Investigating the Dominant Source for the Generation of Gravity Waves during Indian Summer Monsoon Using Ground-based Measurements

Over the tropics,convection,wind shear(i.e.,vertical and horizontal shear of wind and/or geostrophic adjustment comprising spontaneous imbalance in jet streams) and topography are the major sources for the generation of gravity waves.During the summer monsoon season(June-August) over the Indian subcontinent,convection and wind shear coexist.To determine the dominant source of gravity waves during monsoon season,an experiment was conducted using mesosphere-stratosphere-troposphere(MST) radar situated at Gadanki(13.5 N,79.2 E),a tropical observatory in the southern part of the Indian subcontinent.MST radar was operated continuously for 72 h to capture high-frequency gravity waves.During this time,a radiosonde was released every 6 h in addition to the regular launch(once daily to study low-frequency gravity waves) throughout the season.These two data sets were utilized effectively to characterize the jet stream and the associated gravity waves.Data available from collocated instruments along with satellite-based brightness temperature(TBB) data were utilized to characterize the convection in and around Gadanki.Despite the presence of two major sources of gravity wave generation(i.e.,convection and wind shear) during the monsoon season,wind shear(both vertical shear and geostrophic adjustment) contributed the most to the generation of gravity waves on various scales.     

Rheology of the Earth and a thermoconvective mechanism for sedimentary basin formation

A power-law non-Newtonian fluid is usually assumed to model slow flows in the mantle and, in particular, convective flows. However, the power-law fluid has no memory, in contrast to a real material. A new non-linear integral (having a memory) model is proposed to describe the rheology of rocks. The model is consistent with the theory of simple fluids with fading memory and with laboratory studies of rock creep. The proposed model reduces to the power-law fluid model for stationary flows and to the Andrade model for flows associated with small strains. Stationary convection beneath continents has been studied by Fleitout & Yuen (1984 ), who used the power-law fluid model and obtained the cold immobile boundary layer (continental lithosphere). In a stability analysis of this layer, the Andrade model must be used. The analysis shows that the lithosphere is overstable (the period of oscillation is about 200  Ma). In the present study, it is suggested that these thermoconvective oscillations of the lithosphere are a mechanism for sedimentary basin formation. The vertical crustal movement in sedimentary basins can be considered as a slow subsidence on which small-amplitude oscillations are superimposed. The longest period of oscillatory crustal movement is of the same order of magnitude as the period of convective oscillation of the lithosphere found in the stability analysis. Taking into account the difference between depositional and erosional transport rates we can explain the permanent subsidence as well as the oscillations.     

青藏铁路抛石护坡路基强迫对流特性数值分析

基于多孔介质中流体热对流的连续性方程、非达西流动量方程和能量方程,对强通风条件下青藏铁路典型抛石护坡路基内温度场和流速场的分布形态进行数值研究。研究结果表明,抛石护坡路基对多年冻土保护作用显著,抛石护坡路基的存在使夏季多年冻土上限明显提高,冬季抛石护坡路基下部土体回冻速度较天然地表下部土体更快,由于降温作用主要集中在护坡附近有限范围之内,对路基中部的降温作用相对较弱。整体而言,抛石护坡对冻土路基本体的保护作用有限,从长期降温效果来看,由于全球气候变暖的影响,强通风条件下抛石护坡路基中线以下土体的内部可能产生“似眼球状”融化夹层,不利于路基的稳定。迎风抛石护坡层中空气运动方向大致为沿护坡斜向上,背风抛石护坡层中空气运动方向以从下到上运动为主,抛石层内空气的运动形式为“绕流”,抛石层表面空气速度最大,内部较小,空气速度分布区间为1.24×10-3～12.8 m/s,数值结果与现场试验测得的风速区间基本一致。     

恒星内部的贯穿对流(英文)

贯穿对流是恒星演化理论长期未获很好解决的理论问题。尽管它已有近五十年的研究历史 ,但至今人们对贯穿对流仍存在很多的错误的理解。究其原因是因为人们对贯穿对流的理解依然停留在唯象的混合长理论图象上。根据一种非局部对流理论 ,我们揭示了贯穿对流区的结构。在太阳下部的贯穿对流区 ,温度梯度是亚绝热的 ,但是是超辐射的。本文还对恒星对流理论给出了一个简短的评述。     

A Study on the Impact of Parameterization of Physical Processes on Prediction of Tropical Cyclones over the Bay of Bengal With NCAR/PSU Mesoscale Model

