A Preliminary Application of the Differential Evolution Algorithm to Calculate the CNOP

A projected skill is adopted by use of the differential evolution （DE） algorithm to calculate a conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation （CNOP）. The CNOP is the maximal value of a constrained optimization problem with a constraint condition, such as a ball constraint. The success of the DE algorithm lies in its ability to handle a non-differentiable and nonlinear cost function. In this study, the DE algorithm and the traditional optimization algorithms used to obtain the CNOPs are compared by analyzing a theoretical grassland ecosystem model and a dynamic global vegetation model. This study shows that the CNOPs generated by the DE algorithm are similar to those by the sequential quadratic programming （SQP） algorithm and the spectral projected gradients （SPG2） algorithm. If the cost function is non-differentiable, the CNOPs could also be caught with the DE algorithm. The numerical results suggest the DE algorithm can be employed to calculate the CNOP, especially when the cost function is non-differentiable.     

Applications of conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation to the study of the stability and sensitivity of the Jovian atmosphere

A two-layer quasi-geostrophic model is used to study the stability and sensitivity of motions on smallscale vortices in Jupiter’s atmosphere. Conditional nonlinear optimal perturbations (CNOPs) and linear singular vectors (LSVs) are both obtained numerically and compared in this paper. The results show that CNOPs can capture the nonlinear characteristics of motions in small-scale vortices in Jupiter’s atmosphere and show great difference from LSVs under the condition that the initial constraint condition is large or the optimization time is not very short or both. Besides, in some basic states, local CNOPs are found. The pattern of LSV is more similar to local CNOP than global CNOP in some cases. The elementary application of the method of CNOP to the Jovian atmosphere helps us to explore the stability of variousscale motions of Jupiter’s atmosphere and to compare the stability of motions in Jupiter’s atmosphere and Earth’s atmosphere further.     

Application of a Derivative-Free Method with Projection Skill to Solve an Optimization Problem

Improving numerical forecasting skill in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences by solving optimization problems is an important issue. One such method is to compute the conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation（CNOP）, which has been applied widely in predictability studies. In this study, the Differential Evolution（DE） algorithm, which is a derivative-free algorithm and has been applied to obtain CNOPs for exploring the uncertainty of terrestrial ecosystem processes, was employed to obtain the CNOPs for finite-dimensional optimization problems with ball constraint conditions using Burgers＇ equation. The aim was first to test if the CNOP calculated by the DE algorithm is similar to that computed by traditional optimization algorithms, such as the Spectral Projected Gradient（SPG2） algorithm. The second motive was to supply a possible route through which the CNOP approach can be applied in predictability studies in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences without obtaining a model adjoint system, or for optimization problems with non-differentiable cost functions. A projection skill was first explanted to the DE algorithm to calculate the CNOPs. To validate the algorithm, the SPG2 algorithm was also applied to obtain the CNOPs for the same optimization problems. The results showed that the CNOPs obtained by the DE algorithm were nearly the same as those obtained by the SPG2 algorithm in terms of their spatial distributions and nonlinear evolutions. The implication is that the DE algorithm could be employed to calculate the optimal values of optimization problems, especially for non-differentiable and nonlinear optimization problems associated with the atmospheric and oceanic sciences.     

Nonlinear feature of the abrupt transitions between multiple equilibria states of an ecosystem model

Based on a five-variable theoretical ecosystem model, the stability of equilibrium state and the nonlinear feature of the transition between a grassland state and a desert state are investigated. The approach of the conditional nonlinear optimal perturbations (CNOPs), which are the nonlinear generalization of the linear singular vectors (LSVs), is adopted. The numerical results indicate that the linearly stable grassland and desert states are nonlinearly unstable to large enough initial perturbations on the condition that the moisture index $\mu$ satisfies 0.3126<μ<0.3504. The perturbations represent some kind of anthropogenic influence and natural factors. The results obtained by CNOPs, LSVs and Lyapunov vectors (LVs) are compared to analyze the nonlinear feature of the transition between the grassland state and the desert state. Besides this, it is shown that the five-variable model is superior to the three-variable model in providing more visible signals when the transitions occur.     

