Intraseasonal wind anomalies related to wet and dry spells during the “long” and “short” rainy seasons in Kenya

Summary The largest part of Kenya exhibits two major rainy seasons, the March–May «long rains» and the October–December «short rains», both related to the passage of the ITCZ, but differing in the amount of rainfall recorded and its interannual variability. In order to investigate whether these differences also apply at intraseasonal time-scales, daily rainfall data for the peak month of each rainy season (April and November) were collected for 7 consecutive years (1982–1988). The network comprises 68 stations, from which a classification of the spatial patterns of daily rainfall anomalies has been performed. Wind anomalies corresponding to the various rainfall types and to specific regional rainfall departures were determined using four pilot balloon stations and one radiosonde station. They revealed that there exist significant differences between upper-air circulation anomalies exhibited in the «long» and «short» rainy seasons, especially as far as rain spells in the Eastern Highlands are concerned. In that region, easterly anomalies in the «short rains» period are associated with an increase in rainfall. During the «long rains», enhanced easterlies more generally coincide with an overall drop of convection in the country. In Western Kenya, wet conditions are more systematically associated to westerly wind anomalies.With 12 Figures     

Fennoscandian summers from ad 500: temperature changes on short and long timescales

Quantitative estimates of 1480 years of summer temperatures in northern Fennoscandia have previously been derived from continuous treering records from northern Sweden. Here we show the results of spectral analyses of these data. Only a few peaks in the spectra are consistently significant when the data are analyzed over a number of sub-periods. Relatively timestable peaks are apparent at periods of 2.1, 2.5, 3.1, 3.6, 4.8, 32–33 and for a range between 55–100 years. These results offer no strong evidence for solar-related forcing of summer temperatures in these regions. Our previously published reconstruction was limited in its ability to represent long-timescale temperature change because of the method used to standardize the original tree-ring data. Here we employ an alternative standardization technique which enables us to capture temperature change on longer timescales. Considerable variance is now reconstructed on timescales of several centuries. In comparison with modern normals (1951–70) generally extended periods when cool conditions prevailed, prior to the start of the instrumental record, include 500–700, 790–870, 1110–1150, 1190–1360, 1570–1750 (A.D.) with the most significant cold troughs centred on about 660, 800, 1140, 1580–1620 and 1640. Predominantly warm conditions occurred in 720–790, 870–1110 and 1360–1570 with peaks of warmth around 750, 930, 990, 1060, 1090, 1160, 1410, 1430, 1760 and 1820.This paper was presented at Clima Locarno 90, the International Conference on Past and Present Climate Dynamics: Reconstruction of Rates of Change, held in Locarno, Switzerland, September 24 to 28, 1991, organized by the Swiss National Climate Program — ProClim, with support from the Swiss Academy of Sciences. Guest editor for these papers is Dr. K. Kelts Offprint requests to: KR Briffa     

Variability of surface roughness and turbulence intensities at a coastal site in India

Surface-layer features with different prevailing wind directions for two distinct seasons (Southwest Monsoon and Northeast Monsoon) on the west coast of India are studied using data obtained from tower-based sensors at a site located about 500 m from the coast. Only daytime runs have been used for the present analysis. The surface boundary-layer fluxes have been estimated using the eddy correlation method. The surface roughnessz ₀ obtained using the stability-corrected wind profiles (Paulson, 1970) has been found to be low for the Southwest monsson season. For the other season,z ₀ is relatively high. The drag coefficientC _D varies with height in the NE monsoon season but not in the season with lowz ₀. This aspect is reflected in the wind profiles for the two seasons and is discussed in detail. The scaling behaviour of friction velocityu _* and the turbulence intensity of longitudinal, lateral and vertical winds _u, _v and _w, respectively) are further examined to study their dependence on fetch. Our study shows that for the non-dimensional case, _u/u_* and _v/u_* do not show any surface roughness dependence in either season. On the other hand, for _w/u_* for the season with lowz ₀, the values are seen to agree well with that of Panofskyet al. (1977) for homogeneous terrain whereas for the other season with highz ₀, the results seem to conform more to the values observed by Smedman and Högström (1983) for coastal terrain. The results are discussed in the light of observations by other investigators.     

