SST variability in the South Indian Ocean and associated circulation and rainfall patterns over Southern Africa

Summary A general circulation model is used to study the response of the atmosphere to an idealised sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly pattern (warm throughout the southern midlatitudes, cool in the tropics) in the South Indian Ocean region. The anomaly imposed on monthly SST climatology captures the essence of patterns observed in the South Indian Ocean during both ENSO events and multidecadal epochs, and facilitates diagnosis of the model response. A previous study with this anomaly imposed in the model examined differences in the response between that on the seasonal scale (favours enhancement of the original SST anomaly) and that on the decadal scale (favours damping of the anomaly). The current study extends that work firstly by comparing the response on the intraseasonal, seasonal and interannual scales, and secondly, by assessing the changes in the circulation and rainfall over the adjoining African landmass.It is found that the atmospheric response is favourable for enhancement of the original SST anomaly on scales up to, and including, annual. However, as the scale becomes interannual (i.e., 15–21 months after imposition of the anomaly), the model response suggests that damping of the original SST anomaly becomes likely. Compared to the shorter scale response, the perturbation pressure and wind distribution on the interannual scale is shifted poleward, and is more reminiscent of the decadal response. Winds are now stronger over the warm anomaly in the southern midlatitudes suggesting enhanced surface fluxes, upper ocean mixing, and consequently, a damping of the anomaly.Examination of the circulation and rainfall patterns indicates that there are significant anomalies over large parts of southern Africa during the spring, summer and autumn seasons for both short (intraseasonal to interannual) and decadal scales. It appears that rainfall anomalies are associated with changes in the advection of moist tropical air from the Indian Ocean and its related convergence over southern Africa. Over eastern equatorial Africa, the austral autumn season (the main wet season) showed rainfall increases on all time scales, while parts of central to eastern subtropical southern Africa were dry. The signals during summer were more varied. Spring showed generally dry conditions over the eastern half of southern Africa on both short and decadal time scales, with wet areas confined to the west. In all cases, the magnitude of the rainfall anomalies accumulated over a 90 day season were of the order of 90–180 mm, and therefore represent a significant fraction of the annual total of many areas. It appears that relatively modest SST anomalies in the South Indian Ocean can lead to sizeable rainfall anomalies in the model. Although precipitation in general circulation models tends to be less accurately simulated than many other variables, the model results, together with previous observational work, emphasize the need for ongoing monitoring of SST in this region.With 14 Figures     

Climate predictability on interannual to decadal time scales: the initial value problem

Any initial value forecast of climate will be subject to errors originating from poorly known initial conditions, model imperfections, and by "chaos" in the sense that, even if the initial conditions were perfectly known, infinitesimal errors can amplify and spoil the forecast at some lead time. Here the latter source of error is examined using a "perfect model" approach whereby small perturbations are made to a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model and the spread of nearby model trajectories, on time and space scales appropriate to seasonal-decadal climate variability, is measured to assess the lead time at which the error saturates. The study therefore represents an estimate of the upper limit of the predictability of climate (appropriate to the initial value problem) given a perfect model and near perfect knowledge of the initial conditions. It is found that, on average, surface air temperature anomalies are potentially predictable on seasonal to interannual time scales in the tropical regions and are potentially predictable on decadal time scales over the ocean in the North Atlantic. For mid-latitude surface air temperature anomalies over land, model trajectories rapidly diverge and there is little sign of any potential predictability on time scales greater than a season or so. For mean sea level pressure anomalies, there is potential predictability on seasonal time scales in the tropics, and for some global scale annual-decadal anomalies, although not those associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation. For precipitation, the only potential for predictability is for seasonal time anomalies associated with the El-Niño Southern Oscillation. For the majority of the highly populated regions of the world, climate predictability on interannual to decadal time scales based in the initial value approach is likely to be severely limited by chaotic error growth. It is found however that there can be cases in which the potential predictability can be higher than average indicating that there is perhaps some utility in making initial value forecasts of climate in those regions which show low predictability on average.     

