The effect of the high-speed stream following the corotating interaction region on the geomagnetic activities

The high-speed stream following the corotating interaction regions (CIRs) was analyzed. As a result of the analysis, it is found that the geomagnetic field is continuously disturbed in the high-speed stream in question. The geomagnetic disturbances with long duration recurred several rotations between December 1993 and June 1994. These disturbances were associated with a large recurrent coronal hole expanding from the south pole of the Sun. High-speed solar wind from this coronal hole was observed by the IMP-8 satellite during this period. However, the observed intensities of the geomagnetic disturbances were different for each recurrent period. This is explained by the seasonal effect. The disturbed geomagnetic condition continued in the highspeed stream after the passage of the CIRs. The long duration of these disturbances can be explained by the continuous energy input into the Earths magnetosphere from the high-speed regions following the CIRs. This kind of long-duration geomagnetic disturbance in association with coronal holes has been observed in the declining phase of other solar cycles. The relation between the coronal-hole area and the maximum solar-wind velocity is not good for the well-developed large coronal hole analyzed here.     

Experiments on instability of columnar vortex pairs in rotating fluid

We present results from a new series of experiments on the geophysically important issue of the instability of anticyclonic columnar vortices in a rotating fluid in circumstances such that the Rossby number exceeds unity. The vortex pair consisting of a cyclonic and an anticyclonic vortex is induced by a rotating flap in a fluid which is itself initially in a state of solid-body rotation. The anticyclonic vortex is then subject to either centrifugal or elliptical instability, depending on whether its initial ellipticity is small or large, while the cyclone always remains stable. The experimental results demonstrate that the perturbations due to centrifugal instability have a typical form of toroidal vortices of alternating sign (rib vortices). The perturbations due to elliptical instability are of the form of sinuous deformation of the vortex filament in the plane of maximal stretching which corresponds to the plane of symmetry for the vortex pair. The initial perturbations in both cases are characterized by a definite wave number in the vertical direction. The characteristics of the unstable anticyclone are determined by the main nondimensional parameter of the flow - the Rossby number. The appearance of both centrifugal and elliptical instabilities are in accord with the predictions of theoretical criteria for these cases.     

Roughness of three types of gravity disturbances and their correlation with topography in rugged mountains and flat regions

We investigate the roughness of and the correlation with topography of the observed, topographically corrected (T), and bathymetrically and topographically corrected (BT) gravity disturbances. The numerical investigation is carried out for the gravity disturbances at the Earth’s surface and for the upward continued gravity disturbances at different altitudes. The area of study comprises a rough part of the Canadian Rockies surrounded by flat regions. The smoothest at the Earth’s surface are the BT gravity disturbances. The evolution of roughness with altitude shows an interesting phenomenon, diverse for the three types of gravity disturbances. The correlation with topography over the study area of the observed gravity disturbances is bellow 0.6, and of the BT gravity disturbances approximately −0.6. The largest absolute value, of about −0.75, is found between the topography and the T gravity disturbances. This large negative correlation indicates a presence of the isostatic compensation in mountainous regions of the Canadian west coast.     

Laboratory experiments on fronts

Abstract

Supercritically unstable density fronts near a vertical wall in a rotating, two-layer fluid were created on a laboratory turntable by withdrawing the outer wall of an annulus with a narrow gap, and allowing buoyant fluid from within the annulus to collapse toward a state of quasi-geostrophic balance. The resulting “coastal” current has a nearly uniform potential vorticity and is bounded by a front on which ageostrophic, wave-like disturbances grow. If the current width is comparable to the Rossby radius of deformation, the dominant length scale of disturbances is proportional to the width of the current. On the other hand, if the upper layer is much wider than the Rossby radius, then the observed length scale is a constant multiple of the Rossby radius. If the vertical boundary is omitted in the experiments, so that we are left with a circular anticyclonic vortex, the observed length scales and large-amplitude behaviour of disturbances are identical to those for the boundary currents, indicating that the wall has no significant influence on the flow.

