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Abstract
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Abstract
Experiments were made with the Meteorological Office general circulation model (GCM) to investigate the response of the simulated atmospheric circulation to the addition of large amounts of waste heat in localized areas. The concept of large-scale energy parks determined the scenarios selected for the five perturbation experiments. Waste heat totaling 150 or 300 TW was added to the sensible heat exchange between the surface and air at energy parks in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in four experiments. In a fifth experiment, 300 TW were added to a 10 m deep “ocean box” simulated beneath the energy parks. Forty-day averages of meteorological fields from the five waste heat experiments and from three control cases are compared. Model variability is estimated on the basis of the three control cases. The regional and hemispheric responses of the atmospheric circulation are discussed, with emphasis on the magnitude of the heating rates and 500 mb height changes. The main conclusions that can be drawn are that the model exhibits a nonlinear response to the waste heat input and that, in middle latitudes, the spatial scale of the response is large even though the heat input scale is small.
Abstract
Experiments were made with the Meteorological Office general circulation model (GCM) to investigate the response of the simulated atmospheric circulation to the addition of large amounts of waste heat in localized areas. The concept of large-scale energy parks determined the scenarios selected for the five perturbation experiments. Waste heat totaling 150 or 300 TW was added to the sensible heat exchange between the surface and air at energy parks in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in four experiments. In a fifth experiment, 300 TW were added to a 10 m deep “ocean box” simulated beneath the energy parks. Forty-day averages of meteorological fields from the five waste heat experiments and from three control cases are compared. Model variability is estimated on the basis of the three control cases. The regional and hemispheric responses of the atmospheric circulation are discussed, with emphasis on the magnitude of the heating rates and 500 mb height changes. The main conclusions that can be drawn are that the model exhibits a nonlinear response to the waste heat input and that, in middle latitudes, the spatial scale of the response is large even though the heat input scale is small.
Abstract
Measurements of the vertical Reynolds stress components in the wave-dominated nearshore are required to diagnose momentum and turbulence dynamics. Removing wave bias from Reynolds stress estimates is critical to a successful diagnosis. Here two existing Reynolds stress estimation methods (those of Trowbridge, and Shaw and Trowbridge) for wave-dominated environments and an extended method (FW) that is a combination of the two are tested with a vertical array of three current meters deployed in 3.2-m water depth off an ocean beach. During the 175-h-long experiment the instruments were seaward of the surfzone and the alongshore current was wind driven. Intercomparison of Reynolds stress methods reveals that the Trowbridge method is wave bias dominated. Tests of the integrated cospectra are used to reject bad Reynolds stress estimates, and the Shaw and Trowbridge estimates are rejected more often than FW estimates. With the FW method, wave bias remains apparent in the cross-shore component of the Reynolds stress. However, the alongshore component of Reynolds stress measured at the three current meters are related to each other with a vertically uniform first EOF containing 73% of the variance, indicating the presence of a constant stress layer. This is the first time the vertical structure of Reynolds stress has been measured in a wave-dominated environment. The Reynolds stress is, albeit weakly, related to the wind stress and a parameterized bottom stress. Using derived wave bias and bottom stress parameterizations, the effect of wave bias on Reynolds stress estimates is shown to be weaker for more typical surfzone conditions (with both stronger waves and currents than those observed here).
