Observed and modelled “chemical weather” during ESCOMPTE

The new MOdèle de Chimie Atmosphérique à Grande Echelle (MOCAGE) three-dimensional multiscale chemistry and transport model (CTM) has been applied to study heavy pollution episodes observed during the ESCOMPTE experiment. The model considers the troposphere and lower stratosphere, and allows the possibility of zooming from the planetary scale down to the regional scale over limited area subdomains. Like this, it generates its own time-dependent chemical boundary conditions in the vertical and in the horizontal. This paper focuses on the evaluation and quantification of uncertainties related to chemical and transport modelling during two intensive observing periods, IOP2 and IOP4 (June 20–26 and July 10–14, 2001, respectively). Simulations are compared to the database of four-dimensional observations, which includes ground-based sites and aircraft measurements, radiosoundings, and quasi-continuous measurements of ozone by LIDARs. Thereby, the observed and modelled day-to-day variabilities in air composition both at the surface and in the vertical have been assessed. Then, three sensitivity studies are conducted concerning boundary conditions, accuracy of the emission dataset, and representation of chemistry. Firstly, to go further in the analysis of chemical boundary conditions, results from the standard grid nesting set-up and altered configurations, relying on climatologies, are compared. Along with other recent studies, this work advocates the systematic coupling of limited-area models with global CTMs, even for regional air quality studies or forecasts. Next, we evaluate the benefits of using the detailed high-resolution emissions inventory of ESCOMPTE: improvements are noticeable both on ozone reactivity and on the concentrations of various species of the ozone photochemical cycle especially primary ones. Finally, we provide some insights on the comparison of two simulations differing only by the parameterisation of chemistry and using two state-of-the-art chemical schemes for regional photochemical modelling. Regional air quality modelling is found to be highly sensitive to the emission inventory dataset and also to the vertical and horizontal boundary conditions and detailed representation of chemistry. Interestingly enough, they infer the same range of errors compared to total model errors.     

Condensed water in tropical cyclone “Oliver”, 8 February 1993

On February 8, 1993, the NASA DC-8 aircraft profiled from 10,000 to 37,000 feet (3.1–11.3 km) pressure altitude in a stratified section of tropical cyclone “Oliver” over the Coral Sea northeast of Australia. Size, shape and phase of cloud and precipitation particles were measured with a 2-D Greyscale probe. Cloud/ precipitation particles changed from liquid to ice as soon as the freezing level was reached near 17,000 feet (5.2 km) pressure altitude. The cloud was completely glaciated at −5°C. There was no correlation between ice particle habit and ambient temperature. In the liquid phase, the precipitation-cloud drop concentration was 4.0 × 10³ m⁻³, the geometric mean diameter D_g=0.5−0.7 mm, and the liquid water content 0.7−1.9 g m⁻³. The largest particles anywhere in the cloud, dominated by fused dendrites at concentrations similar to that of raindrops (2.5 × 10³ m⁻³) but a higher condensed water content (5.4 g m⁻³ estimated) were found in the mixed phase; condensed water is removed very effectively from the mixed layer due to high settling velocities of the large mixed particles. The highest number concentration (4.9 × 10⁴ m⁻³), smallest size (D_g=0.3−0.4 mm), largest surface area (up to 2.6 × 10² cm² m⁻³ at 0.4−1.0 g m⁻³ of condensate) existed in the ice phase at the coldest temperature (−40°C) at 35,000 feet (10.7 km). Each cloud contained aerosol (haze particles) in addition to cloud particles. The aerosol total surface area exceeded that of the cirrus particles at the coldest temperature. Thus, aerosols must play a significant role in the upscattering of solar radiation. Light extinction (6.2 km⁻¹) and backscatter (0.8 sr⁻¹ km⁻¹) was highest in the coldest portion of the cirrus cloud at the highest altitude.     