海气耦合环流模式及耦合技术的研究

介绍了近年来国内外海气耦合环流模式的研究、发展趋势,对不同模式的耦合技术及其人预报试验进行了综合分析,从ＥＮＳＯ预测与耦合环流模式的组成分类、模式的气候漂移及其处理技术（耦合方案）的特点,模式的季节、年际、年代际预报能力等方面评述了当前海气耦合环流模式的研究进展和影响耦合模式预报能力的有关问题,指出目前发展海气耦合模式的观难点所在,并就我国现状提出了进行针对性研究的具体想法。     

闪电活动的气候学特征研究进展

综述了闪电活动与气候和气候变化相关研究的一系列最新进展。这些研究表明全球闪电活动可以通过卫星光学方法、地面的单站舒曼共振法以及低频多站时差法进行观测,其结果指出全球闪电密度高值区主要分布在海岸地区、山地地区、中尺度气旋多发地区以及热带辐合带的辐合区内,大陆、海岛、沿海地区所发生的闪电占全球的88%,全球3个闪电密度极大值依次出现在赤道地区的非洲刚果、南美洲大陆和东南亚。大量的研究结果表明全球闪电活动是与气候和气候变化相关的,在日、5d、季、半年、年、ENSO、10a多个时间尺度上,闪电活动对温度做出了一定的正响应,但在更长时间尺度上这种敏感性似乎是减弱的。闪电活动因易于被持续监测而可以作为监测气候一些重要参数变化的有利工具。闪电活动是氮氧化物(NOx)的重要产生源,这与臭氧等温室气体以及地球辐射之间存在密切关系。在短时间尺度上,对流层上层水汽和全球闪电活动之间存在非常好的相关性。气溶胶对雷暴以及闪电活动的影响还不明确。气候变化与雷暴和闪电活动之间的相互耦合机制还有待于更多的观测和深入的研究。     

Review on Climate Characteristics of Lightning Activity

Latest research results on the correlation between lightning activity and climate and climate change are reviewed. The results indicate that global lightning can be measured by using satellite optical sensor, Schumann resonances, and the time-of-arrival (TOA) techniques at very low frequency. It is observed that high lightning density areas mainly lie in seaboards, mountains, high frequency mesoscale cyclone areas, and convergent regions such as the intertropical convergence zone. Eighty-eight percent of global lightning discharges occurs in continent island and seaboard areas. The three regions hit most frequently by lightning are Congo in equatorial Africa, South America, and South and Southeast Asia. A lot of studies reveal that the global lightning activity is directly related to the earth's climate and climate change. The global lightning activity responds positively to temperature changes on many time scales, such as diurnal, pentad, intraseasonal, semiannual, annual, ENSO, and decadal time scales. However, the sensitivity of lightning to temperature changes appears to diminish at longer time scales. Since lightning can be monitored easily and continuously, it becomes a useful and important parameter for monitoring climate change. The lightning discharge is a significant producing source of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the atmosphere, which is closely associated with ozone production and the earth's radiation balance. There exists a robust positive correlation between lightning activity and upper tropospheric water vapor on short time scales. The effect of aerosol on thunderstorm and lightning is uncertain. More observations and investigations are needed to identify the coupling mechanism between lightning and climate change.     

1966—2016年重庆南川降水的多尺度分析

利用1966—2016年南川国家站的逐日降水观测资料,分析了南川降水的年内分布及次季节变化和暴雨的气候变化特征、年际、年代际和趋势变化特征。结果表明:南川降水的年内分布差异大,降水量峰值出现在6月,月降水强度最大在7月;南川的降水具有明显的次季节变化,且准双周变化信号(10~25 d)大于低频季节内振荡(25~90 d);南川的暴雨日数和暴雨量与年降水量有很好的正相关性;暴雨出现在3—11月,其分布呈单峰型,峰值出现在6月;年平均暴雨日为2.5 d,暴雨日数年际变化的线性趋势不显著;暴雨日总降水量在1966—1994年存在10~12 a的年代际变化信号,在1996—2016年主要存在13~15 a的年代际变化信号,在1976—1984年还存在2~4 a的年际变化信号;南川的暴雨特征量年际、年代际变化大,但没有显著的升降趋势,说明南川暴雨的总体气候特征是比较平稳的。     

