Anthropogenic, Climatic, and Hydrologic Trends in the Kosi Basin, Himalaya

A great debate exists concerning theinfluence of land-use and climatic changes onhydrology in the Himalayan region and its adjacentplains. As a representative basin of the Himalayas, westudied basinwide land-use, climatic and hydrologictrends over the Kosi Basin (54,000 km²) in themountainous area of the central Himalayan region. Theassessment of anthropogenic inputs showed that thepopulation of the basin grew at a compound rate ofabout one percent per annum during the past fourdecades. The comparison of land-use data between thesurveys made during the 1960s and 1978–1979 did notreveal noticeable trends in land-use change. Theanalysis of meteorological and hydrological timeseries from 1947 to 1993 showed some increasingtendency of temperature and precipitation. Thestatistical tests of hydrologic trends indicated anoverall decrease in discharge on the Kosi River andits major tributaries. The decreasing trends ofstreamflow were more significant during the low-flowmonths. The statistical analysis of homogeneityshowed that the climatic as well as the hydrologictrends were more localized in nature lacking adistinct basinwide significance.     

基于中心轴线的北太平洋冬季风暴轴分类及其机理研究

利用NCEP/NCAR逐日再分析资料研究了63年（1948～2010年）冬季北太平洋风暴轴的时空演变,提取风暴轴的中心轴线作为研究主体,以风暴轴的经向分布差异为重点,用模糊C均值聚类分析的方法将风暴轴分为平均型、偏北型和偏南型三类,并探讨了各类风暴轴对应的海气异常型及其物理机制。结果表明:（1）三类风暴轴分别显示了风暴轴经向差异的具体物理图像,对应着不同的涡旋移动发展路径,具有明确的天气学意义。通过EOF分解证明本文的分类反映了风暴轴的主要变化特征,物理意义清晰,具有一定的合理性和实用性。（2）三类风暴轴不仅经向差异明显,其北抬南压的纬向位置也存在显著差异,进一步表明该分类方法充分考虑了风暴轴空间分布的经向纬向差异,还揭示了风暴轴多中心的特点。（3）三类风暴轴对应的不同SST异常通过热力过程影响大气的温度场、风场和位势高度场,导致阿留申低压强度位置异常和水平风场异常,进而影响大气斜压性,决定风暴轴的空间分布,是形成不同类型风暴轴的重要原因。     

Climate change,the monsoon,and rice yield in India

Recent research indicates that monsoon rainfall became less frequent but more intense in India during the latter half of the Twentieth Century, thus increasing the risk of drought and flood damage to the country’s wet-season (kharif) rice crop. Our statistical analysis of state-level Indian data confirms that drought and extreme rainfall negatively affected rice yield (harvest per hectare) in predominantly rainfed areas during 1966–2002, with drought having a much greater impact than extreme rainfall. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we find that yield would have been 1.7% higher on average if monsoon characteristics, especially drought frequency, had not changed since 1960. Yield would have received an additional boost of nearly 4% if two other meteorological changes (warmer nights and lower rainfall at the end of the growing season) had not occurred. In combination, these changes would have increased cumulative harvest during 1966–2002 by an amount equivalent to about a fifth of the increase caused by improvements in farming technology. Climate change has evidently already negatively affected India’s hundreds of millions of rice producers and consumers.     

Climatology of Ozone, PAN, CO, and NMHC in the Free Troposphere Over the Southern North Atlantic

Free tropospheric measurements of ozone, peroxyacetylnitrate andprecursors (CO, NMHC) that were made within the framework of the EUROTRACsub-project TOR (Tropospheric Ozone Research) between 1990 and 1995 at theGAW station Izana, Tenerife (28°18N, 16°30W) arediscussed. The average annual cycles reveal the importance of transport fromnorthern mid-latitudes and the role of photo-chemistry. According toair-mass trajectories, which were supplied to us from AEROCE(Atmosphere/Ocean Chemistry Experiment), transport from northernmid-latitudes is associated with high precursor concentrations in winter,whereas ozone concentrations in winter are not much influenced by transportpatterns, suggesting a rather uniform distribution over the northern part ofthe Northern Hemisphere around mean value of 43 ± 5 ppb. In summer,high ozone concentrations of up to 90 ppb are often encountered duringtransport from north, while the levels of precursors are much lower than inwinter, because of photochemical destruction. Trajectories from southerlylatitudes and the Sahara usually have the lowest ozone concentrationsassociated with them.     

