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Abstract
A stochastically forced nonlinear dynamic model for El Niño–Southern Oscillation is advanced to explore the nature of the highly irregular ENSO cycle. The model physics includes nonlinear dynamics of the coupled ocean–atmosphere system, high-frequency stochastic forcing, and the annual forcing of a prescribed climatological basic state.
The model irregular ENSO-like oscillation arises from three different origins: stochastic resonance, coupled nonlinear instability, and stochastic transition. When the basic state is stable, the stochastic forcing excites irregular oscillations by stochastic resonance. When the system is unstable and the coupled dynamics sustains a nonlinear oscillation (stable limit cycle), the stochastic forcing perturbs the deterministic trajectory of the limit cycle in the phase space, generating irregularities and modifying the oscillation period. When the system possesses multiequilibrium states, the stochastic forcing may render the system oscillatory by randomly switching the system between a warm and a cold stable steady state.
The stochastic response depends not only on the nonlinear dynamic regimes of the ENSO system but also on the temporal structure (spectrum) and strength of the stochastic forcing. White and red noises are shown to be much more effective than band-limited white noises in stochastic resonance and in altering the characteristics of the nonlinear oscillation. The intraseasonal noise can alter the dominant period of intrinsic nonlinear oscillation, favoring biennial oscillation, especially when the intraseasonal forcing is modulated by the monsoon (annual) cycle. Stronger forcing yields an enhanced resonant oscillation with a prolonged period. A sufficiently strong white noise forcing, however, can destroy the nonlinear or resonant oscillation, leading to a Markovian process. The basic-state annual variation tends to enhance the resonant oscillation but reduces the oscillation period considerably in the marginally stable regime.
The model results suggest that ENSO may arise from multimechanisms. The different mechanisms may be at work in various phases of the ENSO evolution, depending on the basic state and the nonlinear dynamics of the system. The monsoon may affect ENSO through modulation of intraseasonal stochastic forcing, enhancing the biennial component of ENSO.
Abstract
A stochastically forced nonlinear dynamic model for El Niño–Southern Oscillation is advanced to explore the nature of the highly irregular ENSO cycle. The model physics includes nonlinear dynamics of the coupled ocean–atmosphere system, high-frequency stochastic forcing, and the annual forcing of a prescribed climatological basic state.
The model irregular ENSO-like oscillation arises from three different origins: stochastic resonance, coupled nonlinear instability, and stochastic transition. When the basic state is stable, the stochastic forcing excites irregular oscillations by stochastic resonance. When the system is unstable and the coupled dynamics sustains a nonlinear oscillation (stable limit cycle), the stochastic forcing perturbs the deterministic trajectory of the limit cycle in the phase space, generating irregularities and modifying the oscillation period. When the system possesses multiequilibrium states, the stochastic forcing may render the system oscillatory by randomly switching the system between a warm and a cold stable steady state.
The stochastic response depends not only on the nonlinear dynamic regimes of the ENSO system but also on the temporal structure (spectrum) and strength of the stochastic forcing. White and red noises are shown to be much more effective than band-limited white noises in stochastic resonance and in altering the characteristics of the nonlinear oscillation. The intraseasonal noise can alter the dominant period of intrinsic nonlinear oscillation, favoring biennial oscillation, especially when the intraseasonal forcing is modulated by the monsoon (annual) cycle. Stronger forcing yields an enhanced resonant oscillation with a prolonged period. A sufficiently strong white noise forcing, however, can destroy the nonlinear or resonant oscillation, leading to a Markovian process. The basic-state annual variation tends to enhance the resonant oscillation but reduces the oscillation period considerably in the marginally stable regime.
The model results suggest that ENSO may arise from multimechanisms. The different mechanisms may be at work in various phases of the ENSO evolution, depending on the basic state and the nonlinear dynamics of the system. The monsoon may affect ENSO through modulation of intraseasonal stochastic forcing, enhancing the biennial component of ENSO.
Abstract
The large-scale circulation anomalies associated with the 1988 drought and the 1993 floods are investigated with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Reanalysis data and a linear stationary wave model. The transient vorticity and thermal forcings are explicitly calculated and the diabatic heating is derived as a residual in the thermodynamic energy equation. Using the April–June (AMJ) data for 1988, and June–August (JJA) data for 1993, the linear stationary wave model is able to reproduce the main features of the geopotential height anomaly for the two seasons when all forcings are included. This provides a basis for further investigation of stationary wave response to different forcing mechanisms using the linear model.
