Estimating the numerical diapycnal mixing in an eddy-permitting ocean model

Science.gov (United States)

Megann, Alex

2018-01-01

Constant-depth (or "z-coordinate") ocean models such as MOM4 and NEMO have become the de facto workhorse in climate applications, having attained a mature stage in their development and are well understood. A generic shortcoming of this model type, however, is a tendency for the advection scheme to produce unphysical numerical diapycnal mixing, which in some cases may exceed the explicitly parameterised mixing based on observed physical processes, and this is likely to have effects on the long-timescale evolution of the simulated climate system. Despite this, few quantitative estimates have been made of the typical magnitude of the effective diapycnal diffusivity due to numerical mixing in these models. GO5.0 is a recent ocean model configuration developed jointly by the UK Met Office and the National Oceanography Centre. It forms the ocean component of the GC2 climate model, and is closely related to the ocean component of the UKESM1 Earth System Model, the UK's contribution to the CMIP6 model intercomparison. GO5.0 uses version 3.4 of the NEMO model, on the ORCA025 global tripolar grid. An approach to quantifying the numerical diapycnal mixing in this model, based on the isopycnal watermass analysis of Lee et al. (2002), is described, and the estimates thereby obtained of the effective diapycnal diffusivity in GO5.0 are compared with the values of the explicit diffusivity used by the model. It is shown that the effective mixing in this model configuration is up to an order of magnitude higher than the explicit mixing in much of the ocean interior, implying that mixing in the model below the mixed layer is largely dominated by numerical mixing. This is likely to have adverse consequences for the representation of heat uptake in climate models intended for decadal climate projections, and in particular is highly relevant to the interpretation of the CMIP6 class of climate models, many of which use constant-depth ocean models at ¼° resolution

Synoptic Bi-monthly and Storm Response Water Quality Sampling in Southern Kaneohe Bay, HI 2005-2007 (NODC Accession 0060061)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Synoptic sampling including water column profiles and collected surface water samples was conducted on a bi-monthly basis throughout the rainy season(October-May)...

Lagrangian numerical methods for ocean biogeochemical simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Paparella, Francesco; Popolizio, Marina

2018-05-01

We propose two closely-related Lagrangian numerical methods for the simulation of physical processes involving advection, reaction and diffusion. The methods are intended to be used in settings where the flow is nearly incompressible and the Péclet numbers are so high that resolving all the scales of motion is unfeasible. This is commonplace in ocean flows. Our methods consist in augmenting the method of characteristics, which is suitable for advection-reaction problems, with couplings among nearby particles, producing fluxes that mimic diffusion, or unresolved small-scale transport. The methods conserve mass, obey the maximum principle, and allow to tune the strength of the diffusive terms down to zero, while avoiding unwanted numerical dissipation effects.

Synoptic Bi-monthly and Storm Response Water Quality Sampling in Southern Kaneohe Bay, HI November 2007 - April 2009 (NODC Accession 0062644)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Synoptic sampling including water column profiles and collected surface water samples was conducted on a bi-monthly basis throughout the rainy season(October-May)...

The new version of the Institute of Numerical Mathematics Sigma Ocean Model (INMSOM) for simulation of Global Ocean circulation and its variability

Science.gov (United States)

Gusev, Anatoly; Fomin, Vladimir; Diansky, Nikolay; Korshenko, Evgeniya

2017-04-01

In this paper, we present the improved version of the ocean general circulation sigma-model developed in the Institute of Numerical Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (INM RAS). The previous version referred to as INMOM (Institute of Numerical Mathematics Ocean Model) is used as the oceanic component of the IPCC climate system model INMCM (Institute of Numerical Mathematics Climate Model (Volodin et al 2010,2013). Besides, INMOM as the only sigma-model was used for simulations according to CORE-II scenario (Danabasoglu et al. 2014,2016; Downes et al. 2015; Farneti et al. 2015). In general, INMOM results are comparable to ones of other OGCMs and were used for investigation of climatic variations in the North Atlantic (Gusev and Diansky 2014). However, detailed analysis of some CORE-II INMOM results revealed some disadvantages of the INMOM leading to considerable errors in reproducing some ocean characteristics. So, the mass transport in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) was overestimated. As well, there were noticeable errors in reproducing thermohaline structure of the ocean. After analysing the previous results, the new version of the OGCM was developed. It was decided to entitle is INMSOM (Institute of Numerical Mathematics Sigma Ocean Model). The new title allows one to distingwish the new model, first, from its older version, and second, from another z-model developed in the INM RAS and referred to as INMIO (Institute of Numerical Mathematics and Institute of Oceanology ocean model) (Ushakov et al. 2016). There were numerous modifications in the model, some of them are as follows. 1) Formulation of the ocean circulation problem in terms of full free surface with taking into account water amount variation. 2) Using tensor form of lateral viscosity operator invariant to rotation. 3) Using isopycnal diffusion including Gent-McWilliams mixing. 4) Using atmospheric forcing computation according to NCAR methodology (Large and Yeager 2009). 5

Comparison of the ocean surface vector winds from atmospheric reanalysis and scatterometer-based wind products over the Nordic Seas and the northern North Atlantic and their application for ocean modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Dukhovskoy, Dmitry S.; Bourassa, Mark A.; Petersen, Gudrún Nína; Steffen, John

2017-03-01

Ocean surface vector wind fields from reanalysis data sets and scatterometer-derived gridded products are analyzed over the Nordic Seas and the northern North Atlantic for the time period from 2000 to 2009. The data sets include the National Center for Environmental Prediction Reanalysis 2 (NCEPR2), Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), Arctic System Reanalysis (ASR), Cross-Calibrated Multiplatform (CCMP) wind product version 1.1 and recently released version 2.0, and QuikSCAT. The goal of the study is to assess discrepancies across the wind vector fields in the data sets and demonstrate possible implications of these differences for ocean modeling. Large-scale and mesoscale characteristics of winds are compared at interannual, seasonal, and synoptic timescales. A cyclone tracking methodology is developed and applied to the wind fields to compare cyclone characteristics in the data sets. Additionally, the winds are evaluated against observations collected from meteorological buoys deployed in the Iceland and Irminger Seas. The agreement among the wind fields is better for longer time and larger spatial scales. The discrepancies are clearly apparent for synoptic timescales and mesoscales. CCMP, ASR, and CFSR show the closest overall agreement with each other. Substantial biases are found in the NCEPR2 winds. Numerical sensitivity experiments are conducted with a coupled ice-ocean model forced by different wind fields. The experiments demonstrate differences in the net surface heat fluxes during storms. In the experiment forced by NCEPR2 winds, there are discrepancies in the large-scale wind-driven ocean dynamics compared to the other experiments.

Evaluation of operational numerical weather predictions in relation to the prevailing synoptic conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Pytharoulis, Ioannis; Tegoulias, Ioannis; Karacostas, Theodore; Kotsopoulos, Stylianos; Kartsios, Stergios; Bampzelis, Dimitrios

2015-04-01

The Thessaly plain, which is located in central Greece, has a vital role in the financial life of the country, because of its significant agricultural production. The aim of DAPHNE project (http://www.daphne-meteo.gr) is to tackle the problem of drought in this area by means of Weather Modification in convective clouds. This problem is reinforced by the increase of population and the water demand for irrigation, especially during the warm period of the year. The nonhydrostatic Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF), is utilized for research and operational purposes of DAPHNE project. The WRF output fields are employed by the partners in order to provide high-resolution meteorological guidance and plan the project's operations. The model domains cover: i) Europe, the Mediterranean sea and northern Africa, ii) Greece and iii) the wider region of Thessaly (at selected periods), at horizontal grid-spacings of 15km, 5km and 1km, respectively, using 2-way telescoping nesting. The aim of this research work is to investigate the model performance in relation to the prevailing upper-air synoptic circulation. The statistical evaluation of the high-resolution operational forecasts of near-surface and upper air fields is performed at a selected period of the operational phase of the project using surface observations, gridded fields and weather radar data. The verification is based on gridded, point and object oriented techniques. The 10 upper-air circulation types, which describe the prevailing conditions over Greece, are employed in the synoptic classification. This methodology allows the identification of model errors that occur and/or are maximized at specific synoptic conditions and may otherwise be obscured in aggregate statistics. Preliminary analysis indicates that the largest errors are associated with cyclonic conditions. Acknowledgments This research work of Daphne project (11SYN_8_1088) is co-funded by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund

Synoptic Bi-monthly and storm response water quality sampling in Southern Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, from November 2007 - April 2009 (NODC Accession 0062644)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Synoptic sampling including water column profiles and collected surface water samples was conducted on a bi-monthly basis throughout the rainy season (October-May)...

Synoptic-scale atmospheric conditions associated with flash flooding in watersheds of the Catskill Mountains, New York, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Teale, N. G.; Quiring, S. M.

2015-12-01

Understanding flash flooding is important in unfiltered watersheds, such as portions of the New York City water supply system (NYCWSS), as water quality is degraded by turbidity associated with flooding. To further understand flash flooding in watersheds of the NYCWSS, synoptic-scale atmospheric conditions most frequently associated with flash flooding between 1987 and 2013 were examined. Flash floods were identified during this time period using USGS 15-minute discharge data at the Esopus Creek near Allaben, NY and Neversink River at Claryville, NY gauges. Overall, 25 flash floods were detected, occurring over 17 separate flash flood days. These flash flood days were compared to the days on which flash flood warnings encompassing the study area was issued by the National Weather Service. The success rate for which the flash flood warnings for Ulster County coincided with flash flood in the study watershed was 0.09, demonstrating the highly localized nature of flash flooding in the Catskill Mountain region. The synoptic-scale atmospheric patterns influencing the study area were characterized by a principal component analysis and k-means clustering of NCEP/NCAR 500 mb geopotential height reanalysis data. This procedure was executed in Spatial Synoptic Typer Tools 4.0. While 17 unique synoptic patterns were identified, only 3 types were strongly associated with flash flooding events. A strong southwesterly flow suggesting advection of moisture from the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico is shown in composites of these 3 types. This multiscalar study thereby links flash flooding in the NYCWSS with synoptic-scale atmospheric circulation.Understanding flash flooding is important in unfiltered watersheds, such as portions of the New York City water supply system (NYCWSS), as water quality is degraded by turbidity associated with flooding. To further understand flash flooding in watersheds of the NYCWSS, synoptic-scale atmospheric conditions most frequently associated with

Estimating the Numerical Diapycnal Mixing in the GO5.0 Ocean Model

Science.gov (United States)

Megann, A.; Nurser, G.

2014-12-01

Constant-depth (or "z-coordinate") ocean models such as MOM4 and NEMO have become the de facto workhorse in climate applications, and have attained a mature stage in their development and are well understood. A generic shortcoming of this model type, however, is a tendency for the advection scheme to produce unphysical numerical diapycnal mixing, which in some cases may exceed the explicitly parameterised mixing based on observed physical processes, and this is likely to have effects on the long-timescale evolution of the simulated climate system. Despite this, few quantitative estimations have been made of the magnitude of the effective diapycnal diffusivity due to numerical mixing in these models. GO5.0 is the latest ocean model configuration developed jointly by the UK Met Office and the National Oceanography Centre (Megann et al, 2014), and forms part of the GC1 and GC2 climate models. It uses version 3.4 of the NEMO model, on the ORCA025 ¼° global tripolar grid. We describe various approaches to quantifying the numerical diapycnal mixing in this model, and present results from analysis of the GO5.0 model based on the isopycnal watermass analysis of Lee et al (2002) that indicate that numerical mixing does indeed form a significant component of the watermass transformation in the ocean interior.

Remote sensing of ocean surface currents: a review of what is being observed and what is being assimilated

Science.gov (United States)

Isern-Fontanet, Jordi; Ballabrera-Poy, Joaquim; Turiel, Antonio; García-Ladona, Emilio

2017-10-01

Ocean currents play a key role in Earth's climate - they impact almost any process taking place in the ocean and are of major importance for navigation and human activities at sea. Nevertheless, their observation and forecasting are still difficult. First, no observing system is able to provide direct measurements of global ocean currents on synoptic scales. Consequently, it has been necessary to use sea surface height and sea surface temperature measurements and refer to dynamical frameworks to derive the velocity field. Second, the assimilation of the velocity field into numerical models of ocean circulation is difficult mainly due to lack of data. Recent experiments that assimilate coastal-based radar data have shown that ocean currents will contribute to increasing the forecast skill of surface currents, but require application in multidata assimilation approaches to better identify the thermohaline structure of the ocean. In this paper we review the current knowledge in these fields and provide a global and systematic view of the technologies to retrieve ocean velocities in the upper ocean and the available approaches to assimilate this information into ocean models.

An observational study of the interaction between the synoptic-scale eddies and the intra-seasonal fluctuations in the atmosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Derome, J.; Sheng, J.; Lin, H.; Klasa, M.

1994-01-01

It is clear from the kinetic energy spectrum published by Vinnichenko in 1970 that the atmospheric fluctuations with periods between about 10 and 100 days form a very important part of the atmospheric flow. These oscillations, often called low-frequency or intra-seasonal fluctuations, could result from an instability of the time-mean flow, from an interaction with the oceans, or from a nonlinear transfer of energy from the faster synoptic-scale eddies. In the present study we concentrate on this last possibility and examine, with the help of atmospheric data and general circulation model (GCM) output, the extent to which the synoptic-scale eddies affect the low-frequency fluctuations

Associations between ozone and morbidity using the Spatial Synoptic Classification system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arora Gurmeet

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Synoptic circulation patterns (large-scale tropospheric motion systems affect air pollution and, potentially, air-pollution-morbidity associations. We evaluated the effect of synoptic circulation patterns (air masses on the association between ozone and hospital admissions for asthma and myocardial infarction (MI among adults in North Carolina. Methods Daily surface meteorology data (including precipitation, wind speed, and dew point for five selected cities in North Carolina were obtained from the U.S. EPA Air Quality System (AQS, which were in turn based on data from the National Climatic Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We used the Spatial Synoptic Classification system to classify each day of the 9-year period from 1996 through 2004 into one of seven different air mass types: dry polar, dry moderate, dry tropical, moist polar, moist moderate, moist tropical, or transitional. Daily 24-hour maximum 1-hour ambient concentrations of ozone were obtained from the AQS. Asthma and MI hospital admissions data for the 9-year period were obtained from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Generalized linear models were used to assess the association of the hospitalizations with ozone concentrations and specific air mass types, using pollutant lags of 0 to 5 days. We examined the effect across cities on days with the same air mass type. In all models we adjusted for dew point and day-of-the-week effects related to hospital admissions. Results Ozone was associated with asthma under dry tropical (1- to 5-day lags, transitional (3- and 4-day lags, and extreme moist tropical (0-day lag air masses. Ozone was associated with MI only under the extreme moist tropical (5-day lag air masses. Conclusions Elevated ozone levels are associated with dry tropical, dry moderate, and moist tropical air masses, with the highest ozone levels being associated with the dry tropical air mass. Certain

Analysis of southeast Australian zooplankton observations of 1938-42 using synoptic oceanographic conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Baird, Mark E.; Everett, Jason D.; Suthers, Iain M.

2011-03-01

The research vessel Warreen obtained 1742 planktonic samples along the continental shelf and slope of southeast Australia from 1938-42, representing the earliest spatially and temporally resolved zooplankton data from Australian marine waters. In this paper, Warreen observations along the southeast Australian seaboard from 28°S to 38°S are interpreted based on synoptic meteorological and oceanographic conditions and ocean climatologies. Meteorological conditions are based on the NOAA-CIRES 20th Century Reanalysis Project; oceanographic conditions use Warreen hydrological observations, and the ocean climatology is the CSIRO Atlas of Regional Seas. The Warreen observations were undertaken in waters on average 0.45 °C cooler than the climatological average, and included the longest duration El Niño of the 20th century. In northern New South Wales (NSW), week time-scale events dominate zooplankton response. In August 1940 an unusual winter upwelling event occurred in northern NSW driven by a stronger than average East Australian Current (EAC) and anomalous northerly winds that resulted in high salp and larvacean abundance. In January 1941 a strong upwelling event between 28° and 33°S resulted in a filament of upwelled water being advected south and alongshore, which was low in zooplankton biovolume. In southern NSW a seasonal cycle in physical and planktonic characteristics is observed. In January 1941 the poleward extension of the EAC was strong, advecting more tropical tunicate species southward. Zooplankton abundance and distribution on the continental shelf and slope are more dependent on weekly to monthly timescales on local oceanographic and meteorological conditions than continental-scale interannual trends. The interpretation of historical zooplankton observations of the waters off southeast Australia for the purpose of quantifying anthropogenic impacts will be improved with the use of regional hindcasts of synoptic ocean and atmospheric weather that can

Synoptic monthly gridded (0.25o) Mediterranean Sea (T, S, u, v) dataset (January 1960 - December 2013) from the NOAA/NCEI WOD Profile Data (NCEI Accession 0157702)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Synoptic monthly gridded Mediterranean Sea temperature (T), salinity (S), and absolute geostrophic velocity (u, v) fields are produced from the NOAA National Centers...

Towards a suite of test cases and a pycomodo library to assess and improve numerical methods in ocean models

Science.gov (United States)

Garnier, Valérie; Honnorat, Marc; Benshila, Rachid; Boutet, Martial; Cambon, Gildas; Chanut, Jérome; Couvelard, Xavier; Debreu, Laurent; Ducousso, Nicolas; Duhaut, Thomas; Dumas, Franck; Flavoni, Simona; Gouillon, Flavien; Lathuilière, Cyril; Le Boyer, Arnaud; Le Sommer, Julien; Lyard, Florent; Marsaleix, Patrick; Marchesiello, Patrick; Soufflet, Yves

2016-04-01

The COMODO group (http://www.comodo-ocean.fr) gathers developers of global and limited-area ocean models (NEMO, ROMS_AGRIF, S, MARS, HYCOM, S-TUGO) with the aim to address well-identified numerical issues. In order to evaluate existing models, to improve numerical approaches and methods or concept (such as effective resolution) to assess the behavior of numerical model in complex hydrodynamical regimes and to propose guidelines for the development of future ocean models, a benchmark suite that covers both idealized test cases dedicated to targeted properties of numerical schemes and more complex test case allowing the evaluation of the kernel coherence is proposed. The benchmark suite is built to study separately, then together, the main components of an ocean model : the continuity and momentum equations, the advection-diffusion of the tracers, the vertical coordinate design and the time stepping algorithms. The test cases are chosen for their simplicity of implementation (analytic initial conditions), for their capacity to focus on a (few) scheme or part of the kernel, for the availability of analytical solutions or accurate diagnoses and lastly to simulate a key oceanic processus in a controlled environment. Idealized test cases allow to verify properties of numerical schemes advection-diffusion of tracers, - upwelling, - lock exchange, - baroclinic vortex, - adiabatic motion along bathymetry, and to put into light numerical issues that remain undetected in realistic configurations - trajectory of barotropic vortex, - interaction current - topography. When complexity in the simulated dynamics grows up, - internal wave, - unstable baroclinic jet, the sharing of the same experimental designs by different existing models is useful to get a measure of the model sensitivity to numerical choices (Soufflet et al., 2016). Lastly, test cases help in understanding the submesoscale influence on the dynamics (Couvelard et al., 2015). Such a benchmark suite is an interesting

Comparison of the ocean surface vector winds over the Nordic Seas and their application for ocean modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Dukhovskoy, Dmitry; Bourassa, Mark

2017-04-01

Ocean processes in the Nordic Seas and northern North Atlantic are strongly controlled by air-sea heat and momentum fluxes. The predominantly cyclonic, large-scale atmospheric circulation brings the deep ocean layer up to the surface preconditioning the convective sites in the Nordic Seas for deep convection. In winter, intensive cooling and possibly salt flux from newly formed sea ice erodes the near-surface stratification and the mixed layer merges with the deeper domed layer, exposing the very weakly stratified deep water mass to direct interaction with the atmosphere. Surface wind is one of the atmospheric parameters required for estimating momentum and turbulent heat fluxes to the sea ice and ocean surface. In the ocean models forced by atmospheric analysis, errors in surface wind fields result in errors in air-sea heat and momentum fluxes, water mass formation, ocean circulation, as well as volume and heat transport in the straits. The goal of the study is to assess discrepancies across the wind vector fields from reanalysis data sets and scatterometer-derived gridded products over the Nordic Seas and northern North Atlantic and to demonstrate possible implications of these differences for ocean modeling. The analyzed data sets include the reanalysis data from the National Center for Environmental Prediction Reanalysis 2 (NCEPR2), Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), Arctic System Reanalysis (ASR) and satellite wind products Cross-Calibrated Multi-Platform (CCMP) wind product version 1.1 and recently released version 2.0, and Remote Sensing Systems QuikSCAT data. Large-scale and mesoscale characteristics of winds are compared at interannual, seasonal, and synoptic timescales. Numerical sensitivity experiments are conducted with a coupled ice-ocean model forced by different wind fields. The sensitivity experiments demonstrate differences in the net surface heat fluxes during storm events. Next, it is hypothesized that discrepancies in the wind vorticity

Evaluating water resources in California using a synoptic typing methodology

Science.gov (United States)

Schroeter, Derek W.

Snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range is the key component of water resources in California, and hence has been extensively investigated by many researchers. This study focuses on establishing a link between hemispheric-scale forcing mechanisms and the spring snowpack through a synoptic pathway. Daily meteorological data from Fresno, CA for the snow accumulation season from November to March over the period from 1950 to 2011 is used in a synoptic typing procedure in order to classify days with similar meteorological conditions into groups representing individual synoptic types. Twelve synoptic types are classified and subsequently related to 1 April snow water equivalent (SWE) values. One synoptic type proved to be particularly important for the magnitude of the spring snowpack explaining 50% to 70% of the variance in 1 April SWE at most snow courses. High frequencies of this synoptic type are found to be associated with the warm phase of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation and the negative phase of the Tropical Northern Hemisphere pattern. Moreover, univariate and multiple linear regression analyses show that this synoptic type is significantly related to indices of the Pacific Hadley-Walker circulation during the snow accumulation season and during the preceding fall. During the snow accumulation season the Northern Oscillation Index explains 43% of the variance while during the preceding fall the Southern Oscillation Index accounts for 23% of the variance in this synoptic type. Thus, a more complete understanding of tropical and extra-tropical interactions associated with the Pacific Hadley-Walker circulation may provide a basis for forecasting synoptic-scale conditions conducive to producing heavy snowfall and thereby California's water supply earlier in the water year.

Synoptic bi-monthly and storm response water quality sampling in Southern Kaneohe Bay, HI, 2005-2007 in support of the Coral Reef Instrumented Monitoring Platform (CRIMP) (NODC Accession 0060061)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Synoptic sampling including water column profiles and collected surface water samples was conducted on a bi-monthly basis throughout the rainy season (October-May)...

The variable sky of deep synoptic surveys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ridgway, Stephen T.; Matheson, Thomas; Mighell, Kenneth J.; Olsen, Knut A. [National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson, AZ 85725 (United States); Howell, Steve B., E-mail: ridgway@noao.edu [NASA Ames Research Center, P.O. Box 1, M/S 244-30, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States)

2014-11-20

The discovery of variable and transient sources is an essential product of synoptic surveys. The alert stream will require filtering for personalized criteria—a process managed by a functionality commonly described as a Broker. In order to understand quantitatively the magnitude of the alert generation and Broker tasks, we have undertaken an analysis of the most numerous types of variable targets in the sky—Galactic stars, quasi-stellar objects (QSOs), active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and asteroids. It is found that the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will be capable of discovering ∼10{sup 5} high latitude (|b| > 20°) variable stars per night at the beginning of the survey. (The corresponding number for |b| < 20° is orders of magnitude larger, but subject to caveats concerning extinction and crowding.) However, the number of new discoveries may well drop below 100 per night within less than one year. The same analysis applied to GAIA clarifies the complementarity of the GAIA and LSST surveys. Discovery of AGNs and QSOs are each predicted to begin at ∼3000 per night and decrease by 50 times over four years. Supernovae are expected at ∼1100 per night, and after several survey years will dominate the new variable discovery rate. LSST asteroid discoveries will start at >10{sup 5} per night, and if orbital determination has a 50% success rate per epoch, they will drop below 1000 per night within two years.

The variable sky of deep synoptic surveys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ridgway, Stephen T.; Matheson, Thomas; Mighell, Kenneth J.; Olsen, Knut A.; Howell, Steve B.