An innovative artificial fog production device improved in the European project “FOG”

Transport safety is a major goal in the European Union. Low visibility conditions, especially due to fog, increase the risk of major accidents (chain collision). Innovative products have been developed by the automotive industry, including equipment manufacturers, to increase the level of safety of car passengers and drivers. Testing of these products requires the simulation or artificial reproduction of low visibility (fog) conditions with good stability and reproducibility characteristics. We report on the results of the European Union funded “FOG” project to improve road transport safety through fog production in an experimental test chamber located at the Clermont-Ferrand laboratory for research on road safety and visibility. The project developed a prototype of a small-scale climatic chamber, an improved fog production spraying device, a laser-based visibility measurement device, a reduced scale transmissometer, and a combined indoor climate-fog production simulation software. The ability of the fog chamber to test for driver reaction was also investigated. Recent developments include a device able to produce stable visibility levels and homogeneous fog, representative of various types of natural water droplet distribution. The fog characteristics were determined and compared to natural fog. Results are presented for a selection of conditions including stabilized visibility levels for dense fog and two kinds of droplet distributions.     

Mean turbulent properties of the stable boundary layer observed during the “coast” experiment

An acoustic Doppler sounder has been used to document the behaviour of the stable atmospheric boundary layer during the “Coast” experiment, in April-May, 1983, on a homogeneous terrain near the Dutch coast. It has been shown that kaimal's model of the spectrum of velocity in the stable surface layer can be applied and that surface-layer parameterization can be used in the whole stable surface layer. Velocity spectra have been computed between .0005 c.p.s. and .1 c.p.s. and for the stability range for z/L between 0 and 10. It is to be noted that the information has been obtained using only sodar data.     

The Kuroshio Current System as a jet and twin “relative” recirculation gyres embedded in the Sverdrup circulation

By analyzing the results of a realistic ocean general circulation model (OGCM) and conducting a series of idealized OGCM experiments, the dynamics of the Kuroshio Current System is examined. In the realistic configuration, the Kuroshio Current System is successfully simulated when the horizontal resolution of OGCMs is increased from 1/2° to 1/10°. The difference between the two experiments shows a jet, the model’s Kuroshio Extension, and a pair of cyclonic and anticyclonic, “relative,” recirculation gyres (RRGs) on the northern and southern flanks of the jet. We call them recirculation gyres because they share some features with ordinary recirculation gyres in previous studies, and we add the adjective “relative” to emphasize that they may not be apparent in the total field. Similar zonal jet and RRGs are obtained also in the idealized model with a rectangular basin and a flat bottom with a horizontal resolution of 1/6°. The northern RRG is generated by the injection of high potential vorticity (PV) created in the viscous sublayer of the western boundary current, indicating the importance of a no-slip boundary condition. Since there is no streamline with such high PV in the Sverdrup interior, the eastward current in the northern RRG region has to lose its PV anomaly by viscosity before connecting to the interior. In the setup stage this injection of high PV is carried out by many eddies generated from the instability of the western boundary current. This high PV generates the northern RRG, which induces the separation of the western boundary current and the formation of the zonal jet. In the equilibrium state, the anomalous high PV values created in the viscous sublayer are carried eastward in the northern flank of the zonal jet. The southern RRG is due to the classical Rhines–Young mechanism, where low PV values are advected northward within the western boundary inertial sublayer, and closed, PV-conserving streamlines form to the south of the Kuroshio Extension, allowing slow homogenization of the low PV anomalies. The westward-flowing southern branch of this southern RRG stabilizes the inertial western boundary current and prevents its separation in the northern half of the Sverdrup subtropical gyre, where the western boundary current is unstable without the stabilizing effect of the southern RRG. Therefore, in the equilibrium state, the southern RRG should be located just to the north of the center of the Sverdrup subtropical gyre, which is defined as the latitude of the Sverdrup streamfunction maximum. The zonal jet (the Kuroshio Extension) and the northern RRG gyre are formed to the north of the southern RRG. This is our central result. This hypothesis is confirmed by a series of sensitivity experiments where the location of the center of the Sverdrup subtropical gyre is changed without changing the boundaries of the subtropical gyre. The locations of the zonal jets in the observed Kuroshio Current System and Gulf Stream are consistent as well. Sensitivities of the model Kuroshio Current System are also discussed with regard to the horizontal viscosity, strength of the wind stress, and coastline.     

