Mid-level clouds over the Sahara in a convection-permitting regional model

Climate Dynamics - The simulation of Saharan mid tropospheric clouds is investigated with the weather research and forecasting (WRF) regional atmospheric model at convection permitting...     

Present-day regional climate simulation over Malaysia and western Maritime Continent region using PRECIS forced with ERA40 reanalysis

This study examines the performance of the regional climate model, PRECIS, in reproducing the historical seasonal mean climatology over the Malaysian region. The performance of the model in simulating the seasonal climate pattern of the temperature, precipitation and large-scale circulation was reasonably good. The biases of temperature are less than 2 °C in general, while the seasonal cycles match the observed pattern despite some differences in certain regions. However, the biases for precipitation were greater, particularly over the mountainous areas. These biases could be associated with the deficiencies of the model physics, related to the misrepresentation of the land–surface interaction and convective scheme. Furthermore, the model fails to simulate the mean sea-level pressure over the interior part of Borneo with a significant low-pressure centre. A higher magnitude of the moisture convergence and divergence simulated by the model also contributed to the biases of precipitation over Malaysia.     

Impact of MJO on the diurnal cycle of rainfall over the western Maritime Continent in the austral summer

This paper investigates the impact of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) on the diurnal cycle of rainfall over the western Maritime Continent during the austral summer. For this purpose, cyclostationary empirical orthogonal function analysis is applied to the tropical rainfall measuring mission rain rate and the Japanese Reanalysis-25 data for the period 1998–2008. The real-time multivariate MJO index by Wheeler and Hendon (Mon Wea Rev 132:1917–1932, 2004) is adopted to define the intensity and the phase of MJO. It is demonstrated that the hourly maximum rain rate over the domain tends to increase when convectively active phase of MJO approaches the Maritime Continent. In contrast, the hourly maximum rain rate tends to decrease when convectively suppressed phase of MJO resides over the region. The changes in the rain rate due to MJO differ over the ocean and the land. This difference is the greatest when the MJO is in the mature stage. Throughout the day during this stage, terrestrial rain rates show minimum values while diurnally varying oceanic rain rates record maximum values. Thus, precipitation becomes more intense in the morning over the Java Sea and is weakened in the evening over Borneo and Sumatra during the mature stage of MJO. During the decaying stage of MJO over the Maritime Continent, the diurnal cycle of precipitation weakens significantly over the ocean but only weakly over land. Analyses suggest that the anomalous lower level winds accompanied by MJO interact with the monsoonal flow over the Maritime Continent. Westerlies induced by MJO convection in the mature stage are superimposed on the monsoonal westerlies over the equator and increase wind speed mainly over the Java Sea due to the blocking effect of orography. Mountainous islands induce flow bifurcation, causing near-surface winds to converge mainly over the oceanic channels between two islands. As a result, heat flux release from the ocean to the atmosphere is enhanced by the increased surface wind resulting in instability as described in the wind-induced surface heat exchange mechanism. This may contribute to heavy rainfall over the Java Sea in the morning during the mature stage. On the other hand, convergence and vertical velocity over the islands, which play important roles in inducing nighttime rainfall, tend to be weak in the evening during the mature stage of MJO. Strong westerlies arising from MJO and the seasonal flow during the mature stage tend to interrupt convergence over islands. This interruption of convergence by MJO gives rise to decreased rain rates over the land regions.     

Diurnal cycle of precipitation over the Maritime Continent simulated by a spectral cumulus parameterization

The validity of a spectral cumulus parameterization (spectral scheme) for simulating a diurnal cycle of precipitation over the Maritime Continent (MC) was examined using a regional atmospheric model. The impacts of entrainment parameterization and each type of convective closure, i.e., non-equilibrium (or equilibrium) closure for deep convection, mid-level, and shallow convective closures, were also examined. When vertically variable entrainment and appropriate convective closures were employed, the model adequately simulated a diurnal cycle of precipitation over both land and ocean as compared to the observation. Analysis regarding the entrainment parameterization revealed that variable entrainment parameterization was needed not only for simulating better mean patterns of precipitation, but also for more realistic phases of diurnal cycles. The impacts of convective closures appeared in the differences in the precipitation amplitude. Analysis on diurnal cycles of convective properties and tendencies revealed that the cycles between boundary layer forcing and convective heating determined convection strength and were affected by each type of convective closure. It can be concluded that the spectral scheme with appropriate convective closures is able to simulate a realistic diurnal cycle over the MC.     

