Specific features of heat exchange between the Black Sea and the atmosphere in winter in 1971–1991

The reanalysis ofthree-dimensional fields of water temperature and velocity ofcurrents in the Black Sea in January–March in 1971–1991 is used for studying the spatial distribution of sea surface temperature, heat content of the upper layer, and heat fluxes on the sea surface near the Caucasian coast and the southern coast of Crimea. It is demonstrated that a warm current in the upper layer of the sea and the high values of the heat flux from the sea to the atmosphere are observed in these areas in winter. The possible effect of the above features on the interannual variability of winter air temperature in Sochi and Yalta is assessed.     

Bi-decadal variability excited in the coupled ocean–atmosphere system by strong tropical volcanic eruptions

Decadal and bi-decadal climate responses to tropical strong volcanic eruptions (SVEs) are inspected in an ensemble simulation covering the last millennium based on the Max Planck Institute—Earth system model. An unprecedentedly large collection of pre-industrial SVEs (up to 45) producing a peak annual-average top-of-atmosphere radiative perturbation larger than ?1.5 Wm^?2 is investigated by composite analysis. Post-eruption oceanic and atmospheric anomalies coherently describe a fluctuation in the coupled ocean–atmosphere system with an average length of 20–25 years. The study provides a new physically consistent theoretical framework to interpret decadal Northern Hemisphere (NH) regional winter climates variability during the last millennium. The fluctuation particularly involves interactions between the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and the North Atlantic gyre circulation closely linked to the state of the winter North Atlantic Oscillation. It is characterized by major distinctive details. Among them, the most prominent are: (a) a strong signal amplification in the Arctic region which allows for a sustained strengthened teleconnection between the North Pacific and the North Atlantic during the first post-eruption decade and which entails important implications from oceanic heat transport and from post-eruption sea ice dynamics, and (b) an anomalous surface winter warming emerging over the Scandinavian/Western Russian region around 10–12 years after a major eruption. The simulated long-term climate response to SVEs depends, to some extent, on background conditions. Consequently, ensemble simulations spanning different phases of background multidecadal and longer climate variability are necessary to constrain the range of possible post-eruption decadal evolution of NH regional winter climates.     

Future projections of the surface heat and water budgets of the Mediterranean Sea in an ensemble of coupled atmosphere–ocean regional climate models

Within the CIRCE project “Climate change and Impact Research: the Mediterranean Environment”, an ensemble of high resolution coupled atmosphere–ocean regional climate models (AORCMs) are used to simulate the Mediterranean climate for the period 1950–2050. For the first time, realistic net surface air-sea fluxes are obtained. The sea surface temperature (SST) variability is consistent with the atmospheric forcing above it and oceanic constraints. The surface fluxes respond to external forcing under a warming climate and show an equivalent trend in all models. This study focuses on the present day and on the evolution of the heat and water budget over the Mediterranean Sea under the SRES-A1B scenario. On the contrary to previous studies, the net total heat budget is negative over the present period in all AORCMs and satisfies the heat closure budget controlled by a net positive heat gain at the strait of Gibraltar in the present climate. Under climate change scenario, some models predict a warming of the Mediterranean Sea from the ocean surface (positive net heat flux) in addition to the positive flux at the strait of Gibraltar for the 2021–2050 period. The shortwave and latent flux are increasing and the longwave and sensible fluxes are decreasing compared to the 1961–1990 period due to a reduction of the cloud cover and an increase in greenhouse gases (GHGs) and SSTs over the 2021–2050 period. The AORCMs provide a good estimates of the water budget with a drying of the region during the twenty-first century. For the ensemble mean, he decrease in precipitation and runoff is about 10 and 15% respectively and the increase in evaporation is much weaker, about 2% compared to the 1961–1990 period which confirm results obtained in recent studies. Despite a clear consistency in the trends and results between the models, this study also underlines important differences in the model set-ups, methodology and choices of some physical parameters inducing some difference in the various air-sea fluxes. An evaluation of the uncertainty sources and possible improvement for future generation of AORCMs highlights the importance of the parameterisation of the ocean albedo, rivers and cloud cover.     

The relation between the spring reconstruction of stratospheric circulation and tropospheric processes in March–June

Statistical relationship between the dates of the spring reconstruction of the stratospheric circulation (10 hPa) and frequency of Dzerdzeevskii elementary circulation mechanisms (ECM) over the Northern Hemisphere in March-June is studied. It is found that, after early (March) and late (May) stratospheric reconstruction, the frequency substantially differs, which can be useful for long-term forecasting.     

