Development of extended WRF variational data assimilation system (WRFDA) for WRF non-hydrostatic mesoscale model

The paper intends to present the development of the extended weather research forecasting data assimilation (WRFDA) system in the framework of the non-hydrostatic mesoscale model core of weather research forecasting system (WRF-NMM), as an imperative aspect of numerical modeling studies. Though originally the WRFDA provides improved initial conditions for advanced research WRF, we have successfully developed a unified WRFDA utility that can be used by the WRF-NMM core, as well. After critical evaluation, it has been strategized to develop a code to merge WRFDA framework and WRF-NMM output. In this paper, we have provided a few selected implementations and initial results through single observation test, and background error statistics like eigenvalues, eigenvector and length scale among others, which showcase the successful development of extended WRFDA code for WRF-NMM model. Furthermore, the extended WRFDA system is applied for the forecast of three severe cyclonic storms: Nargis (27 April–3 May 2008), Aila (23–26 May 2009) and Jal (4–8 November 2010) formed over the Bay of Bengal. Model results are compared and contrasted within the analysis fields and later on with high-resolution model forecasts. The mean initial position error is reduced by 33% with WRFDA as compared to GFS analysis. The vector displacement errors in track forecast are reduced by 33, 31, 30 and 20% to 24, 48, 72 and 96 hr forecasts respectively, in data assimilation experiments as compared to control run. The model diagnostics indicates successful implementation of WRFDA within the WRF-NMM system.     

Synthesis and characterisation of a multifunctional oil-based drilling fluid additive

An oil-based drilling fluid additive H-DEA (or humic acid-cocamide diethanolamine) was synthesised using humic acid and cocamide diethanolamine as raw materials. The rheological behaviors of H-DEA showed that the synthesised product has the good properties in both decreasing the filtrate loss and improving rheology property of oil-based drilling fluids compared with other commercially available additives. Under the optimal additive amount of 3%, both API filtrate loss and yield point changed remarkably from 5.40 to 0.41 mL and 9.0 to 25.6 Pa, respectively. Furthermore, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed that H-DEA has good thermal stability in a wide temperature range up to 170 °C. Infrared spectroscopy (IR) and rheological analysis revealed that the possible mechanism of the multifunctional effects may be attributed to the existing of high density of strong polar groups, hydrogen bonds, electrostatic forces, and intermolecular association on H-DEA molecular structure. The results of the study showed that the synthesised H-DEA can be potentially used as a multifunctional oil-based drilling fluid additive in oil-drilling excavation.     

Benthic nutrient fluxes in the intertidal flat within the Changjiang （Yangtze River） Estuary

In an annual cycle from March 2005 to February 2006, benthic nutrient fluxes were measured monthly in the Dongtan intertidal flat within the Changjiang （Yangtze River） Estuary. Except for NH4^＋, there always showed high fluxes from overlying water into sediment for other four nutrients. Sediments in the high and middle marshes, covered with halophyte and consisting of macrofauna, demonstrated more capabilities of assimilating nutrients from overlying water than the low marsh. Sampling seasons and nutrient concentrations in the overlying water could both exert significant effects on these fluxes. Additionally, according to the model provided by previous study, denitrification rates, that utilizing NO3- transported from overlying water （Dw） in Dongtan sediments, were estimated to be from -16 to 193 μmol·h^-1·m^-2 with an average value of 63 μmol·h^-1·m^-2 （n=18）. These estimated values are still underestimates of the in-situ rates owing to the lack of consideration of DN, i.e., denitrification supported by the local NO3^- production via nitrification.     

Heavy metal contamination of cultivated wetland soils along a typical plateau lake from southwest China

Topsoil (0–20 cm) samples were collected from four cultivated wetlands including Northern and Western Fields (about 30-year tillage), and Southern and Western Fields (about 20-year tillage) along the Yilong Lake of China in October, 2005. Total concentrations of As, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn were determined using the inductively coupled plasma atomic absorption spectrometry in order to assess contamination status in four sampling plots. Results showed that the average concentrations of these heavy metals in Northern and Western Fields were significantly (P < 0.01) higher than those in reference soils, while they were generally lower in Southern and Eastern Fields. All the mean concentrations of heavy metals were lower, except that the average concentrations of As and Cr in Northern Field slightly exceeded the soil quality guidelines. The contamination indices showed low-contamination levels for As, Cu, Pb, and Zn in Northern and Western Fields, while no contamination levels could be observed in Southern and Eastern Fields. As for Cr, they showed moderate-contamination levels in Northern Field, but low or no contamination levels in other three Fields. The integrated contamination index values indicated Northern and Western Fields were moderately contaminated, while Southern and Eastern Fields were less contaminated. The same contamination sources of these heavy metals were identified in these fields using factor- and cluster analysis.     

