Studying geoengineering with natural and anthropogenic analogs

Solar radiation management (SRM) has been proposed as a possible option for offsetting some anthropogenic radiative forcing, with the goal of reducing some of the associated climatic changes. There are clearly significant uncertainties associated with SRM, and even small-scale experiments that might reduce uncertainty would carry some risk. However, there are also natural and anthropogenic analogs to SRM, such as volcanic eruptions in the case of stratospheric aerosol injection and ship tracks in the case of marine cloud albedo modification. It is essential to understand what we can learn from these analogs in order to validate models, particularly because of the problematic nature of outdoor experiments. It is also important to understand what we cannot learn, as this might better focus attention on what risks would need to be solely examined by numerical models. Stratospheric conditions following a major volcanic eruption, for example, are not the same as those to be expected from intentional geoengineering, both because of confounding effects of volcanic ash and the differences between continuous and impulsive injection of material into the stratosphere. Nonetheless, better data would help validate models; we thus recommend an appropriate plan be developed to better monitor the next large volcanic eruption. Similarly, more could be learned about cloud albedo modification from careful study not only of ship tracks, but of ship and other aerosol emission sources in cloud regimes beyond the narrow conditions under which ship tracks form; this would benefit from improved satellite observing capabilities.     

Drag coefficient and roughness length determinations on an Alaskan Arctic Coast during summer

Field data collected over land and water near Point Lay, Alaska, yielded determinations of the aerodynamic roughness lengths and drag coefficients over three locations on an arctic barrier island and over the Chukchi Sea. The agreement between the results over the sea and previous published results from data taken at approximately the same latitude in the Beaufort Sea is excellent.     

On modelling the seasonal thermodynamic cycle of sea ice in studies of climatic change

Recent work in modelling climatic changes due to increased atmospheric CO₂ has shown the maximum change to occur in the polar regions as a result of seasonal reductions in sea ice coverage. Typically, sea ice thermodynamics is modelled in a very simple way, whereby the storage of both sensible and latent heat within the ice is ignored, and the effects of snow cover on conductivity and on surface albedo and of oceanic heat flux on bottom ablation may also be neglected. This paper considers whether omission of these processes is justified within the context of quantitatively determining regional climatic changes. A related question, whether omission of ice dynamics can be justified, is not considered.Relatively complete one-dimensional models of sea-ice thermodynamics have previously been developed and tested for a variety of environmental conditions by Maykut and Untersteiner (1969, 1971) and by Semtner (1976). A simpler model which neglects the storage of sensible and latent heat is described in the Appendix to Semtner (1976). In that model, the errors in annual-mean ice thickness which would arise from neglect of heat storage can be compensated by increases in albedo and in conductivity. Here we examine the seasonal cycle of ice thickness predicted by such a model and find significant errors in phase (one month lead) and in amplitude (50% overestimate). The amplitude errors are enhanced as snowfall and oceanic heat flux diminish (or are neglected). This suggests that substantial errors may occur in climate simulations which use very simple formulations of sea ice thermodynamics, whereby early and excessive melting exaggerates the seasonal disappearance of sea ice.To illustrate the above point, two models are configured to examine the local response of Arctic sea ice to a quadrupling of atmospheric CO₂. The first model neglects a number of physical processes and mimics the behavior of sea ice found in Manabe and Stouffer (1980), both for present and enhanced levels of CO₂. The more complete second model gives a better simulation of Arctic ice for the present level of CO₂ and shows a reduced response to CO₂ quadrupling relative to that in Manabe and Stouffer (1980). In particular, the change in surface temperature is cut by a factor of two. In view of this result, a more complete treatment of sea ice thermodynamics would seem warranted in further studies of climate change. Only a minor computational increase is required.A portion of this study is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy as a part of its Carbon Dioxide Research Program.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

The 2007 dry spell in Luzon (Philippines): its cause, impact and corresponding response measures

Climate change, involving both human-induced global warming and natural climate variability, has been called upon to explain the occurrences of weather extremes with their associated natural hazards. The Philippines experienced a dry spell in 2007 specifically in parts of Luzon which occurred during the rainy season. On the other hand, areas in Mindanao, southern Philippines which were supposed to be dry, were wet due to the non-migration of the inter-tropical convergence zone northward. The 2007 dry spell in Luzon, northern Philippines affected the agricultural, power, water and health sectors. The local effects of this weather extreme have to be documented and studied to ensure that the appropriate response measures are adopted should there be a recurrence. The building up of the database on this weather extreme and related natural hazards will definitely help the country cope with future similar events.     

Observations of the convective plume of a lake under cold-air advective conditions

Moderating effects of Lake Apopka, Florida on downwind surface temperatures were evaluated under cold-air advective conditions. Point temperature measurements north and south of the lake and data obtained from a thermal scanner flown at 1.6 km indicate that surface temperatures directly downwind may be higher than surrounding surface temperatures by as much as 5 °C under conditions of moderate winds (~4 m s^–1). No substantial temperature effects were observed with surface wind speed less than 1 m s^–1. Fluxes of sensible and latent heat from Lake Apopka were calculated from measurements of lake temperature, net radiation, relative humidity and air temperature above the lake. Bulk transfer coefficients and the Bowen ratio were calculated and found to be in agreement with reported data for non-advective conditions.IFAS Journal Series No. 1006.     

