Variability of the spatial structure of intense Mediterranean precipitation

Intense Mediterranean precipitation can generate devastating flash floods. A better understanding of the spatial structure of intense rainfall is critical to better identify catchments that will produce strong hydrological responses. We focus on two intense Mediterranean rain events of different types that occured in 2002. Radar and rain gauge measurements are combined to have a data set with a high spatial (1 × 1 km²) and temporal (5 min) resolution. Two thresholds are determined using the quantiles of the rain rate values, corresponding to the precipitating system at large and to the intense rain cells. A method based on indicator variograms associated with the thresholds is proposed in order to automatically quantify the spatial structure at each time step during the entire rain events. Therefore, its variability within intense rain events can be investigated. The spatial structure is found to be homogeneous over periods that can be related to the dynamics of the events. Moreover, a decreasing time resolution (i.e., increasing accumulation period) of the rain rate data will stretch the spatial structure because of the advection of rain cells by the wind. These quantitative characteristics of the spatial structure of intense Mediterranean rainfall will be useful to improve our understanding of the dynamics of flash floods.     

Verringerung der Schwermetall‐ und Sulfatbelastung in sauren bergbaubelasteten Gewässern durch Aluminiumpräzipitate

Attenuation of Heavy Metals and Sulfate by Aluminium Precipitates in Acid Mine Drainage During the mixing of acid mine waters with nearly neutral tributaries, often precipitates are formed which are high in iron or aluminium. These precipitates cover the river bed for many kilometres. Near the town of Lehesten (Thuringian slate mining area), leachates of slate quarries and waste rock dumps contain high amounts of aluminium, sulfate, copper, nickel, zinc, manganese, and H⁺ ions as a result of the oxidation of incorporated pyrite. These leachates enter the brooks Loquitz, Kleine Sormitz, and Rehbach leading to the phenomenon named above. The contribution of the forming aluminium‐rich precipitates on the attenuation of sulfate and heavy metals by sorption or coprecipitation was studied by analysing the composition of water and sediment samples as well as samples of suspended matter. Sulfate is often considered as conservative tracer in acid mine drainage. However, sulfate does not behave conservatively in this system what might be explained by the adsorption of sulfate to the aluminium precipitates. Instead, conservative behaviour was found for calcium, potassium, chloride, zinc, manganese, and nickel. A formation of jurbanite can be excluded because of the low sulfate contents. The sulfate content of the sediment depends on the pH. At low pH values (4.8) the S/Al ratio corresponds to the theoretical ratio in basaluminite and decreases with rising pH. Sulfate is weakly bound to the solid phase and can easily be replaced by OH^– ions. A formation of basaluminite is possible at low pH values with a fluent transition to aluminium hydroxide. Therefore the precipitates are assumed to consist predominantly of aluminium hydroxide with sulfate being adsorbed to the surface.     

Cretaceous length of day perturbation by mantle avalanche

These last 10 years, numerical models of mantle convection have emphasized the role of the 670 km endothermic phase change in generating avalanches that trigger catastrophic mass transfers between upper and lower mantle. On the other hand, scientists have emphasized the concomitance of large-scale worldwide geophysical and tectonic events, which could find their deep thermal roots in the huge mass transfers induced by the avalanches. In particular, the paleontological records show two periods of length of day (l.o.d.) shortening between 420 and 360, and 200 and 80 Myr BP. This last event is synchronous with a strong true polar wander and a global warming of the upper mantle. In order to study the potential effects of the avalanche on the main component of the Earth’s rotation, the Liouville equation has been solved and the l.o.d. evolution has been calculated from the perturbations of the inertia tensor. The results show that the inertia tensor of the Earth’s is mainly sensitive to the global transfers through the 670 km discontinuity. The l.o.d. perturbations will be synchronous with the global thermal effects of the avalanche. These theoretical results allow proposing a self-consistent physical mechanism to explain periods of the Earth’s rotation acceleration. Within this context, the l.o.d. shortening during the Cenozoic and Cretaceous brings one more clue to the possible participation of a mantle avalanche in generating the concomitant large scale events which have occurred during this very particular period of the Earth’s history.     

Microwave Simulations of Precipitation Distribution with Two Radiative Transfer Models

Two microwave radiative transfer models of precipitating cloud are used to simulate the microwave upwelling radiances emerging from precipitating clouds. Comparison of the simulation results shows that significant difference of microwave upwelling radiances exists between these two radiative transfer models. Analysis of these differences in different cloud and precipitation conditions shows that it is complicated but has certain trend for different microwave frequencies. The results may be useful to quantitative rainfall rate retrieval of real precipitating clouds.     

