Sensitivity of transient climate change to tidal mixing: Southern Ocean heat uptake in climate change experiments performed with ECHAM5/MPIOM

We investigate the sensitivity of the transient climate change to a tidal mixing scheme. The scheme parameterizes diapycnal diffusivity depending on the location of energy dissipation over rough topography, whereas the standard configuration uses horizontally constant diffusivity. We perform ensemble climate change experiments with two setups of MPIOM/ECHAM5, one setup with the tidal mixing scheme and the second setup with the standard configuration. Analysis of the responses of the transient climate change to CO₂ increase reveals that the implementation of tidal mixing leads to a significant reduction of the transient surface warming by 9 %. The weaker surface warming in the tidal run is localized particularly over the Weddell Sea, likely caused by a stronger ocean heat uptake in the Southern Ocean. The analysis of the ocean heat budget reveals that the ocean heat uptake in both experiments is caused by changes in convection and advection. In the upper ocean, heat uptake is caused by reduced convection and enhancement of the Deacon Cell, which appears also in isopycnal coordinates. In the deeper ocean, heat uptake is caused by reduction of convective cooling associated with the circulation polewards of 65°S. Tidal mixing leads to stronger heat uptake in the Southern Ocean by causing stronger changes in advection, namely a stronger increase in the Deacon Cell and a stronger reduction in advective cooling by the circulation polewards of 65°S. Counter-intuitively, the relation between tidal mixing and greater heat storage in the deep ocean is an indirect one, through the influence of tidal mixing on the circulation.     

Anthropogenic influence of trace metals in sediments of the Al-Qilt catchment,West Bank,Palestine: 1. Contamination factor and bonding forms

Al-Qilt catchment, located east of both the Ramallah and Jerusalem districts is strongly influenced by waste waters discharged from Israeli settlements and Palestinian urban centers. In this research, our aim was to verify the chemical status of the surface sediments from the Al-Qilt catchment during 2008/2009. For this purpose, 36 surface sediment samples were collected and analyzed with ICP/MS within the fraction of below 63 μm. The extent of contamination of trace metals from Al-Qilt sediments sites were measured by evaluating the contamination factors (CF) from digestion by aqua regia and additionally by sequential extraction steps using the BCR-method. On the basis of the calculated CF, sediments appear particularly contaminated with Zn, Cu, Ag, Sn, Cd, Hg, Bi, and B. Three regions, Wadi Sweanit, Ras Al-Qilt, and Qalandiah have been identified as critical points of contamination. Trace metal inputs to the Al-Qilt catchment need to be kept under strict control in the future since Ras Al-Qilt is considered as one of the important springs in the area and is used for domestic purposes. Moreover, it will be susceptible to pollution if no action is taken to decrease the pollution at the upstream of Al-Qilt.     

Boundary layer ion composition at Jupiter during the inbound pass of the Ulysses flyby

During the inbound segment of the Ulysses flyby of Jupiter, there were multiple incursions into the dawnside low-latitude boundary layer, as identified by Bame et al. (Science257, 1539–1542, 1992) using plasma electron data. In the present study, ion composition and spectral measurements provide independent collaborative evidence for the existence of distinct boundary layer regions. Measurements are taken in the energy-per-charge range of 0.6–60 keV/e and involve mass as well as mass-per-charge identification by the Ulysses/SWICS experiment. Ion species of Jovian magnetospheric origin (including O⁺, O²⁺, S²⁺, S³⁺) and sheath origin (including He²⁺ and high charge state CNO) have been directly identified for the first time in the Jovian magnetospheric boundary layer. Protons of probably mixed origin and He⁺ of possibly sheath (ultimately interstellar pickup) origin were also observed in the boundary layer. Sheath-like ions are observed throughout the boundary layer; however, the Jovian ions are depleted or absent for portions of two boundary layer cases studied. Ions of solar wind origin are observed within the outer magnetosphere. and ions of magnetospheric origin are found within the sheath, indicating that transport across the magnetopause boundary can work both ways, at least under some conditions. Although their source cannot be uniquely identified, the proton energy spectrum in the boundary layer suggests a sheath origin for the lower energy protons.     