On the Application of a Genetic Algorithm to the Predictability Problems Involving "On-Off" Switches

The lower bound of maximum predictable time can be formulated into a constrained nonlinear opti- mization problem, and the traditional solutions to this problem are the filtering method and the conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation (CNOP) method. Usually, the CNOP method is implemented with the help of a gradient descent algorithm based on the adjoint method, which is named the ADJ-CNOP. However, with the increasing improvement of actual prediction models, more and more physical processes are taken into consideration in models in the form of parameterization, thus giving rise to the on-off switch problem, which tremendously affects the effectiveness of the conventional gradient descent algorithm based on the ad- joint method. In this study, we attempted to apply a genetic algorithm (GA) to the CNOP method, named GA-CNOP, to solve the predictability problems involving on-off switches. As the precision of the filtering method depends uniquely on the division of the constraint region, its results were taken as benchmarks, and a series of comparisons between the ADJ-CNOP and the GA-CNOP were performed for the modified Lorenz equation. Results show that the GA-CNOP can always determine the accurate lower bound of maximum predictable time, even in non-smooth cases, while the ADJ-CNOP, owing to the effect of on-off switches, often yields the incorrect lower bound of maximum predictable time. Therefore, in non-smooth cases, using GAs to solve predictability problems is more effective than using the conventional optimization algorithm based on gradients, as long as genetic operators in GAs are properly configured.     

A GLOBAL SPECTRAL MODEL WITH VARIABLE POLES AND ITS APPLICATION TO THE SHALLOW-WATER EQUATIONS

Since we find out that the global spectral model with trapezoidal truncation has higher resolution inhigh latitudes(polar cap)than in low latitudes,this paper presents a global spectral model with variablepoles which can be located at the center of interested area.The transform methods from traditional globalspectral model to the new model are given and applied to a shallow-water equation model.The control ex-periments for 72h predictions were carried out.The“northern pole”in the transformed model was locatedat 15°N, 135°E.And the results showed that the predictions of weather systems in the area around the“newpole”(the polar cap,latitudes >60°)were better than those by the traditional model and the root mean squareerrors were improved.     

Statistics of the Z–R Relationship for Strong Convective Weather over the Yangtze–Huaihe River Basin and Its Application to Radar Reflectivity Data Assimilation for a Heavy Rain Event

The relationship between the radar reflectivity factor(Z) and the rainfall rate(R) is recalculated based on radar observations from 10 Doppler radars and hourly rainfall measurements at 6529 automatic weather stations over the Yangtze–Huaihe River basin. The data were collected by the National 973 Project from June to July 2013 for severe convective weather events. The Z–R relationship is combined with an empirical qr–R relationship to obtain a new Z–qr relationship, which is then used to correct the observational operator for radar reflectivity in the three-dimensional variational(3 DVar) data assimilation system of the Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF) model to improve the analysis and prediction of severe convective weather over the Yangtze–Huaihe River basin. The performance of the corrected reflectivity operator used in the WRF 3 DVar data assimilation system is tested with a heavy rain event that occurred over Jiangsu and Anhui provinces and the surrounding regions on 23 June 2013. It is noted that the observations for this event are not included in the calculation of the Z–R relationship. Three experiments are conducted with the WRF model and its 3 DVar system, including a control run without the assimilation of reflectivity data and two assimilation experiments with the original and corrected reflectivity operators. The experimental results show that the assimilation of radar reflectivity data has a positive impact on the rainfall forecast within a few hours with either the original or corrected reflectivity operators, but the corrected reflectivity operator achieves a better performance on the rainfall forecast than the original operator. The corrected reflectivity operator extends the effective time of radar data assimilation for the prediction of strong reflectivity. The physical variables analyzed with the corrected reflectivity operator present more reasonable mesoscale structures than those obtained with the original reflectivity operator. This suggests that the new statistical Z–R relationship is more suitable for predicting severe convective weather over the Yangtze–Huaihe River basin than the Z–R relationships currently in use.     

A numerical world ocean general circulation model

This paper describes a numerical model of the world ocean based on the fully primitive equations. A “Standard” ocean state is introduced into the equations of the model and the perturbed thermodynamic variables are used in the modle’s calculations. Both a free upper surface and a bottom topography are included in the model and a sigma coordinate is used to normalize the model’s vertical component. The model has four unevenly-spaced layers and 4 × 5 horizontal resolution based on C-grid system. The finite-difference scheme of the model is designed to conserve the gross available energy in order to avoid fictitious energy generation or decay.The model has been tested in response to the annual mean surface wind stress, sea level air pressure and sea level air temperature as a preliminary step to its further improvement and its coupling with a global atmospheric general circulation model. Some of results, including currents, temperature and sea surface elevation simulated by the model are presented.     