中国古诗词中的云雾雨雪

从云雾降水物理学的角度学习和分析了一些中国古诗词。内容有:1）分析和统计了唐诗300首和毛泽东诗词中用到云雾雨雪等字的百分比,其分别占总首数的45%和66%;2）列举和分析了描述自然过程、大气过程有云雨雪等字的诗(词)句;3）从现代科学观出发,分析了在一些古诗词中有关云、雨、霜、露等的理解,并作了一些评述;4）对古诗词中直接描述云、雾、雨、雪的内容进行了评论。       

Windstorm of the eighteenth century in the Czech Lands: course,extent, impacts

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - This paper addresses the course, extent, and impacts of a windstorm that occurred on 20–21 December 1740, in the Czech Lands. The analysis is based on...     

Solar rotation,impulses of the torque in the Sun's motion,and climatic variation

Running variance analysis and maximum entropy spectral analysis applied to Mount Wilson rotation data yield arguments in favor of a connection between variations in the Sun's rotation rate, energetic X-ray flares, and impulses of the torque (IOT) in the Sun's irregular motion about the barycenter of the planetary system. Such IOT, that have been shown to be related to the secular cycle of solar activity and excursions of the Maunder minimum type, also seem to be linked to outstanding peaks in geomagnetic activity, maxima in ozone concentration, incidence of blocking type circulation, as well as rainfall over Central Europe, England/Wales, eastern United States, and India. Statistical tests, that confirm these links, additionally point to IOT connection with temperature in Central Europe and the number of icebergs that pass south of latitude 48° N. IOT relationship with X-ray flares and strong geomagnetic storms was tested in successful long range forecasts.Glossary of Abbreviated Terms A _c Equatorial angular sidereal solar rotation rate corrected for scattered light and averaged over respective Carrington rotations. - c-events See JU-CM-CSc. - CM Center of mass of the solar system. - CS Center of the Sun. - L Change of angular momentum L in the Sun's orbital motion about CM caused by an impulse of the torque (IOT). This change is measured by the time integral of the torque . - df Degrees of freedom. - g-events See JU-CM-CSg. - IOT Impulse of the torque in the Sun's irregular orbital motion about the center of mass of the solar system CM. The intensity of IOT is measured by the change in angular momentum L effected by the impulse. - JU-CM-CS Solar system constellation that is formed when the center of mass CM, the Sun's center CS and the giant planet Jupiter (JU) are in line. JU-CM-CS events initiate impulses of the torque IOT in the Sun's irregular revolution about CM. - JU-CM-CSc JU-CM-CS event that is accompanied with a sharp increase in orbital angular momentum and centrifugal motion of the Sun away from CM. - JU-CM-CSg JU-CM-CS event that goes along with a steep decrease in orbital angular momentum L and centripetal motion of the Sun toward CM due to prevailing gravitation. - L Angular momentum of the Sun's orbital motion around CM. - T Torque, the varying rotary force applied to the Sun in its orbital motion about CM that is equal to the time rate of change of the angular momentum L. - v Running variance: the smoothing technique of running means over two or more consecutive readings is applied to variance, the square of the standard deviation.     

Balance of water,heat, and solutes in the Dnieper-Bug estuary

The balance of water, heat, and solutes in the Dnieper-Bug estuary is estimated using the data of long-term observations (from 1965 to 2011) for solving the practical problems associated with the rational use of water resources in this area.     

Evidence of the terdiurnal,S 3, atmospheric tide in the surface wind field over the ocean

Surface winds were measured from anchored buoys at the corners of a 100-km triangle in the Atlantic ocean for three weeks in September 1972. The measurements were part of the British Royal Society Joint Air-Sea Interaction Project, JASIN-72. Peaks were found at a frequency of 0.125 cph (8-h period) in various wind statistics, indicating the presence of the terdiurnal, S ₃, component of the atmospheric tides that had previously been extensively studied because it is a prominent component in surface air-pressure records.     

Tide,Wind, and River Forcing of the Surface Currents in the Fraser River Plume

A long-term record of surface currents from a high-frequency radar system, along with near-surface hydrographic transects, moored current meter records, and satellite imagery, are analyzed to determine the relative importance of river discharge, wind, and tides in driving the surface flow in the Fraser River plume. The observations show a great deal of oceanographic and instrumental variability. However, averaged quantities yielded robust results. The effect of river flow, which determines buoyancy and inertia near the river mouth, was found by taking a long-term average. The resulting flow field was dominated by a jet with two asymmetric gyres; the anticyclonic gyre to the north had flow speeds consistent with geostrophy. The mean flow speed near the river mouth was 14.3?cm?s^–1, while the flow further afield was 5?cm?s^–1 or less. Wind stress and surface currents were highly coherent in the subtidal frequency band. Northwesterly winds drive a surface flow to the southeast at speeds of nearly 30?cm?s^–1. Southeasterly winds drive a surface flow to the northwest at speeds reaching 20?cm?s^–1; however, there is more spatial variability in speed and direction relative to the northwesterly wind case. A harmonic analysis was used to extract the tidally driven flows. Ellipse parameters for the major tidal constituents varied considerably in both alignment and aspect ratio over the radar domain, in direct contrast to a barotropic model which predicted rectilinear flow along the Strait of Georgia. This is a result of water filling and draining the shallow mud flats north of the Fraser's main channel. The M₂ velocities at the surface were also weaker than their barotropic counterparts. However, the shallow water constituent MK₃ was enhanced at the surface and nearly as strong as the mean flow, implying that non-linear interactions are important to surface dynamics.     

