Long-term hydrological,biogeochemical, and climatological data from Walker Branch Watershed,East Tennessee,USA

In 1967, the original Walker Branch Watershed (WBW) project was established to study elemental cycling and mass balances in a relatively unimpacted watershed. Over the next 50+ years, findings from additional experimental studies and long-term observations on WBW advanced understanding of catchment hydrology, biogeochemistry, and ecology and established WBW as a seminal site for catchment science. The 97.5-ha WBW is located in East Tennessee, USA, on the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Reservation. Vegetation on the watershed is characteristic of an eastern deciduous, second-growth forest. The watershed is divided into two subcatchments: the West Fork (38.4 ha) and the East Fork (59.1 ha). Headwater streams draining these subcatchments are fed by multiple springs, and thus flow is perennial. Stream water is high in base cations due to weathering of dolomite bedrock and nutrient concentrations are low. Long-term observations of climate, hydrology, and biogeochemistry include daily (1969–2014) and 15-min (1994–2014) stream discharge and annual runoff (1969–2014); hourly, daily, and annual rainfall (1969–2012); daily climate and soil temperature (1993–2010); and weekly stream water chemistry (1989–2013). These long-term datasets are publicly available on the WBW website (https://walkerbranch.ornl.gov/long-term-data/ ). While collection of these data has ceased, related long-term measurements continue through the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), where WBW is the core terrestrial and aquatic site in the Appalachian and Cumberland Plateau region (NEON's Domain 7) of the United States. These long-term datasets have been and will continue to be important in evaluating the influence of climatic and environmental drivers on catchment processes.     

Metals discharged during different flow conditions from a mixed agricultural‐forest catchment (NW Spain)

Metal loads were determined from water samples collected under different streamflow conditions (baseflow and storm events) in a rural catchment (NW Spain) during 4 years. A study at annual, seasonal and storm‐event scales was carried out. In all analysed scales, the export order was Fe > Al > Mn > Zn > Cu. A high inter‐annual, seasonal and storm‐event scale variability of metal load was observed. The total metal loads in stream were higher during baseflow conditions than during storm events, which only represented 4% of the duration of the study period and 25% of streamflow. During storm events, both Al and Fe loads accounted 45% of the total load of the study period, whereas Mn, Cu and Zn loads represented 42%, 33% and 24%, respectively. This highlights the role of high flows on metal export. Only four big events exported around 30% of load of each metal transported in events. At all time scales, a prevalence of export of particulate metals over dissolved metals was observed, more pronounced for Al, Fe and Mn than for Cu and Zn. The export of metals in the Corbeira catchment is influenced by runoff and, to a lesser extent, by the rainfall amount. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating suspended sediment and turbidity reduction projects in a glacially conditioned catchment through dynamic regression and fluvial process-based modelling

Elevated turbidity (T_n) and suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) during and following flood events can degrade water supply quality and aquatic ecosystem integrity. Streams draining glacially conditioned mountainous terrain, such as those in the Catskill Mountains of New York State, are particularly susceptible to high levels of T_n and SSC sourced from erosional contact with glacial-related sediment. This study forwards a novel approach to evaluate the effectiveness of stream restoration best management practices (BMPs) meant to reduce stream T_n and SSC, and demonstrates the approach within the Stony Clove sub-basin of the Catskills, a water supply source for New York City. The proposed approach is designed to isolate BMP effects from natural trends in T_n and SSC caused by trends in discharge and shifts in average T_n or SSC per unit discharge (Q) following large flood events. We develop Dynamic Linear Models (DLMs) to quantify how T_n-Q and SSC-Q relationships change over time at monitoring stations upstream and downstream of BMPs within the Stony Clove and in three other sub-basins without BMPs, providing observational evidence of BMP effectiveness. A process-based model, the River Erosion Model, is then developed to simulate natural, hydrology-driven SSC-Q dynamics in the Stony Clove sub-basin (absent of BMP effects). We use DLMs to compare the modelled and observed SSC-Q dynamics and isolate the influence of the BMPs. Results suggest that observed reductions in SSC and T_n in the Stony Clove sub-basin have been driven by a combination of declining streamflow and the installed BMPs, confirming the utility of the BMPs for the monitored hydrologic conditions.     

