Comments on Zeng’s Paper “Variational Principle of Instability of Atmospheric Motions”

After my paper (Zeng, 1986b) was published and another (Zeng, 1989) was submitted to the journal, I found two papers written by Arnold (1966) and McIntyre et al. (1987) and received some reprints of Ripa's papers (1983; 1984; 1987; 1988) in the same field. I thank Drs. Mu Mu and Pedro Ripa very much for showing and sending me these interesting papers.     

Role of a simplified hydrological cycle and clouds in regulating the climate–biota system of Daisyworld

The role of a simplified hydrological cycle and a physical representation of clouds is investigated in the Daisyworld model, subject to constant and variable solar forcing and varying cloud albedo and height. Under constant forcing, properties of the cloudy hydrologic cycle control the long-term system dynamics to non-oscillatory, oscillatory, abiotic or biotic states. In case of oscillatory solutions, their amplitude and periodicity are controlled by the net cooling or warming effects from clouds. Two conditions are considered under variable forcing—active or neutral—depending on the existence or not of biota–environment feedbacks. Temperature, cloudiness and hydrological variables are self-regulated in the active condition, whereas non-regulated in the neutral condition. Self-regulation is quantified through two measurements (luminosity range and total life), both of which can be larger in our model than in several other variants of Daisyworld, depending on cloud characteristics. The hydrological cycle and clouds can make the planet more habitable for life, independent of the capacity of the system for biological adaptation. Two hypotheses are put forward: (1) beneficial effects for life emerge from biota–clouds interactions, enhancing the global amount of life and extending the life span; and (ii) the existence of a maximum self-regulation capacity principle.     

Coments on “derivation of water vapor fluxes from lidar measurements” by W. E. Eichingeret al.

Eichingeret al. (1993) discuss the use of a Raman lidar for measurements of water vapor fluxes and suggest that the method is superior to the use of standard micrometeorological, point sensor measurements. Although the lidar shows considerable promise for some purposes, we believe that their criticisms of point sensors are not warranted; that there are difficulties with their application of dissipation techniques to extract fluxes; and that they misinterpret the existence of plume structures as statistically significant spatial variations of turbulent fluxes.     

Comments on ``Direct Radiative Forcing of Anthropogenic Aerosols over Oceans from Satellite Observation"

Previous observational studies have estimated anthropogenic aerosol direct radiative forcing over oceans without due consideration of cloudy-sky aerosols.However,when interaction between clouds and aerosols located below or above the cloud level is taken into account,the aerosol direct radiative forcing is larger by as much as 5 W m-2 in most mid-latitude regions in the Northern Hemisphere.     

X.25分组交换网主要设备的简明配置

介绍了X.25分组交换网建设过程中主要设备的具体配置及关键设备参数的具体设置.     

由河南“75·8”特大暴雨引发的思考

"75·8"特大暴雨在我国暴雨领域是一个非常典型的个例。40 a来还发生了其他类型的极端暴雨和突发性暴雨,都加深了对我国暴雨研究与业务的认识,引发了一些思考。暴雨是我国最主要的灾害天气,关系到国家安全、社会稳定和经济的可持续发展。暴雨预报也是我国乃至全球天气业务的重点之一,各级领导应该高度重视,加大对暴雨形成机制的研究,提高暴雨预报的准确率,减小由于暴雨灾害带来的巨大损失。近20 a来,得益于各种常规和非常规观测资料、高分辨率数值模式的发展及诸多先进科研成果的应用,我国暴雨预报业务步入崭新的发展阶段。但由于我国地域辽阔,受季风和多种气候带天气系统的影响,地形地貌多样,暴雨形成机理复杂,预报准确率和精细化程度仍达不到防灾减灾需求。近期我国暴雨预报业务发展的主要思路包括:加强对我国不同地区、不同影响系统的典型暴雨特别是极端性暴雨和局地突发性暴雨个例的分析研究,加深暴雨形成物理机制的认识;提高数值模式尤其是区域中尺度模式和集合预报系统对暴雨预报的性能;加强对模式物理过程和预报性能的了解,充分发挥各地各级预报员认识当地暴雨机理和积累预报经验的作用;提高多源资料综合应用能力,提高短时临近预报能力;建设现代化人机交互式预报业务平台,提升暴雨预报能力;加强对暴雨研究长期持续定向的投入,稳定预报员队伍建设;建立科研和业务的新型结合。