Another Year of Record Heat for the Oceans

Changes in ocean heat content(OHC), salinity, and stratification provide critical indicators for changes in Earth’s energy and water cycles. These cycles have been profoundly altered due to the emission of greenhouse gasses and other anthropogenic substances by human activities, driving pervasive changes in Earth’s climate system. In 2022, the world’s oceans, as given by OHC, were again the hottest in the historical record and exceeded the previous 2021 record maximum.According to IAP/CAS data, ...     

Distinguishing the Regional Atmospheric Controls on Precipitation Isotopic Variability in the Central-Southeast Portion of Brazil

Precipitation isotope ratios (O and H) record the history of water phase transitions and fractionation processes during moisture transport and rainfall formation. Here, we evaluated the isotopic composition of precipitation over the central-southeastern region of Brazil at different timescales. Monthly isotopic compositions were associated with classical effects (rainfall amount, seasonality, and continentality), demonstrating the importance of vapor recirculation processes and different regional atmospheric systems (South American Convergence Zone-SACZ and Cold Fronts-CF). While moisture recycling and regional atmospheric processes may also be observed on a daily timescale, classical effects such as the amount effect were not strongly correlated (δ¹⁸O-precipitation rate r ≤ –0.37). Daily variability revealed specific climatic features, such as δ¹⁸O depleted values (~ –6‰ to –8‰) during the wet season were associated with strong convective activity and large moisture availability. Daily isotopic analysis revealed the role of different moisture sources and transport effects. Isotope ratios combined with d-excess explain how atmospheric recirculation processes interact with convective activity during rainfall formation processes. Our findings provide a new understanding of rainfall sampling timescales and highlight the importance of water isotopes to decipher key hydrometeorological processes in a complex spatial and temporal context in central-southeastern Brazil.     

Upper Ocean Temperatures Hit Record High in 2020

The long-term warming of the ocean is a critical indicator of both the past and present state of the climate system. It also provides insights about the changes to come, owing to the persistence of both decadal variations and secular trends,which the ocean records extremely well(Hansen et al., 2011;IPCC, 2013;Rhein et al., 2013;Trenberth et al., 2016;Abram et al., 2019).     

Characterisation of Soot Emitted by Domestic Heating,Aircraft and Cars Using Diesel or Biodiesel

The characterisation of aggregates, like soot, firstly requires the determination of the size distribution of the primary particles. The primary particle size of combustion generated aggregates depends upon the combustion environment and the formation conditions, such as temperature, pressure and fuel-to-air ratio, among others. Since the combustion characteristics are different in the different types of burners, the characterisation of primary particles may offer the possibility to distinguish soot from different sources. In this paper, we present the signature of the primary particles and the aggregates of soot emitted by cars using diesel or biodiesel, by domestic heating, and by aircraft exhausts, which can be considered as the major sources as derived from measurements on transmission electron micrographs. The size distributions of all aggregates types with different aerodynamic diameter were log-normal and quasi-monodisperse. The size distribution of the primary particles for soot emitted by different sources showed minor differences. However, a comparison between the diameter of the primary particles and those obtained using a standard method for carbon black revealed discrepancies. The median diameter of the primary particles was combined with the median number of primary particles in an aggregate to calculate the relative particle surface area available for adsorption. In a similar way, the relative specific surface area was determined. The surface area was measured using the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (B.E.T.) nitrogen adsorption method and the relative surface area available for adsorption was calculated.     

Wake Response to an Ocean-Feedback Mechanism: Madeira Island Case Study

We focus on an island wake episode that occurred in the Madeira Archipelago region of the north-east Atlantic at $32.5^{\circ }\mathrm{N}, 17^{\circ }\mathrm{W}$ . The Weather Research and Forecasting numerical model was used in a (one-way) downscaling mode, considering initial and boundary conditions from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts system. The current literature emphasizes adiabatic effects on the dynamical aspects of atmospheric wakes. Changes in mountain height and consequently its relation to the atmospheric inversion layer should explain the shift in wake regimes, from a ‘strong-wake’ to ‘weak-wake’ scenario. Nevertheless, changes in sea-surface temperature variability in the lee of an island can induce similar regime shifts because of exposure to stronger solar radiation. Increase in evaporation contributes to the enhancement of convection and thus to the uplift of the stratified atmospheric layer above the critical height, with subsequent internal gravity wave activity.     

