Atmospheric nitrogen inputs into the North Sea: effect on productivity

The ANICE (Atmospheric Nitrogen Inputs into the Coastal Ecosystem) project addressed the atmospheric deposition of nitrogen to the North Sea, with emphasis on coastal effects. ANICE focused on quantifying the deposition of inorganic nitrogen compounds to the North Sea and the governing processes. An overview of the results from modelling and experimental efforts is presented. They serve to identify the role of the atmosphere as a source of biologically essential chemical species to the marine biota. Data from the Weybourne Atmospheric Observatory (UK) are used to evaluate the effect of short episodes with very high atmospheric nitrogen concentrations. One such episode resulted in an average deposition of 0.8 mmol N m⁻² day⁻¹, which has the potential to promote primary productivity of 5.3 mmol C m⁻² day⁻¹. This value is compared to long-term effects determined from model results. The total calculated atmospheric deposition to the North Sea in 1999 is 948 kg N km⁻¹, i.e. 0.19 mmol N m⁻² day⁻¹ which has the potential to promote primary productivity of 1.2 mmol C m⁻² day⁻¹. Detailed results for August 1999 show strong gradients across the North Sea due to adjacent areas where emissions of NO_x and NH₃ are among the highest in Europe. The average atmospheric deposition to the southern part of the North Sea in August 1999 could potentially promote primary production of 2.0 mmol C m⁻² day⁻¹, i.e. 5.5% of the total production at this time of the year in this area of the North Sea. For the entire study area the atmospheric contribution to the primary production per m² is about two-third of this value. Most of the deposition occurs during short periods with high atmospheric concentrations. This atmospheric nitrogen is almost entirely anthropogenic in origin and thus represents a human-induced perturbation of the ecosystem.     

Impact of precipitation seasonality changes on isotopic signals in polar ice cores: a multi-model analysis

For Central Greenland, water isotope analysis indicates a temperature difference of about 10°C since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, borehole thermometry and gas diffusion thermometry indicate that LGM surface temperatures were about 20°C colder than today. Two general circulation model studies have shown that changes in the seasonal precipitation timing in Central Greenland might have caused a warm bias in the LGM water isotope proxy temperatures, and that this bias could explain the difference in the estimated paleotemperatures. Here we present an analysis of a number of atmospheric general circulation model simulations mostly done within the framework of the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project. The models suggest that the seasonal cycle of precipitation and surface mass balance over Central Greenland at the LGM might have been very different from today. This supports the idea that the accuracy of the water isotope thermometry at the LGM in Greenland might be compromised as a result of a modified surface mass balance seasonality. However, the models disagree on the amplitude and sign of the bias. For Central East Antarctica, a strong seasonality effect on the LGM isotopic signal is not simulated by any of the analyzed models. For the mid-Holocene (6 kyr BP) the models suggest relatively weak isotope paleothermometry biases linked to changes in the surface mass balance seasonality over both ice sheets.     

Neuzeitlicher Schadstofftrend: Polycylische aromatische Kohlenwasserstoffe (PAK) in aquatischen und terrestrischen Sedimenten

A Recent Contamination Trend: Polycylic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Aquatic and Terrestrial Sediments Concentrations of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) measured in aquatic sediments of small, medium‐sized or very large inland lakes, of estuaries as well as in terrestrial sediments from Germany, the UK, Finland, and the USA were plotted in 10 trend curves over the period from 1800 to 1990. The segments of the bore cores were dated for their deposition age. For comparability of the results, the trend is preferentially shown by the guide parameter fluoranthene. Until the 19th century, a constant background value of C_Fluo = 10…50 μg/kg was observed in all regions. Then a steep increase in concentration followed, reaching in the aquatic sediments a maximum in the period 1940 to 1965, while the individual fluoranthene values ranged widely from 90 to 2400 μg/kg. In several regions, a more or less distinct decrease superseded this maximum, although this development did not appear in terrestrial sediments, in one estuary, and in remote forest lakes in Finland. The trend curves reflect the atmospheric deposition of PAHs in airborne dust and in some cases the import through runoff via rivers. Thus, the sediment profiles depict the development of air pollution by pyrogenic contaminants over more than a century. Sediment profiles from rivers can be used only with a high degree of reservation, because of the irregularity and low representativity of the sedimentation.     