2014-01-01

The discovery of variable and transient sources is an essential product of synoptic surveys. The alert stream will require filtering for personalized criteria—a process managed by a functionality commonly described as a Broker. In order to understand quantitatively the magnitude of the alert generation and Broker tasks, we have undertaken an analysis of the most numerous types of variable targets in the sky—Galactic stars, quasi-stellar objects (QSOs), active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and asteroids. It is found that the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will be capable of discovering ∼10 5 high latitude (|b| > 20°) variable stars per night at the beginning of the survey. (The corresponding number for |b| < 20° is orders of magnitude larger, but subject to caveats concerning extinction and crowding.) However, the number of new discoveries may well drop below 100 per night within less than one year. The same analysis applied to GAIA clarifies the complementarity of the GAIA and LSST surveys. Discovery of AGNs and QSOs are each predicted to begin at ∼3000 per night and decrease by 50 times over four years. Supernovae are expected at ∼1100 per night, and after several survey years will dominate the new variable discovery rate. LSST asteroid discoveries will start at >10 5 per night, and if orbital determination has a 50% success rate per epoch, they will drop below 1000 per night within two years.

Flow splitting in numerical simulations of oceanic dense-water outflows

Science.gov (United States)

Marques, Gustavo M.; Wells, Mathew G.; Padman, Laurie; Özgökmen, Tamay M.

2017-05-01

Flow splitting occurs when part of a gravity current becomes neutrally buoyant and separates from the bottom-trapped plume as an interflow. This phenomenon has been previously observed in laboratory experiments, small-scale water bodies (e.g., lakes) and numerical studies of small-scale systems. Here, the potential for flow splitting in oceanic gravity currents is investigated using high-resolution (Δx = Δz = 5 m) two-dimensional numerical simulations of gravity flows into linearly stratified environments. The model is configured to solve the non-hydrostatic Boussinesq equations without rotation. A set of experiments is conducted by varying the initial buoyancy number B0 =Q0N3 /g‧2 (where Q0 is the volume flux of the dense water flow per unit width, N is the ambient stratification and g‧ is the reduced gravity), the bottom slope (α) and the turbulent Prandtl number (Pr). Regardless of α or Pr, when B0 ≤ 0.002 the outflow always reaches the deep ocean forming an underflow. Similarly, when B0 ≥ 0.13 the outflow always equilibrates at intermediate depths, forming an interflow. However, when B0 ∼ 0.016, flow splitting always occurs when Pr ≥ 10, while interflows always occur for Pr = 1. An important characteristic of simulations that result in flow splitting is the development of Holmboe-like interfacial instabilities and flow transition from a supercritical condition, where the Froude number (Fr) is greater than one, to a slower and more uniform subcritical condition (Fr internal hydraulic jump and consequent mixing enhancement. Although our experiments do not take into account three-dimensionality and rotation, which are likely to influence mixing and the transition between flow regimes, a comparison between our results and oceanic observations suggests that flow splitting may occur in dense-water outflows with weak ambient stratification, such as Antarctic outflows.

On the role of atmospheric forcing on upper ocean physics in the Southern Ocean and biological impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Carranza, Magdalena M.

The Southern Ocean (SO) plays a key role in regulating climate by absorbing nearly half of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2). Both physical and biogeochemical processes contribute to the net CO2 sink. As a result of global warming and ozone depletion, westerly winds have increased, with consequences for upper ocean physics but little is known on how primary producers are expected to respond to changes in atmospheric forcing. This thesis addresses the impact of atmospheric forcing on upper ocean dynamics and phytoplankton bloom development in the SO on synoptic storm scales, combining a broad range of observations derived from satellites, reanalysis, profiling floats and Southern elephant seals. On atmospheric synoptic timescales (2-10 days), relevant for phytoplankton growth and accumulation, wind speed has a larger impact on satellite Chl-a variability than surface heat fluxes or wind stress curl. In summer, strong winds are linked to deep mixed layers, cold sea surface temperatures and enhanced satellite chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), which suggest wind-driven entrainment plays a role in sustaining phytoplankton blooms at the surface. Subsurface bio-optical data from floats and seals reveal deep Chl-a fluorescence maxima (DFM) are ubiquitous in summer and tend to sit at the base of the mixed layer, but can occur in all seasons. The fact that wind speed and Chl-a correlations are maximal at zero lag time (from daily data) and incubation experiments indicate phytoplankton growth occurs 3-4 days after iron addition, suggests high winds in summer entrain Chl-a from a subsurface maximum. Vertical profiles also reveal Chl-a fluorescence unevenness within hydrographically defined mixed layers, suggesting the biological timescales of adaptation through the light gradient (i.e. growth and/or photoacclimation) are often faster than mixing timescales, and periods of quiescence between storms are long enough for biological gradients to form within the homogeneous layer in density

Benchmarking the mesoscale variability in global ocean eddy-permitting numerical systems

Science.gov (United States)

Cipollone, Andrea; Masina, Simona; Storto, Andrea; Iovino, Doroteaciro

2017-10-01

The role of data assimilation procedures on representing ocean mesoscale variability is assessed by applying eddy statistics to a state-of-the-art global ocean reanalysis (C-GLORS), a free global ocean simulation (performed with the NEMO system) and an observation-based dataset (ARMOR3D) used as an independent benchmark. Numerical results are computed on a 1/4 ∘ horizontal grid (ORCA025) and share the same resolution with ARMOR3D dataset. This "eddy-permitting" resolution is sufficient to allow ocean eddies to form. Further to assessing the eddy statistics from three different datasets, a global three-dimensional eddy detection system is implemented in order to bypass the need of regional-dependent definition of thresholds, typical of commonly adopted eddy detection algorithms. It thus provides full three-dimensional eddy statistics segmenting vertical profiles from local rotational velocities. This criterion is crucial for discerning real eddies from transient surface noise that inevitably affects any two-dimensional algorithm. Data assimilation enhances and corrects mesoscale variability on a wide range of features that cannot be well reproduced otherwise. The free simulation fairly reproduces eddies emerging from western boundary currents and deep baroclinic instabilities, while underestimates shallower vortexes that populate the full basin. The ocean reanalysis recovers most of the missing turbulence, shown by satellite products , that is not generated by the model itself and consistently projects surface variability deep into the water column. The comparison with the statistically reconstructed vertical profiles from ARMOR3D show that ocean data assimilation is able to embed variability into the model dynamics, constraining eddies with in situ and altimetry observation and generating them consistently with local environment.

Numerical model of the transition from continental rifting to oceanization: the case study of the Ligure-Piemontese ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

Roda, M.; Marotta, A. M.; Conte, K.; Spalla, M. I.

2015-12-01

The transition from continental rifting to oceanization has been investigated by mean of a 2D thermo-mechanical numerical model in which the formation of oceanic crust by mantle serpentinization, due to the hydration of the uprising peridotite, as been implemented. Model predictions have been compared with natural data related to the Permian-Triassic thinning affecting the continental lithosphere of the Alpine domain, in order to identify which portions of the present Alpine-Apennine system, preserving the imprints of Permian-Triassic high temperature (HT) metamorphism, is compatible, in terms of lithostratigraphy and tectono-metamorphic evolution, with a lithospheric extension preceding the opening of the Ligure-Piemontese oceanic basin. At this purpose age, petrological and structural data from the Alpine and Apennine ophiolite complexes are compared with model predictions from the oceanization stage. Our comparative analysis supports the thesis that the lithospheric extension preceding the opening of the Alpine Tethys did not start on a stable continental lithosphere, but developed by recycling part of the old Variscan collisional suture. The HT Permian-Triassic metamorphic re-equilibration overprints an inherited tectonic and metamorphic setting consequent to the Variscan subduction and collision, making the Alps a key case history to explore mechanisms responsible for the re-activation of orogenic scars.

Interpretation of coronal synoptic observations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Munro, R.H.; Fisher, R.R.

1986-01-01

Three-dimensional reconstruction techniques used to determine coronal density distributions from synoptic data are complicated and time consuming to employ. Current techniques also assume time invariant structures and thus mix both temporal and spatial variations present in the coronal data. The observed distribution of polarized brightness, pB, and brightness, B, of coronal features observed either at eclipses or with coronagraphs depends upon both the three-dimensional distribution of electron density within the structure and the location of the feature with respect to the plane-of-the-sky. By theoretically studying the signature of various coronal structures as they would appear during a limb transit, it is possible to recognize these patterns in real synoptic data as well as estimate temporal evolutionary effects

Synoptic monthly gridded (0.25 degree) Gulf of Mexico (T, S, u, v) dataset (January 1945 ‐ December 2014) from the NOAA/NCEI WOD Profile Data (NCEI Accession 0156423)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The synoptic monthly gridded Gulf of Mexico dataset (SMG-GM) provides 3D gridded (T, S) and absolute geostrophic velocity (u,v) fields in monthly increment from WOD...

Numerical Simulation of Salinity and Dissolved Oxygen at Perdido Bay and Adjacent Coastal Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Environmental Fluid Dynamic Code (EFDC), a numerical estuarine and coastal ocean circulation hydrodynamic model, was used to simulate the distribution of the salinity, temperature, nutrients and dissolved oxygen (DO) in Perdido Bay and adjacent Gulf of Mexico. External forcing fa...

Class Generation for Numerical Wind Atlases

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cutler, N.J.; Jørgensen, B.H.; Ersbøll, Bjarne Kjær

2006-01-01

A new optimised clustering method is presented for generating wind classes for mesoscale modelling to produce numerical wind atlases. It is compared with the existing method of dividing the data in 12 to 16 sectors, 3 to 7 wind-speed bins and dividing again according to the stability...... of the atmosphere. Wind atlases are typically produced using many years of on-site wind observations at many locations. Numerical wind atlases are the result of mesoscale model integrations based on synoptic scale wind climates and can be produced in a number of hours of computation. 40 years of twice daily NCEP...... adapting to the local topography. The purpose of forming classes is to minimise the computational time for the mesoscale model while still representing the synoptic climate features. Only tried briefly in the past, clustering has traits that can be used to improve the existing class generation method...

B-DEOS: British Dynamics of Earth and Ocean systems- new approaches for a multidisciplinary ocean observing system in the Atlantic and S Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Schultz, A.; Lampitt, R. S.

2001-12-01

Advances in theoretical understanding of the natural systems in the sea and in the Earth below have been closely associated with new data sets made possible by technological advances. The plate tectonic revolution, the discovery of hydrothermal circulation, and many other examples can be attributed to the application of innovative new technology to the study of the sea. A consortium of research groups and institutions within the United Kingdom is planning a system of multidisciplinary ocean observatories to study the components of, and linkages between the physical, chemical and biological processes regulating the earth-ocean-atmosphere-biosphere system. An engineering feasibility design study has been completed which has resulted in a robust and flexible design for a telecommunications/power buoy system, and a UK NERC Thematic Programme is in the advanced planning stage. Representatives of the US, Japan, France, Portugal, Spain, Germany and other countries have been involved in consultations, and a coordinated international effort is expected to develop throughout the Atlantic and S Oceans, with collaborations extended to observatories operated by cooperating partners in other regions. The B-DEOS observatory system is designed to allow studies on scales of order cm to 1000 km, as well as to supplement on larger spatial scales the emerging global ocean and seafloor solid earth observatory network. The facility will make it possible to obtain requisite long-term synoptic baseline data, and to monitor natural and man-made changes to this system by: 1) Establishing a long-term, permanent and relocatable network of instrumented seafloor platforms, moorings and profiler vehicles, provided with power from the ocean surface and internal power supplies, and maintaining a real- or near-real time bidirectional Internet link to shore. 2) Examining the time varying properties of these different environments (solid earth, ocean, atmosphere, biosphere), exploring the links

The effects of implementing synoptic pathology reporting in cancer diagnosis: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Sluijter, Caro E; van Lonkhuijzen, Luc R C W; van Slooten, Henk-Jan; Nagtegaal, Iris D; Overbeek, Lucy I H

2016-06-01

Pathology reporting is evolving from a traditional narrative report to a more structured synoptic report. Narrative reporting can cause misinterpretation due to lack of information and structure. In this systematic review, we evaluate the impact of synoptic reporting on completeness of pathology reports and quality of pathology evaluation for solid tumours. Pubmed, Embase and Cochrane databases were systematically searched to identify studies describing the effect of synoptic reporting implementation on completeness of reporting and quality of pathology evaluation of solid malignant tumours. Thirty-three studies met the inclusion criteria. All studies, except one, reported an increased overall completeness of pathology reports after introduction of synoptic reporting (SR). Most frequently studied cancers were breast (n = 9) and colorectal cancer (n = 16). For breast cancer, narrative reports adequately described 'tumour type' and 'nodal status'. Synoptic reporting resulted in improved description of 'resection margins', 'DCIS size', 'location' and 'presence of calcifications'. For colorectal cancer, narrative reports adequately reported 'tumour type', 'invasion depth', 'lymph node counts' and 'nodal status'. Synoptic reporting resulted in increased reporting of 'circumferential margin', 'resection margin', 'perineural invasion' and 'lymphovascular invasion'. In addition, increased numbers of reported lymph nodes were found in synoptic reports. Narrative reports of other cancer types described the traditional parameters adequately, whereas for 'resection margins' and '(lympho)vascular/perineural invasion', implementation of synoptic reporting was necessary. Synoptic reporting results in improved reporting of clinical relevant data. Demonstration of clinical impact of this improved method of pathology reporting is required for successful introduction and implementation in daily pathology practice.

Nd isotopic structure of the Pacific Ocean 70-30 Ma and numerical evidence for vigorous ocean circulation and ocean heat transport in a greenhouse world

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Deborah J.; Korty, Robert; Huber, Matthew; Schubert, Jessica A.; Haines, Brian

2014-05-01

The oceanic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is a crucial component of the climate system, impacting heat and nutrient transport, and global carbon cycling. Past greenhouse climate intervals present a paradox because their weak equator-to-pole temperature gradients imply a weaker MOC, yet increased poleward oceanic heat transport appears to be required to maintain these weak gradients. To investigate the mode of MOC that operated during the early Cenozoic, we compare new Nd isotope data with Nd tracer-enabled numerical ocean circulation and coupled climate model simulations. Assimilation of new Nd isotope data from South Pacific Deep Sea Drilling Project and Ocean Drilling Program Sites 323, 463, 596, 865, and 869 with previously published data confirm the hypothesized MOC characterized by vigorous sinking in the South and North Pacific 70 to 30 Ma. Compilation of all Pacific Nd isotope data indicates vigorous, distinct, and separate overturning circulations in each basin until 40 Ma. Simulations consistently reproduce South Pacific and North Pacific deep convection over a broad range of conditions, but cases using strong deep ocean vertical mixing produced the best data-model match. Strong mixing, potentially resulting from enhanced abyssal tidal dissipation, greater interaction of wind-driven internal wave activity with submarine plateaus, or higher than modern values of the geothermal heat flux enable models to achieve enhanced MOC circulation rates with resulting Nd isotope distributions consistent with the proxy data. The consequent poleward heat transport may resolve the paradox of warmer worlds with reduced temperature gradients.

Impact of a Cosmic Body into Earth's Ocean and the Generation of Large Tsunami Waves: Insight from Numerical Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Wünnemann, K.; Collins, G. S.; Weiss, R.

2010-12-01

The strike of a cosmic body into a marine environment differs in several respects from impact on land. Oceans cover approximately 70% of the Earth's surface, implying not only that oceanic impact is a very likely scenario for future impacts but also that most impacts in Earth's history must have happened in marine environments. Therefore, the study of oceanic impact is imperative in two respects: (1) to quantify the hazard posed by future oceanic impacts, including the potential threat of large impact-generated tsunami-like waves, and (2) to reconstruct Earth's impact record by accounting for the large number of potentially undiscovered crater structures in the ocean crust. Reconstruction of the impact record is of crucial importance both for assessing the frequency of collision events in the past and for better predicting the probability of future impact. We summarize the advances in the study of oceanic impact over the last decades and focus in particular on how numerical models have improved our understanding of cratering in the oceanic environment and the generation of waves by impact. We focus on insight gleaned from numerical modeling studies into the deceleration of the projectile by the water, cratering of the ocean floor, the late stage modification of the crater due to gravitational collapse, and water resurge. Furthermore, we discuss the generation and propagation of large tsunami-like waves as a result of a strike of a cosmic body in marine environments.

The numerics of hydrostatic structured-grid coastal ocean models: State of the art and future perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

Klingbeil, Knut; Lemarié, Florian; Debreu, Laurent; Burchard, Hans

2018-05-01

The state of the art of the numerics of hydrostatic structured-grid coastal ocean models is reviewed here. First, some fundamental differences in the hydrodynamics of the coastal ocean, such as the large surface elevation variation compared to the mean water depth, are contrasted against large scale ocean dynamics. Then the hydrodynamic equations as they are used in coastal ocean models as well as in large scale ocean models are presented, including parameterisations for turbulent transports. As steps towards discretisation, coordinate transformations and spatial discretisations based on a finite-volume approach are discussed with focus on the specific requirements for coastal ocean models. As in large scale ocean models, splitting of internal and external modes is essential also for coastal ocean models, but specific care is needed when drying & flooding of intertidal flats is included. As one obvious characteristic of coastal ocean models, open boundaries occur and need to be treated in a way that correct model forcing from outside is transmitted to the model domain without reflecting waves from the inside. Here, also new developments in two-way nesting are presented. Single processes such as internal inertia-gravity waves, advection and turbulence closure models are discussed with focus on the coastal scales. Some overview on existing hydrostatic structured-grid coastal ocean models is given, including their extensions towards non-hydrostatic models. Finally, an outlook on future perspectives is made.

The command to love the neighbour in Paul and the Synoptics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heinz A. Hiestermann

2016-03-01

Full Text Available When sayings of Jesus are compared between the Pauline letters and the Synoptic Gospels in an attempt to locate parallels, Galatians 5:14 and Romans 13:8�10 have frequently been put forward as possible parallels to the Synoptic renditions of the great commandment of Mark 12:28�34 (Mt 22:34�40; Lk 10:25�28. These Pauline and Synoptic texts all contain the command to love the neighbour, but the Synoptic texts have added the command to love God to the command to love the neighbour. Paul never quoted the great commandment. Consequently, a relationship between the verses is normally rejected. However, not all possibilities have been explored. In the search for parallels between Pauline and Synoptic Jesus traditions it has been overlooked that Paul and Matthew render the command to love the neighbour more than once. Matthew delivers the command to love the neighbour three times. Only once he has connected it to the command to love God. Matthew renders the single command to love the neighbour twice, resembling the Pauline use of the command. Using the criteria for validating parallels between Pauline and Synoptic Jesus traditions, including verbal agreement and the unique use of the command to love the neighbour by Paul and Matthew, it is argued that a connection between Romans 13:9 and Matthew 19:18�19 is likely.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The research explores the use of Leviticus 19:18b by the New Testament authors. It is argued that the command to love the neighbour was given high prominence in the early church, as it was used by the Synoptic authors and by Paul to summarise Jesus� ethical teachings.

Simulation of synoptic and sub-synoptic phenomena over East Africa and Arabian Peninsula for current and future climate using a high resolution AGCM

KAUST Repository

Raj, Jerry

2015-04-01

Climate regimes of East Africa and Arabia are complex and are poorly understood. East Africa has large-scale tropical controls like major convergence zones and air streams. The region is in the proximity of two monsoons, north-east and south-west, and the humid and thermally unstable Congo air stream. The domain comprises regions with one, two, and three rainfall maxima, and the rainfall pattern over this region has high spatial variability. To explore the synoptic and sub-synoptic phenomena that drive the climate of the region we conducted climate simulations using a high resolution Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM), GFDL\\'s High Resolution Atmospheric Model (HiRAM). Historic simulations (1975-2004) and future projections (2007-2050), with both RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 pathways, were performed according to CORDEX standard. The sea surface temperature (SST) was prescribed from the 2°x2.5° latitude-longitude resolution GFDL Earth System Model runs of IPCC AR5, as bottom boundary condition over the ocean. Our simulations were conducted at a horizontal grid spacing of 25 km, which is an ample resolution for regional climate simulation. In comparison with the regional models, global HiRAM has the advantage of accounting for two-way interaction between regional and global scale processes. Our initial results show that HiRAM simulations for historic period well reproduce the regional climate in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula with their complex interplay of regional and global processes. Our future projections indicate warming and increased precipitation over the Ethiopian highlands and the Greater Horn of Africa. We found significant regional differences between RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 projections, e.g., west coast of the Arabian Peninsula, show anomalies of opposite signs in these two simulations.

Is rewritten Bible/Scripture the solution to the Synoptic Problem ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Two Document Hypothesis is discussed and Müller's 2nd century Luke theory is compared to Burton Mack's almost similar stance and tested with the argument of synoptic intertextuality in view of the possible but improbable early second century date for Matthew. Lastly, the relationship between the synoptic Gospels is ...

Ocean surface partitioning strategies using ocean colour remote Sensing: A review

Science.gov (United States)

Krug, Lilian Anne; Platt, Trevor; Sathyendranath, Shubha; Barbosa, Ana B.

2017-06-01

The ocean surface is organized into regions with distinct properties reflecting the complexity of interactions between environmental forcing and biological responses. The delineation of these functional units, each with unique, homogeneous properties and underlying ecosystem structure and dynamics, can be defined as ocean surface partitioning. The main purposes and applications of ocean partitioning include the evaluation of particular marine environments; generation of more accurate satellite ocean colour products; assimilation of data into biogeochemical and climate models; and establishment of ecosystem-based management practices. This paper reviews the diverse approaches implemented for ocean surface partition into functional units, using ocean colour remote sensing (OCRS) data, including their purposes, criteria, methods and scales. OCRS offers a synoptic, high spatial-temporal resolution, multi-decadal coverage of bio-optical properties, relevant to the applications and value of ocean surface partitioning. In combination with other biotic and/or abiotic data, OCRS-derived data (e.g., chlorophyll-a, optical properties) provide a broad and varied source of information that can be analysed using different delineation methods derived from subjective, expert-based to unsupervised learning approaches (e.g., cluster, fuzzy and empirical orthogonal function analyses). Partition schemes are applied at global to mesoscale spatial coverage, with static (time-invariant) or dynamic (time-varying) representations. A case study, the highly heterogeneous area off SW Iberian Peninsula (NE Atlantic), illustrates how the selection of spatial coverage and temporal representation affects the discrimination of distinct environmental drivers of phytoplankton variability. Advances in operational oceanography and in the subject area of satellite ocean colour, including development of new sensors, algorithms and products, are among the potential benefits from extended use, scope and

Computational Ocean Acoustics

CERN Document Server

Jensen, Finn B; Porter, Michael B; Schmidt, Henrik

2011-01-01

Since the mid-1970s, the computer has played an increasingly pivotal role in the field of ocean acoustics. Faster and less expensive than actual ocean experiments, and capable of accommodating the full complexity of the acoustic problem, numerical models are now standard research tools in ocean laboratories. The progress made in computational ocean acoustics over the last thirty years is summed up in this authoritative and innovatively illustrated new text. Written by some of the field's pioneers, all Fellows of the Acoustical Society of America, Computational Ocean Acoustics presents the latest numerical techniques for solving the wave equation in heterogeneous fluid–solid media. The authors discuss various computational schemes in detail, emphasizing the importance of theoretical foundations that lead directly to numerical implementations for real ocean environments. To further clarify the presentation, the fundamental propagation features of the techniques are illustrated in color. Computational Ocean A...

A Synoptic Climatology of Heavy Rain Events in the Lake Eyre and Lake Frome Catchments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael John Pook

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The rare occasions when Lake Eyre in central, southern Australia fills with water excite great interest and produce major ecological responses. The filling of other smaller lakes such as Lake Frome, have less impact but can contribute important information about the current and past climates of these arid regions. Here, the dominant synoptic systems responsible for heavy rainfall over the catchments of Lake Eyre and Lake Frome since 1950 are identified and compared. Heavy rain events are defined as those where the mean catchment rainfall for 24 hours reaches a prescribed threshold. There were 25 such daily events at Lake Eyre and 28 in the Lake Frome catchment. The combination of a monsoon trough at mean sea level and a geopotential trough in the mid-troposphere was found to be the synoptic system responsible for the majority of the heavy rain events affecting Lake Eyre and one in five of the events at Lake Frome. Complex fronts where subtropical interactions occurred with Southern Ocean fronts also contributed over 20% of the heavy rainfall events in the Frome catchment. Surface troughs without upper air support were found to be associated with 10% or fewer of events in each catchment, indicating that mean sea level pressure analyses alone do not adequately capture the complexity of the heavy rainfall events. At least 80% of the heavy rain events across both catchments occurred when the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI was in its positive phase, and for Lake Frome, the SOI exceeded +10 on 60% of occasions, suggesting that the background atmospheric state in the Pacific Ocean was tilted towards La Niña. Hydrological modeling of the catchments suggests that the 12-month running mean of the soil moisture in a sub-surface layer provides a low frequency filter of the precipitation and matches measured lake levels relatively well.