At very large amplitude the growing waves lead to the formation of cyclone-anticyclone vortex pairs. For very wide currents, both the mean flow and the disturbances are first confined to a region within a few Rossby radii of the front. However, both the mean flow and the turbulent eddy motions slowly propagate into the previously stationary upper layer until, eventually, the whole of the upper layer is turbulent.     

外热带大气扰动对ENSO的影响

合成分析了20世纪80年代以来5次主要的ENSO事件,发现外热带大气扰动通过经向风异常不仅对ENSO的发生起到重要的触发作用,而且影响到ENSO的发展和衰减. 因此,尽管ENSO对外热带大气扰动有影响,但同时外热带大气扰动又与ENSO有相互作用. 在ENSO发生前,南印度洋中纬度为反气旋异常,并通过Rossby波的频散作用加强了澳大利亚附近的反气旋异常;同时,澳大利亚东部沿海的南风异常与菲律宾附近的北风异常在赤道辐合,促进了赤道西太平洋西风异常的爆发和其后ENSO的发生. 在ENSO发生之后,东南太平洋上的气旋异常及相关的南风异常进一步增强了赤道中东太平洋的西风异常和ENSO的发展. 当ENSO达到成熟时,澳大利亚东部的反气旋异常东移,使东南太平洋的气旋异常减弱,南方涛动型环流异常亦随之减弱;同时,阿留申气旋异常加强,尤其是副热带北太平洋的风场异常可加强赤道中东太平洋海水的涌升,使该地区海表温度降低,加速ENSO的消亡.     

大气季节内振荡的活动与江淮流域夏季旱涝

观测资料的分析极为清楚地表明,江淮流域的夏季降水有着极为明显的低频变化,周期为30-60d和近20d的振荡是其最基本的特征,尤其是在多雨的年份.对应江淮夏季多雨(涝)年和少雨(旱)年,大气环流的分析表明其大气季节内振荡(IS0)的形势有着显著的差异.例如在多雨(少雨)年,在长江以南的850hPa上为一个低频(IS0)反气旋(气旋)性环流控制,而中国北部和日本一带为气旋(反气旋)性环流,从而在江淮流域形成较强的低频辐合(辐散)气流;在200hPa的青藏高原上却为一个低频气旋(反气旋)性环流所控制.分析还表明,对应多雨年,在江淮流域有明显的由中高讳度向南传播和由低玮度向北传播的大气低频振荡的汇合情况;而对应于少雨年,由中高纬度向南传播的低频系统较不明显,在江淮流域低频系统的汇合也较为不清楚.     

Multi-nest high-resolution model of submesoscale circulation features in the Gulf of Taranto

Recent oceanographic field measurements and high-resolution numerical modelling studies have revealed intense, transient, submesoscale motions characterised by a horizontal length scale of 100–10,000 m. This submesoscale activity increases in the fall and winter when the mixed layer (ML) depth is at its maximum. In this study, the submesoscale motions associated with a large-scale anticyclonic gyre in the central Gulf of Taranto were examined using realistic submesoscale-permitting simulations. We used realistic flow field initial conditions and multiple nesting techniques to perform realistic simulations, with very-high horizontal resolutions (> 200 m) in areas with submesoscale variability. Multiple downscaling was used to increase resolution in areas where instability was active enough to develop multi-scale interactions and produce 5-km-diameter eddies. To generate a submesoscale eddy, a 200-m resolution was required. The submesoscale eddy was formed through small-scale baroclinic instability in the rim of a large-scale anticyclonic gyre leading to large vertical velocities and rapid restratification of the ML in a time-scale of days. The submesoscale eddy was confirmed by observational data from the area and we can say that for the first time we have a proof that the model reproduces a realistic submesoscale vortex, similar in shape and location to the observed one.     

