Progress in Scatterometer Application

Progress in the scientific application of space-based scatterometer data over the past two decades is reviewed. There has been continuous improvement in coverage, resolution, and accuracy. Besides the traditional applications in weather and ocean-atmosphere interaction, which are based on ocean surface wind vectors, emerging applications over land and ice are also described. Future missions and new technology are introduced. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

渤海悬浮颗粒物的三维输运模式 I.模式

为了长时间,大范围研究渤海中悬浮物的输运规律,研究应用并改造了备国汉堡大学的粒子追踪悬浮物输运的三维模式,模式中考虑了风、气压等气象要素以外海传入的潮波作用下的三维正压海流对悬浮颗粒物的输运．同时考虑了悬浮颗粒物的学降及再悬浮机制和底质中的细颗粒物的运动,将风浪的作用引入了悬浮物输运的计算,数值模式应用的粒五追踪方法,能较好地反映悬浮物浓度的迅速变化。     

关于风浪预报公式和风区宽度的注记

从定常波的风浪波高随风距成长的预报公式出发 ,在一定条件下 ,导出各波向上风浪波高分量与该波向上的风距之间的关系 ,以便在不规则风区上推算风浪波高和平均波向 ;同时 ,对风区宽度作了定量化的分析。     

A climatology of mesoscale model simulated low-level wind jets over Cook Inlet and Shelikof Strait, Alaska

Weather in the North Gulf of Alaska is characterized by a high frequency of deep synoptic-scale low-pressure systems, especially during the cold season. The strong pressure gradients of these storms interact with the extremely rugged terrain of the coastal mountains to produce a variety of channeled flows. These surface wind regimes are not well documented in the scientific community, due to the paucity of observations. Modeling of these phenomena in regions of complex terrain is of great interest to those working with hydrodynamic, wave, and pollutant transport models in coastal and shelf areas. Such models, when coupled with ocean and coastal-ecology counterparts, give a broad view of the role surface winds play in shaping local coastal marine ecosystem in this region. This paper presents a climatology of simulated low-level wind jets over the domain of Cook Inlet and Shelikof Strait along Alaska's south-central coast. Daily simulations using the RAMS model were conducted in a 36-h forecast mode for the cold-season period 10/1/03 to 3/31/04. Systematic analysis of the resulting simulated low-level wind field makes it possible to characterize these jets and gap flows in spatial and temporal detail. The comparison between the RAMS winds and the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)-derived winds when available verifies the existence of these wind jets and the capability of the model to simulate these cases. Clearly, the results of a study in this region depend on the fidelity of the model at these scales (O[5 km]). The SAR comparisons attempt to help establish this. From the 6 months of simulations over Cook Inlet and Shelikof Strait, the low-level wind jets are classified into 10 different regimes by location and orientation. These regimes are categorized into four more general groups: cross-channel westerly, easterly, and up and down Inlet flows. The nature of a particular regime is largely a function of pressure gradient orientation and local topography. Jets in the same group have a similar occurrence distribution with time. Some form of jet occurred in the study region almost daily each month of the period, with December 2003 having the highest frequency of wind jets.     

北太平洋海浪场和风场特征分析

利用欧洲中尺度天气预报中心(ECMWF——European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts)的1979年1月2014年12月逐6 h的ERA-Interim有效波高和10 m风场资料,分析了近36年期间北太平洋海域海浪场和风场的变化特征。结果表明:1)中低纬度的西北太平洋波高有逐年线性递增趋势,大约在0.2~0.6 cm/a,而低纬度的太平洋东北部海域则以-0.4~-0.2 cm/a的趋势减小。2)风速线性变化趋势显著的区域主要集中在太平洋东北部低纬度海域,约以1.0~2.0 cm/(s·a)的速度在增加。而日本岛四周、菲律宾半岛以南等海域大都以-1.0~-0.5 cm/(s·a)的速度减小。3)北太平洋海域波高和风速都具有明显的季节变化特征,两者具有很强的相关性。西风带内有一个个波高超过10 m的风暴圈,其波高受风浪和涌浪的双重作用。这可为航海、海洋工程设计、军事及海洋能开发与利用等方面提供科学依据。     

Coastal ridge constructive processes at a multi-decadal scale in Barreta Island (southern Portugal)

Multiple ridges across prograding coasts may display variable geometries, commonly expressed through varying elevations. Changes in ridge elevation have been traditionally related to the occurrence of fluctuating progradation rates, which might, in turn, be driven by shifting environmental conditions. Here, we explore the geometry and growth mechanisms of multiple ridges, generated at Barreta Island (Ria Formosa, southern Portugal), as a consequence of the rapid progradation of the island over the last 70 years, following the artificial fixation of the downdrift Faro-Olhão inlet with jetties in 1955. The variability in the morphology of these features was analysed in combination with available wind and wave data, in order to better distinguish growth mechanisms and understand the main parameters determining the final geometry of the observed ridges. The results suggest that (1) most of the identified ridges fall in the beach ridge classification, as they have been mostly built by marine processes, and (2) the parameters derived from, or closely related to wave climate variability (e.g. progradation rates, storm occurrence) can jointly explain most of the observed morphological changes, while aeolian processes played a secondary role. Indeed, ridge geometry appears mainly controlled by progradation rates, with higher ridges associated with lower progradation rates. Progradation rate, in turn, is mostly related to longshore wave power, storminess, and the occurrence storm groups. Yet, the final configuration of ridges can also be affected by runup levels and onshore winds. Therefore, establishing the relation between ridge geometry and wave climate is not a straightforward task, because of the complex processes and interactions that control coastal morphodynamics. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

