Steady Response of a Ventilated Thermocline to Enhanced Ekman Pumping

The steady response of the ventilated thermocline to an increase in Ekman pumping is investigated, focusing on the effect of the mixed layer depth distribution on the subsurface density anomaly. We consider only the subtropical gyre, and the mixed layer is assumed to be deep in the northwest and shallow elsewhere with a narrow transition zone separating the deep and shallow mixed layer regions. At the intersection of this narrow transition zone and the outcrop line, low potential vorticity fluid is subducted into and ventilates the thermocline. In such a situation, an enhancement of the Ekman pumping confined to the northern subtropical gyre leads to pronounced subsurface cold anomalies in the southern subtropics, which is free of anomalous forcing. These density anomalies are much greater than those that occur when either the mixed layer depth is zonally uniform or the Ekman pumping is enhanced in the whole subtropical gyre. They are caused by anomalous changes in the trajectory of the low potential vorticity fluid in response to anomalous Sverdrup flow. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Meeting future food demand with current agricultural resources

Meeting the food needs of the growing and increasingly affluent human population with the planet’s limited resources is a major challenge of our time. Seen as the preferred approach to global food security issues, ‘sustainable intensification’ is the enhancement of crop yields while minimizing environmental impacts and preserving the ability of future generations to use the land. It is still unclear to what extent sustainable intensification would allow humanity to meet its demand for food commodities. Here we use the footprints for water, nitrogen, carbon and land to quantitatively evaluate resource demands and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of future agriculture and investigate whether an increase in these environmental burdens of food production can be avoided under a variety of dietary scenarios. We calculate average footprints of the current diet and find that animal products account for 43–87% of an individual’s environmental burden – compared to 18% of caloric intake and 39% of protein intake. Interestingly, we find that projected improvements in production efficiency would be insufficient to meet future food demand without also increasing the total environmental burden of food production. Transitioning to less impactful diets would in many cases allow production efficiency to keep pace with growth in human demand while minimizing the food system’s environmental burden. This study provides a useful approach for evaluating the attainability of sustainable targets and for better integrating food security and environmental impacts.     

海洋上层暖水在热带气旋迅速增强中的作用:基于台风威马逊(1409)的个例研究

在登陆海南岛之前,台风威马逊在南海北部从热带风暴级别迅速增强成为超强台风。观测数据的分析结果显示,海洋上层的异常暖水在威马逊的迅速增强过程中扮演了重要的角色。威马逊期间,南海北部的海表面温度相比于气候态海表面温度暖很多。这部分异常暖水为威马逊提供了更多的能量,从而导致了威马逊的迅速增强。数值模拟结果进一步证明,南海北部的暖水在台风威马逊的迅速增强过程中起重要作用。如果没有这团异常暖水的影响,威马逊只增强25 hPa,仅为有暖水影响条件下增强程度的58.1%。     

CAUSAL ANALYSIS AND NUMERICAL MODELING OF THE INSHORE INTENSIFICATION OF SUPER TYPHOON “HATO”

This paper comprehensively analyzes the characteristics and cause of the inshore intensification of super typhoon "Hato", the 13 th super typhoon in 2017. The aspects of typhoon structure, evolution of large-scale circulation and physical quantity field are analyzed using observation data from the Guangdong Automatic Station, Shenzhen Doppler Radar data, NCEP 1°×1° reanalysis data, NCEP 0.25°×0.25° sea surface temperature(SST) data, etc.Additionally, in order to investigate the influence of SST change on the intensity of "Hato", the WRF model and ECMWF 0.125°×0.125° reanalysis data are combined to conduct 3 sensitivity tests on"Hato". The results show that the favorable conditions for inshore intensification of "Hato"included the strengthening and westward extension of the subtropical high, continuous increase of low level moisture transport, an anomalous warm SST area north of 20°N in the South China Sea, an extreme divergence value in the northern South China Sea exceeding 6 ×10-5 s-1, and vertical environmental wind shear between 1.1 m/s-4.8 m/s. The intensity of"Hato"was very sensitive to changes in SST. When the SST rose or dropped by 2℃, the minimum central pressure of the typhoon changed by about 13 hPa or 11 hPa,respectively. SST indirectly influenced the intensity of the typhoon through affecting latent heat transport and sensible heat transport.     

