Late quaternary monsoon patterns on the Loess Plateau of China

China's Loess Plateau was formed under special conditions. The tectonic movement, topographical characteristics, and monsoon patterns combined to create a favourable environment for the accumulation of thick loessic deposits. The Loess Plateau itself is part of the ‘Monsoon Triangle’ of China, a region very susceptible to climatic changes. Throughout the Upper Pleistocene the palaeoenvironment on the Loess Plateau alternated from steppe, to deciduous forest and coniferous forest, in response to shifts in the atmospheric circulation. Three monsoon patterns appear to be indicated: (1) a full glacial monsoon pattern (18000–15000 yr BP) which induced a cold and dry climate favouring loess accumulation in steppe conditions; (2) an interglacial monsoon pattern (last interglacial and Holocene) in which a warm humid climate prevailed with deciduous forests, leaving palaeosols interbedded within the loess sequence; and (3) a transitional or interstadial monsoon pattern (50 000–23 000 yr BP) in which the climate was cold and humid in the Loess Plateau, encouraging the development of coniferous forest.     

Evaluation of Forecast Performance of an Economical Explicit Time Integration Scheme in a Limited Area Model over Indian Region

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1990 年京津冀三次暴雨的分析

本文分析了1990年京津冀地区三次暴雨过程，结果发现:（1）三次暴雨是属于相伴有冷锋的高空槽影响的暴雨；（2）暴雨开始前约10小时雨区的西南方存在湿有效能量高能舌，高能舌的西方和北方有能量和水汽的积聚；（3）对流层低层的锋生和地形对气流的抬升作用是触发暴雨开始的直接原因。     

Baroclinic energetics and zonal plane distribution of monsoon disturbances

The adiabatic, quasi-geostraphic, 25-layer, numerical, linear model with Ekman boundary layer friction is utilised to perform the baroclinic stability analysis of the mean monsoon zonal wind profile. It is shown thec _i is a function of the resultant wavenumber alone. This relation is able to explain the effects of the lateral walls on the unstable waves.The energetics and zonal plane distribution of the short and long preferred viscous waves are computed. The upward motion of the short wave together with the warm (cold) core lies to the west of the surface trough position above (below) 850 mb. Further, it is shown that the main source of kinetic energy for the wave lies in the middle layer (850–700 mb) which is transported to the lower and upper layers. Computed is found to be in good agreement with observed values.     

Results of the studies of monsoon circulation with radon as a tracer

Radon-222 activity levels have been measured at deck level in regions of the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, and Bay of Bengal during the summer monsoon periods of 1973, 1977, and 1979, as part of the Monex programme. The aim of the measurements was to find the source regions of the monsoon air and the variations in its composition under different synoptic conditions. The radon data confirm that the monsoon air is predominantly of southern-hemisphere origin, with a small continental component. The continental component, as indicated by radon values, increases at higher latitudes and seems to vary with different circulation patterns in the synoptic scale. The use of radon as a tracer in monsoon studies is thus demonstrated.     

广西南丹地区泥盆纪台间海槽沉积环境分析

广西“南丹型”泥盆系以黑色泥岩为主,富含浮游生物竹节石等,是一套受基底构造控制的并受其两侧碳酸盐台地影响的台间海槽沉积。沉积相类型主要为深水含竹节石泥岩相,泥灰岩相及硅质岩相。台间海槽从益兰期开始出现,其形成和发展在塘丁—纳标—榴江期,封闭可能在早石炭世之后。     

Meridional transport of sensible heat in contrasting monsoon activity: Spherical harmonic analysis

Spherical harmonic analysis is made of the grid point values of geopotential heights at 700 mb and 300 mb levels for the months April to August for the years 1967 and 1972. The year 1967 is a good monsoon year and 1972 is a bad monsoon year in India. Meridional transport of sensible heat is obtained in wave number domain using spherical harmonic coefficients at 500 mb level form=1 to 10 andn–m=0 to 10, wherem represents the wave number round the globe andn–m gives the numbers of zero points from north pole to south pole excluding the poles themselves.Large northward transports of sensible heat in the month of May and in the monsoon months at the subtropics are characteristic of bad monsoon. Wave 1 transports sensible heat southward (forn–m=0) and wave 2 transports sensible heat northward (forn–m=4). Strengthening of wave 1 is conducive to good monsoon year and strengthening of wave 2 is conducive to bad monsoon year. These are the same features obtained in Fourier analysis. The contrasting features exist in waves 1 and 2 both in good and in bad monsoon and are better defined in the present analysis than in the Fourier analysis of the earlier study. However, waves 1 and 2 reveal clearer contrast in the present analysis than in the Fourier analysis. Bad monsoon activity is associated with large divergence of heart at subtropics and large convergence of heat at extra tropics.     

