Analysis of the Microphysical Structure of Heavy Fog Ｕsing a Droplet Spectrometer: A Case Study

The microphysical properties of a long-lasting heavy fog event are examined based on the results from a comprehensive field campaign conducted during the winter of 2006 at Pancheng (32.2°N, 118.7°E), Jiangsu Province, China. It is demonstrated that the key microphysical properties (liquid water content, fog droplet concentration, mean radius and standard deviation) exhibited positive correlations with one another in general, and that the 5-min-average maximum value of fog liquid water content was sometimes ...     

A New Algorithm for Sea Fog／Stratus Detection Using GMS-5 IR Data

A new algorithm for the detection of fog/stratus over the ocean from the GMS-5 infrared (IR) channel data is presented. The new algorithm uses a clear-sky radiance composite map (CSCM) to compare the hourly observations of the IR radiance. The feasibility of the simple comparison is justified by the theoretical simulations of the fog effect on the measured radiance using a radiative transfer model. The simulation results show that the presence of fog can be detected provided the visibility is worse than 1 km and the background clear-sky radiances are accurate enough with known uncertainties. For the current study, an accurate CSCM is constructed using a modified spatial and temporal coherence method, which takes advantage of the high temporal resolution of the GMS-5 observations. The new algorithm is applied for the period of 10-12 May 1999, when heavy sea fog formed near the southwest coast of the Korean Peninsula. Comparisons of the fog/stratus index, defined as the difference between the measured and clear-sky brightness temperature, from the new algorithm to the results from other methods, such as the dual channel difference of NOAA/AVHRR and the earth albedo method, show a good agreement. The fog/stratus index also compares favorably with the ground observations of visibility and relative humidity. The general characteristics of the fog/stratus index and visibility are relatively well matched, although the relationship among the absolute values, the fog/stratus index, visibility, and relative humidity, varies with time. This variation is thought to be due to the variation of the atmospheric conditions and the characteristics of fog/stratus, which affect the derived fog/stratus index.     

Atmospheric Rivers and Mei-yu Rainfall in China:A Case Study of Summer 2020※

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are long, narrow, and transient filaments of strong horizontal water vapor transport that can lead to extreme precipitation. To investigate the relationship between ARs and mei-yu rainfall in China, the mei-yu season of 2020 in the Yangtze-Huaihe River basin is taken as an example. An adjusted AR-detection algorithm is applied on integrated water vapor transport (IVT) of the ERA5 reanalysis. The JRA-55 reanalysis and the data from Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) are also utilized to study the impacts of ARs on mei-yu rainfall in 2020. The results reveal that ARs in East Asia have an average length of 5400 km, a width of 600 km, a length/width ratio of 9.3, and a northeastward orientation of 30°. ARs are modulated by the western North Pacific subtropical high. The IVT core is located at the south side of low pressure systems, moving eastward with a speed of 10° d^?1. For the cross sections of ARs in the Yangtze-Huaihe River basin, 75% of the total flux is concentrated below 4 km with low-level jets near AR cores. Moreover, ARs occur mainly in the mei-yu period with a frequency of 20%–60%. The intensity of AR-related precipitation is 6–12 times that of AR-unrelated precipitation, and AR-related precipitation contributes about 50%–80% to total mei-yu precipitation. As shown in this case study of summer 2020, ARs are an essential part of the mei-yu system and have great impacts on mei-yu rainfall. Thus, ARs should receive more attention in research and weather forecast practices.     

Radiative Forcing of SO2 and NOx： A Case Study in Beijing

A case study was performed in Beijing in 2000 to observe concentrations of SO2 and NOx in the atmosphere and to evaluate their radiative impact. It was found that the concentrations of these gases are usually high in the morning due to a temperature inversion in the boundary layer. The average concentrations obtained from the observations are much higher than those used in the McClatchey reference atmosphere. The radiative impacts of these gases are calculated using a line-by-line radiative transfer model. The results show that the radiative forcing at the surface due to SO2 is 0.0576 W m-2 and that due to NOx is 0.0032 W m-2. These figures are almost compatible with that due to CFC11.     

