Review of Chinese atmospheric science research over the past 70 years: Synoptic meteorology

Synoptic meteorology is a branch of meteorology that uses synoptic weather observations and charts for the diagnosis,study,and forecasting of weather.Weather refers to the specific state of the atmosphere near the Earth's surface during a short period of time.The spatial distribution of meteorological elements in the atmosphere can be represented by a variety of transient weather phenomena,which are caused by weather systems of different spatial and temporal scales.Weather is closely related to people's life,and its development and evolution have always been the focus of atmospheric scientific research and operation.The development of synoptic meteorology is closely related to the development of observation systems,dynamical theories and numerical models.In China,observation networks have been built since the early 1950 s.Up to now,a comprehensive meteorological observation systembased on ground,air and space has been established.In particular,the development of a new generation of dense radar networks,the development of the Fengyun satellite series and the implementation of a series of large field experiments have brought our understanding of weather from large-scale environment to thermal dynamics,cloud microphysical structure and evolution characteristics of meso and micro-scale weather systems.The development of observation has also promoted the development of theory,numerical model and simulation.In the early days,China mainly used foreign numerical models.Lately,China has developed numerical model systems with independent intellectual property rights.Based on the results of high-resolution numerical simulations,in-depth understanding of the initiation and evolution mechanism and predictability of weather at different scales has been obtained.Synoptic meteorology has gradually changed from an initially independent development to a multidisciplinary approach,and the interaction between weather and the change of climate and environment has become a hot and frontier topic in atmospheric science.This paper reviews the important scientific and technological achievements made in China over the past 70 years in the fields of synoptic meteorology based on the literatures in China and abroad,from six aspects respectively including atmospheric dynamics,synoptic-scale weather,typhoon and tropical weather,severe convective weather,numerical weather prediction and data assimilation,weather and climate,atmospheric physics and atmospheric environment.     

时变行星际太阳风模拟及其结果评估

背景太阳风对于地球附近的空间环境有着重要的影响,三维磁流体力学太阳风模型是背景太阳风研究和预报的重要工具.通过太阳光球磁场数据驱动的边界条件,我们发展了一个时变的行星际三维磁流体力学太阳风模型.使用这个模型,我们模拟了2008年全年的行星际背景太阳风,分析了该年太阳风结构全球特征的演化和行星际局地观测与日冕结构间的联系.实现了一套太阳风连续参数和特征结构模拟质量的定量评估方法.对2008年模拟结果的评估表明,模型较好地重现了背景太阳风的大尺度特征.模拟与观测速度间的相关性系数达到了0.6以上,行星际磁场强度与观测吻合得较好,捕获了全部的行星际磁场极性反转和82.76%的流相互作用区,行星际磁场极性反转的误报率仅为6.67%,流相互作用区的误报率仅为11.11%,两种结构的到达时间误差在1天左右.同时,通过综合分析评估结果,我们明确了高速流结构、内边界磁场分布等模型在进一步改进中需要重点注意的问题.

     

GPU-accelerated computing of three-dimensional solar wind background

High-performance computational models are required to make the real-time or faster than real-time numerical prediction of adverse space weather events and their influence on the geospace environment. The main objective in this article is to explore the application of programmable graphic processing units (GPUs) to the numerical space weather modeling for the study of solar wind background that is a crucial part in the numerical space weather modeling. GPU programming is realized for our Solar-Interplanetary-CESE MHD model (SIP-CESE MHD model) by numerically studying the solar corona/interplanetary solar wind. The global solar wind structures are obtained by the established GPU model with the magnetic field synoptic data as input. Meanwhile, the time-dependent solar surface boundary conditions derived from the method of characteristics and the mass flux limit are incorporated to couple the observation and the three-dimensional (3D) MHD model. The simulated evolution of the global structures for two Carrington rotations 2058 and 2062 is compared with solar observations and solar wind measurements from spacecraft near the Earth. The MHD model is also validated by comparison with the standard potential field source surface (PFSS) model. Comparisons show that the MHD results are in good overall agreement with coronal and interplanetary structures, including the size and distribution of coronal holes, the position and shape of the streamer belts, and the transition of the solar wind speeds and magnetic field polarities.     

