Simulated Climatology of Atmospheric Ducts Over the Persian Gulf

A simulated climatology of ducts in the Persian Gulf area was produced with the MM3 atmospheric model. From November to January ducts were sporadic, land and surface based, shallow and weak. From February to October ducts of all types occurred. In the duct season, spatial and temporal variations were related to the land/sea distribution and to day and night. Over land at night, widespread, shallow, weak surface ducts occurred well away from the sea; within about 100 km of the south-western coast in the late evening, ducts were S-shaped. Over land in daytime, the dry, convective boundary layer prevented duct formation. Over the Gulf in the season, duct coverage was complete throughout night and day. A spatial sequence of shallow, weak surface ducts, deeper, stronger S-shaped ducts and deep, strong elevated ducts lay from north-west to south-east over the Gulf. This sequence was related to the growth of a marine internal boundary layer (MIBL) and the effects of land- and sea-breeze circulations. Subsidence in the sea-breeze circulation reduced magnitudes of depth and strength and created gradients in a direction normal to the main growth axis of the MIBL. Ducts growing in the MIBL were tilted upward from west to east. The combined effect gave relatively weak surface ducts in the north-west and strong elevated ducts in the south-east. Duct depth and strength increased as the season progressed, owing to increased wind speed within, and increased depth of, the MIBL.     

Long-term variability of sea surface temperature in Taiwan Strait

Long-term variability of sea surface temperature (SST) in the Taiwan Strait was studied from the U.K. Met Office Hadley Centre climatological data set HadISST1. In 1957–2011, three epochs were identified. The first epoch of cooling SST lasted through 1976. The regime shift of 1976–1977 led to an extremely rapid warming of 2.1 °C in 22 years. Another regime shift occurred in 1998–1999, resulting in a 1.0 °C cooling by 2011. The cross-frontal gradient between the China Coastal Current and offshore Taiwan Strait waters has abruptly decreased in 1992 and remained low through 2011. The long-term warming of SST increased towards the East China Sea, where the SST warming in 1957–2011 was about three times that in the South China Sea. The long-term warming was strongly enhanced in winter, with the maximum warming of 3.8 °C in February. The wintertime amplification of long-term warming has resulted in a decrease of the north–south SST range from 5 to 4 °C and a decrease in the amplitude of seasonal cycle of SST from 11 to 8 °C.     

On the seasonal sea surface temperature variations in the tropical Pacific

Summary In this paper, we investigated physical processes that control the seasonal variations of sea surface temperature in the tropical Pacific, using an intermediate ocean model. It is found that the westward propagation of sea surface temperature along the equator is attributed to dynamic response of the ocean to the wind (that consists of 3-dimensional temperature advection), whereas the northward propagation of sea surface temperature in the eastern Pacific results from the thermodynamic response of the ocean to the surface heat flux, primarily shortwave radiation that includes the effect of low-level stratus clouds. The remote response of the eastern Pacific sea surface temperature to seasonally varying wind in the western Pacific is of secondary importance, compared to the local wind forcing. The results suggest that the mechanism that controls the seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature is different from that associated with El Nino-Southern Oscillation.With 9 Figures     

Effects of meridional sea surface temperature changes on stratospheric temperature and circulation

Using a state-of-the-art chemistry-climate model,we analyzed the atmospheric responses to increases in sea surface temperature （SST）.The results showed that increases in SST and the SST meridional gradient could intensify the subtropical westerly jets and significantly weaken the northern polar vortex.In the model runs,global uniform SST increases produced a more significant impact on the southern stratosphere than the northern stratosphere,while SST gradient increases produced a more significant impact on the northern stratosphere.The asymmetric responses of the northern and southern polar stratosphere to SST meridional gradient changes were found to be mainly due to different wave properties and transmissions in the northern and southern atmosphere.Although SST increases may give rise to stronger waves,the results showed that the effect of SST increases on the vertical propagation of tropospheric waves into the stratosphere will vary with height and latitude and be sensitive to SST meridional gradient changes.Both uniform and non-uniform SST increases accelerated the large-scale Brewer-Dobson circulation （BDC）,but the gradient increases of SST between 60°S and 60°N resulted in younger mean age-of-air in the stratosphere and a larger increase in tropical upwelling,with a much higher tropopause than from a global uniform 1.0 K SST increase.     