海洋性大陆西部夏季降水异常:独立和联系于IOD的模态

采用1979—2013年的NCEP/NCAR、GPCP和GODAS月平均再分析资料,通过回归分析等方法,研究了海洋性大陆(Maritime Continent,MC)地区偏印度洋一侧降水的区域性特征及其与热带、东亚地区环流变化的联系。结果表明:MC西部,爪洼岛以西洋面(A区)与苏门答腊海以西赤道洋面(B区)降水存在一定程度相关的同时,还存在较大差异。两个区域夏季降水正异常时,来自赤道印度洋、赤道太平洋、南海及孟加拉湾地区的水汽输送偏强。A区降水与IOD(Indian Ocean Diapole)现象密切相关,B区降水则与季风活动的变化联系密切。A区降水异常偏多时,混合层的暖海水向A区汇合,A区的海温异常偏高得以维持,对流层低层在A区及其西南部出现气旋性环流,产生气流辐合,有利于上升运动的发生,降水增多。当B区降水正异常时,对流层低层环流与A区降水正异常时较为相似,但气旋性环流范围偏小、偏西。B区暖海温的维持主要与海洋中的垂直运动有关。这些研究结果有利于深刻认识MC区域气候变动特征及亚洲夏季风环流异常的成因。     

Seasonal Prediction of Boreal Winter Rainfall over the Western Maritime Continent during ENSO

Since the beginning of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Climate Outlook Forum(ASEANCOF)in 2013,the most difficult challenge has been the rainfall forecast in boreal winter.This is the Maritime Continent monsoon season during which rainfall reaches maximum in the annual cycle.This forecast difficulty arises in spite of the general notion that seasonal predictability of the Maritime Continent rainfall may be higher than most places because of the strong and robust influences of ENSO.The lower predictability is consistent with the lower correlation between ENSO and western Maritime Continent rainfall that reaches minimum during the boreal winter monsoon.Various theories have been proposed to explain this low correlation.In this paper,we review the research on ENSO–Maritime Continent rainfall relationship and show that the main cause of the forecast difficulty is the wind–terrain interaction involving the Sumatran and Malay Peninsula mountains,rather than the effect of sea surface temperature(SST).The wind–terrain interaction due to the low-level regional scale anomalous horizontal circulation offsets the anomalous Walker circulation during both El Ni?o and La Ni?a.The net result of these two opposing responses to ENSO is a lower local predictability.We propose to call this low-predictability region the WIMP(Western Indonesia–Malay Peninsula)region both for its geographical location and its special characteristic of causing difficulties for forecasters to make a confident forecast for the boreal winter.Our result suggests that climate models lack skills in forecasting rainfall in this region because their predictability depends strongly on SST.     

Three different downstream fates of the boreal-summer MJOs on their passages over the Maritime Continent

Climate Dynamics - The boreal-summer MJOs exhibit three distinctive downstream evolutions on their passages over the Maritime Continent (MC): (i) smoothly transitioning from Indian Ocean (IO) to...     

Climate Variability over the Maritime Continent and Its Role in Global Climate Variation: A Review

The Maritime Continent(MC) consists of multiple islands with varying sizes and topography, and surrounding seas. It is characterized by rainfall(convection) variability on multiple spatial and temporal scales. Various largescale atmospheric, oceanic, and coupled climate systems, such as the El Ni?o–Southern Oscillation(ENSO), Indian Ocean Dipole(IOD), Madden–Julian Oscillation(MJO), and cold surge, exert significant influences on the spatiotemporal complexity of the MC climate and climate variability. As a major tropical heat source located within the warmest oceanic area(the western Pacific warm pool), the MC has been identified as a region of great importance for climate variation on the global scale. However, prediction of climate variability over the MC and its surrounding areas and the relationships to large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns are big challenges, even for state-of-the-art climate models. In this paper, we provide a thorough review on current understanding of the spatiotemporal complexity and prediction of climate variability over this important region, and its influence on global climate variation.     

The sensitivity of the tropical circulation and Maritime Continent precipitation to climate model resolution

The dependence of the annual mean tropical precipitation on horizontal resolution is investigated in the atmospheric version of the Hadley Centre General Environment Model. Reducing the grid spacing from about 350 km to about 110 km improves the precipitation distribution in most of the tropics. In particular, characteristic dry biases over South and Southeast Asia including the Maritime Continent as well as wet biases over the western tropical oceans are reduced. The annual-mean precipitation bias is reduced by about one third over the Maritime Continent and the neighbouring ocean basins associated with it via the Walker circulation. Sensitivity experiments show that much of the improvement with resolution in the Maritime Continent region is due to the specification of better resolved surface boundary conditions (land fraction, soil and vegetation parameters) at the higher resolution. It is shown that in particular the formulation of the coastal tiling scheme may cause resolution sensitivity of the mean simulated climate. The improvement in the tropical mean precipitation in this region is not primarily associated with the better representation of orography at the higher resolution, nor with changes in the eddy transport of moisture. Sizeable sensitivity to changes in the surface fields may be one of the reasons for the large variation of the mean tropical precipitation distribution seen across climate models.     

