Seasonal variations of the near surfacelayer parameters over the Antarctic ice sheet in Princess Elizabeth Land,East Antarctica

Analysis of sensible heat flux(Qh),latent heat flux(Qe),Richardson number(Ri),bulk transport coefficient(Cd) and katabatic winds are presented by using the meteorological data in the near surface layer from an automatic weather station(AWS) in Princess Elizabeth Land,East Antarctica ice sheet and the data of corresponding period at Zhongshan station in 2002.It shows that annual mean air temperature at LGB69 is-25.6°C,which is 16.4°C lower than that at Zhongshan,where the elevation is lower and located on the coast.The temperature lapse rate is about 1.0°C/110 m for the initial from coast to inland.The turbulence heat flux at LGB69 displays obvious seasonal variations with the average sensible heat flux-17.9 W/m2 and latent heat flux-0.9 W/m2.The intensity(Qh Qe) of coolling source is-18.8 W/m2 meaning the snow surface layer obtains heat from atmosphere.The near surface atmosphere is near-neutral stratified with bulk transport coefficients(Cd) around 2.8×10-3,and it is near constant when the wind speed higher than 8 m/s.The speed and the frequency of easterly Katabatic winds at LGB69 were higher than that at Zhongshan Station.     

Surface heat budget and solar radiation allocation at a melt pond during summer in the central Arctic Ocean

The heat budget of a melt pond surface and the solar radiation allocation at the melt pond are studied using the 2010 Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition data collected in the central Arctic. Temperature at a melt pond surface is proportional to the air temperature above it. However, the linear relationship between the two varies, depending on whether the air temperature is higher or lower than 0℃. The melt pond surface temperature is strongly influenced by the air temperature when the latter is lower than 0℃. Both net longwave radiation and turbulent heat flux can cause energy loss in a melt pond, but the loss by the latter is larger than that by the former. The turbulent heat flux is more than twice the net longwave radiation when the air temperature is lower than 0℃. More than 50% of the radiation energy entering the pond surface is absorbed by pond water. Very thin ice sheet on the pond surface(black ice) appears when the air temperature is lower than 0℃; on the other hand, only a small percentage(5.5%) of net longwave in the solar radiation is absorbed by such a thin ice sheet.     

Simulation of double cold cores of the 35°N section in the YellowSea with a wave-tide-circulation coupled model

Based on the MASNUM wave-tide-circulation coupled numerical model, the temperature structure along 35°N in the Yellow Sea was simulated and compared with the observations. One of the notable features of the temperature structure along 35°N section is the double cold cores phenomena during spring and summer. The double cold cores refer to the two cold water centers located near 122°E and 125°E from the depth of 30m to bottom. The formation, maintenance and disappearance of the double cold cores are discussed. At least two reasons make the temperature in the center (near 123°E) of the section higher than that near the west and east shores in winter. One reason is that the water there is deeper than the west and east sides so its heat content is higher. The other is invasion of the warm water brought by the Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC) during winter. This temperature pattern of the lower layer (from 30m to bottom) is maintained through spring and summer when the upper layer (0 to 30m) is heated and s     

Surface Heat Budget and Solar Radiation Allocation at a MeltPond During Summer in the Central Arctic Ocean

The heat budget of a melt pond surface and the solar radiation allocation at the melt pond are studied using the 2010Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition data collected in the central Arctic. Temperature at a melt pond surface is proportionalto the air temperature above it. However, the linear relationship between the two varies, depending on whether the air temperature ishigher or lower than 0°C. The melt pond surface temperature is strongly influenced by the air temperature when the latter is lowerthan 0°C. Both net longwave radiation and turbulent heat flux can cause energy loss in a melt pond, but the loss by the latter is largerthan that by the former. The turbulent heat flux is more than twice the net longwave radiation when the air temperature is lower than0°C. More than 50% of the radiation energy entering the pond surface is absorbed by pond water. Very thin ice sheet on the pondsurface （black ice） appears when the air temperature is lower than 0°C; on the other hand, only a small percentage （5.5%） of netlongwave in the solar radiation is absorbed by such a thin ice sheet.     