Typical synoptic situations and their impacts on the wintertime air pollution in the Guanzhong basin, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Bei

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Rapid industrialization and urbanization have caused severe air pollution in the Guanzhong basin, northwestern China, with heavy haze events occurring frequently in recent winters. Using the NCEP reanalysis data, the large-scale synoptic situations influencing the Guanzhong basin during wintertime of 2013 are categorized into six types to evaluate the contribution of synoptic situations to the air pollution, including “north-low”, “southwest-trough”, “southeast-high”, “transition”, “southeast-trough”, and “inland-high”. The FLEXPART model has been utilized to demonstrate the corresponding pollutant transport patterns for the typical synoptic situations in the basin. Except for “southwest-trough” and “southeast-high” (defined as favorable synoptic situations, the other four synoptic conditions (defined as unfavorable synoptic situations generally facilitate the accumulation of air pollutants, causing heavy air pollution in the basin. In association with the measurement of PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm in the basin, the unfavorable synoptic situations correspond to high PM2.5 mass concentrations or poor air quality and vice versa. The same analysis has also been applied to winters of 2008–2012, which shows that the basin was mainly influenced by the unfavorable synoptic situations during wintertime leading to poor air quality. The WRF-CHEM model has further been applied to simulate the selected 6 days representing the typical synoptic situations during the wintertime of 2013, and the results generally show a good agreement between the modeled distributions and variations of PM2.5 and the corresponding synoptic situations, demonstrating reasonable classification for the synoptic situations in the basin. Detailed meteorological conditions, such as temperature inversion, low-level horizontal wind speed, and planetary boundary layer, all contribute to heavy air pollution

Synoptic conditions and hazards in coastal zone

Science.gov (United States)

Surkova, Galina; Arkhipkin, Victor; Kislov, Alexsandr

2013-04-01

This work is an approach to the methodology of prediction of hazards in the coastal zone. For the past 60 years, according to the observations and reanalysis, meteorological conditions are rough in connection with the storm waves and strong winds resulting in catastrophic damage in the coastal zone of the Black and Caspian Seas. Forecast of similar events is taken from CMIP3 modeled for the future climate 2046-2065 by general global atmosphere and ocean circulation model MPI-ECHAM5. The research was conducted for the three types of calendar data samples: 1) storm wave and surge from observations (1948-2012), 2) storm simulations with wave height of 4 m and more (1948-2010), and 3) prognostic climate scenarios for 2046-2065. In the first sample especially rare events were chosen, accompanied by a large damage in the coastal zone. Second sample of cases was derived from modeling of SWAN (Simulating WAves Nearshore). The third sample was derived from projections of cases from group 1 in the MPI-ECHAM5 climate forecasts for 2046-2065. For each sample the data of large-scale fields of surface pressure, height 500 hPa isobaric surfaces, 700gPa (Reanalysis NCEP / NCAR) was analyzed. On the basis of statistical techniques (decomposition of fields in the natural orthogonal functions (EOF) and cluster analysis) the synoptic situations associated with these events were classified. Centroids of pressure fields for dominated cases show that there are two basic types of synoptic situations in case of storm waves for the Black Sea. In the first case main role play the Mediterranean cyclones located in the east of the Mediterranean Sea, they are spread over the Black Sea, and often form a local center of low pressure. Their movement is blocked by the high pressure over the European Russia and Eastern Europe. If the center of the cyclone is over Asia and the southern part of the Black Sea, the weather is dominated by the north-eastern, eastern, south-easterly winds. In some cases

Waterspout Forecasting Method Over the Eastern Adriatic Using a High-Resolution Numerical Weather Model

Science.gov (United States)

Renko, Tanja; Ivušić, Sarah; Telišman Prtenjak, Maja; Šoljan, Vinko; Horvat, Igor

2018-03-01

In this study, a synoptic and mesoscale analysis was performed and Szilagyi's waterspout forecasting method was tested on ten waterspout events in the period of 2013-2016. Data regarding waterspout occurrences were collected from weather stations, an online survey at the official website of the National Meteorological and Hydrological Service of Croatia and eyewitness reports from newspapers and the internet. Synoptic weather conditions were analyzed using surface pressure fields, 500 hPa level synoptic charts, SYNOP reports and atmospheric soundings. For all observed waterspout events, a synoptic type was determined using the 500 hPa geopotential height chart. The occurrence of lightning activity was determined from the LINET lightning database, and waterspouts were divided into thunderstorm-related and "fair weather" ones. Mesoscale characteristics (with a focus on thermodynamic instability indices) were determined using the high-resolution (500 m grid length) mesoscale numerical weather model and model results were compared with the available observations. Because thermodynamic instability indices are usually insufficient for forecasting waterspout activity, the performance of the Szilagyi Waterspout Index (SWI) was tested using vertical atmospheric profiles provided by the mesoscale numerical model. The SWI successfully forecasted all waterspout events, even the winter events. This indicates that the Szilagyi's waterspout prognostic method could be used as a valid prognostic tool for the eastern Adriatic.

The impact of climate upon variation in air pollution using a synoptic climatological approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Powley, J.F.

1991-01-01

The Environmental Protection Agency has set national ambient air quality standards for six different pollutants: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, total suspended particulates, nitrogen oxides, and oxidants. The goal of this study was to apply an automatic air mass-based synoptic methodology to surface weather data in order to evaluate the impact of climate on the above pollutant concentrations in Philadelphia, PA; Dallas, TX; and St. Louis, MO. A group of synoptic categories depicting the summer and winter weather in each city was developed using principal components analysis and average linkage clustering. The concentrations of the six air pollutants were then related to the synoptic weather categories. The synoptic categories and associated weather conditions exhibiting particularly high pollution concentrations were analyzed in detail. Ultimately, the procedure was validated for prediction of future pollutant levels. The results from this study support the conclusion that there is a close link between synoptic-air mass combinations and various pollutant concentrations. The climate-pollutant relationship seems to change from summer to winter in the three cities. It appears that climatic thresholds could be found for high levels of various air pollutants. Similar synoptic conditions appear to lead to high accumulations of all six pollutants, although the transportation-related pollutants showed more dependency on the level of solar radiation. These pollutants seem to be more significant in the southern city of Dallas. The synoptic methodology proved to be of assistance in developing a weather/pollution watch-warning system; such a system would be designed to signal impending synoptic conditions which could significantly raise pollutant concentrations

A Floating Ocean Energy Conversion Device and Numerical Study on Buoy Shape and Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruiyin Song

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Wave and current energy can be harnessed in the East China Sea and South China Sea; however, both areas are subject to high frequencies of typhoon events. To improve the safety of the ocean energy conversion device, a Floating Ocean Energy Conversion Device (FOECD with a single mooring system is proposed, which can be towed to avoid severe ocean conditions or for regular maintenance. In this paper, the structure of the FOECD is introduced, and it includes a catamaran platform, an oscillating buoy part, a current turbine blade, hydraulic energy storage and an electrical generation part. The numerical study models the large catamaran platform as a single, large buoy, while the four floating buoys were modeled simply as small buoys. Theoretical models on wave energy power capture and efficiency were established. To improve the suitability of the buoy for use in the FOECD and its power harvesting capability, a numerical simulation of the four buoy geometries was undertaken. The shape profiles examined in this paper are cylindrical, turbinate (V-shaped and U-shaped cone with cylinder, and combined cylinder-hemisphere buoys. Simulation results reveal that the suitability of a turbinate buoy is the best of the four types. Further simulation models were carried out by adjusting the tip radius of the turbinate buoy. Three performance criteria including suitability, power harvesting capability and energy capture efficiency were analyzed. It reveals that the turbinate buoy has almost the same power harvesting capabilities and energy capture efficiency, while its suitability is far better than that of a cylindrical buoy.

Synoptic eddy-resolving Ocean Surveys over the Slope of the Chukchi Sea 2016 and 2017

Science.gov (United States)

Muenchow, A.; Elmer, C.; Badiey, M.; Eickmeier, J.; Ryan, P. A.

2017-12-01

Mild weather and warm waters kept the outer continental shelf of the Chukchi Sea ice-free in 2016 when we conducted ocean surveys as part of the Canada Basin Acoustic Propagation Experiment (CANAPE). We used standard CTD and ADCP profiling systems aboard R/V Sikuliaq to describe ocean density and velocity fields at 3 km scales across and 6 km scales along the slope. Our survey covers 800 km2between the 100-m and 400-m isobaths and resolves the internal Rossby radius of deformation which represents the dominant spatial (or eddy) scale for a density-stratified ocean. Our early November 2016 data revealed Bering Sea Summer Waters with temperatures exceeding 1.0 C at 80-m depth near the 200-m isobath. Three-dimensional distribution of this water and associated density gradients suggests a current to the east. The flow is likely unstable, we speculate, because it spawns eddy-like features that we will describe. We will test this hypothesis with ocean current shear estimated from vessel-mounted ADCP profiles. A similar survey is planned for October 2017, when USCGC Healy will re-visit the area to recover ocean moorings deployed prior to the 2016 surveys.

Ocean Spectral Data Assimilation Without Background Error Covariance Matrix

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-01

problems: Basic concenptual framework 580 and some open questions. J Meteor Soc Japan, 75, 257-288. 581 582 Evensen G (2003) The ensemble Kalman filter ...160. 588 589 Galanis GN, Louka P, Katsafados Kallos PG, Pytharoulis I (2006) Applications of Kalman 590 filters based on non-linear functions...reduction using the OSD is evident in comparison to the OI scheme. Synoptic monthly gridded 27 world ocean temperature , salinity, and absolute

SOHO EIT Carrington maps from synoptic full-disk data

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, B. J.; Newmark, J. S.; Gurman, J. B.; Delaboudiniere, J. P.; Clette, F.; Gibson, S. E.

1997-01-01

The solar synoptic maps, obtained from observations carried out since May 1996 by the extreme-ultraviolet imaging telescope (EIT) onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), are presented. The maps were constructed for each Carrington rotation with the calibrated data. The off-limb maps at 1.05 and 1.10 solar radii were generated for three coronal lines using the standard applied to coronagraph synoptic maps. The maps reveal several aspects of the solar structure over the entire rotation and are used in the whole sun month modeling campaign. @txt extreme-ultraviolet imaging telescope

Numerical modeling of pore-scale phenomena during CO2 sequestration in oceanic sediments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, Qinjun; Tsimpanogiannis, Ioannis N.; Zhang, Dongxiao; Lichtner, Peter C.

2005-01-01

Direct disposal of liquid CO 2 on the ocean floor is one of the approaches considered for sequestering CO 2 in order to reduce its concentration in the atmosphere. At oceanic depths deeper than approximately 3000 m, liquid CO 2 density is higher than the density of seawater and CO 2 is expected to sink and form a pool at the ocean floor. In addition to chemical reactions between CO 2 and seawater to form hydrate, fluid displacement is also expected to occur within the ocean floor sediments. In this work, we consider two different numerical models for hydrate formation at the pore scale. The first model consists of the Lattice Boltzmann (LB) method applied to a single-phase supersaturated solution in a constructed porous medium. The second model is based on the Invasion Percolation (IP) in pore networks, applied to two-phase immiscible displacement of seawater by liquid CO 2 . The pore-scale results are upscaled to obtain constitutive relations for porosity, both transverse and for the entire domain, and for permeability. We examine deposition and displacement patterns, and changes in porosity and permeability due to hydrate formation, and how these properties depend on various parameters including a parametric study of the effect of hydrate formation kinetics. According to the simulations, the depth of CO 2 invasion in the sediments is controlled by changes in the pore-scale porosity close to the hydrate formation front. (author)

Marine Vehicle Sensor Network Architecture and Protocol Designs for Ocean Observation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yeqiang Shu

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The micro-scale and meso-scale ocean dynamic processes which are nonlinear and have large variability, have a significant impact on the fisheries, natural resources, and marine climatology. A rapid, refined and sophisticated observation system is therefore needed in marine scientific research. The maneuverability and controllability of mobile sensor platforms make them a preferred choice to establish ocean observing networks, compared to the static sensor observing platform. In this study, marine vehicles are utilized as the nodes of mobile sensor networks for coverage sampling of a regional ocean area and ocean feature tracking. A synoptic analysis about marine vehicle dynamic control, multi vehicles mission assignment and path planning methods, and ocean feature tracking and observing techniques is given. Combined with the observation plan in the South China Sea, we provide an overview of the mobile sensor networks established with marine vehicles, and the corresponding simulation results.

The kingdom ethos of Jesus according to the synoptics in an African perspective

OpenAIRE

2012-01-01

M.A. This work is aimed at dealing with the demand for the new ethos as proclaimed by the New Testament synoptic in view of the African context or perspective. The synoptic give a code of values by which the Christian church should live. The synoptic ethos is Jesus' ethos. Every nation and community is characterised by certain values of conduct. As a church we are also confronted by moments of decision making. This script is therefore attempting to answer or question the level of credibili...

A synoptic climatology of derecho producing mesoscale convective systems in the North-Central Plains

Science.gov (United States)

Bentley, Mace L.; Mote, Thomas L.; Byrd, Stephen F.

2000-09-01

Synoptic-scale environments favourable for producing derechos, or widespread convectively induced windstorms, in the North-Central Plains are examined with the goal of providing pattern-recognition/diagnosis techniques. Fifteen derechos were identified across the North-Central Plains region during 1986-1995. The synoptic environment at the initiation, mid-point and decay of each derecho was then evaluated using surface, upper-air and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)/National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis datasets.Results suggest that the synoptic environment is critical in maintaining derecho producing mesoscale convective systems (DMCSs). The synoptic environment in place downstream of the MCS initiation region determines the movement and potential strength of the system. Circulation around surface low pressure increased the instability gradient and maximized leading edge convergence in the initiation region of nearly all events regardless of DMCS location or movement. Other commonalities in the environments of these events include the presence of a weak thermal boundary, high convective instability and a layer of dry low-to-mid-tropospheric air. Of the two corridors sampled, northeastward moving derechos tend to initiate east of synoptic-scale troughs, while southeastward moving derechos form on the northeast periphery of a synoptic-scale ridge. Other differences between these two DMCS events are also discussed.

Origin of freshwater and polynya water in the Arctic Ocean halocline in summer 2007

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bauch, D.; Rutgers van der Loeff, M.; Andersen, N.; Torres-Valdes, S.; Bakker, K.; Abrahamsen, E.Povl

2011-01-01

Extremely low summer sea-ice coverage in the Arctic Ocean in 2007 allowed extensive sampling and a wide quasi-synoptic hydrographic and delta O-18 dataset could be collected in the Eurasian Basin and the Makarov Basin up to the Alpha Ridge and the East Siberian continental margin. With the aim of

Mixed layer depth calculation in deep convection regions in ocean numerical models

Science.gov (United States)

Courtois, Peggy; Hu, Xianmin; Pennelly, Clark; Spence, Paul; Myers, Paul G.

2017-12-01

Mixed Layer Depths (MLDs) diagnosed by conventional numerical models are generally based on a density difference with the surface (e.g., 0.01 kg.m-3). However, the temperature-salinity compensation and the lack of vertical resolution contribute to over-estimated MLD, especially in regions of deep convection. In the present work, we examined the diagnostic MLD, associated with the deep convection of the Labrador Sea Water (LSW), calculated with a simple density difference criterion. The over-estimated MLD led us to develop a new tool, based on an observational approach, to recalculate MLD from model output. We used an eddy-permitting, 1/12° regional configuration of the Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean (NEMO) to test and discuss our newly defined MLD. We compared our new MLD with that from observations, and we showed a major improvement with our new algorithm. To show the new MLD is not dependent on a single model and its horizontal resolution, we extended our analysis to include 1/4° eddy-permitting simulations, and simulations using the Modular Ocean Model (MOM) model.

Aerosol climatology and planetary boundary influence at the Jungfraujoch analyzed by synoptic weather types

OpenAIRE

M. Collaud Coen; E. Weingartner; M. Furger; S. Nyeki; A. S. H. Prévôt; M. Steinbacher; U. Baltensperger

2011-01-01

Fourteen years of meteorological parameters, aerosol variables (absorption and scattering coefficients, aerosol number concentration) and trace gases (CO, NO_x, SO₂) measured at the Jungfraujoch (JFJ, 3580 m a.s.l.) have been analyzed as a function of different synoptic weather types. The Schüepp synoptic weather type of the Alps (SYNALP) classification from the Alpine Weather Statistics (AWS) was used to define the synoptic meteorology over the wh...

A synoptic revision of Inversodicraea (Podostemaceae)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cheek, M.; Feika, A.; Lebbie, A.; Goyder, D.; Tchiengue, B.; Sene, O.; Tchouto, P.; Burgt, van der X.

2017-01-01

Six new species of Inversodicraea (I. feika from Sierra Leone, I. liberia from Liberia, and I. ebo, I. eladii, I. tchoutoi, and I. xanderi from Cameroon) are described as new to science in the context of a synoptic revision of this African genus, now comprising 30 species, including I. cussetiana

Relative contributions of synoptic and intraseasonal variations to strong cold events over eastern China

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Lei; Wu, Renguang; Jiao, Yang

2018-06-01

The present study investigates the relative roles of intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs) and synoptic variations in strong cold events over eastern China during the boreal winter. The ISOs and synoptic variations explain about 55% and 20% of the total area-mean temperature anomaly in eastern China, respectively. The advection of synoptic winds on synoptic temperature gradients has a leading contribution to the temperature decrease before the cold events and thus the synoptic variations are important in determining the time of peak cold anomalies. The ISOs have a larger role in sustaining the cold events. The height anomalies associated with ISOs and synoptic variations are manifested as Rossby wave trains propagating along the polar front jet over the Eurasian continent before the cold events. They both contribute to the deepening of the East Asian trough and the development of cold events. Compared to the ISO wave train, the synoptic wave train has a smaller spatial scale and moves faster. There are obvious intraseasonal signals in the stratosphere about 1 week before the cold events over eastern China. Large negative height anomalies associated with the weakening of the polar vortex are observed over the North Atlantic. These anomalies move eastwards and propagate downwards after reaching the west coast of Europe. The downward moving stratospheric signal triggers height anomalies in the troposphere over the entrance region of the polar front jet. Then the anomalies propagate towards East Asia along the wave train, contributing to the intensification of the Siberian high and the East Asian trough and the occurrence of cold events over eastern China.

A numerical study on oceanic dispersion and sedimentation of radioactive cesium-137 from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Higashi, Hironori; Morino, Yu; Ohara, Toshimasa

2014-01-01

We discussed a numerical model for oceanic dispersion and sedimentation of radioactive cesium-137 (Cs-137) in shallow water regions to clarify migration behavior of Cs-137 from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Our model considered oceanic transport by three dimensional ocean current, adsorption with large particulate matter (LPM), sedimentation and resuspension. The simulation well reproduced the spatial characteristics of sea surface concentration and sediment surface concentration of Cs-137 off Miyagi, Fukushima, and Ibaraki Prefectures during May-December 2011. The simulated results indicated that the adsorption-sedimentation of Cs-137 significantly occurred during strong wind events because the large amount of LPM was transported to upward layer by resuspension and vertical mixing. (author)

Numerical model simulations of boundary-layer dynamics during winter conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Melas, D.; Persson, T.; Bruin, H. de

2001-01-01

A mesoscale numerical model, incorporating a land-surface scheme based on Deardorffs' approach, is used to study the diurnal variation of the boundary layer structure and surface fluxes during four consecutive days with air temperatures well below zero, snow covered ground and changing synoptic f...

Diagnosis of balanced and unbalanced motions in a synoptic-scale baroclinic wave life cycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bush, A.B.G.; Peltier, W.R.; McWilliams, J.C.

1994-01-01

For numerical simulations of large scale dynamics, balanced models are attractive because their governing equations preclude gravity waves and one is thereby free to use a larger time step than is possible with a model governed by the primitive equations. Recent comparative studies have proven the so-called balance equations to be the most accurate of the intermediate models. In this particular study, a new set of balance equations is derived for a three-dimensional anelastic primitive equation simulation of a synoptic-scale baroclinic wave. Results indicate that both forms of imbalance. slow higher-order corrections and fast gravity wave motions, arise in the simulation. Investigations into the origin of these gravity waves reveal that the frontal slope near the time of occlusion decreases in the lower 2 kilometers to a value beyond compatability with the vertical and horizontal resolution employed, and we conclude that the waves are numerically generated

Intercomparison of numerical simulations on oceanic dispersion of the radioactive cesium released because of the Fukushima disaster

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kawamura, H.; Kobayshi, T.; Furuno, A. [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Ibaraki (Japan); Usui, N.; Kamachi, M. [Japan Meteorological Agency, Meteorological Research Inst., Ibaraki (Japan); Nishikawa, S.; Ishikawa, Y. [Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Tech., Kanagawa (Japan)

2014-07-01

We conducted numerical simulations on oceanic dispersion of the radioactive cesium released because of the Fukushima disaster in the North Pacific. Two independent oceanic reanalysis data were used in the simulations. Both simulations suggested that the {sup 137}Cs concentration had been reduced to the pre-Fukushima level around 2.5 years after the disaster. The intercomparison revealed that meso-scale eddies accompanied by the Kuroshio Extension may have efficiently diluted the radioactive cesium at the sea surface. The meso-scale eddies also played an important role in transporting the surface radioactive cesium into the intermediate layer. (author)

Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO): Overview, Operational Updates, and Coastal Ocean Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Curtiss O.; Kappus, Mary E.; Bowles, Jeffrey H.; Evans, Cynthia A.; Stefanov, William L.

2014-01-01

The Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO) was built to measure in-water properties of complex coastal regions. HICO enables synoptic coverage; 100-meter spatial resolution for sampling the variability and spatial irregularity of coastal waters; and high spectral resolution to untangle the signals from chlorophyll, colored dissolved organic matter, suspended sediments and varying bottom types. HICO was built by the Naval Research Laboratory, installed on the International Space Station (ISS) in September 2009, and operated for ONR for the first three years. In 2013, NASA assumed sponsorship of operations in order to leverage HICO's ability to address their Earth monitoring mission. This has opened up access of HICO data to the broad research community. Over 8000 images are now available on NASA's Ocean Color Website (http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi/browse.pl?sen=hi). Oregon State University's HICO website (http://hico.coas.oregonstate.edu) remains the portal for researchers to request new collections and access their requested data. We will present updates on HICO's calibration and improvements in geolocation and show examples of the use of HICO data to address issues in the coastal ocean and Great Lakes.

Modeling study on nuclide transport in ocean - an ocean compartment method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Youn Myoung; Suh, Kyung Suk; Han, Kyoung Won

1991-01-01

An ocean compartment model simulating transport of nuclides by advection due to ocean circulation and interaction with suspended sediments is developed, by which concentration breakthrough curves of nuclides can be calculated as a function of time. Dividing ocean into arbitrary number of characteristic compartments and performing a balance of mass of nuclides in each ocean compartment, the governing equation for the concentration in the ocean is obtained and a solution by the numerical integration is obtained. The integration method is specially useful for general stiff systems. For transfer coefficients describing advective transport between adjacent compartments by ocean circulation, the ocean turnover time is calculated by a two-dimensional numerical ocean method. To exemplify the compartment model, a reference case calculation for breakthrough curves of three nuclides in low-level radioactive wastes, Tc-99, Cs-137, and Pu-238 released from hypothetical repository under the seabed is carried out with five ocean compartments. Sensitivity analysis studies for some parameters to the concentration breakthrough curves are also made, which indicates that parameters such as ocean turnover time and ocean water volume of compartments have an important effect on the breakthrough curves. (Author)

Synoptic events force biological productivity in Patagonian fjord ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Daneri, Giovanni

2016-04-01

The annual cycle of primary productivity of the Patagonian fjords has, to date, been described as a two phase system consisting of a short non productive winter phase (during June and July) and a productive phase extending from late winter (August) to autumn (May). Low levels of primary production, phytoplankton biomass and high concentrations of surface nutrients have been described as characterizing winter conditions while pulsed productivity events typifies the productivity pattern during the extended productive season. Pulsed productivity events characterize coastal waters where inorganic nutrients in surface layers are replenished following periods of intensive utilization by autotrophs. Freshwater input in Patagonian fjords in southern Chile (41-55°S) results in one of the largest estuarine regions worldwide. Here strong haline water column stratification prevents nutrient mixing to the surface layers thus potentially shutting off algal production. Our working hypothesis considered that in order to reconcile the observed pulsed productivity pattern, periodic breaking (associated to surface nutrient replenishment) and re-establishment of estuarine conditions (associated to water column stratification) would be required. Up to now however our understanding of the physical processes that control water column conditions in the Patagonian fjord area has been extremely limited. Here we present evidence linking the passage of synoptic low pressure fronts to pulsed productivity events in the Patagonian fjord area. These front controls and influence local processes of interaction between the fjord and the atmosphere generating a rapid water column response. In the specific case of the Puyuhuapi fjord we have been able to show that such synoptic fronts induce surface flow reversal and water column mixing. Phytoplankton blooming occurs after the passage of the synoptic front once calmer conditions prevail and estuarine conditions are re established. The occurrence of

Extraction and analysis of discrete synoptic pathology report data using R

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Boag

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Synoptic pathology reports can serve as a rich source of cancer information, particularly when the content is available as discrete electronic data fields. Our institution generates such reports as part of a province wide program in Ontario but the resulting data is not easily extracted and analyzed at the local level. Methods: A low cost system was developed using the open sourced and freely available R scripting/data analysis environment to parse synoptic report results into a dataframe and perform basic summary statistics. Results: As a pilot project text reports from 427 prostate needle biopsies were successfully read into R and the data elements split out and converted into appropriated data classes for analysis. Conclusion: This approach provides a simple solution at minimal cost that can make discrete synoptic report data readily available for quality assurance and research activities.

