Some recent climatic changes in Washington,D.C.

Summary The frequency of occurrence of clear and cloudy days in Washington, D. C., is compared for the intervals 1891–1920 and 1921–1950. There has been a steady increase of cloudy days, 36 more per year, and a decrease of clear days, 57 less per year. This change is reflected in all months of the year even though to a varying degree. The monthly frequency distributions show a statistically barely significant difference between the two intervals. This difference, in the light of collateral evidence, is, however, not attributable to chance. In conjunction with trends observed in temperature, dew point, and humidity values, only part of the change in cloud conditions can be ascribed to the growth of the city but is more likely due to the increasing maritime character of the climate in the northeastern United States.

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Zusammenfassung Die Häufigkeiten heiterer und trüber Tage in Washington werden für die Perioden 1891 bis 1920 und 1921 bis 1950 verglichen. Dabei wird eine stetige Zunahme der jährlichen Zahl trüber Tage um durchschnittlich 36 und eine Abnahme der heiteren Tage um 57 festgestellt. Diese Änderungen treten in wechselndem Maße in allen Monaten auf. Die Unterschiede der monatlichen Häufigkeitsverteilungen liegen im statistischen Sinn gerade innerhalb der Grenze der Überzufälligkeit; doch können sie trotzdem auf Grund anderer, allgemeiner Überlegungen als reell angesehen werden. Im Zusammenhang mit der Tendenz von Temperatur, Taupunkt und Feuchte kann die Änderung der Bewölkungsverhältnisse nur zum Teil auf das Wachsen der Großstadt zurückgeführt werden und hängt wohl mehr mit dem zunehmend maritimen Charakter des Klimas der nordöstlichen Vereinigten Staaten zusammen.

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Résumé On compare les fréquences des jours clairs et des jours couverts à Washington pendant les périodes 1891–1920 et 1921–1950, et l'on constate une augmentation continue du nombre annuel moyen de jours couverts de 36, et une diminution des jours clairs de 57; ces changements se répartissent d'une façon variable sur tous les mois. Les différences des fréquences mensuelles restent dans les limites des probabilités statistiques; mais pour des raisons d'ordre général on peut les considérer comme réelles. Envisagées conjointement avec les tendances de la température, du point de rosée et de l'humidité, les modifications de la nébulosité ne s'expliquent que partiellement par l'accroissement de l'agglomération urbaine et dépendent certainement du fait que le climat du Nord-Est des Etats-Unis voit s'accentuer son caractère maritime.

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With 3 figures.     

Suburban-rural energy balance comparisons in summer for Vancouver,B.C.

Simultaneous energy balance observations at a rural and a suburban site in Vancouver, B.C. during the summer of 1983 are presented. The study is a follow-up to that conducted in 1980. Many of the 1980 results were unexpected and the present study seeks to assess their representativeness. The net radiant, turbulent sensible, and rural soil heat flux densities were measured directly. The suburban heat storage was parameterized and the turbulent latent heat flux densities were resolved as residuals in the energy balances. The 1983 average diurnal energy partitioning for both sites was typical of those quoted in the literature, suggesting that the 1980 results represent an extreme case. Suburban-rural differences showed the suburban area to have a 4% increase in net radiation, a 51% increase in turbulent sensible heat, and a 46% decrease in turbulent latent heat flux density. The values of the average daytime Bowen ratio were 0.46 and 1.28 for the rural and suburban areas, respectively. The sensible heat flux density exhibited relatively large values in the late afternoon and remained directed upward on many summer evenings. Large day-to-day variability in the relative magnitude of the suburban turbulent fluxes may have been due to synoptic influences. In this environment, the turbulent surface and mixed layers are closely coupled because of the low aerodynamic resistance over the rough surface.     

Suburban-rural energy balance comparisons for Vancouver,B.C.: An extreme case?

Synchronous observations of the energy balances of a suburban and a rural area in the Vancouver region are used to investigate the impact of urbanization on energy exchange. Net radiation and rural soil heat flux density were directly measured, suburban heat storage was parameterized, and the turbulent heat flux densities were evaluated using the Bowen ratio-energy balance method. Most comparisons were conducted during a period of drying following an unusually wet early summer. These conditions produced atypical but very interesting results. With cloudless skies and high radiant input, suburban-rural differences of both net radiation and evapotranspiration were contrary to previous results and intuition. In both cases, suburban values were greater than their rural counterparts. In most respects the rural site behaved as expected, and the explanation for these findings is thought to be related to advective assistance of evapotranspiration from the suburban area. Under lesser radiant forcing the suburban budget acted in greater conformity with past experience and suburban-rural differences were similarly more in agreement with expectation.     