Comparison of numerical models of two debris flows in the Cortina d’ Ampezzo area,Dolomites, Italy

The accurate prediction of runout distances, velocities and the knowledge of flow rheology can reduce the casualties and property damage produced by debris flows, providing a means to delineate hazard areas, to estimate hazard intensities for input into risk studies and to provide parameters for the design of protective measures. The application of most of models that describe the propagation and deposition of debris flow requires detailed topography, rheological and hydrological data that are not always available for the debris-flow hazard delineation and estimation. In the Cortina d’Ampezzo area, Eastern Dolomites, Italy, most of the slope instabilities are represented by debris flows; 325 debris-flow prone watersheds have been mapped in the geomorphological hazard map of this area. We compared the results of simulations of two well-documented debris flows in the Cortina d’Ampezzo area, carried on with two different single-phase, non-Newtonian models, the one-dimensional DAN-W and the two-dimensional FLO-2D, to test the possibility to simulate the dynamic behaviour of a debris flow with a model using a limited range of input parameters. FLO-2D model creates a more accurate representation of the hazard area in terms of flooded area, but the results in terms of runout distances and deposits thickness are similar to DAN-W results. Using DAN-W, the most appropriate rheology to describe the debris-flow behaviour is the Voellmy model. When detailed topographical, rheological and hydrological data are not available, DAN-W, which requires less detailed data, is a valuable tool to predict debris-flow hazard. Parameters obtained through back-analysis with both models can be applied to predict hazard in other areas characterized by similar geology, morphology and climate.     

Extraction of Alteration Mineral Information from Moderate Remote Sensing Images Using MPS Method

Although alteration minerals related to metallogenesis is very important in mineral exploration, information of alteration mineral is weakly expressed in remote sensing imagery, which is often subject to interfering noise and sometimes limited in spectral and spatial resolutions. Because of easy access, moderate images are the main sources of alteration mineral information. Therefore, it is very important to develop alteration mineral information extraction methods from remote sensing images. In this paper, a combined method based on Mask, principal component analysis (PCA) and support vector machine method (SVM) was used to extract alteration mineral information from Enhanced thematic mapper plus remote sensing data with limited spectral and spatial resolutions. First, a mask image of the remote sensing imagery was created to remove interference information such as vegetation, shadow and water. Then, PCA was employed to collect sample data relating to iron, argillic, and carbonatization alteration. Finally, SVM was used to deal with alteration anomaly and build a feature extraction model of high accuracy. The Mask-PCA-SVM model is used to extract alteration mineral information from remote sensing images of Hatu area, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regions, China. The results show that the new methods proposed in this paper can coincide well with known deposits occurrences, rate reached 86.51%. While, the consistent rate with known deposits of the ratio model, PCA model and Spectral angle mapper model were only 3.37, 65.08 and 69.05% respectively. This suggests that the proposed model can find the actual distribution of mineral deposits more effectively by reducing interference to a greater degree.     

Meridional Motion and Reynolds Stress from Debrecen Photoheliographic Data

The Debrecen Photoheliographic Data catalogue is a continuation of the Greenwich Photoheliographic Results providing daily positions of sunspots and sunspot groups. We analyse the data for sunspot groups focussing on meridional motions and transfer of angular momentum towards the solar equator. Velocities are calculated with a daily shift method including an automatic iterative process of removing the outliers. Apart from the standard differential rotation profile, we find meridional motion directed towards the zone of solar activity. The difference in measured meridional flow in comparison to Doppler measurements and some other tracer measurements is interpreted as a consequence of different flow patterns inside and outside of active regions. We also find a statistically significant dependence of meridional motion on rotation velocity residuals confirming the transfer of angular momentum towards the equator. Analysis of horizontal Reynolds stress reveals that the transfer of angular momentum is stronger with increasing latitude up to about \(40^{\circ}\), where there is a possible maximum in absolute value.     

