Vertical distributions of aerosol optical properties during haze and floating dust weather in Shanghai

A comparative study on the vertical distributions of aerosol optical properties during haze and floating dust weather in Shanghai was conducted based on the data obtained from a micro pulse lidar.There was a distinct difference in layer thickness and extinction coefficient under the two types of weather conditions.Aerosols were concentrated below 1 km and the aerosol extinction coefficients ranged from 0.25 to 1.50km^-1 on haze days.In contrast,aerosols with smaller extinction coefficients(0.20 0.35 km^-1) accumulated mainly from the surface to 2 km on floating dust days.The seasonal variations of extinction and aerosol optical depth（AOD） for both haze and floating dust cases were similar greatest in winter,smaller in spring,and smallest in autumn.More than 85%of the aerosols appeared in the atmosphere below 1 km during severe haze and floating dust weather.The diurnal variation of the extinction coefficient of haze exhibited a bimodal shape with two peaks in the morning or at noon,and at nightfall,respectively.The aerosol extinction coefficient gradually increased throughout the day during floating dust weather.Case studies showed that haze aerosols were generated from the surface and then lifted up,but floating dust aerosols were transported vertically from higher altitude to the surface.The AOD during floating dust weather was higher than that during haze.The boundary layer was more stable during haze than during floating dust weather.     

Are Urban-Canopy Velocity Profiles Exponential?

Using analyses of data from extant direct numerical simulations and large-eddy simulations of boundary-layer and channel flows over and within urban-type canopies, sectional drag forces, Reynolds and dispersive shear stresses are examined for a range of roughness densities. Using the spatially-averaged mean velocity profiles these quantities allow deduction of the canopy mixing length and sectional drag coefficient. It is shown that the common assumptions about the behaviour of these quantities, needed to produce an analytical model for the canopy velocity profile, are usually invalid, in contrast to what is found in typical vegetative (e.g. forest) canopies. The consequence is that an exponential shape of the spatially-averaged mean velocity profile within the canopy cannot normally be expected, as indeed the data demonstrate. Nonetheless, recent canopy models that allow prediction of the roughness length appropriate for the inertial layer’s logarithmic profile above the canopy do not seem to depend crucially on their (invalid) assumption of an exponential profile within the canopy.     

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.     

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.     

Statistical estimation of high-resolution surface air temperature from MODIS over the Yangtze River Delta,China

High-resolution surface air temperature data are critical to regional climate modeling in terms of energy balance, urban climate change, and so on. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land surface temperature (LST) to estimate air temperature at a high resolution over the Yangtze River Delta region, China. It is found that daytime LST is highly correlated with maximum air temperature, and the linear regression coefficients vary with the type of land surface. The air temperature at a resolution of 1 km is estimated from the MODIS LST with linear regression models. The estimated air temperature shows a clear spatial structure of urban heat islands. Spatial patterns of LST and air temperature differences are detected, indicating maximum differences over urban and forest regions during summer. Validations are performed with independent data samples, demonstrating that the mean absolute error of the estimated air temperature is approximately 2.5°C, and the uncertainty is about 3.1°C, if using all valid LST data. The error is reduced by 0.4°C (15%) if using best-quality LST with errors of less than 1 K. The estimated high-resolution air temperature data have great potential to be used in validating high-resolution climate models and other regional applications.     

Climate change impacts on the energy system: a review of trends and gaps

Major transformation of the global energy system is required for climate change mitigation. However, energy demand patterns and supply systems are themselves subject to climate change impacts. These impacts will variously help and hinder mitigation and adaptation efforts, so it is vital they are well understood and incorporated into models used to study energy system decarbonisation pathways. To assess the current state of understanding of this topic and identify research priorities, this paper critically reviews the literature on the impacts of climate change on the energy supply system, summarising the regional coverage of studies, trends in their results and sources of disagreement. We then examine the ways in which these impacts have been represented in integrated assessment models of the electricity or energy system.Studies tend to agree broadly on impacts for wind, solar and thermal power stations. Projections for impacts on hydropower and bioenergy resources are more varied. Key uncertainties and gaps remain due to the variation between climate projections, modelling limitations and the regional bias of research interests. Priorities for future research include the following: further regional impact studies for developing countries; studies examining impacts of the changing variability of renewable resources, extreme weather events and combined hazards; inclusion of multiple climate feedback mechanisms in IAMs, accounting for adaptation options and climate model uncertainty.     