Precipitation of energetic magnetospheric electrons and accompanying solar wind characteristics

From 1957 up to the present time, the Lebedev Physical Institute (LPI) has performed regular monitoring of ionizing radiation in the Earth’s atmosphere. There are cases when the X-ray radiation generated by energetic magnetospheric electrons penetrates the atmosphere and is observed at polar latitudes. The vast majority of these events occurs against the background of high-velocity solar wind streams, while magnetospheric perturbations related to interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are noneffective for precipitation. It is shown in the paper that ICMEs do not cause acceleration of a sufficient amount of electrons in the magnetosphere. Favorable conditions for acceleration and subsequent scattering of electrons into the loss cone are created by magnetic storms with an extended recovery phase and with sufficiently frequent periods of negative Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Such geomagnetic perturbations are typical for storms associated with high-velocity solar wind streams.     

Comparative outline of the region of interaction of the solar wind with the Ionosphere of Venus and Mars

The general features of the region of interaction of the solar wind with the ionosphere of Venus and Mars are compared using data obtained with the Mariner 5 and the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO) spacecraft for Venus and with the Phobos II, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and the Mars Express spacecraft for Mars. Despite the overall weak intrinsic global magnetic field that is present in both planets there are significant differences in the manner in which the interplanetary magnetic field accumulates and is organized around and within their ionosphere. Such differences are unrelated to the crustal magnetic field remnants inferred from the MGS measurements around Mars. In fact, while in Venus and Mars there is a region in which the magnetic field becomes enhanced as it piles up in their plasma environment it is shown that such a region exhibits different regimes with respect to changes in the ion composition measured outside and within the ionosphere. At Venus the region of enhanced magnetic field intensity occurs in general above the ionopause which represents the boundary across which there is a change in the ion composition with dominant solar wind protons above and planetary O⁺ ions below. At Mars the region of enhanced magnetic field is located below a magnetic pileup boundary across which there is also a comparable change in the ion composition (solar wind protons above and planetary O⁺ ions below). It is argued that this difference in the relative position of the region of enhanced magnetic field with respect to that of a plasma boundary that separates different ion populations results from the peculiar response of the ionosphere of each planet to the oncoming solar wind dynamic pressure. While at Venus the peak ionospheric thermal pressure is in general sufficient to withhold the incident solar wind kinetic pressure there is a different response in Mars where the peak ionospheric thermal pressure is in general not large enough to deviate the solar wind. In this latter case the ionosphere is unable to force the solar wind to move around the ionosphere and as a result the oncoming electron population can reach low altitudes where it is influenced by neutral atmospheric particles (the solar wind proton population is replaced at the magnetic pileup boundary which marks the upper extent of the region where the interplanetary magnetic field becomes enhanced). Peculiar conditions are expected near the magnetic polar regions and over the terminator plane where the solar wind is directed along the sides of the planet.     

Forecast of the solar wind velocity and the interplanetary magnetic field radial component polarity at the phase of decay of solar cycle 23

The solar wind velocity and polarity of the B _x-component of the interplanetary magnetic field have been analyzed for the first eight months of 2005. The interplanetary magnetic field had a four-sector structure, which persisted during nine Carrington rotations. Three stable clusters of a high-speed solar wind stream and one cluster of a low-speed stream were observed during one solar rotation. These clusters were associated with the interplanetary magnetic field sectors. The predicted solar wind velocity was calculated since July 2005 one month ahead as an average over several preceding Carrington rotations. The polarity of the B _x-component of the interplanetary magnetic field was predicted in a similar way based on the concept of the sector structure of the magnetic field and its relation to maxima of the solar wind velocity. The results indicate a satisfactory agreement of the forecast for two rotations ahead in July–August 2005 and pronounced violation of agreement for the next rotation due to a sudden reconfiguration of the solar corona and strong sporadic processes in September 2005.     

