NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN HEMISPHERIC POLAR LOWS——A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Northern Hemispheric“polar lows”,i.e.maritime,small,but fairly intense cyclonic systems have been studied formore than two decades.Recently researchers have turned their attention towards the occurrence of polar lows and othersmall-scale cyclonic disturbances on the Southern Hemisphere.In this paper a short account of our present knowledgeof Northern Hemispheric polar lows will be given,followed by some preliminary results of an investigation of the natureand occurrence of polar lows on the Southern Hemisphere.     

Long-Term Variability of the Wind Field over the Indian Ocean Based on ERA-Interim Reanalysis

A detailed study of long-term variability of winds using 30 years of data from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts global reanalysis (ERA-Interim) over the Indian Ocean has been carried out by partitioning the Indian Ocean into six zones based on local wind extrema. The trend of mean annual wind speed averaged over each zone shows a significant increase in the equatorial region, the Southern Ocean, and the southern part of the trade winds. This indicates that the Southern Ocean winds and the southeast trade winds are becoming stronger. However, the trend for the Bay of Bengal is negative, which might be caused by a weakening of the monsoon winds and northeast trade winds. Maximum interannual variability occurs in the Arabian Sea due to monsoon activity; a minimum is observed in the subtropical region because of the divergence of winds. Wind speed variations in all zones are weakly correlated with the Dipole Mode Index (DMI). However, the equatorial Indian Ocean, the southern part of the trade winds, and subtropical zones show a relatively strong positive correlation with the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), indicating that the SOI has a zonal influence on wind speed in the Indian Ocean. Monsoon winds have a decreasing trend in the northern Indian Ocean, indicating monsoon weakening, and an increasing trend in the equatorial region because of enhancement of the westerlies. The negative trend observed during the non-monsoon period could be a result of weakening of the northeast trade winds over the past few decades. The mean flux of kinetic energy of wind (FKEW) reaches a minimum of about 100?W?m^?2 in the equatorial region and a maximum of about 1500?W?m^?2 in the Southern Ocean. The seasonal variability of FKEW is large, about 1600?W?m^?2, along the coast of Somalia in the northern Indian Ocean. The maximum monthly variability of the FKEW field averaged over each zone occurs during boreal summer. During the onset and withdrawal of monsoon, FKEW is as low as 50?W?m^?2. The Southern Ocean has a large variation of about 1280?W?m^?2 because of strong westerlies throughout the year.     

The cause of the spring strengthening of the Antarctic polar vortex

The stratospheric polar vortex strengthening from late winter to spring plays a crucial role in polar ozone depletion. The Arctic polar vortex reaches its peak intensity in mid-winter, whereas the Antarctic vortex usually strengthens in early spring. As a result, the strong ozone depletion is observed every year over the Antarctic, while over the Arctic short-term ozone loss occasionally occurs in late winter or early spring. However, the cause of such a difference in the life cycles of the Arctic and Antarctic polar vortices is still not completely clear. Based on the ERA-Interim reanalysis data, we show a high agreement between the seasonal variations of temperature in the subtropical lower stratosphere and zonal wind in the subpolar and polar lower stratosphere in the Southern Hemisphere. Thus, the spring strengthening of the Antarctic polar vortex can occur due to the seasonal temperature increase in the subtropical lower stratosphere in this period.     

Indian Ocean Dipole-related Predictability Barriers Induced by Initial Errors in the Tropical Indian Ocean in a CGCM

利用GFDL CM2p1模式, 本文探讨了初始海温误差对印度洋偶极子(IOD)事件可预报性的影响. 当热带印度洋存在初始海温误差时, IOD预报发生了冬季预报障碍(WPB)现象和夏季预报障碍(SPB)现象. WPB发生与否与正IOD事件发展位相冬季的厄尔尼诺-南方涛动(ENSO)有关. 即当冬季存在ENSO时, IOD预测不发生WPB现象, 反之亦然. 相比之下, SPB发生与否和ENSO没有必然联系. 此外, 进一步探讨了最容易导致SPB现象的初始海温误差的主要模态, 指出该模态在热带印度洋上表现为东-西偶极子型, 这和前人研究中最容易导致WPB现象的初始海温误差模态相似. 当在热带印度洋上叠加这些初始海温误差后, 热带太平洋上出现了海表温度异常和风场异常, 进而通过大气桥和印尼贯穿流的作用影响热带印度洋, 使之在夏季出现了东-西偶极子型的海表温度异常, 该异常在Bjerknes作用下快速发展, 加强, 最终导致SPB现象的发生.     