Impact of the configuration of stretching and ocean–atmosphere coupling on tropical cyclone activity in the variable-resolution GCM ARPEGE

This study starts by investigating the impact of the configuration of the variable-resolution atmospheric grid on tropical cyclone (TC) activity. The French atmospheric general circulation model ARPEGE, the grid of which is rotated and stretched over the North Atlantic basin, was used with prescribed sea surface temperatures. The study clearly shows that changing the position of the stretching pole strongly modifies the representation of TC activity over the North Atlantic basin. A pole in the centre of the North Atlantic basin provides the best representation of the TC activity for this region. In a second part, the variable-resolution climate model ARPEGE is coupled with the European oceanic global climate model NEMO in order to study the impact of ocean–atmosphere coupling on TC activity over the North Atlantic basin. Two pre-industrial runs, a coupled simulation and a simulation forced by the sea surface temperatures from the coupled one, are compared. The results show that the coupled simulation is more active in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico while the forced simulation is more active over eastern Florida and the eastern Atlantic. The difference in the distribution of TC activity is certainly linked with the location of TC genesis. In the forced simulation, tropical cyclogenesis is closer to the west African coast than in the coupled simulation. Moreover, the difference in TC activity over the eastern Atlantic seems to be related to two different mechanisms: the difference in African easterly wave activity over the west of Africa and the cooling produced, in the coupled simulation, by African easterly waves over the eastern Atlantic. Finally, the last part studies the impact of changing the frequency of ocean–atmosphere coupling on Atlantic TC activity. Increasing the frequency of coupling decreases the density of TC activity over the North Atlantic basin. However, it does not modify the spatial distribution of the TC activity. TC rainfalls are decreased by 8?% in the high frequency coupled run.     

Areal distribution and precipitation–altitude relationship of heavy short-term precipitation in the Czech Republic in the warm part of the year

The article presents an analysis of heavy short-term precipitation for the warm part of the year in the Czech Republic (CR). Precipitation data are prepared for the years 2002–2007 with a horizontal resolution of 1 km and a temporal resolution of 1 h. A method merging radar and daily rain gauge measurements is applied to calculate basic hourly precipitation. Two types of 1-, 2-, 3-, and 6-h precipitation data, derived from the basic hourly precipitation, are investigated from the viewpoint of precipitation–altitude relationships and areal distributions of heavy precipitation. The first type of data consists of sums of hourly precipitation, where the summation is performed for all data regardless of whether the summed hourly precipitation is a part of a longer precipitation event or if some hours are without precipitation. The second type of data contains temporally bounded precipitation events. This type predominantly includes convective precipitation. The results show that for both types of data, 1-h precipitation with high rain rates is without apparent dependence on altitude. For the first type of data and for precipitation durations of 2 and 3 h, the impact of altitude on precipitation maps can be identified for low and high rain rates. The impact of mountains is evident for the 6-h precipitation because it includes large scale precipitation events. However, the second type of data does not depend on altitude for heavy precipitation. Heavy precipitation of the second type shows, especially for 6-h, an increased frequency of occurrence in the south to central CR.     

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.     

Regional intensity–duration–frequency analysis in the Eastern Black Sea Basin,Turkey, by using L-moments and regression analysis

The analysis of rainfall frequency is an important step in hydrology and water resources engineering. However, a lack of measuring stations, short duration of statistical periods, and unreliable outliers are among the most important problems when designing hydrology projects. In this study, regional rainfall analysis based on L-moments was used to overcome these problems in the Eastern Black Sea Basin (EBSB) of Turkey. The L-moments technique was applied at all stages of the regional analysis, including determining homogeneous regions, in addition to fitting and estimating parameters from appropriate distribution functions in each homogeneous region. We studied annual maximum rainfall height values of various durations (5 min to 24 h) from seven rain gauge stations located in the EBSB in Turkey, which have gauging periods of 39 to 70 years. Homogeneity of the region was evaluated by using L-moments. The goodness-of-fit criterion for each distribution was defined as the Z^DIST statistics, depending on various distributions, including generalized logistic (GLO), generalized extreme value (GEV), generalized normal (GNO), Pearson type 3 (PE3), and generalized Pareto (GPA). GLO and GEV determined the best distributions for short (5 to 30 min) and long (1 to 24 h) period data, respectively. Based on the distribution functions, the governing equations were extracted for calculation of intensities of 2, 5, 25, 50, 100, 250, and 500 years return periods (T). Subsequently, the T values for different rainfall intensities were estimated using data quantifying maximum amount of rainfall at different times. Using these T values, duration, altitude, latitude, and longitude values were used as independent variables in a regression model of the data. The determination coefficient (R ²) value indicated that the model yields suitable results for the regional relationship of intensity–duration–frequency (IDF), which is necessary for the design of hydraulic structures in small and medium sized catchments.     