On the stability properties of the nongeostrophic disturbances in a barotropic zonal current

Summary The stability properties of the nongeostrophic disturbances are studied in a barotropic zonal current. The growth rate of the nongeostrophic disturbances is increased and the instability is generally shifted towards shorter wavelengths. Even in the structure of the nongeostrophic disturbances large differences are found as compared to geostrophic disturbances.On leave from Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India.     

Observations of the thermodynamic structure of marine atmospheric boundary layer over Bay of Bengal,Northern Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea during premonsoon period

This paper presents the observations of the thermodynamic structure of the Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer (MABL) over Bay of Bengal (BoB), Northern Indian Ocean (NIO) and Arabian Sea (AS) regions, using radiosonde observations carried out as a part of the Integrated Campaign for Aerosols, gases and Radiation Budget (ICARB) during March–May 2006. Most of the profiles show the general structure of tropical MABL which consists of surface layer, sub-cloud layer (mixed layer), transition layer, cloud layer and trade wind inversion (TWI). However, in few soundings over BoB and AS, it was observed that the cloud layer is remarkably well-mixed, forming a double mixed layer (DML) structure. This feature is seen to be closely associated with the low level anticyclonic system over these sectors. The average profiles of vertical wind (corresponding to the region of observation) obtained from NCEP showed that there is an increase in the vertical velocity on the days when such a double mixed layer was observed and the altitude region of this high ω coincides with that of the DML. The study also reveals some important differences in the MABL structure during convectively active and weak periods. The spatial variation of the parameters like mixed layer (ML) depth, height of lifting condensation level (LCL), level of free convection (LFC), and trade wind inversion (TWI) are presented and discussed in detail. The TWI observations are first of their kind from the BoB region. The TWI top is found to be at a higher height compared to the observations over other oceanic regions, and the relationship between the TWI altitude and lapse rate of specific humidity is used to explain why the TWI was formed at a higher height. The observations of the MABL parameters are also compared with those reported from the previous campaigns over these regions.     

Global analysis of the lower tropospheric disturbances in the tropics during the northern summer of the FGGE year part II: Regional characteristics of the disturbances

Regional characteristics of the synoptic-scale wave disturbances in the tropical lower troposphere were examined by analyzing the FGGE level III-b data. Three tropical regions, western Pacific, eastern Pacific, and a region from the African Continent to the Atlantic, were selected for the present study. Spectrum analysis, trajectory analysis and composite analysis were used to obtain characteristics of the wave disturbances for each region.Main findings are as follows: 1.) The generation region of the western Pacific wave disturbances related to typhoon development are found around 5° N and 170° E. 2.) An interaction of the western Pacific wave disturbances with the upper Mid-Pacific trough was indicated statistically as an intensifying condition for typhoons. 3.) The wave disturbances in the eastern Pacific originate to the west of Panama and propagate west-north-westward with a period of 5.7 day and a wavelength of about 2700 km. 4.) The structure of the eastern Pacific wave disturbances is similar to that of the western Pacific disturbances. 5.) Two different paths of the African waves are found over the African Continent. The northern disturbance has a period of 4.4 days while the southern one has a period of 3.3–3.6 days. 6.) Disturbances along the northern path of the African waves are traced only to as far as 45° W, and those along the southern path are traced to the Caribbean Sea.     

Nonlinear stability of baroclinic flows over topography

Abstract

A new nonlinear stability criterion is derived for baroclinic flows over topography in spherical geometry. The stability of a wide class of exact three-dimensional nonlinear steady state solutions subject to arbitrary disturbances is established. The resonance condition, at the highest total wavenumber, for the steady state solutions and the stability criteria for baroclinic flow in the absence of topography provide the boundaries of the regions of stability in the presence of topography. The analogous results for flow on periodic or infinite beta planes incorporating non-orthogonal function large scale flows are also discussed.     

