Mechanism of Varve Formation and Paleoenvironmental Research at Lake Bolterskardet, Svalbard, the Arctic

On the basis of observation of thin sections and 137Cs data, laminations in sediment are interpreted to be varves in Bolterskardet Lake (78°06' N, 16°01' E), Svalbard, the Arctic. Varves appear under a petrologic microscope as couplets of dark-silt and light-clay layers. The mechanism of varve formation is surmized as follows: each silt layer is the production of sediment inflow interpreted as mainly derived from snowmelt during summer; each clay layer was deposited in a stillwater environment during an ice-cover period. A light -clay layer provides an important index bed to identify the annual interface. The high accumulation rates, long period of ice cover, and topographically closed basin are probably all critical factors in forming and preserving varves. Varve thickness is known to be controlled mainly by summer temperature. The variation of varve thickness in Lake Bolterskardet can then be used to reconstruct summer temperature. The varve series show that there has been distinct decade-scale variability of summer temperature over the past 150 years. Warm periods occurred in the 1860s, around 1900, the 1930s, 1950s, and 1970s, and in the last 20 years. The varved sediments of Lake Bolterskarde preserve an ideal record for high-resolution paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental research in this data-sparse area.     

北极海冰年际变化对东亚中纬度夏季陆面热力异常的指示作用及其可能原因

本文分析了夏季东亚中纬度近地面温度和春、夏北极海冰时空变化特征,探讨了格陵兰海、巴伦支海海冰异常变化与夏季东亚中纬度陆面热力异常在年际上的可能联系。结果表明:(1)1950—2014年,东亚中纬度夏季近地面温度明显增暖,并伴有明显的年际变化,年际变率最大值的区域主要位于40°N以北至贝加尔湖地区;春、夏格陵兰海和巴伦支海的海冰也呈现明显的减少趋势,同时表现出较强的年际变化特征。(2)春、夏格陵兰海、巴伦支海海冰异常对东亚中纬度夏季陆面热力异常具有一定的指示作用:春、夏格陵兰海、巴伦支海海冰异常偏多,通常对应夏季东亚中纬度近地面的东亚中纬度夏季增暖现象;反之亦然。(3)春、季格陵兰海、巴伦支海北极海冰指数(Arctic Sea Ice Index,ASII)高值年(海冰异常偏多年份),贝加尔湖及西南的蒙古高原地区通常为大范围的异常高压控制,有利于近地面温度升高;同时由于乌拉尔山阻塞高压减弱,极地南下的冷空气减弱,有利于东亚中纬度区域的温度升高。而ASII低值年的情形则相反,贝加尔湖以南地区受异常低压控制,乌拉尔山阻塞高压增强,冷空气易向南侵袭,不利于东亚中纬度近地面升温。     

Mechanism of an Abrupt Decrease in Sea-Ice Cover in the Pacific Sector of the Arctic during the Late 1980s

The recent decline in Arctic sea-ice cover (SIC) shows seasonal and regional characteristics. The retreat of summer sea ice has occurred mainly in the Pacific sector of the Arctic. In this study, using the moving t-test, we found an abrupt change event in the long-term sea-ice area in the Pacific sector in summer 1989. This event was linked to the phase shift of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) or the Northern Annular Mode (NAM). Corresponding with the AO/NAM phase shift from negative to positive, the area of the northern hemisphere stratospheric polar vortex decreased abruptly in winter 1988/89. Comparisons of two periods before (1979–1988) and after (1989–1993) the abrupt decrease in sea ice show that an anomalous winter sea level pressure (SLP) was induced by changes in the polar vortex leading to an anomalous cyclonic ice drift in the Pacific sector. The changes in SLP and wind field persisted into the following spring, resulting in a decrease in SIC and warming of the surface air temperature (SAT). The influence of the spring SLP and SAT on ice persisted into the following summer. Meanwhile, the increased summer net surface heat flux over the ocean and sea ice as a result of the decreased spring ice cover further contributed to the summer sea-ice melt.     

Mesoscale Variability in the Summer Arctic Boundary Layer

Observations from the summer Arctic Ocean Experiment 2001 (AOE-2001) are analysed with a focus on the interactions between mesoscale and boundary-layer dynamics. Wavelet analyses of surface-pressure variations show daylong periods with different characteristics, some featuring episodes of pronounced high-frequency surface-pressure variability, here hypothesized to be caused by trapped gravity waves. These episodes are accompanied by enhanced boundary-layer turbulence and an enhanced spectral gap, but with only minor influence on the surface stress. During these episodes, mesoscale phenomena were often encountered and usually identified as front-like features in the boundary layer, with a peak in drizzle followed by changing temperature. These phenomena resemble synoptic fronts, though they are generally shallow, shorter-lasting, have no signs of frontal clouds, and do not imply a change in air mass. Based on this analysis, we hypothesize that the root cause of the episodes with high-frequency surface-pressure variance are shallow, mesoscale fronts moving across the pack ice. They may be formed due to local-to-regional horizontal contrasts, for example, between air with different lifetimes over the Arctic or with perturbations in the cloud field causing differential cooling of the boundary layer. Thermal contrasts sharpen as the air is transported with the mean flow. The propagating mesoscale fronts excite gravity waves, which affect the boundary-layer turbulence and also seem to favour entrainment of free tropospheric air into the boundary layer.     