Recent Precipitation Trends in Hungary in the Context of Larger Scale Climatic Changes

The time series of monthly precipitation totals from 14 Hungarian observing stations (1901–1998) were analysed to reveal the long term changes in precipitation characteristics occurred in the 20th century. A particular attention was given to the changes in the recent decades and their links with the larger scale climatic and circulation changes over Europe and the Atlantic.The statistical significancesof systematic changes are controlled by linear trend analysis and the Mann–Kendall test. The long term fluctuations are illustrated applying a 15-point Gaussian filter on the time series. The Standardised Precipitation Index is used to evaluate the changes in the drought event frequency. The relationships with larger scale changes are mostly discussed relying on contemporary papers, and the Grosswetterlagen Catalogue is used as well.The annual precipitation total decreased by 15–20% in Hungary during the 20th century. The decline is substantial in both halves of the century, but the precipitation sums in the transition seasons declined in the first 50 years, and the winter precipitation decreased in the latest decades. The precipitation total of the period November–February declined significantly in the last 50 years. In the same time the mean winter value of the North Atlantic Oscillation Index (NAOI) increased, the positions of the main pressure patterns over the Atlantic are shifted northeastward, and lot of other coherent changes detected in the winter climate of the European–Atlantic region. The mean summer precipitation total has hardly changed, but the frequency of summer drought events increased. There are some signs of a shift of the Hungarian summer climate towards a Mediterranean like climate.     

Late Holocene climates of the Near East deduced from Dead Sea level variations and modern regional winter rainfall

The Dead Sea is a terminal lake of one of the largest hydrological systems in the Levant and may thus be viewed as a large rain gauge for the region. Variations of its level are indicative of the climate variations in the region. Here, we present the decadal- to centennial-resolution Holocene lake-level curve of the Dead Sea. Then we determine the regional hydroclimatology that affected level variations. To achieve this goal we compare modern natural lake-level variations and instrumental rainfall records and quantify the hydrology relative to lake-level rise, fall, or stability. To quantify that relationship under natural conditions, rainfall data pre-dating the artificial Dead Sea level drop since the 1960s are used. In this respect, Jerusalem station offers the longest uninterrupted pre-1960s rainfall record and Jerusalem rains serve as an adequate proxy for the Dead Sea headwaters rainfall. Principal component analysis indicates that temporal variations of annual precipitation in all stations in Israel north of the current 200 mm yr⁻¹ average isohyet during 1940–1990 are largely synchronous and in phase (70% of the total variance explained by PC1). This station also represents well northern Jordan and the area all the way to Beirut, Lebanon, especially during extreme drought and wet spells. We (a) determine the modern, and propose the past regional hydrology and Eastern Mediterranean (EM) climatology that affected the severity and length of droughts/wet spells associated with multiyear episodes of Dead Sea level falls/rises and (b) determine that EM cyclone tracks were different in average number and latitude in wet and dry years in Jerusalem. The mean composite sea level pressure and 500-mb height anomalies indicate that the potential causes for wet and dry episodes span the entire EM and are rooted in the larger-scale northern hemisphere atmospheric circulation. We also identified remarkably close association (within radiocarbon resolution) between climatic changes in the Levant, reflected by level changes, and culture shifts in this region.     