Within the linear model framework, the linear model responses to different forcings are examined separately. The results indicate that the 1988 anomaly over the United States is a result of both the diabatic heating and the transient vorticity and thermal forcings. The large anticyclonic anomalies over the North Pacific and Canada are forced mainly by the diabatic heating. The 1993 anomaly, however, is dominated by the response to transient vorticity forcing. By further separating the linear model responses to regional diabatic heating anomalies in 1988, the results indicate that the western North Pacific heating is entirely responsible for the anticyclonic center over the North Pacific, which causes the northward shift and intensification of the Pacific jet stream. The eastern North Pacific heating/cooling couplet is the most important for maintaining the North American circulation anomaly. The tropical eastern Pacific cooling/heating anomalies associated with the La Niña condition have negligible influence on the North American circulation. In 1993, the strong diabatic heating over the North American continent largely compensates the effect of the cooling over the North Pacific.
The dynamics of the AMJ and JJA climate is further explored by calculating its Green’s function for both diabatic heating and vorticity forcing. The results again show negligible influence from the equatorial Pacific. The most effective location for diabatic heating to generate a North American circulation anomaly is along the west coast of North America, where the zonal wind is relatively weak. There is little sensitivity in the Green’s function solution to the different basic states.
Abstract
The large-scale circulation anomalies associated with the 1988 drought and the 1993 floods are investigated with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Reanalysis data and a linear stationary wave model. The transient vorticity and thermal forcings are explicitly calculated and the diabatic heating is derived as a residual in the thermodynamic energy equation. Using the April–June (AMJ) data for 1988, and June–August (JJA) data for 1993, the linear stationary wave model is able to reproduce the main features of the geopotential height anomaly for the two seasons when all forcings are included. This provides a basis for further investigation of stationary wave response to different forcing mechanisms using the linear model.
Within the linear model framework, the linear model responses to different forcings are examined separately. The results indicate that the 1988 anomaly over the United States is a result of both the diabatic heating and the transient vorticity and thermal forcings. The large anticyclonic anomalies over the North Pacific and Canada are forced mainly by the diabatic heating. The 1993 anomaly, however, is dominated by the response to transient vorticity forcing. By further separating the linear model responses to regional diabatic heating anomalies in 1988, the results indicate that the western North Pacific heating is entirely responsible for the anticyclonic center over the North Pacific, which causes the northward shift and intensification of the Pacific jet stream. The eastern North Pacific heating/cooling couplet is the most important for maintaining the North American circulation anomaly. The tropical eastern Pacific cooling/heating anomalies associated with the La Niña condition have negligible influence on the North American circulation. In 1993, the strong diabatic heating over the North American continent largely compensates the effect of the cooling over the North Pacific.
The dynamics of the AMJ and JJA climate is further explored by calculating its Green’s function for both diabatic heating and vorticity forcing. The results again show negligible influence from the equatorial Pacific. The most effective location for diabatic heating to generate a North American circulation anomaly is along the west coast of North America, where the zonal wind is relatively weak. There is little sensitivity in the Green’s function solution to the different basic states.
Abstract
The authors investigate the interannual variations of freshwater content (FWC) and sea surface height (SSH) in the Beaufort Sea, particularly their increases during 2004–09, using a coupled ice–ocean model (CIOM), adapted for the Arctic Ocean to simulate the interannual variations. The CIOM simulation exhibits a (relative) salinity minimum in the Beaufort Sea and a warm Atlantic water layer in the Arctic Ocean, which is similar to the Polar Hydrographic Climatology (PHC), and captures the observed FWC maximum in the central Beaufort Sea, and the observed variation and rapid decline of total ice concentration, over the last 30 years. The model simulations of SSH and FWC suggest a significant increase in the central Beaufort Sea during 2004–09. The simulated SSH increase is about 8 cm, while the FWC increase is about 2.5 m, with most of these increases occurring in the center of the Beaufort gyre. The authors show that these increases are due to an increased surface wind stress curl during 2004–09, which increased the FWC in the Beaufort Sea by about 0.63 m yr−1 through Ekman pumping. Moreover, the increased surface wind is related to the interannual variation of the Arctic polar vortex at 500 hPa. During 2004–09, the polar vortex had significant weakness, which enhanced the Beaufort Sea high by affecting the frequency of synoptic weather systems in the region. In addition to the impacts of the polar vortex, enhanced melting of sea ice also contributes to the FWC increase by about 0.3 m yr−1 during 2004–09.
