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Abstract
This study investigates changes in the types of storm events occurring in the Fertile Crescent as a result of global warming. Regional climate model [fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5)–Noah] simulations are run for the first and last five years of the twenty-first century following the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2 experiment. Then the precipitation events are classified according to the water vapor fluxes that created them. At present most of the region’s precipitation is from westerly water vapor fluxes. Results indicate that the region will increasingly get its precipitation from large events that are dominated by southerly water vapor fluxes. The increase in these events will occur in the transition seasons, especially autumn.
Abstract
This study investigates changes in the types of storm events occurring in the Fertile Crescent as a result of global warming. Regional climate model [fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5)–Noah] simulations are run for the first and last five years of the twenty-first century following the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2 experiment. Then the precipitation events are classified according to the water vapor fluxes that created them. At present most of the region’s precipitation is from westerly water vapor fluxes. Results indicate that the region will increasingly get its precipitation from large events that are dominated by southerly water vapor fluxes. The increase in these events will occur in the transition seasons, especially autumn.
Abstract
The study presented here attempts to quantify the significance of southerly water vapor fluxes on precipitation occurring in the eastern Fertile Crescent region. The water vapor fluxes were investigated at high temporal and spatial resolution by using a Regional Climate Model [fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5)–Noah land surface model] to downscale the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis. Using the Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Techniques (ISODATA) clustering algorithm, the 200 largest precipitation events, occurring from 1990 through 1994, were grouped into classes based on the similarity of their water vapor fluxes. Results indicate that, while southerly fluxes were dominant in 24% of tested events, these events produced 43% of the total precipitation produced by the 200 largest events. Thus, while the majority of precipitation events occurring in the Fertile Crescent involve significant water vapor advected from the west, those events that included southerly fluxes produced much larger precipitation totals. This suggests that changes that affect these southerly fluxes more than the westerly fluxes (e.g., changes in the Indian monsoon, movement of the head of the Persian Gulf, etc.) may have a relatively strong affect on the total precipitation falling in the Fertile Crescent even though they affect relatively few precipitation events. To obtain a clearer view of the precipitation mechanisms, the authors used a linear model, along with the estimated water vapor fluxes, to downscale from 25 to 1 km. The result shows a spectrum of mountain scales not seen in the regional model, exerting tight control on the precipitation pattern.
Abstract
The study presented here attempts to quantify the significance of southerly water vapor fluxes on precipitation occurring in the eastern Fertile Crescent region. The water vapor fluxes were investigated at high temporal and spatial resolution by using a Regional Climate Model [fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5)–Noah land surface model] to downscale the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis. Using the Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Techniques (ISODATA) clustering algorithm, the 200 largest precipitation events, occurring from 1990 through 1994, were grouped into classes based on the similarity of their water vapor fluxes. Results indicate that, while southerly fluxes were dominant in 24% of tested events, these events produced 43% of the total precipitation produced by the 200 largest events. Thus, while the majority of precipitation events occurring in the Fertile Crescent involve significant water vapor advected from the west, those events that included southerly fluxes produced much larger precipitation totals. This suggests that changes that affect these southerly fluxes more than the westerly fluxes (e.g., changes in the Indian monsoon, movement of the head of the Persian Gulf, etc.) may have a relatively strong affect on the total precipitation falling in the Fertile Crescent even though they affect relatively few precipitation events. To obtain a clearer view of the precipitation mechanisms, the authors used a linear model, along with the estimated water vapor fluxes, to downscale from 25 to 1 km. The result shows a spectrum of mountain scales not seen in the regional model, exerting tight control on the precipitation pattern.
Abstract
Attempts to study the radiowave reflection properties of Venus by radar at 3.8 cm wavelength are reviewed. Measurements made by the Lincoln Laboratory during the last three inferior conjunctions place the scattering cross section at 1.7% of the projected area of the planetary disk. At 12.5 cm wavelength, a cross section of 11.5% has been reported and at wavelengths of 23 cm or longer the cross section appears to be ≥15%. No comparable wavelength dependence is found in the radar cross sections of the moon, Mercury or Mars, and it is believed that in the case of Venus, absorption of the waves by the atmosphere is responsible for the low cross section observed at the shortest wavelength.