Transforming agricultural land use through marginal gains in the food system

There is an increasing need for transformational changes in the global food system to deliver healthy nutritional outcomes for a growing population while simultaneously ensuring environmental sustainability. However, such changes are subject to political and public constraints that usually allow only gradual, incremental changes to occur. Drawing inspiration from the British cycling team’s concept of marginal gains, we show how transformation might be reconciled with incremental changes. We demonstrate that a set of marginal food system changes acting to increase production efficiency, to reduce losses or to adjust diets could collectively reduce the agricultural land required globally for food production by 21%, or over a third given higher adoption rates. The results show that while all categories of action are important, changes in consumer choices in Europe, North America and Oceania and in the supply-chain in Africa and West and Central Asia have the greatest potential to reduce the land footprint of the food system.     

Influence of friction on the motion of quasigeostrophic vortices

Abstract

Who show through numerical experiments that friction may enhance westward motion of vortices on the beta-plane and establish a relation betwen the dissipation coefficients and westward aceleration. This suggests an explanation fot the dunamics of westward intensification.     

震源系统小震调制比（r＿m）和异常面积（Sr＿m）起伏加剧的时空特征与强震的中、短期预报

本文对强震前震源系统的调制比ｒ＿ｍ和调制比异常面积Ｓｒ＿ｍ随时间变化的起伏加剧现象进行回顾性研究，得到下列研究结果：（１）强震前近源区以及中强震前近源区大多出现调制比ｒ＿ｍ的起伏加剧，并大多在起伏频次达三次时有大震或中强震发生。（２）大多数中、强地震前ｒ＿ｍ异常面积Ｓｒ＿ｍ围绕震源区呈现由小至大、由大至小的过程，因此引入最小异常面积Ｓｒ＿（ｍｉｎ）和最大异常面积Ｓｒ＿（ｍａｘ）之比γ作为中、短期预报指标，根据统计得到异常指标［γ］如下式某些震例在震前出现异常面积Ｓｒ＿ｍ起伏的加剧过程，初步认为是震源区周围调整单元调整能力较差导致的结果。（３）ｒ＿ｍ、Ｓｒ＿ｍ起伏加剧开始时间与震级有关，震级愈大，起伏加剧出现愈早。根据半年步长逐月滑动得到的ｒ＿ｍ－Ｔ图，起伏加剧开始至发震的时间与震级Ｍ的统计，得到如下关系（Ｔ以月计）Ｍ＝４．２９＋０．１１Ｔ（４）强震前场区异常一般呈现随机异常型、波动型和衰减型三种。若场区某统计区出现ｒ＿ｍ的三次起伏加剧时，说明该统计区未来有强震发生。（５）由自治系统和非自治系统原理初步解释了震前震源区周围调整区调制比ｒ＿ｍ及调制比异常面积Ｓｒ＿ｍ起伏现象的周期特征。     

震源系统不稳定度指标和强震短临预报

在探讨震源系统不稳定产生的物理基础前提下，应用调制模式提出了利用小震日频次起伏加剧与外因的相关性进行强震的短临时间预报的设想，具体提出了调制小震频次起伏加剧的两个判别震源系统不稳定度的指标λ＿１和λ＿２。前者为单因子调制指标，后者为多因子调制或多因子调制强化指标。关于大震的地点预报，应用立交模式短临阶段出现调制小震通过未来大震的共轭小震活动条带进行预报。     

Global change and the intensification of agriculture in the tropics

Bridging understanding of local environmental change with regional and global patterns of land-use and land-cover change (LUCC) remains a key goal and challenge for our understanding of global environmental change. This meta-analysis attempts to bridge local and regional scales of LUCC by demonstrating the ways in which previously published case studies can be compared and used for a broader regional synthesis in the tropics. In addition to providing results from a meta-analysis, this paper suggests ways to make future case studies more widely comparable.     

近海热带气旋迅速加强的气候特征

根据我国近海热带气旋发生、发展的气候特点，规定12小时热带气旋中心附近最大风速增值≥10 m/s为迅速加强。通过1949～1990年近海发生迅速加强的84个热带气旋个例分析，阐述了迅速加强时段的时间分布、地区分布及迅速加强前后气象要素变化的气候特征。