Is rewritten Bible/Scripture the solution to the Synoptic Problem?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gert J. Malan

2014-05-01

Full Text Available New Testament scholars have for centuries posited different solutions to the Synoptic Problem. Recently a new solution was proposed. Mogens Müller applies Geza Vermes’s term rewritten Bible to the canonical gospels. Accepting Markan priority, he views Matthew as rewritten Mark, Luke as rewritten Matthew, and John as additional source. This article examines Müller’s hypothesis by first investigating the history of the controversial term rewritten Bible/Scripture and its recent application to the New Testament Gospels. Müller’s hypothesis is then compared to other solutions to the Synoptic Problem, such as the Augustine, Griesbach, and Farrer-Goulder Hypotheses. The Two Document Hypothesis is discussed and Müller’s 2nd century Luke theory is compared to Burton Mack’s almost similar stance and tested with the argument of synoptic intertextuality in view of the possible but improbable early second century date for Matthew. Lastly, the relationship between the synoptic Gospels is viewed in terms of literary intertextuality. Müller suggests proclamation as motivation for the Gospels’ deliberate intertextual character. This notion is combined with the concept of intertextuality to suggest a more suitable explanation for the relationship between die Gospels, namely intertextual kerugma. This broad concept includes any form of intertextuality in terms of text and context regarding the author and readers. It suitably replaces rewritten Bible, both in reference to genre and textual (exegetical strategy.

Cryosphere-hydrosphere interactions: numerical modeling using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) at different scales

Science.gov (United States)

Bergamasco, A.; Budgell, W. P.; Carniel, S.; Sclavo, M.

2005-03-01

Conveyor belt circulation controls global climate through heat and water fluxes with atmosphere and from tropical to polar regions and vice versa. This circulation, commonly referred to as thermohaline circulation (THC), seems to have millennium time scale and nowadays--a non-glacial period--appears to be as rather stable. However, concern is raised by the buildup of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (IPCC, Third assessment report: Climate Change 2001. A contribution of working group I, II and III to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge Univ. Press, UK) 2001, http://www.ipcc.ch) as these may affect the THC conveyor paths. Since it is widely recognized that dense-water formation sites act as primary sources in strengthening quasi-stable THC paths (Stommel H., Tellus131961224), in order to simulate properly the consequences of such scenarios a better understanding of these oceanic processes is needed. To successfully model these processes, air-sea-ice-integrated modelling approaches are often required. Here we focus on two polar regions using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). In the first region investigated, the North Atlantic-Arctic, where open-ocean deep convection and open-sea ice formation and dispersion under the intense air-sea interactions are the major engines, we use a new version of the coupled hydrodynamic-ice ROMS model. The second area belongs to the Antarctica region inside the Southern Ocean, where brine rejections during ice formation inside shelf seas origin dense water that, flowing along the continental slope, overflow becoming eventually abyssal waters. Results show how nowadays integrated-modelling tasks have become more and more feasible and effective; numerical simulations dealing with large computational domains or challenging different climate scenarios can be run on multi-processors platforms and on systems like LINUX clusters, made of the same hardware as PCs, and

He who laughs last - Jesus and laughter in the Synoptic and Gnostic ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The aim of the article is to examine the meaning of references to laughter in the Synoptic Gospels and a number of Gnostic texts. Whereas Jesus is depicted as an object of ridicule (Mk 5:40 par.) and as condemning those who laugh in the Synoptic Gospels (Lk 6:25), it is he who often laughs derisively at the ignorance of ...

Ocean tides

Science.gov (United States)

Hendershott, M. C.

1975-01-01

A review of recent developments in the study of ocean tides and related phenomena is presented. Topics briefly discussed include: the mechanism by which tidal dissipation occurs; continental shelf, marginal sea, and baroclinic tides; estimation of the amount of energy stored in the tide; the distribution of energy over the ocean; the resonant frequencies and Q factors of oceanic normal modes; the relationship of earth tides and ocean tides; and numerical global tidal models.

Upper-Level Waves of Synoptic Scale at Midlatitudes

Science.gov (United States)

Rivest, Chantal

1990-01-01

Upper-level waves of synoptic scale are important dynamical entities at midlatitudes. They often induce surface cyclogenesis (cf. Peterssen and Smebye, 1971), and their life duration is typically longer than time scales for disruption by the ambient shear (Sanders, 1988). The objectives of the present thesis are to explain the maintenance and genesis of upper-level synoptic-scale waves in the midlatitude flow. We develop an analytical model of waves on generalized Eady basic states that have uniform tropospheric and stratospheric potential vorticity, but allow for the decay of density with height. The Eady basic state represents the limiting case of infinite stratospheric stability and constant density. We find that the Eady normal mode characteristics hold in the presence of realistic tropopause and stratosphere. In particular, the basic states studied support at the synoptic scale upper-level normal modes. These modes provide simple models for the dynamics of upper-level synoptic-scale waves, as waves supported by the large latitudinal gradients of potential vorticity at the tropopause. In the presence of infinitesimal positive tropospheric gradients of potential vorticity, the upper-level normal mode solutions no longer exist, as was demonstrated in Green (1960). Disappearance of the normal mode solution when a parameter changes slightly represents a dilemma that we seek to understand. We examine what happens to the upper-level normal modes in the presence of tropospheric gradients of potential vorticity in a series of initial -value experiments. Our results show that the normal modes become slowly decaying quasi-modes. Mathematically the quasi-modes consist of a superposition of singular modes sharply peaked in the phase speed domain, and their decay proceeds as the modes interfere with one another. We repeat these experiments in basic states with a smooth tropopause in the presence of tropospheric and stratospheric gradients, and similar results are obtained

Influence of the synoptic circulation on the local wind field in a coastal area of the Tyrrhenian Sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mastrantonio, G; Petenko, I; Viola, A; Argentini, S; Coniglio, L; Monti, P; Leuzzi, G

2008-01-01

In this paper the statistical analysis of the wind field measured by a Doppler sodar is used to characterize the local circulation at the Tyrrhenian sea coastal site of the Pratica di Mare airfield. Daily behaviour of the wind direction and intensity, as a function of the season, is highlighted and the existence of two nocturnal alternative components of the local circulation is evidenced. Rawinsonde data were used to determine geostrophic wind values. The comparison between low level and geostrophic wind directions allowed to establish the influence of the synoptic scale forcing in determining both which of the two nocturnal currents can be observed at the site and how their directions evolve during the day. Numerical simulations carried out by using the Colorado State University Mesoscale Model (CSUMM) confirm the statistical analysis results and allow to depict the low level wind field patterns in the area. The use of data from ECMWF analysis is proposed in cases in which rawinsonde data are not available to enquire on the synoptic scale forcing

Synoptic Drivers of Precipitation in the Atlantic Sector of the Arctic

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, L.; Hudson, S.; Graham, R.; Renwick, J. A.

2017-12-01

Precipitation in the Arctic has been shown to be increasing in recent decades, from both observational and modelling studies, with largest trends seen in autumn and winter. This trend is attributed to a combination of the warming atmosphere and reduced sea ice extent. The seasonality of precipitation in the Arctic is important as it largely determines whether the precipitation falls as snow or rain. This study assesses the spatial and temporal variability of the synoptic drivers of precipitation in the Atlantic (European) sector of the Arctic. This region of the Arctic is of particular interest as it has the largest inter-annual variability in sea ice extent and is the primary pathway for moisture transport into the Arctic from lower latitudes. This study uses the ECMWF ERA-I reanalysis total precipitation to compare to long-term precipitation observations from Ny Ålesund, Svalbard to show that the reanalysis captures the synoptic variability of precipitation well and that most precipitation in this region is synoptically driven. The annual variability of precipitation in the Atlantic Arctic shows strong regionality. In the Svalbard and Barents Sea region, most of the annual total precipitation occurs during autumn and winter (Oct-Mar) (>60% of annual total), while the high-Arctic (> 80N) and Kara Sea receives most of the annual precipitation ( 60% of annual total) during summer (July-Sept). Using a synoptic classification developed for this region, this study shows that winter precipitation is driven by winter cyclone occurrence, with strong correlations to the AO and NAO indices. High precipitation over Svalbard is also strongly correlated with the Scandinavian blocking pattern, which produces a southerly flow in the Greenland Sea/Svalbard area. An increasing occurrence of these synoptic patterns are seen for winter months (Nov and Jan), which may explain much of the observed winter increase in precipitation.

Synoptic GNIRS XD Spectra ToO Novae

Science.gov (United States)

Woodward, Chick; Helton, Andrew; Spitzer/Chandra Team

2007-02-01

Novae are important contributors to galactic chemical enrichment on local scales. NIR spectroscopy of novae provides information about the elemental abundances of the gas and dust in the ejecta dispersing into the ISM as well as kinematic information related to the outburst. We propose to obtain synoptic GNIRS spectra of select Target of Opportunity (ToO) novae in the Magellanic Clouds (MC) and the galaxy to study the dynamics of the ejecta, to determine the temporal evolution of coronal lines and recombination lines (measuring their strength and velocity profiles), and to determine abundances. Being all equidistant, MC nova permit a more robust analysis of distant-dependent physical parameters of outburst than is generally possible for Galactic novae. The GNIRS data will provide critical spectral coverage and synoptic data to complement extant Spitzer and Chandra nova programs. Triggering of the GNIRS program will occur when a nova becomes brighter than V=12 mag, (assuming that adequate PWFS guide stars exist) as reported in the IAUC or CBET.

Sharing Data in the Global Ocean Observing System (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Lindstrom, E. J.; McCurdy, A.; Young, J.; Fischer, A. S.

2010-12-01

We examine the evolution of data sharing in the field of physical oceanography to highlight the challenges now before us. Synoptic global observation of the ocean from space and in situ platforms has significantly matured over the last two decades. In the early 1990’s the community data sharing challenges facing the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) largely focused on the behavior of individual scientists. Satellite data sharing depended on the policy of individual agencies. Global data sets were delivered with considerable delay and with enormous personal sacrifice. In the 2000’s the requirements for global data sets and sustained observations from the likes of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change have led to data sharing and cooperation at a grander level. It is more effective and certainly more efficient. The Joint WMO/IOC Technical Commission on Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) provided the means to organize many aspects of data collection and data dissemination globally, for the common good. In response the Committee on Earth Observing Satellites organized Virtual Constellations to enable the assembly and sharing of like kinds of satellite data (e.g., sea surface topography, ocean vector winds, and ocean color). Individuals in physical oceanography have largely adapted to the new rigors of sharing data for the common good, and as a result of this revolution new science has been enabled. Primary obstacles to sharing have shifted from the individual level to the national level. As we enter into the 2010’s the demands for ocean data continue to evolve with an expanded requirement for more real-time reporting and broader disciplinary coverage, to answer key scientific and societal questions. We are also seeing the development of more numerous national contributions to the global observing system. The drivers for the establishment of global ocean observing systems are expanding beyond climate to include biological and

Forecast skill of synoptic conditions associated with Santa Ana winds in Southern California

Science.gov (United States)

Charles Jones; Francis Fujioka; Leila M.V. Carvalho

2010-01-01

Santa Ana winds (SAW) are synoptically driven mesoscale winds observed in Southern California usually during late fall and winter. Because of the complex topography of the region, SAW episodes can sometimes be extremely intense and pose significant environmental hazards, especially during wildfire incidents. A simple set of criteria was used to identify synoptic-scale...

Using synoptic weather types to predict visitor attendance at Atlanta and Indianapolis zoological parks

Science.gov (United States)

Perkins, David R.

2018-01-01

Defining an ideal "tourism climate" has been an often-visited research topic where explanations have evolved from global- to location-specific indices tailored to tourists' recreational behavior. Unfortunately, as indices become increasingly specific, they are less translatable across geographies because they may only apply to specific activities, locales, climates, or populations. A key need in the future development of weather and climate indices for tourism has been a translatable, meteorologically based index capturing the generalized ambient atmospheric conditions yet considering local climatology. To address this need, this paper tests the applicability of the spatial synoptic classification (SSC) as a tool to predict visitor attendance response in the tourism, recreation, and leisure (TRL) sector across different climate regimes. Daily attendance data is paired with the prevailing synoptic weather condition at Atlanta and Indianapolis zoological parks from September 2001 to June 2011, to review potential impacts ambient atmospheric conditions may have on visitor attendances. Results indicate that "dry moderate" conditions are most associated with high levels of attendance and "moist polar" synoptic conditions are most associated with low levels of attendance at both zoological parks. Comparing visitor response at these zoo locations, visitors in Indianapolis showed lower levels of tolerance to synoptic conditions which were not "ideal." Visitors in Indianapolis also displayed more aversion to "polar" synoptic regimes while visitors in Atlanta displayed more tolerance to "moist tropical" synoptic regimes. Using a comprehensive atmospheric measure such as the SSC may be a key to broadening application when assessing tourism climates across diverse geographies.

Can we do better than the grid survey: Optimal synoptic surveys in presence of variable uncertainty and decorrelation scales

Science.gov (United States)

Frolov, Sergey; Garau, Bartolame; Bellingham, James

2014-08-01

Regular grid ("lawnmower") survey is a classical strategy for synoptic sampling of the ocean. Is it possible to achieve a more effective use of available resources if one takes into account a priori knowledge about variability in magnitudes of uncertainty and decorrelation scales? In this article, we develop and compare the performance of several path-planning algorithms: optimized "lawnmower," a graph-search algorithm (A*), and a fully nonlinear genetic algorithm. We use the machinery of the best linear unbiased estimator (BLUE) to quantify the ability of a vehicle fleet to synoptically map distribution of phytoplankton off the central California coast. We used satellite and in situ data to specify covariance information required by the BLUE estimator. Computational experiments showed that two types of sampling strategies are possible: a suboptimal space-filling design (produced by the "lawnmower" and the A* algorithms) and an optimal uncertainty-aware design (produced by the genetic algorithm). Unlike the space-filling designs that attempted to cover the entire survey area, the optimal design focused on revisiting areas of high uncertainty. Results of the multivehicle experiments showed that fleet performance predictors, such as cumulative speed or the weight of the fleet, predicted the performance of a homogeneous fleet well; however, these were poor predictors for comparing the performance of different platforms.

Dynamically consistent hydrography and absolute velocity in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Wunsch, Carl

1994-01-01

The problem of mapping a dynamically consistent hydrographic field and associated absolute geostrophic flow in the eastern North Atlantic between 24 deg and 36 deg N is related directly to the solution of the so-called thermocline equations. A nonlinear optimization problem involving Needler's P equation is solved to find the hydrography and resulting flow that minimizes the vertical mixing above about 1500 m in the ocean and is simultaneously consistent with the observations. A sharp minimum (at least in some dimensions) is found, apparently corresponding to a solution nearly conserving potential vorticity and with vertical eddy coefficient less than about 10(exp -5) sq m/s. Estimates of `residual' quantities such as eddy coefficients are extremely sensitive to slight modifications to the observed fields. Boundary conditions, vertical velocities, etc., are a product of the optimization and produce estimates differing quantitatively from prior ones relying directly upon observed hydrography. The results are generally insensitive to particular elements of the solution methodology, but many questions remain concerning the extent to which different synoptic sections can be asserted to represent the same ocean. The method can be regarded as a practical generalization of the beta spiral and geostrophic balance inverses for the estimate of absolute geostrophic flows. Numerous improvements to the methodology used in this preliminary attempt are possible.

A synoptic view of galactic processes

Science.gov (United States)

Stecker, F. W.

1981-01-01

The power of using synoptic galactic surveys in many wavelength bands in order to obtain a more complete picture and a better understanding of the dynamics of the interstellar medium and to study galactic structure and evolution on a large scale is discussed. The implications of the picture presented by mm wave CO, far infrared and X ray surveys of the Galaxy are emphasized.

On the relationship between large-scale climate modes and regional synoptic patterns that drive Victorian rainfall

OpenAIRE

D. C. Verdon-Kidd; A. S. Kiem

2009-01-01

In this paper regional (synoptic) and large-scale climate drivers of rainfall are investigated for Victoria, Australia. A non-linear classification methodology known as self-organizing maps (SOM) is used to identify 20 key regional synoptic patterns, which are shown to capture a range of significant synoptic features known to influence the climate of the region. Rainfall distributions are assigned to each of the 20 patterns for nine rainfall stations located across Victoria, resulting in a cl...

A numerical model for ocean ultra-low frequency noise: wave-generated acoustic-gravity and Rayleigh modes.

Science.gov (United States)

Ardhuin, Fabrice; Lavanant, Thibaut; Obrebski, Mathias; Marié, Louis; Royer, Jean-Yves; d'Eu, Jean-François; Howe, Bruce M; Lukas, Roger; Aucan, Jerome

2013-10-01

The generation of ultra-low frequency acoustic noise (0.1 to 1 Hz) by the nonlinear interaction of ocean surface gravity waves is well established. More controversial are the quantitative theories that attempt to predict the recorded noise levels and their variability. Here a single theoretical framework is used to predict the noise level associated with propagating pseudo-Rayleigh modes and evanescent acoustic-gravity modes. The latter are dominant only within 200 m from the sea surface, in shallow or deep water. At depths larger than 500 m, the comparison of a numerical noise model with hydrophone records from two open-ocean sites near Hawaii and the Kerguelen islands reveal: (a) Deep ocean acoustic noise at frequencies 0.1 to 1 Hz is consistent with the Rayleigh wave theory, in which the presence of the ocean bottom amplifies the noise by 10 to 20 dB; (b) in agreement with previous results, the local maxima in the noise spectrum support the theoretical prediction for the vertical structure of acoustic modes; and (c) noise level and variability are well predicted for frequencies up to 0.4 Hz. Above 0.6 Hz, the model results are less accurate, probably due to the poor estimation of the directional properties of wind-waves with frequencies higher than 0.3 Hz.

He who laughs last – Jesus and laughter in the Synoptic and Gnostic traditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marius J. Nel

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of the article is to examine the meaning of references to laughter in the Synoptic Gospels and a number of Gnostic texts. Whereas Jesus is depicted as an object of ridicule (Mk 5:40 par. and as condemning those who laugh in the Synoptic Gospels (Lk 6:25, it is he who often laughs derisively at the ignorance of others in Gnostic texts. The meaning of laughter in the Synoptic Gospels and a number of Gnostic texts is examined in the light of the general Greco-Roman attitude towards laughter and, more specifically, in regard to the archetypical distinction between playful and consequential laughter in Greek culture.

Synoptic patterns leading to hailstorm in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

28

most important pressure system leading to hail occurrence in Chaharmahal ..... Kirtsaeng S, Detyothin S, Nakburee A and Mongkala A 2015 Characteristics of ... Twardosz R 2010 Short Communication A synoptic analysis of the diurnal cycle of.

EPOCA/EUR-OCEANS data compilation on the biological and biogeochemical responses to ocean acidification

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nisumaa, A.-M.; Pesant, S.; Bellerby, R.G.J.; Delille, B.; Middelburg, J.J.; Orr, J.C.; Riebesell, U.; Tyrrell, T.; Wolf-Gladrow, D.; Gattuso, J.P.

2010-01-01

The uptake of anthropogenic CO2 by the oceans has led to a rise in the oceanic partial pressure of CO2, and to a decrease in pH and carbonate ion concentration. This modification of the marine carbonate system is referred to as ocean acidification. Numerous papers report the effects of ocean

Exploring the applicability of future air quality predictions based on synoptic system forecasts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuval; Broday, David M.; Alpert, Pinhas

2012-01-01

For a given emissions inventory, the general levels of air pollutants and the spatial distribution of their concentrations are determined by the physiochemical state of the atmosphere. Apart from the trivial seasonal and daily cycles, most of the variability is associated with the atmospheric synoptic scale. A simple methodology for assessing future levels of air pollutants' concentrations based on synoptic forecasts is presented. At short time scales the methodology is comparable and slightly better than persistence and seasonal forecasts at categorical classification of pollution levels. It's utility is shown for air quality studies at the long time scale of a changing climate scenario, where seasonality and persistence cannot be used. It is demonstrated that the air quality variability due to changes in the pollution emissions can be expected to be much larger than that associated with the effects of climatic changes. - Highlights: ► A method for short and long term air quality forecasts is introduced. ► The method is based on prediction of synoptic systems. ► The method beats simple benchmarks in short term forecasts. ► Assessment of future air pollution in a changing climate scenario is demonstrated. - Air quality in a changing climate scenario can be studied using air pollution predictions based on synoptic system forecasts.

Regional water resources management in the Andean region with numerical models and satellite remote sensing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Menenti, M.; Mulders, C.W.B.

1999-01-01

This report describes the development and adaptation of distributed numerical simulation models of hydrological processes in complex watersheds typical of the Andean region. These distributed models take advantage of the synoptic capabilities of sensors on-board satellites and GIS procedures have

Nucleation in Synoptically Forced Cirrostratus

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, R.-F.; Starr, D. OC.; Reichardt, J.; DeMott, P. J.

2004-01-01

Formation and evolution of cirrostratus in response to weak, uniform and constant synoptic forcing is simulated using a one-dimensional numerical model with explicit microphysics, in which the particle size distribution in each grid box is fully resolved. A series of tests of the model response to nucleation modes (homogeneous-freezing-only/heterogeneous nucleation) and heterogeneous nucleation parameters are performed. In the case studied here, nucleation is first activated in the prescribed moist layer. A continuous cloud-top nucleation zone with a depth depending on the vertical humidity gradient and one of the nucleation parameters is developed afterward. For the heterogeneous nucleation cases, intermittent nucleation zones in the mid-upper portion of the cloud form where the relative humidity is on the rise, because existent ice crystals do not uptake excess water vapor efficiently, and ice nuclei (IN) are available. Vertical resolution as fine as 1 m is required for realistic simulation of the homogeneous-freezing-only scenario, while the model resolution requirement is more relaxed in the cases where heterogeneous nucleation dominates. Bulk microphysical and optical properties are evaluated and compared. Ice particle number flux divergence, which is due to the vertical gradient of the gravity-induced particle sedimentation, is constantly and rapidly changing the local ice number concentration, even in the nucleation zone. When the depth of the nucleation zone is shallow, particle number concentration decreases rapidly as ice particles grow and sediment away from the nucleation zone. When the depth of the nucleation zone is large, a region of high ice number concentration can be sustained. The depth of nucleation zone is an important parameter to be considered in parametric treatments of ice cloud generation.

The Coastal Ocean Prediction Systems program: Understanding and managing our coastal ocean

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eden, H.F.; Mooers, C.N.K.

1990-06-01

The goal of COPS is to couple a program of regular observations to numerical models, through techniques of data assimilation, in order to provide a predictive capability for the US coastal ocean including the Great Lakes, estuaries, and the entire Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The objectives of the program include: determining the predictability of the coastal ocean and the processes that govern the predictability; developing efficient prediction systems for the coastal ocean based on the assimilation of real-time observations into numerical models; and coupling the predictive systems for the physical behavior of the coastal ocean to predictive systems for biological, chemical, and geological processes to achieve an interdisciplinary capability. COPS will provide the basis for effective monitoring and prediction of coastal ocean conditions by optimizing the use of increased scientific understanding, improved observations, advanced computer models, and computer graphics to make the best possible estimates of sea level, currents, temperatures, salinities, and other properties of entire coastal regions

Synoptic climatology of the long-distance dispersal of white pine blister rust I. Development of an upper level synoptic classification

Science.gov (United States)

K. L. Frank; L. S. Kalkstein; B. W. Geils; H. W. Thistle

2008-01-01

This study developed a methodology to temporally classify large scale, upper level atmospheric conditions over North America, utilizing a newly-developed upper level synoptic classification (ULSC). Four meteorological variables: geopotential height, specific humidity, and u- and v-wind components, at the 500 hPa level over North America were obtained from the NCEP/NCAR...

Interannual Variations in Synoptic-Scale Disturbances over the Western North Pacific

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Xingyan; Lu, Riyu; Chen, Guanghua; Wu, Liang

2018-05-01

The present study investigates the interannual variation of June-November synoptic disturbance activity over the western North Pacific (WNP) and its relationship with large-scale circulation for the period 1958-2014. Two leading modes of eddy kinetic energy for the disturbance variability over the WNP are obtained by EOF analysis, characterized by anomalous eddy kinetic energy over the subtropical WNP and around the Philippines, respectively. These modes explain a large portion of the interannual variance of synoptic disturbance activity over the WNP. Both are associated with lower-level cyclonic anomalies, but with different locations: over the subtropical WNP for the first mode and over the South China Sea for the second mode. Considering the impact of ENSO on synoptic disturbance activity over the WNP, we repeat the analyses after removing the effect of ENSO, which is simply defined as the components linearly regressed onto the Niño3.4 index, and find similar results, suggesting that the leading modes and their relationships with large-scale circulation exist without SST effects. Further analyses suggest that the meridional shear of zonal winds caused by cyclonic anomalies is crucial for maintaining the leading modes through barotropic conversion.