ANALYSIS ON THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION VARIATION CHARACTERISTIC OF URBAN HEAT ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND ITS MECHANISM——A Case Study of Hangzhou City

Urban heat environmental quality(UHEQ) is affected by the interacting of weather condition and underlying surface framework of urban area .In the last two decades,many researchers from domestic and overseas have studied many problems at the aspect of urban heat environment such as urban heat islands ,urban air temperature and their rela-tion with urban land cover,city population,air pollution etc,In the recent years,Hangzhou,acting as a center city of Zhejiang Province in China,its urbanization quantum and quantity have both changed greatly,in particular ,representing as business affairs building,resident real property and all kins of specialty market having arisen in built-up zone,Based on Landsat TM images data in 1991 and 1999,urban underlying surface temperature value and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were calculated using image interpreting and supervised classification technique by remote sensing software ERDAS image 8.4,The relation model between urban underlying surface temperature (UUST )and urban air temperature was setup according to the certain correlation patten .Reference to the relational standard of assessing human comfort and other meteorology data of Hangzhou City in summer,the spatial distribution characteristic and the spatial varia-tion degree of human comfort of heat environmental quality are estimated and mapped on a middle scale,that is ,in six districts of Hangzhou City .Then the paper reveals the main characteristic of spatial variation from 1991 to 1999.Lastly,the change mechanism is analyzed and discussed from the viewpoint of city planning,construction and environmental protec-tion.     

Seasonal Variation in Air Temperature and Relative Humidity on Building Areas and in Green Spaces in Beijing,China

The cooling and humidifying effects of urban parks are an essential component of city ecosystems in terms of regulating microclimates or mitigating urban heat islands(UHIs).Air temperature and relative humidity are two main factors of thermal environmental comfort and have a critical impact on the urban environmental quality of human settlements.We measured the 2-m height air temperature and relative humidity at the Beijing Olympic Park and a nearby building roof for more than 1 year to elucidate seasonal variations in air temperature and relative humidity,as well as to investigate the outdoor thermal comfort.The results showed that the lawn of the park could,on average,reduce the air temperature by(0.80±0.19)℃,and increase the relative humidity by(5.24±2.91)% relative to the values measured at the building roof during daytime.During the nighttime,the lawn of the park reduced the air temperature by(2.64±0.64)℃ and increased the relative humidity by(10.77±5.20)%.The park was cooler and more humid than surrounding building area,especially in night period(more pronounced cooling with 1.84℃).Additionally,the lawn of the park could improve outdoor thermal comfort through its cooling and humidifying effects.The level of thermal comfort in the park was higher than that around the building roof for a total of 11 days annually in which it was above one or more thermal comfort levels(average reduced human comfort index of 0.92)except during the winter.     

Future projection of East China Sea temperature by dynamic downscaling of the IPCC_AR4 CCSM3 model result

Future temperature distributions of the marginal Chinese seas are studied by dynamic downscaling of global CCSM3 IPCC_AR4 scenario runs.Different forcing fields from 2080-2099 Special Report on Emissions Scenarios(SRES) B1,A1,and A2 to 1980-1999 20C3M are averaged and superimposed on CORE2 and SODA2.2.4 data to force high-resolution regional future simulations using the Regional Ocean Modeling System(ROMS).Volume transport increments in downscaling simulation support the CCSM3 result that with a weakening subtropical gyre circulation,the Kuroshio Current in the East China Sea(ECS) is possibly strengthened under the global warming scheme.This mostly relates to local wind change,whereby the summer monsoon is strengthened and winter monsoon weakened.Future temperature fluxes and their seasonal variations are larger than in the CCSM3 result.Downscaling 100 years’ temperature increments are comparable to the CCSM3,with a minimum in B1 scenario of 1.2-2.0°C and a maximum in A2 scenario of 2.5-4.5°C.More detailed temperature distributions are shown in the downscaling simulation.Larger increments are in the Bohai Sea and middle Yellow Sea,and smaller increments near the southeast coast of China,west coast of Korea,and southern ECS.There is a reduction of advective heat north of Taiwan Island and west of Tsushima in summer,and along the southern part of the Yellow Sea warm current in winter.There is enhancement of advective heat in the northern Yellow Sea in winter,related to the delicate temperature increment distribution.At 50 meter depth,the Yellow Sea cold water mass is destroyed.Our simulations suggest that in the formation season of the cold water mass,regional temperature is higher in the future and the water remains at the bottom until next summer.In summer,the mixed layer is deeper,making it much easier for the strengthened surface heat flux to penetrate to the bottom of this water.     