Abstract
The authors investigate the interannual variations of freshwater content (FWC) and sea surface height (SSH) in the Beaufort Sea, particularly their increases during 2004–09, using a coupled ice–ocean model (CIOM), adapted for the Arctic Ocean to simulate the interannual variations. The CIOM simulation exhibits a (relative) salinity minimum in the Beaufort Sea and a warm Atlantic water layer in the Arctic Ocean, which is similar to the Polar Hydrographic Climatology (PHC), and captures the observed FWC maximum in the central Beaufort Sea, and the observed variation and rapid decline of total ice concentration, over the last 30 years. The model simulations of SSH and FWC suggest a significant increase in the central Beaufort Sea during 2004–09. The simulated SSH increase is about 8 cm, while the FWC increase is about 2.5 m, with most of these increases occurring in the center of the Beaufort gyre. The authors show that these increases are due to an increased surface wind stress curl during 2004–09, which increased the FWC in the Beaufort Sea by about 0.63 m yr−1 through Ekman pumping. Moreover, the increased surface wind is related to the interannual variation of the Arctic polar vortex at 500 hPa. During 2004–09, the polar vortex had significant weakness, which enhanced the Beaufort Sea high by affecting the frequency of synoptic weather systems in the region. In addition to the impacts of the polar vortex, enhanced melting of sea ice also contributes to the FWC increase by about 0.3 m yr−1 during 2004–09.
Abstract
Hydrographic surveys were conducted off the Philippine coast in September 1987 and April 1988 as part of the United States/People's Republic of China cooperative research program. These cruises sampled the western Pacific Ocean where the North Equatorial Current (NEC) meets the western boundary and divides into the Kuroshio and Mindanao Currents. The requirement for mass conservation within a region enclosed by stations is utilized here to obtain absolute circulation fields for the two surveys. In both realizations, the surface flow of the NEC was observed to bifurcate near latitude 13°N; NEC flow poleward of this latitude turned north as the Kuroshio while flow to the south fed the Mindanao Current. Most striking was a twofold increase in the strength of the current system in spring 1988 as compared with fall 1987. We note that the observations in fall 1987 were obtained during the height of the 1986/87 El Niño, while those in spring 1988 were during a cold phase of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation. It is not clear how the observed current changes relate to the evolution of this event. The potential vorticity (Q) distributions of the surface waters were examined to explore the dynamics of the bifurcation. Within the NEC, Q was nearly constant (layer thickness change balanced meridional planetary vorticity variation). Within the Kuroshio and Mindanao currents, near constant Q (with magnitude comparable to that in the NEC) was also found with a balance between relative vorticity variation and layer depth change as would be expected for inertia] boundary currents.
Abstract
Hydrographic surveys were conducted off the Philippine coast in September 1987 and April 1988 as part of the United States/People's Republic of China cooperative research program. These cruises sampled the western Pacific Ocean where the North Equatorial Current (NEC) meets the western boundary and divides into the Kuroshio and Mindanao Currents. The requirement for mass conservation within a region enclosed by stations is utilized here to obtain absolute circulation fields for the two surveys. In both realizations, the surface flow of the NEC was observed to bifurcate near latitude 13°N; NEC flow poleward of this latitude turned north as the Kuroshio while flow to the south fed the Mindanao Current. Most striking was a twofold increase in the strength of the current system in spring 1988 as compared with fall 1987. We note that the observations in fall 1987 were obtained during the height of the 1986/87 El Niño, while those in spring 1988 were during a cold phase of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation. It is not clear how the observed current changes relate to the evolution of this event. The potential vorticity (Q) distributions of the surface waters were examined to explore the dynamics of the bifurcation. Within the NEC, Q was nearly constant (layer thickness change balanced meridional planetary vorticity variation). Within the Kuroshio and Mindanao currents, near constant Q (with magnitude comparable to that in the NEC) was also found with a balance between relative vorticity variation and layer depth change as would be expected for inertia] boundary currents.