Phase transition of the Pacific decadal oscillation and decadal variation of the East Asian summer monsoon in the 20th century

This paper focuses on the relationship between the phase transition of the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) and decadal variation of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) in the twentieth century. The first transition occurred in the 1940s, with an enhanced SST in the North Pacific and reduced SST in the tropical eastern Pacific and South Indian Ocean. In agreement with these SST changes, a higher SLP was found in most parts of the Pacific, while a lower SLP was found in the North Pacific and most parts of the Indian Ocean. In this case, the EASM was largely enhanced with a southerly anomaly in the lower troposphere along the east coast of China. Correspondingly, there was less rainfall in the Yangtze River valley and more rainfall in northern and southern China. An opposite change was found when the PDO reversed its phase in the late 1970s. In the tropical Indian Ocean and western Pacific, however, the SST was enhanced in both the 1940s and 1970s. As a result, the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) tended to extend westward with a larger magnitude in the 1970s. The major features were reasonably reproduced by an atmospheric general circulation model (IAP AGCM4.0) prescribed with observed SST and sea ice. On the other hand, the westward extension of the WPSH was exaggerated in the 1970s, while it was underestimated in the 1940s. Besides, the spatial pattern of the simulated summer rainfall in eastern China tended to shift southward compared with the observation.     

The Congo basin zonal overturning circulation

The Gulf of Guinea in the equatorial Atlantic is characterized by the presence of strong subsidence at certain times of the year. This subsidence appears in June and becomes well established from July to September. Since much of theWest African monsoon flow originates over the Gulf, Guinean subsidence is important for determining moisture sources for the monsoon. Using reanalysis products, I contribute to a physical understanding of what causes this seasonal subsidence, and how it relates to precipitation distributions across West Africa.There is a seasonal zonal overturning circulation above the Congo basin and the Gulf of Guinea in the ERA-Interim, ERA-40, NCEP2, and MERRA reanalyses. The up-branch is located in the Congo basin around 20°E. Mid-tropospheric easterly flows constitute the returning-branch and sinking over the Gulf of Guinea forms the down-branch, which diverges at 2°W near the surface, with winds to the east flowing eastward to complete the circulation. This circulation is driven by surface temperature differences between the eastern Gulf and Congo basin. Land temperatures remain almost uniform, around 298 K, throughout a year, but the Guinean temperatures cool rapidly from 294 K in May to about 290 K in August. These temperature changes increase the ocean/land temperature contrast, up to 8 K, and drive the circulation.I hypothesize that when the overturning circulation is anomalously strong, the northward moisture transport and Sahelian precipitation are also strong. This hypothesis is supported by ERA-Interim and PERSIANN-CDR (Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks-Climate Data Record) data.     

The Upstream “Strong Signals” of the Water Vapor Transport over the Tibetan Plateau during a Heavy Rainfall Event in the Yangtze River Basin

A heavy rainfall event that occurred over the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin(YRB) during July11–13 2000 is explored in this study. The potential/stream function is used to analyze the upstream "strong signals" of the water vapor transport in the Tibetan Plateau(TP). The studied time period covers from 2000 LST 5 July to 2000 LST 15 July(temporal resolution: 6 hours). By analyzing the three-dimensional structure of the water vapor flux, vorticity and divergence prior to and during the heavy rainfall event, the upstream "strong signals" related to this heavy rainfall event are revealed. A strong correlation exists between the heavy rainfall event in the YRB and the convective clouds over the TP. The "convergence zone" of the water vapor transport is also identified, based on correlation analysis of the water vapor flux two days and one day prior to, and on the day of, the heavy rainfall. And this "convergence zone" coincides with the migration of the maximum rainfall over the YRB. This specific coupled structure actually plays a key role in generating heavy rainfall over the YRB. The eastward movement of the coupled system with a divergence/convergence center of the potential function at the upper/lower level resembles the spatiotemporal evolution of the heavy rainfall event over the YRB. These upstream "strong signals" are clearly traced in this study through analyzing the three-dimensional structure of the potential/stream function of upstream water vapor transport.     

