An automatic weather station(AWS) has been installed at the Qomolangma Station of the China Academy of Sciences(QOMS) since 2005, in a northern Himalayan valley near Mount Everest, with an altitude of 4,270 m a.s.l.. Nine years of meteorological records(2006–2014) from the automatic weather station(AWS) were analyzed in this study, aiming to understand the response of local weather to the seasonal transition on the northern slopes of Mount Everest, with consideration of the movement of the subtropical jet(STJ) and the onset of the Indian Summer Monsoon(ISM). We found:(1) Both the synoptic circulation and the orography have a profound influence on the local weather, especially the local circulation.(2) Southwesterly(SW) and southeasterly(SE) winds prevail alternately at QOMS in the afternoon through the year. The SW wind was driven by the STJ during the non-monsoon months, while the SE was induced by the trans-Himalayan flow through the Arun Valley, a major valley to the east of Mount Everest, under a background of weak westerly winds aloft.(3) The response of air temperature(T) and specific humidity(q) to the monsoon onset is not as marked as that of the nearsurface winds. The q increases gradually and reaches a maximum in July when the rainy period begins.(4) The alternation between the SW wind at QOMS and the afternoon SE wind in the pre-monsoon season signals the northward shift of the STJ and imminent monsoon onset. The average interval between these two events is 14 days. 相似文献
This study focuses on the precipitation extremes recorded on the northern and southern slopes of the central Himalaya, especially those documented at higher altitudes. Daily precipitation data recorded over a 35-year period at nine meteorological stations in the region were studied. We used the precipitation extreme indices delineated by the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI). The spatial and temporal variations in these precipitation extremes were calculated. When regional patterns were investigated to detect any anomalies, only 1 of the 10 precipitation extreme indices from the southern slopes of the central Himalaya showed a statistically significant trend; none from the northern slopes of the central Himalaya highlighted a statistically significant trend. On the southern slopes, all indices increased, apart from the maximum 1-day precipitation (RX1) and simple daily precipitation intensity (SDII) indices. Indices such as the consecutive dry days (CDDs) and RX1 indices exhibited similar increases on both the northern and southern slopes of the central Himalaya. These results suggest that increases in precipitation have been accompanied by an increasing frequency of extremes over the southern central Himalaya. Nonetheless, no relation could be established between the precipitation extreme indices and circulation indices for higher altitudes.
A nearly 160-km long Wollaston Lake Reflector (WLR) observed in seismic reflection profile S2b of the 1994 Lithoprobe Trans-Hudson Orogen transect (THOT) in northern Saskatchewan (Canada) is among the most spectacular and well-recorded features imaged within the crystalline crust. Based on modeling of its normal-incidence reflectivity, the observed bright spot reflector was originally interpreted as a series of tabular diabase intrusions. In order to further elucidate its structure, we reprocessed line S2b and analysed the WLR for the Amplitude Variations with Offset (AVO). By contrast to conventional (approximate) AVO analysis, we used the exact Zoeppritz equations and considered a thin-layer (mixed positive and negative polarities) reflectivity. The results suggest two possible interpretations of the WLR: 1) the reflector caused by a massive mafic intrusion as suggested earlier, in which case the intruded rocks should have anomalous Poisson's ratios of σ ≥ 0.33, and 2) the WLR represents a silicified shear zone, with only moderate (e.g., 5–10%) alteration of the host rock and σ ≈ 0.2. Although both of these models may to some extent co-exist within the WLR, its brightness, sharpness, great lateral extent and smooth shape favour the second interpretation.In both models, a fractured fluid-filled zone within a major crustal detachment should have played a key role in the formation of the WLR. The association of the reflector with laterally- and depth-migrating fluids is also supported by magneto-telluric measurements of crustal conductivity beneath the WLR. Analogies from the studies of the Kola Superdeep Borehole (Russia), where free or metamorphic fluids were found at comparable depths, also suggest that fluids may contribute to WLR structure and formation. 相似文献