Land surface coupling in regional climate simulations of the West African monsoon

Coupling of the Community Land Model (CLM3) to the ICTP Regional Climate Model (RegCM3) substantially improves the simulation of mean climate over West Africa relative to an older version of RegCM3 coupled to the Biosphere Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS). Two 10-year simulations (1992–2001) show that the seasonal timing and magnitude of mean monsoon precipitation more closely match observations when the new land surface scheme is implemented. Specifically, RegCM3–CLM3 improves the timing of the monsoon advance and retreat across the Guinean Coast, and reduces a positive precipitation bias in the Sahel and Northern Africa. As a result, simulated temperatures are higher, thereby reducing the negative temperature bias found in the Guinean Coast and Sahel in RegCM3–BATS. In the RegCM3–BATS simulation, warmer temperatures in northern latitudes and wetter soils near the coast create excessively strong temperature and moist static energy gradients, which shifts the African Easterly Jet further north than observed. In the RegCM3–CLM3 simulation, the migration and position of the African Easterly Jet more closely match reanalysis winds. This improvement is triggered by drier soil conditions in the RegCM3–CLM3 simulation and an increase in evapotranspiration per unit precipitation. These results indicate that atmosphere–land surface coupling has the ability to impact regional-scale circulation and precipitation in regions exhibiting strong hydroclimatic gradients.     

Altitudinal trends in δ<Superscript>13</Superscript>C value,stomatal density and nitrogen content of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pinus tabuliformis</Emphasis> needles on the southern slope of the middle Qinling Mountains,China

In this study, a coniferous tree species (Pinus tabuliformis Carr.) was investigated at a moderate-altitude mountainous terrain on the southern slope of the middle Qinling Mountains (QLM) to detect the trends in carbon isotope ratio (δ¹³C), leaf nitrogen content (LNC) and stomatal density (SD) with altitude variation in north-subtropical humid mountain climate zone of China. The results showed that LNC and SD both significantly increased linearly along the altitudinal gradient ranging from 1000 to 2200 m, whereas leaf δ¹³C exhibited a significantly negative correlation with the altitude. Such a correlation pattern differs obviously from that obtained in offshore low-altitude humid environment or inland high-altitude semi-arid environment, suggesting that the pattern of increasing δ¹³C with the altitude cannot be generalized. The negative correlation between δ¹³C and altitude might be attributed mainly to the strengthening of carbon isotope fractionation in plants caused by increasing precipitation with altitude. Furthermore, there was a remarkable negative correlation between leaf δ¹³C and LNC. One possible reason was that increasing precipitation that operates to increase isotopic discrimination with altitude overtook the LNC in determining the sign of leaf δ¹³C. The significant negative correlation between leaf δ¹³C and SD over altitudes was also found in the present study, indicating that increases in SD with altitude would reduce, rather than enhance plant δ¹³C values.     

Indigenous Australians’ knowledge of weather and climate

Although the last 200 years of colonisation has brought radical changes in economic and governance structures for thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders living in remote areas of northern Australia, many of these Indigenous people still rely upon, and live closely connected to, their natural environment. Over millennia, living ‘on country’, many of these communities have developed a sophisticated appreciation of their local ecosystems and the climatic patterns associated with the changes in them. Some of this knowledge is recorded in their oral history passed down through generations, documented in seasonal weather calendars in local languages and, to a limited degree, transcribed and translated into English. This knowledge is still highly valued by these communities today, as it is used to direct hunting, fishing and planting as well as to inform many seasonally dependant cultural events. In recent years, local observations have been recognised by non-Indigenous scientists as a vital source of environmental data where few historic records exist. Similar to the way that phenological observations in the UK and US provide baseline information on past climates, this paper suggests that Indigenous observations of seasonal change have the potential to fill gaps in climate data for tropical northern Australia, and could also serve to inform culturally appropriate adaptation strategies. One method of recording recent direct and indirect climate and weather observations for the Torres Strait Islands is documented in this paper to demonstrate the currency of local observations of climate and its variability. The paper concludes that a comprehensive, participatory programme to record Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge of past climate patterns, and recent observations of change, would be timely and valuable for the communities themselves, as well as contributing to a greater understanding of regional climate change that would be useful for the wider Australian population.