Support for this conclusion has been obtained by comparing the scattering behavior observed at 3.8 and 12.5 cm. For Venus the reflectivity of the limbs compared to that of the disk center is lower at 3.8 cm than at 12.5 cm wavelength, while in the case of the moon the reverse is true. If the additional limb darkening is attributed to the attenuation of the rays that pass through the atmosphere obliquely, the difference in the two-way absorption can be established as 5±1 db. The radar cross section observed at 3.8 cm is lower than that at 12.5 cm by 8±3 db. Thus, it appears that the one-way absorption of 3.8 cm microwaves by the atmosphere of Venus is at least 2.5 db and possibly more. This is significantly greater than can be accounted for by an atmosphere consisting of CO2 with a pressure of 19±2 atm as implied by the recent Soviet probe. Either the pressure is considerably greater than this, or other gases that are more effective microwave absorbers are present.
Abstract
Attempts to study the radiowave reflection properties of Venus by radar at 3.8 cm wavelength are reviewed. Measurements made by the Lincoln Laboratory during the last three inferior conjunctions place the scattering cross section at 1.7% of the projected area of the planetary disk. At 12.5 cm wavelength, a cross section of 11.5% has been reported and at wavelengths of 23 cm or longer the cross section appears to be ≥15%. No comparable wavelength dependence is found in the radar cross sections of the moon, Mercury or Mars, and it is believed that in the case of Venus, absorption of the waves by the atmosphere is responsible for the low cross section observed at the shortest wavelength.
Support for this conclusion has been obtained by comparing the scattering behavior observed at 3.8 and 12.5 cm. For Venus the reflectivity of the limbs compared to that of the disk center is lower at 3.8 cm than at 12.5 cm wavelength, while in the case of the moon the reverse is true. If the additional limb darkening is attributed to the attenuation of the rays that pass through the atmosphere obliquely, the difference in the two-way absorption can be established as 5±1 db. The radar cross section observed at 3.8 cm is lower than that at 12.5 cm by 8±3 db. Thus, it appears that the one-way absorption of 3.8 cm microwaves by the atmosphere of Venus is at least 2.5 db and possibly more. This is significantly greater than can be accounted for by an atmosphere consisting of CO2 with a pressure of 19±2 atm as implied by the recent Soviet probe. Either the pressure is considerably greater than this, or other gases that are more effective microwave absorbers are present.
Abstract
A land surface scheme with and without groundwater–vegetation interactions is used to explore the impact of rainfall variability on transpiration over drought-vulnerable regions of southeastern Australia. The authors demonstrate that if groundwater is included in the simulations, there is a low correlation between rainfall variability and the response of transpiration to this variability over forested regions. Groundwater reduces near-surface water variability, enabling forests to maintain transpiration through several years of low rainfall, in agreement with independent observations of vegetation greenness. If groundwater is not included, the transpiration variability matches the rainfall variability independent of land cover type. The authors’ results suggest that omitting groundwater in regions where groundwater sustains forests will 1) probably overestimate the likelihood of forest dieback during drought, 2) overestimate a positive feedback linked with declining transpiration and a drying boundary layer, and 3) underestimate the impact of land cover change due to inadequately simulating the different responses to drought for different land cover types.
Abstract
A land surface scheme with and without groundwater–vegetation interactions is used to explore the impact of rainfall variability on transpiration over drought-vulnerable regions of southeastern Australia. The authors demonstrate that if groundwater is included in the simulations, there is a low correlation between rainfall variability and the response of transpiration to this variability over forested regions. Groundwater reduces near-surface water variability, enabling forests to maintain transpiration through several years of low rainfall, in agreement with independent observations of vegetation greenness. If groundwater is not included, the transpiration variability matches the rainfall variability independent of land cover type. The authors’ results suggest that omitting groundwater in regions where groundwater sustains forests will 1) probably overestimate the likelihood of forest dieback during drought, 2) overestimate a positive feedback linked with declining transpiration and a drying boundary layer, and 3) underestimate the impact of land cover change due to inadequately simulating the different responses to drought for different land cover types.
