Role of sea surface temperature on the equatorial waves and intraseasonal oscillations

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Ocean interactions are known to play a major role in the modulation of intraseasonal variability. The role of sea surface temperature (SST) and major oceanic...     

Summer precipitation variability over South America on long and short intraseasonal timescales

A dipole pattern in convection between the South Atlantic convergence zone and the subtropical plains of southeastern South America characterizes summer intraseasonal variability over the region. The dipole pattern presents two main bands of temporal variability, with periods between 10 and 30 days, and 30 and 90 days; each influenced by different large-scale dynamical forcings. The dipole activity on the 30–90-day band is related to an eastward traveling wavenumber-1 structure in both OLR and circulation anomalies in the tropics, similar to that associated with the Madden–Julian oscillation. The dipole is also related to a teleconnection pattern extended along the South Pacific between Australia and South America. Conversely, the dipole activity on the 10–30-day band does not seem to be associated with tropical convection anomalies. The corresponding circulation anomalies exhibit, in the extratropics, the structure of Rossby-like wave trains, although their sources are not completely clear.     

修正海平面气压的用途及过渡夹层厚度

本文对修正海压的定义，气压高度表的原理，飞机用各种气压拨正高度的方法作了粗略介绍和讨论，并结合现阶段我国民用机场过高度层的改革，就《方案》中有关渡夹层的厚度问题作浅显的分析。     

修正海平面气压的用途及过渡夹层厚度

本文对修正海压的定义、气压高度表的原理、飞机用各种气压拨正高度的方法作了粗略介绍和讨论,并结合现阶段我国民用机场过渡高度层的改革,就《方案》中有关渡夹层的厚度问题作浅显的分析.     

Predictability of tropical cyclone events on intraseasonal timescales with the ECMWF monthly forecast model

The objective of this study is to provide evidence of predictability on intraseasonal time scales (10–30 days) for western North Pacific tropical cyclone formation and subsequent tracks using the 51-member ECMWF 32-day forecasts made once a week from 5 June through 25 December 2008. Ensemble storms are defined by grouping ensemble member vortices whose positions are within a specified separation distance that is equal to 180 n mi at the initial forecast time t and increases linearly to 420 n mi at Day 14 and then is constant. The 12-h track segments are calculated with a Weighted-Mean Vector Motion technique in which the weighting factor is inversely proportional to the distance from the endpoint of the previous 12-h motion vector. Seventy-six percent of the ensemble storms had five or fewer member vortices. On average, the ensemble storms begin 2.5 days before the first entry of the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) best-track file, tend to translate too slowly in the deep tropics, and persist for longer periods over land. A strict objective matching technique with the JTWC storms is combined with a second subjective procedure that is then applied to identify nearby ensemble storms that would indicate a greater likelihood of a tropical cyclone developing in that region with that track orientation. The ensemble storms identified in the ECMWF 32-day forecasts provided guidance on intraseasonal timescales of the formations and tracks of the three strongest typhoons and two other typhoons, but not for two early season typhoons and the late season Dolphin. Four strong tropical storms were predicted consistently over Week-1 through Week-4, as was one weak tropical storm. Two other weak tropical storms, three tropical cyclones that developed from precursor baroclinic systems, and three other tropical depressions were not predicted on intraseasonal timescales. At least for the strongest tropical cyclones during the peak season, the ECMWF 32-day ensemble provides guidance of formation and tracks on 10–30 day timescales.     

Interannual and Interdecadal Variability of Winter Precipitation over China in Relation to Global Sea Level Pressure Anomalies

Based on the method of rotated principal component (RPC) analysis and wavelet transforms, the win-ter precipitation from 36 stations over China for the period 1881-1993 is examined. The results show thatthe three leading space-time modes correspond, in sequence, to winter rainfall anomalies over the reaches ofthe Yangtze River, the bend of the Yellow River, and the northeastern region of China. The three modes ex-hibit interannual oscillations with quasi-biennial and 8-year periods as well as interdecadal oscillationswith 16- and 32-year periods. The interannual oscillation (＜ 10 years) occurs in phase over the differentareas, and its maximum amplitude migrates northward considerably with prominent interdecadal variations.However, the interdecadal oscillations (10-32 years) are out of phase over the different regions, and theamplitude variations have the characteristics of stationary waves.The rainfall anomalies appear to be closely re lated to the anti-phase changes of mean sea-level pres-sure (SLP) over the Asian mainland and the North Pacific. When the SLP rises over the North Pacific anddecreases over the Asian mainland, the precipitation over East China increases noticeably. The linkage be-tween the rainfall over China and the SLP anomalies apparently results from the strength of the East Asianwinter monsoon and its associated temperature and moisture advection.     