Cause-effect relationships between sea surface temperature, precipitation and sea level along the Bangladesh coast

Summary  The Bangladesh coast, which lies on the confluence of three mighty rivers, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna, with the Himalayas to the north and the Bay of Bengal to the south, is an ideal zone for sea level rise due to enhanced rainfall during the monsoon season from June to September. An attempt has been made here to look into the cause-effect relationships between observed trends in sea surface temperature (SST) over the Bay of Bengal and the trends in monsoon rains and sea level in Bangladesh. The study utilizes the 14-year satellite-derived SSTs over the Bay of Bengal for 1985–1998, the tide gauge stations data along the Bangladesh coast for 1977–1998 and the 31-year monsoon rainfall data for Bangladesh, 1961–1991. Received October 20, 2000     

Sea-level response to atmospheric forcing along the north coast of Persian Gulf

Summary Data from tide gauges (1990–1999) at Bandar Abbas and Bushehr combined with atmospheric data at both stations are utilized to investigate the mean sea-level (MSL) response to meteorological forcing functions along the north coast of the Persian Gulf. The relations between MSL and forces due to air pressure, air temperature and local wind are examined. The characteristics of variability of each field are analyzed using the spectral analysis method. The annual cycle is dominant in the sea-level, atmospheric pressure, air temperature and wind spectra. The influence of local meteorological functions are quantified using forward stepwise regression techniques. The results suggest that 71.5% and 71.2% variations in the MSL of Bandar Abbas and Bushehr stations are due to meteorological forces at each stations. The model indicates that the most significant influence on the observed variation of MSL at Bandar Abbas is air pressure, while at Bushehr is air temperature. The results of multivariate and simple regression show that these parameters are highly intercorrelated. The sea-level is not significantly correlated with the monthly and winter NAO and Monsoon in the Persian Gulf. The remaining variations are due to density of sea water (steric effect), which has considerable influence on the sea-level variations, and coastal upwelling.     

Modes of variability of global sea surface temperature,free atmosphere temperature and oceanic surface energy flux

Monthly mean sea surface temperature (SST), free air temperature from satellite microwave sounding units (MSU) and oceanic surface energy fluxes are subjected to empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis for a common decade to investigate the physical relationships involved. The first seasonal modes of surface solar energy flux and SST show similar inter-hemispheric patterns with an annual cycle. Solar flux appears to control this pattern of SST. The first seasonal mode of MSU is similar with, additionally, land-sea differences; MSU is apparently partly controlled by absorption of solar near-infrared radiation and partly by sensible heat from the land surface. The second and third seasonal eigenvector of SST and solar flux exhibit semi-annual oscillations associated with a pattern of cloudiness in the subtropics accompanying the translation of the Hadley cell rising motion between the hemispheres. The second seasonal mode of MSU is dominated by an El Niño signal. The first nonseasonal EOFs of SST and solar flux exhibit El Niño characteristics with the solar pattern being governed by west-to-east translation of a Walker cell type pattern. The first non-seasonal EOF of MSU shows a tropical strip pattern for the El Niño mode, which is well correlated with the latent heat fluxes in the tropical east Pacific but not in the tropical west Pacific. Two possible explanations are: an increase in subsidence throughout the tropical strip driven by extra evaporation in the tropical east Pacific and consequent additional latent heat liberation; a decrease of meridional heat flux out of the tropics.     

大洋间海表温度遥联与中国冬季气温的关系

利用SVD方法,在年代际和年际尺度上研究了各季北大西洋和北太平洋海表温度的遥相关关系,给出了冬季两个时间尺度上的遥联指数I,并分析了它们与同期中国冬季气温及亚太冬季风的相关关系.结果表明:北大西洋和北太平洋在两个时间尺度上的海表温度遥联均与同期中国冬季气温相关;特别在年代际尺度上两大洋海表温度遥联与我国河套以南及长江中游地区冬季气温有显著正相关.其影响途径可能是两大洋海温异常引起亚太冬季风异常、继而引起我国冬季气温异常.     

