emission, reflection and observation of the reflected photons, and a (τ) is the scalefactor. Since the Universe is expanding, a (τ) is a monotonically increasing function, so the return traveltime, τ_o−τ_r, must be greater than the forward traveltime, τ_r−τ_e. Clearly, space expands, and on their way back, the photons must travel a longer distance! This paper explains why this argument for the Expansion of Space (EoS) is wrong. We argue that, unlike the expansion of the cosmic substratum, the EoS is unobservable. We therefore propose to apply to it – just like to the ether – Ockham's razor.     

Atomic displacements in the normal-incommensurate phase transition in Co-åkermanite (Ca2CoSi2O7)

New in-situ high-temperature X-ray powder diffraction data on the normal-incommensurate phase transition in Co-åkermanite (Ca₂CoSi₂O₇) are presented. Evidence for the phase transition is found in the abrupt change in the thermal expansivity of the c lattice parameter at 220° C. In addition, the c lattice parameter exhibits premonitory effects of the phase transition through the leveling out of the thermal expansivity at temperatures from 87 to 220° C. The c/a ratio for X₂ZSi₂O₇ incommensurate melilites is shown to be constant for a wide variety of compositions. Correlation of the trends in mean atomic positions with c/a ratio and the sigmoidal variation in the c/a ratio for Ca₂CoSi₂O₇ provide insight into the atomic displacements occurring in the melilite structure as a function of temperature. Three temperature regimes are discussed in detail (i.e. temperatures well above T _c, temperatures just above T _c, and temperatures below T _c). The atomic displacements occurring in each temperature regime are correlated with the changes in anisotropy and orientation of the atomic displacement ellipsoids for each site, as well as spectroscopic evidence for the increasing number of Z- and T-site environments.     

Volume 63

Volume Contents

Volume 63     

Book Reviews

Environmental Aspects of Mine Wastes Mineralogical Association of Canada, Short Course
Fluid inclusions: Analysis and Interpretation