欧亚春季雪盖对印度洋偶极子的影响

文章研究了欧亚春季雪盖对印度洋偶极子的影响。研究发现,欧亚春季雪盖与印度洋偶极子关系密切,两者之间存在显著的反相关关系。欧亚春季雪盖异常导致夏季赤道印度洋垂直纬向环流以及印度洋和欧亚大陆之间的垂直经向环流发生异常,是欧亚春季雪盖与印度洋偶极子存在反相关关系的主要原因。欧亚春季雪盖异常可能是印度洋偶极子发生的一个重要的外在诱发因子。     

地球非偶极磁场对虚地磁极计算的影响

古地磁学使用的虚地磁极（VGP）是在地心偶极磁场假设下计算的,由于地球非偶极磁场的存在,VGP一般不同于真地磁极（RGP）.为了定量检验非偶极磁场对VGP的影响,本文利用国际参考地磁场模型IGRF 1900～2000,在全球5°×5°的“虚拟测点”网格上计算了VGP和RGP的位置,并求出两种磁极的经纬度偏差和二者的角距离.结果表明,南极地区VGP与GP的角距离最大,可达26°,南大西洋和欧亚大陆北部最大达到24°和18°,其余地区一般小于15°.VGP对RGP的偏差与地磁场分布有关：在非偶极磁场较弱的地区（如太平洋半球）,纬度偏差一般不大（≤10°）,但是在主要地磁异常区（如南大西洋和南极地区）,VGP对RGP的纬度偏差可达25°.VGP对RGP的经度偏差要比纬度偏差大得多,例如在欧亚大陆北部地区,经度偏差分布在-180°到180°的大范围内.     

考虑β随纬度变化下的Rossby孤立波与偶极子阻塞

利用文献[4]得到的推广的β平面近似式为f=f0+β0 y—（δ0/2）y2,研究由δ0项所引起的一类Rossby孤立波，而不考虑基流切变和地形等因子的作用。经过计算可以发现，当经向波数为1时，这种孤立波具有显著的南低北高的偶极子阻塞结构，它主要存在于弱西风气流中，并且偶极子的能量随着纬度的增高更容易集中(即高纬偶极子结构趋于局地化)，因而，β随纬度的变化可能是中高纬度地区偶极子阻塞产生的原因之一。     

Hydrodynamical Modeling Of Oceanic Vortices

Mesoscale coherent vortices are numerous in the ocean.Though they possess various structures in temperature and salinity,they are all long-lived, fairly intense and mostly circular. Thephysical variable which best describes the rotation and the density anomaly associated with coherent vortices is potential vorticity. It is diagnostically related to velocity and pressure, when the vortex is stationary. Stationary vortices can be monopolar (circular or elliptical) or multipolar; their stability analysis shows thattransitions between the various stationary shapes are possible when they become unstable. But stable vortices can also undergo unsteady evolutions when perturbed by environmental effects, likelarge-scale shear or strain fields, -effect or topography. Changes in vortex shapes can also result from vortex interactions. such as the pairing, merger or vertical alignment of two vortices, which depend on their relative polarities and depths. Such interactions transfer energy and enstrophy between scales, and are essential in two-dimensional and in geostrophic turbulence. Finally, in relation with the observations, we describe a few mechanisms of vortex generation.     

位场小波分析的物理解释

采用二进小波变换,构造了位场基小波,通过简单模型,分析了位场信号小波分解与重构的物理实质,阐明了小波变换的频带分布与“归一化”位场空间分布的一致性,以及小波重构的规律,并叙述了小波重构与异常分解的关系.     

On the nonlinear dynamics of the boundary layer of intense atmospheric vortex

The paper describes a stationary model of the boundary layer of a large-scale vortex. The model takes into account two types of nonlinearities: (1) advection of the momentum and centrifugal accelerations, that is related to large values of the Rossby number; (2) a nonlinear turbulent friction on the lower boundary (generally speaking, not only quadratic, but also more complicated). Nevertheless, the model may be studied analytically. This approach allows discovery and analysis of several universal regularities, which are not revealed by numerical modeling. The model provides the actual values for the speed of the surface wind and the angle of cross-isobar surface flow in the tropical cyclones.