On the vertical extent of atmospheric feedbacks

This study addresses the question: what vertical regions contribute the most to water vapor, surface temperature, lapse rate and cloud fraction feedback strengths in a general circulation model? Multi-level offline radiation perturbation calculations are used to diagnose the feedback contribution from each model level. As a first step, to locate regions of maximum radiative sensitivity to climate changes, the top of atmosphere radiative impact for each feedback is explored for each process by means of idealized parameter perturbations on top of a control (1?×?CO₂) model climate. As a second step, the actual feedbacks themselves are calculated using the changes modelled from a 2?×?CO₂ experiment. The impact of clouds on water vapor and lapse rate feedbacks is also isolated using `clear sky' calculations. Considering the idealized changes, it is found that the radiative sensitivity to water vapor changes is a maximum in the tropical lower troposphere. The sensitivity to temperature changes has both upper and lower tropospheric maxima. The sensitivity to idealized cloud changes is positive (warming) for upper level cloud increases but negative (cooling) for lower level increases, due to competing long and shortwave effects. Considering the actual feedbacks, it is found that water vapor feedback is a maximum in the tropical upper troposphere, due to the large relative increases in specific humidity which occur there. The actual lapse rate feedback changes sign with latitude and is a maximum (negative) again in the tropical upper troposphere. Cloud feedbacks reflect the general decrease in low- to mid-level low-latitude cloud, with an increase in the very highest cloud. This produces a net positive (negative) shortwave (longwave) cloud feedback. The role of clouds in the strength of the water vapor and lapse rate feedbacks is also discussed.     

非典型积雨云的观测

本文主要阐述在地面观测中不按云的演变规律发展的积雨云出现的几种情况,及怎样及时、准确观测积雨云。     

Exploring the vertical extent of breaking internal wave turbulence above deep-sea topography

A mooring equipped with 200 high-resolution temperature sensors between 6 and 404 m above the bottom was moored in 1890 m water depth above a steep, about 10° slope of Mount Josephine, NE-Atlantic. The sensors have a precision of less than 0.5 mK. They are synchronized via induction every 4 h so that the 400 m range is measured to within 0.02 s, every 1 s. Thin cables and elliptical buoyancy assured vertical mooring motions to be smaller than 0.1 m under maximum 0.2 m s⁻¹ current speeds. The local bottom slope is supercritical for semidiurnal internal tides by a factor of two. Exploring a one-month record in detail, the observations show: 1/semidiurnal tidal dominance in variations of dissipation rate ε, eddy diffusivity K_z and temperature, but no significant correlation between the records of ε and total kinetic energy, 2/a variation with time over four orders of magnitude of 100-m vertically averaged ε, 3/a local minimum in density stratification between 50 and 100 m above the bottom, 4/a gradual decrease in daily or longer averaged ε and K_z by one order of magnitude over a vertical distance of 250 m, upwards from 150 m above the bottom, 5/monthly mean values of <[ε]> = 2 ± 0.5 × 10⁻⁷ m² s⁻³, <[K_z]> = 8 ± 3 × 10⁻³ m² s⁻¹ averaged over the lower 150 m above the bottom.     

Studying the effects of severe aerosol pollution of the atmosphere on the dynamics of cumulonimbus cloud charge structure by numerical modeling

Studied are the effects of severe aerosol pollution of the atmosphere on the parameters of a cumulonimbus cloud (including its charge structure) and on precipitation. Considered is the example of the cloud that developed on May 11, 2009 near the town of Kharagpur (India) under conditions of severe aerosol pollution of the atmosphere due to dust transport from the desert. The in situ observations of the evolution of the cumulonimbus cloud of large vertical and horizontal extent and of its electric conditions were carried out on that day. It is found that the distribution of electric charges in the cloud was characterized by inverted polarity (i.e., the main positive charge is in the bottom of the cloud and the negative one is in the upper part of the cloud that contradicts usually observed cases). Using the small-dimension numerical model conducted are numerical experiments on the simulation of aerosol effects produced on the evolution of dynamic, microphysical, and electric structure of the cloud under study, namely, the cloud development under background conditions and in case of high aerosol concentration. It is assumed that aerosol particles possess ice-forming properties. It is obtained that the dynamic, microphysical, and electric structures of the cloud are significantly transformed under the influence of high aerosol concentrations; precipitation generation also significantly intensifies; polarity in the distribution of electric charge varies that agrees with the data of in situ observations.     