PLANETARY BOUNDARY LAYER HEIGHT MEASURED BY A WIND PROFILER BASED ON THE WAVELET TRANSFORM

Planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) is an important input parameter for any boundary layer study or model, either climate or atmospheric. The variation of the PBLH is also of great significance to the physical processes of numerical prediction, diagnosis of weather forecasting and monitoring urban pollutants. However, effective ways to monitor the PBLH continuously are lack. Wind profilers are commonly used in monitoring PBLH continuously because of its high temporal and spatial resolution, coupled with capability of continuous detection. In this paper, the covariance wavelet transform (CWT) is used to analyze the range-corrected signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the wind profiler to determine the PBLH, which is then compared with the results measured by the gradient method and the radiosonde. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The scaling parameter a and translation parameter b of the wavelet are critical in determination of the PBLH by applying the CWT as different values may get completely different results, which requires to select appropriate values in the calculation carefully. (2) Quality control is crucial in determining the PBLH because good quality control can help remove mutation points, which makes the determined PBLH more consistent with the actual situation. (3) In clear-air, the gradient method is not applicable if the boundary layer turbulence is inhomogeneous and the impact of noise is large for that it is easy to be impacted by the mutation of SNR caused by the atmosphere turbulence instability and other factors, which will cause large errors, while the CWT method as an improvement of the gradient method can determine the PBLH quite well. (4) Through quality control, the PBLHs determined by the CWT are consistent with those of radiosonde, and the correlation coefficient between them is 0.87.     

边界层风廓线雷达在降水时段中的在线分析应用研究

本研究提出了一种在边界层风廓线雷达连续运行的降水探测时段中对降水频谱进行在线分析的新的应用方式。详细介绍了边界层风廓线雷达在线分析原理和方法。同时结合典型降水频谱个例,分析了可获得的多个潜在的气象参数和信息。并指出,该在线分析方式的实施可以使风廓线雷达的应用领域从晴空探测向降水测量拓展;有效缓解当前风廓线雷达应用存在的瓶颈问题;间接证明边界层风廓线雷达组网间距不固定的观点。文章分析说明,随着在线分析方式的推广应用,边界层风廓线雷达将成为单站精细化气象探测和预报/服务的重要工具。     

Alfven Wave Reflection model of field-aligned currents at Mercury

An Alfven Wave Reflection (AWR) model is proposed that provides closure for strong field-aligned currents (FACs) driven by the magnetopause reconnection in the magnetospheres of planets having no significant ionospheric and surface electrical conductance. The model is based on properties of the Alfven waves, generated at high altitudes and reflected from the low-conductivity surface of the planet. When magnetospheric convection is very slow, the incident and reflected Alfven waves propagate along approximately the same path. In this case, the net field-aligned currents will be small. However, as the convection speed increases, the reflected wave is displaced relatively to the incident wave so that the incident and reflected waves no longer compensate each other. In this case, the net field-aligned current may be large despite the lack of significant ionospheric and surface conductivity. Our estimate shows that for typical solar wind conditions at Mercury, the magnitude of Region 1-type FACs in Mercury’s magnetosphere may reach hundreds of kilo-Amperes. This AWR model of field-aligned currents may provide a solution to the long-standing problem of the closure of FACs in the Mercury’s magnetosphere.     

Comparison of the Characteristics of Magnetic Clouds and Magnetic Cloud-Like Structures for the Events of 1995 – 2003

Using nine years of solar wind plasma and magnetic field data from the Wind mission, we investigated the characteristics of both magnetic clouds (MCs) and magnetic cloud-like structures (MCLs) during 1995 – 2003. A MCL structure is an event that is identified by an automatic scheme (Lepping, Wu, and Berdichevsky, Ann. Geophys. 23, 2687, 2005) with the same criteria as for a MC, but it is not usually identifiable as a flux rope by using the MC (Burlaga et al., J. Geophys. Res. 86, 6673, 1981) fitting model developed by Lepping, Jones, and Burlaga (Geophys. Res. Lett. 95(11), 957, 1990). The average occurrence rate is 9.5 for MCs and 13.6 for MCLs per year for the overall period of interest, and there were 82 MCs and 122 MCLs identified during this period. The characteristics of MCs and MCL structures are as follows: (1) The average duration, Δt, of MCs is 21.1 h, which is 40% longer than that for MCLs (Δt=15 h); (2) the average (minimum B _z found in MC/MCL measured in geocentric solar ecliptic coordinates) is −10.2 nT for MCs and −6 nT for MCLs; (3) the average Dst_min (minimum Dst caused by MCs/MCLs) is −82 nT for MCs and −37 nT for MCLs; (4) the average solar wind velocity is 453 km s⁻¹ for MCs and 413 km s⁻¹ for MCLs; (5) the average thermal speed is 24.6 km s⁻¹ for MCs and 27.7 km s⁻¹ for MCLs; (6) the average magnetic field intensity is 12.7 nT for MCs and 9.8 nT for MCLs; (7) the average solar wind density is 9.4 cm⁻³ for MCs and 6.3 cm⁻³ for MCLs; and (8) a MC is one of the most important interplanetary structures capable of causing severe geomagnetic storms. The longer duration, more intense magnetic field and higher solar wind speed of MCs, compared to those properties of the MCLs, are very likely the major reasons for MCs generally causing more severe geomagnetic storms than MCLs. But the fact that a MC is an important interplanetary structure with respect to geomagnetic storms is not new (e.g., Zhang and Burlaga, J. Geophys. Res. 93, 2511, 1988; Bothmer, ESA SP-535, 419, 2003).