How effective is the new generation of GPM satellite precipitation in characterizing the rainfall variability over Malaysia?

We investigated the potential of the new generation of satellite precipitation product from the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) to characterize the rainfall in Malaysia. Most satellite precipitation products have limited ability to precisely characterize the high dynamic rainfall variation that occurred at both time and scale in this humid tropical region due to the coarse grid size to meet the physical condition of the smaller land size, sub-continent and islands. Prior to the status quo, an improved satellite precipitation was required to accurately measure the rainfall and its distribution. Subsequently, the newly released of GPM precipitation product at half-hourly and 0.1° resolution served an opportunity to anticipate the aforementioned conflict. Nevertheless, related evidence was not found and therefore, this study made an initiative to fill the gap. A total of 843 rain gauges over east (Borneo) and west Malaysia (Peninsular) were used to evaluate the rainfall the GPM rainfall data. The assessment covered all critical rainy seasons which associated with Asian Monsoon including northeast (Nov. - Feb.), southwest (May - Aug.) and their subsequent inter-monsoon period (Mar. - Apr. & Sep. - Oct.). The ability of GPM to provide quantitative rainfall estimates and qualitative spatial rainfall patterns were analysed. Our results showed that the GPM had good capacity to depict the spatial rainfall patterns in less heterogeneous rainfall patterns (Spearman’s correlation, 0.591 to 0.891) compared to the clustered one (r = 0.368 to 0.721). Rainfall intensity and spatial heterogeneity that is largely driven by seasonal monsoon has significant influence on GPM ability to resolve local rainfall patterns. In quantitative rainfall estimation, large errors can be primarily associated with the rainfall intensity increment. 77% of the error variation can be explained through rainfall intensity particularly the high intensity (> 35 mm d^-1). A strong relationship between GPM rainfall and error was found from heavy (~35 mm d^-1) to violent rain (160 mm d^-1). The output of this study provides reference regarding the performance of GPM data for respective hydrology studies in this region.     

Seasonal change in body length of important small copepods and relationship with environmental factors in Jiaozhou Bay,China

Differences among species in prosome length and in species’ response to environmental factors do exist. Therefore, it is useful to examine prosome length for different copepod species in variable environments. Seasonal variations in prosome length of four small copepods and their copepodite stages in the Jiaozhou Bay were compared and the relative influence of temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll concentration were examined. Two peaks were found in the mean prosome length of Paracalanus parvus (in early winter and May). For Acartia bifilosa, the maximum values of all copepodites occurred mainly from February to April, and decreased to the bottom in July. Prosome length of Acartia pacifica peaked when it first appeared in June, then reached to the minimum in July. Parvocalanus crassirostris only appeared from late summer to autumn and the mean prosome length showed no clear changes. Correlations of adult prosome length with environmental factors were evaluated. For the four species, temperature was negatively correlated to prosome length except for P. crassirostris. But the different species varied markedly in their responds to temperature. A. bifilosa showed a more definite trend of size variation with temperature than P. parvus and A. pacifica. Correlations of prosome length with salinity were significantly positive for almost all the small copepods. The relationship between chlorophyll concentration and prosome length was complicated for these copepods, but for P. parvus, chlorophyll concentration was also an important affecting factor. Furthermore, investigation needs to be done on food quality for some copepod. These results are essential to estimate the biomass and the production, and to understand these small copepods’ population dynamics in this human-affected bay.     

Global sea level change and thermal contribution

The global long-term sea level trend is obtained from the analysis of tide gauge data and TOPEX/Poseidon data. The linear trend of global mean sea level is highly non-umiform spatially, with an average rate of 2.2 mm year-1 in T/P sea-level rise from October 1992 to September 2002. Sea level change duc to temperature vanation (the thermosteric sea level) is discussed. The results are compared with TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter data in the same temporal span at different spatial scales. It is indicated that the ther-mal effect accounts for 86% and 73% of the observed seasonal variability in the northern and southern hemispheres, respectively. The TOPEX/Poseidon observed sea level lags behind the TSI, by 2 months in the zonal band of 40°-60° in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Systematic differences of about 1-2cm between TOPEX/Poseidon observations and thermosteric sea level data are obtained. The potential causes for these differences include water exchange among the atmosphere, land, and oceans, and some pos-sible deviations in thermosteric contribution estimates and geophysical corrections to the TOPEX/Poseidon data.