Disentangling and quantifying contributions of distinct forcing factors to the observed global sea level pressure field

Climate Dynamics - Variations of the global sea level pressure (SLP) field reflect atmospheric and oceanic influences and have a profound influence on temperature, precipitation and the global...     

Climate change, sea level rise and rice: global market implications

Climate change will influence yields while sea level rise can inundate producing lands. The research reported investigates the individual and simultaneous effects of these factors on production, trade and consumption of rice the world’s number one food crop. A global rice trade model is utilized to do this. The results indicate that the combination of yield and sea level effects causes a significant reduction in production and an increase in rice prices which may have important policy implications for food security. Global rice production is reduced by 1.60% to 2.73% while global rice price increases by 7.14% to 12.77%. Sea level rise is particularly a risk factor in Bangladesh, Japan, Taiwan, Egypt, Myanmar and Vietnam. In the face of such developments, adaptation may well be desirable and thus an investigation is done over adaptation options of increased technical progress or trade liberalization with the results showing that both can mitigate such damages.     

Recent changes in the spatio-temporal characteristics of monsoon intraseasonal oscillations

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Monsoon intraseasonal oscillations (MISOs) define a significant proportion of intraseasonal variability of the Indian summer monsoon. In the backdrop of...     

大气涛动对全球低层大气环流的贡献

人们通常用海平面气压场的状况来反映低层大气环流的状态,而全球海平面气压场的变化最突出的特征表现为大气涛动的形式,即北大西洋涛动、北太平洋涛动、南方涛动和南极涛动。这四个大气涛动控制的区域范围大体覆盖了全球,能解释全球低层大气环流方差的３８．６％（６－８月）到４５．９％（１２－２月）。而各个涛动的独立贡献有显著的区域性,仅仅用四个大气涛动不能完整代表低层大气环流的结构。对于东亚、北美大陆等地的气候,     

Boreal summer intraseasonal oscillations in the MJO skeleton model with observation-based forcing

The Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) skeleton model is a low-order model for intraseasonal oscillations that, in an extended form, includes off-equatorial and antisymmetric components. Previous studies of this extended model have used an idealized background state and forcing terms. In the current study, observation-based estimates of these forcing terms and background state are used. Linear solutions to the extended model with this observation-based forcing consist of both equatorially-symmetric convective events and events with a meridional tilt reminiscent of composites of the boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation (BSISO) in observational studies. Solutions to a nonlinear stochastic form of the model exhibit realistic precipitation mean and variance and intraseasonal variability throughout much of the tropics. These solutions contain several types of events, including meridionally-tilted convective activity that moves both northward and eastward. Solutions to both forms of the model also indicate that this BSISO-like convective activity is coupled to activity over the eastern Pacific. A discussion of these features and their agreement with previous observational studies of the BSISO is given.     

Consistency of simulated and observed regional changes in temperature, sea level pressure and precipitation

There is increasing pressure from stakeholders for highly localised climate change projections. A comprehensive assessment of climate model performance at the grid box scale in simulating recent change, however, is not available at present. Therefore, we compare observed changes in near-surface temperature, sea level pressure (SLP) and precipitation with simulations available from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Projects 3 and 5 (CMIP3 and CMIP5). In both multi-model datasets we find coherent areas of inconsistency between observed and simulated local trends per degree global warming in both temperature and SLP in the majority of models. Localised projections should thus take into account the possibility of regional biases shared across models. In contrast, simulated changes in precipitation are not significantly different from observations due to low signal-to-noise ratio of local precipitation changes. Therefore, recent regional rainfall change is likely not providing useful constraints for future projections as of yet. Comparing the two most recent sets of internationally coordinated climate model experiments, we find no indication of improvement in the models’ ability to reproduce local trends in temperature, SLP and precipitation.     

