Estimation of Surface-Layer Scaling Parameters in the Unstable Boundary Layer: Implications for Orographic Flow Speed-Up

A method is proposed for estimating the surface-layer depth \((z_s)\) and the friction velocity \((u_*)\) as a function of stability (here quantified by the Obukhov length, L) over the complete range of unstable flow regimes. This method extends that developed previously for stable conditions by Argaín et al. (Boundary-Layer Meteorol 130:15–28, 2009), but uses a qualitatively different approach. The method is specifically used to calculate the fractional speed-up \((\varDelta S)\) in flow over a ridge, although it is suitable for more general boundary-layer applications. The behaviour of \(z_s \left( L\right) \) and \(u_*\left( L\right) \) as a function of L is indirectly assessed via calculation of \(\varDelta S\left( L\right) \) using the linear model of Hunt et al. (Q J R Meteorol Soc 29:16–26, 1988) and its comparison with the field measurements reported in Coppin et al. (Boundary-Layer Meteorol 69:173–199, 1994) and with numerical simulations carried out using a non-linear numerical model, FLEX. The behaviour of \(\varDelta S\) estimated from the linear model is clearly improved when \(u_*\) is calculated using the method proposed here, confirming the importance of accounting for the dependences of \(z_s\left( L \right) \) and \(u_*\left( L \right) \) on L to better represent processes in the unstable boundary layer.     

Characteristics of carbonyl compounds in ambient air of Shanghai,China

The levels of carbonyl compounds in Shanghai ambient air were measured in five periods from January 2007 to October 2007 (covering winter, high-air-pollution days, spring, summer and autumn). A total of 114 samples were collected and eighteen carbonyls were identified. Formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acetone were the most abundant carbonyls and their mean concentrations of 19.40 ± 12.00, 15.92 ± 12.07 and 11.86 ± 7.04 μg m⁻³ respectively, in the daytime for five sampling periods. Formaldehyde and acetaldehyde showed similar diurnal profiles with peak mixing ratios in the morning and early afternoon during the daytime. Their mean concentrations were highest in summer and lowest in winter. Acetone showed reversed seasonal variation. The high molecular weight (HMW, ≥C5) carbonyls also showed obvious diurnal variations with higher concentrations in the daytime in summer and autumn, while they were all not detected in winter. Formaldehyde and acetaldehyde played an important role in removing OH radicals in the atmosphere, but the contribution of acetone was below 1%. The carbonyls levels in high-air-pollution days were reported. More carbonyl species with higher concentrations were found in high-air-pollution days than in spring. These carbonyls were transported with other pollutants from north and northwest in March 27 to April 2, 2007 and then mixed with local sources. Comparing with Beijing and Guangzhou, the concentrations of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in Shanghai were the highest, which indicated that the air pollution in Shanghai was even worse than expected.     

Adaptation of Pressure Based CFD Solvers for Mesoscale Atmospheric Problems

General purpose Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solvers are frequently used in small-scale urban pollution dispersion simulations without a large extent of ver- tical flow. Vertical flow, however, plays an important role in the formation of local breezes, such as urban heat island induced breezes that have great significance in the ventilation of large cities. The effects of atmospheric stratification, anelasticity and Coriolis force must be taken into account in such simulations. We introduce a general method for adapting pressure based CFD solvers to atmospheric flow simulations in order to take advantage of their high flexibility in geometrical modelling and meshing. Compressibility and thermal stratification effects are taken into account by utilizing a novel system of transformations of the field variables and by adding consequential source terms to the model equations of incompressible flow. Phenomena involving mesoscale to microscale coupled effects can be analyzed without model nesting, applying only local grid refinement of an arbitrary level. Elements of the method are validated against an analytical solution, results of a reference calculation, and a laboratory scale urban heat island circulation experiment. The new approach can be applied with benefits to several areas of application. Inclusion of the moisture transport phenomena and the surface energy balance are important further steps towards the practical application of the method.     