The Impact of Arctic Ozone Depletion on Northern Middle Latitudes: Interannual Variability and Dynamical Control

We have investigated the effect of the export of Arctic ozone loss, or`dilution', on mid-latitude ozone depletion during the 1990s, and its relation tointerannual meteorological variability. A stratospheric chemical-transport modelincorporated a simple gas-phase ozone scheme with the addition of a parameterisation ofpolar depletion which depended only on temperature and duration of sunlight. Themodel was forced with the U.K. Meteorological Office analyses from 1991 to 1999 covering eight Northern Hemisphere winters. The modelled Arctic ozone column losses wereabout half the magnitude of those in the Antarctic and showed a considerablevariation from year to year. The northern middle latitudes (40°–60° N)were mainly affected through dilution and experienced a variable 5–20%depletion. Year-round there is a depletion of about 1% in northern middle latitudes due toactivation at the pole but there is no evidence that this depletion increases with timeduring this integration. A series of inert tracer experiments for the winters from 1996 to 1999 showed that the dilution occurs primarily at the 560 K and 465 K isentropic levels where up to 30% of the airoriginating northward of 67° N on 1 March is found at 47° N later in spring. Thestrength and persistence of the Arctic vortex were crucial in determining the severity and the timing of the ozone dilution every year by influencing, respectively, the magnitude of the high-latitude depletion and the effectiveness of mixing to lower latitudes. This spring dilution was correlated with the winter/spring planetary wave activity indicating the important role of dynamical processes in regulating the polar-driven mid-latitude ozone depletion.     

Aerosols in Alaskan air masses

Results from measurements of the composition and size distribution of aerosol particles advected into central Alaska are reported. It is argued that the aerosol predominant in number, but not necessarily in mass, consists of submicron droplets of sulfuric acid. The major aerosol by mass in arctic air is a removal-resistant accumulation mode (radius 0.3 m) probably to large extent originating from pollution sources 10³ km upstream (mostly in central Eurasia) from the site in Alaska. The accumulation mode aerosol disappears when arctic air masses are replaced with relatively warmer air masses flowing in from the northern Pacific. The latter air mass systems have been strongly scavenged by clouds and precipitation associated with the Aleutian low pressure system and with forced orographic uplifting over the Alaska Mountain Range; nevertheless the Pacific air masses contain substantial (i.e., 500–1000 cm^-3) quantities of small (several hundredths of a micron in radius) particles. Arctic-derived air masses are enriched in large (i.e, 0.3 ) particles compared to Pacific Marine air masses, whereas the opposite trend is found for smaller, Aitken, particles. The smaller particles are found in greatest abundance in warmer air mass systems, presumably because of the relatively brief time since such air masses were last exposed to sunlight with attendant production of small particles from the gas phase.     

北极斯瓦尔巴德地区近地层大气观测研究 I.平均场特征

利用“中国科学探险协会2002年北极科学探险考察”期间, 在斯瓦尔巴德地区政府所在地朗伊尔宾城架设的两个自动气象站记录的气象资料, 分析了该地区气象要素平均值的日变化, 给出了这一极端环境区夏季近地层气象要素的基本物理图像: 太阳辐射、大气温度、地表温度和大气湿度等气象要素的日变化都呈单峰分布; 地气温差因地而异, 不同下垫面类型大气能量的源汇不同; 局地环流多种多样, 冰川风、海陆风、山谷风相互叠加, 主导风向各地不一。     

FY-3B/MWRI与GCOM-W1/AMSR-2亮温数据在北极地区的交叉定标

为了使搭载在风云三号B星上的微波成像仪MWRI（Microwave Radiation Imager）与搭载在GCOM-W1(Global Change Observation Mission 1st-Water)卫星上的AMSR-2（Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2）的数据可以衔接使用,并为以后FY-3B/MWRI北极地区遥感参数反演研究提供基础,以GCOM-W1/AMSR-2数据为对比数据,北极海洋区域为研究区域,对两传感器对应的10个通道的升、降轨亮温数据进行交叉定标。首先,对MWRI和AMSR-2各通道逐月在研究区域进行偏差分析;其次,对MWRI和AMSR-2各通道逐月在海冰区域和开阔水域进行偏差分析;最后,对MWRI和AMSR-2各通道逐月在研究区域进行交叉定标,并对定标结果进行评价。研究结果表明：（1）MWRI各通道亮温数据小于AMSR-2,且相同频率下,垂直极化各通道逐月平均偏差的绝对值大于水平极化各通道,升、降轨数据在各通道的差异较小,逐月平均偏差的差值小于1 K;（2）在海冰区域,升、降轨各通道逐月平均偏差相差小于1 K,在开阔水域则介于0—1.5 K;（3）通过进行线性回归分析,MWRI和AMSR-2各通道相关系数大于0.99,具有强相关性,并得到升、降轨各通道各月份交叉定标的斜率和截距;（4）定标后MWRI的亮温值与AMSR-2的亮温值一致性较好,说明交叉定标的效果较好。     

东亚夏季风年际变率及其与中、高纬度大气环流以及外强迫异常的联系

利用欧洲中心35年(1968-2002年)月平均再分析资料(ERA-40),通过矢量经验正交分析方法,研究了东亚夏季风年际变率的第2、3优势模态及其与中、高纬度大气环流和外强迫异常之间的联系.这两个优势模态均与北半球中、高纬度大气环流异常有密切的关系,累计解释协方差超过了东亚夏季风的第1模态.东亚夏季风变率的第2模态解...     

利用FY-1D全球数据监测北极冰雪覆盖

利用FY-1D极轨气象卫星全球数据(GDPT)4个通道资料选取了北极冰雪样本2 366个、云2 024个,陆地1 602个,水体1 648个,分析各类别的光谱特征和纹理特征,利用光谱特征从图像上识别出陆地、水体和部分云,根据冰雪和云纹理特征不同用贝叶斯判别方法建立类别判别函数进一步对北极冰雪与云进行分类,然后通过5 d合成,得到北极地区完整的冰雪覆盖范围.所得结果与NOAA/NESDIS的IMS提供的北半球日积雪产品检验分类结果相比较,一致率达到70 %以上.