A Lagrangian computation of stratosphere–troposphere exchange in a tropopause‐folding event in the subtropical Southern Hemisphere

A new Lagrangian technique to calculate the air mass flux across potential vorticity ( Q ) surfaces has been used to perform a case study of a tropopause‐folding event in the subtropical Southern Hemisphere. The flux is computed from the rate of change in Q along trajectories, which are calculated from ECMWF wind data. Because the tropopause can be defined as a Q surface, the method can be used for the calculation of stratosphere–troposphere exchange (STE). A large number of forward and backward trajectories were calculated, starting in the vicinity of the tropopause fold. This fold was observed during the TRACAS (TRAnsport of Chemical species Across the Subtropical tropopause) experiment at La Reunion (21°S, 55°E) in July 1998. With the Lagrangian method the cross tropopause air mass flux can be calculated for the different tropopause levels, that occur in case of a tropopause folding. The computed mass exchange is about −20×10¹³ kg (i.e., downward) in 4.5 days, which is rather small compared to other (midlatitude) mass exchange studies. The ratio of the fluxes per unit of area in and outside of the fold is about 200 : 1. An indication of the accuracy of the calculated fluxes has been obtained with the help of the ozone soundings made during the TRACAS experiment.     

Analysis of the weekly cycle in the atmosphere near Moscow

Using the spectral method and the method of grouping by days of week, we analyzed the weekly cycles by standard air sounding data obtained at the Dolgoprudny station near Moscow and by the results of measurements of NO₂ content in the stratosphere and the atmospheric boundary layer at the Zvenigorod Research Station of the Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, in 1990–2010. We revealed weekly cycles of the NO₂ content in the vertical column of the stratosphere, temperature, geopotential, meridional wind velocity in the troposphere and lower stratosphere, and the tropopause height in the warm half of the year (mid-April to mid-October). The weekly variations in temperature in the troposphere are positive in the first half of the week and negative in the second half, and the variations in temperature in the tropopause layer and in the lower stratosphere are opposite in sign to the tropospheric variations. The weekly cycle of the tropopause height is approximately in phase with the cycle of tropospheric temperature, and the weekly cycle of the NO₂ content in the stratospheric column is opposite in phase to the cycle of the tropopause height. Weekly variations were also observed in the total ozone content over Moscow. This finding was confirmed by calculations based on regression relationships between the vertical distribution of ozone and tropopause height. Conceptual mechanisms of weekly cycles were proposed.     

Humidity of the tropical lower stratosphere: Observations and analysis

The results of measurements of water-vapor vertical profiles in the upper troposphere and stratosphere on board a meteorological balloon with a FLASH-B optical fluorescent hygrometer (Russia) are presented. These data were obtained during two international field campaigns in West Africa (August 2006) and Central America (August 2007). Eleven high-resolution water-vapor vertical profiles measured in the course of these works make it possible to characterize the processes controlling humidity in the tropical tropopause region. Layers with increased humidity are detected in the lower stratosphere over West Africa to the level of the potential temperature 450 K. An analysis of satellite maps of the brightness temperature, balloon ozone measurements, and aerosol scattering, as well as trajectory modeling, display the relation between the observed layers with increased humidity and the phenomena of convective overshooting of the tropopause, as a result of which cold and ozone-depleted air penetrates into the lower stratosphere together with ice particles, which, rapidly sublimating, locally increase the water-vapor concentration. A comparison of the humidity data obtained in West Africa in 2006 and in Central America in 2007 reveals substantial distinctions in values and vertical structures of water vapor, both in the tropopause region and in the middle stratosphere.     

Effect that jet streams have on the vertical ozone distribution and characteristics of tropopause inversion layer in the far east region

The paper describes a lidar and presents the results of lidar sensing of the vertical ozone distribution (VOD); the lidar measurements are analyzed together with data from a network of meteorological stations situated along the 132° E meridian. VODs over Primorye and Japan in the winter period are compared. An analysis showed that an interrelation exists between the subtropical jet stream and the structures of VOD and tropopause inversion layer. Specifically, the region of the VOD local maximum above the tropopause is in the upper part of the tropopause inversion layer and the width of the maximum depends on the distance from the core of the subtropical jet stream. It is found that the local ozone minimum in the lower stratosphere corresponds to the local minimum of the squared Brunt-Vaisala frequency within this same altitude range in the winter season, when two tropopauses frequently overlap. It is conjectured that the local ozone maximum and tropopause inversion layer may be associated with mixing processes in the layer where stratospheric and tropospheric circulation cells come into contact near the core of the subtropical jet stream.     