Vertical Structure of Interannual Variability in Cross-Equatorial Flows over the Maritime Continent and Indian Ocean in Boreal Summer

This study investigates the vertical structure of variability in the cross-equatorial flows(CEFs) over the Maritime Continent and Indian Ocean in boreal summer, based on three reanalysis datasets: ERA-Interim, JRA-55 and NCEP-2. The results show a high consistency in the interannual variability among the reanalysis datasets, especially between ERAInterim and JRA-55, while great uncertainty exists in the decadal or long-term changes of CEFs. Further analyses on the interannual variability in CEFs...     

中国东部春季极端降水与同期欧亚大陆地表感热的可能联系

利用1960~2010年ERA-20C再分析资料和中国东部站点降水观测资料,探讨了我国东部春季极端降水与欧亚大陆地表感热通量的联系和可能影响途径。结果发现,当春季欧亚大陆中纬度巴尔喀什湖以西及贝加尔湖以南区域地表感热通量偏弱（强）,我国东部沿海地区地表感热通量偏强（弱）时,我国东部春季极端降水呈现南少（多）北多（少）的反相分布特征。当春季欧亚大陆中纬度关键区地表感热偏弱,低纬度关键区地表感热通量偏强时,春季副热带西风急流偏弱、位置偏北,我国东部北方地区大气斜压不稳定和对流不稳定偏强,北方地区极端降水偏强,而南方地区大气斜压不稳定和对流不稳定偏弱,南方地区极端降水偏弱。当春季欧亚大陆中纬度关键区地表感热偏强,低纬度关键区地表感热通量偏弱,我国东部极端降水的情况大致相反。     

A microscale model for air pollutant dispersion simulation in urban areas: Presentation of the model and performance over a single building

A microscale air pollutant dispersion model system is developed for emergency response purposes. The model includes a diagnostic wind field model to simulate the wind field and a random-walk air pollutant dispersion model to simulate the pollutant concentration through consideration of the influence of urban buildings. Numerical experiments are designed to evaluate the model's performance, using CEDVAL(Compilation of Experimental Data for Validation of Microscale Dispersion Models) wind tunnel experiment data, including wind fields and air pollutant dispersion around a single building. The results show that the wind model can reproduce the vortexes triggered by urban buildings and the dispersion model simulates the pollutant concentration around buildings well. Typically, the simulation errors come from the determination of the key zones around a building or building cluster. This model has the potential for multiple applications; for example, the prediction of air pollutant dispersion and the evaluation of environmental impacts in emergency situations; urban planning scenarios;and the assessment of microscale air quality in urban areas.     

Interannual variability of summertime outgoing longwave radiation over the Maritime Continent in relation to East Asian summer monsoon anomalies

The Maritime Continent (MC) is under influences of both the tropical Pacific and the Indian Ocean. Anomalous convective activities over the MC have significant impacts on the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) and climate in China. In the present study, the variation in convective activity over the MC in boreal summer and its relationship to EASM anomalies are investigated based on regression analysis of NCEP–NCAR reanalysis and CMAP [Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Merged Analysis of Precipitation] data, with a focus on the impacts of ENSO and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). The most significant interannual variability of convective activity is found over 10°S–10°N, 95°–145°E, which can be roughly defined as the key area of the MC (hereafter, KMC). Outgoing longwave radiation anomaly (OLRA) exhibits 3- to 7-yr periodicities over the KMC, and around 70% of the OLRA variance can be explained by the ENSO signal. However, distinct convection and precipitation anomalies still exist over this region after the ENSO and IOD signals are removed. Abnormally low precipitation always corresponds to positive OLRA over the KMC when negative diabatic heating anomalies and anomalous cooling of the atmospheric column lead to abnormal descending motion over this region. Correspondingly, abnormal divergence occurs in the lower troposphere while convergence occurs in the upper troposphere, triggering an East Asia–Pacific/Pacific–Japan (EAP/PJ)-like anomalous wave train that propagates northeastward and leads to a significant positive precipitation anomaly from the Yangtze River valley in China to the islands of Japan. This EAP/PJ-like wave pattern becomes even clearer after the removal of the ENSO signal and the combined effects of ENSO and IOD, suggesting that convective anomalies over the KMC have an important impact on EASM anomalies. The above results provide important clues for the prediction of EASM anomalies and associated summer precipitation anomalies in China.     

