Statistics of Wind and Waves off Tsuyazaki, Fukuoka, in the Eastern Tsushima Strait

The variability of the sea surface wind and wind waves in the coastal area of the Eastern Tsushima Strait was investigated based on the hourly data from 1990 to 1997 obtained at a station 2 km off Tsuyazaki, Fukuoka. The annual mean wind speed was 4.84 m s⁻¹, with strong northwesterly monsoon in winter and weak southwesterly wind in summer. Significant wave heights and wave periods showed similar sinusoidal seasonal cycles around their annual means of 0.608 m and 4.77 s, respectively. The seasonal variability relative to the annual mean is maximum for wave heights, medium for wind speeds, and minimum for wave periods. Significant wave heights off Tsuyazaki turned out to be bounded by a criterion, which is proportional to the square of the significant wave period corresponding to a constant steepness, irrespective of the season or the wind speed. For terms shorter than a month, the significant wave height and the wave period were found to have the same spectral form as the inshore wind velocity: white for frequencies less than 0.2 day⁻¹ and proportional to the frequency to the −5/3 power for higher frequencies, where the latter corresponds to the inertial subrange of turbulence. The spectral levels of wave heights and wave periods in that inertial range were also correlated with those of the inshore wind velocity, though the scatter was large. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

台风影响下渤海及邻域海面风场演变过程的MM5模拟分析

在装有 L inux操作系统的 PC机上运行美国大气研究中心 ( NCAR)的非静力中尺度大气模式 MM5。运用 MM5的嵌套功能 ,以 30 km水平分辨率对台风 KAI- TAK( 2 0 0 0年第 4号 )影响渤海海区的时段进行数值模拟 ,同时给出了水平分辨率为 10 km的嵌套区内逐时的渤海海面风场。通过对台风中心位置、中心气压、风速分布与雨区分布等要素的模拟结果与实况的比较 ,证实该实验对台风过程的模拟较为成功。嵌套区内渤海海面风场也明显体现出了地形影响的特征。并尝试以T10 6格点资料的三维客观分析场结合高空及地面观测为模式提供初值场 ,6h/次预报场为模式提供时变边界条件 ,对渤海海面风场进行了 2 4 h时预报     

The Relationship between El Niño and the Duration and Frequency of the Santa Ana Winds of Southern California

This study examines the variability of the duration and frequency of Santa Ana winds due to El Niño over a thirty‐three‐year period. Daily Weather Maps and NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis were used to study large‐scale upper‐level and surface circulation patterns during wind events. A Student's t‐test was used to determine statistically significant changes in the winds during March of El Niño winters. A significant decrease in the duration and frequency of wind events was found in March during El Niño. This can be attributed to the decrease in strength and frequency of the Great Basin high pressure and the increase in wintertime cyclones in southern California.     

Embryo dune development on a large,actively accreting macrotidal beach: Calais,North Sea coast of France

Sediment budget data from an 18‐month topographic survey were analysed with data from brief experiments on wind parameters, beach moisture contents, bedforms and sand mobilization in order to monitor conditions and patterns of embryo dune development over a flat 150–1000 m wide accreting upper beach. The surface conditions over the upper beach locally affect aeolian transport, but net dune development over time depends on sustained strong winds and their orientation. Incoming marine sand supplied by storms and onshore winds is reorganized by the dominant offshore to longshore winds into elongated embryo dunes over this upper beach, imprinting a regional morphology of long‐term longshore dune ridge development. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulations of the axisymmetric magnetospheres of neutron stars

In this paper we present the results of time-dependent simulations of the dipolar axisymmetric magnetospheres of neutron stars carried out within the frameworks of both relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and resistive force-free electrodynamics. The results of force-free simulations reveal the inability of our numerical method to accommodate the equatorial current sheets of pulsar magnetospheres, and raise a question mark about the robustness of this approach. On the other hand, the MHD approach allows us to make significant progress. We start with a non-rotating magnetically dominated dipolar magnetosphere and follow its evolution as the stellar rotation is switched on. We find that the time-dependent solution gradually approaches a steady state that is very close to the stationary solution of the pulsar equation found in 1999 by Contopoulos, Kazanas & Fendt. This result suggests that other stationary solutions that have the Y-point located well inside the light cylinder are unstable. The role of particle inertia and pressure on the structure and dynamics of MHD magnetospheres is studied in detail, as well as the potential implications of dissipative processes in the equatorial current sheet. We argue that pulsars may have differentially rotating magnetospheres which develop noticeable structural oscillations, and that this may help to explain the nature of the subpulse phenomena.     

Diurnal wind and nonlinear interaction between inertial and tidal currents in the South China Sea during the passage of Typhoon Conson

Diurnal wind （DW） and nonlinear interaction between inertial and tidal currents near the Xisha Islands of the South China Sea （SCS） during the passage of Typhoon Conson （2010） are investigated using observational data and a damped slab model. It is found that the DWs, which are dominated by clockwise wind components, are prominent at our observational site. The DWs increase after the passage of the typhoon from 1 to about 4 m/s, which may be due to the decrease of the sea surface temperature caused by the passage of the typhoon. Kinetic energy spectra and bicoherence methods reveal nonlinear interactions between the inertial currents and the 2MK3 tidal constituent at our observational site. The slab damped model reproduces the inertial currents successfully induced by the total observed winds, and it is shown that the inertial currents induced by DWs are positively proportional to the DWs speed. Even though the observed inertial currents are distinct, the proportion of inertial currents induced by DWs to those induced by the total observed winds is just 0.7%/4% before/after the passage of typhoon. This shows that the inertial currents induced by the DWs are unimportant near the Xisha Islands during the typhoon season.     

利用折射指数推算大气纬圈平均风场方法

鉴于地转风、梯度风和平衡风各自计算风场的特点,该文利用COSMIC掩星折射指数资料,根据大气折射指数与大气密度、风场之间的关系,选用梯度风方程,建立了推算20~60 km中层大气纬圈平均风场的方法,分别与ECMWF提供的ERA-interim及NASA/GMAO提供的MERRA再分析风场资料对比验证。选用2007年1,4,7月和10月的COSMIC掩星折射指数数据,按照构建的方法计算了大气纬圈平均风场,并简单分析了大气纬圈平均纬向风随纬度、高度的变化特征及规律。计算风场与ECMWF及MERRA再分析风场资料变化规律基本一致,符合效果很好, 能够正确反映出纬向平均风场特性。1月及7月不同高度标准偏差、最大偏差随高度增加而增大,标准偏差最大约为6 m/s,最大偏差不超过11 m/s,沿纬度方向相关系数有减小的趋势,但不低于0.98,4月及10月偏差稍小,最大偏差不超过8 m/s。结果表明:利用COSMIC掩星折射指数资料通过梯度风方程计算风场,是获取中层大气20~60 km纬圈平均风场的一种有效方法。     

Turbulent mixing in wind-blown HII regions

We describe the process of turbulent mixing, occuring at the interface between the stellar wind bubble and the overlying, compressed HII layer. It is shown that hot electrons from the bubble can penetrate into the mixing region, where they deposit some fraction of their thermal energy. This first leads to an expansion of the gas at constant pressure, which soon becomes too inefficient to carry away the additional energy. Therefore pressure can build up in the mixing layer, forcing the gas to expand into the bubble. We also discuss the effect of the over-pressure on the HII shell and find that it is possible to punch a hole at the polar caps, where mixing is most efficient. This may lead to the formation of bipolar outflows. We apply our model to the wind-blown HII region NGC 6334(A), and show that it can explain the observed distortion of the bubble and the bipolar ionization cones.