Investigation of high-depth cumulonimbus clouds characteristics after seeding to increase precipitation

Analyzed is the development of three cumulonimbus clouds seeded with the crystallizing reagent in Saudi Arabia. Continuous satellite and radar observations of the clouds were carried out during the five-hour period. Obtained are the data on the dynamics of cumulonimbus clouds and their anvils. The vertical development of cumulonimbus clouds and the increase in the radar reflectivity and amount of precipitation were observed after the seeding. The significant increase in the precipitation was observed in all three cases. The results obtained in the present analysis are in agreement with theoretical concepts of the seeding effects on dynamic properties of clouds and precipitation characteristics. They demonstrate a big potential of seeding for increasing the precipitation falling from cumulonimbus clouds.     

热带测雨卫星测雨雷达探测的亚洲夏季积雨云云砧

热带测雨卫星(TRMM)测雨雷达探测产品资料中"其他"类型降水一直被忽略,它具有什么物理含义也无从知晓。文中利用个例分析和统计分析方法,对10年夏季亚洲"其他"类型降水进行了研究。个例分析结果表明"其他"类型降水的平均廓线表现了积雨云云砧特征,其廓线峰值(约0.6—1.0 mm/h)高度位于8—10 km,且云砧顶部具有0.8以上的可见光平均反射率和低于215 K远红外平均亮温;根据个例中积雨云云砧廓线特点,文中定义5 km以上各层累计降水率大于1 mm/h为云砧廓线,对亚洲夏季积雨云云砧样本进行了统计,结果表明该地区夏季云砧样本占"其他"类型降水样本总数的近70%;统计结果还表明夏季亚洲积雨云云砧出现频次为0.1%—0.4%,它至少超过对流降水频次的十分之一,亚洲云砧出现频次的特点是陆面高于洋面;云砧的结构特点表明云砧平均厚度3—4 km,其底部高度约6 km,顶部高度在10—12 km;云砧的平均可见光反射率在0.8—0.9,远红外平均亮温低于220 K。     

Study of the development of an extremely high cumulonimbus cloud (Andhra Pradesh, India, September 28, 2004)

Development of a cumulonimbus cloud with its top above 18 km in central India is analyzed. The process is observed with a radar. A 1.5 D numerical model is used to simulate the cloud development. The cloud produced very low radar echo, which implies that large cloud particles were absent. Both observations and simulation show that an extremely intense growth of the cloud was associated with its merge with feeder cells. The seeding of feeder cells caused a change in the direction of the cloud movement.     

Investigation of the effects of high atmospheric aerosol pollution on the development of the high-depth cumulonimbus cloud

Considered is a case of the development of the cumulonimbus cloud (Cb) in the southwestern part of Saudi Arabia under the conditions of heavy pollution of atmosphere with natural aerosol. Using the ground-based radar and satellite radiometric instruments, the characteristics of the Cb are obtained for the cloud top height of more than 14 km and maximum reflectivity of 58 dBZ. To measure the precipitation rate using the radar data, the Z-I ratio obtained for the area under study was applied. To compute the precipitation rate, the results of the sounding with the SEVERI radiometer installed on the Meteosat-8 satellite were also used. Carried out are numerical experiments on the simulation of aerosol effects on the evolution of the cloud under study. The development of the cloud at the presence of background aerosol was simulated as well as at high aerosol concentration. Three cases are considered: aerosol is a passive admixture; aerosol has hygroscopic properties; aerosol has ice-forming properties. It is demonstrated that the most considerable effects on the cloud evolution are caused by the intensification of ice formation under the influence of aerosol; not only the time distribution of precipitation rate changes but also the amount of precipitation increases.     