Formula for a baroclinic adjustment theory of climate

Recently, a theory relating baroclinic neutrality and midlatitudes tropopause height has been proposed. However, GCM results have shown that the dependence of the theory on external parameters is not consistent with that displayed by these numerical experiments. In the present paper we suggest an analytic formula for baroclinic adjustment to the neutrality of Eady waves through tropopause modification. This formula extends considerably the abovementioned theory by taking into account both a simple representation of the stratosphere and the topography. These modifications alter the tropopause condition for a baroclinically neutral state and its sensitivity to the external parameters. In particular, the topography introduces a dependence on the tropospheric vertical wind shear of the neutrality condition. This feature is not present in other models that assume a background state with a zero potential vorticity gradient in the troposphere. We show, furthermore, that the modified neutrality condition has sensitivities that may resemble those displayed by GCM simulations, with respect to the parameters defining the background flow.     

Meridional mass and energy fluxes in the vicinity of the Arctic border

The air exchange between the Arctic and midlatitude regions is one of the processes forming the climate of the whole Northern Hemisphere. Analysis of the wind regime in the vicinity of the Arctic border (70° N) at the boundary between the 20th and 21st (1997–2004) centuries showed significant changes in the conditions of a meridional air transport between the Arctic and midlatitude regions as compared to the previous years (1960–1990). In this study, the wind fluxes of mass and heat (internal) and kinetic energies are estimated without consideration for turbulent and convective processes. The importance of spatial, seasonal, and interannual variations in wind velocity and air temperature in the formation of these fluxes is analyzed. It is shown that, during the period 1997–2004, an advective transport of energy from the northern latitudes occurred in the lower 6-km tropospheric layer at 70° N latitude over almost a whole year. Only in spring (April) did the wind fluxes bring heat energy from the south. The total amount of both heat and kinetic energies transported from the Arctic region in this way during a year is comparable to the mean amount of these energies contained in the whole atmosphere over the area bounded by 70° N latitude. The current spatial and temporal distributions of wind velocity and meridional mass and energy fluxes, which are presented in this study, may serve as additional information for interpreting data obtained from different on-site measurements in Arctic regions.     

Tracing water masses with particle trajectories in an isopycnic-coordinate model of the global ocean

Offline particle trajectories are obtained for a quasi-global isopycnic-coordinate OGCM using an analytical method, adapted for use with online time-integrated isopycnal and diapycnal mass fluxes. The method is highly efficient, allowing the calculation of large ensembles of such trajectories. These ensembles can be used to establish pathways and transformations associated with the global circulation of water masses on timescales which are well in excess of any feasible model integration length. The method is here used to investigate the important, yet poorly observed, transformation of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) through slow spreading, upwelling and diapycnal mixing (defined when and where density decreases below a threshold value). A fundamental problem arises through unsteadiness in the thickness of NADW layers (due to various model flaws and/or intrinsic variability). Particles converge on gridboxes where layers inflate during the online time-integration period. Depending on the degree of layer inflation, only a fraction of NADW particles can be diagnosed as transformed at some point along their respective trajectories. However, the unsteadiness of layer thickness decreases during a 50-year spin-up, implying fewer converged trajectories and an increased fraction of transformed NADW. Using trajectories to trace NADW southward across the equatorial Atlantic, with mass fluxes from years 10, 30 and 50 of model spin-up, the transformed percentage (of NADW exported from the North Atlantic) increases from 17–18% (with fluxes from years 10 and 30) to 41% (using year 50 fluxes). In the latter case, about 30% of the NADW upwells south of 30°S after 500–1000 years. Most of the remaining 70% upwells in the South and North Pacific after 1000–2500 years.     

Structure of the mesoscale variability of the troposphere and stratosphere found from radio refraction measurements via CHAMP satellites

Data of an experiment on radio occultation sounding of the atmosphere with the use of GPS signals were used to obtain global distributions of the variances of mesoscale variations in the refractive index in the troposphere and stratosphere. The experiment was carried out with the CHAMP satellite during the period 2001–2005. Measured vertical profiles were smoothed inside 5–10-km-thick layers centered at different altitudes in the troposphere and stratosphere with the use of second-degree polynomials. Deviations from the smoothed quantities and the corresponding variances were obtained for each profile and averaged for each month during the analyzed interval of the CHAMP experiment. Altitude-longitude-latitude inhomogeneities in the distribution of refractive index variances were analyzed. Altitude and latitude distributions of maxima and minima of refractive index variances depend on altitude and season. Turbulence and acoustic gravity waves can be the causes of small-scale and mesoscale variations in the refractive index of the troposphere and stratosphere. The variances of variations in the refractive index are greater in the regions of tropospheric jet streams and in the zones of near-equatorial deep convection. Atmospheric disturbances increase over mountain systems.     