A Velocity–Dissipation Lagrangian Stochastic Model for Turbulent Dispersion in Atmospheric Boundary-Layer and Canopy Flows

An extended Lagrangian stochastic dispersion model that includes time variations of the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate is proposed. The instantaneous dissipation rate is described by a log-normal distribution to account for rare and intense bursts of dissipation occurring over short durations. This behaviour of the instantaneous dissipation rate is consistent with field measurements inside a pine forest and with published dissipation rate measurements in the atmospheric surface layer. The extended model is also shown to satisfy the well-mixed condition even for the highly inhomogeneous case of canopy flow. Application of this model to atmospheric boundary-layer and canopy flows reveals two types of motion that cannot be predicted by conventional dispersion models: a strong sweeping motion of particles towards the ground, and strong intermittent ejections of particles from the surface or canopy layer, which allows these particles to escape low-velocity regions to a high-velocity zone in the free air above. This ejective phenomenon increases the probability of marked fluid particles to reach far regions, creating a heavy tail in the mean concentration far from the scalar source.     

A Case Study of Rayleigh-Bénard Convection with Clouds

A turbulence data set collected by the research aircraft Hercules and Falcon in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) over the North Sea during Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC) is analysed. Altogether nearly three hundred cell passages at different levels and in two different flight directions were sampled.The convective boundary-layer height (H) was about 1 km, and the RBC cells had a diameter D of roughly 2–3 km, resulting in an aspect ratio A = D/H 2–3. This value is also found in the case of RBC in laboratory-scale flows, whereas most of the recent PBL experimental work reports convection PBL rolls with A 3 and mesoscale cellular convection (MCC) with A 10–40 over the oceans.The large number of RBC cell passages made it possible to composite their average structure. Due to the more complex three-dimensional structure and the importance of thermals to the RBC dynamics, spectral, temporal and spatial decompositions and model calculations were necessary to illuminate structure, dynamics, energetics and organisation. The final impression is that the structure of RBC in the PBL is given by a honeycomb-like arrangement of short-lived mixed-layer thermals with more passive downward motions in between. The regularity of the Cu-cloud cover results partly from the more stationary flow in the cloud-free cell centres. On the other hand it is shown that active as well as inactive clouds contribute to the cloud cover. Thus, the PBL flow and the cloud cover are decoupled, at least temporarily and locally.Due to sparse observational and measured information about RBC occurrence and structure in the PBL, additional material was gathered, resulting in the impression that RBC is one additional realised mode of organised convection in the PBL, as has already been clarified for PBL rolls and MCC by recent investigations.     

A Case Study of Warm Sector Rainbands in North China

This article investigates in detail the structure, genesis and development of parallel-type warm sector rainbands from radar observations. By comparing these observations with diagnostic results from temperature, pressure, moisture and wind data, which are both actually observed and numerically generated by a mesoscale model, and the theory of symmetric instability, it is found that the conditional symmetric instability might be responsible for the formation and development of these rainbands.     

Mesoscale Vortex Generation and Merging Process： A Case Study Associated with a Post-Landfall Tropical Depression

An observational analysis of satellite blackbody temperature (TBB) data and radar images suggests that the mesoscale vortex generation and merging process appeared to be essential for a tropical-depression-related heavy rain event in Shanghai, China. A numerical simulation reproduced the observed mesoscale vortex generation and merging process and the corresponding rain pattern, and then the model outputs were used to study the related dynamics through diagnosing the potential vorticity (PV) equation. The t...     

