On the appearance of a cold front with a narrow rainband in the vicinity of the Alps

Summary First intensive observations of a narrow cold frontal rainband in southern Germany are described. The observations by Doppler radar and surface observations are in good agreement with others made in Great Britain and at the west coast of the United States. There are no principal differences between the observations close to the sea and those during the passage of the front across the Alpine foreland. The observed coexistence of short and elongated precipitation cells is explained by the local modification of convergence and vorticity. When approaching the Alps the precipitation patterns increased in size due to the upslope winds, and the pre-frontal low-level jet is reorganized completely in a manner such that the cross-frontal circulation was enhanced while the pre-frontal low-level jet disappeared.With 20 Figures     

Estimates of CO2 from wood fuel based on forest harvest data

Wood continues to be a major fuel source for vast numbers of the world's people. Even in the highly industrialized countries, use of wood and wood wastes as fuel produces a small (in comparison to fossil fuels) but non-negligible amount of CO₂. Although information on the worldwide harvest and use of wood is not as complete or as reliable as fossil fuel data, this paper uses what is available and develops annual estimates of CO₂ emissions for the period 1968–1983. Woods are separated into two types, coniferous and non-coniferous, and average content and carbon amounts are estimated for each type. Wood utilization is divided into several categories, e.g., fuelwood, lumber, poles, and use of wood wastes as fuels in the lumber and paper industries is included. Results are given for major world regions. In recent years the worldwide CO₂ emissions from wood used as fuels is estimated to be about one-tenth as much as CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels. This does not include fires in the forests, either associated with forest clearing or those from natural causes.     

A simplified hydrodynamic mesoscale model suitable for use over high plateau regions

Summary A simplified hydrodynamic primitive equation model in -coordinates is described. This model includes the main physical processes that influence development and motion of mesoscale vortices over plateau regions: elevated terrain effects, effects of large-scale and synoptic-scale systems on the mesoscale systems, sensible heating from the earth's surface, moisture cycle and condensation heating released by both large-scale stable precipitation and cumulus convective precipitation, evaporation and the feedback effect of precipitation on evaporation, friction in the planetary boundary layer, horizontal diffusion by subgrid scale eddies and vertical eddy flux of meteorological elements (momentum, temperature, moisture, etc.) due to turbulence, cumulus convection and other smaller-scale physical processes. The model incorporates observed data as much as possible and equations are simplified so that it may be run using either a high-speed computer or a desktop computer.Two developing vortices that originated over the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Platau and moved eastward producing heavy precipitation over the lower elevations are used to test the model. It is shown that the model is capable of simulating the major features of the vortices including the precipitation distribution and may be used for studies of mesoscale and synoptic scale weather systems over plateau regions.

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Ein vereinfachtes für hochländer geeignetes hydrodynamisches mesoscale-modell

Zusammenfassung Es wird ein vereinfachtes hydrodynamisches Grundgleichungsmodell in -Koordinaten be schrieben. Dieses Modell beinhaltet die wichtigsten physikalischen Prozesse, die die Entwicklung und Bewegung von mesoskaligen Wirbeln über Hochplateaus beeinflussen: Effekte der Hochfläche, Effekte von großräumigen und synoptischen Systemen, die fühlbare Wärme von der Erdoberfläche, den Feuchtigkeitskreislauf und die Kondensationswärme, sowohl von großräumigen als auch von Konvektionsniederschlägen, die Evaporation und die Beeinflussung der Evaporation durch den Niederschlag, die Reibung in der planetaren Grenzschicht, die horizontale Diffusion durch Turbulenzen, die kleiner als die Gitterkonstante sind und den vertikalen Fluß meteorologischer Elemente (Impuls, Temperatur, Feuchte etc.) durch Turbulenzen, Konvektion und andere kleinräumige Prozesse. In das Modell sind die Beobachtungswerte weitestgehend integriert und die Gleichungen soweit vereinfacht, daß es sowohl auf einem Hochleistungs- als auch auf einem Mikrocomputer laufen kann.Zum Testen des Modells wurden zwei sich entwickelnde Wirbel verwendet, die vom Qinghai-Xizang-Plateu (Hochland von Tibet) ausgingen, sich ostwärts bewegten und dabei zu schweren Niederschlägen in den Tiefländern führten. Es wird gezeigt, daß das Modell die wichtigsten Eigenschaften der Wirbel und die Niederschlagsverteilung simulieren und für Untersuchungen von mesoskaligen und synoptischen Wettersystemen über Hochländern herangezogen werden kann.

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With 18 figures     

El Nino/Southern oscillation signals in the global tropical ocean

The monthly mean sea surface temperature data of 6 areas are used to study the El Nino/Southern Oscillation signals in the global tropical ocean. These areas are in the 5oN-5oS latitude zone at 1) eastern Pacific (110o-l40oW), 2) western Atlantic (30o-50oW), 3) eastern Atlantic (10oW-10oE), 4) western Indian Ocean (30o-50oE), 5) central Indian Ocean (70o-90oE) and 6) far western Pacific (120o-140oE), and the data cover the 120-month period of December 1968 to November 1978.A power spectrum analysts shows that the characteristic time of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (about 3-4 years) appears not only in the eastern Pacific but also in other areas of the tropics except for the western Pa-cific, where the spectrum is of white noise. The amplitude of oscillation in the eastern Pacific is about 4 times larger than the others, making the El Nino/Southern Oscillation signal the strongest in this area. According to a cross-spectrum analysis, there is no time lag between the variation in the central Indian Ocean and that in the eastern Pacific. These two areas oscillate simultaneously and comprise the main feature of the El Nino/ Southern Oscillation. Other tropical areas are related with time lags, as shown by correlation and coherence calculations.It should be noted that the sea surface temperature in the eastern Pacific oscillates in phase with that in the Indian Ocean, while the pressure oscillations in these two areas are out of phase with each other, according to the Southern Oscillation definition. It is suggested that the Southern Oscillation cannot be explained simply by the sea surface temperature anomalies.Variations in the far western equatorial Pacific do not have the time scale of the El Nino/Southern Oscilla-tion, perhaps because it is a buffer zone between the monsoon system and the trade wind system.