Synoptic climate change as a driver of late Quaternary glaciations in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere

Science.gov (United States)

Rother, H.; Shulmeister, J.

2006-05-01

The relative timing of late Quaternary glacial advances in mid-latitude (40-55° S) mountain belts of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) has become a critical focus in the debate on global climate teleconnections. On the basis of glacial data from New Zealand (NZ) and southern South America it has been argued that interhemispheric synchrony or asynchrony of Quaternary glacial events is due to Northern Hemisphere (NH) forcing of SH climate through either the ocean or atmosphere systems. Here we present a glacial snow-mass balance model that demonstrates that large scale glaciation in the temperate and hyperhumid Southern Alps of New Zealand can be generated with moderate cooling. This is because the rapid conversion of precipitation from rainfall to snowfall drives massive ice accumulation at small thermal changes (1-4°C). Our model is consistent with recent paleo-environmental reconstructions showing that glacial advances in New Zealand during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the Last Glacial Interglacial Transition (LGIT) occurred under very moderate cooling. We suggest that such moderate cooling could be generated by changes in synoptic climatology, specifically through enhanced regional flow of moist westerly air masses. Our results imply that NH climate forcing may not have been the exclusive driver of Quaternary glaciations in New Zealand and that synoptic style climate variations are a better explanation for at least some late Quaternary glacial events, in particular during the LGIT (e.g. Younger Dryas and/or Antarctic Cold Reversal).

Synoptic climate change as a driver of late Quaternary glaciations in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Rother

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The relative timing of late Quaternary glacial advances in mid-latitude (40-55° S mountain belts of the Southern Hemisphere (SH has become a critical focus in the debate on global climate teleconnections. On the basis of glacial data from New Zealand (NZ and southern South America it has been argued that interhemispheric synchrony or asynchrony of Quaternary glacial events is due to Northern Hemisphere (NH forcing of SH climate through either the ocean or atmosphere systems. Here we present a glacial snow-mass balance model that demonstrates that large scale glaciation in the temperate and hyperhumid Southern Alps of New Zealand can be generated with moderate cooling. This is because the rapid conversion of precipitation from rainfall to snowfall drives massive ice accumulation at small thermal changes (1-4°C. Our model is consistent with recent paleo-environmental reconstructions showing that glacial advances in New Zealand during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM and the Last Glacial Interglacial Transition (LGIT occurred under very moderate cooling. We suggest that such moderate cooling could be generated by changes in synoptic climatology, specifically through enhanced regional flow of moist westerly air masses. Our results imply that NH climate forcing may not have been the exclusive driver of Quaternary glaciations in New Zealand and that synoptic style climate variations are a better explanation for at least some late Quaternary glacial events, in particular during the LGIT (e.g. Younger Dryas and/or Antarctic Cold Reversal.

The European storm Kyrill in January 2007: synoptic evolution, meteorological impacts and some considerations with respect to climate change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. H. Fink

2009-03-01

Full Text Available The synoptic evolution and some meteorological impacts of the European winter storm Kyrill that swept across Western, Central, and Eastern Europe between 17 and 19 January 2007 are investigated. The intensity and large storm damage associated with Kyrill is explained based on synoptic and mesoscale environmental storm features, as well as on comparisons to previous storms. Kyrill appeared on weather maps over the US state of Arkansas about four days before it hit Europe. It underwent an explosive intensification over the Western North Atlantic Ocean while crossing a very intense zonal polar jet stream. A superposition of several favourable meteorological conditions west of the British Isles caused a further deepening of the storm when it started to affect Western Europe. Evidence is provided that a favourable alignment of three polar jet streaks and a dry air intrusion over the occlusion and cold fronts were causal factors in maintaining Kyrill's low pressure very far into Eastern Europe.

Kyrill, like many other strong European winter storms, was embedded in a pre-existing, anomalously wide, north-south mean sea-level pressure (MSLP gradient field. In addition to the range of gusts that might be expected from the synoptic-scale pressure field, mesoscale features associated with convective overturning at the cold front are suggested as the likely causes for the extremely damaging peak gusts observed at many lowland stations during the passage of Kyrill's cold front. Compared to other storms, Kyrill was by far not the most intense system in terms of core pressure and circulation anomaly. However, the system moved into a pre-existing strong MSLP gradient located over Central Europe which extended into Eastern Europe. This fact is considered determinant for the anomalously large area affected by Kyrill.

Additionally, considerations of windiness in climate change simulations using two state-of-the-art regional climate

Behaviour of oceanic 137Cs following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident for four years simulated numerically by a regional ocean model

Science.gov (United States)

Tsumune, D.; Tsubono, T.; Aoyama, M.; Misumi, K.; Tateda, Y.

2015-12-01

A series of accidents at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F NPP) following the earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011 resulted in the release of radioactive materials to the ocean by two major pathways, direct release from the accident site and atmospheric deposition.We reconstructed spatiotemporal variability of 137Cs activity in the regional ocean for four years by numerical model, such as a regional scale and the North Pacific scale oceanic dispersion models, an atmospheric transport model, a sediment transport model, a dynamic biological compartment model for marine biota and river runoff model. Direct release rate of 137Cs were estimated for four years after the accident by comparing simulated results and observed activities very close to the site. The estimated total amounts of directly release was 3.6±0.7 PBq. Directly release rate of 137Cs decreased exponentially with time by the end of December 2012 and then, was almost constant. Decrease rate were quite small after 2013. The daily release rate of 137Cs was estimated to be the order of magnitude of 1010 Bq/day by the end of March 2015. The activity of directly released 137Cs was detectable only in the coastal zone after December 2012. Simulated 137Cs activities attributable to direct release were in good agreement with observed activities, a result that implies the estimated direct release rate was reasonable. There is no observed data of 137Cs activity in the ocean from 11 to 21 March 2011. Observed data of marine biota should reflect the history of 137Cs activity in this early period. We reconstructed the history of 137Cs activity in this early period by considering atmospheric deposition, river input, rain water runoff from the 1F NPP site. The comparisons between simulated 137Cs activity of marine biota by a dynamic biological compartment and observed data also suggest that simulated 137Cs activity attributable to atmospheric deposition was underestimated in this early period. The

Evaluating the Impact of Localized GCM Grid Refinement on Regional Tropical Cyclone Climatology and Synoptic Variability using Variable-Resolution CAM-SE

Science.gov (United States)

Zarzycki, C.; Jablonowski, C.

2013-12-01

Using General Circulation Models (GCMs) to resolve sub-synoptic features in climate simulations has traditionally been difficult due to a multitude of atmospheric processes operating at subgrid scales requiring significant parameterization. For example, at traditional GCM horizontal grid resolutions of 50-300 km, tropical cyclones are generally under-resolved. This paper explores a novel variable-resolution global modeling approach that allows for high spatial resolutions in areas of interest, such as low-latitude ocean basins where tropical cyclogenesis occurs. Such multi-resolution GCM designs allow for targeted use of computing resources at the regional level while maintaining a globally-continuous model domain and may serve to bridge the gap between GCMs with uniform grids and boundary-forced limited area models. A statically-nested, variable-resolution option has recently been introduced into the Community Atmosphere Model's (CAM) Spectral Element (SE) dynamical core. A 110 km CAM-SE grid with a 28 km nest over the Atlantic Ocean has been coupled to land, ocean, and ice components within the Community Earth System Model (CESM). We present the results of a multi-decadal climate simulation using Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) protocols, which force the model with historical sea surface temperatures and airborne chemical species. To investigate whether refinement improves the representation of tropical cyclones, we compare Atlantic storm statistics to observations with specific focus paid to intensity profiles and track densities. The resolution dependance of both cyclone structure and objective detection between refined and unrefined basins is explored. In addition, we discuss the potential impact of using variable-resolution grids on the large-scale synoptic interannual variability by comparing refined grid simulations to reanalysis data as well as an unrefined, globally-uniform CAM-SE simulation with identical forcing. We also evaluate the

''Numerical simulation of passive tracer dispersion in the pacific ocean from Mururoa atoll (French Polynesia)''

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rancher, J.; Lazar, A.; Maes, Ch.

1996-12-01

In order to evaluate, on a Tropical South Pacific scale over 10 years, the consequences of an hypothetic radionuclide releases to the ocean from French Nuclear test sites, a series of numerical simulations was carried out. Tracer advection and diffusion terms were computed by a dispersion model without taking into account radioactive decay and biological interactions. Ocean dynamics and turbulent mixing coefficients were derived from a Ocean General circulation Model using annual average climatological fields. A punctual release with unit activity concentration throughout the depth showed the existence of two major directions of propagation from Mururoa atoll: one toward the Eastern Pacific when releases originated from 100-150 meters or less, and the other Westward if release depth is greater. The maximum concentrations which may possibly reach the continental South Pacific coastline originated from released points located in the 350 meters depth zone. Another experiment showed that an punctual release yields higher concentrations than the continuous release of an equivalent quantity over 10 years; two punctual releases were carried out at the characteristic depth of 5 m and 364 m: maximum concentrations decrease by factors of 10 000 and 1000 over ten years. A comparison is made with the surface release study of Ribbe and Tomczak (1990), despite a significant discrepancy in propagation direction, the order of magnitude for concentrations is comparable. (author)

Numerical simulation of small-scale mixing processes in the upper ocean and atmospheric boundary layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Druzhinin, O; Troitskaya, Yu; Zilitinkevich, S

2016-01-01

The processes of turbulent mixing and momentum and heat exchange occur in the upper ocean at depths up to several dozens of meters and in the atmospheric boundary layer within interval of millimeters to dozens of meters and can not be resolved by known large- scale climate models. Thus small-scale processes need to be parameterized with respect to large scale fields. This parameterization involves the so-called bulk coefficients which relate turbulent fluxes with large-scale fields gradients. The bulk coefficients are dependent on the properties of the small-scale mixing processes which are affected by the upper-ocean stratification and characteristics of surface and internal waves. These dependencies are not well understood at present and need to be clarified. We employ Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) as a research tool which resolves all relevant flow scales and does not require closure assumptions typical of Large-Eddy and Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations (LES and RANS). Thus DNS provides a solid ground for correct parameterization of small-scale mixing processes and also can be used for improving LES and RANS closure models. In particular, we discuss the problems of the interaction between small-scale turbulence and internal gravity waves propagating in the pycnocline in the upper ocean as well as the impact of surface waves on the properties of atmospheric boundary layer over wavy water surface. (paper)

Numerical Methods in Atmospheric and Oceanic Modelling: The Andre J. Robert Memorial Volume

Science.gov (United States)

Rosmond, Tom

Most people, even including some in the scientific community, do not realize how much the weather forecasts they use to guide the activities of their daily lives depend on very complex mathematics and numerical methods that are the basis of modern numerical weather prediction (NWP). André Robert (1929-1993), to whom Numerical Methods in Atmospheric and Oceanic Modelling is dedicated, had a career that contributed greatly to the growth of NWP and the role that the atmospheric computer models of NWP play in our society. There are probably no NWP models running anywhere in the world today that do not use numerical methods introduced by Robert, and those of us who work with and use these models everyday are indebted to him.The first two chapters of the volume are chronicles of Robert's life and career. The first is a 1987 interview by Harold Ritchie, one of Robert's many proteges and colleagues at the Canadian Atmospheric Environment Service. The interview traces Robert's life from his birth in New York to French Canadian parents, to his emigration to Quebec at an early age, his education and early employment, and his rise in stature as one of the preeminent research meteorologists of our time. An amusing anecdote he relates is his impression of weather forecasts while he was considering his first job as a meteorologist in the early 1950s. A newspaper of the time placed the weather forecast and daily horoscope side by side, and Robert regarded each to have a similar scientific basis. Thankfully he soon realized there was a difference between the two, and his subsequent career certainly confirmed the distinction.

Combination of synoptical-analogous and dynamical methods to increase skill score of monthly air temperature forecasts over Northern Eurasia

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Valentina; Tscepelev, Valery; Vilfand, Roman; Kulikova, Irina; Kruglova, Ekaterina; Tischenko, Vladimir

2016-04-01

Long-range forecasts at monthly-seasonal time scale are in great demand of socio-economic sectors for exploiting climate-related risks and opportunities. At the same time, the quality of long-range forecasts is not fully responding to user application necessities. Different approaches, including combination of different prognostic models, are used in forecast centers to increase the prediction skill for specific regions and globally. In the present study, two forecasting methods are considered which are exploited in operational practice of Hydrometeorological Center of Russia. One of them is synoptical-analogous method of forecasting of surface air temperature at monthly scale. Another one is dynamical system based on the global semi-Lagrangian model SL-AV, developed in collaboration of Institute of Numerical Mathematics and Hydrometeorological Centre of Russia. The seasonal version of this model has been used to issue global and regional forecasts at monthly-seasonal time scales. This study presents results of the evaluation of surface air temperature forecasts generated with using above mentioned synoptical-statistical and dynamical models, and their combination to potentially increase skill score over Northern Eurasia. The test sample of operational forecasts is encompassing period from 2010 through 2015. The seasonal and interannual variability of skill scores of these methods has been discussed. It was noticed that the quality of all forecasts is highly dependent on the inertia of macro-circulation processes. The skill scores of forecasts are decreasing during significant alterations of synoptical fields for both dynamical and empirical schemes. Procedure of combination of forecasts from different methods, in some cases, has demonstrated its effectiveness. For this study the support has been provided by Grant of Russian Science Foundation (№14-37-00053).

An analysis of the synoptic and dynamical characteristics of hurricane Sandy (2012)

Science.gov (United States)

Varlas, George; Papadopoulos, Anastasios; Katsafados, Petros

2018-01-01

Hurricane Sandy affected the Caribbean Islands and the Northeastern United States in October 2012 and caused 233 fatalities, severe rainfalls, floods, electricity blackouts, and 75 billion U.S. dollars in damages. In this study, the synoptic and dynamical characteristics that led to the formation of the hurricane are investigated. The system was driven by the interaction between the polar jet displacement and the subtropical jet stream. In particular, Sandy was initially formed as a tropical depression system over the Caribbean Sea and the unusually warm sea drove its intensification. The interaction between a rapidly approaching trough from the northwest and the stagnant ridge over the Atlantic Ocean drove Sandy to the northeast coast of United States. To better understand the dynamical characteristics and the mechanisms that triggered Sandy, a non-hydrostatic mesoscale model has been used. Model results indicate that the surface heat fluxes and the moisture advection enhanced the convective available potential energy, increased the low-level convective instability, and finally deepened the hurricane. Moreover, the upper air conditions triggered the low-level frontogenesis and increased the asymmetry of the system which finally affected its trajectory.

Numerical simulations of significant orographic precipitation in Madeira island

Science.gov (United States)

Couto, Flavio Tiago; Ducrocq, Véronique; Salgado, Rui; Costa, Maria João

2016-03-01

High-resolution simulations of high precipitation events with the MESO-NH model are presented, and also used to verify that increasing horizontal resolution in zones of complex orography, such as in Madeira island, improve the simulation of the spatial distribution and total precipitation. The simulations succeeded in reproducing the general structure of the cloudy systems over the ocean in the four periods considered of significant accumulated precipitation. The accumulated precipitation over the Madeira was better represented with the 0.5 km horizontal resolution and occurred under four distinct synoptic situations. Different spatial patterns of the rainfall distribution over the Madeira have been identified.

Planetary boundary influence at the Jungfraujoch analyzed by aerosol cycles and synoptic weather types

OpenAIRE

M. Collaud Coen; E. Weingartner; M. Furger; S. Nyeki; A. S. H. Prévôt; M. Steinbacher; U. Baltensperger

2011-01-01

Fourteen years of meteorological parameters, aerosol variables (absorption and scattering coefficients, aerosol number concentration) and trace gases (CO, NO_x, SO₂) measured at the Jungfraujoch (JFJ, 3580 m a.s.l.) have been analyzed as a function of different synoptic weather types. The Alpine Weather Statistics (AWS) classification was used to define the synoptic meteorology over the whole Swiss region. The seasonal contribution of each syn...

Applications of Data Assimilation to Analysis of the Ocean on Large Scales

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Robert N.; Busalacchi, Antonio J.; Hackert, Eric C.

1997-01-01

It is commonplace to begin talks on this topic by noting that oceanographic data are too scarce and sparse to provide complete initial and boundary conditions for large-scale ocean models. Even considering the availability of remotely-sensed data such as radar altimetry from the TOPEX and ERS-1 satellites, a glance at a map of available subsurface data should convince most observers that this is still the case. Data are still too sparse for comprehensive treatment of interannual to interdecadal climate change through the use of models, since the new data sets have not been around for very long. In view of the dearth of data, we must note that the overall picture is changing rapidly. Recently, there have been a number of large scale ocean analysis and prediction efforts, some of which now run on an operational or at least quasi-operational basis, most notably the model based analyses of the tropical oceans. These programs are modeled on numerical weather prediction. Aside from the success of the global tide models, assimilation of data in the tropics, in support of prediction and analysis of seasonal to interannual climate change, is probably the area of large scale ocean modeling and data assimilation in which the most progress has been made. Climate change is a problem which is particularly suited to advanced data assimilation methods. Linear models are useful, and the linear theory can be exploited. For the most part, the data are sufficiently sparse that implementation of advanced methods is worthwhile. As an example of a large scale data assimilation experiment with a recent extensive data set, we present results of a tropical ocean experiment in which the Kalman filter was used to assimilate three years of altimetric data from Geosat into a coarsely resolved linearized long wave shallow water model. Since nonlinear processes dominate the local dynamic signal outside the tropics, subsurface dynamical quantities cannot be reliably inferred from surface height

Interannual variability of seasonal rainfall over the Cape south coast of South Africa and synoptic type association

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Engelbrecht, CJ

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The link between interannual variability of seasonal rainfall over the Cape south coast of South Africa and different synoptic types as well as selected teleconnections is explored. Synoptic circulation over the region is classified into different...

Synoptic weather types and aeroallergens modify the effect of air pollution on hospitalisations for asthma hospitalisations in Canadian cities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hebbern, Christopher; Cakmak, Sabit

2015-01-01

Pollution levels and the effect of air pollution on human health can be modified by synoptic weather type and aeroallergens. We investigated the effect modification of aeroallergens on the association between CO, O 3 , NO 2 , SO 2 , PM 10 , PM 2.5 and asthma hospitalisation rates in seven synoptic weather types. We developed single air pollutant models, adjusted for the effect of aeroallergens and stratified by synoptic weather type, and pooled relative risk estimates for asthma hospitalisation in ten Canadian cities. Aeroallergens significantly modified the relative risk in 19 pollutant-weather type combinations, reducing the size and variance for each single pollutant model. However, aeroallergens did not significantly modify relative risk for any pollutant in the DT or MT weather types, or for PM 10 in any weather type. Thus, there is a modifying effect of aeroallergens on the association between CO, O 3 , NO 2 , SO 2 , PM 2.5 and asthma hospitalisations that differs under specific synoptic weather types. - Highlights: • We model effect modification of aeroallergens on air pollutant–asthma association. • The air pollutant association was modelled in seven synoptic weather types. • Aeroallergens modify CO, O 3 , NO 2 , SO 2 , and PM 2.5 effect on asthma hospitalisations. • Synoptic weather types modify the air pollutant and asthma association. - We identify a modifying effect of aeroallergens on the relationship between air pollutants and hospitalisation rates for asthma, that differs under specific synoptic weather types

Extreme inflow events and synoptic forcing in Sydney catchments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pepler, Acacia S; Rakich, Clinton S

2010-01-01

The Sydney catchment region encompasses over 16,000km 2 , supplying water to over 4 million inhabitants. However, few studies have investigated the synoptic and climatic influences on inflow in this region, which are crucial for understanding the vulnerability of water supply in a changing climate. This study identifies extremely high and low inflow events between 1960 and 2008 based on catchment averages. The focus of the study is an analysis of the synoptic cause/s of each extreme inflow event. The events are evaluated to identify any trends and also to determine the concurrent significant climatic influences on rainfall over the catchments. Relationships between catchment inflow, rainfall, tropical SST indices, and other influencing factors such as observed wind and temperatures are investigated. Our results show that East Coast Lows and anomalously easterly flow are the drivers of high inflow events, with low inflow events dominated by westerly wind patterns and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation.

Synoptic Disturbances Found in Precipitable Water Fields North of Equatorial Africa

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Patla, Jason

1999-01-01

The origin and structure of tropical synoptic scale precipitable water (PW) anomalies estimated from TOVS satellite observations are analyzed as they propagate eastward across northern Africa during MAM 1988...

Synoptic weather types associated with critical fire weather

Science.gov (United States)

Mark J. Schroeder; Monte Glovinsky; Virgil F. Hendricks; Frank C. Hood; Melvin K. Hull; Henry L. Jacobson; Robert Kirkpatrick; Daniel W. Krueger; Lester P. Mallory; Albert G. Oeztel; Robert H. Reese; Leo A. Sergius; Charles E. Syverson

1964-01-01

Recognizing that weather is an important factor in the spread of both urban and wildland fires, a study was made of the synoptic weather patterns and types which produce strong winds, low relative humidities, high temperatures, and lack of rainfall--the conditions conducive to rapid fire spread. Such historic fires as the San Francisco fire of 1906, the Berkeley fire...

Aerosol climatology and planetary boundary influence at the Jungfraujoch analyzed by synoptic weather types

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Collaud Coen

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Fourteen years of meteorological parameters, aerosol variables (absorption and scattering coefficients, aerosol number concentration and trace gases (CO, NO_x, SO₂ measured at the Jungfraujoch (JFJ, 3580 m a.s.l. have been analyzed as a function of different synoptic weather types. The Schüepp synoptic weather type of the Alps (SYNALP classification from the Alpine Weather Statistics (AWS was used to define the synoptic meteorology over the whole Swiss region. The seasonal contribution of each synoptic weather type to the aerosol concentration was deduced from the aerosol annual cycles while the planetary boundary layer (PBL influence was estimated by means of the diurnal cycles. Since aerosols are scavenged by precipitation, the diurnal cycle of the CO concentration was also used to identify polluted air masses. SO₂ and NO_x concentrations were used as precursor tracers for new particle formation and growth, respectively. The aerosol optical parameters and number concentration show elevated loadings during advective weather types during the December–March period and for the convective anticyclonic and convective indifferent weather types during the April–September period. This study confirms the consensus view that the JFJ is mainly influenced by the free troposphere during winter and by injection of air parcels from the PBL during summer. A more detailed picture is, however, drawn where the JFJ is completely influenced by free tropospheric air masses in winter during advective weather types and largely influenced by the PBL also during the night in summer during the subsidence weather type. Between these two extreme situations, the PBL influence at the JFJ depends on both the time of year and the synoptic weather type. The fraction of PBL air transported to the JFJ was estimated by the relative increase of the specific humidity and CO.

Synoptic characteristics of dust over the southwest of Iran

Science.gov (United States)

Katiraie-Boroujerdy, P.; Ghahri, F.; Ranjbar Saadatabadi, A.

2012-12-01

Iran is frequently affected by dust events because it is located in arid and semiarid belt of the world. As Khozestan province is in the vicinity of large deserts and also due to especial atmospheric conditions the frequency of dust in this area is increased in the recent years. Therefore it has the destructive affect on the healthcare, economy, social and etc. The study is based on the, sea level, 850 mb and 500 mb weather charts, surface wind field and observations weather data during the period of 1968-2008. By numerical simulation with WRF modeling it has tried to high light provide an answer to how this event produced and reached to Ahwaz. It has been shown in this 40 years, dust events by high strength and frequency occur in July in Ahwaz. Synoptic patterns revealed that for making sever dust event Persian Gulf thermal trough extends to the north west of Iraq and European ridge extends over the Black sea and large part of the Turkey by passing waves of middle level Mediterranean trough from northwest of Iraq and east of Syria. Numerical simulation shows strong surface flow over source regions in northwest of Iraq and east of Syria, creation westerly low level jet in low-lying areas and the increase in friction velocity in the source regions. In the deserts of Iraq and north east of Syria increase in friction velocity to its highest value (approx 0.6 m/s) causes reduction in visibility and by decrease to lowest value (approx 0.4 m/s) visibility reaches up to 600 meters in Ahwaz.

White Light Solar Corona: An Atlas of 1988 K-Coronameter Synoptic Charts, December 1987-January 1989. Technical note

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sime, D.G.; Garcia, C.; Yasukawa, E.; Lundin, E.