C.T.R. Wilson versus G.C. Simpson: Fifty years of controversy in atmospheric electricity

Two British scientists, G.C. Simpson and C.T.R. Wilson, held contrasting views on the electrical polarity of thunderclouds for nearly half of the 20th century. Simpson's perspective was dominated by the measured charge on rain, by the breaking drop theory for the charging of raindrops, and later, by the branching behavior of lightning flashes. Wilson's view was dominated by his work on the field changes accompanying lightning, by his knowledge of the corona current from the ground beneath electrified clouds, and ultimately by his unifying global circuit hypothesis, requiring a source current to maintain a negatively charged Earth against dissipation. Simpson's observed tripole structure of thunderclouds provided partial resolution to the controversy, but the main positive dipole supported Wilson's view, which survives today.     

On residual currents in the central strait of Georgia,B.C.: Research note

Abstract

Numerical modelling effort to understand low‐frequency circulation in the Strait of Georgia has been found to underestimate the strength of the circulation by roughly an order of magnitude. At least in part, this model defect may be due to the absence of statistical‐dynamical tendencies that result from eddy interactions (in reality). This defect is generic to ocean numerical models ranging from estuarine to global‐scale applications. A simple change to the formulation of eddy viscosity may help, making models somewhat “less wrong” if not yet “right”.     

Comments on ‘the characteristics of turbulent velocity components in the surface layer under convective conditions’, by H. A. Panofsky,H. Tennekes,D. H. Lenschow,and J. C. Wyngaard

Panofsky et al. (1977) have presented an analysis which seems to show a clear dependence of the dimensionless turbulence statistics _u /u _* and _v/u _* on the planetary boundary-layer stability parameter z _i/L. However it is possible that much of the apparent relationship results from artificial correlations introduced by the use of inter-related dimensionless parameters. Apparent dependencies of similar statistical quantities on z/L in the surface boundary layer might also be contaminated.This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, and is a contribution of the Multistate Atmospheric Power Production Pollution Study (MAP3S).     

Source apportionment of visibility‐degrading aerosols in the lower fraser valley,B.C.

Abstract

The Lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia (LFV) is currently experiencing rapid population growth and is perceived to suffer from reduced air quality, specifically, elevated ozone concentrations and impaired visibility. It is necessary to identify the sources of visibility‐degrading aerosols in order to develop strategies to prevent further degradation and to institute measures to improve air quality in this region. Although chemical mass balance analyses have typically been used in such studies, herein, a P‐mode principal component analysis (PCA) is performed upon the ambient aerosol species at one polluted site in the LFV, and source profiles are inferred from the resulting component loadings. The loading coefficients on the five significant components (which account for over 70% of the variance in the fine aerosol speciation dataset) are used to assess the contribution of these sources to paniculate light scattering (b_sp) Automobile emissions and wood burning are found to contribute most to b_sp at this site.     

Temperature trends through urbanization in Metropolitan Washington,D.C., 1945–1979

Summary Annual and seasonal changes of the urban heat island magnitude in Washington, D.C. and a close-in suburb were analyzed for the period of 1945 through 1979. Monthly and annual mean temperature data, corrected for elevation, from three stations (National Airport, D.C.—downtown, Silver Spring, MD—suburban, and Beltsville, MD—rural) were evaluated by testing the statistical significance of temperature differences between the different data sets.The analysis indicated that the absolute heat island magnitudes have increased at the rate of 0.020 and 0.019 C/yr at Washington National Airport and Silver Spring, respectively during the study period. The differences between these two rates were not statistically significant at the 0.95 confidence level. However, the increase of the heat island magnitude from 1945 to 1979 at the suburban station was 20% greater than that at the downtown station. Those results indicate that as urbanization progresses, the suburban site, Silver Spring, has become incorporated into the Washington, D.C. urban heat island. The data also indicate that the magnitude of the heat island near the city center has continued to increase despite a significant population decrease since 1950.With 5 Figures