中国中东部冬季霾日的形成与东亚冬季风和大气湿度的关系

利用1961-2013年中国地面台站长期观测资料和同期NCEP/NCAR再分析资料,以华北、江淮和华南为研究区,分析了中国中东部冬季霾日的形成与东亚冬季风以及大气湿度的关系。结果表明:(1)冬季霾日与东亚冬季风强度成显著的负相关。首先,东亚冬季风强度的减弱使得地面风速减小,进而导致冬季霾日增多。其中,华北7-8 m/s最大风速日数和江淮6-8 m/s最大风速日数的减少,及华南≤2 m/s最大风速日数的增多对各区冬季霾日的增多作用较大。其次,东亚冬季风减弱引起冬季气温的持续升高,易导致冬季霾日的增多,这在华北地区较之在江淮和华南更为明显。(2)由于气候变暖,冬季气温升高,使得近地面相对湿度减小。在江淮和华南地区,冬季霾日的增多与近地面相对湿度的减小显著相关,而在华北地区这种相关较弱。(3)冬季气温升高也有利于大气层结稳定度的增强,3个区域冬季霾日的增多均与大气层结稳定度的增强显著相关,特别是与对流层中低层(850-500 hPa)大气饱和度的降低显著相关。(4)冬季霾日数变化与区域水汽输送关系密切。其中,华北地区的冬季霾日数与水汽总收入成显著正相关,江淮地区与纬向水汽收入成显著正相关,与经向水汽收入成显著负相关,华南地区与经向水汽收入成显著负相关。     

Long-Term Variability of the Wind Field over the Indian Ocean Based on ERA-Interim Reanalysis

A detailed study of long-term variability of winds using 30 years of data from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts global reanalysis (ERA-Interim) over the Indian Ocean has been carried out by partitioning the Indian Ocean into six zones based on local wind extrema. The trend of mean annual wind speed averaged over each zone shows a significant increase in the equatorial region, the Southern Ocean, and the southern part of the trade winds. This indicates that the Southern Ocean winds and the southeast trade winds are becoming stronger. However, the trend for the Bay of Bengal is negative, which might be caused by a weakening of the monsoon winds and northeast trade winds. Maximum interannual variability occurs in the Arabian Sea due to monsoon activity; a minimum is observed in the subtropical region because of the divergence of winds. Wind speed variations in all zones are weakly correlated with the Dipole Mode Index (DMI). However, the equatorial Indian Ocean, the southern part of the trade winds, and subtropical zones show a relatively strong positive correlation with the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), indicating that the SOI has a zonal influence on wind speed in the Indian Ocean. Monsoon winds have a decreasing trend in the northern Indian Ocean, indicating monsoon weakening, and an increasing trend in the equatorial region because of enhancement of the westerlies. The negative trend observed during the non-monsoon period could be a result of weakening of the northeast trade winds over the past few decades. The mean flux of kinetic energy of wind (FKEW) reaches a minimum of about 100?W?m^?2 in the equatorial region and a maximum of about 1500?W?m^?2 in the Southern Ocean. The seasonal variability of FKEW is large, about 1600?W?m^?2, along the coast of Somalia in the northern Indian Ocean. The maximum monthly variability of the FKEW field averaged over each zone occurs during boreal summer. During the onset and withdrawal of monsoon, FKEW is as low as 50?W?m^?2. The Southern Ocean has a large variation of about 1280?W?m^?2 because of strong westerlies throughout the year.     

青藏高原和亚洲夏季风动力学研究的新进展

亚洲夏季风环流受海陆和伊朗高原—青藏高原大地形的热力作用调控.亚洲季风所释放的巨大潜热又对大气环流形成反馈.这种相互反馈过程十分复杂,揭示其物理过程对理解气候变化格局的形成和变化以及提高天气预报及气候预测的准确率十分重要.夏季北半球副热带对流层上层环流的主要特征是存在庞大的南亚高压(SAH)以及强大的对流层上层温度暖中心(UTTM).本文介绍了温度—加热垂直梯度(T-Q_Z)理论的发展,并用以揭示SAH和UTTM的形成机制.指出沿副热带欧亚大陆东部的季风对流潜热加热及其中西部的表面感热加热和高层长波辐射冷却是导致SAH和UTTM在南亚上空发展的原因.文中还介绍了Gill模型用于上部对流层研究的局限性及解决的办法.