黄海陆架表层水温的低频振动

本文在对位于黄海南部陆架上的朝连岛站30年水温资料进行分析时发现,该站的表层水温有周期大于20个月的低频振动,其中以准两年周期和6年周期最显著。陆架水温的这种低频振动是对东亚季风异常的响应。这种低频振动在冬季与渤海冰情的变化同步;在夏季与黄海底层冷水团的强弱相关。同时,这种低频振动在对马暖流上也有一定的反映。     

CLIMATOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS FOR THE ONSET OF ASIAN SUMMER MONSOON AS REVEALED BY HIRS-Tb12 AND DROUGHT AND FLOODS IN EASTERN CHINA

As shown in comparison and study of the HIRS-Tb12 data and conventional data, temperature, humidity and vertical motion are structured differently in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, which are well depicted with the HIRS-Tb12 data. When high pressures rapidly decrease over the regions of South China Sea and Arabian Sea with the HIRS-Tb12 less than 200 W/m2, monsoons will set off in the South China Sea, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, respectively. From a year of significant drought to one of significant floods, the trend of evolution is significantly different in the downdraft areas of the subtropical highs between the two hemispheres.     

African monsoon variability during the previous interglacial maximum

Little is known about centennial- to millennial-scale climate variability during interglacial times, other than the Holocene. We here present high-resolution evidence from anoxic (unbioturbated) sediments in the eastern Mediterranean Sea that demonstrates a sustained ∼800-yr climate disturbance in the monsoonal latitudes during the Eemian interglacial maximum (∼125 ka BP). Results imply that before and after this event, the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) penetrated sufficiently beyond the central Saharan watershed (∼21°N) during the summer monsoon to fuel flooding into the Mediterranean along the wider North African margin, through fossil river/wadi systems that to date have been considered only within a Holocene context. Relaxation in the ITCZ penetration during the intra-Eemian event curtailed this flux, but flow from the Nile - with its vast catchment area - was not affected. Previous work suggests a concomitant Eurasian cooling event, with intensified impact of the higher-latitude climate on the Mediterranean basin. The combined signals are very similar to those described for the Holocene cooling event around 8 ka BP. The apparent type of concurrent changes in the monsoon and higher-latitude climate may reflect a fundamental mechanism for variability in the transfer of energy (latent heat) between the tropics and higher latitudes.     

Isotopic analysis to quantify the role of the Indian monsoon on water resources of selected river basins in the Himalayas

Western disturbances (WDs) and Indian summer monsoon (ISM) led precipitation play a central role in the Himalayan water budget. Estimating their contributions to water resource is although a challenging but essential for hydrologic understanding and effective water resource management. In this study, we used stable water isotope data of precipitation and surface waters to estimate the contribution of ISM and WDs to the water resources in three mountainous river basins - Indus, Bhagirathi and Teesta river basins of western, central and Eastern Himalayas. The study reveals distinct seasonality in isotope characteristics of precipitation and surface waters in each river basin is due to changes in moisture source, hydrometeorology and relief. Despite steady spatial variance in the slope and intercept of regression lines from the Teesta to Indus and the Bhagirathi river basins, the slope and intercept are close to the global meteoric water line and reported local meteoric water line of other regions in the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. The two-component end-member mixing method using d-excess as tracer were used to estimate the contribution from ISM and WD led precipitation to surface water in aforementioned river basins. The results suggest that the influence of the ISM on the water resources is high (>72% to annual river flow) in Teesta river basin (eastern Himalayas), while as the WDs led precipitation is dominantly contributing (>70% average annual river flow) to the surface waters in the Indus river basin (western Himalayas). The contribution of ISM and WD led precipitation in Bhagirathi river basin is 60% and 40%, respectively. The findings demonstrate that the unusual changes in the ISM and WD moisture dynamics have the potential to affect the economy and food security of the region, which is dependent on the availability of water resources. The obtained results are of assistance to policy makers/mangers to make use of the information for better understanding hydrologic response amid unusual behaviour of the dual monsoon system over the region.     

Seasonal cycle of surface circulation in the coastal North Indian Ocean

Monthly-mean winds and currents have been used to identify the driving mechanisms of seasonal coastal circulation in the North Indian Ocean. The main conclusions are: (i) the surface circulation off Arabia is typical of a wind-driven system with similar patterns of longshore current and wind stress; (ii) circulation off the west coast of India is consistent with the dynamics of a wind-driven eastern boundary current only during the southwest monsoon. During the northeast monsoon it is possible that the influence of the interior flow is important. (iii) There are at least three mechanisms that influence the surface circulation off the east coast of India: wind-stress, influence of fresh-water run off and contribution of the interior flow. It is difficult at present to assess the relative importance of these three processes.     