1990-03-01

The synoptic observing project of the High Altitude Observatory's Coronal Dynamics Program began on 30 July 1980. The data obtained for it are gathered by the Mark-III K-coronameter located at the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, Hawaii, and are published yearly in volumes of The White Light Solar Corona: An Atlas of K-Coronameter Synoptic Charts (Table 1). The data, in the form of synoptic charts, are extended at both the beginning and the end of each year to provide some overlap with the preceding and succeeding volumes. This is also necessary to provide a complete set of the data organized into Carrington rotations covering a specific time period, since the rotations do not coincide with the yearly calendar. Further observations are made at the limb, and west limb passage occurs 14 days after east limb passage. Thus, an entire rotation's data requires more than 28 days to collect. Together with the synoptic maps and polar synoptic maps, two additional sections designed to aid the user are included in the volume. As in previous Atlases, the Activity Report Summary for the year is given and the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory Calendar for 1988 (Table III) is also included. This is a list of days on which no coronal observations were achieved. These synoptic data should be regarded as a preliminary presentation in which corrections have not fully been made for the day-to-day variations and scattering of polarized light by the earth's atmosphere. Data from the east and west limbs are presented separately in the synoptic charts, as transient and evolutionary changes in the white light corona can substantially modify the distribution of coronal material over the 14 days between sequential limb passages

Westerly Wind Bursts: a Synoptic-Dynamic Study

Science.gov (United States)

Hartten, Leslie Marie

This research examines the synoptic and climatological settings of westerly wind bursts (WWBs) during the 1980s and the dynamical processes active during them. Probabilities of strong westerly and easterly 1000 mb winds over the western equatorial Pacific are presented. Westerlies exhibit a clear annual cycle, appearing in the north in July, moving southeastward as the year progresses, and disappearing by June. Conditional probabilities, dependent on the value of the SOI, show that strong westerlies are more likely and more geographically extensive when the SOI is low, especially from July through January. A newly developed two-dimensional classification scheme qualitatively describes the near-surface synoptic flow of almost 90% of the 131 WWBs identified during the decade. Only 8% of the WWBs are described by the pattern involving twin cyclonic circulations straddling the equator. The trades, tropical cyclones, and the southeast Asian monsoon are all at times linked to WWBs, and the synoptic patterns often contain a significant barotropic component. Breaks in WWB activity are well correlated with a cooler than normal western Pacific warm pool. However, near-equatorial WWBs do not show a good correlation with the Madden-Julian Oscillation. Four near-equatorial WWBs are examined in detail. All are associated with broad cross-equatorial flow; two also have a cyclonic circulation poleward of the westerlies. Anticyclonic relative vorticity equatorward of the burst displaces the zero line of absolute vorticity, eta, into the burst hemisphere. In the three Southern Hemisphere cases, horizontal advection in a region extending from north of New Guinea east-southeast toward the dateline is crucial to the generation and maintenance of the eta pattern. Vorticity stretching associated with convection helps maintain a tight gradient of eta near and poleward of the burst, but also drives the eta = 0 line back towards the equator as the burst ends. In the Northern Hemisphere case

Ocean Robotic Networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schofield, Oscar [Rutgers University

2012-05-23

We live on an ocean planet which is central to regulating the Earth’s climate and human society. Despite the importance of understanding the processes operating in the ocean, it remains chronically undersampled due to the harsh operating conditions. This is problematic given the limited long term information available about how the ocean is changing. The changes include rising sea level, declining sea ice, ocean acidification, and the decline of mega fauna. While the changes are daunting, oceanography is in the midst of a technical revolution with the expansion of numerical modeling techniques, combined with ocean robotics. Operating together, these systems represent a new generation of ocean observatories. I will review the evolution of these ocean observatories and provide a few case examples of the science that they enable, spanning from the waters offshore New Jersey to the remote waters of the Southern Ocean.

Operational Ocean Modelling with the Harvard Ocean Prediction System

Science.gov (United States)

2008-11-01

tno.nl TNO-rapportnummer TNO-DV2008 A417 Opdrachtnummer Datum november 2008 Auteur (s) dr. F.P.A. Lam dr. ir. M.W. Schouten dr. L.A. te Raa...area of theory and implementation of numerical schemes and parameterizations, ocean models have grown from experimental tools to full-blown ocean...sound propagation through mesoscale features using 3-D coupled mode theory , Thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, USA. 1992. [9] Robinson

SWIM: A Semi-Analytical Ocean Color Inversion Algorithm for Optically Shallow Waters

Science.gov (United States)

McKinna, Lachlan I. W.; Werdell, P. Jeremy; Fearns, Peter R. C. S.; Weeks, Scarla J.; Reichstetter, Martina; Franz, Bryan A.; Shea, Donald M.; Feldman, Gene C.

2014-01-01

Ocean color remote sensing provides synoptic-scale, near-daily observations of marine inherent optical properties (IOPs). Whilst contemporary ocean color algorithms are known to perform well in deep oceanic waters, they have difficulty operating in optically clear, shallow marine environments where light reflected from the seafloor contributes to the water-leaving radiance. The effect of benthic reflectance in optically shallow waters is known to adversely affect algorithms developed for optically deep waters [1, 2]. Whilst adapted versions of optically deep ocean color algorithms have been applied to optically shallow regions with reasonable success [3], there is presently no approach that directly corrects for bottom reflectance using existing knowledge of bathymetry and benthic albedo.To address the issue of optically shallow waters, we have developed a semi-analytical ocean color inversion algorithm: the Shallow Water Inversion Model (SWIM). SWIM uses existing bathymetry and a derived benthic albedo map to correct for bottom reflectance using the semi-analytical model of Lee et al [4]. The algorithm was incorporated into the NASA Ocean Biology Processing Groups L2GEN program and tested in optically shallow waters of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. In-lieu of readily available in situ matchup data, we present a comparison between SWIM and two contemporary ocean color algorithms, the Generalized Inherent Optical Property Algorithm (GIOP) and the Quasi-Analytical Algorithm (QAA).

Improving stability of regional numerical ocean models

Science.gov (United States)

Herzfeld, Mike

2009-02-01

An operational limited-area ocean modelling system was developed to supply forecasts of ocean state out to 3 days. This system is designed to allow non-specialist users to locate the model domain anywhere within the Australasian region with minimum user input. The model is required to produce a stable simulation every time it is invoked. This paper outlines the methodology used to ensure the model remains stable over the wide range of circumstances it might encounter. Central to the model configuration is an alternative approach to implementing open boundary conditions in a one-way nesting environment. Approximately 170 simulations were performed on limited areas in the Australasian region to assess the model stability; of these, 130 ran successfully with a static model parameterisation allowing a statistical estimate of the model’s approach toward instability to be determined. Based on this, when the model was deemed to be approaching instability a strategy of adaptive intervention in the form of constraint on velocity and elevation was invoked to maintain stability.

Numerical modelling of floating debris in the world's oceans.

Science.gov (United States)

Lebreton, L C-M; Greer, S D; Borrero, J C

2012-03-01

A global ocean circulation model is coupled to a Lagrangian particle tracking model to simulate 30 years of input, transport and accumulation of floating debris in the world ocean. Using both terrestrial and maritime inputs, the modelling results clearly show the formation of five accumulation zones in the subtropical latitudes of the major ocean basins. The relative size and concentration of each clearly illustrate the dominance of the accumulation zones in the northern hemisphere, while smaller seas surrounded by densely populated areas are also shown to have a high concentration of floating debris. We also determine the relative contribution of different source regions to the total amount of material in a particular accumulation zone. This study provides a framework for describing the transport, distribution and accumulation of floating marine debris and can be continuously updated and adapted to assess scenarios reflecting changes in the production and disposal of plastic worldwide. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

EPOCA/EUR-OCEANS data compilation on the biological and biogeochemical responses to ocean acidification

OpenAIRE

Nisumaa Anne-Marin; Pesant Stephane; Bellerby Richard G J; Delille Bruno; Middelburg Jack J; Orr James C; Riebesell Ulf; Tyrrell Toby; Wolf-Gladrow Dieter A; Gattuso Jean-Pierre

2010-01-01

The uptake of anthropogenic CO₂ by the oceans has led to a rise in the oceanic partial pressure of CO₂, and to a decrease in pH and carbonate ion concentration. This modification of the marine carbonate system is referred to as ocean acidification. Numerous papers report the effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms and communities but few have provided details concerning full carbonate chemistry and complementary observations. Additional...

Synoptic thermodynamic and dynamic patterns associated with Quitandinha River flooding events in Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

Science.gov (United States)

da Silva, Fabricio Polifke; Justi da Silva, Maria Gertrudes Alvarez; Rotunno Filho, Otto Corrêa; Pires, Gisele Dornelles; Sampaio, Rafael João; de Araújo, Afonso Augusto Magalhães

2018-05-01

Natural disasters are the result of extreme or intense natural phenomena that cause severe impacts on society. These impacts can be mitigated through preventive measures that can be aided by better knowledge of extreme phenomena and monitoring of forecasting and alert systems. The city of Petropolis (in a mountainous region of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is prone to heavy rain events, often leading to River overflows, landslides, and loss of life. In that context, this work endeavored to characterize the thermodynamic and dynamic synoptic patterns that trigger heavy rainfall episodes and the corresponding flooding of Quitandinha River. More specifically, we reviewed events from the time period between January 2013 and December 2014 using reanalysis data. We expect that the overall description obtained of synoptic patterns should provide adequate qualitative aid to the decision-making processes involved in operational forecasting procedures. We noticed that flooding events were related to the presence of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ), frontal systems (FS), and convective storms (CS). These systems showed a similar behavior on high-frequency wind components, notably with respect to northwest winds before precipitation and to a strong southwest wind component during rainfall events. Clustering analyses indicated that the main component for precipitation formation with regard to CS systems comes from daytime heating, with the dynamic component presenting greater efficiency for the FS configurations. The SACZ events were influenced by moisture availability along the vertical column of the atmosphere and also due to dynamic components of precipitation efficiency and daytime heating, the latter related to the continuous transport of moisture from the Amazon region and South Atlantic Ocean towards Rio de Janeiro state.

Comparison of Accuracy and Speed of Information Identification by Nonpathologists in Synoptic Reports With Different Formats.

Science.gov (United States)

Renshaw, Andrew A; Gould, Edwin W

2017-03-01

- The College of American Pathologists requires synoptic reports for specific types of pathology reports. - To compare the accuracy and speed of information retrieval in synoptic reports of different formats. - We assessed the performance of 28 nonpathologists from 4 different types of users (cancer registrars, MDs, medical non-MDs, and nonmedical) at identifying specific information in various formatted synoptic reports, using a computerized quiz that measured both accuracy and speed. - There was no significant difference in the accuracy of data identification for any user group or in any format. While there were significant differences in raw time between users, these were eliminated when normalized times were used. Compared with the standard format of a required data element (RDE) and response on 1 line, both a list of responses without an RDE (21%, P RDE header on one line, response indented on the second line) (12%, P RDE response pairs in a random order were significantly slower (16%, P < .001). - There are significant differences in ease of use by nonpathologists between different synoptic report formats. Such information may be useful in deciding between different format options.

Analysis of synoptic situation for dust storms in Iraq

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Al-Jumaily, Kais J.; Ibrahim, Morwa K. [Department of Atmospheric Sciences, College of Science, Al-Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad (Iraq)

2013-07-01

Dust storms are considered major natural disasters that cause many damages to society and environment in Iraq and surrounded deserted regions. The aim of this research is to analyze and study the synoptic patterns leading to the formation of dust storms in Iraq. Analysis are based on satellite images, aerosols index and synoptic weather maps. Two severe dust storms occurred over Iraq on February 22, 2010, and on December 10, 2011 were analyzed. The results showed that dust storms form when a low-pressure system forms over Iran causing Shamal winds blow; they carry cool air from that region towards warmer regions like eastern Syria and Iraq. In some cases, this low-pressure system is followed by a high-pressure system brining more cold air to the region and pushing dust toward south. Dust storms are initiated from source regions near Iraq-Syria borders by the existence of negative vertical velocity, which causes dust particles to be lifted upwards, and the strong westerly wind drives dust to travel eastward.

Bora-induced currents corresponding to different synoptic conditions above the Adriatic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Beg Paklar

2005-06-01

Full Text Available The Bora wind field is characterised by strong vorticity and divergence. Several numerical experiments, in which an oceanographic model was forced with northeasterly winds having climatological alongshore variability, were performed in order to study the influence of spatial variability in the bora wind field on the surface currents in the northern Adriatic. Numerical model results showed that during bora episodes with lower speeds and fast offshore decay surface currents along transect Rovinj - Po River are predominantly in the downwind direction. On the other hand, during bora episodes with strong intensity and slow offshore decay, a cyclonic gyre due to the pronounced bora alongshore variability is formed in the northernmost part of the Adriatic Sea and the studied transect is influenced by the counter currents. Moreover, bora having a high speed and a short offshore range produces the same effect in the eastern part of the Rovinj - Po River transect as low-speed bora characterised by slow offshore decay. Eulerian current measurements performed in the northern Adriatic during bora episodes characterised by different synoptic conditions supported the numerical model findings. Surface currents during the bora episode of 8-11 February 1984 were directed downwind, whereas during the episode of 12-19 February 1984 they were directed upwind. The first episode was characterised by a deep bora layer with cyclonic activity over the western Mediterranean and Genoa Bay, whereas the second one was accompanied by temperature inversion and a southwesterly tropospheric wind above a shallow bora layer. According to the hydraulic theory developed by Smith (1985, an observed descent of isentropes during the second bora episode led to the stronger acceleration in the bora layer and its larger offshore extent. Different offshore bora decays during studied events were confirmed by a comparison of the wind data originating from the meteorological stations

A numerical three-dimensional ocean general circulation and radionuclides dispersion model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chartier, M.; Marti, O.

1988-01-01

The dispersion of radioactive waste disposed of in the deep-sea or transferred from the atmosphere is a complex hydrodynamic problem concerned by space scales as large as the world ocean. The recent development in the high-speed computers has led to significant progress in ocean modelling and now allows a thorough improvement in the accuracy of the simulations of the nuclides dispersion in the sea. A three-dimensional ocean general circulation model has been recently developed in France for research and engineering purposes. The model solves the primitive equation of the ocean hydrodynamics and the advection-diffusion equation for any dissolved tracer. The code has been fully vectorized and multitasked on 1 to 4 processors of the CRAY-2

Dazzled by ice and snow: improving medium ocean color images in Arctic waters

Science.gov (United States)

Babin, M.; Goyens, C.; Belanger, S.

2016-02-01

The importance of phytoplankton blooms for the Arctic marine ecosystem is well recognized but studies disagree as the consequences of sea ice melt on the phytoplankton distribution and growth. This limited understanding in actual and future Arctic phytoplankton dynamics mostly results from a lack of accurate data at the receding ice-edges where phytoplankton blooms are known to occur. Ocean color sensors on-board satellites represent therefore a crucial tool providing a synoptic view of the ocean systems over broad spatio-temporal scales. However, today the use of ocean color data in Arctic environments remains strongly compromised due to, among others, sea ice contamination. Indeed, medium ocean color data along the receding ice edge are "dazzled" by nearby and/or sub-pixel highly reflective ice floes. Standard ocean color data methods ignore ice-contamination during data processing which deteriorates the quality of the radiometric data and subsequent satellite derived bio-geochemical products. Moreover, since Arctic phytoplankton spring blooms typically develop along the receding ice-edges, ignoring ice-contaminated pixels may lead to wrong interpretation of satellite data. The present study shows how adjacent and sub-pixel sea-ice floes affect the retrieved ocean color data. A correction approach is also suggested to improve the "dazzled" ocean color pixels along the receding ice edge in the aim to provide additional support to better understand current and future trends in phytoplankton dynamics.

The influence of the Amundsen Sea Low on the winds in the Ross Sea and surroundings: Insights from a synoptic climatology

Science.gov (United States)

Coggins, Jack H. J.; McDonald, Adrian J.

2015-03-01

The Amundsen Sea Low (ASL) is an area of climatologically low atmospheric pressure situated over the Southern Ocean. The depth and location of this feature have significant effects on winds, temperature, moisture transport, and sea ice in its vicinity. In this article, we quantify the modulating effect of this feature on winds over the Ross Sea and Ross Ice Shelf. We examine composites of surface winds sampled according to extrema in ASL depth, longitude, and latitude. We employ the output of a previously developed synoptic climatology to identify the explanatory synoptic-scale forcings. In autumn, winter, and spring (AWS) we find that the impact of the depth of the ASL is smaller than that of its location. The ASL moves eastward when it is deep, thereby reducing its influence on Ross Sea winds. When the ASL is northward, we find strongly enhanced southerly flows over the Ross Sea and Ice Shelf, forced by greater cyclonic activity in the north of the Ross Sea. In summer, we find increased cyclonic flow coinciding with a deeper ASL, despite the ASL being located in the Bellingshausen Sea at this time. The responses to the ASL longitude and latitude are profoundly different to those in AWS, suggesting that relationships are strongly dependent on the varying seasonal location of the low. We examine two metrics of the ASL depth and identify that the absolute mean sea level pressure (MSLP) has a more widespread response than that of the relative MSLP.

Cryosphere-hydrosphere interactions: Numerical modeling using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) at different scales

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergamasco, A.; Carniel, S.; Sclavo, M.; Budgell, W.P.

2005-01-01

Conveyor belt circulation controls global climate through heat and water fluxes with atmosphere and from tropical to polar regions and vice versa. This circulation, commonly referred to as thermohaline circulation (THC), seems to have millennium time scale and nowadays-a non-glacial period-appears to be as rather stable. However, concern is raised by the buildup of CO 2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (IPCC, Third assessment report: Climate Change 2001. A contribution 01 working group I, n and In to the Third Assessment Report of the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge Univ. Press, UK) 2001, http://www.ipcc.ch) as these may affect the THC conveyor paths. Since it is widely recognized that dense water formation sites ad as primary sources in strengthening quasi-stable THC paths (Stommel H., Tellus, 13 (1961) 224), in order to simulate properly the consequences of such scenarios a better understanding of these oceanic processes is needed. To successfully model these processes, air sea-ice-integrated modelling approaches are often required. Here we focus on two polar regions using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). In the first region investigated, the North Atlantic-Arctic, where open-ocean Jeep convection and open-sea ire formation and dispersion under the intense air-sea interactions are the major engines, we use a new version of the coupled hydrodynamic-ice ROMS model. The second area belongs to the Antarctica region inside the Southern Ocean, where brine rejections during ice formation inside shelf seas origin dense water that, flowing along the continental slope, overflow becoming eventually abyssal waters. Results show how nowadays integrated-modelling tasks have become more and more feasible and effective; numerical simulations dealing with large computational domains or challenging different climate scenarios can be run on multi-processors platforms and on systems like LINUX clusters, made of the same hardware as PCs, and

Is rewritten Bible/Scripture the solution to the Synoptic Problem?

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2014-05-28

May 28, 2014 ... This article examines. Müller's hypothesis by first investigating the history of the controversial term rewritten Bible/. Scripture and its recent application to the New Testament Gospels. Müller's hypothesis is then compared to other solutions to the Synoptic Problem, such as the Augustine, Griesbach, and.

Snowfall in the Northwest Iberian Peninsula: Synoptic Circulation Patterns and Their Influence on Snow Day Trends

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrés Merino

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In recent decades, a decrease in snowfall attributed to the effects of global warming (among other causes has become evident. However, it is reasonable to investigate meteorological causes for such decrease, by analyzing changes in synoptic scale patterns. On the Iberian Peninsula, the Castilla y León region in the northwest consists of a central plateau surrounded by mountain ranges. This creates snowfalls that are considered both an important water resource and a transportation risk. In this work, we develop a classification of synoptic situations that produced important snowfalls at observation stations in the major cities of Castilla y León from 1960 to 2011. We used principal component analysis (PCA and cluster techniques to define four synoptic patterns conducive to snowfall in the region. Once we confirmed homogeneity of the series and serial correlation of the snowfallday records at the stations from 1960 to 2011, we carried out a Mann-Kendall test. The results show a negative trend at most stations, so there are a decreased number of snowfall days. Finally, variations in these meteorological variables were related to changes in the frequencies of snow events belonging to each synoptic pattern favorable for snowfall production at the observatory locations.

Pan-Arctic distributions of continental runoff in the Arctic Ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

Fichot, Cédric G; Kaiser, Karl; Hooker, Stanford B; Amon, Rainer M W; Babin, Marcel; Bélanger, Simon; Walker, Sally A; Benner, Ronald

2013-01-01

Continental runoff is a major source of freshwater, nutrients and terrigenous material to the Arctic Ocean. As such, it influences water column stratification, light attenuation, surface heating, gas exchange, biological productivity and carbon sequestration. Increasing river discharge and thawing permafrost suggest that the impacts of continental runoff on these processes are changing. Here, a new optical proxy was developed and implemented with remote sensing to determine the first pan-Arctic distribution of terrigenous dissolved organic matter (tDOM) and continental runoff in the surface Arctic Ocean. Retrospective analyses revealed connections between the routing of North American runoff and the recent freshening of the Canada Basin, and indicated a correspondence between climate-driven changes in river discharge and tDOM inventories in the Kara Sea. By facilitating the real-time, synoptic monitoring of tDOM and freshwater runoff in surface polar waters, this novel approach will help understand the manifestations of climate change in this remote region.

Decorrelation scales for Arctic Ocean hydrography - Part I: Amerasian Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Sumata, Hiroshi; Kauker, Frank; Karcher, Michael; Rabe, Benjamin; Timmermans, Mary-Louise; Behrendt, Axel; Gerdes, Rüdiger; Schauer, Ursula; Shimada, Koji; Cho, Kyoung-Ho; Kikuchi, Takashi

2018-03-01

Any use of observational data for data assimilation requires adequate information of their representativeness in space and time. This is particularly important for sparse, non-synoptic data, which comprise the bulk of oceanic in situ observations in the Arctic. To quantify spatial and temporal scales of temperature and salinity variations, we estimate the autocorrelation function and associated decorrelation scales for the Amerasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean. For this purpose, we compile historical measurements from 1980 to 2015. Assuming spatial and temporal homogeneity of the decorrelation scale in the basin interior (abyssal plain area), we calculate autocorrelations as a function of spatial distance and temporal lag. The examination of the functional form of autocorrelation in each depth range reveals that the autocorrelation is well described by a Gaussian function in space and time. We derive decorrelation scales of 150-200 km in space and 100-300 days in time. These scales are directly applicable to quantify the representation error, which is essential for use of ocean in situ measurements in data assimilation. We also describe how the estimated autocorrelation function and decorrelation scale should be applied for cost function calculation in a data assimilation system.

Numerical Modelling of the 26th December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami for the Southeastern Coast of India

Science.gov (United States)

Ioualalen, M.; Arreaga-Vargas, P.; Pophet, N.; Chlieh, M.; Ilayaraja, K.; Ordoñez, J.; Renteria, W.; Pazmiño, N.

2010-10-01

A numerical simulation of the 26th December, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami of the Tamil Nadu coastal zone is presented. The simulation approach is based on a fully nonlinear Boussinesq tsunami propagation model and included an accurate computational domain and a robust coseismic source. The simulation is first confronted to available tide gauge and runup observations. The agreement between observations and the predicted wave heights allowed a reasonable validation of the simulation. As a result, a full picture of the tsunami impact is provided over the entire coastal zone Tamil Nadu. The processes responsible for coastal vulnerability are discussed.

Odessa Tsunami of 27 June 2014: Observations and Numerical Modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Šepić, Jadranka; Rabinovich, Alexander B.; Sytov, Victor N.

2018-04-01

On 27 June, a 1-2-m high wave struck the beaches of Odessa, the third largest Ukrainian city, and the neighbouring port-town Illichevsk (northwestern Black Sea). Throughout the day, prominent seiche oscillations were observed in several other ports of the Black Sea. Tsunamigenic synoptic conditions were found over the Black Sea, stretching from Romania in the west to the Crimean Peninsula in the east. Intense air pressure disturbances and convective thunderstorm clouds were associated with these conditions; right at the time of the event, a 1.5-hPa air pressure jump was recorded at Odessa and a few hours earlier in Romania. We have utilized a barotropic ocean numerical model to test two hypotheses: (1) a tsunami-like wave was generated by an air pressure disturbance propagating directly over Odessa ("Experiment 1"); (2) a tsunami-like wave was generated by an air pressure disturbance propagating offshore, approximately 200 km to the south of Odessa, and along the shelf break ("Experiment 2"). Both experiments decisively confirm the meteorological origin of the tsunami-like waves on the coast of Odessa and imply that intensified long ocean waves in this region were generated via the Proudman resonance mechanism while propagating over the northwestern Black Sea shelf. The "Odessa tsunami" of 27 June 2014 was identified as a "beach meteotsunami", similar to events regularly observed on the beaches of Florida, USA, but different from the "harbour meteotsunamis", which occurred 1-3 days earlier in Ciutadella (Baleares, Spain), Mazara del Vallo (Sicily, Italy) and Vela Luka (Croatia) in the Mediterranean Sea, despite that they were associated with the same atmospheric system moving over the Mediterranean/Black Sea region on 23-27 June 2014.