北半球夏季海洋性大陆区域气候与EP型ENSO:直接与间接联系

利用1979—2009年的NECP资料、Hadley海温月平均资料和CMAP降水资料,采用Kao and Yu(2009)的方法定义了夏季EP型ENSO指数EPI,用合成分析的方法分析了东部型ENSO与海洋性大陆降水的关系。结果表明:EPI与MC(Maritime Continent,海洋性大陆)区域降水变化间存在非常弱的负相关。造成这一弱相关的原因是EPI与MC区域降水在某些年份存在同号变化。在剔除Nio4信号后,海洋性大陆区域降水序列与EPI与存在着同号和反号两种关系。反号关系是通常所认为的,当经典的El Nio(La Nia)发生时MC区域降水出现显著地减少(增多)。此时,沿赤道的异常Walker环流建立了EP型ENSO与MC区域气候间的直接联系。而在同号关系时,菲律宾以东异常加热和SPCZ区域异常冷却引起的西北—东南走向的垂直环流圈削弱了MC区域与赤道东太平洋之间的异常Walker环流所建立的直接联系,或者说,赤道东太平洋区域SSTA与MC区域降水异常的形成是通过SPCZ区域SST的反号异常而产生间接联系的。这种机制的揭示为深刻认识ENSO影响海洋性大陆区域甚至东亚地区气候变动的联系提供了新的线索。     

Stationarity of Turbulence in Light Winds during the Maritime Continent Thunderstorm Experiment

Non-stationary turbulence can invalidate eddy flux calculations. Two-hour longrecords of wind velocity, temperature and humidity are classified as stationaryor non-stationary based on the behaviour of the flux as a function of Reynoldsaveraging period; a number of indicators of stationarity are investigated. Thetwo-hour Maritime Continent Thunderstorm Experiment wind datasets are notcompletely stationary, as indicated by the lack of a spectral gap, but can beclassified as approximately stationary, when the mean wind speed is greaterthan 3.8 m s^-1, or the standard deviation of true wind direction is 10°, or the ratio of horizontal wind variance to wind speed is <0.25. In the stationary case the calculated friction velocity exhibits a 7% decrease on average when the Reynolds averaging period is doubled, while data classified as non-stationaryexhibit an increase of 32%. There is little non-stationary behaviour in the kinematicheat fluxes, and is independent of the non-stationarity of the friction velocity. Thekinematic heat fluxes show small decreases (around 3%) when the Reynolds averagingperiod is doubled.     

The impact of the diurnal cycle on the MJO over the Maritime Continent: a modeling study assimilating TRMM rain rate into global analysis

In the present study, we use modeling experiments to investigate the impact of the diurnal cycle on the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) during the Australian summer. Physical initialization and a nudging technique enable us to assimilate the observed Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) rain rate and atmospheric variables from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction—National Center for Atmospheric Research Reanalysis 2 (R2) into the Florida State University Global Spectral Model (FSUGSM), resulting in a realistic simulation of the MJO. Model precipitation is also significantly improved by TRMM rain rate observation via the physical initialization. We assess the influence of the diurnal cycle on the MJO by modifying the diurnal component during the model integration. Model variables are nudged toward the daily averaged values from R2. Globally suppressing the diurnal cycle (NO_DIURNAL) exerts a strong impact on the Maritime Continent. The mean state of precipitation increases and intraseasonal variability becomes stronger over the region. It is well known that MJO weakens as it passes over the Maritime Continent. However, the MJO maintains its strength in the NO_DIURNAL experiment, and the diminution of diurnal signals during the integration does not change the propagating speed of the MJO. We suggest that diminishing the diurnal cycle in NO_DIURNAL consumes less moist static energy (MSE), which is required to trigger both diurnal and intraseasonal convection. Thus, the remaining MSE may play a major role along with larger convective instability and stronger lower level moisture convergence in intensifying the MJO over the Maritime Continent in the model simulation.     

Boundary-layer parameterizations for applied dispersion modeling over urban areas

Many applied dispersion models require the knowledge of boundary-layer parameters such as sensible heat flux,Q _H , friction velocity,u _*, and turbulent energy components, _w and _v . Formulas are suggested for calculating these parameters over a wide variety of types of ground surfaces, based on simple observations of wind speed near the ground and fractional cloud cover, and specification of constants such as roughness length, albedo, and soil moisture availability. Observations ofu _*,Q _H , _w , and _v during field experiments in St. Louis and Indianapolis are used to test the formulas for urban sites. Relative errors of about ±20% in the predictions are seen to occur whenu _*,Q _H , _w , and _v are large. However, when these quantities are small (e.g.,u _* < 0.2 m/s), the errors in the predictions are as large as the mean value of the quantity itself.In addition, it is concluded from studies of available field data and theories that the magnitude of _w is not well-known at elevations above about 100m during the late afternoon and night. Some simple parameterizations for _w . are suggested that are consistent with the observed steady decrease in ground-level concentration in the afternoon and the sudden increase in concentration that can occur a few hours after sunset due to wind shears associated with a low-level jet, for continuous plumes emitted from moderate to tall stacks.     