Abstract
Measurements of the vertical Reynolds stress components in the wave-dominated nearshore are required to diagnose momentum and turbulence dynamics. Removing wave bias from Reynolds stress estimates is critical to a successful diagnosis. Here two existing Reynolds stress estimation methods (those of Trowbridge, and Shaw and Trowbridge) for wave-dominated environments and an extended method (FW) that is a combination of the two are tested with a vertical array of three current meters deployed in 3.2-m water depth off an ocean beach. During the 175-h-long experiment the instruments were seaward of the surfzone and the alongshore current was wind driven. Intercomparison of Reynolds stress methods reveals that the Trowbridge method is wave bias dominated. Tests of the integrated cospectra are used to reject bad Reynolds stress estimates, and the Shaw and Trowbridge estimates are rejected more often than FW estimates. With the FW method, wave bias remains apparent in the cross-shore component of the Reynolds stress. However, the alongshore component of Reynolds stress measured at the three current meters are related to each other with a vertically uniform first EOF containing 73% of the variance, indicating the presence of a constant stress layer. This is the first time the vertical structure of Reynolds stress has been measured in a wave-dominated environment. The Reynolds stress is, albeit weakly, related to the wind stress and a parameterized bottom stress. Using derived wave bias and bottom stress parameterizations, the effect of wave bias on Reynolds stress estimates is shown to be weaker for more typical surfzone conditions (with both stronger waves and currents than those observed here).
Abstract
The effect of cooling on the separated boundary current predicted by the model of Parsons is studied. The separating current is found to strengthen and to move southwards and eastwards. The model is also robust to limited heating. in which case the separating current weakens and moves northwards.
Abstract
The effect of cooling on the separated boundary current predicted by the model of Parsons is studied. The separating current is found to strengthen and to move southwards and eastwards. The model is also robust to limited heating. in which case the separating current weakens and moves northwards.
Abstract
A neutrally buoyant float instrumented to measure 1–5 m shear and stratification was deployed for ten days in a near-inertial critical layer at the base of a warm-core ring. Vertical velocity and temperature data, from which large-scale (>5 m) subinertial fluctuations have been removed, are used to estimate the vertical heat flux 〈w′T′〉. The resulting directly measured net heat flux is significantly nonzero and consistent with that inferred from microstructure measurements of turbulent dissipation rates ε and χT. The w, T cospectra tends to be negative at low encounter frequencies (f< w E <1.6N) and positive at higher encounter frequencies. The low frequency of the negative heat flux appears to be due to the intermittent co-occurrence of shear instability and wave-intensified stratification. The positive heat flux is associated with smaller scales (high Doppler frequencies) associated with secondary gravitational instability, fully three-dimensional turbulence, and restratification.
Abstract
A neutrally buoyant float instrumented to measure 1–5 m shear and stratification was deployed for ten days in a near-inertial critical layer at the base of a warm-core ring. Vertical velocity and temperature data, from which large-scale (>5 m) subinertial fluctuations have been removed, are used to estimate the vertical heat flux 〈w′T′〉. The resulting directly measured net heat flux is significantly nonzero and consistent with that inferred from microstructure measurements of turbulent dissipation rates ε and χT. The w, T cospectra tends to be negative at low encounter frequencies (f< w E <1.6N) and positive at higher encounter frequencies. The low frequency of the negative heat flux appears to be due to the intermittent co-occurrence of shear instability and wave-intensified stratification. The positive heat flux is associated with smaller scales (high Doppler frequencies) associated with secondary gravitational instability, fully three-dimensional turbulence, and restratification.
Abstract
Cool-season (November–March) precipitation contributes critically to California’s water resources and flood risk. In the Sierra Nevada, approximately half of cool-season precipitation is derived from a small proportion of storms classified as atmospheric rivers (ARs). The frequency and intensity of ARs are highly variable from year to year and unreliable climate teleconnections limit forecasting. However, previous research provides intriguing evidence of cycles with biennial (2.2 years) and decadal (10–20 years) periodicities in Sierra Nevada cool-season precipitation, suggesting it is not purely stochastic. To identify the source of this cyclicity, we decompose daily precipitation records (1949–2022) into contributions from ARs versus non-ARs, as well as into variations in frequency and intensity. We find that the biennial and decadal spectral peaks in Sierra Nevada precipitation totals are entirely due to precipitation delivered by ARs, and primarily due to variations in the frequency of days with AR precipitation. While total non-AR precipitation correlates with sea surface temperature (SST) and atmospheric pressure patterns associated with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, AR precipitation shows no consistent remote teleconnections at any periodicity. Supporting this finding, atmospheric simulations forced by observed SSTs do not reproduce the biennial or decadal precipitation variations identified in observations. These results, combined with the lack of long-term stable cycles in previously published tree-ring reconstructions, suggest that the observed biennial and decadal quasi-cyclicity in Sierra Nevada precipitation is unreliable as a forecasting tool.
