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Reid A. Bryson
and
Gerald J. Dittberner

Abstract

A simple mean hemispheric temperature model has been constructed in the form of a differential equation which is a function of three independent variables: carbon dioxide content of the air, volcanic ejecta and anthropogenic particulate pollution. This model appears to simulate the behavior of Northern Hemisphere mean temperatures as well as they are known and gives a different pattern of behavior for the Southern Hemisphere. By more completely accounting for those anthropogenic processes which produce both lower tropospheric aerosols and carbon dioxide, such as fossil fuel burning and agricultural burning, we calculate an expected slight decrease in surface temperature with an increase in CO2 content. Though an invariant “solar constant” was assumed, an unmistakable 20–25 year periodicity was found in the difference between the calculated and observed direct solar flux reaching the earth's surface, suggesting a definite but small periodic variation in the solar constant.

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Thomas B. Starr
and
Reid A. Bryson

Abstract

No Abstract.

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Reid A. Bryson
and
Thomas B. Starr

Abstract

The Chandler Motion Of the earth's rotation axis should give rise to tides in the oceans and atmosphere. The Chandler tide in the ocean has been studied and found empirically to exceed the theoretical magnitude. The few Previous studies of the atmospheric Chandler tide have been based on a single frequency. Using new information about the multiple frequency structure of the Chandler motion we have 1) determined the Chandler frequencies more precisely, 2) extracted the topography of the tidal surface from the historical sea level pressure record for the Northern Hemisphere, 3) described several observed modes of tidal oscillation, and 4) shown that the Chandler tide in the atmosphere is of significant amplitude and thus a source of interannual monthly mean pressure pattern variance.

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Reid A. Bryson
and
William P. Lowry

Using the percent of climatological stations reporting rain as a measure of the raininess of a particular day in Arizona, a large increase in rainfall within a few days is found to occur about July 1 in most Arizona summers. By means of flow charts, upper air sequences, mean soundings, and diurnal temperature ranges, this increase is shown to be the result of a rather sharp transition from one dominant air mass to another over the state. The occurrence appears to be related to index, and a hemispherical singularity also appears to be related to the phenomenon.

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WALTER I. CHRISTENSEN JR.
and
REID A. BRYSON

Abstract

Selected hourly surface observations from Madison, Wis. and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. are used as basic data for a series of analyses to determine the feasibility of establishing weather classifications. Component analysis (factor analysis) is applied to a sample of January data for Madison to reduce the number of variables needed to suitably describe each day meteorologically and to create orthogonality among these new variables. With these results as the design matrix in regression analysis, a mathematical model for each day is constructed and each day is compared to all other days in order to classify similar days into distinctive weather types. Every day within each class is compared with the synoptic situation for that day to establish whether these types form a reasonable synoptic pattern. The temporal and spatial validity of these newly found weather types is tested by applying the foregoing results to an independent January sample for Madison and an independent January sample for Minneapolis-St. Paul. The basic analytic techniques are then applied to a Madison July sample. Specifically, the results indicate that the elements of a meteorological observation may be expressed by a smaller number of independent components that agree with our knowledge of dynamics; and these newly created components may be applied in a multivariate analysis to establish distinctive weather types. These weather types are synoptically reasonable and their distribution about the usual pattern of Highs and Lows strongly resembles cloud models and photographs from satellites.

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William H. Campbell
,
Jerome B. Blechman
, and
Reid A. Bryson

Abstract

This paper examines the nature of the periodic components observed in the interannual variability of June rainfall in northern India by using an eigenvector analysis of the spectra of the June rainfall record (1895–1975) and an eigenvector analysis of the precipitation data itself for stations in that region. The first eigenvectors of these analyses have similar spatial and spectral characteristics which indicate that in June the atmosphere in northern India responds strongly at two frequencies, 0.05 and 0.26 year−1. These two frequencies match the two dominant frequencies in the spectrum of a time series (1895–1975) of the mean monthly soli-lunar tidal potential at the latitude of northern India. It is hypothesized that tidal effects modulate the advance of the monsoon “front”, producing some of the observed interannual variability. This hypothesis has been tested by using the tidal frequencies to predict June rainfall a year in advance. The success rate of these year-in-advance forecasts in northern India, on independent data, significantly exceeded that expected by chance or predicted by interannual persistence, suggesting that mechanical tidal forcing might be a useful additional long-range forecast tool.

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C. Vada LaFontaine
,
Reid A. Bryson
, and
Wayne M. Wendland

Abstract

Mean monthly surface wind streamline charts for the North Africa-Mediterranean region are extracted from a previously prepared Northern Hemisphere set. These charts define mean airstream sources and mean confluences or “fronts.” Composite charts of airstream duration and seasonally stationary confluence positions are then extracted from the monthly streamline charts. The seasonality, duration and mean boundaries of the airstreams and their properties define a pattern of genetic climatic regions. This pattern derived entirely from climatic data is found to match the biotic pattern quite well.

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ERNEST C. KUNG
,
REID A. BRYSON
, and
DONALD H. LENSCHOW

Abstract

A series of 12 monthly flights along a fixed path in Wisconsin and a series of 4 long-range flights over extensive areas of the United States and Canada were performed during 1963 to measure systematically the surface albedo over various types of the earth's surface, using an instrumented light airplane operating at a low level. An approximate total of 24,000 mi. was flown and roughly 210,000 sets of the measurements were processed for this study. Techniques of measurement and data treatment are discussed.

It is shown, and discussed in detail, that the regional differences and seasonal variations of the surface albedo due to thc structure and state of the earth's surface cover are significant. The snow cover is the most important modification of the earth's surface, giving a significantly higher albedo. A quantitative relationship between the increase of surface albedo and snow cover is examined. The surface albedo measured during the flights over typical surface covers over North America, including cities, is presented. The surface covers and their textures over the North American Continent were studied mainly in terms of land use, vegetation type and phenology, soil type, and ground snow cover. The surface albedo values were estimated for various regions of the continent from the flight measurement data, considering the similarity and differences in surface structure among the regions. The resulting seasonal albedo maps of North America are presented and discussed, along with the seasonal variation of the meridional profile of thc continental surface albedo.

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