Climatological distribution of lightning density observed by satellites in China and its circumjacent regions

The 0.5°×0.5°grid resolution distribution of lightning density in China and its circumjacent regions have been analyzed by using the satellite-borne OTD (Apr 1995-Mar 2000) and LIS (Dec 1997-Mar 2003) databases. It is shown that: (i) Firstly, the variability of the lightning density (LD) is particularly pronounced over the different subareas, 9 times greater over the south than the north side of Himalayas Mountains, 2.5 times greater over the eastern than the western area of China. While the maximum and minimum LD are respectively 31.4fl/km2/a (in Guangzhou region) and less than 0.2fl/km2/a (in the desert of western China). Secondly, the LD of China's continent regularly varies with latitude and distance off coast, which is consistent with annual mean precipitation in varying trend. In conclusion, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the China's three-step staircase topography and the latitude are three important factors affecting macro-scale characteristics of the LD distribution, (ii) The regional differences     

三极地区雪冰中黑碳研究进展

黑碳被认为是除温室气体外对气候变暖贡献最大的辐射强迫因子.三极(北极、南极和青藏高原)地区是全球雪冰分布最集中的区域,沉积至雪冰中的黑碳可反映人类活动的历史变化,并可能导致反照率降低而影响物质能量平衡.通过系统回顾三极地区雪冰黑碳的研究方法、空间分布、时间变化及其造成的辐射强迫,得到的研究结果表明:由于处于不同的地理位...     

水汽场初值调整及其对华南降水预报贡献的研究

该文利用GMS多通道气象卫星资料推导得到的降水资料估算出的加热率, 作为非绝热的非线性正规模初始化过程中的非绝热强迫项, 进行风压场的初值调整, 再采用一个与模式中的对流参数化方案相反的逆运算方案, 进行水汽场的初值调整.以保证初始时刻按模式的物理参数化方案计算得到的加热率与由卫星推导的加热率一致. 这一方法在非绝热的非线性正规模初值化的框架中, 使初始时刻的水汽场得到调整.既实现了传统的初始化目标, 又提高了模式对降水的短时预报效果.对华南的两个个例的试验结果表明该文的方法是有效的.     

黑碳气溶胶辐射强迫全球分布的模拟研究

利用一个改进的辐射传输模式,结合全球气溶胶数据集（GADS）,计算晴空条件下冬夏两季黑碳气溶胶的直接辐射强迫在对流层顶和地面的全球分布。计算结果表明,与温室气体引起的整层大气都是正的辐射强迫不同,黑碳气溶胶的辐射强迫在对流层顶为正值,而在地面的辐射强迫却是负值。作者从理论上解释了造成这种结果的原因。对北半球冬季和夏季而言,在对流层顶黑碳气溶胶的全球辐射强迫的平均值分别为0.085W/m2和0.155 W/m2,在地面则分别为-0.37 W/m2和-0.63 W/m2。虽然气溶胶的辐射强迫主要依赖于其本身的光学性质和在大气中的浓度,太阳高度角和地表反照率对黑碳气溶胶的辐射强迫会产生很大的影响。研究指出:黑碳气溶胶在对流层顶正的辐射强迫和在地面负的辐射强迫的绝对值都随太阳天顶角的余弦和地表反照率的增加线性增大;地表反照率对黑碳气溶胶辐射强迫的强度和分布都有重要影响。黑碳气溶胶的辐射强迫分布具有明显的纬度变化特征,冬夏两季的大值区都位于30°N~90°N之间,表明人类活动是造成黑碳气溶胶辐射强迫的主要原因。     

中国黑碳气溶胶分布特征与辐射强迫的模拟研究

利用区域气候模式RegCM3模拟2000年我国黑碳气溶胶的分布特征和辐射强迫。结果表明,黑碳气溶胶主要分布在我国黄河以南、青藏高原以东的广大区域,柱含量由南向北递减;柱含量最大值在0.6mg／m^2以上,出现在中南、四川盆地、湖南、贵州、广西、广东西部和云南南部等地区;青藏高原南侧黑碳气溶胶次高值区的存在,反映了气溶胶的跨国界输送并影响区域气候的特点。黑碳气溶胶的大气顶辐射强迫介于0.1—0.8w／m^2之间,地表辐射强迫介于-0.1— -2.0W／m^2之间,两者分布特征与柱含量分布特征基本一致。同柱含量相似,黑碳气溶胶大气顸辐射强迫和地表辐射强迫也有明显的季节性变化,春季最大,秋、冬季次之,夏季最小。     

Did Paleogene North Atlantic rift-related eruptions drive early Eocene climate cooling?

The delivery of volcanogenic sulphur into the upper atmosphere by explosive eruptions is known to cause significant temporary climate cooling. Therefore, phreatomagmatic and phreatoplinian eruptions occurring during the final rifting stages of active flood basalt provinces provide a potent mechanism for triggering climate change.