Numerical modelling of physiological and ecological impacts of ocean acidification on coccolithophores

Science.gov (United States)

Furukawa, Makoto; Sato, Toru; Suzuki, Yoshimi; Casareto, Beatriz E.; Hirabayashi, Shinichiro

2018-06-01

Ocean surface acidification due to increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration is currently attracting much attention. Coccolithophores distribute widely across the world's oceans and represent a carbon sink containing about 100 million tonnes of carbon. For this reason, there is concern about dissolution of their shells, which are made of calcium carbonate, due to decreasing pH. In this study, intracellular calcification, photosynthesis, and mass transport through biomembranes of Emiliania huxleyi were modelled numerically for understanding biological response in calcifying organisms. Unknown parameters were optimised by a generic algorithm to match existing experimental results. The model showed that the production of calcium carbonate rather than its dissolution is promoted under an acidified environment. Calcite remains at saturation levels in a coccolith even when it is below saturation levels in the external seawater. Furthermore, a coccolith can dissolve even in water where calcite saturation exceeds 1, because the saturation may be below the threshold level locally around the cell membrane. The present model also showed that the different calcification rates of E. huxleyi with respect to rising CO2 concentrations reported in the literature are due to differences in experimental conditions; in particular, how the CO2 concentration is matched. Lastly, the model was able to reproduce differences in calcification rates among coccolithophore species. The above biochemical-kinetic model was then incorporated into an ecosystem model, and the behaviour of coccolithophores in the ecosystem and the influence of increases in CO2 concentration on water quality were simulated and validated by comparison with existing experimental results. The model also suggests that increased CO2 concentration could lead to an increase in the biomass ratio of coccolithophores to diatoms at high CO2 concentrations, particularly in oligotrophic environments, and to a consequent decrease in

The Cognitive Advantages of Counting Specifically: A Representational Analysis of Verbal Numeration Systems in Oceanic Languages.

Science.gov (United States)

Bender, Andrea; Schlimm, Dirk; Beller, Sieghard

2015-10-01

The domain of numbers provides a paradigmatic case for investigating interactions of culture, language, and cognition: Numerical competencies are considered a core domain of knowledge, and yet the development of specifically human abilities presupposes cultural and linguistic input by way of counting sequences. These sequences constitute systems with distinct structural properties, the cross-linguistic variability of which has implications for number representation and processing. Such representational effects are scrutinized for two types of verbal numeration systems-general and object-specific ones-that were in parallel use in several Oceanic languages (English with its general system is included for comparison). The analysis indicates that the object-specific systems outperform the general systems with respect to counting and mental arithmetic, largely due to their regular and more compact representation. What these findings reveal on cognitive diversity, how the conjectures involved speak to more general issues in cognitive science, and how the approach taken here might help to bridge the gap between anthropology and other cognitive sciences is discussed in the conclusion. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Real-time Ocean Observations and Forecast Facility (ROOFF)

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — FUNCTION: Provides the capability to visualize "ocean weather" for selected ocean regions. The collection of satellite observations with numerical circulation models...

Characterization of the Cloud-Topped Boundary Layer at the Synoptic Scale Using AVHRR Observations during the SEMAPHORE Experiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Mathieu, A.; Sèze, G.; Lahellec, A.; Guerin, C.; Weill, A.

2003-12-01

Satellite platforms NOAA-11 and -12 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data are used during the daytime to study large sheets of stratocumulus over the North Atlantic Ocean. The application concerns an anticyclonic period of the Structure des Echanges Mer Atmosphère, Propriétés des Hétérogénéités Océaniques: Recherché Expérimentale (SEMAPHORE) campaign (10 17 November 1993). In the region of interest, the satellite images are recorded under large solar zenith angles. Extending the SEMAPHORE area, a region of about 3000 × 3000 km2 is studied to characterize the atmospheric boundary layer. A statistical cloud classification method is applied to discriminate for low-level and optically thick clouds. For AVHRR pixels covered with thick clouds, brightness temperatures are used to evaluate the boundary layer cloud-top temperature (CTT). The objective is to obtain accurate CTT maps for evaluation of a global model. In this application, the full-resolution fields are reduced to match model grid size. An estimate of overall temperature uncertainty associated with each grid point is also derived, which incorporates subgrid variability of the fields and quality of the temperature retrieval. Results are compared with the SEMAPHORE campaign measurements. A comparison with “DX” products obtained with the same dataset, but at lower resolution, is also presented. The authors claim that such instantaneous CTT maps could be as intensively used as classical SST maps, and both could be efficiently complemented with gridpoint error-bar maps. They may be used for multiple applications: (i) to provide a means to improve numerical weather prediction and climatological reanalyses, (ii) to represent a boundary layer global characterization to analyze the synoptic situation of field experiments, and (iii) to allow validation and to test development of large-scale and mesoscale models.

Synoptic-scale circulation patterns during summer derived from tree rings in mid-latitude Asia

Science.gov (United States)

Seim, Andrea; Schultz, Johannes A.; Leland, Caroline; Davi, Nicole; Byambasuren, Oyunsanaa; Liang, Eryuan; Wang, Xiaochun; Beck, Christoph; Linderholm, Hans W.; Pederson, Neil

2017-09-01

Understanding past and recent climate and atmospheric circulation variability is vital for regions that are affected by climate extremes. In mid-latitude Asia, however, the synoptic climatology is complex and not yet fully understood. The aim of this study was to investigate dominant synoptic-scale circulation patterns during the summer season using a multi-species tree-ring width (TRW) network comprising 78 sites from mid-latitude Asia. For each TRW chronology, we calculated an atmospheric circulation tree-ring index (ACTI), based on 1000 hPa geopotential height data, to directly link tree growth to 13 summertime weather types and their associated local climate conditions for the period 1871-1993. Using the ACTI, three groups of similarly responding tree-ring sites can be associated with distinct large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns: 1. growth of drought sensitive trees is positively affected by a cyclone over northern Russia; 2. temperature sensitive trees show positive associations to a cyclone over northwestern Russia and an anticyclone over Mongolia; 3. trees at two high elevation sites show positive relations to a zonal cyclone extending from mid-latitude Eurasia to the West Pacific. The identified synoptic-scale circulation patterns showed spatiotemporal variability in their intensity and position, causing temporally varying climate conditions in mid-latitude Asia. Our results highlight that for regions with less pronounced atmospheric action centers during summer such as the occurrence of large-scale cyclones and anticyclones, synoptic-scale circulation patterns can be extracted and linked to the Northern Hemisphere circulation system. Thus, we provide a new and solid envelope for climate studies covering the past to the future.

Decadal Changes in Global Ocean Annual Primary Production

Science.gov (United States)

Gregg, Watson; Conkright, Margarita E.; Behrenfeld, Michael J.; Ginoux, Paul; Casey, Nancy W.; Koblinsky, Chester J. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) has produced the first multi-year time series of global ocean chlorophyll observations since the demise of the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) in 1986. Global observations from 1997-present from SeaWiFS combined with observations from 1979-1986 from the CZCS should in principle provide an opportunity to observe decadal changes in global ocean annual primary production, since chlorophyll is the primary driver for estimates of primary production. However, incompatibilities between algorithms have so far precluded quantitative analysis. We have developed and applied compatible processing methods for the CZCS, using modern advances in atmospheric correction and consistent bio-optical algorithms to advance the CZCS archive to comparable quality with SeaWiFS. We applied blending methodologies, where in situ data observations are incorporated into the CZCS and SeaWiFS data records, to provide improvement of the residuals. These re-analyzed, blended data records provide maximum compatibility and permit, for the first time, a quantitative analysis of the changes in global ocean primary production in the early-to-mid 1980's and the present, using synoptic satellite observations. An intercomparison of the global and regional primary production from these blended satellite observations is important to understand global climate change and the effects on ocean biota. Photosynthesis by chlorophyll-containing phytoplankton is responsible for biotic uptake of carbon in the oceans and potentially ultimately from the atmosphere. Global ocean annual primary decreased from the CZCS record to SeaWiFS, by nearly 6% from the early 1980s to the present. Annual primary production in the high latitudes was responsible for most of the decadal change. Conversely, primary production in the low latitudes generally increased, with the exception of the tropical Pacific. The differences and similarities of the two data records provide evidence

Ocean circulation generated magnetic signals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Manoj, C.; Kuvshinov, A.; Maus, S.

2006-01-01

Conducting ocean water, as it flows through the Earth's magnetic field, generates secondary electric and magnetic fields. An assessment of the ocean-generated magnetic fields and their detectability may be of importance for geomagnetism and oceanography. Motivated by the clear identification...... of ocean tidal signatures in the CHAMP magnetic field data we estimate the ocean magnetic signals of steady flow using a global 3-D EM numerical solution. The required velocity data are from the ECCO ocean circulation experiment and alternatively from the OCCAM model for higher resolution. We assume...... of the magnetic field, as compared to the ECCO simulation. Besides the expected signatures of the global circulation patterns, we find significant seasonal variability of ocean magnetic signals in the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans. Compared to seasonal variation, interannual variations produce weaker signals....

Ocean OSSEs: recent developments and future challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Kourafalou, V. H.

2012-12-01

Atmospheric OSSEs have had a much longer history of applications than OSSEs (and OSEs) in oceanography. Long standing challenges include the presence of coastlines and steep bathymetric changes, which require the superposition of a wide variety of space and time scales, leading to difficulties on ocean observation and prediction. For instance, remote sensing is critical for providing a quasi-synoptic oceanographic view, but the coverage is limited at the ocean surface. Conversely, in situ measurements are capable to monitor the entire water column, but at a single location and usually for a specific, short time. Despite these challenges, substantial progress has been made in recent years and international initiatives have provided successful OSSE/OSE examples and formed appropriate forums that helped define the future roadmap. These will be discussed, together with various challenges that require a community effort. Examples include: integrated (remote and in situ) observing system requirements for monitoring large scale and climatic changes, vs. short term variability that is particularly important on the regional and coastal spatial scales; satisfying the needs of both global and regional/coastal nature runs, from development to rigorous evaluation and under a clear definition of metrics; data assimilation in the presence of tides; estimation of real-time river discharges for Earth system modeling. An overview of oceanographic efforts that complement the standard OSSE methodology will also be given. These include ocean array design methods, such as representer-based analysis and adaptive sampling. Exciting new opportunities for both global and regional ocean OSSE/OSE studies have recently become possible with targeted periods of comprehensive data sets, such as the existing Gulf of Mexico observations from multiple sources in the aftermath of the DeepWater Horizon incident and the upcoming airborne AirSWOT, in preparation for the SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean

Synoptic tool for reporting of hematological and lymphoid neoplasms based on World Health Organization classification and College of American Pathologists checklist

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Winters Sharon B

2007-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Synoptic reporting, either as part of the pathology report or replacing some free text component incorporates standardized data elements in the form of checklists for pathology reporting. This ensures the pathologists make note of these findings in their reports, thereby improving the quality and uniformity of information in the pathology reports. Methods The purpose of this project is to develop the entire set of elements in the synoptic templates or "worksheets" for hematologic and lymphoid neoplasms using the World Health Organization (WHO Classification and the College of American Pathologists (CAP Cancer Checklists. The CAP checklists' content was supplemented with the most updated classification scheme (WHO classification, specimen details, staging as well as information on various ancillary techniques such as cytochemical studies, immunophenotyping, cytogenetics including Fluorescent In-situ Hybridization (FISH studies and genotyping. We have used a digital synoptic reporting system as part of an existing laboratory information system (LIS, CoPathPlus, from Cerner DHT, Inc. The synoptic elements are presented as discrete data points, so that a data element such as tumor type is assigned from the synoptic value dictionary under the value of tumor type, allowing the user to search for just those cases that have that value point populated. Results These synoptic worksheets are implemented for use in our LIS. The data is stored as discrete data elements appear as an accession summary within the final pathology report. In addition, the synoptic data can be exported to research databases for linking pathological details on banked tissues. Conclusion Synoptic reporting provides a structured method for entering the diagnostic as well as prognostic information for a particular pathology specimen or sample, thereby reducing transcription services and reducing specimen turnaround time. Furthermore, it provides accurate and

Synoptic Storms in the North Atlantic in the Atmospheric Reanalysis and Scatterometer-Based Wind Products

Science.gov (United States)

Dukhovskoy, D. S.; Bourassa, M. A.

2016-12-01

The study compares and analyses the characteristics of synoptic storms in the Subpolar North Atlantic over the time period from 2000 through 2009 derived from reanalysis data sets and scatterometer-based gridded wind products. The analysis is performed for ocean 10-m winds derived from the following wind data sets: NCEP/DOE AMIP-II reanalysis (NCEPR2), NCAR/CFSR, Arctic System Reanalysis (ASR) version 1, Cross-Calibrated Multi-Platform (CCMP) wind product versions 1.1 and recently released version 2.0 prepared by the Remote Sensing Systems, and QuikSCAT. A cyclone tracking algorithm employed in this study for storm identification is based on average vorticity fields derived from the wind data. The study discusses storm characteristics such as storm counts, trajectories, intensity, integrated kinetic energy, spatial scale. Interannal variability of these characteristics in the data sets is compared. The analyses demonstrates general agreement among the wind data products on the characteristics of the storms, their spatial distribution and trajectories. On average, the NCEPR2 storms are more energetic mostly due to large spatial scales and stronger winds. There is noticeable interannual variability in the storm characteristics, yet no obvious trend in storms is observed in the data sets.

Numerical simulations of local circulations and pollution transport over Reunion Island

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Lesouëf

2011-01-01

Full Text Available A series of high-resolution (1 km numerical simulations with a limited-area numerical model has been performed over Reunion Island. In the dynamical context of a regular maritime flow perturbed by a major topographic obstacle such as Reunion Island, the objectives are to identify the main atmospheric circulations at local-scale over the island and to improve the understanding of local-scale transport and dispersion of pollutants emitted from local sources. To investigate the effects of topography and land surface heating on low-level flows over the island, simulations representative of austral winter were performed in idealized conditions keeping the radiative forcing plus a background east-south-easterly synoptic flux of varying strengths, typical of the prevailing trade-wind conditions. The numerical experiments show mainly that flow splitting of the trade-wind occurs around the island, with enhanced winds blowing along the coast lines parallel to the synoptic flux, due to the lateral constriction of the flow by the island and resulting Venturi effect. Blocking occurs on the island side facing the trade-wind. The north-western area on the leeside is screened from the trade-wind by high mountains, and this enables the development of diurnal thermally-induced circulations, combining downslope and land-breeze at night, and upslope and sea breeze at daytime. Flow splitting is modulated by radiative convergence toward the island at daytime, and divergence from the island at night. Stronger winds than the large-scale trade-wind occur along the coast at daytime (Venturi effect, whereas at night, the trade-wind flow is pushed few kilometres offshore by divergence of cooled air from the land. At night, the trade-wind flow is pushed few kilometres offshore by divergence of cooled air from the land. Consequently, a number of processes of pollution transport and dispersion have been identified. Vortices in the wake of the island were found to cause

Numerical simulations of local circulations and pollution transport over Reunion Island

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lesouef, D.; Delmas, R. [La Reunion Univ., CNRS/INSU UMR8105 (France). Lab. de l' Atmosphere et des Cyclones; Gheusi, F.; Escobar, J. [Toulouse III Univ., CNRS/INSU UMR5560 (France). Lab. d' Aerologie

2011-07-01

A series of high-resolution (1 km) numerical simulations with a limited-area numerical model has been performed over Reunion Island. In the dynamical context of a regular maritime flow perturbed by a major topographic obstacle such as Reunion Island, the objectives are to identify the main atmospheric circulations at local-scale over the island and to improve the understanding of local-scale transport and dispersion of pollutants emitted from local sources. To investigate the effects of topography and land surface heating on low-level flows over the island, simulations representative of austral winter were performed in idealized conditions keeping the radiative forcing plus a background east-south-easterly synoptic flux of varying strengths, typical of the prevailing trade-wind conditions. The numerical experiments show mainly that flow splitting of the trade-wind occurs around the island, with enhanced winds blowing along the coast lines parallel to the synoptic flux, due to the lateral constriction of the flow by the island and resulting Venturi effect. Blocking occurs on the island side facing the trade-wind. The north-western area on the leeside is screened from the trade-wind by high mountains, and this enables the development of diurnal thermally-induced circulations, combining downslope and land-breeze at night, and upslope and sea breeze at daytime. Flow splitting is modulated by radiative convergence toward the island at daytime, and divergence from the island at night. Stronger winds than the large-scale trade-wind occur along the coast at daytime (Venturi effect), whereas at night, the trade-wind flow is pushed few kilometres offshore by divergence of cooled air from the land. At night, the trade-wind flow is pushed few kilometres offshore by divergence of cooled air from the land. Consequently, a number of processes of pollution transport and dispersion have been identified. Vortices in the wake of the island were found to cause counterflow circulation

Modeling of oceanic vortices

Science.gov (United States)

Cushman-Roisin, B.

Following on a tradition of biannual meetings, the 5th Colloquium on the Modeling of Oceanic Vortices was held May 21-23, 1990, at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. The colloquium series, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, is intended to gather oceanographers who contribute to our understanding of oceanic mesoscale vortices via analytical, numerical and experimental modeling techniques.

Synoptic weather types and aeroallergens modify the effect of air pollution on hospitalisations for asthma hospitalisations in Canadian cities.

Science.gov (United States)

Hebbern, Christopher; Cakmak, Sabit

2015-09-01

Pollution levels and the effect of air pollution on human health can be modified by synoptic weather type and aeroallergens. We investigated the effect modification of aeroallergens on the association between CO, O3, NO2, SO2, PM10, PM2.5 and asthma hospitalisation rates in seven synoptic weather types. We developed single air pollutant models, adjusted for the effect of aeroallergens and stratified by synoptic weather type, and pooled relative risk estimates for asthma hospitalisation in ten Canadian cities. Aeroallergens significantly modified the relative risk in 19 pollutant-weather type combinations, reducing the size and variance for each single pollutant model. However, aeroallergens did not significantly modify relative risk for any pollutant in the DT or MT weather types, or for PM10 in any weather type. Thus, there is a modifying effect of aeroallergens on the association between CO, O3, NO2, SO2, PM2.5 and asthma hospitalisations that differs under specific synoptic weather types. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

General Framework for Employment. Tableau de Bord. (Synoptic Table). Second Edition.

Science.gov (United States)

Commission of the European Communities, Brussels (Belgium). Directorate-General for Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs.

This synoptic table provides an overview and comparison of employment trends and policy measures for each member state of the European Community. Information on the following countries is presented in eight chapters: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, and United Kingdom. Chapter 0…

Observational and numerical evidence for ocean frontogenesis inducing submesoscale processes and impacting biochemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Claret, M.; Ruiz, S.; Pascual, A.; Olita, A.; Mahadevan, A.; Tovar, A.; Troupin, C.; Tintore, J.; Capet, A.

2016-02-01

We present the results of ALBOREX, a multi-platform and multi-disciplinary experiment completed in May 2014 as a part of PERSEUS EU funded project. This unique process-oriented experiment in the eastern Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean) examined mesoscale and submesoscale dynamics at an intense front. The field campaign, conducted during 8 days, included 25 drifters, 2 gliders, 3 Argo floats and one ship (66 CTDs and 500 biochemical samples). The drifters followed coherently an anticyclonic gyre. ADCP data showed consistent patterns with currents up to 1 m/s in the southern part of the domain and Rossby numbers up to 1.5 suggesting significant ageostrophic motion. We show observational evidence for mesoscale frontogenesis produced by the confluence of (fresh) Atlantic Water and the resident (more saline) Mediterranean Water. This confluence resulted in lateral density gradients of the order of 1 kg/m3 in 10 km and associated vertical velocities of about ±20 m/day, diagnosed using the QG Omega equation. However, the vertical velocity is likely underestimated due to unresolved submesoscale processes (<10 km), which are induced by intense mesoscale frontogenesis. In order to assess the role of these submesoscale processes in the frontal vertical transport, a high-resolution Process Ocean Model Study is initialized with hydrographic data (0.5-1 km resolution) from underwater gliders. Numerical results show that observed lateral buoyancy gradients are large enough to trigger submesoscale mixed layer instabilities. The coupling between mesoscale and submesoscale phenomena can explain remarkable subduction events of chlorophyll and oxygen captured by ocean gliders, as well as local increases of primary production.

Satellite-detected fluorescence reveals global physiology of ocean phytoplankton

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. J. Behrenfeld

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Phytoplankton photosynthesis links global ocean biology and climate-driven fluctuations in the physical environment. These interactions are largely expressed through changes in phytoplankton physiology, but physiological status has proven extremely challenging to characterize globally. Phytoplankton fluorescence does provide a rich source of physiological information long exploited in laboratory and field studies, and is now observed from space. Here we evaluate the physiological underpinnings of global variations in satellite-based phytoplankton chlorophyll fluorescence. The three dominant factors influencing fluorescence distributions are chlorophyll concentration, pigment packaging effects on light absorption, and light-dependent energy-quenching processes. After accounting for these three factors, resultant global distributions of quenching-corrected fluorescence quantum yields reveal a striking consistency with anticipated patterns of iron availability. High fluorescence quantum yields are typically found in low iron waters, while low quantum yields dominate regions where other environmental factors are most limiting to phytoplankton growth. Specific properties of photosynthetic membranes are discussed that provide a mechanistic view linking iron stress to satellite-detected fluorescence. Our results present satellite-based fluorescence as a valuable tool for evaluating nutrient stress predictions in ocean ecosystem models and give the first synoptic observational evidence that iron plays an important role in seasonal phytoplankton dynamics of the Indian Ocean. Satellite fluorescence may also provide a path for monitoring climate-phytoplankton physiology interactions and improving descriptions of phytoplankton light use efficiencies in ocean productivity models.

Spatio-temporal dynamics and synoptic characteristics of wet and drought extremes in Northern Eurasia

Science.gov (United States)

Utkuzova, Dilyara; Khan, Valentina

2015-04-01

Synoptical-statistical analysis has been conducted using SPI index calculated for 478 stations with records from 1966 through 2013. Different parameters of SPI frequency distribution and long-term tendencies were calculated as well as spatial characteristics indicating drought and wetness propagation. Results of analysis demonstrate that during last years there is a tendency of increasing of the intensity of draught and wetness extremes over Russia. There are fewer droughts in the northern regions. The drought propagation for the European territory of Russia is decreasing in June and August, and increasing in July. The situation is opposite for the wetness tendencies. For the Asian territory of Russia, the drought propagation is significantly increasing in July along with decreasing wetness trend. Synoptic conditions favorable for the formation of wet and drought extremes were identified by comparing synoptic charts with the spatial patterns of SPI. For synoptic analysis, episodes of extremely wet (6 episodes for the APR and 7 episodes for the EPR) and drought (6 episodes for the APR and 6 for the EPR) events were classified using A. Katz' typology of weather regimes. For European part of Russia, extreme DROUGHT events are linked to the weather type named "MIXED", for Asian part of Russia - the type "CENTRAL". For European part of Russia, extreme WET events associated with "CENTRAL" type. There is a displacement of the planetary frontal zone into southward direction approximately for 5-25 degrees relatively to normal climatological position during WET extreme events linked to «EASTERN» classification type. Intercomparison of SPI calculated on the base of NOAA NCEP CPC CAMS for the same period and with the resolution 0,5 degree, month precipitation data, Era-Interim Daily fields archive for the period 1979-2014 with the resolution 0,5 degree reanalysis and observational precipitation data was done. The results of comparative analysis has been discussed.

Near-surface eddy dynamics in the Southern Ocean

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marilisa Trani

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC is a crucial component of the global ocean conveyor belt, acting as a zonal link among the major ocean basins but, to some extent, limiting meridional exchange and tending to isolate the ocean south of it from momentum and heat income. In this work we investigate one of the most important mechanisms contributing to the poleward transfer of properties in the Southern Ocean, that is the eddy component of the dynamics. For this particular purpose, observations obtained from near-surface drifters have been used: they represent a very useful data set to analyse the eddy field because of their ability to catch a large number of scales of motion while providing a quasi-synoptic coverage of the investigated area. Estimates of the eddy heat and momentum fluxes are carried out using data taken from the Global Drifter Program databank; they refer to Surface Velocity Program drifter trajectories collected in the area south of 35°S between 1995 and 2006. Eddy kinetic energies, variance ellipses, momentum and heat fluxes have been calculated using the pseudo-Eulerian method, showing patterns in good agreement with those present in the literature based on observational and model data, although there are some quantitative differences. The eddy fluxes have been separated into their rotational and divergent portions, the latter being responsible for the meridional transports. The associated zonal and depth-exponentially integrated meridional heat transport exhibits values spanning over a range between -0.4 PW and –1.1 PW in the ACC region, consistent with previous estimates.

