An artificial neural network-based snow cover predictive modeling in the higher Himalayas

With trends indicating increase in temperature and decrease in winter precipitation, a significant negative trend in snow-covered areas has been identified in the last decade in the Himalayas. This requires a quantitative analysis of the snow cover in the higher Himalayas. In this study, a nonlinear autoregressive exogenous model, an artificial neural network （ANN）, was deployed to predict the snow cover in the Kaligandaki river basin for the next 30 years. Observed climatic data, and snow covered area was used to train and test the model that captures the gross features of snow under the current climate scenario. The range of the likely effects of climate change on seasonal snow was assessed in the Himalayas using downscaled temperature and precipitation change projection from - HadCM3, a global circulation model to project future climate scenario, under the AIB emission scenario, which describes a future world of very rapid economic growth with balance use between fossil and non-fossil energy sources. The results show that there is a reduction of 9% to 46% of snow cover in different elevation zones during the considered time period, i.e., 2Oll to 2040. The 4700 m to 52oo m elevation zone is the most affected area and the area higher than 5200 m is the least affected. Overall, however, it is clear from the analysis that seasonal snow in the Kaligandaki basin is likely to be subject to substantialchanges due to the impact of climate change.     

Relationship between North Pacific SST anomalies and the atmospheric circulation anomalies in January 2008

Based on the NCEP (National Centers for Environmental Prediction) data, the relationship between the Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies (SSTAs) in the North Pacific and the atmospheric circulation anomalies in January 2008 is analyzed in this study. The SSTA mode most correlated with the Geopotential Height anomalies (GHAs) in January 2008 in the North Pacific exhibited a basin-wide horseshoe pattern with a warm center in November 2007. This persistent SSTA pattern would induce positive GHAs in the Aleutian Low area and East Asia and the northward extension of the West Pacific Subtropical High in January 2008 by maximum diabatic heating in the atmosphere over the Kuroshio Oyashio Extension (KOE) area, leading to the occurence of the circumpolar trough-ridge wave train anomaly in January 2008.     

滇中雨季早晚对前期热带环流异常的响应

使用云南省中部玉溪站1971—2007年逐年雨季开始期资料和同期1—5月NCEP/NCAR再分析月平均气压场、高度场及风场资料,用相关分析、诊断分析和EOF等方法研究了滇中雨季开始期对冬、春季热带环流异常变化的响应关系,并利用太平洋东部副热带高压及大西洋亚速尔高压的平均气压与印尼和孟加拉湾地区的平均气压之差,定义了滇中雨季预测指数(MYRSPI)。结果表明：滇中雨季开始期对前期热带环流的异常变化会产生较强响应,当冬、春季热带高度场异常升高(降低)和MYRSPI为负(正)距平时,初夏500 hPa西太平洋副热带高压偏强(偏弱)、偏西(偏东),滇中雨季偏晚(偏早)。统计表明,MYRSPI对滇中雨季早晚有较强的预测能力,可在实际业务中运用。     

近30年我国高空风速变化趋势分析

1980-2006年间采用全国119个探空站14个等压面的月平均风速资料,分析了我国高空对流层和平流层下层风速变化的时间和空间特征,并和同期地面风速变化进行了对比.结果表明,我国近27年对流层中下层和对流层上层风速呈下降趋势,年平均风速线性变化速率分别为-0.10 m·s-1·(10a)-1和-0.17 m·s-1·(10a)-1,均未通过0.05显著性水平检验;平流层下层全国年平均风速呈上升趋势,上升速率为0.24 m·s-1·(10a)-1,亦未通过O.05显著性水平检验.同期全国地面风速则呈现更显著的降低趋势,年平均风速线性变化速率为-0.16 m·s-1·(10a)-1,通过了0.05显著性水平检验.我国地面气象站记录的平均风速减弱可能受到大尺度大气环流变化的影响,更可能与台站附近观测环境变化和城市化等人为因素影响有密切关系.     

INSTABILITY OF SYMMETRIC TYPHOON CIRCULATION AND ADAPTIVE OBSERVATION

This study presents a new way to identify the sensitive areas for typhoon adaptive observations, that is, sensitive areas are determined by invoking the negative anomalies of moist potential vorticity (MPV). It is found that the areas of negative MPV are the symmetric instability areas and can be taken as sensitive areas for typhoon adaptive observations. Three typhoons in 2008, Nuri, Fung-wong, and Fengshen, were simulated with the help of MM5 model. It is shown that these typhoons are well simulated in the first 12 hours. Based on these investigations, the calculations of MPV are carried out sequentially. The result shows that the negative maxima of MPV are always around the typhoon eyes for all the cases, which means that the sensitive areas are also near them all the time.     

STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF REDUCING SYSTEMATIC ERRORS ON MONTHLY REGIONAL CLIMATE DYNAMICAL FORECAST

A nested-model system is constructed by embedding the regional climate model RegCM3 into ageneral circulation model for monthly-scale regional climate forecast over East China. The systematicerrors are formulated for the region on the basis of 10-yr (1991-2000) results of the nested-model system,and of the datasets of the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Merged Analysis of Precipitation (CMAP) andthe temperature analysis of the National Meteorological Center (NMC), U.S.A., which are then used forcorrecting the original forecast by the system for the period 2001-2005. After the assessment of the originaland corrected forecasts for monthly precipitation and surface air temperature, it is found that the correctedforecast is apparently better than the original, suggesting that the approach can be applied for improvingmonthly-scale regional climate dynamical forecast.     

中高纬环流因子与黑龙江省初夏气候异常分析

利用1954-2010年地面气温、降水观测资料和月环流特征量、NCEP高度场再分析资料等,采用常规气候统计方法,分析了黑龙江省初夏6月气温、降水的气候特点,通过初夏6月气温、降水与北半球500 hPa高度场相关分析,建立起与中高纬度环流因子关系。结果表明：黑龙江省初夏气候异常与中高纬度环流异常有关,影响初夏气候异常的中高纬度环流因子主要有亚洲纬向环流指数,阿留申低压指数,亚洲区极涡面积指数,鄂霍次克海的阻塞高压指数等。在此基础上分析大气及中高纬度环流因子的背景,考虑外强迫因子海温的间接作用,掌握中高纬度环流因子的变化,是准确预测黑龙江省初夏气候的关键前提所在。     

东中国海环流及其季节变化的数值模拟

关于东中国海环流的研究，国内外学者已做了大量的工作。早期科学家们主要依赖于对温盐资料和少数测流资料的分析研究对渤、黄、东海的环流结构有了较系统和深入的认识。东中国海环流是由一个气旋式的“流涡”组成，东侧主要是北上的黑潮-对马暖流-黄海暖流及其延伸部分；西侧为南下的沿岸流系。黑潮对东中国海环流的影响是如此之大，以致于除了某些局部区域外，上述海域主要流系的冬、夏季分布形式比较相似而无本质上的差异(胡敦欣等，1993)。但本文所研究海域正处于世界上最显著的季风区，冬、夏季盛行风向基本相反，过渡季节(春、秋季)风向多变，风力减弱；海洋热盐结构季节变化明显(如冬季混合强，而夏季层化明显等)，这些因素都使得东中国海环流存在着较明显的季节变化。 自20世纪80年代以来，东中国海环流的数值模拟工作逐步展开，并已成为研究环流结构及其形成机制的强有力工具。但由于数值模式本身以及计算方案的缺陷(如有些学者用固定的风场、温盐场对东中国海环流进行诊断模拟等)和观测资料的不足，数值模拟的结果难以得到验证，渤、黄、东海的环流研究中仍有大量的问题存在争议，以待澄清。例如，台湾暖流的来源、流径;对马暖流的来源;夏季黄海暖流的流径以及黄海冷水团环流等均有不同的论述。对黄、东海环流季节变化的数值模拟工作也较少，多用冬、夏典型月份的风场强迫积分至稳定态，给出冬、夏季环流，这种做法值得商榷。三维环流模式很难在1个月内达到稳定态，尤其是夏季层化明显、风力减弱的情况下，非常定风场的影响更应引起人们的重视。 本文采用比较符合实际的计算方案，用年循环风场和海面热通量场为外强迫，对渤、黄、东海的环流及其季节变化进行了模拟，并对一些争议问题进行了探讨。     

2002年冬季(12月～2003年2月)山东天气评述

利用山东省 2 0 0 2年 1 2月～ 2 0 0 3年 2月气温、降水资料和 5 0 0hPa月平均高度场和距平图 ,分析了今冬山东省雨雪、大雾频繁、降水偏多 ,前冷后暖的天气气候特点及其影响。