一类西太平洋副热带高压双脊线过程维持机制初探

本文通过对1979~2005年5~10月发生在西太平洋地区的156个副热带高压双脊线过程进行统计分析,发现87.82%的双脊线过程的出现是因为南侧新生一脊线,而且有明显的“季节锁相”,即其发生频数在7月中旬至9月中旬有两个峰值.历年过程中最典型的“南生南存型”双脊线过程的合成分析表明该类双脊线过程形成、维持和消失与副高南侧外围东风波系统自东南向西北传播发展密切相关.500 hPa距平环流演变显示北侧脊线的减弱消失符合气候规律,东风波槽前的异常气旋仅影响副高北侧脊线位置;而东风波槽后的异常反气旋性环流有利于南侧脊线异常发展与维持,造成该类双脊线过程结束后副高异常偏南.进一步分析发现,东风波和西太平洋副热带高压的相互作用改变了副高区域垂直运动分布.这一方面改变了经向风的分布,使500 hPa副高南侧脊线区域地转涡度平流项发展;另一方面引起非绝热加热垂直分布不均匀,在两脊线之间诱生一异常气旋性环流,在南侧脊线区生成异常反气旋环流.因此,东风波与西太平洋副热带高压的相互作用可能会造成副高的不连续南退,这对副高预报有一定预示作用.     

Observation and study on the whole process of cloud-to-ground lightning using narrowband radio interferometer

A narrowband radio interferometer has been developed and used to locate the entire sources of VHF radiations from a negative cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning discharge which contains 19 strokes. This system uses five antennas to form an array consisting of short- and long-baselines along two or- thogonal directions. The system error which comes from frequency conversion is reduced by phase detection through direct high frequency amplifying. An interactive graphic analysis procedure is used to remove the fringe ambiguities which exist inherently in interferometry and to determine the direction of lightning radiation sources in two dimensions (azimuth and elevation) as a function of time at a time resolution of microsecond orders. With the developed system, the whole progression process in time and space of a lightning flash can be reconstructed. In this paper, combining the synchronous data of electric filed change and VHF radiation, the whole processes of an example negative CG flash have been studied in detail. It is found that the preliminary breakdown event of the CG flash started from negative charge region and exhibited firstly a downward pregression and then an upward propagation. There were very intense and continuous radiations during stepped leaders which became much stronger when the first return stroke began. In contrast, there were less and only discrete radiations during dart leaders. Stepped leader and dart leader may transform to each other depending on the state of the ionization of the path. The progression speed of initial stepped leaders was about 105 ms?1, while that was about 4.1×106 and 6.0×106 ms?1 for dart leaders and dart-stepped leaders, respectively. M events produced hook-shaped field changes accompanied by active burst of radiations at their begin- nings. Followed these active radiation processes, M events appeared to contact finally into conducting main discharge channels. The mean progression speed of M events was about 7×107 ms?1, greater than that of the dart leaders and dart-step leaders. K events and attempted leaders were essentially the same as dart leaders except that they could not reach the ground and initiate return strokes.     

A depth-dependent study of the topographic rectification of tidal currents

Abstract

A depth-dependent model for the topographic rectification of tidal currents in a homogeneous rotating fluid is used to examine the dependence of the rectified mean flow on various tidal, topographic and frictional parameters. Friction is parameterized through a vertically-uniform, time-independent vertical eddy viscosity and a bottom stress law applied near the top of the constant stress layer. The model neglects the interaction of mean and tidal currents, assumes uniformity along isobaths, and is closed with the assumption of zero depth-averaged mean flow across isobaths.

In the limit of depth-independence, the model reduces to that considered by Huthnance (1973) and Loder (1980) which, for weak friction, favours anticyclonic mean circulation around shallow regions and Lagrangian flow which is significantly reduced from the Eulerian. With the inclusion of vertical structure, the magnitude of the anticyclonic flow is amplified suggesting that depth-independent models may underestimate the along-isobath flow. For strong friction the direction of the mean flow depends on the orientation of the tidal ellipse relative to the isobaths. The depthindependent model again underestimates the magnitude of the along-isobath flow, but this can be offset with an appropriate reduction of the bottom friction coefficient.