Abstract
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-derived vegetation fraction data were used to update the boundary conditions of the advanced research Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model to assess the influence of realistic vegetation cover on climate simulations in southeast Australia for the period 2000–08. Results show that modeled air temperature was improved when MODIS data were incorporated, while precipitation changes little with only a small decrease in the bias. Air temperature changes in different seasons reflect the variability of vegetation cover well, while precipitation changes have a more complicated relationship to changes in vegetation fraction. Both MODIS and climatology-based simulation experiments capture the overall precipitation changes, indicating that precipitation is dominated by the large-scale circulation, with local vegetation changes contributing variations around these.
Simulated feedbacks between vegetation fraction, soil moisture, and drought over southeast Australia were also investigated. Results indicate that vegetation fraction changes lag precipitation reductions by 6–8 months in nonarid regions. With the onset of the 2002 drought, a potential fast physical mechanism was found to play a positive role in the soil moisture–precipitation feedback, while a slow biological mechanism provides a negative feedback in the soil moisture–precipitation interaction on a longer time scale. That is, in the short term, a reduction in soil moisture leads to a reduction in the convective potential and, hence, precipitation, further reducing the soil moisture. If low levels of soil moisture persist long enough, reductions in vegetation cover and vigor occur, reducing the evapotranspiration and thus reducing the soil moisture decreases and dampening the fast physical feedback. Importantly, it was observed that these feedbacks are both space and time dependent.
Abstract
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-derived vegetation fraction data were used to update the boundary conditions of the advanced research Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model to assess the influence of realistic vegetation cover on climate simulations in southeast Australia for the period 2000–08. Results show that modeled air temperature was improved when MODIS data were incorporated, while precipitation changes little with only a small decrease in the bias. Air temperature changes in different seasons reflect the variability of vegetation cover well, while precipitation changes have a more complicated relationship to changes in vegetation fraction. Both MODIS and climatology-based simulation experiments capture the overall precipitation changes, indicating that precipitation is dominated by the large-scale circulation, with local vegetation changes contributing variations around these.
Simulated feedbacks between vegetation fraction, soil moisture, and drought over southeast Australia were also investigated. Results indicate that vegetation fraction changes lag precipitation reductions by 6–8 months in nonarid regions. With the onset of the 2002 drought, a potential fast physical mechanism was found to play a positive role in the soil moisture–precipitation feedback, while a slow biological mechanism provides a negative feedback in the soil moisture–precipitation interaction on a longer time scale. That is, in the short term, a reduction in soil moisture leads to a reduction in the convective potential and, hence, precipitation, further reducing the soil moisture. If low levels of soil moisture persist long enough, reductions in vegetation cover and vigor occur, reducing the evapotranspiration and thus reducing the soil moisture decreases and dampening the fast physical feedback. Importantly, it was observed that these feedbacks are both space and time dependent.
Abstract
Temperature microstructure variability has been determined from measurements of electrical conductivity (∼1.5 cm wavelength resolution) along two depths in the seasonal thermocline of the Sargasso Sea in July 1981. The microstructure sensors were attached to a thermistor chain, which was towed in and away from a frontal shear zone in the region of the Subtropical Convergence Zone. Averaged over the 170-km-long tow, the estimated dissipation rate of temperature variance, χ, was ∼10−8 °C2 s−1, but χ values ranged from 10−11 (noise level) to 10−5 in the most energetic events. Cox numbers, C, were calculated by making use of a local temperature gradient calculated over a fixed ∼1 m vertical spacing on the chain. Mean values of C were ∼10, but values as high as 105 were observed. The signals wear highly intermittent, varying by as much as five orders of magnitude over scales of the order of 10 m. Probability distributions of χ and C appeared to resemble the lognormal form only in cases where the data were carefully drawn from energetic events. Low values of a large-scale Richardson number (7 m vertical by 450 m horizontal averages) hare no consistent relationship to the occurrence of an event.