Roles of Mesoscale Terrain and Latent Heat Release in Typhoon Precipitation： A Numerical Case Study

The mesoscale orographic effects on typhoon Aere＇s precipitation are simulated using an Advanced Regional Eta-coordinate Model （AREM） version 3.0. In particular, the effects of the latent heat release are studied by two comparable experiments： with and without condensational heating. The results show that the typhoon rainfall is tripled by the southeastern China mesoscale terrain, and the condensational heating is responsible for at least half of the increase. One role of the latent heat release is to warm the atmosphere, leading to a depression of the surface pressure, which then causes a larger pressure difference in the zonal direction. This pressure gradient guides the water vapour to flow into the foothills, which in turn amplifies the water vapour flux divergence amplified, causing the typhoon rainfall to increase eventually. The other role of the latent heat release is to make the convection more organized, resulting in a relatively smaller rain area and stronger precipitation.     

Mesoscale Convective System over the Yellow Sea – A Numerical Case Study

Summary  A mesoscale convective system (MCS) case that developed over the Yellow Sea (12–13 July 1993) is studied by using a 23-level, 30 km-mesh Penn State/NCAR mesoscale model MM5. This MCS was generated in northern China, south of the Changma front, in a convectively unstable environment, under the influence of a short-wave trough accompanied by a marked cold vortex aloft. The model with all model physics (refereed to as CNTL) captured the major features of this MCS. A mesoscale low-level jet (mLLJ), with a horizontal scale of a few hundred km, developed within the MCS. Available wind data support the realism of this mLLJ. This mLLJ not only transports convectively unstable air directly toward the MCS but is also responsible for a strong low-level convergence in the MCS. At 200 hPa, an anticyclonic northwesterly flow with a relatively high wind speed core on the east of MCS was simulated. This relatively high-speed flow can be regarded as a mesoscale upper level jet (mULJ), acted as an upper outflow over the MCS. Low-level convergence on the left-front of the mLLJ and upper divergence in the right-rear of the mULJ creates a strong upward motion (≅ 40 cm s⁻¹) in the MCS. Heavy precipitation up to 45 mm between 1800–2100 UTC was observed after this MCS landed on the southern Korean Peninsula. The CNTL run captured this heavy rainfall event. A maximum rainfall of 50 mm 3 h⁻¹ was simulated. In another experiment, with surface sensible and moisture fluxes withheld (NOSF), the 3-h simulated rainfall was decreased to 30 mm. Less latent heat released in the NOSF led to a weaker MCS and mLLJ. The concurrent surface fluxes sustained a high low-level moisture field over the Yellow Sea, which helped the development of the MCS and enhanced its precipitation in this case. Received January 8, 1999     

A Case Study of Carbon Pools Under Three Different Land-Uses in Panamá

This paper examines changes in carbon (C) pools associated with land-use, synthesizing data from two experiments dealing with different aspects of tree plantation establishment in Central Panamá. First, we analysed soil profiles in a grazed pasture and an adjacent 5-year-old teak (Tectona grandis) plantation. There were small differences in soil C mass in the top 10 cm of the pasture and the plantation, though analysis of paired profiles suggested larger differences at greater depth. Analysis of the ¹³C signatures in the pasture soils and litter showed that 90% to 95% of the organic matter in the surface 5 cm was derived from C₄ pasture plants, over the 45 years since the pasture was converted from forest. Comparison of the ¹³C signatures in the pasture and teak plantation profiles indicated substantial replacement of C₄—derived organic matter with the dominantly C₃—derived plantation tissues. Organic matter turnover times in the upper 10 cm of the soils ranged from 8 to 34 years and from 11 to 58 years in the upper 30 cm, depending on topographic location. We also present preliminary results, and technical challenges, for an eddy covariance experiment set up to provide a direct comparison between a grazed pasture and a native tree plantation. The two ecosystems studied are estimated to be small CO₂ sinks, 92 g,C,m^–2 yr^–1 for the pasture, and 57 g,C,m^–2 yr^–1 for native species plantation in the first year after establishment. The pastures response to seasonal change was more pronounced, both in term of CO₂ fluxes and in term of herbaceous productivity, than the plantations response. The storage below ground systems contained up 40% of the total sapling biomass.     

