Simple metrics for representing East Asian winter monsoon variability: Urals blocking and western Pacific teleconnection patterns

Instead of conventional East Asian winter monsoon indices(EAWMIs), we simply use two large-scale teleconnection patterns to represent long-term variations in the EAWM. First, the Urals blocking pattern index(UBI) is closely related to cold air advection from the high latitudes towards western Siberia, such that it shows an implicit linkage with the Siberian high intensity and the surface air temperature(SAT) variations north of 40?N in the EAWM region. Second, the well-known western Pacific teleconnection index(WPI) is connected with the meridional displacement of the East Asian jet stream and the East Asian trough. This is strongly related to the SAT variations in the coastal area south of 40?N in the EAWM region.The temperature variation in the EAWM region is also represented by the two dominant temperature modes, which are called the northern temperature mode(NTM) and the southern temperature mode(STM). Compared to 19 existing EAWMIs and other well-known teleconnection patterns, the UBI shows the strongest correlation with the NTM, while the WPI shows an equally strong correlation with the STM as four EAWMIs. The UBI–NTM and WPI–STM relationships are robust when the correlation analysis is repeated by(1) the 31-year running correlation and(2) the 8-year high-pass and low-pass filter. Hence,these results are useful for analyzing the large-scale teleconnections of the EAWM and for evaluating this issue in climate models. In particular, more studies should focus on the teleconnection patterns over extratropical Eurasia.     

Confidence and Trust in Public Institution Natural Hazards Management: Case Studies in Urban and Rural China

This research aims to investigate the extent to which urban and rural residents trust grassroots-level institutions and how this might affect community resilience to environmental change in China. It focuses on the commitments of institutional actors and their capacities to manage natural hazards and coordinate the community's response. Semistructured interviews were conducted with megacity (Tianjin) and remote village (Wolong) residents in China. We found that public confidence in grassroots-level institutions is limited due to inherent constraints on resources and power. Residents of Wolong tend to recognize the commitment and role of those institutions in connecting individuals with one another, whereas their urban counterparts in Tianjin remain skeptical. Issues of solidarity might account for this difference. These findings will have implications for state–society cooperation and disaster risk comanagement in both urban and rural China.     

Shock-capturing Boussinesq-type model for nearshore wave processes

This paper describes the formulation and validation of a nearshore wave model for tropical coastal environment. The governing Boussinesq-type equations include the conservative form of the nonlinear shallow-water equations for shock capturing. A Riemann solver supplies the inter-cell flux and bathymetry source term, while a Godunov-type scheme integrates the evolution variables in time. The model handles wave breaking through momentum conservation with energy dissipation based on an eddy viscosity concept. The computed results show very good agreement with laboratory data for wave propagation over a submerged bar, wave breaking and runup on plane beaches as well as wave transformation over fringing reefs. The model accurately describes transition between supercritical and subcritical flows as well as development of dispersive waves in the processes.     

Biomarkers of biochemical and cellular stress in Carcinus maenas: an in situ field study

Biomarkers are useful diagnostic tools for identifying exposure to physical, chemical, and environmental stresses. In this study a suite of techniques—measurements of metallothionein, lysosomal integrity, and osmoregulatory ability—have been used in an attempt to provide an in situ assessment of environmental quality. Five estuarine sites were studied, two clean sites, two urban sites, and one intermediate. Shore crabs, Carcinus maenas, were collected and haemolymph taken for the lysosomal and osmoregulatory assays. Animals were killed and tissue preserved for metallothionein analysis. Lysosomal integrity was significantly different in crabs from clean sites and the urban sites (n = 40, p < 0.05). The potential value of the biomarker approach is that it could provide data for impact assessment and is applicable in the field.     

Modeling of tropical cyclone winds and waves for emergency management

This paper compares three commonly used parametric models of tropical cyclone winds and evaluates their application in the wave model WAM. The parametric models provide surface wind fields based on best tracks of tropical cyclones and WAM simulates wave growth based on the wind energy input. The model package is applied to hindcast the wind and wave conditions of Hurricane Iniki, which directly hit the Hawaiian Island of Kauai in 1992. The parametric wind fields are evaluated against buoy and aircraft measurements made during the storm. A sensitivity analysis determines the spatial and spectral resolution needed to model the wave field of Hurricane Iniki. Comparisons of the modeled waves with buoy measurements indicate good agreement within the core of the storm and demonstrate the capability of the model package as a forecasting tool for emergency management.     

Characteristics of the asymmetric circulation associated with tropical cyclone motion

Summary This paper examines the characteristics of the asymmetric flow associated with tropical cyclone (TC) motion using the Final Analysis dataset produced after the Tropical Cyclone Motion Experiment (TCM-90). The wind data vertically-integrated between 850 and 300 hPa around a TC are first separated into an environment flow and a vortex circulation using the filtering algorithm of Kurihara et al. (1995). The latter is then Fourier-decomposed azimuthally to obtain the symmetric and asymmetric components. Nine TCs that occurred during the TCM-90 Experiment are examined.For generally westward-moving TCs, the wavenumber-1 (WN-1) component is found to dominate the asymmetric flow. However, its pattern does not always exhibit a pair of counterrotating gyres as would be expected from previous modelling results (Fiorino and Elsberry, 1989). Further, the ventilation flow associated with WN-1 does not necessarily point towards the northwest. For a TC undergoing recurvature, the WN-2 flow becomes significant, and even has a larger magnitude than the WN-1 component, starting from about one day before recurvature. Consistent with the modelling results of Williams and Chan (1994), the WN-2 component also rotates counter-clockwise with time.The growth and decay of the asymmetric components result from the interaction between the environmental flow and the symmetric flow of the TC through an energy exchange, in addition to such exchanges between the asymmetric components. Energy generally flows from the environment and the symmetric circulation of the TC to the WN-1 component during intensification but vice versa when the TC is weakening. The growth of the WN-2 component in recurving TCs is due to a transfer of energy from the environment, the symmetric circulation and the WN-1 flow. It is for this reason that the WN-1 flow becomes weaker than the WN-2 flow in such cases. The WN-1 component of fast-moving TCs is found to extract energy from the WN-2 component, in addition to those from the environment and the symmetric flow.With 15 Figures     

Prediction of salt influence on unfrozen water content in frozen soils

The influence of salts in the pore water in freezing soils is examined from the experimental viewpoint, using the differential scanning calorimetry technique for generation of multiple endotherms of the frozen test samples. The experimental values obtained for montmorillonite, kaolinite and grundite, are evaluated in terms of unfrozen water contents for the respective soils at various subfreezing temperatures for various concentrations of NaCl. Comparison of experimental values with theoretical predictions using a combined salt exclusion and diffuse double-layer model shows excellent quantitative agreement for the montmorillonite soil samples, but only qualitative agreement for the kaolinite and grundite soils. The reasons for this lie in the theoretical model requirement for interlamellar migration of water in soil freezing for suitable application of the diffuse double-layer part of the model.     

Oil pollution along coastal areas of Hong Kong

The level of total hydrocarbon in three chosen sites in Hong Kong was determined over a period of 8 months, September 1977 to April 1978. The range of hydrocarbon content is 3.67 ppb to 11.98 ppb. The level of hydrocarbon in Pacific Ocean is 0.016 ppb. The oil pollution in Hong Kong shoreline waters is 230–750 times higher than deep ocean water, but the level is not yet hazardous.