Abstract
Temperature microstructure variability has been determined from measurements of electrical conductivity (∼1.5 cm wavelength resolution) along two depths in the seasonal thermocline of the Sargasso Sea in July 1981. The microstructure sensors were attached to a thermistor chain, which was towed in and away from a frontal shear zone in the region of the Subtropical Convergence Zone. Averaged over the 170-km-long tow, the estimated dissipation rate of temperature variance, χ, was ∼10−8 °C2 s−1, but χ values ranged from 10−11 (noise level) to 10−5 in the most energetic events. Cox numbers, C, were calculated by making use of a local temperature gradient calculated over a fixed ∼1 m vertical spacing on the chain. Mean values of C were ∼10, but values as high as 105 were observed. The signals wear highly intermittent, varying by as much as five orders of magnitude over scales of the order of 10 m. Probability distributions of χ and C appeared to resemble the lognormal form only in cases where the data were carefully drawn from energetic events. Low values of a large-scale Richardson number (7 m vertical by 450 m horizontal averages) hare no consistent relationship to the occurrence of an event.
Abstract
This paper deals with flow in a rectilinear channel on a rotating earth. The flow is directed perpendicular to the background planetary vorticity; both an analytical theory and numerical simulations are employed. The analytical approach assumes the existence of an eddy viscosity and employs a perturbation expansion in powers of the reciprocal of the Rossby number (Ro). At lowest order, a cross-channel circulation arises because of the tilting of the planetary vorticity vector by the shear in the along-channel direction. This circulation causes a surface convergence, which achieves its maximum value at a channel aspect ratio (= width/depth) of approximately 10. The location of the maximum surface convergence moves from near the center of the channel to a position very near the sidewalls as the aspect ratio increases from O(1) to O(100). To include the effects of turbulence, direct numerical pseudospectral simulations of the equations of motion are employed. While holding the friction Reynolds number fixed at 230.27, a series of simulations with increasing rotation (Ro = ∞, 10, 1.0, 0.1) are performed. The channelwide circulation cell observed in the analytical theory occurs for the finite Rossby number, but is displaced by lateral self-advection. In addition, turbulence-driven corner circulations appear, which make the along-channel maximum velocity appear at a subsurface location. The most interesting effect is the segregation of the turbulence to one side of the channel, while the turbulence is suppressed on the opposite side.
Abstract
This paper deals with flow in a rectilinear channel on a rotating earth. The flow is directed perpendicular to the background planetary vorticity; both an analytical theory and numerical simulations are employed. The analytical approach assumes the existence of an eddy viscosity and employs a perturbation expansion in powers of the reciprocal of the Rossby number (Ro). At lowest order, a cross-channel circulation arises because of the tilting of the planetary vorticity vector by the shear in the along-channel direction. This circulation causes a surface convergence, which achieves its maximum value at a channel aspect ratio (= width/depth) of approximately 10. The location of the maximum surface convergence moves from near the center of the channel to a position very near the sidewalls as the aspect ratio increases from O(1) to O(100). To include the effects of turbulence, direct numerical pseudospectral simulations of the equations of motion are employed. While holding the friction Reynolds number fixed at 230.27, a series of simulations with increasing rotation (Ro = ∞, 10, 1.0, 0.1) are performed. The channelwide circulation cell observed in the analytical theory occurs for the finite Rossby number, but is displaced by lateral self-advection. In addition, turbulence-driven corner circulations appear, which make the along-channel maximum velocity appear at a subsurface location. The most interesting effect is the segregation of the turbulence to one side of the channel, while the turbulence is suppressed on the opposite side.
Abstract
Increasingly, the risk assessment community has recognized the social and cultural aspects of vulnerability to hurricanes and other hazards that impact planning and public communication. How individuals and communities understand and react to natural hazard risk communications can be driven by a number of different cognitive, cultural, economic, and political factors. The social sciences have seen an increased focus over the last decade on studying hurricane understanding and responses from a social, cognitive, or decision science perspective, which, broadly defined, includes a number of disparate fields. This paper is a cross-disciplinary and critical review of those efforts as they are relevant to hurricane risk communication development. We focus on two areas that, on the basis of a comprehensive literature review and discussions with experts in the field, have received comparatively little attention from the hazards community: 1) research concerning visual communications and the way in which individuals process, understand, and make decisions regarding them and 2) the way in which vulnerable communities understand and interact with hurricane warning communications. We go on to suggest areas that merit increased research and draw lessons or guidance from the broader hazards/social science research realm that has implications for hurricane planning and risk communication, particularly the development and dissemination of hurricane forecast products.