Water vapour transport of the pre-monsoon period and the general performance of the Indian summer monsoon

The advective monthly mean transfer of water vapour in the layer below 700 mbar is investigated for India for the years 1962 to 1972 and for the months January to September. The average zonal and meridional components of the transfer of water vapour for India are obtained. They are further averaged for different combinations of the pre-monsoon months from January to May and are correlated with the summer monsoon rainfall. The correlation coefficients for zonal transfer of water vapour are either negative or small positive for different combinations of the months mentioned above. The correlation coefficients for the meridional transfer of water vapour are positive. The maximum value is 0.74 for the March to May combination and is statistically significant at the 1% level.An extensive investigation is, therefore, made for the March to May averages of water vapour transfer for four broad regions of India. The parameters of water vapour transfer for these regions are compared with the threshold values and the prediction category, normal or drought, for the subsequent summer monsoon season is determined for all years. The correlation coefficient between the index of drought, as determined from parameters of water vapour transport and rainfall departure, is statistically significant at the 2% level.     

Channel morphology and its impact on flood passage, the Tianjiazhen reach of the middle Yangtze River

The Tianjiazhen reach of the middle Yangtze is about 8 km long, and characterized by a narrow river width of 650 m and local water depth of > 90 m in deep inner troughs, of which about 60 m is below the mean sea level. The troughs in the channel of such a large river are associated with regional tectonics and local lithology. The channel configuration plays a critical role in modifying the height and duration of river floods and erosion of the riverbed. The formation of the troughs in the bed of the Yangtze is considered to be controlled by sets of NW–SE-oriented neotectonic fault zones, in which some segments consist of highly folded thick Triassic limestone crossed by the Yangtze River. Several limestone hills, currently located next to the river channel, serve as nodes that create large vortices in the river, thereby accelerating downcutting on the riverbed composed of limestone highly susceptible to physical corrosion and chemical dissolution. Hydrological records indicate that the nodal hills and channel configuration at Tianjiazhen do not impact on normal flow discharges but discharges > 50,000 m³s^− 1 are slowed down for 2–3 days. Catastrophic floods are held up for even longer periods. These inevitably result in elevated flood stages upstream of prolonged duration, affecting large cities such as Wuhan and a very large number of people.     

Link between convection and meridional gradient of sea surface temperature in the Bay of Bengal

We use daily satellite estimates of sea surface temperature (SST) and rainfall during 1998–2005 to show that onset of convection over the central Bay of Bengal (88–92°E, 14–18°N) during the core summer monsoon (mid-May to September) is linked to the meridional gradient of SST in the bay. The SST gradient was computed between two boxes in the northern (88–92°E, 18–22°N) and southern (82–88°E, 4–8°N) bay; the latter is the area of the cold tongue in the bay linked to the Summer Monsoon Current. Convection over central bay followed the SST difference between the northern and southern bay (ΔT) exceeding 0.75°C in 28 cases. There was no instance of ΔT exceeding this threshold without a burst in convection. There were, however, five instances of convection occurring without this SST gradient. Long rainfall events (events lasting more than a week) were associated with an SST event (ΔT ≥ 0.75°C); rainfall events tended to be short when not associated with an SST event. The SST gradient was important for the onset of convection, but not for its persistence: convection often persisted for several days even after the SST gradient weakened. The lag between ΔT exceeding 0.75°C and the onset of convection was 0–18 days, but the lag histogram peaked at one week. In 75% of the 28 cases, convection occurred within a week of ΔT exceeding the threshold of 0.75°C. The northern bay SST, T _N , contributed more to ΔT, but it was a weaker criterion for convection than the SST gradient. A sensitivity analysis showed that the corresponding threshold for T _N was 29°C. We hypothesise that the excess heating (∼1°C above the threshold for deep convection) required in the northern bay to trigger convection is because this excess in SST is what is required to establish the critical SST gradient.