区域气候模拟研究及其应用进展

区域气候模拟研究在过去十几年里取得了显著的进步。经过广泛的发展和不断的检验,区域气候模式现在已经成为气候研究和业务预报的重要工具。目前已经发表了很多令人鼓舞的结果,其中包括过去极端气候事件的模拟,当前气候发展演变和未来气候变化的预测,特别是对月和季节尺度气候的模拟与预测。通过对高分辨率和动力连续的区域气候模式结果的分析,人们对于周-季节时间尺度的各种物理过程,包括陆面和水文过程、边界层、云和降水、云-辐射相互作用的认识也在不断的深入。然而,区域气候是多尺度扰动(如中尺度、天气尺度、行星尺度扰动)和多圈层系统(如大气圈、生物圈、水圈、冰雪圈、陆面)相互作用的结果,同时物理过程本身具有不确定性,人们对一些复杂的物理过程,特别是土壤湿度作用以及云-气候反馈过程也缺乏深刻的理解,因此该领域的研究还面临着很多挑战。作者重点总结并评述了区域气候模式对现在和未来区域气候模拟、极端天气和气候事件模拟、物理过程研究、短期气候预测几方面应用的研究进展,最后讨论了区域气候模式发展在上述各方面,特别是周-次季节时间尺度区域天气和气候的模拟与预测所面临的挑战和应用前景。     

Coupling of latent heat flux and the greenhouse effect by large-scale tropical/subtropical dynamics diagnosed in a set of observations and model simulations

Coupled variability of the greenhouse effect (GH) and latent heat flux (LHF) over the tropical – subtropical oceans is described, summarized and compared in observations and a coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model (CGCM). Coupled seasonal and interannual modes account for much of the total variability in both GH and LHF. In both observations and model, seasonal coupled variability is locally 180° out-of-phase throughout the tropics. Moisture is brought into convergent/convective regions from remote source areas located partly in the opposite, non-convective hemisphere. On interannual time scales, the tropical Pacific GH in the ENSO region of largest interannual variance is 180° out of phase with local LHF in observations but in phase in the model. A local source of moisture is thus present in the model on interannual time scales while in observations, moisture is mostly advected from remote source regions. The latent cooling and radiative heating of the surface as manifested in the interplay of LHF and GH is an important determinant of the current climate. Moreover, the hydrodynamic processes involved in the GH–LHF interplay determine in large part the climate response to external perturbations mainly through influencing the water vapor feedback but also through their intimate connection to the hydrological cycle. The diagnostic process proposed here can be performed on other CGCMs. Similarly, it should be repeated using a number of observational latent heat flux datasets to account for the variability in the different satellite retrievals. A realistic CGCM could be used to further study these coupled dynamics in natural and anthropogenically altered climate conditions.     

Daily atmospheric variability in the South American monsoon system

The space–time structure of the daily atmospheric variability in the South American monsoon system has been studied using multichannel singular spectrum analysis of daily outgoing longwave radiation. The three leading eigenmodes are found to have low-frequency variability while four other modes form higher frequency oscillations. The first mode has the same time variability as that of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and exhibits strong correlation with the Pacific sea surface temperature (SST). The second mode varies on a decadal time scale with significant correlation with the Atlantic SST suggesting an association with the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO). The third mode also has decadal variability but shows an association with the SST of the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO). The fourth and fifth modes describe an oscillation that has a period of about 165 days and is associated with the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO). The sixth and seventh modes describe an intraseasonal oscillation with a period of 52 days which shows strong relation with the Madden-Julian oscillation. There exists an important difference in the variability of convection between Amazon River Basin (ARB) and central-east South America (CESA). Both regions have similar variations due to ENSO though with higher magnitude in ARB. The AMO-related mode has almost identical variations in the two regions, whereas the PDO-related mode has opposite variations. The interseasonal NAO-related mode also has variations of opposite sign with comparable magnitudes in the two regions. The intraseasonal variability over the CESA is robust while it is very weak over the ARB region. The relative contributions from the low-frequency modes mainly determine the interannual variability of the seasonal mean monsoon although the interseasonal oscillation may contribute in a subtle way during certain years. The intraseasonal variability does not seem to influence the interannual variability in either region.     