Integration of Multi-source Measurements to Monitor Dust over North China：A Case Study

The aerosol optical depth （AOD） data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer （MODIS） aboard Satellite Aqua, along with the altitude-resolved aerosol subtypes product from the Cloud-Aerosol LIdar with Orthogonal Polarization （CALIOP）, as well as surface PM 10 measurements, were utilized to investigate the dust activities common in springtime of northern China. Specifically, a dust storm episode that occurred over the North China Plain （NCP） during 17-21 March 2010 was identified. The PM 10 concentration at Beijing （39.8 °N, 116.47 °E） reached the peak value of 283 μgm -3 on 20 March 2010 from the background value of 15 μg m-3 measured on 17 March 2010, then dropped to 176 μgm-3 on 21 March 2010. Analysis of the CALIOP aerosol subtypes product showed that numerous large dust plumes floated over northern China, downwind of main desert source regions, and were lifted to altitudes as high as 3.5 km during this time period. The MODIS AOD data provided spatial distributions of dust load, broadly consistent with ground-level PM 10 , especially in cloud free areas. However, inconsistency between the MODIS AOD and surface PM 10 measurements under cloudy conditions did exist, further highlighting the unique capability of the CALIOP lidar. CALIOP can penetrate the cloud layer to give unambiguous and altitude-resolved dust measurements, albeit a relatively long revisit period （16 days） and narrower swath （90 m）. A back trajectory simulation using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory （HYSPLIT） model was performed, and it was found that the sand-dust storm originated from the Gobi Desert on 18 March 2010 travelled approxi-mately 1200-1500 km day-1 eastward and passed over the NCP on 19 March 2010, in good agreement with previous findings. In addition, the multi-sensor measurements integrated with the HYSPLIT model output formed a three-dimensional view of the transport pathway for this dust episode, indicating that this episode was largely associated with the desert source regions to the northwest of the NCP. The results imply the importance of integration of multi-sensor measurements for clarifying the overall structure of dust events over northern China.     

Q Vector Analysis of Torrential Rainfall from Meiyu Front Cyclone： A Case Study

Following similar derivation of quasi-geostrophic Q vector （Q^C）, a new Q vector （Q^N） is constructed in this study. Their difference is that the geostrophic wind in quasi-geostrophic Q vector is replaced by the wind in Q^N vector. The diagnostic analysis of Q^N vector is compared with that of Q^G vector in the case study of a typical Meiyu front cyclone （MYFC） occurred over Changjiang-Huaihe regions during 5-6 July 1991. The results show that the Q^N vector has more diagnostic advantages than Q^G vector does. Convergence of Q^N vector at 700 hPa is found to be a good indicator to mimic the horizontal distribution of precipitation. Q^N vector is further partitioned into four components： Q^Nalst （along-stream stretching）,Q^Ncurv （curvature）,Q^Nshdv （shear advection）, and Q^Ncrst （cross-stream stretching） in a natural coordinate system with isohypse （PG partitioning）. The application of Q^N PG partitioning in the MYFC torrential rain indicates that PG partitioning of Q can identify dominant physical processes. The horizontal distribution of 2V·Q^Nalst is similar to that of 2V·Q^N and mainly accounts for 2V·Q^N during the entire period of Meiyu. The effects of Q^Ncurv on rainfall enhancement fade from the mature stage to decay stage. Qshdv enhances precipitation significantly as the MYFC develops, and the effect weakens rapidly when the MYFC decays during its eastward propagation. Q^Ncrst shows little impacts on rainfall during the onset and mature phases whereas it displays significant role during the decay phase.Q^N alst and Q^Nshdv and Q^Ncrst show cancellation only during the decay period.     

On the Use of the Jesuit Order Private Correspondence Records in Climate Reconstructions: A Case Study from Castille (Spain) for 1634–1648 A.D.

This work analyses the climatic information content of more than 1000 letters belonging to the private correspondence of the Jesuit order during the period 1634–1648. The information obtained mainly originates in Castille, and it was codified to obtain quantitative indices representative of the evolution of the thermal and rainfall anomalies. The results show that intense rainfall and cold air waves predominated during the study period, in accordance with other results on the climatic evolution of the Iberian Peninsula during the Little Ice Age.     