Abstract
Gibbs oscillation can show up near flow regions with strong temperature gradients in the numerical simulation of nonhydrostatic mesoscale atmospheric flows when using the high-order discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method. The authors propose to incorporate flow-feature-based localized Laplacian artificial viscosity in the DG framework to suppress the spurious oscillation in the vicinity of sharp thermal fronts but not to contaminate the smooth flow features elsewhere. The parameters in the localized Laplacian artificial viscosity are modeled based on both physical criteria and numerical features of the DG discretization. The resulting numerical formulation is first validated on several shock-involved test cases, including a shock discontinuity problem with the one-dimensional Burger’s equation, shock–entropy wave interaction, and shock–vortex interaction. Then the efficacy of the developed numerical formulation on stabilizing thermal fronts in nonhydrostatic mesoscale atmospheric modeling is demonstrated by two benchmark test cases: the rising thermal bubble problem and the density current problem. The results indicate that the proposed flow-feature-based localized Laplacian artificial viscosity method can sharply detect the nonsmooth flow features, and stabilize the DG discretization nearby. Furthermore, the numerical stabilization method works robustly for a wide range of grid sizes and polynomial orders without parameter tuning in the localized Laplacian artificial viscosity.
Abstract
Gibbs oscillation can show up near flow regions with strong temperature gradients in the numerical simulation of nonhydrostatic mesoscale atmospheric flows when using the high-order discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method. The authors propose to incorporate flow-feature-based localized Laplacian artificial viscosity in the DG framework to suppress the spurious oscillation in the vicinity of sharp thermal fronts but not to contaminate the smooth flow features elsewhere. The parameters in the localized Laplacian artificial viscosity are modeled based on both physical criteria and numerical features of the DG discretization. The resulting numerical formulation is first validated on several shock-involved test cases, including a shock discontinuity problem with the one-dimensional Burger’s equation, shock–entropy wave interaction, and shock–vortex interaction. Then the efficacy of the developed numerical formulation on stabilizing thermal fronts in nonhydrostatic mesoscale atmospheric modeling is demonstrated by two benchmark test cases: the rising thermal bubble problem and the density current problem. The results indicate that the proposed flow-feature-based localized Laplacian artificial viscosity method can sharply detect the nonsmooth flow features, and stabilize the DG discretization nearby. Furthermore, the numerical stabilization method works robustly for a wide range of grid sizes and polynomial orders without parameter tuning in the localized Laplacian artificial viscosity.
Abstract
Turbulent mixing adjacent to the Velasco Reef and Kyushu–Palau Ridge, off northern Palau in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean, is examined using shipboard and moored observations. The study focuses on a 9-day-long, ship-based microstructure and velocity survey, conducted in November–December 2016. Several sections (9–15 km in length) of microstructure, hydrographic, and velocity fields were acquired over and around the reef, where water depths ranged from 50 to 3000 m. Microstructure profiles were collected while steaming slowly either toward or away from the reef, and underway current surveys were conducted along quasi-rectangular boxes with side lengths of 5–10 km. Near the reef, both tidal and subtidal motions were important, while subtidal motions were stronger away from the reef. Vertical shears of currents and mixing were stronger on the northern and eastern flanks of the reef than on the western flanks. High turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rates, 10−6–10−4 W kg−1, and large values of eddy diffusivities, 10−4–10−2 m2 s−1, with strong turbulent heat fluxes, 100–500 W m−2, were found. Currents flowing along the eastern side separated at the northern tip of the reef and generated submesoscale cyclonic vorticity of about 2–4 times the planetary vorticity. The analysis suggests that a torque, imparted by the turbulent bottom stress, generated the cyclonic vorticity at the northern boundary. The northern reef is associated with high vertical transports resulting from both submesoscale flow convergences and energetic mixing. Even though the area around Palau represents a small footprint of the ocean, vertical velocities and mixing rates are several orders magnitude larger than in the open ocean.