2018年初江西中北部冻雨暴雪天气过程特征及成因

2018年1月下旬,江西省中北部出现严重雨雪冰冻灾害天气,覆冰和积雪持续时间长达7 d,其间多次出现罕见的雨雪相态转换,先后经历了雨、冻雨、雪、冻雨、雪5个复杂过程。文中对此次天气过程的相态转换特征及成因进行了分析。结果表明： 1） 在有利的环流背景下,西风带小槽发展东移并携带冷空气南下,破坏850 hPa高度层附近的暖性逆温层,是冻雨转雪的重要因素,而700 hPa高度层上西南急流的脉动、偏南风增强为雪转冻雨提供了动力和热力条件。2） 冻雨发生时最强风切变出现在925—850 hPa高度层,降雪发生时出现在850—700 hPa高度层。两次冻雨转降雪过程中,上升运动均增强,降雪时低层辐合、高层辐散强度较冻雨时强。3） 近地面气温接近05 ℃时,850 hPa高度层冷暖平流对中低层大气的降温和升温作用至关重要,冷平流的降温作用剧烈,而暖平流的升温作用需要持续输送。暖层消失,冻雨即可转降雪;雪转冻雨时850 hPa和700 hPa高度层温度升至1 ℃,暖层内最高温度达2 ℃,相态的转变落后于暖性逆温层的形成。4） 此次过程中,九江地区发生雨转冻雨以及冻雨转雪过程,地面气温下降明显。雨转冻雨时,气温≤-05 ℃;冻雨转降雪时,气温≤-1 ℃。雪转冻雨时,地面温度略有上升,仍在-1 ℃以下。高山站气温的持续上升,对雪转冻雨天气有指示意义。     

湖南浙江雨季结束期及其长期预报

湖南、浙江的雨季结束期具有山区较平原迟和沿海较内陆迟的特点,大多数年份是南部早于北部。 湖南、浙江的雨季结束期与江淮流域的梅雨类似。一般副高偏强,雨季结束偏早。但有的年份:(1)副高甚强,它与冷空气的相互作用强,或其南的热带与海洋系统较活跃,也有多雨而雨季结束迟的情况。(2)副高甚弱,与西风带冷空气的相互作用弱,也有少雨且雨季早结束的情况。文中给出了雨季结束前1—7个月副高演变活动特征的长期预报指标。     

Modulation of short waves by long waves

The amplitude, wavelength, and frequency of short waves in the presence of waves of a longer scale vary in a manner that is related in phase to the long-wave profile. The purpose of this study is to observe and quantify the change in the variance of short-wave slope that occurs as a result of the change in short-wave position along a coincident long wave, during the active generation of the short-wave field by wind. To this end, measurements of wave-slope time series are made in a laboratory environment where the long-scale waves are generated mechanically and the short scale are generated primarily by air flow. The frequency variation of the short waves, as measured along the long-wave profile, is described by considering the waves to be linearly advected by the longer waves. The peak-to-peak variation along the long-wave profile of the short-wave slope variance for a given frequency band is commonly found to be 10% of its mean value. The magnitude of the excursions become smaller as short-wave frequency increases, and larger as wind speed increases. The maximum value of the short-wave slope variance generally leads the long-wave profile curve by 45 ° to 180 °.     

Effect of spatial correlation on regional trends in rain events over India

The regional trends are evaluated in the frequency of various rain events using the daily gridded (1°?×?1°) rainfall dataset for the time period 1901–2004, prepared by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). In terms of intensity, the events are classified as low, moderate, heavy and extreme heavy, while short and long spells are classified on the basis of duration of rainfall. The analytical (parametric) and the empirical (bootstrap) techniques were used to incorporate the impact of spatial correlation in regional trends. It is observed that, consideration of spatial correlation reduces the significance level of the trends and the effective number of grid points falling under each category. Especially, the noticeable cross-correlation have reduced the significance of the trends in moderate and long spell rain events to a large extent, while the significance of trends in the extreme heavy and short spell events is not highly affected because of small cross-correlation.     