Distribution of borehole temperature at four high-altitude alpine glaciers in Central Asia

The distribution of borehole temperature at four high-altitude alpine glaciers was investigated. The result shows that the temperature ranges from -13.4℃ to -1.84℃, indicating the glaciers are cold throughout the boreholes. The negative gradient （i.e., the temperature decreasing with the increasing of depth） due to the advection of ice and climate warming, and the negative gradient moving downwards relates to climate warming, are probably responsible for the observed minimum temperature moving to lower depth in boreholes of the Gyabrag glacier and Miaoergou glacier compared to the previously investigated continental ice core borehole temperature in West China. The borehole temperature at 10m depth ranges from -8.0℃ in the Gyabrag glacier in the central Himalayas to -12.9℃ in the Tsabagarav glacier in the Altai range. The borehole temperature at 10 m depth is 3-4 degrees higher than the calculated mean annual air temperature on the surface of the glaciers and the higher 10 m depth temperature is mainly caused by the production of latent heat due to melt-water percolation and refreezing. The basal temperature is far below the melting point, indicating that the glaciers are frozen to bedrock. The very low temperature gradients near the bedrock suggest that the influence of geothermal flux and ice flow on basal temperature is very weak. The low temperature and small velocity of ice flow of glaciers are beneficial for preservation of the chemical and isotopic information in ice cores.     

Energy Budget over Seasonal Snow Surface at an Open Site and Beneath Forest Canopy Openness during the Snowmelt Period in Western Tianshan Mountains,China

In this study, meteorological factors and snowmelt rate at an open site on sunny slope(OPS) and beneath forest canopy openness on shady slope(BFC) were measured using an automatic weather station and snow lysimeter during the snowmelt period in 2009, 2010 and 2013. The energy budget over snow surface was calculated according to these meteorological datasets. The analysis results indicated that the net shortwave radiation(K) and sensible heat flux(H) were energy sources, and the latent heat flux(LVE) was energy sinks of snow surfaces at all sites. The net longwave radiation(L) was energy sink at OPS and 80% BFC, but energy source at 20% BFC. The gain of K, H, and the loss of LVE at BFC were obviously lower than those at OPS. The L was the maximum difference of energy budget between snow surface at BFC and OPS. In warm and wet years, the most important factor of the energy budget variation at OPS was air humidity and the second mostimportant factor was air temperature. However, the ground surface temperature on the sunny slope was the most important factor for L and energy budget at BFC. With the increases in forest canopy openness and the slope of adjacent terrains, the influences of ground surface temperature on the sunny slope on L and the energy budget over snow surface at BFC increased, especially when the snow cover on the sunny slope melts completely.     

Enveloping relief surfaces of landslide terrain

Two relief surfaces that envelop the rock fall region in a part of Garhwal Himalayas around Chamoli have been identified. Relative relief and absolute relief have been analyzed and the enveloping surfaces recorded at two levels of relief in the landscape. All landslide activity lies within these surfaces. The lower enveloping surface (800 m) dips due south by 7-8 degrees,due to an elevation rise of 100 meters within 12 km from south to north,i.e.,a gradient of 8 percent. The nature of the surface is smooth. The upper enveloping surface (> 2500 m) is almost parallel to the lower one but its surface is undulatory due to landslides and denudation. The area has been a seismically active region and has undergone seismic activity up until recently,as evidenced by the Chamoli earthquake of 29th March 1999. The effects of earthquakes are seen at higher levels in the form of landslide imprints on the terrain.     