Initial Error-induced Optimal Perturbations in ENSO Predictions,as Derived from an Intermediate Coupled Model

The initial errors constitute one of the main limiting factors in the ability to predict the El Nio–Southern Oscillation(ENSO) in ocean–atmosphere coupled models. The conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation(CNOP) approach was employed to study the largest initial error growth in the El Nio predictions of an intermediate coupled model(ICM). The optimal initial errors(as represented by CNOPs) in sea surface temperature anomalies(SSTAs) and sea level anomalies(SLAs) were obtained with seasonal variation. The CNOP-induced perturbations, which tend to evolve into the La Nia mode, were found to have the same dynamics as ENSO itself. This indicates that, if CNOP-type errors are present in the initial conditions used to make a prediction of El Nio, the El Nio event tends to be under-predicted. In particular, compared with other seasonal CNOPs, the CNOPs in winter can induce the largest error growth, which gives rise to an ENSO amplitude that is hardly ever predicted accurately. Additionally, it was found that the CNOP-induced perturbations exhibit a strong spring predictability barrier(SPB) phenomenon for ENSO prediction. These results offer a way to enhance ICM prediction skill and, particularly,weaken the SPB phenomenon by filtering the CNOP-type errors in the initial state. The characteristic distributions of the CNOPs derived from the ICM also provide useful information for targeted observations through data assimilation. Given the fact that the derived CNOPs are season-dependent, it is suggested that seasonally varying targeted observations should be implemented to accurately predict ENSO events.     

Using Statistical Downscaling to Quantify the GCM-Related Uncertainty in Regional Climate Change Scenarios： A Case Study of Swedish Precipitation

There are a number of sources of uncertainty in regional climate change scenarios. When statistical downscaling is used to obtain regional climate change scenarios, the uncertainty may originate from the uncertainties in the global climate models used, the skill of the statistical model, and the forcing scenarios applied to the global climate model. The uncertainty associated with global climate models can be evaluated by examining the differences in the predictors and in the downscaled climate change scenarios based on a set of different global climate models. When standardized global climate model simulations such as the second phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project （CMIP2） are used, the difference in the downscaled variables mainly reflects differences in the climate models and the natural variability in the simulated climates. It is proposed that the spread of the estimates can be taken as a measure of the uncertainty associated with global climate models. The proposed method is applied to the estimation of global-climate-model-related uncertainty in regional precipitation change scenarios in Sweden. Results from statistical downscaling based on 17 global climate models show that there is an overall increase in annual precipitation all over Sweden although a considerable spread of the changes in the precipitation exists. The general increase can be attributed to the increased large-scale precipitation and the enhanced westerly wind. The estimated uncertainty is nearly independent of region. However, there is a seasonal dependence. The estimates for winter show the highest level of confidence, while the estimates for summer show the least.     

Nonlinearity and Finite-Time Instability in a T21L3 Quasigeostrophic Model

In this paper,a nonlinear optimization method is used to explore the finite-time instability of the atmospheric circulation with a three-level quasigeostrophic model under the framework of the conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation (CNOP).As a natural generalization of linear singular vector (SV),CNOP is defined as an initial perturbation that makes the cost function the maximum at a prescribed forecast time under certain physical constraint conditions.Special attentions are paid to the different structures and energy evolutions of the optimal perturbations.The results show that the most instable region of the global atmospheric circulation lies in the midlatitude Eurasian continent.More specially,SV and CNOP in the total energy norm with an optimization time of 2 days both present localness:they are mainly located in the midlatitude Asian continent and its east coast.With extension of the optimization time,SVs are more upstream and less localized in the zonal direction,and CNOPs differ essentially from SVs with broader zonal and meridional coverages; as a result,CNOPs acquire larger kinetic and available potential energy amplifications than SVs in the nonlinear model at the corresponding optimization time.For the climatological wintertime flow,it is seen that the baroclinic terms remain small over the entire time evolution,and the energy production comes essentially from the eddy kinetic energy,which is induced by the horizontal shear of the basic flow.In addition,the effects of SVs and CNOPs on the Eurasian atmospheric circulation are explored.The results show that the weather systems over the Eurasian continent in the perturbed fields by CNOPs are stronger than those by SVs at the optimization time.This reveals that the CNOP method is better in evaluating the instability of the atmospheric circulation while the SV method underestimates the possibility of extreme weather events.     