Abstract
Turbulent mixing adjacent to the Velasco Reef and Kyushu–Palau Ridge, off northern Palau in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean, is examined using shipboard and moored observations. The study focuses on a 9-day-long, ship-based microstructure and velocity survey, conducted in November–December 2016. Several sections (9–15 km in length) of microstructure, hydrographic, and velocity fields were acquired over and around the reef, where water depths ranged from 50 to 3000 m. Microstructure profiles were collected while steaming slowly either toward or away from the reef, and underway current surveys were conducted along quasi-rectangular boxes with side lengths of 5–10 km. Near the reef, both tidal and subtidal motions were important, while subtidal motions were stronger away from the reef. Vertical shears of currents and mixing were stronger on the northern and eastern flanks of the reef than on the western flanks. High turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rates, 10−6–10−4 W kg−1, and large values of eddy diffusivities, 10−4–10−2 m2 s−1, with strong turbulent heat fluxes, 100–500 W m−2, were found. Currents flowing along the eastern side separated at the northern tip of the reef and generated submesoscale cyclonic vorticity of about 2–4 times the planetary vorticity. The analysis suggests that a torque, imparted by the turbulent bottom stress, generated the cyclonic vorticity at the northern boundary. The northern reef is associated with high vertical transports resulting from both submesoscale flow convergences and energetic mixing. Even though the area around Palau represents a small footprint of the ocean, vertical velocities and mixing rates are several orders magnitude larger than in the open ocean.
Chinese historical documents that contain descriptions of weather conditions can be used for studying climate of the past hundreds or even thousands of years. In this study, the progress of reconstructing a 273-station quantitative precipitation dataset for 1736–1911—a period when records of the depth of rain infiltration (into the ground) and snow depth (above the surface) were kept in the Yu–Xue–Fen–Cun (which is part of memos routinely sent to the emperors during the Qing Dynasty) is reported. To facilitate the rainfall reconstruction, a field program of 29 sites covering different climate regimes and soil characteristics was designed for the purpose of establishing the transfer function between the rain infiltration depth and rainfall amount, while the relation between the snow depth and snowfall is obtained using instrumental measurements of recent decades. The results of the first site at Shijiazhuang (near Beijing) are reported here. The reconstruction shows that the summer and winter precipitation during 1736–1911 were generally greater than their respective 1961–90 means. Two years with extreme summer precipitation are identified—112 mm in 1792 and 1167 mm in 1801; the latter is larger than the 998 mm in 1996, which has been the most severe one of recent decades. The long-term high-resolution quantitative data can be used to study climate variability as well as to evaluate historical climate model simulations.
Chinese historical documents that contain descriptions of weather conditions can be used for studying climate of the past hundreds or even thousands of years. In this study, the progress of reconstructing a 273-station quantitative precipitation dataset for 1736–1911—a period when records of the depth of rain infiltration (into the ground) and snow depth (above the surface) were kept in the Yu–Xue–Fen–Cun (which is part of memos routinely sent to the emperors during the Qing Dynasty) is reported. To facilitate the rainfall reconstruction, a field program of 29 sites covering different climate regimes and soil characteristics was designed for the purpose of establishing the transfer function between the rain infiltration depth and rainfall amount, while the relation between the snow depth and snowfall is obtained using instrumental measurements of recent decades. The results of the first site at Shijiazhuang (near Beijing) are reported here. The reconstruction shows that the summer and winter precipitation during 1736–1911 were generally greater than their respective 1961–90 means. Two years with extreme summer precipitation are identified—112 mm in 1792 and 1167 mm in 1801; the latter is larger than the 998 mm in 1996, which has been the most severe one of recent decades. The long-term high-resolution quantitative data can be used to study climate variability as well as to evaluate historical climate model simulations.