印度洋海温年际异常与热带夏季季节内振荡的关系及其数值模拟研究

利用观测分析资料和SINTEX-F海气耦合长时间(70年)数值模拟结果,分析了印度洋海温年际异常与热带夏季季节内振荡(BSISO)各种传播模态之间关系及其物理过程。结果表明,印度洋海温年际异常与热带BSISO关系密切,当印度洋为正(负)偶极子情况,中东印度洋北传BSISO减弱(加强);当印度洋为正(负)海盆异常(BWA)情况,印度洋西太平洋赤道地区(40°E -180°)东传BSISO加强(减弱)。印度洋海温年际变化通过大气环流背景场和BSISO结构影响热带BSISO不同传播模态强度的年际变化。在负(正)偶极子年夏季,由于对流层大气垂直东风切变加强(减弱),对流扰动北侧的正压涡度、边界层水汽辐合加强更明显(不明显),导致形成BSISO较强(弱)的经向不对称结构,因此北传BSISO偏强(减弱)。印度洋BWA模态通过影响赤道西风背景以及海气界面热力交换,导致赤道东传BSISO强度产生变化。在正BWA年夏季,赤道地区西风较明显,当季节内振荡叠加在这种西风背景下,扰动中心的东侧(西侧)风速减弱(加强)更明显,海面蒸发及蒸发潜热减弱(加强)更明显,导致扰动中心的东侧(西侧)海温升高(降低)幅度更大,从而使边界层产生辐合(辐散)更强、水汽更多(少),因此赤道东传BSISO偏强;而在负BWA年,赤道地区西风背景减弱,以上物理过程受削弱使赤道东传BSISO偏弱。     

Boreal summer intraseasonal oscillations and seasonal Indian monsoon prediction in DEMETER coupled models

Even though multi-model prediction systems may have better skill in predicting the interannual variability (IAV) of Indian summer monsoon (ISM), the overall performance of the system is limited by the skill of individual models (single model ensembles). The DEMETER project aimed at seasonal-to-interannual prediction is not an exception to this case. The reasons for the poor skill of the DEMETER individual models in predicting the IAV of monsoon is examined in the context of the influence of external and internal components and the interaction between intraseasonal variability (ISV) and IAV. Recently it has been shown that the ISV influences the IAV through very long breaks (VLBs; breaks with duration of more than 10 days) by generating droughts. Further, all VLBs are associated with an eastward propagating Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) in the equatorial region, facilitated by air–sea interaction on intraseasonal timescales. This VLB-drought–MJO relationship is analyzed here in detail in the DEMETER models. Analyses indicate that the VLB-drought relationship is poorly captured by almost all the models. VLBs in observations are generated through air–sea interaction on intraseasonal time scale and the models’ inability to simulate VLB-drought relationship is shown to be linked to the models’ inability to represent the air–sea interaction on intraseasonal time scale. Identification of this particular deficiency of the models provides a direction for improvement of the model for monsoon prediction.     

Greenland Ice Sheet Contribution to Future Global Sea Level Rise based on CMIP5 Models简

Sea level rise （SLR） is one of the major socioeconomic risks associated with global warming. Mass losses from the Greenland ice sheet （GrIS） will be partially responsible for future SLR, although there are large uncertainties in modeled climate and ice sheet behavior. We used the ice sheet model SICOPOLIS （Simulation COde for POLythermal Ice Sheets） driven by climate projections from 20 models in the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project （CMIP5） to estimate the GrlS contribution to global SLR. Based on the outputs of the 20 models, it is estimated that the GrIS will contribute 0-16 （0-27） cm to global SLR by 2100 under the Representative Concentration Pathways （RCP） 4.5 （RCP 8.5） scenarios. The projected SLR increases further to 7-22 （7-33） cm with 2~basal sliding included. In response to the results of the multimodel ensemble mean, the ice sheet model projects a global SLR of 3 cm and 7 cm （10 cm and 13 cm with 2~basal sliding） under the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios, respectively. In addition, our results suggest that the uncertainty in future sea level projection caused by the large spread in climate projections could be reduced with model-evaluation and the selective use of model outputs.