我国南方冬季气候变暖前后极端降水事件分析

利用我国南方逐日降水资料及逐月温度资料,采用Mann-Kendall突变检验方法,并计算极端降水的GPD(Generalized Pareto Distribution)重现值,讨论了气候变暖前后我国南方冬季极端降水事件的变化。结果表明,我国南方冬季气候变暖的突变发生在1991年前后,且气候变暖后我国南方冬季的极端降水强度普遍有所增加。利用NCEP/NCAR再分析资料进一步分析气候变暖前后的环流场特征,发现东亚热带冬季风异常与我国华南、江南地区降水异常有显著的相关关系。东亚热带冬季风偏强(弱),华南、江南地区降水偏少(多)。气候变暖后中高纬度环流经向度加大,有利于北方的冷空气向南输送。此外,气候变暖后我国南方地面气温升高,海陆热力差异减小,东亚热带冬季风减弱,有利于西太平洋的暖湿气流向我国大陆东南部输送,并在东南部形成异常的水汽通量辐合,有利于形成强降水。气候变暖后,中高纬度与中低纬度异常环流系统的相互作用是我国东南部降水强度增加的主要原因。     

Climatic regime shift and decadal anomalous events in China

Climatic time series from historical documents and instrumental records from China showed temporal and regional patterns in the last two to three centuries, including two multidecadal oscillations at quasi-20-year and quasi-70-year timescales revealed by signal analysis from wavelet transform. Climatic anomalous events on the decadal timescale were identified based on the two oscillations when their positive (or negative) phases coincide with each other to amplify amplitude. The coldest event occurred in the decade of 1965–1975 in eastern China, while the periods of 1920–1930, 1940–1950, and 1988–2000 appeared to be warmer in most parts of China. For the precipitation series in northern China, the dry anomalous event was found in the late 1920s, while the wet anomalous event occurred in the 1950s. A severe drought in 1927–1929 in northern China coincided with the anomalous warm and dry decade, caused large-scale famine in nine provinces over northern China. Climatic anomalous events with a warm-dry or cold-wet association in the physical climate system would potentially cause severe negative impacts on natural ecosystem in the key vulnerable region over northern China. The spatial pattern of summer rainfall anomalies in the eastern China monsoon region showed an opposite variations in phase between the Yellow River Valley (North China) and the mid-low Yangtze River Valley as well as accompanied the shift of the northernmost monsoon boundary. Climatic regime shifts for different time points in the last 200 years were identified. In North China, transitions from dry to wet periods occurred around 1800, 1875, and 1940 while the transitions from wet to dry periods appeared around 1840, 1910, and the late 1970s. The reversal transition in these time points can also be found in the lower Yangtze River. Climatic regime shifts in China were linked to the interaction of mid- and low latitude atmospheric circulations (the westerly flow and the monsoon flow) when they cross the Tibetan Plateau in East Asia.     

气象卫星接收天线标校技术及应用

在过去的几十年中,我国气象事业的不断发展,中国风云气象卫星完成了从试验应用型向业务服务性的不断转型,因此对于卫星信号接收天线的可靠性和指向精度要求越来越高。目前用于接收风云系列极轨气象卫星下行信号的天线主要有12m和4.2m天线,其具有动态特性高、波束宽度窄等特点,因此需要在天线安装和运行期间对天线的轴系误差进行精确的标定和校准。本文在传统标校方法的基础上,提出了利用太阳进行的误差标校技术,进一步降低了标校环节的复杂程度,提高了标校精度。     