Simulated ENSO-tropical rainfall teleconnections in present-day and under enhanced greenhouse gases conditions

El-Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability and its relationship with precipitation in the tropics and subtropics are analysed using the ARPEGE-OPA ocean-atmosphere coupled model. Three 150-year simulations are considered, differing by greenhouse gases (GHG) and aerosols concentrations. The first one has constant (1950 level) concentrations, and the two others follow observed values till 1999, then the SRES B2 scenario until 2099. The model is able to reproduce most present-day features characteristic of ENSO in the Pacific. It also displays ENSO as the leading mode of sea-surface temperature (SST) variability, with spatial patterns and explained variance both quite similar to the observation. A detailed analysis of its teleconnections with rainfall variability is carried out on a seasonal basis. Patterns for the last part of the twentieth century compare favourably with the observation, with the notable exception of parts of the Atlantic sector. The overall strong rainfall response arises from the strong interannual variability of simulated ENSO, and also suggests an ability to simulate atmospheric dynamics in a realistic way. In the future climate, the model does not exhibit major changes in the ENSO/rainfall teleconnections. However, on a regional basis, there is some evidence of strengthening (e.g., in parts of Southern Africa) and weakening (e.g., East Africa) in the course of the twenty-first century. In most cases, decadal swings in the correlations suggest that these alterations may partly reflect natural changes in the teleconnections with ENSO, long-term correlation trends (possibly GHG-induced) being comparatively weaker.     

北半球夏季热带季节内振荡影响我国夏季降水的规律和预测方法

利用1979—2018年夏季逐日观测和再分析数据，对北半球夏季热带季节内振荡影响我国夏季降水的规律和预测方法开展了研究。首先，利用非传统滤波即异常相对倾向（Anomalous Relative Tendency，ART）方法获取了气象要素的次季节变化分量，并采用EOF分析方法提取了北半球夏季热带主要季节内振荡信号，结果表明向外长波辐射（Outgoing Longwave Radiation，OLR）异常相对倾向EOF前两个模态共同反映了北半球夏季起源于印度洋并向东和向北传播的、具有30~60 d周期的季节内振荡（Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillation，BSISO）信号。回归分析表明，该季节内振荡信号能够导致当地及其北面地区低层风场和位势高度场异常，影响该地区及其北面地区的水汽辐合辐散，从而能引起我国尤其是我国南方地区季节内旱涝变化，并一定程度上反映了我国异常雨带的向北推进过程。而后，将提取的热带主要季节内振荡信号作为预测因子，将降水异常相对倾向作为先行预板对象，利用多元线性回归方法构建了我国夏季旬降水异常相对倾向的预报模型，将预报的旬降水异常相对倾向加上观测已知的降水近期背景距平，从而得到旬降水距平的预报结果。通过历史回报和交叉检验，评估了该模型对梅雨期我国江淮流域降水（包括2020年梅汛期异常降水）的次季节预测能力。     

国家气候中心两个CMIP6模式模拟的东亚夏季风的季节内演变

分析了国家气候中心两个参加第六次国际耦合模式比较计划（CMIP6）的模式BCC-CSM2-MR和BCCESM1对东亚夏季风季节内演变的模拟情况,包括气候态特征以及在ENSO(El Ni?o and Southern Oscillation)循环不同位相下的特征。本文同时对比分析了观测海温海冰驱动大气环流模式试验（AMIP试验）以及耦合模式的历史气候模拟试验（Historical试验）的结果。结果表明,模式能够合理地模拟出东亚夏季风环流和降水的气候态特征。相比大气模式,耦合模式能够明显改善对气候态的模拟,特别是耦合模式能够较好地模拟出副热带高压从6～8月向北以及向东移动的季节内演变特征。对于El Ni?o衰减年和La Ni?a年合成来说,大气模式能够在一定程度上模拟出El Ni?o衰减年（La Ni?a年）副高偏西（东）、对流减弱（增强）的特征,但是对于位置和强度的模拟存在偏差,特别是对于其季节内尺度的演变。耦合模式相比大气模式来说,并没有改善对于ENSO循环影响东亚夏季风季节内演变的模拟,这可能和耦合模式模拟的ENSO本身的偏差有关。因此要想改善对于东亚夏季风季节内演变及其年际差异的模...     