Particulate Amines in the Background Atmosphere of the Yangtze River Delta,China: Concentration,Size Distribution,and Sources

Amines are important for new particle formation and subsequent growth in the atmosphere. Consequently, the processes involved are receiving more attention in recent years. Here, we conduct a field observation in order to investigate the atmospheric particulate amines at a background site in the Yangtze River Delta(YRD) during the summer of 2018.Four amines in PM_(2.5), i.e., methylamine(MA), dimethylamine(DMA), diethylamine(DEA), and trimethylamine(TMA),were collected, twice daily and analyzed. During the campaign, our measurements found the concentrations of MA, DMA,DEA, and TMA of 15.0 ± 15.0, 6.3 ± 6.9, 20.4 ± 30.1, and 4.0 ± 5.9 ng m–3, respectively, and the four amines correlated well with each other. The concentration of amines appear to be independent of whether they were collected during the day or night. Both MA and DMA exhibited a bimodal size distribution that had peaks at 0.67 and 1.1 μm, suggesting amines preferably distribute on submicron particles. Boundary layer height(BLH), relative humidity, and pH of aerosols were found have a negative relationship with amines, while aerosol liquid water content(ALWC) was found to have a positive relationship with amines. The PMF(positive matrix factorization) source apportionment results showed that the main source of amines in Chongming Island was of anthropogenic origin such as industrial and biomass emission, followed by marine sources including sea salt and marine biogenic sources. Given that the YRD region is still suffering from complex atmospheric pollution and that the knowledge on aerosol amines is still limited, more field studies are in urgent need for a better understanding of the pollution characteristics of amines.     

Climate policy strength compared: China,the US,the EU,India, Russia,and Japan

The few systematic international comparisons of climate policy strength made so far have serious weaknesses, particularly those that assign arbitrary weightings to different policy instrument types in order to calculate an aggregate score for policy strength. This article avoids these problems by ranking the six biggest emitters by far – China, the US, the EU, India, Russia, and Japan – on a set of six key policy instruments that are individually potent and together representative of climate policy as a whole: carbon taxes, emissions trading, feed-in tariffs, renewable energy quotas, fossil fuel power plant bans, and vehicle emissions standards. The results cast strong doubt on any idea that there is a clear hierarchy on climate policy with Europe at the top: the EU does lead on a number of policies but so does Japan. China, the US, and India each lead on one area. Russia is inactive on all fronts. At the same time climate policy everywhere remains weak compared to what it could be.

Policy relevance

This study enables climate policy strength, defined as the extent to which the statutory provisions of climate policies are likely to restrict GHG emissions if implemented as intended, to be assessed and compared more realistically across space and time. As such its availability for the six biggest emitters, which together account for over 70% of global CO₂ emissions, should facilitate international negotiations (1) by giving participants a better idea of where major emitters stand relative to each other as far as climate policy stringency is concerned, and (2) by identifying areas of weakness that need action.     

Climate Change, Agriculture, and Water Quality in the Chesapeake Bay Region

Research on climate change and agriculture has largely focused on production, food prices, and producer incomes. However, societal interest in agriculture is much broader than these issues. The objective of this paper is to analyze the potential impacts of climate change on an important negative externality from agriculture, water quality. We construct a simulation model of maize production in twelve watersheds within the U.S. Chesapeake Bay Region that has economic and watershed components linking climate to productivity, production decisions by maize farmers, and nitrogen loadings delivered to the Chesapeake Bay. Maize is an important crop to study because of its importance to the region's agriculture and because it is a major source of nutrient pollution. The model is run under alternative scenarios regarding the future climate, future baseline (without any climate change), whether farmers respond to climate change, whether there are carbon dioxide (CO₂) enrichment effects on maize production, and whether agricultural prices facing the region change due to climate change impacts on global agricultural commodity markets. The simulation results differ from one scenario to another on the magnitude and direction of change in nitrogen deliveries to the Chesapeake Bay. The results are highly sensitive to the choice of future baseline scenario and to whether there are CO₂ enrichment effects. The results are also highly sensitive to assumptions about the impact of climate change on commodity prices facing farmers in the Chesapeake Bay region. The results indicate that economic responses by farmers to climate change definitely matter. Assuming that farmers do not respond to changes in temperature, precipitation, and atmosphericCO₂ levels could lead to mistaken conclusions about the magnitude and direction of environmental impacts.     

