闭合气压系统中心位置指数的计算方案

王盘兴等在＂闭合气压系统环流指数的定义及计算＂一文中定义了闭合气压系统的面积指数S、强度指数P和中心位置指数（λc,φc）,并给出了它们的计算方案。但其中（λc,φc）的计算方案对低纬系统的计算存在明显误差,误差原因是原方案中的极点球面坐标系不适合低纬系统的计算。本文建立了一套原点位于搜索区Ω中心的新球面坐标系,通过坐标转换实现了低纬闭合气压系统中心位置指数（λc,φc）的准确计算。对7月南亚高压和1月蒙古高压中心位置指数（λc,φc）的实际计算表明,它既消除了低纬系统（南亚高压）（λc,φc）原计算方案的明显误差,又保持了与高纬系统（蒙古高压）（λc,φc）原计算方案计算结果的一致。因此,本文给出了适于计算任意纬度闭合气压系统中心位置指数（λc,φc）的计算方案。     

Prediction Errors Associated with Sparse Grid Estimates of Flows over Hills

Numerical simulations of geophysical flows have to be done on very sparse grids. Nevertheless, flows over moderately sloped hills can be predicted quite accurately as long as the near ground vertical resolution is reasonably dense. Recirculation flows behind steeper hills are associated with slow convergence towards grid independent integrations, but even then moderately stratified flows of this type can be predicted usefully accurately. For better horizontal grids than about half the hill-height Δx ₁/H ≈ 0.5 or so, separation and recirculating domains are predicted with an error factor comparable to 0.3. The characteristic wavelength of lee waves is predicted more accurately while the lee wave amplitude and the maximum turbulence intensity in recirculating domains are underestimated by factors comparable to 0.3. Strongly stratified flows may be associated with hydraulic transitions and even this is predicted on quite coarse grids, up to say Δx ₁/H ≈ 0.5. However, the details of such flows turn out to be predicted with considerable errors also on high-resolution grids. Inaccurate modelling of stratified turbulence is a main contributor to this error.     

Investigating a Hierarchy of Eulerian Closure Models for Scalar Transfer Inside Forested Canopies

Modelling the transfer of heat, water vapour, and CO₂ between the biosphere and the atmosphere is made difficult by the complex two-way interaction between leaves and their immediate microclimate. When simulating scalar sources and sinks inside canopies on seasonal, inter-annual, or forest development time scales, the so-called well-mixed assumption (WMA) of mean concentration (i.e. vertically constant inside the canopy but dynamically evolving in time) is often employed. The WMA eliminates the need to model how vegetation alters its immediate microclimate, which necessitates formulations that utilize turbulent transport theories. Here, two inter-related questions pertinent to the WMA for modelling scalar sources, sinks, and fluxes at seasonal to inter-annual time scales are explored: (1) if the WMA is to be replaced so as to resolve this two-way interaction, how detailed must the turbulent transport model be? And (2) what are the added predictive skills gained by resolving the two-way interaction vis-à-vis other uncertainties such as seasonal variations in physiological parameters. These two questions are addressed by simulating multi-year mean scalar concentration and eddy-covariance scalar flux measurements collected in a Loblolly pine (P. taeda L.) plantation near Durham, North Carolina, U.S.A. using turbulent transport models ranging from K-theory (or first-order closure) to third-order closure schemes. The multi-layer model calculations with these closure schemes were contrasted with model calculations employing the WMA. These comparisons suggested that (i) among the three scalars, sensible heat flux predictions are most biased with respect to eddy-covariance measurements when using the WMA, (ii) first-order closure schemes are sufficient to reproduce the seasonal to inter-annual variations in scalar fluxes provided the canonical length scale of turbulence is properly specified, (iii) second-order closure models best agree with measured mean scalar concentration (and temperature) profiles inside the canopy as well as scalar fluxes above the canopy, (iv) there are no clear gains in predictive skills when using third-order closure schemes over their second-order closure counterparts. At inter-annual time scales, biases in modelled scalar fluxes incurred by using the WMA exceed those incurred when correcting for the seasonal amplitude in the maximum carboxylation capacity (V _{cmax, 25}) provided its mean value is unbiased. The role of local thermal stratification inside the canopy and possible computational simplifications in decoupling scalar transfer from the generation of the flow statistics are also discussed.

“The tree, tilting its leaves to capture bullets of light; inhaling, exhaling; its many thousand stomata breathing, creating the air”. Ruth Stone, 2002, In the Next Galaxy

     

Intercomparison and Evaluation of MM5 and Meso-NH mesoscale models in the stable boundary layer

Atmospheric numerical models depend critically on realistic treatment of the lower boundary conditions. In strongly thermally-stratified conditions, turbulence may be very weak and the models may find it difficult to produce a good forecast near the surface. Under clear skies and for weak synoptic winds the determining factors are the turbulent kinetic energy and surface-layer parameterizations, which can be very different between models. Here, two state-of-the-art mesoscale models (MM5 and Meso-NH) are operated under exactly the same conditions for two different nights over the Duero basin in the Iberian Peninsula: one night with a well-defined synoptic wind and a second with practically no horizontal pressure gradient. The models are inter-compared and checked against available information, and their performances are evaluated.     