Equatorial Atlantic sea surface temperature variations: Research note

Abstract

Monthly mean sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies were computed for six 10°‐wide boxes stretching across the equatorial Atlantic Ocean for the period 1890–1979. These values were used to produce a time‐longitude section of the interannual SST variability along the equator. This section shows cycles of basin‐wide warming and cooling occurring with irregular periods that typically range between two and four years. The warming and cooling events in these cycles normally display some westward phase propagation. The peak magnitudes of the interannual SST anomalies are generally of the order of 1°C or less, except in the Gulf of Guinea where they can be somewhat larger.

An estimate was made of the basin‐wide equatorial SST anomaly in each month (excluding the Gulf of Guinea). This was composited around the times of the warm and cold extremes of the Pacific Southern Oscillation. This analysis revealed a detectable, but rather weak, tendency for phase locking of the interannual SST variations in the equatorial Pacific and Atlantic oceans.     

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...     

The dynamics of the Indian Ocean sea surface temperature forcing of Sahel drought

Given the pronounced warming in the Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) during the second half of the twentieth century and the empirical relationship between the Indian Ocean SST and Sahel summer precipitation, we investigate the mechanisms underlying this relationship using the GFDL atmospheric model AM2.0 to simulate the equilibrium and transient response to the warming of the Indian Ocean. Equatorial wave dynamics, in particular the westward propagating equatorial Rossby waves, communicates the signal of tropospheric warming and stabilization from the Indian Ocean to the African continent. The stabilization associated with the Rossby wave front acts to suppress the convection. Feedbacks with local precipitation and depletion of moisture amplify the dynamically induced subsidence. While this stabilization mechanism is expected to operate in climate change response, the future prospects for the Sahelian climate under global warming are complicated by the intricate sensitivities to the SSTs from different ocean basins and to the direct radiative forcing of greenhouse gases.     

Understanding Madden-Julian-Induced sea surface temperature variations in the North Western Australian Basin

The strongest large-scale intraseasonal (30–110 day) sea surface temperature (SST) variations in austral summer in the tropics are found in the eastern Indian Ocean between Australia and Indonesia (North-Western Australian Basin, or NWAB). TMI and Argo observations indicate that the temperature signal (std. ~0.4 °C) is most prominent within the top 20 m. This temperature signal appears as a standing oscillation with a 40–50 day timescale within the NWAB, associated with ~40 Wm^?2 net heat fluxes (primarily shortwave and latent) and ~0.02 Nm^?2 wind stress perturbations. This signal is largely related to the Madden-Julian Oscillation. A slab ocean model with climatological observed mixed-layer depth and an ocean general circulation model both accurately reproduce the observed intraseasonal SST oscillations in the NWAB. Both indicate that most of the intraseasonal SST variations in the NWAB in austral winter are related to surface heat flux forcing, and that intraseasonal SST variations are largest in austral summer because the mixed-layer is shallow (~20 m) and thus more responsive during that season. The general circulation model indicates that entrainment cooling plays little role in intraseasonal SST variations. The larger intraseasonal SST variations in the NWAB as compared to the widely-studied thermocline-ridge of the Indian Ocean region is explained by the larger convective and air-sea heat flux perturbations in the NWAB.     

Tropical sea surface temperature: An interactive one-dimensional atmosphere-ocean model

Because the atmosphere and ocean are interacting systems, it is inappropriate to specify sea surface temperature when dealing with the atmosphere, or atmospheric anemometer level temperature and moisture when dealing with the ocean. All of these quantities should be determined interactively in terms of the external forcing: the solar constant.In the tropics, it is shown that the (cumulus) convective processes may be described by a one-dimensional cloud model. The near-surface ocean may similarly be described by a one-dimensional mixed-layer model. The coupling is achieved through a sea surface flux budget combined with the flux parameterizations implied by Monin-Obukhov similarity theory.The coupled one-dimensional atmosphere-ocean model is applied to the equilibrium situation in which all temperatures reach a steady state. Since the ocean, lacking an internal heating or cooling mechanism, can only be heated or cooled through sensibleheat fluxes through the sea surface, in equilibrium these fluxes must vanish. The atmosphere, however, maintains a stable lapse rate by balancing cumulonimbus heating against net radiative cooling. All water precipitated from cumulonimbus clouds must have evaporated from sea surface. It is shown that this equilibrium system is closed and determinable solely in terms of the solar constant.For various values of the solar constant, the sea surface temperature, the flux of latent and sensible heat from the surface, the height of the tropopause, mixed layer, and trade inversion layer, and generally, the entire vertical structure of the tropical atmosphere and near-surface ocean can be determined. The equilibrium sea surface temperature is shown to be relatively insensitive to changes in the solar constant, additional solar flux being compensated mainly by additional evaporation. Finally, the usefulness and limitations of the model are pointed out.     