Characteristics of extreme temperature event and its response to regional warming in Northwest China in past 45 years

Using the daily maximum and minimum temperature dataset from 128 stations from 1960 to 2004 in Northwest China, daily extreme high temperature （EHT） and extreme low temperature （ELT） thresholds were determined by centesimal method for different stations at first, then yearly EHT and ELT events were counted up in different stations, and the characteristics of their spatio-temporal distribution were diagnosed at last. The study drew following conclusions： 1） The consistent anomaly distribution characteristic was the most important mode of the EHT and ELT events in Northwest China. 2） The spatial distribution of the EHT and ELT events can be divided into five sub-regions, namely, the north of Qinghai and west of Gansu, the north of Xinjiang, the south of Xinjiang, the east of Northwest China and the south of Qinghai. 3） The EHT events showed remarkable increasing trend in all of five sub-regions, but only in the north of Qinghai and west of Gansu area, sudden change phenomenon occurred; the ELT events showed decreasing trend in all of five sub-regions, and sudden change phenomenon occurred in Northwest China except for south of Qinghai. 4） In all of five sub-regions the EHT events showed remarkable 12-14yr period oscillation, and the ELT event showed significant 13-15yr and 7-8yr period oscillation. 5） The EHT and ELT events displayed remarkable positive and negative responses to regional warming of Northwest China respectively.     

Winter climate change and sea high northern latitudes in ERA40 ice-atmosphere interaction at dataset

Based on the reanalysis dataset ERA40 of European Center of Medium Range Weather Forcast （ECMWF）, winter climate change and characteristics of sea ice-atmosphere interaction at high northern latitudes for recent several tens of years are analyzed. Superposed upon the background of global warming, the amplitude of temperature increase in winter at high northern latitudes is bigger and it exhibits different features in different regions. From the end of 1970 s, the Greenland Sea, the Barents Sea and most part of Euro-Asian continent and North American continent are getting warmer, whereas the Labrador Sea, the Greenland and the area around the Bering Strait are getting colder. Meanwhile, the sea level pressure in the central part of the northern polar region and the place where the climatic Icelandic low exist decreases, but in places farther southward it increases. Since the 1970 s, the sensible heat flux and latent heat flux sent to the atmosphere from the Greenland Sea and the Barents Sea has increased, this is mainly due to the reduction of sea ice concentration and the weakening of insulator and shield effect of the solid ice accordingly caused by the increase of air temperature. In sea ice free area of the Norwegian Sea, the sensible heat flux and latent heat flux sent to the atmosphere has reduced due to decrease of temperature and humidity differences between the air and the sea surface caused by increase of air temperature and humidity. In the Labrador Sea, due to decrease of air temperature and humidity and increase of temperature and humidity differences between the air and the sea surface accordingly, the sea gives more sensible heat flux and latent heat flux to the air. This will lead to the growth of sea ice extent there. The features of linear regression of sea level pressure, sea ice concentration and sum of sensible heat flux and latent heat flux toward time series of the leading mode of EOF expansion of surface air temperature are close to those of their own EOF expansion for the leading mode, respectively. This shows that these variables share similar features of variation with time linearly.     

The Structure and Formation Mechanism of a Sea Fog Event over the Yellow Sea

In this paper, a heavy sea fog event occurring over the Yellow Sea on 11 April 2004 was investigated based upon observational and modeling analyses. From the observational analyses, this sea fog event is a typical advection cooling case. Sea surface temperature(SST) and specific humidity(SH) show strong gradients from south to north, in which warm water is located in the south and consequently, moisture is larger in the south than in the north due to evaporation processes. After fog formation, evaporation process provides more moisture into the air and further contributes to fog evolution. The sea fog event was reproduced by the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System(RAMS) reasonably. The roles of important physical processes such as radiation, turbulence as well as atmospheric stratification in sea fog’s structure and its formation mechanisms were analyzed using the model results. The roles of long wave radiation cooling, turbulence as well as atmospheric stratification were analyzed based on the modeling results. It is found that the long wave radiative cooling at the fog top plays an important role in cooling down the fog layer through turbulence mixing. The fog top cooling can overpower warming from the surface. Sea fog develops upward with the aid of turbulence. The buoyancy term, i.e., the unstable layer, contributes to the generation of TKE in the fog region. However, the temperature inversion layer prevents fog from growing upward.     