Summertime warming in the European part of Russia and extreme heat in 2010 as manifestation of large-scale atmospheric circulation trends in the late 20th–early 21st centuries

Considered is a relationship between long-term variations of the surface air temperature and of the field of geopotential at the level of 500 hPa in the middle of summer in the European part of Russia and the variations of large-scale atmospheric circulation described by the indices of North Atlantic and North Pacific centers of atmospheric action. The considerable inhomogeneity in the course of average temperature in the European part of Russia in July divides it into two periods, before and after the 1980s. Unlike stationary fluctuations of temperature before the 1980s, the 6–10-year fluctuations are typical of the period of 1981–2010 against a background of its considerable rise by 0.8°C per 10 years with the contribution of 20% to the total variance. During this period, about 80% of temperature variability are caused by the circulation variations, and 55% of them are associated with the North Pacific centers of atmospheric action, in particular, with the WP index in July, May, and April. Revealed regression dependences between circulation indices and the air temperature in the European part of Russia explain rather accurately the linear trend, the fluctuations with the period of 6–10 years, and the extremes in 1988, 2001–2003, and 2010. The analysis of the time series (1950–2012) of WP, PDO, and SOI indices demonstrates that changes in the atmospheric circulation took place in the extratropical zone of the Northern Hemisphere at the turn of the 1980s and this caused the formation of blocking situations and, hence, steady heat and drought in summer in the mid-latitude zone including the European part of Russia. These variations can be interpreted as a change in the regimes of strong (1950–1980) and weak (1981–2012) circulation. The heat in July 2010 was an extreme display of weak circulation, and this is indicated by the unprecedented low values of the WP index in July and May.     

Why Are Arctic Sea Ice Concentration in September and Its Interannual Variability Well Predicted over the Barents–East Siberian Seas by CFSv2?

To further understand the prediction skill for the interannual variability of the sea ice concentration(SIC) in specific regions of the Arctic, this paper evaluates the NCEP Climate Forecast System version 2(CFSv2), in predicting the autumn SIC and its interannual variability over the Barents–East Siberian Seas(BES). It is found that CFSv2 presents much better prediction skill for the September SIC over BES than the Arctic as a whole at 1–6-month leads, and high prediction skill for the interann...     

Precipitation chemistry and ozone and sulfate concentrations in the ocean atmosphere observed by multi-year cruising in East Asia and West Oceania (35°N–35°S, 100–135°E) in August and September

A comprehensive study on the chemistry of deposition and the concentration of tropospheric ozone and particulate sulfate in the ocean atmosphere was carried out for the data sets in 1990’s. It is important to study the atmospheric situation over the past years as well as the latest, especially in the East Asian region where emission amount of anthropogenic air pollutants have increased year by year due to rapid economic growth. The survey was conducted for 5 years in East Asia and West Oceania (35°N–35°S, 100–135°E) in August and September in 1990’s. The purpose of the survey was to study and understand the chemistry of deposition and the concentration of tropospheric ozone and particulate sulfate in the ocean atmosphere comprehensively in one project. Rainfall over the ocean was insufficiently neutralized. Gas and aerosol over the ocean were mature, i.e., well-mixed, during the period of the transportation. The characteristic latitudinal dependence was observed in the tropospheric ozone concentration, namely, higher in the southern hemisphere and lower in the northern hemisphere (approximately 25 ppb in the 10–40°S region and 5–15 ppb in the 20–40°N region). On the other hand, high concentrations of tropospheric ozone of over 30 ppb were observed in the northern hemisphere, which was attributable to the long-range transportation. The TSP concentration was approximately under the level of 40 μg m^?3 irrespectively of the latitude; in contrast, the nss-SO₄ ^2- concentration showed a clear latitudinal dependence, i.e., higher in the northern hemisphere and lower in the southern hemisphere. The background levels of the nss-SO₄ ^2- concentration were approximately 0.5 μg m^?3 in the 10–40°S region and 2–3 μg m^?3 and 4–5 μg m^?3 in the 0–20°N and 20–40°N regions, respectively.