North Atlantic Oscillation – Concepts And Studies

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of previous studies and concepts concerning the North Atlantic Oscillation. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and its recent homologue, the Arctic Oscillation/Northern Hemisphere annular mode (AO/NAM), are the most prominent modes of variability in the Northern Hemisphere winter climate. The NAO teleconnection is characterised by a meridional displacement of atmospheric mass over the North Atlantic area. Its state is usually expressed by the standardised air pressure difference between the Azores High and the Iceland Low. ThisNAO index is a measure of the strength of the westerly flow (positive with strong westerlies, and vice versa). Together with the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon, the NAO is a major source of seasonal to interdecadal variability in the global atmosphere. On interannual and shorter time scales, the NAO dynamics can be explained as a purely internal mode of variability of the atmospheric circulation. Interdecadal variability maybe influenced, however, by ocean and sea-ice processes.     

On the relation between ozone storage in the residual layer and daily variation in near-surface ozone concentration — A case study

Summary Numerous tethered balloon soundings which measured meteorological parameters and ozone concentration during the POLLUMET field experiments are investigated. They give indications of the influence of ozone conservation in the nocturnal residual layer (RL) on the development of the near surface ozone concentration of the next day. Mixing down from the RL to the surface is simulated by a simple model based on transilient turbulence theory, using measured profiles as initial values or model verification. The cases investigated show that the ozone mixed down from the RL contributes 50–70% to the maximum concentration near the surface on the following day, the rest coming from chemical production and possibly advection. Various features of exchange characteristics between the RL and the nocturnal boundary layer, (NBL) are described by the analysis of the soundings. It can be shown that the vertical exchange situation during the night can have a considerable influence on the ozone concentration of the following day.     

Global climate change and variability and its influence on Alpine climate — concepts and observations

Summary The paper discusses annual to decadal climate variability and change in the European Alps by utilizing the procedure of synoptic downscaling, i.e. it investigates the influence of global to continental scale synoptic structures and processes on the regional climate of the Alps. The European Alps lie to the southeast and under the right exit zone of the southwest-northeast oriented axis of the polar front jet over the North Atlantic ocean, in a transition zone between the Azores high and Icelandic low, between oceanic and continental and between Mediterranean and North Atlantic climates. Together with complex topographically induced phenomena like lee cyclogenesis, orographic precipitation, strong downslope winds and thermotopographical circulation systems, this transitional position makes climate studies in the Alps even more interesting. Only a minor correlation can be observed between global climate variability and Alpine climate. In contrast, the Alpine climate is strongly related to processes over the North Atlantic ocean and its sea ice system (e.g. it has a high correlation with the North Atlantic Oscillation and the dynamics and position of the Icelandic low), an area with a rather low climate prediction potential.Since the early 1970's (or just after the Great Salinity Anomaly in the North Atlantic Ocean) the intensification of the wintertime westerly jet over the North Atlantic area led to a noticeable northwest-southeast mass transport in the exit area of the jet over Central Europe, leading to pressure and temperature rises and an increase in the amount of precipitation. There is a question over whether this phenomenon is a consequence of natural climate variability or the beginning of an anthropogenic climate change.With 16 Figures     

Leveraging HPC accelerator architectures with modern techniques — hydrologic modeling on GPUs with ParFlow

Computational Geosciences - Rapidly changing heterogeneous supercomputer architectures pose a great challenge to many scientific communities trying to leverage the latest technology in...     

Ground motion modelling with a stochastically perturbed excitation

We present a new hybrid method combining deterministic and stochastic features. The aim is to describe the crustal propagation better than deterministic or stochastic methods can do separately. We start from the deterministic hybrid method based on Discrete- Wavenumber and Finite-Difference techniques (DW–FD). First we modify the DW–FD procedure by introducing topographical variations and a spatially varying Q factor. Then, to take into account effects due to small-scale heterogeneities of the crust, we add a stochastic noise (perturbation) to the deterministic signal propagated through the crust. The stochastic noise is constructed using a kind of Markov-like process generator with two physical constraints: to have the Brune spectrum, and to reproduce the spatial decay of coherence reported in literature for real sites. We have chosen a Markov-like technique because it allows us to get stochastic noise, with the given coherence spatial decay, directly in time domain. This new hybrid method is applied in a numerical test, the parameters of which approximate the case of the 12 June, 1995 Rome earthquake. It is found that the coherence decay with distance at the alluvial valley surface is slower than the prescribed coherence decay inside the bedrock.     