Cosmic ray geomagnetic cutoff rigidities in the magnetic field of two empirical models during a strong disturbance in November 2003: A comparison of models

Cosmic ray (CR) fluxes, which penetrate into the Earth??s magnetosphere and atmosphere from the interplanetary space, are an important factor of space weather. The geomagnetic field allows or forbids CR particles to enter into a given point in the magnetosphere depending on their energy. The geomagnetic cutoff rigidity regulates the distribution of CR fluxes in the magnetosphere. The geomagnetic cutoff rigidity (geomagnetic threshold) determination accuracy is closely related to the accuracy of the magnetospheric model used in calculations. Using a method for tracing of charged CR particle trajectories in the magnetic field of a model magnetosphere, we obtained geomagnetic thresholds for two magnetosphere empirical models (Ts01 and Ts04), constructed based on the same initial database. The Ts01 model describes the middle magnetosphere for certain conditions in the solar wind and interplanetary field. The Ts04 model pays the main attention to describing the large-scale evolution of magnetospheric currents during a storm. The theoretically obtained geomagnetic thresholds have been compared with experimental thresholds, calculated using the spectrographic global survey method based on data from the global network of CR stations. The study has been performed for the period of a strong geomagnetic storm that occurred in November 2003.     

Relationship between magnetic activity in the polar cap and atmospheric processes in the winter Antarctica

The paper demonstrates the close relationships between the polar cap magnetic activity, which is characterized by PC index (Troshichev et al., 1988, Troshichev et al., 2006) and some atmospheric phenomena typical of the winter Antarctica, such as enhancement of cloudiness, sudden warmings of the ground atmosphere in near-pole area, and formation of anomalous wind regimes above Antarctica. It was shown previously (Troshichev et al., 2004, Troshichev et al., 2008, Troshichev and Janzhura, 2004) that these atmospheric phenomena are controlled by variations of the geoeffective interplanetary electric field impacting the Earth’s magnetosphere. On the other hand, the polar cap magnetic activity is also determined by the interplanetary electric field influence through the field-aligned magnetospheric currents and electric field in the polar cap ionosphere. The results imply that the PC index, available online at http://www.aari.nw.ru from the near-pole station Vostok, can be used to monitor the anomalous atmospheric processes in winter Antarctica.     

地磁活动对气候要素影响的研究进展

地磁活动是太阳爆发现象引起地球近地空间磁场扰动的重要空间天气过程之一.地球磁场的变化具有多种时间尺度,其中从数十年到数世纪的长时间地磁场变化主要是由地核磁场引起的,而从数秒到数年的短时间地磁变化与太阳活动有关.近年来,越来越多的统计研究表明,地磁活动与太阳活动和地球气候变化之间存在着显著的相关性.地球磁场和地球大气系统的耦合现象驱动着人们探索地磁活动对地球天气和气候系统影响的研究.本文的目的就是综述国内外地磁变化对气候影响的研究进展,介绍我们最新的研究成果,探索地磁活动对气候要素的影响特征和可能机理过程,为深入研究地磁活动对地球天气和气候的影响提供基础和依据,以期对地磁活动和气候要素关系有进一步的认识.     

Calculation of the interplanetary magnetic field based on its value in the solar photosphere

The difficulties associated with calculating the parameters of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) from solar magnetic data have been considered. All conventional calculation patterns and available input databases have been analyzed from a unified standpoint. It has been shown that these assumptions and limitations cannot affect the general structure and dependence on cycle of solar and interplanetary data. At the same time, the measured solar field values are underestimated as a result of the magnetograph signal saturation effect. It has been shown that the correction should depend on the heliocentric observation latitude and cycle phase. The correction method responsible for good agreement between the calculated and measured values has been proposed. The created database makes it possible to quantitatively calculate the magnetic fields in the solar wind near the Earth.     