A review of applications of microwave radiometry to oceanography

The thermal microwave radiation from the ocean surface as seen from space is a function of the surface temperature and wind speed and is modified by liquid water and water vapor in the intervening atmosphere. Further, if the ocean surface is frozen, the emissivity is drastically increased and the effect of the intervening atmosphere is generally negligible. The emissivity of first-year ice is somewhat larger than that of multi-year ice.The data from the Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometers (ESMR's) on the Nimbus-5 and —6 satellites operating at wavelengths of 1.55 cm and 8 mm, respectively, can be interpreted in terms of rain rate, ice coverage and first-year versus multi-year ice determination. The rain-rate data are being used to establish a climatology of rainfall over the oceans. The ice data are being used by the United States Navy in support of international scientific efforts in the Antactic region. Both ice and rain data sets have been generated for the Global Atmospheric Research Project Data Systems Test.It is possible, by making multifrequency measurements, to separate the surface and atmospheric effects and to make useful measurements of sea surface temperature, surface wind speed, and atmospheric parameters along with improved measurements of rain and ice.     

Uncertainty estimation of the global temperature trends for multiple radiosondes, reanalyses, and CMIP3/IPCC climate model simulations

Based on three groups of datasets that include radiosondes, reanalyses, and climate model simulations (e.g., Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, CMIP3) from 1979 to 2008, the interannual variability, global temperature trends, and their uncertainty using ensemble spread among intra-group and inter-group datasets have been discussed. The results show that the interannual temperature variability increased from the troposphere to stratosphere, and the maximum occurs around 50?hPa. The CMIP3 climate models have the largest discrepancy in the stratosphere. The intra-group correlations at 500?hPa generally show high similarity within each data group while the inter-group correlations between reanalyses and the CMIP3 climate model simulations indicate lesser similarity. In contrast, the inter-group correlation at 50?hPa is improved except with the Japanese 25-year Reanalysis Project (JRA-25) dataset, and the Twentieth Century Reanalysis (20CR) reanalysis shows a weak cross correlation. The global temperature trends are highly dependent on the individual data sources. Compared to the radiosondes, the reanalyses show a large ensemble spread of trends in the stratosphere, and the CMIP3 climate model simulations have a large ensemble spread in the height of the crossover point where tropospheric warming changes into stratospheric cooling. The largest ensemble spread among the reanalyses in the stratosphere is mainly from the large discrepancy in the JRA-25 reanalysis after 1998 and a relatively weak anomaly in the 20CR before 1986. The largest ensemble spread among the CMIP3 climate models in the troposphere is related to the influence of both volcanic eruptions and El Ni?o/La Ni?a–Southern Oscillation events. The strong anomalies corresponding to the volcanic eruptions of El Chichon in 1982 and Mt Pinatubo in 1991 are clearly identified in the stratosphere. These volcanic eruptions reduced the warming in the troposphere and strengthened the cooling in the stratosphere during the most recent 30?years.     

ENSO anomalies over the Western United States: present and future patterns in regional climate simulations

Surface temperature, precipitation, specific humidity and wind anomalies associated with the warm and cold phases of ENSO simulated by WRF and HadRM are examined for the present and future decades. WRF is driven by ECHAM5 and CCSM3, respectively, and HadRM is driven by HadCM3. For the current decades, all simulations show some capability in resolving the observed warm-dry and cool-wet teleconnection patterns over the PNW and the Southwest U.S. for warm and cold ENSO. Differences in the regional simulations originate primarily from the respective driving fields. For the future decades, the warm-dry and cool-wet teleconnection patterns in association with ENSO are still represented in ECHAM5-WRF and HadRM. However, there are indications of changes in the ENSO teleconnection patterns for CCSM3-WRF in the future, with wet anomalies dominating in the PNW and the Southwest U.S. for both warm and cold ENSO, in contrast to the canonical patterns of precipitation anomalies. Interaction of anomalous wind flow with local terrain plays a critical role in the generation of anomalous precipitation over the western U.S. Anomalous dry conditions are always associated with anomalous airflow that runs parallel to local mountains and wet conditions with airflow that runs perpendicular to local mountains. Future changes in temperature and precipitation associated with the ENSO events in the regional simulations indicate varying responses depending on the variables examined as well as depending on the phase of ENSO.     

THE GATE SQUALL LINE OF 9－10 AUGUST 1974

A tropical squall line that passed over the ship array of the Global Atmospheric Research Programme’s Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE) on 9－10 August 1974 is analyzed. This squall line was similar to squall systems that passed over the GATE ship array on four other days. It began as a purely convective cloud line, then developed an associated stratiform cloud and precipitation area. The stratiform rain built up to a maxi-mum amount over a period of 8 h, then gradually diminished over a 6 h period. This stratiform rain is esti-mated to have accounted for 32% of the squall system’s total precipitation. As in other GATE squall lines, the upper-level cloud shield from which the stratiform rain fell, was advected slowly forward of the line during the system’s lifetime, the leading line of corrective clouds consisted of transient smaller-scale convective elements, which lent the line an irregular shape and pulsatory movement, and the stratiform portion of the system was characterized by the development of a mid-level mesoscale vortex similar to that seen in other GATE eases.