Climate extremes in Loess of China coupled with the strength of deep-water formation in the North Atlantic

The loess-paleosol sequences of the last 1.2 Ma in China have recorded two kinds of climate extremes: the strongly developed S4, S5-1 and S5-3 soils (corresponding to the marine δ¹⁸O stages 11, 13, and 15, respectively) as evidence of three episodes of great warmth and two coarse-grained loess units (L9 and L15, corresponding to the marine δ¹⁸O stages 22, 23, 24 and 38, respectively) which indicate severest glacial conditions. The climatic and geographical significance of these events are still unclear, and their cause remains a puzzle.Paleopedological, geochemical and magnetic susceptibility data from three loess sections (Xifeng, Changwu and Weinan) suggest that the S4, S5-1 and S5-3 soils were formed under sub-tropical semi-humid climates with a tentatively estimated mean annual temperature (MAT) of at least 4–6°C higher and a mean annual precipitation (MAP) of 200–300 mm higher than for the present-day, indicating a much strengthened summer monsoon. The annual rainfall was particularly accentuated for the southern-most part of the Loess Plateau, suggesting that the monsoon rain belt (the contact of the monsoonal northward warm-humid air mass with the dry-cold southward one) might have stood at the southern part of the Plateau for a relatively long period each year. The loess units L9 and L15 were deposited under semi-desertic environments with a tentatively estimated MAT and MAP of only about 1.5–3°C and 150–250 mm, indicating a much strengthened winter monsoon, and that the summer monsoon front could rarely penetrate into the Loess Plateau region.Correlation with marine carbon isotope records suggests that these climate extremes have large regional, even global, significance rather than being local phenomena in China. They match the periods with greatest/smallest Atlantic–Pacific δ¹³C gradients, respectively, indicating their relationships with the strength of Deep Water (NADW) production in the North Atlantic. These results suggest that the monsoon climate in the Loess Plateau region was significantly linked with the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation on timescales of 10⁴ years.     

Recent sedimentary records from the Arabian Sea

An attempt is made to understand the redox conditions that prevailed in the north eastern continental margins of the Arabian Sea and in the nearby deep water regions during the past few centuries using short undisturbed sediment cores. The geochronology is accomplished using²¹⁰Pb excess method and the proxy indicators chosen for productivity and associated redox changes are CaCO₃, organic matter (OM), Mn and U along with major elements Fe and Al. Such changes in principle are related to high productivity in the overlying waters which in turn depend on monsoonal intensity that causes upwelling responsible for increase in productivity. Alongwith the published data on gravity cores from the same region, our measurements suggest the following: At ∼ 300 m water depth, south of 21°N, the sediment-water interface at depths of ∼ 300 m had been anoxic during the time span represented by the presently studied cores for approximately ∼ 700y as evidenced by low Mn/Al (< 0.7 × 10⁻²) and high U/Al (> 10⁻⁴) weight ratios. In some adjacent deeper regions, however, the environment turned oxic around ∼ 200 y BP. Whereas both Mn and Ra were lost to the overlying waters in the anoxic regions (depth ∼340m), the Mn that diffused from deeper sections appears to have mineralized at the sediment-water-interface. Studies of this type on long undisturbed cores from the margins of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, involving several proxies and geochronology by more than one method are needed to understand short term environmental (and monsoonal intensity) changes of the recent past with high resolution.     

一个新的季风指数及其年际变化和与雨量的关系

作者按曾庆存等所定义的标准化风场季节变率(和利用新的资料重新作了计算,为与国外传统的和至今大多数学者的定义一致,取δ*=δ-2＞0(即冬、夏风向差大于π/2)作为季风区,结果涵盖了迄今国内外所指出的全球所有季风区(但比曾庆存等算得的区域略为小些),尤其是热带季风区正处于冬季和夏季赤道幅合带(ITCZ)位置所夹的范围内.其后,用李建平和曾庆存建议的动态风场标准化季节变率δ*m=δm-2(δm形式上与δ相似,但依赖于年份m)作为各年季风指数,计算了各主要季风区区域平均的δ*m的年际变化,得到南亚夏季风和东亚夏季风自20世纪70年代中期起、南海夏季风自20世纪80年代起和西非夏季风自1967年起都有不同程度的长期减弱趋势,尤其以西非夏季风减弱最明显.西非夏季风指数和南亚夏季风指数与当地夏季雨量呈显著正相关,东亚夏季风指数与中国和东亚夏季雨量的空间分布有一定的统计相关结构,而南海夏季风指数则与全球各海区夏季降水和海平面气压异常有较好的大范围统计相关.     

南海岛礁周边海域表面叶绿素浓度的时空特征

南海海域内岛礁众多, 渔业资源丰富, 而目前针对岛礁周边海区生态要素开展的研究仍较少。本文利用近20年多卫星融合水色遥感数据, 分析了南海38个主要岛礁周边区域海面叶绿素浓度的空间分布、季节变化和年际变化特征。结果表明, 岛礁周边普遍存在叶绿素浓度高值区, 其浓度约在离岛礁5个等效半径外降至海区背景水平。岛礁周边海域的叶绿素(相对于背景值的)浓度异常受海区背景值影响, 两者在南海的空间分布格局与背景值基本一致: 在平均温度较低、季风强度较大的东沙、西沙海区, 叶绿素浓度异常高于温度较高、季风强度相对较弱的中沙、南沙海区。叶绿素浓度呈现出明显的季节变化和年际变化特征, 一般在冬季风期间升高, 而在夏季风爆发前降至最低; 在El Ni?o次年随海温升高和季风减弱而下降, 在La Ni?a次年则相反。岛礁周边的叶绿素浓度异常受到温度变化的影响, 随着近年来海温变化幅度加大, 其年均水平呈显著下降趋势(P=5.05×10 ^-5)。这些结果可为我国岛礁区域渔业资源的开发和管理提供信息支持。