During the early Eocene, the northeast Atlantic margin was subjected to repeated ashfall for 0.5 m.y. This was the result of extensive phreatomagmatic activity along 3000 km of the opening northeast Atlantic rift. These widespread, predominantly basaltic ashes are now preserved in marine sediments of the Balder Formation and its equivalents, and occur over an area extending from the Faroe Islands to Denmark and southern England. These ash-bearing sediments also contain pollen and spore floras derived from low diversity forests that grew in cooler, drier climates than were experienced either before or after these highly explosive eruptions. In addition, coeval plant macrofossil evidence from the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA, also shows a comparable pattern of vegetation change. The coincidence of the ashes and cooler climate pollen and spore floras in northwest Europe identifies volcanism as the primary cause of climate cooling. Estimates show that whilst relatively few phreatomagmatic eruptive centres along the 3000 km opening rift system could readily generate 0.5–1 °C cooling, on an annual basis, only persistent or repeated volcanic phases would have been able to achieve the long-term cooling effect observed in the floral record. We propose that the cumulative effect of repeated Balder Formation eruptions initiated a biodiversity crisis in the northeast Atlantic margin forests. Only the decline of this persistent volcanic activity, and the subsequent climatic warming at the start of the Eocene Thermal Maximum allowed the growth of subtropical forests to develop across the region.     

风应力对热带斜压海洋的强迫

利用一个线性的具有不同密度、温度的热带海洋两层模式,分析了热带西太平洋对纬圈风应力的响应.解析地求得热带西太平洋温跃层厚度、洋流及海温分布.结果表明次表层温度变化明显要比表层海温变化大,同时在大洋西部次表层发展起来的扰动向东传播能引起海温分布形态的异常.理论结果支持观测己表明的热带西太平洋物理量的变异在ElNino/La Nina事件中起着重要作用的事实.     

东亚地区矿物尘气溶胶直接辐射强迫的初步模拟研究

为研究东亚地区矿物尘气溶胶的直接辐射效应,在区域气候模式RegCM3中加入起尘方案、建立矿物尘气溶胶输送模式,并将其辐射过程加入区域气候模式的辐射方案.通过对2001年3月～2002年3月的模拟发现：中国西北和蒙古国年平均地表起尘率在1μg/(m2·s)以上,最大达到90μg/(m2·s)是东亚地区最主要的矿物尘气溶胶源地;东亚地区矿物尘气溶胶柱含量最大值达5g/m2,出现在塔克拉玛干沙漠和秦岭地区;气溶胶大气顶直接辐射强迫基本呈现大陆上为正、海洋上正负均有的分布特征,区域平均辐射强迫在春夏秋冬分别为1.08, 0.88, 0.37,0.40W/m2,短波辐射强迫在陆上为正、海上正负均有,长波辐射强迫均为正值;四季的地表辐射强迫分别为-5.64, -2.25, -1.37, -1.87W/m2;辐射强迫数值对矿物尘气溶胶单次散射反照率的变化较敏感.     

Sensitivity of sea ice to wind-stress and radiative forcing since 1500: a model study of the Little Ice Age and beyond

Three different reconstructed wind-stress fields which take into account variations of the North Atlantic Oscillation, one general circulation model wind-stress field, and three radiative forcings (volcanic activity, insolation changes and greenhouse gas changes) are used with the UVic Earth System Climate Model to simulate the surface air temperature, the sea-ice cover, and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) since 1500, a period which includes the Little Ice Age (LIA). The simulated Northern Hemisphere surface air temperature, used for model validation, agrees well with several temperature reconstructions. The simulated sea-ice cover in each hemisphere responds quite differently to the forcings. In the Northern Hemisphere, the simulated sea-ice area and volume during the LIA are larger than the present-day area and volume. The wind-driven changes in sea-ice area are about twice as large as those due to thermodynamic (i.e., radiative) forcing. For the sea-ice volume, changes due to wind forcing and thermodynamics are of similar magnitude. Before 1850, the simulations suggest that volcanic activity was mainly responsible for the thermodynamically produced area and volume changes, while after 1900 the slow greenhouse gas increase was the main driver of the sea-ice changes. Changes in insolation have a small effect on the sea ice throughout the integration period. The export of the thicker sea ice during the LIA has no significant effect on the maximum strength of the AMOC. A more important process in altering the maximum strength of the AMOC and the sea-ice thickness is the wind-driven northward ocean heat transport. In the Southern Hemisphere, there are no visible long-term trends in the simulated sea-ice area or volume since 1500. The wind-driven changes are roughly four times larger than those due to radiative forcing. Prior to 1800, all the radiative forcings could have contributed to the thermodynamically driven changes in area and volume. In the 1800s the volcanic forcing was dominant, and during the first part of the 1900s both the insolation changes and the greenhouse gas forcing are responsible for thermodynamically produced changes. Finally, in the latter part of the 1900s the greenhouse gas forcing is the dominant factor in determining the sea-ice changes in the Southern Hemisphere.

Precessional forcing of tropical vegetation carbon storage

Since the Mid Pleistocene Revolution, which occurred about one million years ago, global temperatures have fluctuated with a quasi‐periodicity of ca. 100 ka. The pattern of past change in the extent of woodlands, and therefore by inference vegetation carbon storage, has been demonstrated to have a strong positive link with this global temperature change at high and mid latitudes. However, understanding of climate systems and ecosystem function indicates that the pattern of woodland change at low latitudes may follow a fundamentally different pattern. We present output from the intermediate complexity model GENIE‐1, comprising a single transient simulation over the last 800 ka and a 174‐member ensemble of 130 ka transient simulations over the last glacial cycle. These simulations suggest that while vegetation carbon storage in mid–high northern latitudes robustly follows the characteristic ca. 100 ka cycle, this signal is not a robust feature of tropical vegetation, which is subject to stronger direct forcing by the precessional (21 ka) orbital cycle (albeit with a highly uncertain response). We conclude that the correlation of palaeoenvironmental records from low latitudes with global temperature change must be done with caution. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.