Explanations for simultaneous laminae in water vapor and aerosol profiles found during the SESAME experiment

An instrumented balloon launched from Kiruna during the SESAME experiment displayed simultaneous local decreases of water vapor and aerosol at 2 different potential temperature levels 410 K and 364 K. Despite the similar characteristics present at both levels, 2 different explanations are given for these laminae. At the highest level, the air mass showing the water vapor and aerosol decrease is found when the balloon travels in the vortex edge region. A back trajectory shows that this air mass was trapped in the vortex edge region for several days and processed by a PSC causing the water vapor and aerosol decreases. On the other hand, the lowest level air mass was found to be in the sub‐vortex region. No local conditions can explain the observed decreases of water vapor and aerosol. Back trajectories show that this air mass originates from middle latitudes. Although the back trajectories calculated in these conditions are more subject to caution, comparison of several characteristics at the measurement point and at the middle latitude sites corroborates the explanation of the decrease of water vapor and aerosol by the origin of the air mass.     

Assessment of the influence of air invasions from the upper troposphere on the CO total column amount in the St. Petersburg region

The influence of air invasions from the upper troposphere on the CO total column amount is studied on the basis of spectroscopic measurements of the CO total column amount, backward trajectories of air-mass motions (the HYSPLIT model), and meteorological data. It is shown that the observed invasions of substratospheric and upper-troposphere air masses determine the minimum CO total column amount in late January-late March. The invasion of air masses from the upper troposphere can result in a decrease in the CO total column amount to 30% (of its mean values). Using January 31, 2000, as an example, we show the influence of the invasion of Arctic air masses from the upper troposphere on the CO total column amount in the St. Petersburg region: the results of measurements of the CO total column amount in the St. Petersburg region and at the Kiruna polar station (NDACC) are in agreement to within 1% if the vertical transport of air masses is taken into account. Thus, for a correct combined analysis of measurement data on the CO total column amount for different observation stations, it is necessary to use data on air-mass trajectories.     

Analysis of the air-sea heat exchange during the El Nino event in 1983

In this paper,by using the ECMWF objective analysed data as well as CAC and NOAA grid point data of 1981 and 1983,the sensible and latent heat fluxes at the air and sea boundary surface within the range of 45°E-75°W, 35°N-35°S over the Pacific and the Indian Ocean are calculated. The purpose is to analyse the different revealing features during the mature stage and at the end of the 1982 -1983 El Nino event and to compare the difference of the features between thd El Nino and the normal. The result shows that the air and sea heat exchange west of the dateline over the central tropical Pacific during the EJ Nino period is more intense than that of the normal. However,the fluxes of the sensible and latent heat on the sea surface with strong warming of SSTneat by and on the south side of the equator east of 170°W are low and even negative,and the patterns of the sensible and latent heat fluxes over the Indian Ocean during the year of 1983 are similer to that of normal. Spatial patterns of the sensible     

Assessment of water exchange between a discharge region and the open sea – A comparison of different methodological concepts

Two different methods of estimating the water exchange through the Baltic coastal region of Laxemar have been used, consisting of particle trajectories and passive tracers. Water is traced from and to a small discharge region near the coast. The discharge material in this region is treated as zero-dimensional particles or tracers with neutral buoyancy. The real discharge material could be a leakage of radio-nuclides through the sea floor from an underground repository of nuclear waste.Water exchange rates between the discharge region and the model domain are estimated using both forward and backward trajectories as well as passive tracers. The Lagrangian trajectories can account for the time evolution of the water exchange while the tracers give one average age per model grid box. Water exchange times such as residence time, age and transient times have been calculated with trajectories but only the average age (AvA) for tracers. The trajectory calculations provide a more detailed time evolution than the tracers.On the other hand the tracers are integrated “on-line” simultaneously in the sea circulation model with the same time step while the Lagrangian trajectories are integrated “off-line” from the stored model velocities with its inherent temporal resolution, presently 1 h. The sub-grid turbulence is parameterised as the Laplacian diffusion for the passive tracers and with an extra stochastic velocity for trajectories. The importance of the parameterised sub-grid turbulence for the trajectories is estimated to give an extra diffusion of the same order as the Laplacian diffusion by comparing the Lagrangian dispersions with and without parameterisation. The results of the different methods are similar but depend on the chosen diffusivity coefficient with a slightly higher correlation between trajectories and tracers when integrated with a lower diffusivity coefficient.     