Modern climate-related changes in heat supply,moistening, and productivity of the agrosphere in Russia

Climate changes observed in recent decades are analyzed, and the respective climate-related tendencies of changes in heat supply, moistening, and productivity of the agrosphere that determine the natural resourse of potential Russia are determined. The grain crop yield trends are used additionally as climate change indicators. It is shown that climate changes observed in the last 30 years promote the increase in potential agriculture productivity in most of the Russian Federation, where not less than 85% of agricultural products are produced. At the same time, the increase in climate aridity is observed in several regions of Siberia and Chernozem Center, which results in a reduced productivity of agriculture.     

Evaluating the performance of remote sensing precipitation products CMORPH,PERSIANN, and TMPA,in the arid region of northwest China

The arid region of northwest China is a large area with complex topography. Hydrological research is limited by scarcity and uneven distribution of rain gauges. Satellite precipitation products provide wide coverage and high spatial–temporal resolutions, but the accuracy needs to be evaluated before application. In this paper, the reliability of four satellite precipitation products (CMORPH [Climate Prediction Center’s morphing technique], PERSIANN [Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks], TRMM [Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission] 3B42, and TRMM 3B43) were evaluated through comparison with ground data or reported values on daily, monthly, and annual scales from 2003 to 2010. Indices including frequency bias index, probability of detection, and false alarm ratio were used to evaluate recorded precipitation occurrences; relative mean bias, the correlation coefficient, and the Nash coefficient were used to assess precipitation amount. Satellite precipitation products were more accurate in the warm than in the cold season, and performed better in northern Xinjiang than in other regions during the cold season. CMORPH and PERSIANN tended to overestimate precipitation. TRMM 3B42 and TRMM 3B43 performed best because the former most accurately detected precipitation occurrences on a daily scale, and both produced accurate space–time distribution of precipitation and the best consistency with rain gauge observations. Only a few monthly precipitation values for TRMM 3B42 and TRMM 3B43, and annual precipitation values for TRMM 3B42 were with satisfactory precision. TRMM3B42 and TRMM 3B43 are therefore recommended, but correction will be needed before application. Factors including elevation, relative relief, longitude, and latitude had significant effects on the performance of satellite precipitation products, and these factors may be helpful in correcting satellite precipitation.     

Secular changes in the short-term preventive,positive, and temperature checks to population growth in Europe, 1460 to 1909

Annual variations in births, marriages, deaths, grain prices, and quarterly temperature series in England, France, Prussia, and Sweden are analyzed using a distributed lag model. The results provide support for the existence of the shortterm preventive, positive and temperature checks to population growth. Decreases in fertility and nuptiality are generally associated with increases in grain prices. Increases in mortality appear to be associated with high grain prices, cold winters and hot summers. Changes in these responses over time are examined within the context of economic development.The causes of a high mortality are various; but the greater number of known causes may be referred to five heads: 1) excessive cold or heat; 2) privation of food; 3) effluvial poisons generated in marshes, foul prisons, camps, cities; and epidemic diseases, such as typhus, plague, small pox, and other zymotic diseases; 4) mechanical and chemical injuries; 5) spontaneous disorders to which the structure of the human organization renders it liable. - Farr (1846, p. 164)....a foresight of the difficulties attending the rearing of a family acts as a preventive check, and the actual distresses of some of the lower classes, by which they are disabled from giving the proper food and attention to their children, acts as a positive check to the natural increase of population. - Malthus (1798, Chapter 4).The research on which this paper is based has been funded by grants R01-HD18107 and T32-HD07275 from the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This paper is associated with the author's Basic Patterns in Annual Variations in Fertility, Nuptiality, Mortality, and Prices in Preindustrial Europe,Population Studies 42, 2, 1988, 275-303. I thank Ronald Lee, Ulla Larsen, and Jan de Vries for helpful comments and suggestions.     

北方大部气温偏高 南方低温降水偏多

8月份,除东北地区外,我国北方大部降水偏少,气温偏高.华北、黄淮部分地区旱情发展.南方大部降水偏多,华南及长江流域持续降雨,一些地区发生暴雨洪涝灾害.月内有6个热带气旋活动,2个在广东沿海登陆.