Abstract
The land surface albedo in the NCAR Community Climate System Model (CCSM2) is calculated based on a two-stream approximation, which does not include the effect of three-dimensional vegetation structure on radiative transfer. The model albedo (including monthly averaged albedo, direct albedo at local noon, and the solar zenith angle dependence of albedo) is evaluated using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and albedo data acquired during July 2001–July 2002. The model monthly averaged albedos in February and July are close to the MODIS white-sky albedos (within 0.02 or statistically insignificant) over about 40% of the global land between 60°S and 70°N. However, CCSM2 significantly underestimates albedo by 0.05 or more over deserts (e.g., the Sahara Desert) and some semiarid regions (e.g., parts of Australia). The difference between the model direct albedo at local noon and the MODIS black-sky albedo for the near-infrared (NIR) band (with wavelength > 0.7 μm) is larger than the difference for the visible band (with wavelength < 0.7 μm) for most snow-free regions. For eleven model grid cells with different dominant plant functional types, the model diffuse NIR albedo is higher by 0.05 or more than the MODIS white-sky albedo in five of these cells. Direct albedos from the model and MODIS (as computed using the BRDF parameters) increase with solar zenith angles, but model albedo increases faster than the MODIS data. These analyses and the MODIS BRDF and albedo data provide a starting point toward developing a BRDF-based treatment of radiative transfer through a canopy for land surface models that can realistically simulate the mean albedo and the solar zenith angle dependence of albedo.
Abstract
The land surface albedo in the NCAR Community Climate System Model (CCSM2) is calculated based on a two-stream approximation, which does not include the effect of three-dimensional vegetation structure on radiative transfer. The model albedo (including monthly averaged albedo, direct albedo at local noon, and the solar zenith angle dependence of albedo) is evaluated using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and albedo data acquired during July 2001–July 2002. The model monthly averaged albedos in February and July are close to the MODIS white-sky albedos (within 0.02 or statistically insignificant) over about 40% of the global land between 60°S and 70°N. However, CCSM2 significantly underestimates albedo by 0.05 or more over deserts (e.g., the Sahara Desert) and some semiarid regions (e.g., parts of Australia). The difference between the model direct albedo at local noon and the MODIS black-sky albedo for the near-infrared (NIR) band (with wavelength > 0.7 μm) is larger than the difference for the visible band (with wavelength < 0.7 μm) for most snow-free regions. For eleven model grid cells with different dominant plant functional types, the model diffuse NIR albedo is higher by 0.05 or more than the MODIS white-sky albedo in five of these cells. Direct albedos from the model and MODIS (as computed using the BRDF parameters) increase with solar zenith angles, but model albedo increases faster than the MODIS data. These analyses and the MODIS BRDF and albedo data provide a starting point toward developing a BRDF-based treatment of radiative transfer through a canopy for land surface models that can realistically simulate the mean albedo and the solar zenith angle dependence of albedo.
Abstract
To quantify and explain effects of different land surface schemes (LSSs) on simulated geopotential height (GPH) fields, we performed simulations over China for the summer of 2003 using 12-member ensembles with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, version 3. The results show that while the model can generally simulate the seasonal and monthly mean GPH patterns, the effects of the LSS choice on simulated GPH fields are substantial, with the LSS-induced differences exceeding 10 gpm over a large area (especially the northwest) of China, which is very large compared with climate anomalies and forecast errors. In terms of the assessment measures for the four LSS ensembles [namely, the five-layer thermal diffusion scheme (SLAB), the Noah LSS (NOAH), the Rapid Update Cycle LSS (RUC), and the Pleim–Xiu LSS (PLEX)] in the WRF, the PLEX ensemble is the best, followed by the NOAH, RUC, and SLAB ensembles. The sensitivity of the simulated 850-hPa GPH is more significant than that of the 500-hPa GPH, with the 500-hPa GPH difference fields generally characterized by two large areas with opposite signs due to the smoothly varying nature of GPHs. LSS-induced GPH sensitivity is found to be higher than the GPH sensitivity induced by atmospheric boundary layer schemes. Moreover, theoretical analyses show that the LSS-induced GPH sensitivity is mainly caused by changes in surface fluxes (in particular, sensible heat flux), which further modify atmospheric temperature and pressure fields. The temperature and pressure fields generally have opposite contributions to changes in the GPH. This study emphasizes the importance of choosing and improving LSSs for simulating seasonal and monthly GPHs using regional climate models.