Peculiar Temporal Structure of the South China Sea Summer Monsoon

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Boreal forest and tundra ecosystems as components of the climate system

The effects of terrestrial ecosystems on the climate system have received most attention in the tropics, where extensive deforestation and burning has altered atmospheric chemistry and land surface climatology. In this paper we examine the biophysical and biogeochemical effects of boreal forest and tundra ecosystems on atmospheric processes. Boreal forests and tundra have an important role in the global budgets of atmospheric CO₂ and CH₄. However, these biogeochemical interactions are climatically important only at long temporal scales, when terrestrial vegetation undergoes large geographic redistribution in response to climate change. In contrast, by masking the high albedo of snow and through the partitioning of net radiation into sensible and latent heat, boreal forests have a significant impact on the seasonal and annual climatology of much of the Northern Hemisphere. Experiments with the LSX land surface model and the GENESIS climate model show that the boreal forest decreases land surface albedo in the winter, warms surface air temperatures at all times of the year, and increases latent heat flux and atmospheric moisture at all times of the year compared to simulations in which the boreal forest is replaced with bare ground or tundra. These effects are greatest in arctic and sub-arctic regions, but extend to the tropics. This paper shows that land-atmosphere interactions are especially important in arctic and sub-arctic regions, resulting in a coupled system in which the geographic distribution of vegetation affects climate and vice versa. This coupling is most important over long time periods, when changes in the abundance and distribution of boreal forest and tundra ecosystems in response to climatic change influence climate through their carbon storage, albedo, and hydrologic feedbacks.     

The influence of systematic errors in the Southeast Pacific on ENSO variability and prediction in a coupled GCM

The impact of the warm SST bias in the Southeast Pacific (SEP) on the quality of seasonal and interannual variability and ENSO prediction in a coupled GCM is investigated. The reduction of this bias is achieved by means of empirical heat flux correction that is constant in time. It leads to a wide range of changes in the tropical Pacific climate including enhanced southeast trades, well-defined dry zone in the SEP, better simulation of the South Pacific Convergence Zone and stronger cross-equatorial asymmetry of the mean state in the eastern Pacific. As a result of the mean climate correction, significant improvements in the simulation of the seasonal cycle of the oceanic and atmospheric states are also observed both at the equator and basin-wide. Due to more realistic simulation of the seasonal evolution of the cold tongue, tropical convection and surface winds in the corrected version of the model, phase-lock of ENSO to the annual cycle looses its strong semi-annual component and becomes quite similar to the observed, although the amplitude of ENSO is reduced. Zonal wind stress response to the SST anomalies in the central-eastern Pacific also becomes more realistic. ENSO retrospective forecast experiments conducted with the directly coupled and the flux-corrected versions of the model demonstrate that deficiencies in the seasonal evolution of the cold tongue/Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone complex (that were largely due to the SEP bias in this model) and the related errors in the ENSO phase-lock to the annual cycle can seriously degrade ENSO prediction. By reducing these errors, ENSO predictive skill in the coupled model was substantially enhanced.     