Simple applications of McWilliams' “A note on a consistent quasigeostrophic model in a multiply connected domain”

We have solved several linear quasigeostrophic problems in singly and multiply connected domains to illustrate the use and effects of correct boundary conditions which balance circulation changes with forcing along each boundary. The results with these boundary conditions differ markedly from those obtained by setting the streamfunction to zero on the walls either when the fluid is forced by a time-dependent wind stress curl or when the fluid oscillates in a free basin mode in a domain which contains interior islands.     

Experiences of modernity in the greenhouse: A cultural analysis of a physicist “trio” supporting the backlash against global warming

This paper identifies cultural and historical dimensions that structure US climate science politics. It explores why a key subset of scientists—the physicist founders and leaders of the influential George C. Marshall Institute—chose to lend their scientific authority to this movement which continues to powerfully shape US climate policy. The paper suggests that these physicists joined the environmental backlash to stem changing tides in science and society, and to defend their preferred understandings of science, modernity, and of themselves as a physicist elite—understandings challenged by on-going transformations encapsulated by the widespread concern about human-induced climate change.     

Fog measurements at the site “Falda Verde” north of Chañaral compared with other fog stations of Chile

Fog collection data registered through a Standard Fog Collector (SFC) installed by a local fishermen's association at a height of 600 m at the “Falda Verde” site, north of the Chilean harbor Chañaral (26°17′S/70°36′W), from November 1998 to November 2000, are analyzed. Trying to give new lights on the dynamics of fog along the Chilean northern coast, this article compares, for the first time, the data obtained at Falda Verde with those obtained at five other Chilean fog stations. The total time period runs from 1987 to 2001. A mean of 1.46 l/m²/day was registered at the Falda Verde site after 2 years of measurements, one of the lowest yields along the north Chilean coast. After a brief historical recapitulation of fog researches in the study area, geographical explanations of the water yields obtained in different sites are discussed. The annual mean collection from Cerro Moreno and Paposo shows a clearly different behavior from all other sites, showing a greater stability throughout the year. Other stations have a marked difference between extreme seasons. Alto Patache yields, if not the best in Chile, are very high and offer unexpected possibilities for future applications in the coast. Stations located away from the seashore (Cerro Guatalaya) are clearly less productive. Ocean proximity, altitude, south and southwest orientations of the coastal ranges and local relief explain some of the differences noted.     

Comment on “Glory phenomenon informs of presence and phase state of liquid water in cold clouds” by Anatoly N. Nevzorov

In a recent publication “Glory phenomenon informs of presence and phase state of liquid water in cold clouds” Nevzorov [Nevzorov, A., 2006. Glory phenomenon informs of presence and phase state of liquid water in cold clouds. Atmospheric Research 82, 367–378] claims that “the convincing evidence has been provided that this sort of glory forms as a first-order bow from spherical particles with a refractive index of 1.81–1.82 and diameter over 20 μm”. This is a highly unusual finding because the refractive index of liquid water and ice is between 1.30 and 1.35 in the visible spectral range. The author concludes that “once more corroboration is gained […] of droplets of liquid water in specific phase state referred to amorphous water, or A-water”. Here we show that the phenomena described by the author are easily explained assuming liquid water with a refractive index of 1.33 and a realistic droplet size distribution with an effective radius of around 10 μm. We conclude that this type of observations does not corroborate the existence of amorphous water in the atmosphere. In a recent publication we showed how to quantitatively derive cloud optical thickness, effective droplet radius, and even the width of the size distribution from observations of the glory [Mayer, B., Schröder, M., Preusker, R., Schüller, L., 2004. Remote sensing of water cloud droplet size distributions using the backscatter glory: a case study. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 4, 1255–1263].