Abstract
To quantify and explain effects of different land surface schemes (LSSs) on simulated geopotential height (GPH) fields, we performed simulations over China for the summer of 2003 using 12-member ensembles with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, version 3. The results show that while the model can generally simulate the seasonal and monthly mean GPH patterns, the effects of the LSS choice on simulated GPH fields are substantial, with the LSS-induced differences exceeding 10 gpm over a large area (especially the northwest) of China, which is very large compared with climate anomalies and forecast errors. In terms of the assessment measures for the four LSS ensembles [namely, the five-layer thermal diffusion scheme (SLAB), the Noah LSS (NOAH), the Rapid Update Cycle LSS (RUC), and the Pleim–Xiu LSS (PLEX)] in the WRF, the PLEX ensemble is the best, followed by the NOAH, RUC, and SLAB ensembles. The sensitivity of the simulated 850-hPa GPH is more significant than that of the 500-hPa GPH, with the 500-hPa GPH difference fields generally characterized by two large areas with opposite signs due to the smoothly varying nature of GPHs. LSS-induced GPH sensitivity is found to be higher than the GPH sensitivity induced by atmospheric boundary layer schemes. Moreover, theoretical analyses show that the LSS-induced GPH sensitivity is mainly caused by changes in surface fluxes (in particular, sensible heat flux), which further modify atmospheric temperature and pressure fields. The temperature and pressure fields generally have opposite contributions to changes in the GPH. This study emphasizes the importance of choosing and improving LSSs for simulating seasonal and monthly GPHs using regional climate models.
Abstract
As part of the Tibet Ozone, Aerosol and Radiation (TOAR) project, a micropulse lidar was operated in Naqu (31.5°N, 92.1°E; 4508 m MSL) on the Tibetan Plateau to observe cirrus clouds continuously from 19 July to 26 August 2011. During the experiment, the time coverage of ice clouds only was 15% in the upper troposphere (above 9.5 km MSL). The cirrus top/bottom altitudes (mean values of 15.6/14.7 km) are comparable to those measured previously at tropical sites but relatively higher than those measured at midlatitude sites. The majority of the cloud layers yielded a lidar ratio between 10 and 40 sr, with a mean value of 28 ± 15 sr, characterized by a bimodal frequency distribution. Subvisible, thin, and opaque cirrus formation was observed in 16%, 34%, and 50% of all cirrus cases, respectively. A mean cirrus optical depth of 0.33 was observed over the Tibetan Plateau, slightly higher than those in the subtropics and tropics. With decreasing temperature, the lidar ratio increased slightly, whereas the mean extinction coefficient decreased significantly. The occurrence of clouds is highly correlated with the outgoing longwave radiation and the strong cold perturbations in the upper troposphere. Deep convective activity and Rossby waves are important dynamical processes that control cirrus variations over the Tibetan Plateau, where both anvil cirrus outflowing from convective cumulonimbus clouds and large-scale strong cold perturbations in the upper troposphere should play an important role in cirrus formation.
Abstract
As part of the Tibet Ozone, Aerosol and Radiation (TOAR) project, a micropulse lidar was operated in Naqu (31.5°N, 92.1°E; 4508 m MSL) on the Tibetan Plateau to observe cirrus clouds continuously from 19 July to 26 August 2011. During the experiment, the time coverage of ice clouds only was 15% in the upper troposphere (above 9.5 km MSL). The cirrus top/bottom altitudes (mean values of 15.6/14.7 km) are comparable to those measured previously at tropical sites but relatively higher than those measured at midlatitude sites. The majority of the cloud layers yielded a lidar ratio between 10 and 40 sr, with a mean value of 28 ± 15 sr, characterized by a bimodal frequency distribution. Subvisible, thin, and opaque cirrus formation was observed in 16%, 34%, and 50% of all cirrus cases, respectively. A mean cirrus optical depth of 0.33 was observed over the Tibetan Plateau, slightly higher than those in the subtropics and tropics. With decreasing temperature, the lidar ratio increased slightly, whereas the mean extinction coefficient decreased significantly. The occurrence of clouds is highly correlated with the outgoing longwave radiation and the strong cold perturbations in the upper troposphere. Deep convective activity and Rossby waves are important dynamical processes that control cirrus variations over the Tibetan Plateau, where both anvil cirrus outflowing from convective cumulonimbus clouds and large-scale strong cold perturbations in the upper troposphere should play an important role in cirrus formation.