An Assessment on the Performance of IPCC AR4 Climate Models in Simulating Interdecadal Variations of the East Asian Summer Monsoon

Observations from several data centers together with a categorization method are used to evaluate the IPCC AR4 （Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Fourth Assessment Report） climate models＇ performance in simulating the interdecadal variations of summer precipitation and monsoon circulation in East Asia. Out of 19 models under examination, 9 models can relatively well reproduce the 1979-1999 mean June-July-August （JJA） precipitation in East Asia, but only 3 models （Category-1 models） can capture the interdecadal variation of precipitation in East Asia. These 3 models are： GFDL-CM2.0, MIROC3.2 （hires）, and MIROC3.2 （medres）, among which the GFDL-CM2.0 gives the best performance. The reason for the poor performance of most models in simulating the East Asian summer monsoon interdecadal variation lies in that the key dynamic and thermal-dynamic mechanisms behind the East Asian monsoon change are missed by the models, e.g., the large-scale tropospheric cooling and drying over East Asia. In contrast, the Category-1 models relatively well reproduce the variations in vertical velocity and water vapor over East Asia and thus show a better agreement with observations in simulating the pattern of ＂wet south and dry north＂ in China in the past 20 years.
It is assessed that a single model＇s performance in simulating a particular variable has great impacts on the ensemble results. More realistic outputs can be obtained when the multi-model ensemble is carried out using a suite of well-performing models for a specific variable, rather than using all available models. This indicates that although a multi-model ensemble is in general better than a single model, the best ensemble mean cannot be achieved without looking into each member model＇s performance.     

Consistency of observed winter precipitation trends in northern Europe with regional climate change projections

Often it is claimed that the recent changes in northern European climate are at least partly anthropogenic even though a human influence has not yet been successfully detected. Hence we investigate whether the recent changes are consistent with regional climate change projections. Therefore, trends in winter (DJF) mean precipitation in northern Europe are compared to human induced changes as predicted by a set of four regional climate model simulations. The patterns of recent trends and predicted changes match reasonably well as indicated by pattern correlation and the similarity is very likely not random. However, the model projections generally underestimate the recent change in winter precipitation. That is, the signal-to-noise ratio of the anthropogenic precipitation change is either rather low or the presently used simulations are significantly flawed in their ability to project changes into the future. European trends contain large signals related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), of which a major unknown part may be unrelated to the anthropogenic signal. Therefore, we also examine the consistency of recent and projected changes after subtracting the NAO signal in both the observations and in the projections. It turns out that even after the removal of the NAO signal, the pattern of trends in the observations is similar to those projected by the models. At the same time, the magnitude of the trends is considerably reduced and closer to the magnitude of the change in the projections.     

一次台风大暴雨成因及落区分析

对2007年9月19日到20日一次台风暴雨过程进行了数值模拟,利用模式输出资料具体分析了本次台风登陆减弱后的低压结构特征和大暴雨落区。结果表明:流场上高空辐散低空辐合特征明显,台风右侧来自海洋的低空潮湿偏南气流向中纬度槽前和台风倒槽前部输送的大量水汽在鲁东南东部和山东半岛南部辐合,形成强降水区;台风中心风速较小,和东部海上强风速中心形成明显"风速偶",降水区主要发生在中、低层"风速偶"之间的强风速梯度中。由于下垫面分为海上和陆上两部分,台风低压物理量场结构存在东西不对称性质,上升运动更加强烈,降水强度更大。降水的增幅与高空东南急流及高空正涡度中心和负散度中心的明显脉动下传有关系。     

基于ADTD系统的雷电流波头陡度频率分布特征

通过对ADTD闪电定位系统2006 2008年在重庆地区监测的729598次闪电进行统计,重点分析雷电流陡度的频率分布特征。结果表明:雷电流波头陡度及其频率随极性不同而差异较大,正闪陡度明显大于负闪陡度,而同陡度负闪频率却显著大于正闪;雷电流幅值与陡度相关系数为+0.613;采用电力行业标准DL/T620推荐波头时间反推得到的雷电流陡度和采用Ciger推荐公式计算得到的雷电流陡度的概率分布特征与统计特征差异较大。在此基础上分析了ADTD系统获取雷电流陡度资料的局限性,为合理选取雷电流陡度参数提供理论依据。     

Improvement of Vertical Diffusion Analytic Schemes Under Stable Atmospheric Conditions

Based on gradient transport theory or K-theory, turbulent transport in the atmosphere has long been parameterized using the eddy diffusivity. Due to its simplicity, this approach has often been applied in many numerical models but rarely tested with observations. Here, the widely used O’Brien cubic polynomial approach has been validated together with an exponential approach against eddy diffusivity profiles determined from measurements and from large-eddy simulation data in stable conditions. Verification is completed by analyzing the variability effects on pollutant concentrations of two different vertical diffusion (K(z)) schemes incorporated in an atmospheric chemical model. It is shown that the analytical, exponential solution agrees better with observations than the O’Brien profile and should be used henceforth in practical applications.     

Influence of Thermal Effects on the Wind Field Within the Urban Environment

Micrometeorological conditions in the vicinity of urban buildings strongly influence the requirements that are imposed on building heating and cooling. The goal of the present study, carried out within the Advance Tools for Rational Energy Use towards Sustainability (ATREUS) European research network, is the evaluation of the wind field around buildings with walls heated by solar radiation. Two computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes were validated against extensive wind-tunnel observations to assess the influence of thermal effects on model performance. The code selected from this validation was used to simulate the wind and temperature fields for a summer day in a specific region of the city of Lisbon. For this study, the meteorological data produced by a non-hydrostatic mesoscale atmospheric model (MM5) were used as boundary conditions for a CFD code, which was further applied to analyze the effects of local roughness elements and thermodynamic conditions on the air flow around buildings. The CFD modelling can also provide the inflow parameters for a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, used to evaluate the building energy budgets and to predict performance of the air-conditioning system. The main finding of the present three-dimensional analyses is that thermal forcing associated with the heating of buildings can significantly modify local properties of the air flow.