Interannual summer air temperature variability over Greece and its connection to the large-scale atmospheric circulation and Mediterranean SSTs 1950–1999

The interannual and decadal variability of summer (June to September) air temperature in the northeastern Mediterranean is analysed for the period 1950 to 1999. Extremely hot and cool summers are illustrated by means of composite analysis. The combined influence of the large-scale atmospheric circulation and thermic predictors on local temperature is assessed by means of an objective approach based on empirical orthogonal functions and canonical correlation analysis. Monthly values of sea level pressure, geopotential heights, atmospheric thickness and Mediterranean sea surface temperatures are used as predictor fields and air temperature from 24 observational sites spread over Greece and western Turkey constitute the predictand variable. Results indicate that more than 50% of the total summer temperature variability can be explained linearly by the combination of eight large-scale predictor fields on two canonical correlation modes. The first canonical mode is related to a more meridional circulation at the upper tropospheric levels, which favours local land-sea contrasts in the associated local temperature pattern. Variations of this mode are found to be responsible for the occurrence of extreme events and decadal trends in regional temperature, the latter being characterized by a cooling in the early 1960s and a warming in the early 1990s. The second canonical mode pictures variations in the intensity of the zonal circulation over the Atlantic area that drive temperature anomalies affecting mainly the Aegean Sea and the west of Greece. Our results suggest the potential of statistical downscaling for Greek summer temperature with reliable climate forecasts for planetary-scale anomalies.     

Temporal trends of bulk precipitation and stream water chemistry (1977–1997) in a small forested area,Krusné hory,northern Bohemia,Czech Republic

The Krusné hory (Erzgebirge or Ore Mountains) has been heavily affected by high atmospheric pollutant deposition caused by fossil fuel combustion in an adjacent Tertiary coal basin. Long‐term routine sampling of bulk precipitation (1977–1996) and stream water (1977–1998) in a forested area on the south‐eastern slope of the mountains were used to evaluate trends and patterns in solute concentration and flux with respect to controlling processes. From 1977 to 1996, the annual volume‐weighted Ca²⁺ and SOconcentrations decreased in bulk precipitation. However, after 1989, when a pronounced and continuous decrease occurred in coal production, annual volume‐weighted concentrations decreased for most solutes, except H⁺. The concentration decreases were marked, with 1996 levels at or below 50% of those in 1989. The lack of a trend in H⁺ is attributed to similar decreases in both acid anions and neutralizing base cations. Stream water concentrations of most solutes, i.e. H⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, SONOwere highest at the onset of sampling in 1977, decreased markedly from 1977 to 1983 and decreased more gradually from 1983 to 1998. The spruce forest die‐back and removal reduced dry deposition of these solutes by reducing the filtering action, which was provided by the forest canopy. A notable decrease in stream water Ca²⁺ concentrations occurred after 1995 and may be due to the depletion of Ca²⁺, which was provided by catchment liming in 1986, 1988 and 1989. Solute flux trends in bulk atmospheric deposition and stream water generally were not significant and the lack of trend is attributed to the large interannual variability in precipitation quantity and runoff, respectively. All solutes except Na⁺ varied seasonally. The average seasonal concentrations varied between the solutes, but for most solutes were highest in winter and spring and lowest in summer, correlating with the seasonal trend in runoff. For Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and SOthe concentration minimum occurs in September and the maximum occurs in February or March, correlating with the seasonal baseflow. These solutes are primarily controlled by the contribution of soil water and groundwater to stream flow. During snowmelt, the meltwater generally causes concentrations to decrease as soil water and groundwater are diluted. For NO₃ , average minimum concentrations occur in August at the end of the growing season concurrent with the lowest stream flow, and the maximum occurs in February and March with high stream flow during snowmelt. Seasonal stream water NOconcentration variations are large compared with the long‐term decrease. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rare late Neoproterozoic detritus in SW Scandinavia as a response to distant tectonic processes

Rare late Neoproterozoic (Cryogenian and Ediacaran) detrital zircons are detected in sedimentary sequences of Ediacaran to Carboniferous age in SW Scandinavia. New data on five samples of clastic metasediment corroborate their presence. Three distinct sources are proposed for late Neoproterozoic zircons based on new and literature data: (1) rift‐related magmatism along the W margin of Baltica connected with the opening of Iapetus in the Neoproterozoic, (2) the Neoproterozoic to Cambrian Timanian orogeny at the NE margin of Baltica and (3) Cadomian terranes incorporated into the Variscan orogen accreted from the south to Laurussia during the Devonian and Carboniferous. The appearance of late Neoproterozoic detritus, which is otherwise exotic to Baltica, is therefore bound to tectonic processes active at the margins of the palaeocontinent. In a broader perspective, rare detrital zircon populations, when confirmed as genuine, are extremely valuable provenance indicators.