The cross-isobath mean flows are one to two orders of magnitude weaker than the along-isobath flows and generally have more vertical structure. There is also a significant Stokes drift in the cross-isobath direction. Although there is some tendency for the cross-isobath mean bottom current to be down the cross-isobath mean pressure gradient, it appears that it is not generally possible to infer this current from depth-independent models.     

Dynamical structure and wind-driven upwelling in a summertime anticyclonic eddy within Funka Bay,Hokkaido, Japan

We conducted hydrographic observations in 2002 to investigate the anticyclonic eddy that emerges every summer in Funka Bay, Hokkaido, Japan, and elucidate dynamical structure and wind-driven upwelling within the eddy. The anticyclonic eddy has a vertical scale of 32 m and is characterized by a strong baroclinic flow and a sharp pycnocline with a concave isopycnal structure. The sharp pycnocline occurs below a warm and relatively low-salinity water termed summer Funka Bay water (FS), which is formed by heating from solar radiation and dilution from river discharge in summertime Funka Bay. Flow of the anticyclonic eddy rotates as a rigid body at each layer, and the horizontal scale and rotation period of the eddy in the surface layer are about 15 km and 2.2 days, respectively. The dynamical balance of the anticyclonic eddy is well explained by the gradient flow balance. The contribution of centrifugal force to the gradient flow balance is about 27%. Therefore, the effect of the nonlinear term associated with centrifugal force cannot be neglected in considering the dynamics of the anticyclonic eddy in summertime Funka Bay. In addition, upwelling of subsurface water was observed in the surface layer of the central part of the eddy. The formation mechanism of this upwelling is consistent with interaction between horizontal uniform wind and the eddy. This upwelling is driven by upward Ekman pumping velocity related to the horizontal divergence of Ekman transport. In summertime Funka Bay, there are two wind effects that affect the anticyclonic eddy: a decay effect of the upwelling of subsurface water resulting from horizontal uniform wind (mainly northwesterly wind), and a maintenance or spin-up effect of horizontal non-uniform wind (mainly southerly–southeasterly seasonal wind) with negative wind stress curl.     

基于Weimer模型的高纬地磁扰动预测

地磁扰动是空间天气中的重要现象,对地基技术系统具有重要的影响.准确预报地磁扰动可以有效避免重大灾害发生.本文基于Weimer电势和磁势模型发展了高纬地区地磁扰动的模拟方法,并与地面台站观测数据进行了比较.地表磁场扰动主要受电离层电流系统的影响,利用Weimer模式计算出电离层等效电流分布后,基于毕奥-萨伐尔定律推导了地磁扰动三分量与电流的关系,最终计算出地磁扰动量.模型的输入参数为太阳风速度、太阳风密度、行星际磁场和磁偶极倾角.模型计算结果与不同纬度和经度的地磁台站观测结果对比表明本文的计算方法能有效地模拟地磁暴期间地磁扰动特征.本文结果对今后发展高纬地区地磁场预报模型奠定了重要基础.

     

Review of Electric and Magnetic Fields Accompanying Seismic and Volcanic Activity

