Observations of mid-troposhheric circulation from water vapour radiances of polar orbiting satellites

Water vapour tracers can provide useful information on winds at ≈ 500mb by observing the 6·7μ radiances. This fills the data gap in the cloud motion winds provided by conventional meteorological geostationary satellites. There is no geostationary satellite at present over the Indian Ocean with 6·7μ imaging capability to provide mid-tropospheric winds. The potentials of 6·7μ radiances, available from polar orbiting satellites, for mid-tropospheric circulation features have been examined in this study. Tiros-N satellite data of May 1979 and ECMWF level-IIIb wind data were analysed to relate the radiances with the streamlines. We find that the radiances of 6·7μ from orbiting satellites agree well with the wind field.     

Late Quaternary record of sea-level changes in the Antarctic

The Late Quaternary sediment sequence of the continental margin in the eastern Weddell Sea is well suited for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. Two cores from the upper slope, which contain the sedimentary record of the last 300 ky, have been sedimentologically investigated. Age models are based on lithostratigraphy and are correlated with the stable isotope record. As a result of a detailed analysis of the clay mineral composition, grain size distributions and structures, this sedimentary record provides the first marine evidence that the Antarctic ice sheet extended to the shelf edge during the last glacial.The variations in volume and size of the ice sheet were also simulated in numerical models. Changes in accumulation rate and ice temperature are of some importance, but the model revealed that fluctuations are primarily driven by changes in eustatic sea-level and that the ice edge extended to the shelf edge during the last glacial maximum. This causal relationship implies that the maximum ice extension strongly depends on the magnitude and duration of the sea-level depression during a glacial period. The results of the sedimentological investigations and of the numerical models show that the Antarctic ice sheet follows glacial events in the northern hemisphere by teleconnections of sea level. Correspondence to: H. Grobe     

Lake-ice collapse trenches in Wisconsin,U.S.A.

A series of trenches about a metre deep, 20 to 30 m wide, and as much as 2 km in length occurs in central Wisconsin, along the east shore of proglacial Lake Wisconsin. They are interpreted to be collapse trenches formed when shore ice melted after being buried beneath an expanding outwash plain.     

The 1.5–5-day eastward waves in the upper stratosphere–mesosphere as observed by the Esrange meteor radar and the SABER instrument

Data of neutral meridional wind obtained by the meteor radar at Esrange and data of temperature and pressure measured by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument on board the Thermosphere–Ionosphere–Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) spacecraft were studied with respect to a day-to-day atmospheric variability with periods ranging from 1.5 to 5 days. The detailed analysis was carried out for February 2004. Perturbations of the atmospheric parameters at the examined periods appeared mainly as eastward-propagating waves of zonal wavenumbers 1 and 2. We suggested that these waves excited by the jet instability on both flanks of the polar-night jet in the upper stratosphere and mesosphere interact nonlinearly with each other, and this interaction generates secondary waves. The radar observed both primary and secondary waves at mesospheric heights. The data analysis supports this suggestion. Under conditions of weaker instability observed in February 2003 the perturbations of atmospheric parameters of periods ranging from 1.5 to 5 days had smaller amplitudes at heights of the mesosphere than those in February 2004. It was found that the Eliassen-Palm fluxes calculated for the waves generated by the jet instability were mainly downward directed. This result suggests a possible dynamical influence of the mesospheric layers on the lower atmospheric levels.     

Linear drift and periodic variations observed in long time series of polar motion

 Two long time series were analysed: the C01 series of the International Earth Rotation Service and the pole series obtained by re-analysis of the classical astronomical observations using the HIPPARCOS reference frame. The linear drift of the pole was determined to be 3.31 ± 0.05 milliarcseconds/year towards 76.1 ± 0.80° west longitude. For the least-squares fit the a priori correlations between simultaneous pole coordinates x _p , y _p were taken into account, and the weighting function was calculated by estimating empirical variance components. The decadal variations of the pole path were investigated by Fourier and wavelet analysis. Using sliding windows, the periods and amplitudes of the Chandler wobble and annual wobble were determined. Typical periods in the variable Chandler wobble and annual wobble parameters were obtained from wavelet analyses. Received: 21 January 2000 / Accepted: 28 August 2000     

Thermobaric flow

Simple model flows demonstrating the combined effect of thermobaricity with either salinity variations or nonlinear temperature-dependence in the equation of state of water are investigated. An inviscid flow exhibits a three-layer behaviour, resulting in the formation of a mid-depth temperature maximum, such as is observed in some high-latitude oceans and deep lakes. This may be subsequently overtaken by nonlinear frontogenesis, which in the viscous case is shown to generate a thermal bar. Thermobaricity shifts the thermal bar towards the cold water, and initially produces a slope in the downwelling plume, but this transient feature disappears as the dominant frontogenesis tilts the plume back to the vertical.     

极地记录冰川和达尔克冰川流速的遥感监测研究

测定南极冰川的流速 ,对于研究南极冰雪物质平衡、南极环境变化及其对全球环境的影响有重大意义。本文论述了利用多时相卫星遥感影像监测冰川变化的原理和方法 ,通过对英格里特 .克里斯泰森海岸不同时期的遥感影像进行几何纠正和配准及叠加处理 ,测量和计算出极地记录冰川和达尔克冰川的平均流速 ,并对它们的变化特点进行了初步的分析和评价。     

极地海冰异常对我国夏季大气环流和降水影响的数值研究

利用全球大气环流谱模式分别进行了南极和北极海冰面积异常偏大和偏小的数值试验，对６－８月的结果进行了对比分析，讨论了极地海冰异常对我国夏季大气环流和降水的可能影响。结果表明，南极或北极海冰面积异常偏大，则我国夏季风变弱，特别蝇使得南亚高压、西北太平洋副热带高压等减弱。南极海冰面积偏大使得我国黄河－长江－带地区降水减少，北极海冰面积偏大，造成我国东部地区的降水量有所减少，模拟结果与统计分析相一致。可同     

北半球大气臭氧层的遥相关结构分析

本文分析了北半球冬春季和夏秋季大气O_3层的遥相关结构.结果发现,O_3层存在一系列遥相关型,其时域特征与O_3层槽脊及大气环流型的变化有关,主要可分为:(1)O_3槽间型,(2)O_3槽脊型,(3)O_3脊间型.表明遥相关区域的空间分布具有波状结构.随着环流型的季节调整,冬春季与夏秋季O_3层的遥相关结构存在着差异.所得结果可显示出大气环流对O_3的输送作用以及环流系统振荡导致的O_3层异常分布,这对进一步揭示O_3层的时域演变特征具有重要意义.