冬季北极涛动和华北冬季气温变化关系研究

利用北极涛动指数（AOI）、NCEP／NCAR40a再分析资料中的海平面气压（SLP）、850、500、200hPa等压面高度场资料及中国160站月平均气温资料，运用小波分析，经验正交函数（EOF）分析等方法，分析了华北冬季气温和冬季北极涛动指数的变化特征及其关系。结果表明它们之间存在有着显著相关，特别是在年代际尺度上关系尤其密切。华北在20世纪70年代初以前为持续冷冬，80年代中期之后变为持续暖冬，其间相对正常，而冬季北极涛运指数亦存在类似的3个阶段，冬季北极涛动高（低）低数年，华北地区为暖（冷）冬年。其原因在于，北极涛动在于对流层低层和高层都可激发类似EU遥相关型的异常，通过影响西伯利亚高压和东亚大槽影响华北地区气温。强（弱）涛运年大气环流具有弱（强）东亚冬季风特征，西伯利亚高压减弱（增强），亚洲大陆地面东北风减弱（增强），高空东亚大槽减弱（增强）。     

2002年北半球大气环流特征及其对中国气候异常的影响

2002年春末夏初一次新的厄尔尼诺事件形成；1～12月北半球大气环流的主要特征表现为：中纬度地区纬向环流盛行，西太平洋副热带高压持续偏强偏西，我国大部地区气温偏高，降水呈南多北少分布；欧亚地区夏季500hPa位势高度距平场上，中高纬从西到东呈现为“ - ”分布形式，贝加尔湖地区为正距平中心，7月在贝加尔湖地区出现典型阻高；东亚夏季风偏强，南亚夏季风及热带对流指数偏弱；夏季赤道辐合带偏弱等。在上述大气环流的影响下，我国的天气气候发生了异常。     

柴达木盆地沙尘暴气候特征及其预报

利用1961～2000年柴达木盆地11个气象站的沙尘暴观测资料，分析了柴达木盆地沙尘暴天气的时空分布特征。根据1980～2000年3月至5月的40次沙尘暴天气个例，从高空环流形势、地面冷空气路径、影响因子及其预报指标4个方面进行分析，总结出柴达木盆地春季沙尘暴天气的预报方法。     

黄河上游河南县地面大气冰核观测分析

用Bigg型混合云室对2001年8月黄河上游青海省河南县的地面大气冰核浓度进行了观测,分析发现(1)青海省河南县冰核浓度低于北京20世纪90年代的测值,但高于大连、西安和兰州(20世纪60年代)等地的测值,同时也高于黄河上游的玛曲(2000年)、西宁(1989年)两地的测值,高温核尤其偏高.(2)降水时大气冰核浓度减少,降水的冲刷可能是其主要原因.(3)当地冰核浓度和气压成正相关.(4)大气冰核浓度受风向的影响,无风时测值较小,偏东风时测值较大,高温核浓度增加明显.     

江淮流域夏季严重旱涝与大气季节内振荡

利用NCEP/NCAR的再分析资料和中国气象局国家气象中心提供的中国台站降水资料,分析研究了江淮流域大范围严重旱涝的20-70天大气季节内振荡(ISO)特征。结果表明,对应江淮流域严重涝年,200hPa青藏高原北部存在ISO气旋性环流,青藏高原南部存在ISO反气旋性环流;大气ISO流型在对流层中低层850hPa主要是我国长江以南、南海和西太平洋地区为大气ISO反气旋性环流,我国长江以北到日本地区的大气ISO气旋性环流,我国江淮流域位于这两个ISO涡旋西侧偏南气流和偏北气流的交汇处;旱年反之。利用向量经验正交展开方法得到,上述大气ISO环流型分别是旱涝年大气ISO流型的第一模态,并且涝年大气ISO流型的振幅强,旱年振幅弱。进一步分析揭示,严重洪涝(干旱)年分别对应对流层中上层江淮流域及其以北的中高纬度地区有强(弱)的大气ISO活动。中高纬度地区的大气ISO在严重洪涝年向南传播,与低纬度向北传播的大气ISO在江淮流域汇合;而在严重干旱年,虽然大气ISO可向北传播,但向南的传播却很不明显。