Zircon geochronology and geochemistry to constrain the youngest eruption events and magma evolution of the Mid-Miocene ignimbrite flare-up in the Pannonian Basin,eastern central Europe

A silicic ignimbrite flare-up episode occurred in the Pannonian Basin during the Miocene, coeval with the syn-extensional period in the region. It produced important correlation horizons in the regional stratigraphy; however, they lacked precise and accurate geochronology. Here, we used U–Pb (LA-ICP-MS and ID-TIMS) and (U–Th)/He dating of zircons to determine the eruption ages of the youngest stage of this volcanic activity and constrain the longevity of the magma storage in crustal reservoirs. Reliability of the U–Pb data is supported by (U–Th)/He zircon dating and magnetostratigraphic constraints. We distinguish four eruptive phases from 15.9 ± 0.3 to 14.1 ± 0.3 Ma, each of which possibly includes multiple eruptive events. Among these, at least two large volume eruptions (>10 km³) occurred at 14.8 ± 0.3 Ma (Demjén ignimbrite) and 14.1 ± 0.3 Ma (Harsány ignimbrite). The in situ U–Pb zircon dating shows wide age ranges (up to 700 kyr) in most of the crystal-poor pyroclastic units, containing few to no xenocrysts, which implies efficient recycling of antecrysts. We propose that long-lived silicic magma reservoirs, mostly kept as high-crystallinity mushes, have existed in the Pannonian Basin during the 16–14 Ma period. Small but significant differences in zircon, bulk rock and glass shard composition among units suggest the presence of spatially separated reservoirs, sometimes existing contemporaneously. Our results also better constrain the time frame of the main tectonic events that occurred in the Northern Pannonian Basin: We refined the upper temporal boundary (15 Ma) of the youngest counterclockwise block rotation and the beginning of a new deformation phase, which structurally characterized the onset of the youngest volcanic and sedimentary phase.     

Star Formation in Violent and Normal Evolutionary Phases

Mergers of massive gas-rich galaxies trigger violent starbursts that - over timescales of > 100 Myr and regions > 10 kpc - form massive and compact star clusters comparable in mass and radii to Galactic globular clusters. The star formation efficiency is higher by 1–2 orders of magnitude in these bursts than in undisturbed spirals, irregulars or even BCDs. We ask the question if star formation in these extreme regimes is just a scaled-up version of the normal star formation mode of if the formation of globular clusters reveals fundamentally different conditions. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

I S L A An Astronomical World Space Observatory for The First Century of the 3 rd Millenium

ISLA will be an astronomical observatory, operating at the upper limit of our planet Earth atmosphere, offering space like observing conditions in most aspects. ISLA can be maintained easily, modified easily if necessary, always kept at the state of the art and operated for very extended periods without polluting the stratosphere. ISLA is ideally suited to become the first world space observatory as the observing conditions are very much space-like – diffraction limited angular resolution, very low ambient temperature, remote control – however ISLA is easily accessible, telescopes and instruments can be continuously improved and ISLA's costs corresponds only to those of ground-based modern astronomical installations like the ESO-VLT-, KECK- and GEMINI-observatories. The cost of observing and experimenting on ISLA will be orders of magnitudes lower than those of building and operating any space telescope, allowing the astronomers of developing nations to participate in the ISLA observatory within their limited financial possibilities as competent and full partners. ISLA's 4-m and 2-m telescopes will operate diffraction limited from 0.3 μm in the optical, over the infrared, far-infrared to the sub-mm spectral range. ISLA's individual telescopes will permit imaging with 20 milli-arcsec spatial resolution in the optical, 5 times better than the Hubble Space Telescope. ISLA's telescopes can be combined to form an interferometer with a maximum baseline of 250 m with nearly complete coverage of the u,v plane. Interferometric resolution will be of the order of 20 micro-arcsec for the optical. ISLA will thus offer spatial resolution comparable or better than the intercontinental VLBI radio interferometers. ISLA's telescope efficiency will be many orders of magnitude better than comparable ground-based telescopes. The light collecting power of ISLA's interferometric telescopes will be orders of magnitudes greater than the future space interferometers under discussion. ISLA, being an aviation project and not a space project, can be realised in the typical time scale for the development of aviation: about 5 years. ISLA's cost for the whole observatory, including its movable ground station etc. will be of the order of a typical medium size ESA space mission. ISLA's lifetime will be in excess of many decades, as it can easily be maintained, modernised, repaired and improved. ISLA will become the origin of a new astronomical international organisation with worldwide participation. ISLA's telescopes will be of the greatest importance to all astronomical fields, as it will permit to study much fainter, much more distant objects with microscopic spatial resolution in wavelength regions inaccessible from ground. ISLA's many telescopes permit easily simultaneous observations at many wavelengths for rapidly varying objects, from continuously monitoring the surfaces of the planets in our solar system, surfaces of close-by stars, nuclei of galaxies to QSO's. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

On the effect of thermal forcing on the global atmospheric angular momentum and the general circulation

The effect of latitudinal differential heating on the atmospheric general circulation is studied using a simple general circulation model driven by different heating rates. It is found that an increase in differential heating leads to a strengthening of the general circulation as characterized by an increase in global available potential energy, kinetic energy and atmospheric angular momentum. The strengthening of the circulation results in three circulation regimes characterized by different eddy activities. One is a zonally symmetric Hadley regime with no eddy activity while the other two are Rossby regimes dominated by eddies with intermediate and low wave numbers, respectively. Relative to other global indices, the global relative atmospheric angular momentum is superior in detecting the transition of circulation regimes. The regime changes in mid- and high-latitudes resemble the response of the atmosphere to large changes in Earths rotation rate.     