Abstract
Increasingly, the risk assessment community has recognized the social and cultural aspects of vulnerability to hurricanes and other hazards that impact planning and public communication. How individuals and communities understand and react to natural hazard risk communications can be driven by a number of different cognitive, cultural, economic, and political factors. The social sciences have seen an increased focus over the last decade on studying hurricane understanding and responses from a social, cognitive, or decision science perspective, which, broadly defined, includes a number of disparate fields. This paper is a cross-disciplinary and critical review of those efforts as they are relevant to hurricane risk communication development. We focus on two areas that, on the basis of a comprehensive literature review and discussions with experts in the field, have received comparatively little attention from the hazards community: 1) research concerning visual communications and the way in which individuals process, understand, and make decisions regarding them and 2) the way in which vulnerable communities understand and interact with hurricane warning communications. We go on to suggest areas that merit increased research and draw lessons or guidance from the broader hazards/social science research realm that has implications for hurricane planning and risk communication, particularly the development and dissemination of hurricane forecast products.
Abstract
Six weather types (WTs) are computed for tropical Australia during the wet season (November–March 1979–2015) using cluster analysis of 6-hourly low-level winds at 850 hPa. The WTs may be interpreted as a varying combination of at least five distinct phenomena operating at different time scales: the diurnal cycle, fast and recurrent atmospheric phenomena such as transient low pressure, the intraseasonal Madden–Julian oscillation, the annual cycle, and interannual variations mostly associated with El Niño–Southern Oscillation. The WTs are also strongly phase-locked onto the break/active phases of the monsoon; two WTs characterize mostly the trade-wind regime prevalent either at the start and the end of the monsoon or during its breaks, while three monsoonal WTs occur mostly during its core and active phases. The WT influence is strongest for the frequency of wet spells, while the influence on intensity varies according to the temporal aggregation of the rainfall. At hourly time scale, the climatological mean wet intensity tends to be near-constant in space and not systematically larger for the monsoonal WTs compared to other WTs. Nevertheless, one transitional WT, most prevalent around late November and characterized by weak synoptic forcings and overall drier conditions than the monsoonal WTs, is associated with an increased number of high hourly rainfall intensities for some stations, including for the interior of the Cape York Peninsula. When the temporal aggregation exceeds 6–12 h, the mean intensity tends to be larger for some of the monsoonal WTs, in association with more frequent and also slightly longer wet spells.
Abstract
Six weather types (WTs) are computed for tropical Australia during the wet season (November–March 1979–2015) using cluster analysis of 6-hourly low-level winds at 850 hPa. The WTs may be interpreted as a varying combination of at least five distinct phenomena operating at different time scales: the diurnal cycle, fast and recurrent atmospheric phenomena such as transient low pressure, the intraseasonal Madden–Julian oscillation, the annual cycle, and interannual variations mostly associated with El Niño–Southern Oscillation. The WTs are also strongly phase-locked onto the break/active phases of the monsoon; two WTs characterize mostly the trade-wind regime prevalent either at the start and the end of the monsoon or during its breaks, while three monsoonal WTs occur mostly during its core and active phases. The WT influence is strongest for the frequency of wet spells, while the influence on intensity varies according to the temporal aggregation of the rainfall. At hourly time scale, the climatological mean wet intensity tends to be near-constant in space and not systematically larger for the monsoonal WTs compared to other WTs. Nevertheless, one transitional WT, most prevalent around late November and characterized by weak synoptic forcings and overall drier conditions than the monsoonal WTs, is associated with an increased number of high hourly rainfall intensities for some stations, including for the interior of the Cape York Peninsula. When the temporal aggregation exceeds 6–12 h, the mean intensity tends to be larger for some of the monsoonal WTs, in association with more frequent and also slightly longer wet spells.