地球附近第23太阳活动周磁云和非磁云ICME的对比统计

行星际日冕物质抛射（ICME）,作为影响地球空间天气的重要源头之一,根据其磁场结构特点可分为磁云（MC）和非磁云ICME两个子集.本文对第23周的磁云和非磁云ICME结构及其地磁效应进行对比统计研究.第23周ICME事件总数为317个,其中磁云占ICME比例为33.75%,非磁云ICME占66.25%.统计结果表明,非磁云ICME数与太阳黑子数呈现出非常好的正相关性,而磁云与太阳黑子数的这种相关性并不明显.相反,磁云占ICME的比率与太阳黑子数呈现出一定的反相关性.对磁云与非磁云ICME引起的地磁暴的比较研究表明：磁云及其鞘区引发的地磁暴平均水平要高于非磁云ICME及其鞘区.磁云和非磁云ICME的磁场强度、南向磁场强度和传播速度整体上都随地磁暴水平提升而增加.对磁云与非磁云ICME参数的进一步对比分析表明,磁云及其鞘区的平均磁场强度和南向磁场分量平均值都明显要比非磁云ICME的大;而二者的等离子体温度、密度和速度平均值相差并不明显.     

Cosmic-ray vector anisotropy and local characteristics of the interplanetary medium

Variations in the cosmic-ray vector anisotropy observed on Earth are closely connected with the state of the near-Earth interplanetary medium. Hourly characteristics of vector anisotropy for the period 1957–2013, which were obtained by the global survey method from the data of the worldwide network of neutron monitors, make it possible to study the relationship between the cosmic-ray anisotropy and solar wind parameters. In the present work, we have studied the connection between the equatorial component of anisotropy of cosmic rays with a rigidity of 10 GV and the following parameters: velocity and density of the solar wind; density of the interplanetary magnetic field; and cosmic-ray density variations, in which the spatial gradient of cosmic rays in the interplanetary medium is manifested. The characteristics of cosmic-ray anisotropy at various combinations of the interplanetary medium parameters are compared. The possibility of diagnosing the solar wind state from data on the cosmic-ray anisotropy is discussed.     

扇形边界附近太阻风粘性的数学描写和物理效应

本文首先指出经典粘性理论应适用于扇形边界低速风,接着论证了常用太阳风粘性数学表式的不正确性,导出了螺旋磁场中径向球对称强磁化等离子体流动的各种经典粘性表式,并证明了这些公式的合理性;最后讨论了常用太阳风经典粘性表式出错原因,估计了具有正确粘性公式的扇形边界低速太阳风粘性模式应有的结果。     

Solar wind influence on atmospheric processes in winter Antarctica

Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) altered by solar wind are traditionally regarded as the most plausible agent of solar activity influence on the Earth's atmosphere. However, it is well known that severe reductions in the GCRs flux, known as Forbush decreases (FDs), are caused by solar wind of high speed and density, which sweeps away the GCRs on its way. Since the FD beginnings are registered at the Earth's orbit simultaneously with dramatic disturbances in the solar wind, the atmospheric effects, assigned to FDs, can be, in reality, the results of the solar wind influence on the atmospheric processes. This paper presents a summary of the experimental results demonstrating the strong influence of the interplanetary electric field on atmospheric processes in central Antarctica, where the large-scale system of vertical circulation is formed during winter seasons. The influence is realized through acceleration of the air masses, descending into the lower atmosphere from the troposphere, and the formation of cloudiness above the Antarctic Ridge, where the descending air masses enter the surface layer. The acceleration is followed by a sharp increase of the atmospheric pressure near-pole region, which gives rise to the katabatic wind strengthening above the entire Antarctica. The cloudiness formation results in the sudden warmings in the surface atmosphere, since the cloud layer efficiently backscatters the long wavelength radiation from the ice sheet, but does not affect the adiabatic warming process of the descending tropospheric air masses. When the drainage flow strengthening the circumpolar vortex around the periphery of the Antarctic continent decays, the surface easterlies typical of the coast stations during the winter season are replaced by southerlies and the cold Antarctic air masses flow out to the Southern ocean.     