Sahel rainfall and decadal to multi-decadal sea surface temperature variability

Decadal Sahelian rainfall variability was mainly driven by sea surface temperatures (SSTs) during the twentieth century. At the same time SSTs showed a marked long-term global warming (GW) trend. Superimposed on this long-term trend decadal and multi-decadal variability patterns are observed like the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the inter-decadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO). Using an atmospheric general circulation model we investigate the relative contribution of each component to the Sahelian precipitation variability. To take into account the uncertainty related to the use of different SST data sets, we perform the experiments using HadISST1 and ERSSTv3 reconstructed sets. The simulations show that all three SST signals have a significant impact over West Africa: the positive phases of the GW and the IPO lead to drought over the Sahel, while a positive AMO enhances Sahel rainfall. The tropical SST warming is the main cause for the GW impact on Sahel rainfall. Regarding the AMO, the pattern of anomalous precipitation is established by the SSTs in the Atlantic and Mediterranean basins. In turn, the tropical SST anomalies control the impact of the IPO component on West Africa. Our results suggest that the low-frequency evolution of Sahel rainfall can be interpreted as the competition of three factors: the effect of the GW, the AMO and the IPO. Following this interpretation, our results show that 50% of the SST-driven Sahel drought in the 1980s is explained by the change to a negative phase of the AMO, and that the GW contribution was 10%. In addition, the partial recovery of Sahel rainfall in recent years was mainly driven by the AMO.     

海温异常对台风形成的影响

本文利用地球流体力学实验室(GFDL)的低分辨气候模式进行数值试验,以研究海温异常对台风形成的影响.试验采用恒定8月气候条件和海表温度(SST).海温异常(SSTA)被置于北太平洋不同区域.结果表明,台风生成频率在暖SSTA区明显增加.这是由于暖SSTA区低层辐合的增强一方面使低空气旋式环流和高空反气旋式环流加大,另一方面导致低层水汽向该区辐合,使潜热释放加强,对流加剧所致.此一机制被用于解释台风频率和ENSO事件的相关.在冷ENSO年份,西北和西南太平洋台风增多不仅是由于赤道东太平洋SST异常冷,还与西太平洋SST异常暖有关.     

一种卫星反演海温资料的补缺方法

卫星反演海温资料的补缺问题一直受到气象海洋工作者的关注,本文对海温补缺问题提出一种新的构想.首先对所研究的区域分块处理,对每一块子区域海温缺失部分进行Kriging方法插值,并利用历史资料,将海温缺失部分构成一个时间序列,借助于Kalman滤波,得到滤波以后的海温,然后对插值与滤波后的海温进行数据拟合.在拟合过程中引入区域信息量V,在不同象素点参数条件下拟合出最优拟合参βα、β并进行误差估计,实际试验表明子区域选取200×200个象素点,并把整张云图分为144块区域,对海温补缺效果十分明显.本文为海温补缺提供了一种全新的,具有较高精度且实际业务系统可操作的方法.     

The sea surface temperature deviation and the heat flow at the sea-air interface

The deviation of the sea surface temperature from the water temperature below is calculated as a function of the heat flow through the air-sea interface, using wind tunnel determinations of the effective thermal diffusivity in a boundary layer. The influence ofQ, shortwave radiation, andH, latent and sensible heat transfer plus effective back radiation, and U, wind speed, can be described by:T ₀ –T _w =C ₁ ·H/U +C ₂ ·Q/U. The calculated coefficients vary slightly with reference depth, Tables II and III. They are in good agreement with independent observations.On leave at Department of Oceanography, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon in 1969–70.