Monitoring Spatio-temporal Variance of an Extreme Heat Event Using Multiple-source Remote Sensing Data

Extreme heat events have serious effects on human daily life. Accurately capturing the dynamic variance of extreme high-temperature distributions in a timely manner is the basis for analyzing the potential impacts of extreme heat, thereby informing risk prevention strategies. This paper demonstrates the potential application of multiple source remote sensing data in mapping and monitoring the extreme heat events that occurred on Aug. 8, 2013 in Jiangsu Province, China. In combination with MODIS products, the thermal sharpening(Ts HARP) method and a binary linear model are compared to downscale the original daytime FengY un 2 F(FY-2 F) land surface temperature(LST) imagery, with a temporal resolution of 60 min, from 5 km to 1 km. Using the meteorological measurement data from Nanjing station as the reference, the research then estimates the instantaneous air temperature by using an iterative computation based on the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land(SEBAL), which is used to analyze the spatio-temporal air temperature variance. The results show that the root mean square error(RMSE) of the LST downscaled from the binary linear model is 1.30℃ compared to the synchronous MODIS LST, and on this basis the estimated air temperature has the RMSE of 1.78℃. The spatial and temporal distribution of air temperature variance at each geographical location from 06:30 to 18:30 can be accurately determined, and indicates that the high temperature gradually increases and expands from the city center. For the spatial distribution, the air temperature and the defined scorching temperature proportion index increase from northern to middle, to southern part of Jiangsu, and are slightly lower in the eastern area near the Yellow Sea. In terms of temporal characteristics, the percentage of area with air temperature above 37℃ in each city increase with time after 10:30 and reach the peak value at 14:30 or 15:30. Then, they decrease gradually, and the rising and falling trends become smaller from the southern cities to the northern regions. Moreover, there is a distinct positive relationship between the percentage of area above 37℃ and the population density. The above results show that the spatio-temporal distributions of heat waves and their influencing factors can be determined by combining multiple sources of remotely sensed image data.     

Surface mass balance on Glacier No. 31 in the Suntar–Khayata Range,eastern Siberia,from 1951 to 2014

This study presents a 64-year(1951–2014) reconstruction of the surface mass balance of Glacier No. 31, located in the Suntar-Khayata Range of the eastern Siberia, where the ablation zone is characterized by the extensive dark ice surface. We use a temperature index-based glacier mass-balance model, which computes all major components of glacier mass budget and is forced by daily air temperature and precipitation from a nearby meteorological station. The glacier shows a mean annual mass balance of –0.35 m w.e.a~(–1) during the past 64 years, with an acceleration of –0.50 m w.e. a~(–1) during the recent years. A cumulative mass loss of the glacier is ~22.3 m w.e. over the study period, about 56% of which is observed during 1991–2014. In addition to the contribution of temperature rise and precipitation decrease to recent mass loss of the glacier, an experimental analysis, in which the cleanand dark ice surfaces are respectively assumed to cover the entire ablation zone, indicates that dark ice surface, caused by insoluble impurities consisting of mineral dusts, cryoconite granules, and ice algae, plays a crucial role in the changing mass balance through enhancing melt rates in the ablation zone of the glacier.     

HUMAN IMPACTS ON THE ECOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT AND MODERN URBAN CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE LOESS PLATEAU

The influence of human activities on environment and climate change is the most conspicuous problem of the Loess Plateau, and it may be divided into two aspects: firstly, the excessive utilization of land by the human race causes the destruction of vegetation, and consequently large expanse of land is under desertification and the characteristics of the ground surface and the water and heat exchange on the ground surface have changed; secondly, the use of coal by industries produces a huge amount of carbon dioxide and trace elements, which enter into the atmosphere to cause air pollution.Data of 1951-1990 are collected from 69 meteorological stations on the Loess Plateau. After analysis, the decadal variations of temperature and rainfall in the last 40 years are obtained as follows: (1) In the arid zone of the north- west of the Loess Plateau, the increase in temperature is the largest. For the past 40 years, the annual mean temperature has increased 0.7-1.0 ℃ . In the semiarid zone of the middle part     

Using the physical decomposition method to study the effects of Arctic factors on wintertime temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere and China