Ensemble Forecasts of Tropical Cyclone Track with Orthogonal Conditional Nonlinear Optimal Perturbations

This paper preliminarily investigates the application of the orthogonal conditional nonlinear optimal perturbations(CNOPs)–based ensemble forecast technique in MM5(Fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model). The results show that the ensemble forecast members generated by the orthogonal CNOPs present large spreads but tend to be located on the two sides of real tropical cyclone(TC) tracks and have good agreements between ensemble spreads and ensemble-mean forecast errors for TC tracks. Subsequently, these members reflect more reasonable forecast uncertainties and enhance the orthogonal CNOPs–based ensemble-mean forecasts to obtain higher skill for TC tracks than the orthogonal SVs(singular vectors)–, BVs(bred vectors)– and RPs(random perturbations)–based ones. The results indicate that orthogonal CNOPs of smaller magnitudes should be adopted to construct the initial ensemble perturbations for short lead–time forecasts, but those of larger magnitudes should be used for longer lead–time forecasts due to the effects of nonlinearities. The performance of the orthogonal CNOPs–based ensemble-mean forecasts is case-dependent,which encourages evaluating statistically the forecast skill with more TC cases. Finally, the results show that the ensemble forecasts with only initial perturbations in this work do not increase the forecast skill of TC intensity, which may be related with both the coarse model horizontal resolution and the model error.     

条件非线性最优扰动方法在适应性观测研究中的初步应用

针对适应性观测中敏感性区域的确定问题,考虑初始误差对预报结果的影响, 比较了条件非线性最优扰动(CNOP)与第一线性奇异向量(FSV)在两个降水个例中的空间结构的差异,考察了它们总能量范数随时间发展演变的异同。结合敏感性试验的分析,揭示了预报结果对CNOP类型的初始误差的敏感性要大于对FSV类型的初始误差的敏感性,因而减少初值中CNOP类型误差的振幅比减少FSV类型的收益要大。这一结果表明可以把CNOP方法应用于适应性观测来识别大气的敏感区。关于将CNOP方法有效地应用于适应性观测所面临的挑战及需要采取的对策等也进行了讨论。     

阴阳网格守恒算法的设计和改进

阴阳网格上的质量守恒算法对于阴阳网格在全球模式构建和应用具有重要意义,是模式长期稳定积分和保证计算效果的重要性能指标。本研究在已有的质量均匀分布假定下阴阳网格守恒强迫算法的基础上,构建网格内质量的双线性分布和边界通量线性分布的质量守恒强迫算法,以提高阴阳网格平流计算的精度和模式积分的稳定性。运用CIP-CSLR平流方案对通量形式平流方程数值求解,分别通过"余弦钟"平流试验、正弦波试验和变形流试验对质量双线性分布、边界通量线性分布的新方案与质量和通量均匀分布的原方案进行了对比,标准化误差和标量场分布均表明新方案可有效提高阴阳网格守恒算法的计算效果,且计算负担没有明显增加,具有较好的实用价值。     

A comparison study of the methods of conditional nonlinear optimal perturbations and singular vectors in ensemble prediction

The authors apply the technique of conditional nonlinear optimal perturbations (CNOPs) as a means of providing initial perturbations for ensemble forecasting by using a barotropic quasi-geostrophic (QG) model in a perfect-model scenario. Ensemble forecasts for the medium range (14 days) are made from the initial states perturbed by CNOPs and singular vectors (SVs). 13 different cases have been chosen when analysis error is a kind of fast growing error. Our experiments show that the introduction of CNOP provides better forecast skill than the SV method. Moreover, the spread-skill relationship reveals that the ensemble samples in which the first SV is replaced by CNOP appear superior to those obtained by SVs from day 6 to day 14. Rank diagrams are adopted to compare the new method with the SV approach. The results illustrate that the introduction of CNOP has higher reliability for medium-range ensemble forecasts.     

基于条件非线性最优扰动的目标观测中瞄准区 不同引导性变量的影响试验研究

基于GRAPES区域业务预报模式,采用一种快速算法计算出来的条件非线性最优扰动对实际台风个例麦莎(No.0509)开展了目标观测研究,应用数值模式,进行一系列的敏感性试验,讨论了与目标观测设计相关的一些问题,包括确定瞄准区时使用不同的引导性变量对目标观测效果的影响、及瞄准区范围变化对预报效果的影响。文中分别以提高麦莎在检验区(20.125°—35.3125°N,116.8125°—129.75°E)内的24 h海平面气压预报和24 h累积降水量预报为目的,基于条件非线性最优扰动使用了3种不同的引导性变量寻找敏感区(又称瞄准区),对这些敏感区的分布特点和有效性进行了比较和讨论。试验结果表明,在使用的3种引导性变量中,用不同的引导性变量识别的敏感区是有差别的,总体上说,文中使用的3种引导性变量识别的瞄准区对提高预报都是有效的,特别是第2和第3种的效果更好些,且两者识别的瞄准区常显示出类似的特点。文中进一步针对检验区内24 h累积降水量预报误差问题,将前面确定的瞄准区范围扩大相同的幅度,讨论瞄准区范围变化对改进预报的影响。试验结果表明,增加瞄准格点数,有可能使预报效果得到改善,但是试验结果同时也暗示了单纯靠扩大瞄准...