Spatial and temporal changes in dry-snow line altitude on the Antarctic Peninsula

Drastic changes were detected in glacial systems of the Antarctic Peninsula in the last decades. The observed phenomena comprise the disintegration of ice shelves, acceleration and thinning of glaciers, and retreat of glacier fronts. However, due to the lack of consistent systematic observations in particular of the higher parts of the glacial systems, it is difficult to predict further responses of the Antarctic Peninsula glaciers to climatic change. The present paper analyses spatial and temporal variations of changes in the dry-snow line altitude on the Antarctic Peninsula as extracted from a time series (1992–2005) of ERS-1/2 SAR and Envisat ASAR data. Upward changes in dry-snow line altitude were observed in general, and are attributed to extreme high-temperature events impacting the central plateaus of the Antarctic Peninsula and the increasing duration of warming periods. A mean decrease in dry-snow line altitude was detected on the west side of the peninsula and is identified as a response to recorded increase in precipitation and accumulation. These results validate the capability of SAR data for deriving superficial parameters of glaciers to be used as indicators of climatic changes in high-latitude regions where operational restrictions limit conventional meteorological observations.     

Extreme rainfalls in SE South America

Heavy rainfall trends in a region of south-eastern South America during 1959–2002 were discussed using daily data of 52 meteorological stations of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Changes in intensity and frequency were both studied with different statistical tests and approaches to check the significance of trends of single and regional aggregated rainfall series. There were predominant positive trends in the annual maximum rainfalls, as well as a remarkable increment in the frequency of heavy rainfalls over thresholds ranging from 50 to 150 mm. However, significant positive trends were not shown in the series of annual maximums and shown only in 15% to 30% of the series of frequencies over thresholds. This lack of significance is due to the high variability of heavy rainfalls in space and time, which makes difficult their capture by single rain gauges. Thus, when the assessment of the heavy rainfall indicators of intensity and frequency were conducted at the regional and sub-regional level, it showed significant trends, both in intensity and frequency over thresholds, with a clearer signal in central and eastern Argentina between 30° and 40° S.     

Methods for estimating the velocities of the Brazil Current in the pre-salt reservoir area off southeast Brazil (23∘ S–26∘ S)

The Brazil Current (BC) is likely the least observed and investigated subtropical western boundary current in the world. This study proposes a simple and systematic methodology to estimate quasi-synoptic cross-sectional speeds of the BC within the Santos Basin (23^° S–26^° S) based on the dynamic method using several combinations of data: Conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD), temperature profiles, CTD and vessel-mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (VMADCP), and temperature profiles and VMADCP. All of the geostrophic estimates agree well with lowered Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (LADCP) velocity observations and yield volume transports of -5.56 ±1.31 and 2.50 ±1.01 Sv for the BC and the Intermediate Western Boundary Current (IWBC), respectively. The LADCP data revealed that the BC flows southwestward and is ～100 km wide, 500 m deep, and has a volume transport of approximately -5.75 ±1.53 Sv and a maximum speed of 0.59 m s^?1. Underneath the BC, the IWBC flows northeastward and has a vertical extent of approximately 1,300 m, a width of ～60 km, a maximum velocity of ～0.22 m s?¹, and a volume transport of 4.11 ± 2.01 Sv. Our analysis indicates that in the absence of the observed velocities, the isopycnal (σ ₀) of 26.82 kg m^?3 (～500 dbar) is an adequate level of no motion for use in geostrophic calculations. Additionally, a simple linear relationship between the temperature and the specific volume anomaly can be used for a reliable first estimate of the BC-IWBC system in temperature-only transects.