Aerosol polarized phase function and single-scattering albedo retrieved from ground-based measurements

Aerosol optical parameters, polarized phase function and single-scattering albdeo, have been retrieved from ground-based sun photometer measurements in Beijing 2003. The measured aerosol optical thickness varies from 0.12 to 0.77 with an average value of 0.39. The measured Ångström coefficient ranges from 0.75 to 1.47 with an average value of 1.21. The retrieved single-scattering albedo at 870 nm is within the 0.76–0.94 range and the average value is 0.85, suggests there are considerable aerosol absorptions in Beijing. The maximum value of retrieved polarized phase function at 870 nm ranges from 0.068 to 0.225 with an average value of 0.16, and it illustrates good correlations with the Ångström coefficient, i.e. the relative size of aerosol particles. Analyses of measurements and theoretical calculations show the polarized phase function is sensitive to aerosol size distribution and complex refractive index, especially the imaginary part of the refractive index which denotes aerosol light absorbing effects. These results suggest that the polarized phase function is an effective and unique aerosol optical parameter and is able to improve the retrieval of aerosol physical properties.     

Climate Warming Mitigation from Nationally Determined Contributions

Individual countries are requested to submit nationally determined contributions(NDCs) to alleviate global warming in the Paris Agreement. However, the global climate effects and regional contributions are not explicitly considered in the countries’ decision-making process. In this study, we evaluate the global temperature slowdown of the NDC scenario(?T =0.6°C) and attribute the global temperature slowdown to certain regions of the world with a compact earth system model.Considering reductions ...     

Current state and trends in Canadian Arctic marine ecosystems: II. Heterotrophic food web, pelagic-benthic coupling, and biodiversity

As part of the Canadian contribution to the International Polar Year (IPY), several major international research programs have focused on offshore arctic marine ecosystems. The general goal of these projects was to improve our understanding of how the response of arctic marine ecosystems to climate warming will alter food web structure and ecosystem services provided to Northerners. At least four key findings from these projects relating to arctic heterotrophic food web, pelagic-benthic coupling and biodiversity have emerged: (1) Contrary to a long-standing paradigm of dormant ecosystems during the long arctic winter, major food web components showed relatively high level of winter activity, well before the spring release of ice algae and subsequent phytoplankton bloom. Such phenological plasticity among key secondary producers like zooplankton may thus narrow the risks of extreme mismatch between primary production and secondary production in an increasingly variable arctic environment. (2) Tight pelagic-benthic coupling and consequent recycling of nutrients at the seafloor characterize specific regions of the Canadian Arctic, such as the North Water polynya and Lancaster Sound. The latter constitute hot spots of benthic ecosystem functioning compared to regions where zooplankton-mediated processes weaken the pelagic-benthic coupling. (3) In contrast with another widely shared assumption of lower biodiversity, arctic marine biodiversity is comparable to that reported off Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Canada, albeit threatened by the potential colonization of subarctic species. (4) The rapid decrease of summer sea-ice cover allows increasing numbers of killer whales to use the Canadian High Arctic as a hunting ground. The stronger presence of this species, bound to become a new apex predator of arctic seas, will likely affect populations of endemic arctic marine mammals such as the narwhal, bowhead, and beluga whales.     

Adaptation of prestack migration to multi-offset ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data