激波在磁盔－电流片位场中的传播：（Ⅰ）激波与磁盔间的相互作用

利用新近获得的子午面磁盔－电流片背景太阳风稳态解，对激波从盔底沿电流片方向往外传播时与磁盔间的相互作用进行了数值模拟研究，重要新结果是：１．磁盔的存在使受扰介质速度跃变中央出现下凹，随着激波传出磁盔区并沿电流片方向传播，速度下凹逐渐减弱以致消失；２．激波将磁盔拉长并把盔顶的环形（垂直赤道面）磁场带到行星际空间，成为行星际磁场南向分量的来源之一；３．５个太阳半径（Ｒ⊙）内的磁盔部分将出现精细结构，沿盔外边界形成两条高速带，以及马蹄形密度（亮）环形结构等．这些结果表明，太阳附近高速等离子体与磁盔间存在重要的动力学相互作用过程，对行星际空间的太阳风三维结构有重要影响．     

激波在磁盔－电流片位场中的传播：（Ⅰ）激波与磁盔间的相互作用

利用新近获得的子午面磁盔－电流片背景太阳风稳态解,对激波从盔底沿电流片方向往外传播时与磁盔间的相互作用进行了数值模拟研究,重要新结果是：１．磁盔的存在使受扰介质速度跃变中央出现下凹,随着激波传出磁盔区并沿电流片方向传播,速度下凹逐渐减弱以致消失;２．激波将磁盔拉长并把盔顶的环形（垂直赤道面）磁场带到行星际空间,成为行星际磁场南向分量的来源之一;３．５个太阳半径（Ｒ⊙）内的磁盔部分将出现精细结构,沿盔外边界形成两条高速带,以及马蹄形密度（亮）环形结构等．这些结果表明,太阳附近高速等离子体与磁盔间存在重要的动力学相互作用过程,对行星际空间的太阳风三维结构有重要影响．     

激波在磁盔－电流片位场中的传播：（Ⅰ）激波与磁盔间的相互作用

利用新近获得的子午面磁盔－电流片背景太阳风稳态解，对激波从盔底沿电流片方向往外传播时与磁盔间的相互作用进行了数值模拟研究，重要新结果是：１．磁盔的存在使受扰介质速度跃变中央出现下凹，随着激波传出磁盔区并沿电流片方向传播，速度下凹逐渐减弱以致消失；２．激波将磁盔拉长并把盔顶的环形（垂直赤道面）磁场带到行星际空间，成为行星际磁场南向分量的来源之一；３．５个太阳半径（Ｒ⊙）内的磁盔部分将出现精细结构，沿盔外边界形成两条高速带，以及马蹄形密度（亮）环形结构等．这些结果表明，太阳附近高速等离子体与磁盔间存在重要的动力学相互作用过程，对行星际空间的太阳风三维结构有重要影响．     

Probing the magnetic topology of coronal mass ejections by means of Ulysses/HI-SCALE energetic particle observations

In this work, solar flare energetic particle fluxes (E_e 42 keV) observed by the HI-SCALE instrument onboard Ulysses, a spacecraft that is probing the heliosphere in 3-D, are utilized as diagnostics of the large-scale structure and topology of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) embedded within two well-identified interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) structures. On the basis of the energetic solar flare particle observations firm conclusions are drawn on whether the detected ICMEs have been detached from the solar corona or are still magnetically anchored to it when they arrive at 2.5 AU. From the development of the angular distributions of the particle intensities, we have inferred that portions of the ICMEs studied consisted of both open and closed magnetic field lines. Both ICMEs present a filamentary structure comprising magnetic filaments with distinct electron anisotropy characteristics. Subsequently, we studied the evolution of the anisotropies of the energetic electrons along the magnetic field loop-like structure of one ICME and computed the characteristic decay time of the anisotropy which is a measure of the amount of scattering that the trapped electron population underwent after injection at the Sun.     

Variations in the cosmic source intensity during radio astronomical studies of the solar wind

Fluctuations in the intensity of cosmic radiosources, which are slower than interplanetary scintillations and are observed during radio astronomical studies of the solar wind, are discussed. It has been indicated that daytime variations (on average, from 8 to 16 h) are caused by large-scale disturbances in the solar wind rather than are of an ionospheric origin. A conclusion is made that such variations can be used to study the near-solar interplanetary space and predict space weather.