海洋气团对沿海城市大气环境影响与识别研究

本研究通过识别海洋气团特征及沿海城市大气受到海洋气团的影响方式与程度,为评价沿海城市空气环境质量提供科学依据。以青岛市为例,收集大气气溶胶样品中放射性核素~(210)Pb、40K数据及采集时段当地大气颗粒物数据;分析~(210)Pb活度浓度与气溶胶颗粒物浓度变化;对当地当时大气气团进行溯源分析。研究表明:(1)研究期间青岛沿岸地区2015年4月至2016年6月与2016年6月至2017年6月大气污染特征显著不同,前者~(210)Pb活度浓度与污染颗粒物浓度显著相关,而后者~(210)Pb活度浓度与污染颗粒物无相关关系;(2)穿越海洋的陆地气团呈现出高活度浓度、低颗粒物浓度的特征;来自海洋气团的气溶胶呈现出低活度浓度、低颗粒物浓度的特征;(3)海洋气团气溶胶中~(210)Pb活度浓度较低。临近大陆的海洋(黄海、东海)上层大气受到大陆气团的影响,其海洋气团的特征有所减弱。~(210)Pb活度浓度、颗粒物浓度(PM2.5)可作为判断海洋气团的指标,识别"来自海洋的气团"与"经过海洋的气团"。     

A very deep ozone minihole in the Northern Hemisphere stratosphere at mid‐latitudes during the winter of 2000

Ozone miniholes appear on total ozone maps as localized ozone minima with horizontal extents of a few hundreds of kilometres. They are characterized by a rapid and small‐scale appearance of a columnar ozone decrease with an equally rapid recovery after a few days. They are frequently observed at Northern Hemisphere mid‐latitudes in winter. Evolving too rapidly to be the result of an ozone chemical destruction, miniholes should be the result of meteorological processes. According to some authors, miniholes should be due to the northeast motions of air patches with low total ozone content. However, several studies attribute the formation of ozone miniholes to the uplift of air masses, which decreases the ozone columnar content by simply decreasing the pressure thickness of the ozone layer, without changing the mixing ratio. According to these studies, the latter mechanism explains the main reduction of ozone that occurs between the tropopause and the ozone maximum during an ozone minihole event. A region of extreme low ozone values passed over Europe from 27 to 30 November 2000. The total ozone values were measured with the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS). A radio sounding, launched on 29 November 2000 from Payerne at the place and time of the deepening of the minihole, allows us to perform a detailed analysis of its formation mechanism. It is shown that the uplift of isentropic surfaces plays an important role in the columnar ozone decrease and explains the lower part of the depleted ozone profile. However, the deepening of the minihole is explained by another mechanism: namely, at this time the minihole air column intersects the polar vortex at high altitudes and then encounters ozone‐poor air masses.     

Estimation of the oxygen and CO2 mean exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere in key areas of the ocean

Current estimations of gas exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere are based on the concepts about diffusive gas transfer across the interface and about a stationary character of the processes; however, under a strong wind, these concepts are invalid. Transfer equations for gas constitutents of the air are incorporated into a numerical model of a nonstationary upper layer of the ocean. These equations contain the source function—gas transfer by bubbles, which becomes noticeable even at a wind speed of 8–10 m/s. The fluxes of oxygen and CO₂ are calculated at a specified wind speed, dependences of these fluxes on the wind speed are constructed, and estimates for the average annual fluxes are obtained for several areas of the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio. A substantial change in the difference of the air-water gas contents under a strong wind, caused by the turbulent exchange growth and appreciably affecting the gas exchange, is noted. The influence of the carbonate system of seawater on the CO₂ transfer during a storm is estimated. The results obtained are compared to the estimates based on the traditional approach.     

On contemporary sedimentation at the titanic survey area

The basic parameters of the sedimentation environment are considered: the Western Boundary Deep Current that transports sedimentary material and distributes it on the survey area; the nepheloid layer, its features, and the distribution of the concentrations and particulate standing crop in it; the distribution of the horizontal and vertical fluxes of the sedimentary material; and the bottom sediments and their absolute masses. The comparison of the vertical fluxes of the particulate matter and the absolute masses of the sediments showed that the contemporary fluxes of sedimentary material to the bottom provided the distribution of the absolute masses of the sediments in the survey area during the Holocene.     