Upper-Tropospheric Environment–Tropical Cyclone Interactions over the Western North Pacific: A Statistical Study

Based on 25-year(1987–2011) tropical cyclone(TC) best track data, a statistical study was carried out to investigate the basic features of upper-tropospheric TC–environment interactions over the western North Pacific. Interaction was defined as the absolute value of eddy momentum flux convergence(EFC) exceeding 10 m s~(-1)d~(-1). Based on this definition, it was found that 18% of all six-hourly TC samples experienced interaction. Extreme interaction cases showed that EFC can reach~120 m s~(-1)d~(-1) during the extratropical-cyclone(EC) stage, an order of magnitude larger than reported in previous studies.Composite analysis showed that positive interactions are characterized by a double-jet flow pattern, rather than the traditional trough pattern, because it is the jets that bring in large EFC from the upper-level environment to the TC center. The role of the outflow jet is also enhanced by relatively low inertial stability, as compared to the inflow jet. Among several environmental factors, it was found that extremely large EFC is usually accompanied by high inertial stability, low SST and strong vertical wind shear(VWS). Thus, the positive effect of EFC is cancelled by their negative effects. Only those samples during the EC stage, whose intensities were less dependent on VWS and the underlying SST, could survive in extremely large EFC environments, or even re-intensify. For classical TCs(not in the EC stage), it was found that environments with a moderate EFC value generally below ~25 m s~(-1)d~(-1) are more favorable for a TC's intensification than those with extremely large EFC.     

Impacts of Boundary-Layer Structure and Turbulence on the Variations of PM2.5 During Fog–Haze Episodes

Boundary-Layer Meteorology - The precise cause of PM2.5 (fine particular matter with a diameter smaller than 2.5 μm) explosive growth and the contribution of intermittent turbulence...     

Tropical–Mid-Latitude Interactions: Case Study of an Inland-Penetrating Atmospheric River During a Major Winter Storm Over North America

ABSTRACT

A detailed analysis is performed on an inland-penetrating atmospheric river (AR) driven by and coupled to a Colorado cyclone in the first week of February 2016. This winter weather system was initiated by a trough of low pressure moving across the Rocky Mountains from the California coast. The low-level jet ahead of the trough was capable of extracting water vapour from the Gulf of Mexico to feed a cyclone on the lee side of the Rocky Mountaains, and the jet stream eventually transformed into a powerful AR. The warm, moist flow from the south produced a narrow band of heavy precipitation along the major axis of the AR across the central and eastern United States and generated significant freezing rain in parts of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada as the AR flowed over the warm front. It is suggested that, in an operational weather forecasting and warning environment, ARs can be easily identified by using the vertically integrated horizontal water vapour transport, and the major AR contribution to heavy precipitation can be estimated from the horizontal moisture convergence. It is demonstrated that the AR analysis in this case can assist operational meteorologists in understanding and conceptualizing winter storm development and the associated high-impact weather pattern. The operational predictability of this winter storm and its possible teleconnection with the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) are also investigated. Our lagged composite analysis reveals that a statistically significant increase in water vapour transport from the Gulf of Mexico over the North American continent could occur about 10–20 days after the MJO-related convection anomaly reaches the tropical Indian Ocean.     

A Heavy Sea Fog Event over the Yellow Sea in March 2005： Analysis and Numerical Modeling