中国的降水量符合正态分布吗?

利用1961—2017年长江流域700个气象站点逐月降水资料计算长江流域9个子流域面雨量,采用基于Box-Cox正态分布转换后的百分位法对长江流域不同时间长度的极端降水气候事件阈值进行界定。结果表明,在数据序列长度发生变化的情况下,面雨量序列经Box-Cox正态转换后,计算得到的极端降水气候事件阈值的变化相较于常规百分位法明显减小,具有更为稳健的特性,从而使得相应极端降水气候事件个例的挑选更为稳定。根据该方法得到的阈值,对2018年汛期(6—8月)长江各子流域极端降水气候事件进行判定,岷沱江流域发生了极端多雨气候事件,而长江干流重庆-宜昌段、汉江及中游干流区间发生了极端少雨气候事件。

     

2004-2009年大连地区短时暴雨分析预报

为提高对短时暴雨的预警能力,利用2004-2009年3-10月大连降水资料和天气雷达回波资料,对此期间的45次暴雨过程进行气候特征和活动规律等进行分析。结果表明：有32次过程出现短时暴雨,其中7-8月出现27次,占全部短时暴雨的84.4%。造成这些短时暴雨的雷达回波,主要是源于大连西南、南和东南部沿海的介于强对流性和稳定性之间的混合性降水回波,占70%以上。将短时暴雨降水资料扩大到乡镇级自动站与雷达回波分析,结果发现：造成大连地区短时暴雨的直接原因是突发于混合性云团中的中-β尺度回波。通过归纳定义“混合性中-β尺度回波”模型,并结合其他探测信息和技术手段,可以提高短时暴雨的预警能力。     

一次大暴雨过程中尺度涡旋系统特征分析

利用常规观测资料与加密自动站资料、卫星云图、多普勒雷达与微波辐射计资料以及NCEP/NCAR 1°×1°再分析资料,对2011年7月29—30日发生在天津及华北东部的大暴雨过程进行了分析。结果表明：在有利的环流背景下,迅速发展北上的低空中尺度涡旋是此次大暴雨的直接影响系统。高空槽前正涡度平流加强,造成低层减压、中尺度涡旋发展;涡旋中心向负变压梯度绝对值最大方向移动。分析中尺度涡旋垂直结构表明,开始时涡旋内斜升气流明显,随其发展,低层辐合明显加强、涡旋内转为一致的垂直上升运动,且最大辐合中心与正涡度中心相对应,均位于900 hPa以下。随低层东南气流加强,涡旋右前侧偏东入流显著加强,其不但为涡旋发展提供了有利的动力条件,也为暴雨发生和维持提供了充足的水汽。此次降水的强回波高度较低,钩状回波及中尺度气旋均在低层发展,造成强降水和短时大风,有别于典型钩状回波。水汽密度及液态水含量变化与降水对应非常好,强降水前15～30 min低层大气水汽密度和液态水含量会迅速增大,这可为强降水提前预报预警提供参考依据。     

Large-scale and spatio-temporal extreme rain events over India: a hydrometeorological study

