LMDZ5B: the atmospheric component of the IPSL climate model with revisited parameterizations for clouds and convection

Based on a decade of research on cloud processes, a new version of the LMDZ atmospheric general circulation model has been developed that corresponds to a complete recasting of the parameterization of turbulence, convection and clouds. This LMDZ5B version includes a mass-flux representation of the thermal plumes or rolls of the convective boundary layer, coupled to a bi-Gaussian statistical cloud scheme, as well as a parameterization of the cold pools generated below cumulonimbus by re-evaporation of convective precipitation. The triggering and closure of deep convection are now controlled by lifting processes in the sub-cloud layer. An available lifting energy and lifting power are provided both by the thermal plumes and by the spread of cold pools. The individual parameterizations were carefully validated against the results of explicit high resolution simulations. Here we present the work done to go from those new concepts and developments to a full 3D atmospheric model, used in particular for climate change projections with the IPSL-CM5B coupled model. Based on a series of sensitivity experiments, we document the differences with the previous LMDZ5A version distinguishing the role of parameterization changes from that of model tuning. Improvements found previously in single-column simulations of case studies are confirmed in the 3D model: (1) the convective boundary layer and cumulus clouds are better represented and (2) the diurnal cycle of convective rainfall over continents is delayed by several hours, solving a longstanding problem in climate modeling. The variability of tropical rainfall is also larger in LMDZ5B at intraseasonal time-scales. Significant biases of the LMDZ5A model however remain, or are even sometimes amplified. The paper emphasizes the importance of parameterization improvements and model tuning in the frame of climate change studies as well as the new paradigm that represents the improvement of 3D climate models under the control of single-column case studies simulations.     

Control of deep convection by sub-cloud lifting processes: the ALP closure in the LMDZ5B general circulation model

Recently, a new conceptual framework for deep convection scheme triggering and closure has been developed and implemented in the LMDZ5B general circulation model, based on the idea that deep convection is controlled by sub-cloud lifting processes. Such processes include boundary-layer thermals and evaporatively-driven cold pools (wakes), which provide an available lifting energy that is compared to the convective inhibition to trigger deep convection, and an available lifting power (ALP) at cloud base, which is used to compute the convective mass flux assuming the updraft vertical velocity at the level of free convection. While the ALP closure was shown to delay the local hour of maximum precipitation over land in better agreement with observations, it results in an underestimation of the convection intensity over the tropical ocean both in the 1D and 3D configurations of the model. The specification of the updraft vertical velocity at the level of free convection appears to be a key aspect of the closure formulation, as it is weaker over tropical ocean than over land and weaker in moist mid-latitudes than semi-arid regions. We propose a formulation making this velocity increase with the level of free convection, so that the ALP closure is adapted to various environments. Cloud-resolving model simulations of observed oceanic and continental case studies are used to evaluate the representation of lifting processes and test the assumptions at the basis of the ALP closure formulation. Results favor closures based on the lifting power of sub-grid sub-cloud processes rather than those involving quasi-equilibrium with the large-scale environment. The new version of the model including boundary-layer thermals and cold pools coupled together with the deep convection scheme via the ALP closure significantly improves the representation of various observed case studies in 1D mode. It also substantially modifies precipitation patterns in the full 3D version of the model, including seasonal means, diurnal cycle and intraseasonal variability.     

Results from the Eso Large Program on Transneptunian Objects and Centaurs

BVRI photometry of 107 TNOs and Centaurs establishes the range of spectral gradients to be between –5 to 55%/100 nm (with one exception). A cluster of very red Cubewanos is firmly identified in orbits of low inclination and eccentricity beyond 40 AU from the Sun. Further correlations between surface colours and dynamical parameters (inclination and perihelion distance) are suggested for Cubewanos and scattered disk objects, but lack complete confidence for their reality. Plutinos and Centaurs do not show any clear correlation between surface colours and orbital parameters. We present in this paper 12 spectra obtained in the visible region and nine of them for which we obtained also near infrared spectra up to 2.4 microns. A few other objects have been observed, but the data are still under reduction and analysis. The principal reported results obtained are: (i) a wide range of visible slopes; (ii) evidence for surface variations on 2001 PT₁₃; and (iii) possible detection of few percent of water ice (1999 TC_36}, 2000 EB₁₇₃, 1999 DE₉, 2001 PT₁₃, 2000 QC₂₄₃, 1998 SG₃₅).     