Relating Urban Surface-layer Structure to Upwind Terrain for the Salford Experiment (Salfex)

Profiles of wind and turbulence over an urban area evolve with fetch in response to surface characteristics. Sodar measurements, taken on 22 April 2002 during the Salford Experiment in the UK (Salfex), are here related to upstream terrain. A logarithmic layer up to z = 65m was observed in all half-hour averaged profiles. Above this height the profile showed a different vertical gradient, suggesting a change in surface cover upstream. The drag coefficient varied by a factor of two over only a 20° direction change. Turbulence intensity (σ _x ) for each wind component (x) decreased with height, but the ratio suggested an underestimate of σ _u compared to previous results. Mean urban and suburban cover fraction within the source area for each height decreased sharply between z = 20 and 50m, increasing slightly above. The near-convergence of cover fractions thus occured for source areas of minimum length ≈ 2,200 m. In comparison, the mean length scale of heterogeneity L _P was calculated from surface cover data to be 1,284 m, and the corresponding mean blending height h _b was 175 m. Finally, the mean streamline angle, α, was negative and the magnitude decreased with height. An exponential fit to α for z ≤ 65m gave an e-folding height scale of 159 m. A simple relationship between this height scale and L _P was assumed, giving L _P ≈ 1,080 m, which is in reasonable agreement with the estimate from surface cover type. The results suggest that more emphasis is required on modelling and measuring surface-layer flow over heterogeneous urban canopies.     

Consistency of observed winter precipitation trends in northern Europe with regional climate change projections

Often it is claimed that the recent changes in northern European climate are at least partly anthropogenic even though a human influence has not yet been successfully detected. Hence we investigate whether the recent changes are consistent with regional climate change projections. Therefore, trends in winter (DJF) mean precipitation in northern Europe are compared to human induced changes as predicted by a set of four regional climate model simulations. The patterns of recent trends and predicted changes match reasonably well as indicated by pattern correlation and the similarity is very likely not random. However, the model projections generally underestimate the recent change in winter precipitation. That is, the signal-to-noise ratio of the anthropogenic precipitation change is either rather low or the presently used simulations are significantly flawed in their ability to project changes into the future. European trends contain large signals related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), of which a major unknown part may be unrelated to the anthropogenic signal. Therefore, we also examine the consistency of recent and projected changes after subtracting the NAO signal in both the observations and in the projections. It turns out that even after the removal of the NAO signal, the pattern of trends in the observations is similar to those projected by the models. At the same time, the magnitude of the trends is considerably reduced and closer to the magnitude of the change in the projections.     

Influence of similarity measures on the performance of the analog method for downscaling daily precipitation

This study examines the performance of the analog method for downscaling daily precipitation. The evaluation is performed for (1) a number of similarity measures for searching analogs, (2) various ways to include the past atmospheric evolution, and (3) different truncations in EOF space. It is carried out for two regions with complex topographic structures, and with distinct climatic characteristics, namely, California’s Central Valley (together with the Sierra Nevada) and the European Alps. NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data are used to represent the large scale state of the atmosphere over the regions. The assessment is based on simulating daily precipitation for 103 stations for the month of January, for the years 1950–2004 in the California region, and for 70 stations in the European Alps (January 1948–2004). Generally, simulated precipitation is in better agreement with observations in the California region than in the European Alps. Similarity measures such as the Euclidean norm, the sum of absolute differences and the angle between two atmospheric states perform better than measures which introduce additional weightings to principal components (e.g., the Mahalanobis distance). The best choice seems dependent upon the target variable. Lengths of wet spells, for instance, are best simulated by using the angular similarity measure. Overall, the Euclidean norm performs satisfactorily in most cases and hence is a reasonable first choice, whereas the use of Mahalanobis distance is less advisable. The performance of the analog method improves by including large-scale information for bygone days, particularly, for the simulation of wet and dry spells. Optimal performance is obtained when about 85–90% of the total predictor variability is retained.