Frequency, intensity, areal extent (AE) and duration of rain spells during summer monsoon exhibit large intra-seasonal and inter-annual variations. Important features of the monsoon period large-scale wet spells over India have been documented. A main monsoon wet spell (MMWS) occurs over the country from 18 June to 16 September, during which, 26.5 % of the area receives rainfall 26.3 mm/day. Detailed characteristics of the MMWS period large-scale extreme rain events (EREs) and spatio-temporal EREs (ST-EREs), each concerning rainfall intensity (RI), AE and rainwater (RW), for 1 to 25 days have been studied using 1° gridded daily rainfall (1951–2007). In EREs, ‘same area’ (grids) is continuously wet, whereas in ST-EREs, ‘any area’ on the mean under wet condition for specified durations is considered. For the different extremes, second-degree polynomial gave excellent fit to increase in values from distribution of annual maximum RI and RW series with increase in duration. Fluctuations of RI, AE, RW and date of occurrence (or start) of the EREs and the ST-EREs did not show any significant trend. However, fluctuations of 1° latitude–longitude grid annual and spatial maximum rainfall showed highly significant increasing trend for 1 to 5 days, and unprecedented rains on 26–27 July 2005 over Mumbai could be a realization of this trend. The Asia–India monsoon intensity significantly influences the MMWS RW.     

Statistical modeling of CMIP5 projected changes in extreme wet spells over China in the late 21st century

The observed intensity, frequency, and duration (IFD) of summer wet spells, defined here as extreme events with one or more consecutive days in which daily precipitation exceeds a given threshold (the 95th percentile), and their future changes in RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 in the late 21st century over China, are investigated by using the wet spell model (WSM) and by extending the point process approach to extreme value analysis. Wet spell intensity is modeled by a conditional generalized Pareto distribution, frequency by a Poisson distribution, and duration by a geometric distribution, respectively. The WSM is able to realistically model summer extreme rainfall spells during 1961–2005, as verified with observations at 553 stations throughout China. To minimize the impact of systematic biases over China in the global climate models (GCMs) of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), five best GCMs are selected based on their performance to reproduce observed wet spell IFD and average precipitation during the historical period. Furthermore, a quantile–quantile scaling correction procedure is proposed and applied to produce ensemble projections of wet spell IFD and corresponding probability distributions. The results show that in the late 21st century, most of China will experience more extreme rainfall and less low-intensity rainfall. The intensity and frequency of wet spells are projected to increase considerably, while the duration of wet spells will increase but to a much less extent. The IFD changes in RCP8.5 are in general much larger than those in RCP4.5.     

Annual and decadal variation in chemical composition of rain water at all the ten GAW stations in India

Spatial variation of long term annual precipitation volume weighted concentrations of major chemical constituents (SO₄ ^?2, NO₃ ^?, Cl^?, NH₄ ⁺, Ca⁺², Mg⁺², Na⁺ and K⁺ ) at all the ten Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) stations in India for the period from 1981 to 2012 is studied in this paper. Ionic abundance and balance is studied as well. The range of long term annual mean pH at ten stations was 5.25?±?0.82 to 6.91?±?0.76, lowest at Mohanbari and highest at Jodhpur. The long term annual mean pH for the period 1981–2012 showed decreasing trend at all the stations (significant at 5 % level). Decadal mean pH among ten stations for 1981–1990, 1991–2000 and 2001–2012 ranged between 7.31 to 5.76, 7.45 to 4.92 and 6.16 to 4.77 respectively and showed decreasing trend at all the stations during 1981–1990 to 2001–12. The percentage occurrence of acidic pH (<5.65) at ten stations ranged from 3 to 72 %, lowest at Jodhpur and highest at Mohanbari and it increased from 1981–1990 to 2001–2012 almost at all the stations. Temporal variation of annual mean values of nssSO₄ ^?2, NO₃ ^?, Ca⁺² and pH for the study period were attempted. Variation of nss K (non sea salt Potassium) at all the stations was studied to assess the biomass burning contribution in different regions. Non-marine (terrestrial) contribution dominated for majority of ionic constituents at most of the stations. However marine contribution was found to be dominant for Mg at Port Blair and Minicoy. Also sea salt fraction of SO₄ was higher than terrestrial at Minicoy. Sources of measured ionic constituents in rain water are assessed through correlation analysis. The concentrations of all the ionic species were lowest at Kodaikanal, a high altitude hill top station and the total ionic mass was 136.0 μeq/l. Jodhpur, an arid station not only had highest concentrations of Ca⁺², SO₄ ^?2 and K⁺ but also had highest total ionic content (1051.8 μeq/l) among all the stations. At Srinagar, Jodhpur, Allahabad, Nagpur and Pune stations Ca⁺² was the dominant cation while dominant anion was NO₃ ^? for Srinagar, Allahabad, and Nagpur and Cl^? for Jodhpur and Pune; at Mohanbari NO₃ ^? and Ca⁺²; at Visakhapatnam, Port Blair and Minicoy Na⁺ and Cl^? were abundant. Temporal variation had shown an increasing trend for nssSO₄ ^?2 and NO₃ ^? and obviously decreasing trend for pH at all the stations. However, Ca⁺² showed a decreasing trend at all the stations except at Port Blair. With the exception of Pune and Jodhpur stations, nssK showed a decreasing trend at all the stations revealing decreasing influence of soil/biomass burning over Indian GAW stations. Negative correlation of pH with SO₄ ^?2 was found to be weak compared to NO₃ ^–.     