In adapting the prestack migration technique used in seismic imaging to the inversion of ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) from time‐ to depth‐sections, we show that the theoretical integral formulation of the inversion can be applied to electromagnetic problems, albeit with three assumptions. The first two assumptions concern the electromagnetic characteristics of the medium, primarily that the medium must be perfectly resistive and non‐dispersive, and the third concerns the antennae radiation pattern, which is taken to be 2D. The application of this adaptation of the inversion method is confirmed by migrating actual GPR measurements acquired on the test site of the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées. The results show good agreement with the geometry of the structures in the medium and confirm that the possible departure from the assumption of a purely resistive medium has no visible effect on the information concerning the geometry of scattering and reflecting structures. The field experiments also show that prestack migration processing is sufficiently robust with regard to the assumption of a non‐dispersive medium. The assumption of a 2D antennae radiation pattern, however, produces artefacts that could be significant for laterally heterogeneous media. Nevertheless, where the medium is not highly laterally heterogeneous, the migration gives a clear image of the scattering potential due to the geometry of structural contrasts in the medium; the scatterers are well focused from diffraction hyperbolae and well localized. Spatial geometry has limited dimensional accuracy and positions are located with a maximum error equal to the minimum wavelength of the signal bandpass. Objects smaller than one wavelength can nevertheless be detected and well focused if their dielectric contrasts are sufficiently high, as in the case of iron or water in gneiss gravels. Furthermore, the suitability of multi‐offset protocols to estimate the electromagnetic propagating velocity and to decrease the non‐coherent noise level of measurements is confirmed. Our velocity estimation is based on the semblance calculation of multi‐offset migrated images, and we confirmed the relevance of this quantification method using numerical data. The signal‐to‐noise ratio is improved by summing multi‐offset results after the addition of random noise on measurements. Thus the adaptation of prestack migration to multi‐offset radar measurements significantly improves the resolution of the scattering potential of the medium. Limitations associated with the methods used here suggest that 3D algorithms should be applied to strongly laterally heterogeneous media and further studies concerning the waveform inversion are necessary to obtain information about the electric nature of the medium.     

An Observational Study of the Mesoscale Mistral Dynamics

We investigate the mesoscale dynamics of the mistral through the wind profiler observations of the MAP (autumn 1999) and ESCOMPTE (summer 2001) field campaigns. We show that the mistral wind field can dramatically change on a time scale less than 3 hours. Transitions from a deep to a shallow mistral are often observed at any season when the lower layers are stable. The variability, mainly attributed in summer to the mistral/land–sea breeze interactions on a 10-km scale, is highlighted by observations from the wind profiler network set up during ESCOMPTE. The interpretations of the dynamical mistral structure are performed through comparisons with existing basic theories. The linear theory of R. B. Smith [Advances in Geophysics, Vol. 31, 1989, Academic Press, 1–41] and the shallow water theory [Schär, C. and Smith, R. B.: 1993a, J. Atmos. Sci. 50, 1373–1400] give some complementary explanations for the deep-to-shallow transition especially for the MAP mistral event. The wave breaking process induces a low-level jet (LLJ) downstream of the Alps that degenerates into a mountain wake, which in turn provokes the cessation of the mistral downstream of the Alps. Both theories indicate that the flow splits around the Alps and results in a persistent LLJ at the exit of the Rhône valley. The LLJ is strengthened by the channelling effect of the Rhône valley that is more efficient for north-easterly than northerly upstream winds despite the north–south valley axis. Summer moderate and weak mistral episodes are influenced by land–sea breezes and convection over land that induce a very complex interaction that cannot be accurately described by the previous theories.     

Occurrence,durée et intensité des précipitations simulées par deux modèles régionaux canadiens du climat sur la région du Maghreb

[Translated by the editorial staff] Simulating the precipitation regime of Northern Africa is challenging for regional climate models, particularly because of the strong spatial and temporal variability of rain events in the region. In this study we evaluate simulations conducted with two recent versions of regional climate models (RCM) developed in Canada: the CRCM5 and CanRCM4. Both are also used in the COordinated Regional Climate Downscaling EXperiment (CORDEX)-Africa. The assessment is based on the occurrence, duration, and intensity indices of daily precipitation in Maghreb during the fall and spring seasons from 1998 to 2008. We also examine the links between the North-Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index, weather systems, and the precipitation regime over the region. During the rainy season (September to February), the CRCM5 reproduces the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation adequately, as well as the occurrence of days with rain, while the CanRCM4 underestimates precipitation extremes. The study of links between weather systems and the precipitation regime shows that, along the Atlantic coast, precipitation (occurrence, intensity, and wet sequences) increases significantly with storm frequency in the fall. In winter, these links grow stronger going east, from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean coast. The negative phases of the NAO index are statistically associated with the increase in rain intensity, extremes, and accumulation along the Atlantic coast in the fall. However, the link weakens in winter over these regions and strengthens along the Mediterranean coast as the precipitation frequency rises during negative phases of the NAO. Both RCMs generally reproduce the links between the NAO and the precipitation regime well, regardless of location.     

Correction to: Future changes in Atlantic hurricanes with the rotated-stretched ARPEGE-Climat at very high resolution

Climate Dynamics - The original article can be found online.     