大连湾沉积物-水界面BAP 交换通量的影响因素

利用实验室培养法研究了不同因素对大连湾沉积物-水界面间生物可利用磷(BAP)交换通量的影响,并利用实验室培养法和间隙水浓度梯度法估算了大连湾已疏浚区和疏浚点邻近海域沉积物-水界面BAP的交换通量.结果表明,随着上覆水pH和温度的增加,BAP由沉积物向水体释放量逐渐增加;灭菌和贫氧条件下,也会导致沉积物BAP的释放量增加;上覆水中磷酸盐浓度的升高会导致BAP由沉积物向水体释放通量降低,且随着上覆水磷酸盐浓度的不断升高,BAP逐渐转化为由水体向沉积物中扩散.实验室培养法和间隙水浓度梯度法测定结果均显示,受到疏浚工程的影响,大连湾疏浚点邻近海域沉积物-水界面BAP的年均通量大于已疏浚区.不同季节,大连湾沉积物-水界面BAP的交换通量有所不同,表现为夏季最高,冬季最低.但由于受疏浚活动的影响,冬季疏浚点邻近海域沉积物-水界面BAP的交换通量也维持在较高水平.     

Tidal exchange through Naruto,Akashi and Kitan Straits

In order to re-evaluate the water volume exchange through Naruto Strait, we have performed a numerical experiment (nonlinear barotropic model including the actual depth of water and the details of shoreline) where trajectories of a number of labeled particles are calculated during a full cycle of the M₂ tidal current. The ratio of water volume exchanged through Naruto Strait to that through Akashi Strait is found to be twice as large as the previously estimated value. The calculated water exchange rate is 104 % for Naruto Strait, 52 % for Akashi Strait and 28 % for Kitan Strait. In the case where the tide-induced residual current is excluded from the calculated velocity field (i.e. considering only the M₂ current), the calculated exchange rate maintains the level of 68 % for Naruto Strait, 18 % for Akashi Strait and 11 % for Kitan Strait, respectively. The mechanism of tidal exchange through these three straits is discussed, and it is shown that a suitable exchange rate is obtained by starting the calculation of trajectories of labeled particles at the time of either a maximum ebb- or flood-current.     

Red Sea Intermediate Water at the Agulhas Current termination

The inter-ocean exchange of water masses at the Agulhas Current termination comes about through the shedding of rings, and this process plays an important role in the global thermohaline circulation. Using several hydrographic sections collected during the ARC (Agulhas Retroflection Cruise), MARE (Mixing of Agulhas Rings Experiment) and WOCE (World Ocean Circulation Experiment), this investigation aims to establish the degree to which Red Sea Intermediate Water (RSIW) is involved in this exchange and at what level of purity. To this end a wide range of hydrographic parameters were used. Upstream from the Agulhas Current retroflection water with clear RSIW origin is shown to move downstream on both the landward and seaward sides of the Agulhas Current with the highest water sample purity or water-mass content exceeding 15%. The least mixed water was found close to the continental shelf. At the retroflection the RSIW purity shows considerable variability that ranges between 5% and 20%. This suggests that RSIW moves down the current in patches of considerably varying degrees of previous mixing. This pattern was also observed in a ring sampled during the ARC experiment. The MARE sections in turn indicate that at times RSIW may be entirely absent in the Agulhas Current. RSIW is therefore shown to travel down the current as discontinuous filaments, and this intermittency is reflected in its presence in Agulhas Rings. From the sections investigated it is therefore clear that any calculation of RSIW fluxes involved in inter-ocean exchange can only be done on the basis of event scales. RSIW not trapped in Agulhas Rings flows east with the Agulhas Return Current.     

Dynamics of a closed low-parameter compartment model of the global carbon cycle

A closed dynamic compartment model of the global carbon cycle and its modifications with a small number of external parameters, which are constructed on the basis of data on the current and preindustrial carbon fluxes and reserves in reservoirs, are studied. The first possible controlling parameter is the amount of anthropogenic CO₂ emission into the atmosphere. Closure in substance allows a decrease in the dimensionality of dynamic models and yields another variable parameter—the system’s total mass, whose change reflects the level of uncertainty in the knowledge of the amount of reserves. The calibration of unsaturated fluxes in each of the models is based on an algorithm developed earlier for local ecosystems, and the measured differences between the fluxes opposite in sign for several times are used to calculate the coefficients of saturated fluxes. The model’s modifications make it possible to estimate the degree to which the oceanic active layer may be involved in rapid exchange with the atmosphere and to introduce the factor of land use as an additional anthropogenic effect. The time trajectories of carbon reserves in reservoirs are calculated until 2100 under variations in anthropogenic emissions in accordance with the IPCC basic scenarios until 2100 for the basic model and its modifications.