Atmospheric chemistry of hydrogen fluoride

Although a large volume of monitoring and computer simulation data exist for global coverage of HF, study of HF in the troposphere is still limited to industry whose primary interest is the safety and risk assessment of HF release because it is a toxic gas. There is very limited information on atmospheric chemistry, emission sources, and the behavior of HF in the environment. We provide a comprehensive review on the atmospheric chemistry of HF, modeling the reactions and transport of HF in the atmosphere, the removal processes in the vertical layer immediately adjacent to the surface (up to approximately 500 m) and recommend research needed to improve our understanding of atmospheric chemistry of HF in the troposphere. The atmospheric chemistry, emissions, and surface boundary layer transport of hydrogen fluoride (HF) are summarized. Although HF is known to be chemically reactive and highly soluble, both factors affect transport and removal in the atmosphere, the chemistry can be ignored when the HF concentration is at a sufficiently low level (e.g., 10 ppmv). At a low concentration, the capability for HF to react in the atmosphere is diminished and therefore the species can be mathematically treated as inert during the transport. At a sufficiently high concentration of HF (e.g., kg/s release rate and thousands of ppm), however, HF can go through a series of rigorous chemical reactions including polymerization, depolymerization, and reaction with water to form molecular complex. As such, the HF species cannot be considered as inert because the reactions could intimately influence the plume’s thermodynamic properties affecting the changes in plume temperature and density. The atmospheric residence time of HF was found to be less than four (4) days, and deposition (i.e., atmosphere to surface transport) is the dominant mechanism that controls the removal of HF and its oligomers from the atmosphere. The literature data on HF dry deposition velocity was relatively high compared to many commonly found atmospheric species such as ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, etc. The global average of wet deposition velocity of HF was found to be zero based on one literature source. Uptake of HF by rain drops is limited by the acidity of the rain drops, and atmospheric particulate matter contributes negligibly to HF uptake. Finally, given that the reactivity of HF at a high release rate and elevated mole concentration cannot be ignored, it is important to incorporate the reaction chemistry in the near-field dispersion close to the proximity of the release source, and to incorporate the deposition mechanism in the far-field dispersion away from the release source. In other words, a hybrid computational scheme may be needed to address transport and atmospheric chemistry of HF in a range of applications. The model uncertainty will be limited by the precision of boundary layer parameterization and ability to accurately model the atmospheric turbulence.     

Multi-Source Emission Determination Using an Inverse-Dispersion Technique

Inverse-dispersion calculations can be used to infer atmospheric emission rates through a combination of downwind gas concentrations and dispersion model predictions. With multiple concentration sensors downwind of a compound source (whose component positions are known) it is possible to calculate the component emissions. With this in mind, a field experiment was conducted to examine the feasibility of such multi-source inferences, using four synthetic area sources and eight concentration sensors arranged in different configurations. Multi-source problems tend to be mathematically ill-conditioned, as expressed by the condition number κ. In our most successful configuration (average κ = 4.2) the total emissions from all sources were deduced to within 10% on average, while component emissions were deduced to within 50%. In our least successful configuration (average κ = 91) the total emissions were calculated to within only 50%, and component calculations were highly inaccurate. Our study indicates that the most accurate multi-source inferences will occur if each sensor is influenced by only a single source. A “progressive” layout is the next best: one sensor is positioned to “see” only one source, the next sensor is placed to see the first source and another, a third sensor is placed to see the previous two plus a third, and so on. When it is not possible to isolate any sources κ is large and the accuracy of a multi-source inference is doubtful.     

星载GPS地球静止轨道卫星自主定轨的新算法

针对地球静止轨道卫星的特点,提出了一种自主定轨的新算法--积分滤波算法,即利用Kalman滤波进行动力学模型数值积分与GPS定轨的有效融合.讨论了该算法的基本过程及其中Kalman滤波的数学模型和重要参数.最后给出了仿真实验过程和结果,证明了该算法的可行性.     

利用卫星数据分析青藏高原云微物理特性

青藏高原(下称高原)对东亚大气环流、气候变化及灾害性天气的形成和发展都有重要的影响.首先比较了不同空间分辨率数据对云微物理特性分析结果的影响,结果表明,在整体区域性变化分析中,利用0.01°×0.01°高空间分辨率的MODIS数据和2.5°×2.5°低空间分辨率的ISCCP数据所反映的云特性变化趋势相当.与ISCCP资料相比,高空间分辨率的MODIS资料可以更多地反映出云的局地性特征.其次,利用近10年高空间分辨率的卫星资料分析了高原云微物理特性的时空变化,结果表明,近10年高原上云的光学厚度有减小的趋势,云水路径的年、季变化有少许波动,但多年变化没有明显趋势.在空间分布上,高原云光学厚度和云水路径从东南向西北减少,充分反映了高原西北部干旱少雨,东南部湿润多雨的事实.