我国夏半年降水距平与北太平洋海温异常的奇异值分解法分析

利用奇异值分解法分析了我国夏半年各月降水距平与北太平洋海温异常的相互关系，指出：（１）平均意义上，秋冬季海温与我国春末至盛夏各月降水存在显著相互关系；（２）秋冬季赤道东太平洋海温对次年４－５月江南东部和７月高原东侧，黄河中下游地区的降水有显著的影响；（３）盛夏至冬季的赤道中东太平洋海温与前一年６月黄淮地区及７月长江流域降水关系密切。     

A mass balance approach to estimate the dilution and removal of the pollutants in stream water polluted by acid mine drainage

 A few simple mass balance equations were developed to simultaneously estimate how much the pollutants from acid mine drainage (AMD) in stream water are diluted and removed during their migration. The application of the equations requires knowledge of the variations in the concentrations of the dissolved pollutants and the stoichiometry of the precipitation reaction of the pollutants when none of the pollutant shows a conservative behavior along the stream path. The calculation should be restricted to the pollutants showing much higher concentrations in the polluted main stream water than in the combining or diluting water of the same target area. The mass balance equations were applied to estimate the dilution factor and precipitation fractions of pollutants in Imgok Creek such as Fe, SO₄ and Al from the AMD of Yeongdong mine. The results show that the estimation, especially for SO₄ and Al, significantly depends on the kinds of the precipitates. When FeOHSO₄ and AlOHSO₄ are assumed to precipitate, the maximum removal fractions of SO₄ and Al by precipitation are respectively 34% and 46% of the original input, which is much higher than the values estimated when SO₄ is considered to be perfectly conservative. It indicates that the stoichiometry of precipitation reaction is very important in the interpretation of the pollutant dilution and migration and assessment of environmental impacts of AMD. The applicability of the mass balance equations may still need to be verified. However, examining the calculated dilution factor and precipitation fractions with the equations can provide invaluable information on not only the behavior but also unexpected input of the pollutants in the stream water polluted by AMD and other point sources. Received: 12 November 1997 · Accepted: 30 March 1998     

局地蒸发和外部水汽输送对松花江流域夏季降水的贡献

本文基于Brubaker二元模型,采用JRA-55再分析资料定量研究了局地蒸发和外部水汽输送对松花江流域夏季气候态降水及其年际变率的相对贡献,并探讨了相应的物理机制。气候平均而言,外部水汽输送是松花江流域初夏（5～6月）和盛夏（7～8月）降水的最主要水汽源。受西风带影响,初夏自西边界进入松花江流域的水汽贡献占主导,外部水汽输送对当地降水的贡献为78.9%,源自蒸发的水汽贡献为21.1%。较之初夏,由于盛夏来自南边界的水汽输送加倍,外部水汽输送贡献增加,外部水汽输送和蒸发对降水贡献分别为86%和14%。JRA-55再分析资料可以合理再现观测降水演变,1961～2016年JRA-55再分析资料降水与观测在初夏与盛夏的相关系数分别可以达到0.73和0.83。研究发现,初夏,由于西南季风异常导致的南边界进入的水汽输送异常是松花江流域降水年际变率的主要原因,自西边界、北边界进入的水汽输送与降水呈现显著负相关,初夏局地蒸发的贡献不显著,该水汽输送异常对应的环流型易发生在El Ni?o衰减年初夏。盛夏来自南边界的水汽输送起主导作用,局地蒸发贡献与降水变化显著负相关,海温强迫作用对该环流异常的强迫并不显著,中高纬度大气内部变率影响占主导。由于盛夏降水与地表温度在盛夏期间显著负相关,盛夏时期降水偏少时,温度偏高,蒸发偏强,进而蒸发水汽对降水贡献增加。     

亚洲-太平洋涛动与中国南方地区1月降水异常的关系

利用NCEP、ERA-40再分析资料和中国160个观测站逐月降水资料,分析了同期和前期亚洲-太平洋涛动(APO)与中国南方地区冬季1月降水异常的关系,并讨论了相应的联系机制.研究发现,1月亚洲-太平洋涛动指数能够很好地反映同期中国南方地区降水异常.亚洲-太平洋涛动的异常变化可能影响对流层低层位势高度场,进而通过影响亚洲中、低纬度地区的对流层低层风场与中国南方地区降水紧密联系.当亚洲-太平洋涛动指数偏低(高)时,对应在东亚南部及其邻近海域对流层低层位势高度偏高(低),东太平洋位势高度偏低(高).相应地,南海以及华南沿海地区为异常西南(东北)风控制,且该异常风向北逐渐减弱,进而在中国南方地区辐合(辐散),这既有(不)利于暖湿气流向中国南方地区输送,同时也造成了该地区的水汽辐合(辐散),从而导致降水偏多(少).亚洲-太平洋涛动具有很好的持续性,上一年10月亚洲-太平洋涛动异常可一直持续至当年1月,表现出连续的显着相关特征.因此,其与中国南方地区1月降水异常也具有显着联系,可以作为指示1月中国南方地区降水多寡的一个前兆因子.     

气溶胶对北京中尺度对流系统影响的数值试验

利用可分辨云模式(WRF),模拟研究了不同气溶胶浓度对北京地区2001年8月23日一次产生强降水和冰雹的对流天气的影响。结果表明,气溶胶浓度的增加不利于对流云的发展,导致地面降水减小,但是对降水结构没有明显影响。气溶胶浓度增加导致云中水成物数浓度和质量浓度均发生变化,其中云水、冰晶和雪含量增加,而雨水、霰和雹含量减小。从云微物理学分析发现,气溶胶浓度减小有利于高层云的形成,云滴有效半径随着气溶胶浓度增加而减小。