On the validity of layered models of ocean dynamics and thermodynamics with reduced vertical resolution

With the purpose of studying the upper part of the ocean, the shallow water equations (in a `reduced gravity' setting) have been extended in the last decades by allowing for horizontal and temporal variations of the buoyancy field ϑ, while keeping it as well as the velocity field u as depth-independent. In spite of the widespread use of this `slab' model, there has been neither a discussion on the range of validity of the system nor an explanation of points such as the existence of peculiar zero-frequency normal modes, the nature of the instability of a uniform u flow, and the lack of explicit vertical shear associated with horizontal density gradients. These questions are addressed here through the development of a subinertial model with more vertical resolution, i.e., one where the buoyancy ϑ varies linearly with depth. This model describes satisfactorily the problem of baroclinic instability with a free boundary, even for short perturbations and large interface slopes. An enhancement of the instability is found when the planetary β effect is compensated with the topographic one, due to the slope of the free boundary, allowing for a `resonance' of the equivalent barotropic and first baroclinic modes. Other low-frequency models, for which buoyancy stratification does not play a dynamical role, are invalid for short perturbations and have spurious terms in their energy-like integral of motion.     

Determination of liquid water content and reserve of cumulonimbus cloudiness from meteorological radar information

The study of the liquid water content and reserve of convective cloudiness accompanied by the rain showers, thunderstorms, and hail is carried out. The values of liquid water content and reserve were obtained by means of computations on the basis of the radar characteristics of cumulonimbus cloudiness as well as with the aid of a number of empirical dependences. It was demonstrated that the use of meteorological radar information for the purpose of computation of the microphysical cloud characteristics such as liquid water content and reserve enables to supplement and specify the data of the ground-based meteorological and aerological observations.     

The influence of weakly–nonlinear vertical advection on the wind field of PBL with large–scale orography

The analytical solutions of the PBL wind distribution under the equilibrium of four forces including both horizontal and vertical advections are obtained in this paper using small parameter method. Utilizing this simple PBL model, we also compute the wind spirals of a certain circular vortex over level ground and over a west-east ranged mountain, respectively. The results show that when there exsits large-scale orographic forcing, vertical advection may exert considerable influence on the wind distribution of PEL, the angle between geostrophic flow and surface wind, and the height of the top of PBL     

热带大气动力学研究

热带大气控制着约地球面积的一半,热带大气的运动、热带地区的天气气候情况对人类有重要的影响;地球大气运动的基本能源是太阳辐射,而热带大气获得太阳能最多,加之热带大气有充足的水份,从运动能量的观点,热带大气又是能源之所在。因此,热带大气运动的研究是气象学的重要课题,越来越引起人们的重视。但是,目前人们对热带大气运动规律的了解还相当不够,热带地区天气预报(包括数值预报)的准确率还很低;而热     

Results from the MERKUR experiment: Mass budget and vertical motions in a large valley during mountain and valley wind

Summary Based on measurements made in March 1982 in the Inn valley during the MERKUR experiment, an attempt was made to compute the mass budget of a large alpine valley during periods of mountain and valley wind.The computations come from measurements of the alongvalley mass flux and assumptions on the fluxes in the slope layer and tributaries.Vertical motions in the valley's atmosphere have been evaluated from the mass budget computations. These motions, including the subsidence which compensates for daytime upslope winds and the subsidence which compensates for the valley wind flowing into tributaries during the day, are of great importance for the understanding of the thermal circulation.The results allow better estimation of vertical advection, which contributes to the budgets of momentum and energy.With 8 Figures     

Estimation of the results of the cumulonimbus cloud modification aiming at hailstorm mitigation in Alberta (Canada) on the radar and numerical modeling data

In this paper, physical effects caused by a crystallizing reagent in the deep stable cloud, which was developing on July 7, 2006 in Alberta, Canada, are analysed. The ultimate goal of that experiment was reducing economical losses caused by hail. The radar data analysis and numerical modeling showed that use of the reagent allowed significant reducing the hail particles size.     

垂直风切变中的CISK

天气分析已得到,“对流层通风”是热带气旋形成和发展的基本条件之一.本文基于第二类条件不稳定(CISK)概念,从动力学角度研究了这个问题.两层模式的分析和计算都表明,垂直切变基本气流的存在对热带扰动的发展有阻尼作用,同天气分析结果相一致.