In this paper, a heavy sea fog episode that occurred over the Yellow Sea on 9 March 2005 is investigated. The sea fog patch, with a spatial scale of several hundred kilometers at its mature stage, reduced visibility along the Shandong Peninsula coast to 100 m or much less at some sites. Satellite images, surface observations and soundings at islands and coasts, and analyses from the Japan Meteorology Agency （JMA） axe used to describe and analyze this event. The analysis indicates that this sea fog can be categorized as advection cooling fog. The main features of this sea fog including fog area and its movement axe reasonably reproduced by the Fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model （MM5）. Model results suggest that the formation and evolution of this event can be outlined as： （1） southerly warm/moist advection of low-level air resulted in a strong sea-surface-based inversion with a thickness of about 600 m; （2） when the inversion moved from the warmer East Sea to the colder Yellow Sea, a thermal internal boundary layer （TIBL） gradually formed at the base of the inversion while the sea fog grew in response to cooling and moistening by turbulence mixing; （3） the sea fog developed as the TIBL moved northward and （4） strong northerly cold and dry wind destroyed the TIBL and dissipated the sea fog. The principal findings of this study axe that sea fog forms in response to relatively persistent southerly waxm/moist wind and a cold sea surface, and that turbulence mixing by wind shear is the primary mechanism for the cooling and moistening the marine layer. In addition, the study of sensitivity experiments indicates that deterministic numerical modeling offers a promising approach to the prediction of sea fog over the Yellow Sea but it may be more efficient to consider ensemble numerical modeling because of the extreme sensitivity to model input.     

Autumn Tropical Cyclones over the Western North Pacific during 1949–2016:A Statistical Study

We used tropical cyclone(TC) best track data for 1949–2016, provided by the Shanghai Typhoon Institute, China Meteorological Administration(CMA-STI), and a TC size dataset(1980–2016) derived from geostationary satellite infrared images to analyze the statistical characteristics of autumn TCs over the western North Pacific(WNP). We investigated TC genesis frequency, location, track density, intensity, outer size, and landfalling features, as well as their temporal and spatial evolution characteristics. On average, the number of autumn TCs accounted for 42.1% of the annual total, slightly less than that of summer TCs(42.7%). However, TCs classified as strong typhoons or super typhoons were more frequent in autumn than in summer. In most years of the 68-yr study period, there was an inverse relationship between the number of autumn TCs and that of summer TCs. The genesis of autumn TCs was concentrated at three centers over the WNP: the first is located near(14°N, 115°E) over the northeastern South China Sea and the other two are located in the vast oceanic area east of the Philippines around(14°N, 135°E) and(14°N,145°E), respectively. In terms of intensity, the eight strongest TCs during the study period all occurred in autumn. It is revealed that autumn TCs were featured with strong typhoons and super typhoons, with the latter accounting for28.1% of the total number of autumn TCs. Statistically, the average 34-knot radius(R34) of autumn TCs increased with TC intensity. From 1949 to 2016, 164 autumn TCs made landfall in China, with an average annual number of2.4. Autumn TCs were most likely to make landfall in Guangdong Province, followed by Hainan Province and Taiwan Island.     

On the Blocking Flow Patterns in the Euro–Atlantic Sector:A Simple Model Study

The flow patterns of Euro-Atlantic blocking events in winter are investigated by dividing the sector into three sub- regions： 60°-30°W （Greenland region）; 20°W-30°E [eastern Atlantic-Europe （EAE） region]; and 50°-90°E （Ural region）. It is shown that blocking events in winter are extremely frequent in the three sub-regions. Composite 500-mb geopotential height fields for intense and long-lived blocking events demonstrate that the blocking fields over Greenland and Ural regions exhibit southwest-northeast （SW-NE） and southeast-northwest （SE-NW） oriented dipole-type patterns, respectively, while the composite field over the EAE region exhibits an Ω-type pattern. The type of composite blocking pattern seems to be related to the position of the blocking region relative to the positive center of the climatological stationary wave （CSW） anomaly existing near 10°W.
The physical cause of why there are different composite blocking types in the three sub-regions is identified using a nonlinear multiscale interaction model. It is found that when the blocking event is in almost the same position as the positive CSW anomaly, the planetary-scale field can exhibit an Ω-type pattern due to the enhanced positive CSW anomaly. Neverthe- less, a SW-NE （SE-NW） oriented dipole-type block can occur due to the reduced positive CSW anomaly as it is farther in the west （east） of the positive CSW anomaly. The total fields of blocking in the three regions may exhibit a meandering flow comprised of several isolated anticyclonic and cyclonic vortices, which resembles the Berggren-Bolin-Rossby meandering jet type.