Prediction of the track and intensity of tropical cyclones is one of the most challenging problems in numerical weather prediction (NWP). The chief objective of this study is to investigate the performance of different cumulus convection and planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterization schemes in the simulation of tropical cyclones over the Bay of Bengal. For this purpose, two severe cyclonic storms are simulated with two PBL and four convection schemes using non-hydrostatic version of MM5 modeling system. Several important model simulated fields including sea level pressure, horizontal wind and precipitation are compared with the corresponding verification analysis/observation. The track of the cyclones in the simulation and analysis are compared with the best-fit track provided by India Meteorological Department (IMD). The Hong-Pan PBL scheme (as implemented in NCAR Medium Range Forecast (MRF) model) in combination with Grell (or Betts-Miller) cumulus convection scheme is found to perform better than the other combinations of schemes used in this study. Though it is expected that radiative processes may not have pronounced effect in short-range forecasts, an attempt is made to calibrate the model with respect to the two radiation parameterization schemes used in the study. And the results indicate that radiation parameterization has noticeable impact on the simulation of tropical cyclones.     

登陆台风不连续北跳与暴雨的数值模拟研究

利用MM4（PSU/NCAR）模式，对1992年8月31日20时～9月1日20时登陆台风暴雨过程进行了数值试验研究。结果表明；登陆台风的不连续北跳与西风槽和积云对流潜热反馈有关。倒槽南部雨区内积云对流的发展加大了对台风倒槽内的水汽、动量、热量等输送，使倒槽内降水增幅。积云对流潜热反馈对高低空急流以及台风的移动都有很大的影响。     

Modification of North Pacific Intermediate Water around Mixed Water Region

The mixing processes in the Mixed Water Region (MWR) that lead to changes in the properties of North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) have been studied using observational data sets obtained in May–June 1998. Neutral surfaces, the equation of water mass conversion rate on neutral surfaces and the equation of vertical velocity across neutral surfaces have been used to distinguish dominant processes by assuming the horizontal scale to be the streamer scale (under 100 km). The possibility of double diffusive convection is also discussed in relation to the density ratio. These results may be summarized as follows: (1) the difference between the potential density surface and the neutral surface may rise to −0.04 kg/m³ around the source water of NPIW; (2) horizontal diffusion causes strong modifications of the source water of NPIW; (3) the density range within which strong modification of the source water of NPIW occurs becomes dense from the northern part of MWR near the Oyashio Front to the southern part near the Kuroshio Front, and to the eastern part. Our modeling of these processes shows that cabbeling has effects on the density increment of the source water of NPIW in the northern and southern part of MWR. Double diffusive convection has effects on the density increment of the source water of NPIW, mainly in the northern part of MWR. The possible density increment due to cabbeling in these areas is estimated to be 0.01≈0.03 kg/m³. The possible density increment due to double diffusive convection is 0.01≈0.03 kg/m³. The total density increment due to cabbeling and double diffusive convection amounts to 0.06 kg/m³. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The ionospheric signature of transient dayside reconnection and the associated pulsed convection return flow

Three SuperDARN coherent HF radars are employed to investigate the excitation of convection in the dayside high-latitude ionosphere in response to transient reconnection occurring in the cusp region. This study demonstrates the existence of transient antisunward-propagating backscatter features at the expected location of the ionospheric footprint of the cusp region, which have a repetition rate near 10 min. These are interpreted as the ionospheric signature of flux transfer events. Moreover, transient sunward-propagating regions of backscatter are observed in the convection return flow regions of both the pre- and post-noon sectors. These patches are observed to propagate towards the noon sector from at least as far around the auroral zone as 07 MLT in the pre-noon sector and 17 MLT in the post-noon sector, travelling with a veloCity of approximately 1.5 to 2 km s⁻¹. These return flow patches have a repetition rate similar to that of the transient features observed at local noon. While providing supporting evidence for the impulsive nature of convection flow, the observation of sunward-propagating features in the return flow region is not consistent with current conceptual models of the excitation of convection.     

The Circum-Pacific Teleconnection Pattern in meridional wind in the high troposphere

The Circum-Pacific Teleconnection Pattern (CPTP) is revealed in the meridional wind in the high troposphere via an emprirical orthogonal function (EOF) and correlation analysis on NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. The CPTP is found to be composed of the North Pacific-North American teleconnection pattern (PNA), the South Pacific-South American teleconnection pattern (PSA), and the teleconnection patterns over the tropical western Pacific and the tropical eastern Pacific (or, Central America, or, tropical Atlantic). There is substantial interannual variability of the CPTP and a typical CPTP can be detected in some years. It is speculated that the zonal wind anomalies over the equatorial region in the western and eastern sides of the Pacific may play a role in linking the two hemispheres. The anomalous convection activities in the Tropics are plausible triggering factors for the zonal wind anomalies that are responsible for the composition of the CPTP.