Wind signatures in the X-ray emission-line profiles of the late-O supergiant ζ Orionis

X-ray line-profile analysis has proved to be the most direct diagnostic of the kinematics and spatial distribution of the very hot plasma around O stars. The Doppler-broadened line profiles provide information about the velocity distribution of the hot plasma, while the wavelength-dependent attenuation across a line profile provides information about the absorption to the hot plasma, thus providing a strong constraint on its physical location. In this paper, we apply several analysis techniques to the emission lines in the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) spectrum of the late-O supergiant ζ Ori (O9.7 Ib), including the fitting of a simple line-profile model. We show that there is distinct evidence for blueshifts and profile asymmetry, as well as broadening in the X-ray emission lines of ζ Ori. These are the observational hallmarks of a wind-shock X-ray source, and the results for ζ Ori are very similar to those for the earlier O star, ζ Pup, which we have previously shown to be well fit by the same wind-shock line-profile model. The more subtle effects on the line-profile morphologies in ζ Ori, as compared to ζ Pup, are consistent with the somewhat lower density wind in this later O supergiant. In both stars, the wind optical depths required to explain the mildly asymmetric X-ray line profiles imply reductions in the effective opacity of nearly an order of magnitude, which may be explained by some combination of mass-loss rate reduction and large-scale clumping, with its associated porosity-based effects on radiation transfer. In the context of the recent reanalysis of the helium-like line intensity ratios in both ζ Ori and ζ Pup, and also in light of recent work questioning the published mass-loss rates in OB stars, these new results indicate that the X-ray emission from ζ Ori can be understood within the framework of the standard wind-shock scenario for hot stars.     

Use of a simplified Mahalanobis distance approach to constrain the dispersion and provenance of Cr-pyrope populations at the Chidliak kimberlite province,Nunavut, Canada

Exploration for diamond-bearing kimberlites in the Chidliak project area by Peregrine Diamonds has generated a grid-like till sampling pattern across four discrete areas of interest totalling 402 km² that is densely populated with research-grade compositional data for 10,743 mantle-derived Cr-pyrope garnets. The available dataset is well suited to statistical analysis, in part due to the relatively unbiased spatial coverage. Previous workers showed empirically that the TiO₂ and Mn thermometry (Ti-TMn) attributes of Cr-pyrope populations at the Chidliak project may serve as source-specific “fingerprints”. In this work, we employ a simplified version of the multivariate Mahalanobis distance technique to formally examine the variability of, and differences between, Ti-TMn attributes of Cr-pyrope subpopulations recovered from a Laurentide-age glaciated terrain that also contains 30 known kimberlites within the four areas of interest. We show the simplified Mahalanobis distance approach enables accurate discrimination of Cr-pyrope subpopulations with subtly to distinctly different Ti-TMn attributes, and permits proper demarcation of their respective kimberlite source(s), specifically in areas with straightforward glacial histories. Redistribution and blending of Cr-pyrope subpopulations from known kimberlite sources is also observed, and typifies areas at Chidliak with complex late-glacial histories. Our results support <1 km horizontal scale subtle to obvious variability in the proportions of TiO₂-rich and high-temperature (> 1100 °C) Cr-pyropes between closely spaced kimberlite source(s) and also between physically adjacent magma batches within single kimberlite pipes. The local scale variability is attributed to protokimberlite fluid or melt interacting with, and metasomatizing discrete conduits within, the ambient diamond-facies peridotitic mantle at times closely preceding eruption of kimberlite magma batches at Chidliak.

     

Reconstructing Aragonite Saturation State Based on an Empirical Relationship for Northern California

Ocean acidification is a global phenomenon with highly regional spatial and temporal patterns. In order to address the challenges of future ocean acidification at a regional scale, it is necessary to increase the resolution of spatial and temporal monitoring of the inorganic carbon system beyond what is currently available. One approach is to develop empirical regional models that enable aragonite saturation state to be estimated from existing hydrographic measurements, for which greater spatial coverage and longer time series exist in addition to higher spatial and temporal resolution. We present such a relationship for aragonite saturation state for waters off Northern California based on in situ bottle sampling and instrumental measurements of temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen. Application of this relationship to existing datasets (5 to 200 m depth) demonstrates both seasonal and interannual variability in aragonite saturation state. We document a deeper aragonite saturation horizon and higher near surface aragonite saturation state in the summers of 2014 and 2015 (compared with 2010–2013), associated with anomalous warm conditions and decadal scale oscillations. Application of this model to time series data reiterates the direct association between low aragonite saturation state and upwelled waters and highlights the extent to which benthic communities on the Northern California shelf are already exposed to aragonite undersaturated waters.