A 3-D model for the Antarctic ice sheet: a sensitivity study on the glacial-interglacial contrast

On the longer climatic time scales, changes in the elevation and extent of the Antarctic ice sheet have an important role in modulating global atmospheric and oceanographic processes, and contribute significantly to world-wide sea levels. In this paper, a 3-D time-dependent thermomechanical model for the entire ice sheet is presented, that is subsequently used to examine the effects of glacial-interglacial shifts in environmental boundary conditions on its geometry. The model takes into account a coupled ice shelf, grounding-line dynamics, basal sliding and isostatic bed adjustment and considers the fully coupled velocity and temperature fields. Ice flow is calculated on a fine mesh (40 km horizontal grid size and 10 layers in the vertical) for grounded and floating ice and a stress transition zone in between at the grounding line, where all stress components contribute in the effective stress in the flow law. There is free interaction between ice sheet and ice shelf, so that the entire geometry is internally generated. A simulation of the present ice sheet reveals that the model is able to yield realistic results. A series of sensitivity experiments are then performed, in which lower temperatures, reduced accumulation rates and lower global sea level stands are imposed, either singly or in combination. By comparing results of pairs of experiments, the effects of each of these environmental changes can be determined. In agreement with glacial-geological evidence, we found that the most pronounced changes show up in the West Antarctic ice sheet configuration. They appear to be essentially controlled by variations in eustatic sea level, whereas typical glacial-interglacial changes in temperature and ice deposition rates tend to balance one another. These findings support the hypothesis that the Antarctic ice sheet basically follows glacial episodes in the northern hemisphere by means of sea-level teleconnections. Grounding occurs more readily in the Weddell sea than in the Ross sea and long time scales appear to be involved: it may take up to 30–40000 years for these continental shelf areas to become completely grounded after an initial stepwise perturbation in boundary conditions. According to these reconstructions, a steady state Antarctic ice sheet may contribute some 16 m to global sea level lowering at maximum glaciation.     

Impact of Terrain Heterogeneity on Coherent Structure Properties: Numerical Approach

A three-dimensional large-eddy simulation (LES) model, which includes the effects of plant–atmosphere interactions, is used to study the effects of surface inhomogeneities on near-surface coherent structures over an open field and behind a forest canopy. These simulated conditions are representative of two wind sectors of the Site Instrumental de Recherche par Télédétection Atmosphérique (SIRTA) experimental site at the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, Palaiseau, France. Coherent structure properties deduced from wavelet transforms of the simulated near-surface vertical velocity time series are not modified by upstream terrain heterogeneities, in agreement with site measurements. This feature is related to the nature of structures detected from the vertical velocity time series. The turbulence close to the surface seems composed of both local coherent structures and large coherent structures reflecting outer-layer properties, which depend on the overall surface heterogeneity or upstream heterogeneity. It is argued that the streamwise velocity is representative of these large outer-layer structures that impinge onto the ground through a top-down mechanism as identified through the space–time correlation of the wind velocity components. In contrast, the vertical velocity is more representative of small structures resulting from the impingement of the large outer-layer structures. These small structures represent locally-generated, active turbulence, which adjusts rapidly to local surface conditions, and consequently they are only weakly dependent on upstream heterogeneities.     

一个改进的湍流垂直扩散过程参数化方案

研究了数值天气预报模式中次阿格湍流垂直扩散过程的参数化问题。以Ｂｏｕｇｅａｕｌｔ和Ｌａｃａｒｒｅｒｅ（１９８９）的参数化方案为基础，改进了处理湍流混合长的方法，使湍流混合长和热力混合长分别依赖于基本气流的静力稳定度和风场切变。新方案的基本思路是把ＶｏｎＫａｒｍａｎ（１９３０）提出的动力（风场切变）湍流扰动假设与ＢＬ－８９方案提出的热力（静力稳定度）湍流扰动假设结合在一起，强调了大气的热力结构、动力结构和湍流动能对湍流混合过程的共同影响。新方案和ＢＬ－８９方案的二维对比数值试验结果表明，在大气处于静力较稳定而风场切变明显条件下的湍流扰动表现能力方面，新方案比原方案有明显的改进。