New observations of magnetic, electric and electromagnetic field variations, possibly related to recent volcanic and seismic events, have been obtained on Mt. Unzen in Japan, Reunion Island in Indian Ocean, the Long Valley volcanic caldera in California, and for faults in China and Russia, California and several other locations. For volcanic events, contributions from different physical processes can be identified during the various eruption stages. Slow processes (weeks to months) include near-surface thermal demagnetization effects, piezomagnetic effects, and effects from rotation/displacement of magnetized material. Rapid processes (seconds to days) include piezomagnetic effects from instantaneous stress redistribution with explosive eruptions and electrokinetic effects from rupture of high pressure fluid compartments commonly encountered in volcanic regions. For seismic events, the observed coseismic offsets are instantaneous, provided care has been taken to ensure sensors are insensitive to seismic shaking and are in regions of low magnetic field gradient. Simple piezomagnetic dislocation models based on geodetically and seismically determined fault parameters generally match the observed signals in size and sign. Electrokinetic effects resulting from rupture of fluid filled compartments at hydrostatic to lithostatic pore pressures can generate transient signals in the frequency band 100 Hz to 0.01 Hz. However, large-scale fluid driven processes are not evident in near-field measurements in the epicentral region minutes to weeks before large earthquakes. The subset of ionospheric disturbances generated by trapped atmospheric pressure waves (also termed gravity waves and/or acoustic waves, traveling ionospheric disturbances or TID's) that are excited by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common and propagate to great distances. These are known and expected consequences of earthquakes, volcanic explosions (and other atmospheric disturbances), that must be identified and their effects removed from VLF/ULF electromagnetic field records before associating new observations of ionospheric disturbances with earthquake activity.     

Numerical simulations of the bi-level and branched structure of intracloud lightning flashes

Intracloud (IC) lightning is used to mean those lightning flashes which channels do not strike the ground. It is an important scientific problem to inves-tigate the IC flash features and the discharge physics.Measurements from the electric field change arrange-ment[1,2] and VHF radiation events[3,4] have provided ample evidence that IC flashes have branches with substantial horizontal extents. The VHF interferomet-662 Science in China: Series D Earth Sciences ric observations[5] also s…     

Market‐based control of linear structural systems

To limit the response of structures during external disturbances such as strong winds or large seismic events, structural control systems can be used. In the structural engineering field, attention has been shifted from active control to semi‐active control systems. Unlike active control system devices, semi‐active devices are compact, have efficient power consumption characteristics and are less expensive. As a result, an environment of a large number of actuators and sensors will result, rendering a complex large‐scale dynamic system. Such a system is best controlled by a decentralized approach such as market‐based control (MBC). In MBC, the system is modelled as a market place of buyers and sellers that leads to an efficient allocation of control power. The resulting MBC solution is shown to be locally Pareto optimal. This novel control approach is applied to three linear structural systems ranging from a one‐storey structure to a 20‐storey structure, all controlled by semi‐active hydraulic dampers. It is shown that MBC is competitive in the reduction of structural responses during large seismic loadings as compared to the centralized control approach of the linear quadratic regulation controller. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trends of thought concerning meteorological research

Summary Certain problems of synoptic meteorology relating to the nature of the large quasi-stationary cyclonic and anticyclonic centers aloft are examined from the standpoint of an hypothesis which seeks to connect their maintenance with that of the smaller transient disturbances. The suggested link between these two scales of eddies is in many ways similar to that operating in the general circulaton in order to account for the sustained existence of the circumpolar mean zonal motions, according to the more modern concepts. Newer views concerning the dynamcis of large convective processes, and the essential nonlinearity of the laws governing motions in the atmosphere, figure importantly in the arguments advanced.

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Zusammenfassung Gewisse Probleme der synotischen Meteorologie im Zusammenhang mit der Natur von grossen halb-stationären zyklonischen und antizyklonischen Zentren in der höheren Atmosphäre werden von einem hypothetischen Standpunkt aus untersucht; und es wird versucht, deren Bestehen in Zusammenhang zu bringen mit dem Vorhandensein von kleineren, vorübergehenden Störungen. Der vorgeschlagene Zusammenhang zwischen diesen beiden Arten von Wirbel-Systemen ähnelt in vielen Beziehungen der allgemeinen Zirkulation, die verantwortlich ist für das fortwährende Bestehen der zirkumpolaren durchschnittlichen zonalen Strömungen, wie sie zufolge modernerer Auffassungen erklärt werden. Neuere Standpunkte, die die Dynamik von grossen konvektiven Vorgängen in der Atmosphäre und die nicht-linearen Gesetze im Hinblick auf die atmosphärischen Strömungs-Gesetze betreffen, werden hauptsächlich in der folgenden Abhandlung untersucht.