The physical decomposition method separates atmospheric variables into four parts, correlating each with solar radiation, land–sea distribution, and inter-annual and seasonal internal forcing, strengthening the anomaly signal and increasing the correlation between variables. This method was applied to the reanalysis data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research(NCEP/NCAR), to study the effects of Arctic factors(Arctic oscillation(AO) and Arctic polar vortex) on wintertime temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere and China. It was found that AO effects on zonal average temperature disturbance could persist for 1 month. In the AO negative phase in wintertime, the temperatures are lower in the mid–high latitudes than in normal years, but higher in low latitudes. When the polar vortex area is bigger, the zonal average temperature is lower at 50°N. Influenced mainly by meridional circulation enhancement, cold air flows from high to low latitudes; thus, the temperatures in Continental Europe and the North American continent exhibit an antiphase seesaw relationship. When the AO is in negative phase and the Arctic polar vortex larger, the temperature is lower in Siberia, but higher in Greenland and the Bering Strait. Influenced by westerly troughs and ridges, the polar air disperses mainly along the tracks of atmospheric activity centers. The AO index can be considered a predictor of wintertime temperature in China. When the AO is in negative phase or the Asian polar vortex is intensified, temperatures in Northeast China and Inner Mongolia are lower, because under the influence of the Siberia High and northeast cold vortex, the cold air flows southwards.     

A WIND-DRIVEN YELLOW SEA WARM CURRENT?

Observations of current velocity, pressure, and temperature in the eastern Yellow Sea during January 10 to April 12, 1986, and geostrophic winds calculated from surface pressure distributions, are analyzed for a study of the synoptic band response of the Yellow Sea to the wintertime winds. Currents in shallow coastal waters along a straight portion of the coast are mostly downwind to the south. Along the northern coast sheltered by a large bay, the current is persistently northward. This could be the result of a domination by geostrophic currents associated with an offshore-directed density gradient which is known to form in areas around this location. In the Yellow Sea trough, strong upwind flows are found to follow closely surges in the north wind. Co-spectral analyses show that these events are driven by a longitudinal pressure gradient associated with the sea-level set-up along the west coast of South Korea under a prevailing north wind.     

Experiment of near surface layer parameters in ice camp over Arctic Ocean

Estimates of near surface layer parameters over 78°N drifting ice in ice camp over the Arctic ocean are made using bulk transfer methods with the data from the experiments operated by the Chinese Arctic Scientific Expedition in August 22-September 3,2003.The results show that the net radiation received by the snow surface is only 3.6 W/m2,among which the main part transported into atmosphere in term of sensible heat and latent heat,which account for 52% and 31% respectively,and less part being transported to deep ice in the conductive process.The bulk transfer coefficient of momentum is about 1.16×10-3 in the near neutral layer,which is a little smaller than that obtained over 75°N drifting ice.However,to compare with the results observed over 75°N drifting ice over the Arctic Ocean in 1999,it can be found that the thermodynamic and momentum of interactions between sea and air are significant different with latitudes,concentration and the scale of sea ice.It is very important on considering the effect of sea-air-ice interaction over the Arctic Ocean when studying climate modeling.     

Latitudinal and temporal shifts in the radial growth-climate response of Siberian larch in the Polar Urals

This paper presents a dendroclimatic analysis of Siberian larch trees sampled along a latitudinal 260-km transect located in the Polar Urals,Russia. Three standardised chronologies were built over a length of 230–293 years using 79 individual tree-ring chronologies collected in the southern,middle and northern parts of the Polar Urals.Bootstrapped correlation functions showed that the annual growth of the larches was mainly influenced by the air temperatures in June and July. The relative role of the temperatures increased from south to north. Daily air temperature data analysis revealed that the duration of the growing season in the northern part of the Polar Urals is 24 days less than that in the southern part. At the present time, air temperatures exceeded threshold of 8~℃, 5 days earlier than it did in the beginning of the 20 th century In response to the increase in the duration of the growing season and the changing winter conditions in the Polar Urals over the last 130 years, radial growth–temperature relationships in larches have weakened;this effect was strongly pronounced in the southern part of the Polar Urals.