Significance Statement
In California’s Sierra Nevada, where most of the state’s above-ground water resources originate, cool-season precipitation totals exhibited year-to-year and decadal cyclicity over the past century. Long-range forecasts are notoriously unskillful in this region, so nonrandom cycles would be intriguing to water managers challenged to simultaneously minimize flood and drought risk. Over 1949–2022, precipitation cycles were driven by variations in the number of atmospheric river (AR) storms per year even though ARs account for just half of total precipitation. These findings bring us a step closer to understanding the causes of precipitation cyclicity, but we find no evidence that the cycles were underpinned by larger-scale ocean–atmosphere circulations so we caution against relying on continued cycles into the future.
Abstract
Cool-season (November–March) precipitation contributes critically to California’s water resources and flood risk. In the Sierra Nevada, approximately half of cool-season precipitation is derived from a small proportion of storms classified as atmospheric rivers (ARs). The frequency and intensity of ARs are highly variable from year to year and unreliable climate teleconnections limit forecasting. However, previous research provides intriguing evidence of cycles with biennial (2.2 years) and decadal (10–20 years) periodicities in Sierra Nevada cool-season precipitation, suggesting it is not purely stochastic. To identify the source of this cyclicity, we decompose daily precipitation records (1949–2022) into contributions from ARs versus non-ARs, as well as into variations in frequency and intensity. We find that the biennial and decadal spectral peaks in Sierra Nevada precipitation totals are entirely due to precipitation delivered by ARs, and primarily due to variations in the frequency of days with AR precipitation. While total non-AR precipitation correlates with sea surface temperature (SST) and atmospheric pressure patterns associated with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, AR precipitation shows no consistent remote teleconnections at any periodicity. Supporting this finding, atmospheric simulations forced by observed SSTs do not reproduce the biennial or decadal precipitation variations identified in observations. These results, combined with the lack of long-term stable cycles in previously published tree-ring reconstructions, suggest that the observed biennial and decadal quasi-cyclicity in Sierra Nevada precipitation is unreliable as a forecasting tool.
Significance Statement
In California’s Sierra Nevada, where most of the state’s above-ground water resources originate, cool-season precipitation totals exhibited year-to-year and decadal cyclicity over the past century. Long-range forecasts are notoriously unskillful in this region, so nonrandom cycles would be intriguing to water managers challenged to simultaneously minimize flood and drought risk. Over 1949–2022, precipitation cycles were driven by variations in the number of atmospheric river (AR) storms per year even though ARs account for just half of total precipitation. These findings bring us a step closer to understanding the causes of precipitation cyclicity, but we find no evidence that the cycles were underpinned by larger-scale ocean–atmosphere circulations so we caution against relying on continued cycles into the future.
Abstract
Current measurements from a vector-averaging current meter (VACM) on a subsurface mooring and a benthic acoustic stress sensor (BASS) on a bottom tripod are compared to assess their relative accuracy. The instruments were deployed off northern California at a midshelf site (water depth approximately 90 m) as part of the STRESS (Sediment Transport Events on Shelves and Slopes) field program. The subsurface mooring and bottom tripod were within a few hundred meters of each other, with the BASS 5.0 m and the VACM 6.7 m above the bottom, during two tripod deployments of 49 and 32 days in the winter of 1988/89. Speed differences between the VACM and BASS current observations have a mean of 0.2 cm s−1 and a standard deviation of 1.2 cm s−1. If the mean speed profile is logarithmic, the expected mean speed difference due to the vertical separation is about 0.4 cm s−1. The average speed difference between the VACM and BASS increases as near-bottom wave orbital velocities get large relative to hourly averaged currents, consistent with laboratory studies of VACMs in oscillating flows. Direction differences have a mean of 1° and standard deviations of about 5° for speeds greater than 10 cm s−1. The relative accuracy of the corresponding velocity measurements is ±2 cm s−1 (mean differences less than 0.6 cm s−1 and standard deviations of about 1 cm s−1).