晚秋前冬海洋性大陆区域向外长波辐射年际变化及其与云贵高原降水异常的联系

利用美国国家海洋和大气管理局(NOAA)向外长波辐射(OLR)月平均资料、欧洲中期数值预报中心(ECMWF)ERA-interim月平均再分析资料、全球降水气候中心(GPCC)降水资料及中国气象局国家气象信息中心提供的中国756站逐日观测资料,通过定义一个海洋性大陆区域对流强度指数(I_OLR),分析了海洋性大陆区域(Maritime Continent,MC)近35年来11月—次年1月对流活动特征,并揭示了11月—次年1月海洋性大陆区域对流活动强度的年际变化与同期云贵高原降水的联系。结果表明:海洋性大陆区域对流活动除了有逐渐增强的趋势外,还存在3—5 a及8—10 a的振荡周期。当海洋性大陆区域对流活动偏弱(强)时,云贵高原西部降水偏少(多),东部降水偏多(少),高原东西部之间降水分布差异加大(减小)。引起云贵高原降水异常的原因有3个方面:一是在海洋性大陆区域与云贵高原间存在显著的异常垂直环流圈,当下沉(上升)支位于海洋性大陆区域时,上升(下沉)支将位于云贵高原地区。而云贵高原地形可能对云贵高原降水异常在东南部和西北部的差别的产生存在影响;二是海洋性大陆区域在对流层低层的辐散和对流层上层的辐合运动为热带和高原以东地区提供了异常的位涡强迫,直接导致对流层低层南海—孟加拉湾地区异常反气旋和对流层上层位于中国南方的异常气旋性环流的产生;三是由于海洋性大陆区域辐散运动作为位涡制造而激发的位涡扰动的能量从热带地区向云贵高原及其东侧频散并辐合,对云贵高原上空扰动异常的维持起到了重要作用。这些结果有利于深刻理解云贵高原冬季降水异常的形成机理以及为寻找降水异常预测因子提供了有用的线索。     

西北太平洋台风季节预报的数值模拟

利用中尺度气象模式WRF（weather research and forecasting）对2006年7月1日-9月30日的西北太平洋夏季台风进行了动力季节预报试验。结果表明：1）在对3个月以内的台风作动力季节预报试验时,WRF模式模拟的台风总个数与实况接近,模式模拟的总登陆台风数与实况相比偏小。从各月模拟情况看,台风总数与登陆数的模拟均与实况有差距。WRF模式对台风强度的模拟总体偏弱。2）WRF在模拟2006年7q月台风以及平均高度场、水平风垂直切变时,7月与实况接近,随时间增长,与实况的差别明显增大．WRF模式具有一定的台风动力季节预报能力,但其预报时限有待探讨。     

Study of a high SO2 event observed over an urban site in western India

Continuous measurements of SO₂, NO_x and O₃ along with sampling based measurements of CO, CH₄, NMHCs and CO₂ were carried out during May, 2010 at Ahmedabad. The diurnal variations of SO₂ in ambient air exhibited elevated values during the night and lower levels during the sunlit hours. The mean concentration of SO₂ during the study period was 0.95 ± 0.88 ppbv. However, the ambient SO₂ exceeded 17 ppbv in the night of 20 May, 2010. On the same day, tropospheric columnar SO₂ from OMI showed almost 350% increase corroborating the surface observations over an extended height regime. This was also the highest columnar value of SO₂ during the summer of 2010. Columnar loadings were also found to be high for formaldehyde, precipitable water vapor and aerosol optical depth on 20 May. Elevated concentrations were also recorded for other trace gases like NO₂ and O₃. Analysis of related data of trace gases indicated characteristics of fresh emissions with dominant contributions from mobile sources during the study period. However, SO₂/NO₂ ratio of 0.36 during the event period on 20th May connotes non-local influences. Analyses of meteorological parameters suggest combined impacts of transport and inversion causing higher levels of SO₂ and other pollutants during 20?C21 May. Episodes of such enhancements may perturb chemical and radiative balance of the atmosphere.