Climatology and trends of wet spells in China

Summary Climatological features and variations of wet spells, especially their trends over China, are investigated using a dataset of 594 meteorological stations across China from 1951 to 2003. The results show that the lower the latitude is, the longer the annual duration of wet spells is. The mean annual precipitation from wet spells is higher in southeastern coastal areas and much lower in western and northern China. The longest wet spells are found in Southwest China and the eastern Tibetan Plateau. The maximum daily precipitation of wet spells decreases from the southeast to the northwest, with the highest in southeastern coastal areas and the lowest in western China. The trends of wet spells exhibit striking regional differences. In most areas of western China, the annual number of days in wet spells has slightly increased, but significantly decreased over North China, Central China and Southwest China. The annual precipitation amount from wet spells displays significant downward trends in North China, eastern Northeast China and the eastern part of Southwest China, but upward trends in the eastern Tibetan Plateau and some southeastern coastal areas. Two clearly-contrasting regions in climatic changes of wet spells are the mid-lower reaches of the Yellow River and the eastern Tibetan Plateau, characterized by a decrease of about 24 days and an increase of about 6 days in annual wet spell days from 1953 to 2003, respectively.     

2006年春季内蒙古久旱转雨过程分析

应用T213数值预报产品资料和基本气象资料,对发生在2006年5月11日内蒙古春季的久旱转雨天气过程进行了气候背景、天气成因和转折性特征的分析.分析表明,青藏高原低槽的建立与中纬度低槽的叠加是此次久旱转雨过程大尺度环流调整的转折性信号,西南急流的建立、水汽的长距离输送和偏东方向水汽的垂直叠加是转折性降水最重要的条件.东亚地区中纬度40 °N低槽对转折性降水的作用主要体现为动力作用,而青藏高原低槽主要体现在对西南气流的加强和水汽的远距离输送.高层正涡度由南向北的输送,使中纬度低槽进一步加深,垂直运动上升区自西向东的输送主要发生在低层东风切变中.辐散场在垂直方向上形成了较好的抽吸效应,使低层动力辐合作用进一步加强.有利的动力、热力条件叠加成为此次转折性降水的又一重要原因.     

台风暴雨过程中不同尺度系统的相互作用

采用数值模拟和带通滤波相结合的方法,对一次台风暴雨过程中的大中尺度系统进行了分离;推导出一个包含大中尺度系统相互作用机制的涡度方程,对中尺度系统发生发展的主要影响因子和大中尺度系统之间的相互作用机制进行了定量诊断分析.结果表明:大中尺度系统之间的相互作用是中尺度系统发展增强、进而造成强降水的一种重要机制;当中尺度系统发展到一定阶段后,由中尺度涡度场、散度场和垂直速度场之间的相互配置所决定的散度项和扭曲项又会引起中尺度系统的减弱消散,这种中尺度系统发展演变的内在调节机制使得强降水在时间上也呈现出中尺度特征.