The equations used to convert VACM rotor rotation rates to current speed we based on a calibration study by Woodward and Appell rather than one based on a study by Cherriman that is routinely used at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The former yields closer agreement between the BASS and VACM speed measurements during STRESS (mean speed difference 0.2 cm s−1 versus 1.4 cm s−1).
Abstract
Current measurements from a vector-averaging current meter (VACM) on a subsurface mooring and a benthic acoustic stress sensor (BASS) on a bottom tripod are compared to assess their relative accuracy. The instruments were deployed off northern California at a midshelf site (water depth approximately 90 m) as part of the STRESS (Sediment Transport Events on Shelves and Slopes) field program. The subsurface mooring and bottom tripod were within a few hundred meters of each other, with the BASS 5.0 m and the VACM 6.7 m above the bottom, during two tripod deployments of 49 and 32 days in the winter of 1988/89. Speed differences between the VACM and BASS current observations have a mean of 0.2 cm s−1 and a standard deviation of 1.2 cm s−1. If the mean speed profile is logarithmic, the expected mean speed difference due to the vertical separation is about 0.4 cm s−1. The average speed difference between the VACM and BASS increases as near-bottom wave orbital velocities get large relative to hourly averaged currents, consistent with laboratory studies of VACMs in oscillating flows. Direction differences have a mean of 1° and standard deviations of about 5° for speeds greater than 10 cm s−1. The relative accuracy of the corresponding velocity measurements is ±2 cm s−1 (mean differences less than 0.6 cm s−1 and standard deviations of about 1 cm s−1).
The equations used to convert VACM rotor rotation rates to current speed we based on a calibration study by Woodward and Appell rather than one based on a study by Cherriman that is routinely used at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The former yields closer agreement between the BASS and VACM speed measurements during STRESS (mean speed difference 0.2 cm s−1 versus 1.4 cm s−1).
Abstract
The vertical structure of the dissipation of turbulence kinetic energy was observed in the nearshore region (3.2-m mean water depth) with a tripod of three acoustic Doppler current meters off a sandy ocean beach. Surface and bottom boundary layer dissipation scaling concepts overlap in this region. No depth-limited wave breaking occurred at the tripod, but wind-induced whitecapping wave breaking did occur. Dissipation is maximum near the surface and minimum at middepth, with a secondary maximum near the bed. The observed dissipation does not follow a surfzone scaling, nor does it follow a “log layer” surface or bottom boundary layer scaling. At the upper two current meters, dissipation follows a modified deep-water breaking-wave scaling. Vertical shear in the mean currents is negligible and shear production magnitude is much less than dissipation, implying that the vertical diffusion of turbulence is important. The increased near-bed secondary dissipation maximum results from a decrease in the turbulent length scale.
Abstract
The vertical structure of the dissipation of turbulence kinetic energy was observed in the nearshore region (3.2-m mean water depth) with a tripod of three acoustic Doppler current meters off a sandy ocean beach. Surface and bottom boundary layer dissipation scaling concepts overlap in this region. No depth-limited wave breaking occurred at the tripod, but wind-induced whitecapping wave breaking did occur. Dissipation is maximum near the surface and minimum at middepth, with a secondary maximum near the bed. The observed dissipation does not follow a surfzone scaling, nor does it follow a “log layer” surface or bottom boundary layer scaling. At the upper two current meters, dissipation follows a modified deep-water breaking-wave scaling. Vertical shear in the mean currents is negligible and shear production magnitude is much less than dissipation, implying that the vertical diffusion of turbulence is important. The increased near-bed secondary dissipation maximum results from a decrease in the turbulent length scale.