On the dependence of ENSO simulation on the coupled model mean state

Systematic model error remains a difficult problem for seasonal forecasting and climate predictions. An error in the mean state could affect the variability of the system. In this paper, we investigate the impact of the mean state on the properties of ENSO. A set of coupled decadal integrations have been conducted, where the mean state and its seasonal cycle have been modified by applying flux correction to the momentum-flux and a combination of heat and momentum fluxes. It is shown that correcting the mean state and the seasonal cycle improves the amplitude of SST inter-annual variability and also the penetration of the ENSO signal into the troposphere and the spatial distribution of the ENSO teleconnections are improved. An analysis of a multivariate PDF of ENSO shows clearly that the flux correction affects the mean, variance, skewness and tails of the distribution. The changes in the tails of the distribution are particularly noticeable in the case of precipitation, showing that without the flux correction the model is unable to reproduce the frequency of large events. For the inter-annual variability the momentum-flux correction alone has a large impact, while the additional heat-flux correction is important for the teleconnections. These results suggest that the current forecasts practices of removing the forecast bias a-posteriori or anomaly initialisation are by no means optimal, since they can not deal with the strong nonlinear interactions. A consequence of the results presented here is that the predictability on annual time-ranges could be higher than currently achieved. Whether or not the correction of the model mean state by some sort of flux correction leads to better forecasts needs to be addressed. In any case, flux correction may be a powerful tool for diagnosing coupled model errors and predictability studies.     

Role of TBO and ENSO scale ocean–atmosphere interaction in the Indo-Pacific region on Asian summer monsoon variability

Interannual variability of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall has two dominant periodicities, one on the quasi-biennial (2–3 year) time scale corresponding to tropospheric biennial oscillation (TBO) and the other on low frequency (3–7 year) corresponding to El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In the present study, the spatial and temporal patterns of various atmospheric and oceanic parameters associated with the Indian summer monsoon on the above two periodicities were investigated using NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data sets for the period 1950–2005. Influences of Indian and Pacific Ocean SSTs on the monsoon season rainfall are different for both of the time scales. Seasonal evolution and movement of SST and Walker circulation are also different. SST and velocity potential anomalies are southeast propagating on the TBO scale, while they are stationary on the ENSO scale. Latent heat flux and relative humidity anomalies over the Indian Ocean and local Hadley circulation between the Indian monsoon region and adjacent oceans have interannual variability only on the TBO time scale. Local processes over the Indian Ocean determine the Indian Ocean SST in biennial periodicity, while the effect of equatorial east Pacific SST is significant in the ENSO periodicity. TBO scale variability is dependent on the local factors of the Indian Ocean and the Indian summer monsoon, while the ENSO scale processes are remotely controlled by the Pacific Ocean.     

Spatial patterns of Tropospheric Biennial Oscillation and its numerical simulation

In order to investigate the spatial patterns of the Tropospheric Biennial Oscillation （TBO） on the global scale, the Climate Prediction Center （CPC） Merged Analysis of Precipitation （CMAP） monthly averaged precipitation and the Climate Diagnostics Center （CDC） monthly outgoing long-wave radiation （OLR） and SST are used in conjunction with TBO bandpass-filtering. The results indicate active biennial variability in the tropical eastern-central Pacific regions. It is evident that observations reflect the biennial component of the ENSO rather than the TBO itself. Since some studies have pointed out that the TBO is a broad-scale phenomenon differing from the ENSO, to investigate the pure TBO the ENSO signal must be excluded. The Scale Interaction Experiment-FRCGC （SINTEX-F） coupled general circulation model （CGCM） developed at Japan Frontier Research Center for Global Change （FRCGC） can capture both the ENSO and the biennial signals. Air-sea interactions in the tropical eastern-central Pacific are decoupled to eliminate the effects of ENSO in a experiment by SINTEX-F and the results show that biennial variability still exists even without ENSO. It seems to mean that the TBO and ENSO are independent from each other. Furthermore, the model results indicate that the two key regions are southwest Sumatra and the tropical western Pacific for the TBO cycle.     

海-气耦合系统的非线性不稳定行为与年际气候变率

文中从理论上论述了气候系统的基本态—季节循环的非线性不稳定特征 ,研究了年际气候变率特别是ENSO与季节循环间非线性相互作用 ,并通过Oxford海 气耦合模式数值实验具体展示了上述理论分析。理论与数值实验表明 ,海 气耦合系统可经过年周期态失稳→新周期产生→与季节循环锁相→混沌这一系列分岔过程产生类似ENSO的无规则运动。这一规律为正确认识ENSO的动力机制及客观确定简化海 气耦合模式中的参数提供了理论依据