The June 2013 Alberta catastrophic flooding event – part 2: fine‐scale precipitation and associated features

Data obtained from a variety of sources including the Canadian Lightning Detection Network, weather radars, weather stations and operational numerical weather model analyses were used to address the evolution of precipitation during the June 2013 southern Alberta flood. The event was linked to a mid‐level closed low pressure system to the west of the region and a surface low pressure region initially to its south. This configuration brought warm, moist unstable air into the region that led to dramatic, organized convection with an abundance of lightning and some hail. Such conditions occurred in the southern parts of the region whereas the northern parts were devoid of lightning. Initially, precipitation rates were high (extreme 15‐min rainfall rates up to 102 mm h^?1 were measured) but decreased to lower values as the precipitation shifted to long‐lived stratiform conditions. Both the convective and stratiform precipitation components were affected by the topography. Similar flooding events, such as June 2002, have occurred over this region although the 2002 event was colder and precipitation was not associated with substantial convection over southwest Alberta. Copyright © 2016 Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada. Hydrological Processes. © John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The coupled rotation of the inner core

The rotation of the inner core (IC) is influenced by the rest of the Earth through a number of coupling mechanisms. Among four possible coupling mechanisms, gravitational, pressure, viscous and electromagnetic, the first two torques are dominant. Numerous existing IC gravitational torque estimates have been shown to agree very well with one another Xu & Szeto 1996 ). It is shown in this paper that different estimates of the IC pressure torque are also in good agreement.
The coupled rotation of the IC has been investigated in the frequency domain by several research groups (Mathews et al. 1991a,b; De Vries & Wahr 1991 ; Dehant et al. 1993; Jiang 1993 ). Not all of these efforts obtained two IC-related rotational modes, the inner-core wobble (ICW) and the free-inner-core nutation (FICN). We investigate this problem in the time domain and confirm the existence of the two modes. The periods of ICW and FICN are in good agreement with those obtained by other researchers. In studying the effects of coupling torques on the IC rotational modes we have found that depending on whether the IC net torque is 'restoring' or otherwise, an increased torque magnitude will respectively shorten or lengthen the ICW period. We have also found that the sense of FICN is determined by the orientation of the net coupling torque on the IC.     

On eccentricity functions for eccentric orbits

Situations arise in celestial mechanics where orbital eccentricities are large and yet it is desirable to maintain the Darwin-Kaula Fourier decomposition of the perturbing function. Evaluation of the appropriate eccentricity functionsG _lpq (e) requires a double summation which, for practical purposes, must be truncated. In this note criteria have been established for truncation of the expansion for eccentricities 0.75.     

The June 2013 Alberta Catastrophic Flooding Event: Part 1—Climatological aspects and hydrometeorological features

In June 2013, excessive rainfall associated with an intense weather system triggered severe flooding in southern Alberta, which became the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history. This article provides an overview of the climatological aspects and large‐scale hydrometeorological features associated with the flooding event based upon information from a variety of sources, including satellite data, upper air soundings, surface observations and operational model analyses. The results show that multiple factors combined to create this unusually severe event. The event was characterized by a slow‐moving upper level low pressure system west of Alberta, blocked by an upper level ridge, while an associated well‐organized surface low pressure system kept southern Alberta, especially the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, in continuous precipitation for up to two days. Results from air parcel trajectory analysis show that a significant amount of the moisture originated from the central Great Plains, transported into Alberta by a southeasterly low level jet. The event was first dominated by significant thunderstorm activity, and then evolved into continuous precipitation supported by the synoptic‐scale low pressure system. Both the thunderstorm activity and upslope winds associated with the low pressure system produced large rainfall amounts. A comparison with previous similar events occurring in the same region suggests that the synoptic‐scale features associated with the 2013 rainfall event were not particularly intense; however, its storm environment was the most convectively unstable. The system also exhibited a relatively high freezing level, which resulted in rain, rather than snow, mainly falling over the still snow‐covered mountainous areas. Melting associated with this rain‐on‐snow scenario likely contributed to downstream flooding. Furthermore, above‐normal snowfall in the preceding spring helped to maintain snow in the high‐elevation areas, which facilitated the rain‐on‐snow event. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Population distribution and its change in Guangzhou city

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Atmospheric and Oceanic Variability Associated with Growing Season Droughts and Pluvials on the Canadian Prairies

Abstract

The importance of measurements of the vertical distribution of odd nitrogen in studies of ozone chemistry and climate change has long being recognized. In this paper, we use the optimal estimation method developed by Rodgers (1976, 1990) to retrieve NO₂ vertical profiles from slant column observations made with a portable ultraviolet (UV)‐visible zenith‐sky spectrometer operated on the ground during the Middle Atmosphere Nitrogen TRend Assessment (MANTRA) balloon campaign carried out at Vanscoy, Saskatchewan, Canada (52°N, 107°W), from 18 to 25 August 1998. Late summer was chosen for the campaign because the stratospheric zonal wind velocity changes sign at that time. Under such conditions the stratospheric winds are at a minimum, leaving the stratosphere in a dynamically quiescent state and closer to photochemical control (Fahey et al., 2001; Fioletov and Shepherd, 2003). The NO₂ profile retrieved from the ground‐based observations is compared with the co‐located and simultaneous NO₂ profile measured by a balloon‐borne UV‐visible spectrometer during sunrise on 24 August. Good agreement is observed, giving us confidence in the retrieval technique adopted. The retrieved NO₂ profiles are also compared with the output of the Model for Evaluating oZONe trends (MEZON) 3D stratospheric chemical transport model. It is observed that, for altitudes below the peak concentration, the model underestimates the NO₂ amount, and at the altitude of peak concentration, the model values lie between the values measured from the balloon and those retrieved from the ground‐based measurements. Nevertheless, the model reproduces the general shape of the retrieved profiles, including the altitude of the NO₂ maximum, for both sunrise and sunset conditions.     

Fractal properties of whitecaps

Abstract

Images of a field of breaking waves over the ocean obtained using a line‐scanner on an aircraft are analyzed for a possible fractal geometry. The cumulative probability function of the intensity is shown to be self‐similar for sufficiently large intensities occupying about 10% of an imaged area. This structure is invariant to successive averaging over successively larger boxes. A box‐counting technique was applied to images of one representative flight. The estimated fractal dimension decreases from about 2.25 for a 10% a real coverage to about 1.7 for 0.1% coverage. It is concluded that the spatial distribution of the scattered light from foam and whitecaps is not monofractal, but is instead multifractal.