On usage of CABARET scheme for tracer transport in INM ocean model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Diansky, Nikolay; Kostrykin, Sergey; Gusev, Anatoly; Salnikov, Nikolay

2010-01-01

The contemporary state of ocean numerical modelling sets some requirements for the numerical advection schemes used in ocean general circulation models (OGCMs). The most important requirements are conservation, monotonicity and numerical efficiency including good parallelization properties. Investigation of some advection schemes shows that one of the best schemes satisfying the criteria is CABARET scheme. 3D-modification of the CABARET scheme was used to develop a new transport module (for temperature and salinity) for the Institute of Numerical Mathematics ocean model (INMOM). Testing of this module on some common benchmarks shows a high accuracy in comparison with the second-order advection scheme used in the INMOM. This new module was incorporated in the INMOM and experiments with the modified model showed a better simulation of oceanic circulation than its previous version.

The Use of Satellite Observed Cloud Patterns in Northern Hemisphere 300 mb and 1000/300 mb Numerical Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

1984-02-01

with the classical models of clouds and weather associated with wave cyclone life cycles. ’.4 Although synoptic scale cloud patterns over the entire...Biomedical Computer Programs P-Series, TBM 4,P-79v> Uiversity Df a lifo--mr Press, Berkely, 880,. Fortoft, R., 1952: On a Numerical Method of Int r-n the

A numerical investigation of the atmosphere-ocean thermal contrast over the coastal upwelling region of Cabo Frio, Brazil

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dourado, M. [Departamento de Meteorologia, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas RS (Brazil)]. E-mail: marcelo_dourado@ufpel.edu.br; Pereira de Oliveira, A. [Departamento de Ciencias Atmosfericas, Instituto de Astronomia, Geofisica e Ciencias Atmosfericas, Universidade de Sao Paulo, (Brazil)

2008-01-15

An one-dimensional atmospheric second order closure model, coupled to an oceanic mixed layer model, is used to investigate the short term variation of the atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers in the coastal upwelling area of Cabo Frio, Brazil (23 degrees Celsius S, 42 degrees Celsius 08' W). The numerical simulations were carried out to evaluate the impact caused by the thermal contrast between atmosphere and ocean on the vertical extent and other properties of both atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers. The numerical simulations were designed taking as reference the observations carried out during the passage of a cold front that disrupted the upwelling regime in Cabo Frio in July of 1992. The simulations indicated that in 10 hours the mechanical mixing, sustained by a constant background flow of 10 m s-1, increases the atmospheric boundary layer in 214 m when the atmosphere is initially 2 K warmer than the ocean (positive thermal contrast observed during upwelling regime). For an atmosphere initially -2 K colder than the ocean (negative thermal contrast observed during passage of the cold front), the incipient thermal convection intensifies the mechanical mixing increasing the vertical extent of the atmospheric boundary layer in 360 m. The vertical evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer is consistent with the observations carried out in Cabo Frio during upwelling condition. When the upwelling is disrupted, the discrepancy between the simulated and observed atmospheric boundary layer heights in Cabo Frio during July of 1992 increases considerably. During the period of 10 hours, the simulated oceanic mixed layer deepens 2 m and 5.4 m for positive and negative thermal contrasts of 2 K and -2 K, respectively. In the latter case, the larger vertical extent of the oceanic mixed layer is due to the presence of thermal convection in the atmospheric boundary layer, which in turn is associated to the absence of upwelling caused by the passage of cold fronts

The use of normalized climatological anomalies to rank synoptic-scale events and their relation to Weather Types

Science.gov (United States)

Ramos, A. M.; Lorenzo, M. N.; Gimeno, L.; Nieto, R.; Añel, J. A.

2009-09-01

Several methods have been developed to rank meteorological events in terms of severity, social impact or economic impacts. These classifications are not always objective since they depend of several factors, for instance, the observation network is biased towards the densely populated urban areas against rural or oceanic areas. It is also very important to note that not all rare synoptic-scale meteorological events attract significant media attention. In this work we use a comprehensive method of classifying synoptic-scale events adapted from Hart and Grumm, 2001, to the European region (30N-60N, 30W-15E). The main motivation behind this method is that the more unusual the event (a cold outbreak, a heat wave, or a flood), for a given region, the higher ranked it must be. To do so, we use four basic meteorological variables (Height, Temperature, Wind and Specific Humidity) from NCEP reanalysis dataset over the range of 1000hPa to 200hPa at a daily basis from 1948 to 2004. The climatology used embraces the 1961-1990 period. For each variable, the analysis of raking climatological anomalies was computed taking into account the daily normalized departure from climatology at different levels. For each day (from 1948 to 2004) we have four anomaly measures, one for each variable, and another, a combined where the anomaly (total anomaly) is the average of the anomaly of the four variables. Results will be analyzed on a monthly, seasonal and annual basis. Seasonal trends and variability will also be shown. In addition, and given the extent of the database, the expected return periods associated with the anomalies are revealed. Moreover, we also use an automated version of the Lamb weather type (WT) classification scheme (Jones et al, 1993) adapted for the Galicia area (Northwestern corner of the Iberian Peninsula) by Lorenzo et al (2008) in order to compute the daily local circulation regimes in this area. By combining the corresponding daily WT with the five anomaly

Linking cluster analysis with synoptic meteorology to characterise chemical climates at six north-west European monitoring stations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dorling, S.R.; Davies, T.D. [Univ. of East Anglia, Norwich (United Kingdom)

1994-12-31

Synoptic scale atmospheric circulation patterns are often good surrogates for the transport pathway to an individual monitoring station. Davies et al. (1990) supported this idea by showing that the chemistry of precipitation samples collected at United Kingdom monitoring stations were strongly related to the Lamb weather type index, a daily classification of the synoptic circulation influencing United Kingdom weather. Such a classification does not, however, optimise the distinction between airflow from different directions and thus over different pollution source regions.

Numerical schemes for dynamically orthogonal equations of stochastic fluid and ocean flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ueckermann, M.P.; Lermusiaux, P.F.J.; Sapsis, T.P.

2013-01-01

The quantification of uncertainties is critical when systems are nonlinear and have uncertain terms in their governing equations or are constrained by limited knowledge of initial and boundary conditions. Such situations are common in multiscale, intermittent and non-homogeneous fluid and ocean flows. The dynamically orthogonal (DO) field equations provide an adaptive methodology to predict the probability density functions of such flows. The present work derives efficient computational schemes for the DO methodology applied to unsteady stochastic Navier–Stokes and Boussinesq equations, and illustrates and studies the numerical aspects of these schemes. Semi-implicit projection methods are developed for the mean and for the DO modes, and time-marching schemes of first to fourth order are used for the stochastic coefficients. Conservative second-order finite-volumes are employed in physical space with new advection schemes based on total variation diminishing methods. Other results include: (i) the definition of pseudo-stochastic pressures to obtain a number of pressure equations that is linear in the subspace size instead of quadratic; (ii) symmetric advection schemes for the stochastic velocities; (iii) the use of generalized inversion to deal with singular subspace covariances or deterministic modes; and (iv) schemes to maintain orthonormal modes at the numerical level. To verify our implementation and study the properties of our schemes and their variations, a set of stochastic flow benchmarks are defined including asymmetric Dirac and symmetric lock-exchange flows, lid-driven cavity flows, and flows past objects in a confined channel. Different Reynolds number and Grashof number regimes are employed to illustrate robustness. Optimal convergence under both time and space refinements is shown as well as the convergence of the probability density functions with the number of stochastic realizations.

Synoptic, thermodynamic and agroeconomic aspects of severe hail events in Cyprus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. C. Michaelides

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Hail is a hazardous weather element often accompanying a thunderstorm, as a result of either thermal instability or instability associated with baroclinic synoptic-scale systems (i.e. frontal depressions. Nevertheless, instability of any kind and thunderstorm activity does not always lead to the formation of hail of adequate size to reach the ground. The broader the knowledge concerning hail events the better the understanding of the underlying thermodynamic and dynamic mechanisms, as well as the physical processes associated with its formation.

In the present study, the severe hail events that were recorded in Cyprus during the ten-year period from 1996 until 2005 were examined, first by grouping them into two clusters, namely, the "thermal instability cluster" and the "frontal depression cluster". Subsequently, the spatial and temporal evolution of the synoptic, dynamic and thermodynamic characteristics of these hail events was studied in depth. Also, the impact of hailstorms on the local economy of the island is presented in terms of the compensations paid by the Agricultural Insurance Organization of the country.

Estimating total alkalinity for coastal ocean acidification monitoring at regional to continental scales in Australian coastal waters

KAUST Repository

Baldry, Kimberlee; Hardman-Mountford, Nick; Greenwood, Jim

2017-01-01

Owing to a lack of resources, tools, and knowledge, the natural variability and distribution of Total Alkalinity (TA) has been poorly characterised in coastal waters globally, yet variability is known to be high in coastal regions due to the complex interactions of oceanographic, biotic, and terrestrially-influenced processes. This is a particularly challenging task for the vast Australian coastline, however, it is also this vastness that demands attention in the face of ocean acidification (OA). Australian coastal waters have high biodiversity and endemism, and are home to large areas of coral reef, including the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef system in the world. Ocean acidification threatens calcifying marine organisms by hindering calcification rates, threatening the structural integrity of coral reefs and other ecosystems. Tracking the progression of OA in different coastal regions requires accurate knowledge of the variability in TA. Thus, estimation methods that can capture this variability at synoptic scales are needed. Multiple linear regression is a promising approach in this regard. Here, we compare a range of both simple and multiple linear regression models to the estimation of coastal TA from a range of variables, including salinity, temperature, chlorophyll-a concentration and nitrate concentration. We find that regionally parameterised models capture local variability better than more general coastal or open ocean parameterised models. The strongest contribution to model improvement came through incorporating temperature as an input variable as well as salinity. Further improvements were achieved through the incorporation of either nitrate or chlorophyll-a, with the combination of temperature, salinity, and nitrate constituting the minimum model in most cases. These results provide an approach that can be applied to satellite Earth observation and autonomous in situ platforms to improve synoptic scale estimation of TA in coastal waters.

Estimating total alkalinity for coastal ocean acidification monitoring at regional to continental scales in Australian coastal waters

KAUST Repository

Baldry, Kimberlee

2017-06-01

Owing to a lack of resources, tools, and knowledge, the natural variability and distribution of Total Alkalinity (TA) has been poorly characterised in coastal waters globally, yet variability is known to be high in coastal regions due to the complex interactions of oceanographic, biotic, and terrestrially-influenced processes. This is a particularly challenging task for the vast Australian coastline, however, it is also this vastness that demands attention in the face of ocean acidification (OA). Australian coastal waters have high biodiversity and endemism, and are home to large areas of coral reef, including the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef system in the world. Ocean acidification threatens calcifying marine organisms by hindering calcification rates, threatening the structural integrity of coral reefs and other ecosystems. Tracking the progression of OA in different coastal regions requires accurate knowledge of the variability in TA. Thus, estimation methods that can capture this variability at synoptic scales are needed. Multiple linear regression is a promising approach in this regard. Here, we compare a range of both simple and multiple linear regression models to the estimation of coastal TA from a range of variables, including salinity, temperature, chlorophyll-a concentration and nitrate concentration. We find that regionally parameterised models capture local variability better than more general coastal or open ocean parameterised models. The strongest contribution to model improvement came through incorporating temperature as an input variable as well as salinity. Further improvements were achieved through the incorporation of either nitrate or chlorophyll-a, with the combination of temperature, salinity, and nitrate constituting the minimum model in most cases. These results provide an approach that can be applied to satellite Earth observation and autonomous in situ platforms to improve synoptic scale estimation of TA in coastal waters.

Chaotic advection in the ocean

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koshel' , Konstantin V; Prants, Sergei V [V.I. Il' ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute, Far-Eastern Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok (Russian Federation)

2006-11-30

The problem of chaotic advection of passive scalars in the ocean and its topological, dynamical, and fractal properties are considered from the standpoint of the theory of dynamical systems. Analytic and numerical results on Lagrangian transport and mixing in kinematic and dynamic chaotic advection models are described for meandering jet currents, topographical eddies in a barotropic ocean, and a two-layer baroclinic ocean. Laboratory experiments on hydrodynamic flows in rotating tanks as an imitation of geophysical chaotic advection are described. Perspectives of a dynamical system approach in physical oceanography are discussed. (reviews of topical problems)

Towards a regional coastal ocean observing system: An initial design for the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association

Science.gov (United States)

Seim, H. E.; Fletcher, M.; Mooers, C. N. K.; Nelson, J. R.; Weisberg, R. H.

2009-05-01

A conceptual design for a southeast United States regional coastal ocean observing system (RCOOS) is built upon a partnership between institutions of the region and among elements of the academic, government and private sectors. This design envisions support of a broad range of applications (e.g., marine operations, natural hazards, and ecosystem-based management) through the routine operation of predictive models that utilize the system observations to ensure their validity. A distributed information management system enables information flow, and a centralized information hub serves to aggregate information regionally and distribute it as needed. A variety of observing assets are needed to satisfy model requirements. An initial distribution of assets is proposed that recognizes the physical structure and forcing in the southeast U.S. coastal ocean. In-situ data collection includes moorings, profilers and gliders to provide 3D, time-dependent sampling, HF radar and surface drifters for synoptic sampling of surface currents, and satellite remote sensing of surface ocean properties. Nested model systems are required to properly represent ocean conditions from the outer edge of the EEZ to the watersheds. An effective RCOOS will depend upon a vital "National Backbone" (federally supported) system of in situ and satellite observations, model products, and data management. This dependence highlights the needs for a clear definition of the National Backbone components and a Concept of Operations (CONOPS) that defines the roles, functions and interactions of regional and federal components of the integrated system. A preliminary CONOPS is offered for the Southeast (SE) RCOOS. Thorough system testing is advocated using a combination of application-specific and process-oriented experiments. Estimates of costs and personnel required as initial components of the SE RCOOS are included. Initial thoughts on the Research and Development program required to support the RCOOS are

The M33 Synoptic Stellar Survey. II. Mira Variables

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yuan, Wenlong; Macri, Lucas M. [George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843 (United States); He, Shiyuan; Long, James; Huang, Jianhua Z., E-mail: lmacri@tamu.edu [Department of Statistics, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843 (United States)

2017-04-01

We present the discovery of 1847 Mira candidates in the Local Group galaxy M33 using a novel semi-parametric periodogram technique coupled with a random forest classifier. The algorithms were applied to ∼2.4 × 10{sup 5} I -band light curves previously obtained by the M33 Synoptic Stellar Survey. We derive preliminary period–luminosity relations at optical, near-infrared, and mid-infrared wavelengths and compare them to the corresponding relations in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Ejecta from Ocean Impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Kyte, Frank T.

2003-01-01

Numerical simulations of deep-ocean impact provide some limits on the size of a projectile that will not mix with the ocean floor during a deep-ocean impact. For a vertical impact at asteroidal velocities (approx. 20 km/s), mixing is only likely when the projectile diameter is greater than 112 of the water depth. For oblique impacts, even larger projectiles will not mix with ocean floor silicates. Given the typical water depths of 4 to 5 km in deep-ocean basins, asteroidal projectiles with diameters as large as 2 or 3 km may commonly produce silicate ejecta that is composed only of meteoritic materials and seawater salts. However, the compressed water column beneath the projectile can still disrupt and shock metamorphose the ocean floor. Therefore, production of a separate, terrestrial ejecta component is not ruled out in the most extreme case. With increasing projectile size (or energy) relative to water depths, there must be a gradation between oceanic impacts and more conventional continental impacts. Given that 60% of the Earth's surface is covered by oceanic lithosphere and 500 m projectiles impact the Earth on 10(exp 5) y timescales, there must be hundreds of oceanic impact deposits in the sediment record awaiting discovery.

The importance of time-stepping errors in ocean models

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, P. D.

2011-12-01

Many ocean models use leapfrog time stepping. The Robert-Asselin (RA) filter is usually applied after each leapfrog step, to control the computational mode. However, it will be shown in this presentation that the RA filter generates very large amounts of numerical diapycnal mixing. In some ocean models, the numerical diapycnal mixing from the RA filter is as large as the physical diapycnal mixing. This lowers our confidence in the fidelity of the simulations. In addition to the above problem, the RA filter also damps the physical solution and degrades the numerical accuracy. These two concomitant problems occur because the RA filter does not conserve the mean state, averaged over the three time slices on which it operates. The presenter has recently proposed a simple modification to the RA filter, which does conserve the three-time-level mean state. The modified filter has become known as the Robert-Asselin-Williams (RAW) filter. When used in conjunction with the leapfrog scheme, the RAW filter eliminates the numerical damping of the physical solution and increases the amplitude accuracy by two orders, yielding third-order accuracy. The phase accuracy is unaffected and remains second-order. The RAW filter can easily be incorporated into existing models of the ocean, typically via the insertion of just a single line of code. Better simulations are obtained, at almost no additional computational expense. Results will be shown from recent implementations of the RAW filter in various ocean models. For example, in the UK Met Office Hadley Centre ocean model, sea-surface temperature and sea-ice biases in the North Atlantic Ocean are found to be reduced. These improvements are encouraging for the use of the RAW filter in other ocean models.

Seasonal Variability of Salt Transports in the Northern Indian Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

D'Addezio, J. M.; Bulusu, S.

2016-02-01

Due to limited observational data in the Indian Ocean compared to other regions of the global ocean, past work on the Northern Indian Ocean (NIO) has relied heavily upon model analysis to study the variability of regional salinity advection caused by the monsoon seasons. With the launch of the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite in 2009 and the Aquarius SAC-D mission in 2011 (ended on June 7, 2011), remotely sensed, synoptic scale sea surface salinity (SSS) data is now readily available to study this dynamic region. The new observational data has allowed us to revisit the region to analyze seasonal variability of salinity advection in the NIO using several modeled products, the Aquarius and SMOS satellites, and Argo floats data. The model simulations include the Consortium for Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO2), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts - Ocean Reanalysis System 4 (ECMWF-ORSA4), Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) Reanalysis, and HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM). Our analyses of salinity at the surface and at depths up to 200 m, surface salt transport in the top 5 m layer, and depth-integrated salt transports revealed different salinity processes in the NIO that are dominantly related to the semi-annual monsoons. Aquarius and SMOS prove useful tools for observing this dynamic region, and reveal some aspects of SSS that Argo cannot resolve. Meridional depth-integrated salt transports using the modeled products along 6°N revealed dominant advective processes from the surface towards near-bottom depths. Finally, a difference in subsurface salinity stratification causes many of the modeled products to incorrectly estimate the magnitude and seasonality of NIO barrier layer thickness (BLT) when compared to the Argo solution. This problem is also evident in model output from the Seychelles-Chagos Thermocline Ridge (SCTR), a region with strong air-sea teleconnections with the Arabian Sea.

The inverse problem: Ocean tides derived from earth tide observations

Science.gov (United States)

Kuo, J. T.

1978-01-01

Indirect mapping ocean tides by means of land and island-based tidal gravity measurements is presented. The inverse scheme of linear programming is used for indirect mapping of ocean tides. Open ocean tides were measured by the numerical integration of Laplace's tidal equations.

Wind Forcing of the Pacific Ocean Using Scatterometer Wind Data

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Kathryn A.

1999-01-01

The long-term objective of this research was an understanding of the wind-forced ocean circulation, particularly for the Pacific Ocean. To determine the ocean's response to the winds, we first needed to generate accurate maps of wind stress. For the ocean's response to wind stress we examined the sea surface height (SSH) both from altimeters and from numerical models for the Pacific Ocean.

Experiment S-5: Synoptic Terrain Photography

Science.gov (United States)

Lowman, Paul D., Jr.

1966-01-01

The Synoptic Terrain Photography Experiment (S-5) was successfully conducted during the Gemini V mission, the second of the Gemini flights on which it was carried. This report summarizes briefly the methods and results of the experiment. Interpretation of the many excellent pictures obtained is in progress, and a full report is not possible at this time; instead, representative pictures will be presented and described. The purpose of the experiment was to obtain a large number of high-quality color photographs of selected land areas from geologic and geographic study. Southern Mexico, eastern Africa, and Australia were given high priority, but it was stressed that good pictures of any cloud-free land area would be useful. The same camera (Hasselblad 500 C) and film (Ektachrome MS) used on the Gemini III and IV missions were carried on the Gemini V flight.

Satellite based Ocean Forecasting, the SOFT project

Science.gov (United States)

Stemmann, L.; Tintoré, J.; Moneris, S.

2003-04-01

The knowledge of future oceanic conditions would have enormous impact on human marine related areas. For such reasons, a number of international efforts are being carried out to obtain reliable and manageable ocean forecasting systems. Among the possible techniques that can be used to estimate the near future states of the ocean, an ocean forecasting system based on satellite imagery is developped through the Satelitte based Ocean ForecasTing project (SOFT). SOFT, established by the European Commission, considers the development of a forecasting system of the ocean space-time variability based on satellite data by using Artificial Intelligence techniques. This system will be merged with numerical simulation approaches, via assimilation techniques, to get a hybrid SOFT-numerical forecasting system of improved performance. The results of the project will provide efficient forecasting of sea-surface temperature structures, currents, dynamic height, and biological activity associated to chlorophyll fields. All these quantities could give valuable information on the planning and management of human activities in marine environments such as navigation, fisheries, pollution control, or coastal management. A detailed identification of present or new needs and potential end-users concerned by such an operational tool is being performed. The project would study solutions adapted to these specific needs.

Combining dispersion modelling with synoptic patterns to understand the wind-borne transport into the UK of the bluetongue disease vector.

Science.gov (United States)

Burgin, Laura; Ekström, Marie; Dessai, Suraje

2017-07-01

Bluetongue, an economically important animal disease, can be spread over long distances by carriage of insect vectors (Culicoides biting midges) on the wind. The weather conditions which influence the midge's flight are controlled by synoptic scale atmospheric circulations. A method is proposed that links wind-borne dispersion of the insects to synoptic circulation through the use of a dispersion model in combination with principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. We illustrate how to identify the main synoptic situations present during times of midge incursions into the UK from the European continent. A PCA was conducted on high-pass-filtered mean sea-level pressure data for a domain centred over north-west Europe from 2005 to 2007. A clustering algorithm applied to the PCA scores indicated the data should be divided into five classes for which averages were calculated, providing a classification of the main synoptic types present. Midge incursion events were found to mainly occur in two synoptic categories; 64.8% were associated with a pattern displaying a pressure gradient over the North Atlantic leading to moderate south-westerly flow over the UK and 17.9% of the events occurred when high pressure dominated the region leading to south-easterly or easterly winds. The winds indicated by the pressure maps generally compared well against observations from a surface station and analysis charts. This technique could be used to assess frequency and timings of incursions of virus into new areas on seasonal and decadal timescales, currently not possible with other dispersion or biological modelling methods.

Shearwater foraging in the Southern Ocean: the roles of prey availability and winds.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ben Raymond

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Sooty (Puffinus griseus and short-tailed (P. tenuirostris shearwaters are abundant seabirds that range widely across global oceans. Understanding the foraging ecology of these species in the Southern Ocean is important for monitoring and ecosystem conservation and management. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Tracking data from sooty and short-tailed shearwaters from three regions of New Zealand and Australia were combined with at-sea observations of shearwaters in the Southern Ocean, physical oceanography, near-surface copepod distributions, pelagic trawl data, and synoptic near-surface winds. Shearwaters from all three regions foraged in the Polar Front zone, and showed particular overlap in the region around 140 degrees E. Short-tailed shearwaters from South Australia also foraged in Antarctic waters south of the Polar Front. The spatial distribution of shearwater foraging effort in the Polar Front zone was matched by patterns in large-scale upwelling, primary production, and abundances of copepods and myctophid fish. Oceanic winds were found to be broad determinants of foraging distribution, and of the flight paths taken by the birds on long foraging trips to Antarctic waters. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The shearwaters displayed foraging site fidelity and overlap of foraging habitat between species and populations that may enhance their utility as indicators of Southern Ocean ecosystems. The results highlight the importance of upwellings due to interactions of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current with large-scale bottom topography, and the corresponding localised increases in the productivity of the Polar Front ecosystem.

Stochastic Ocean Predictions with Dynamically-Orthogonal Primitive Equations

Science.gov (United States)

Subramani, D. N.; Haley, P., Jr.; Lermusiaux, P. F. J.

2017-12-01

The coastal ocean is a prime example of multiscale nonlinear fluid dynamics. Ocean fields in such regions are complex and intermittent with unstationary heterogeneous statistics. Due to the limited measurements, there are multiple sources of uncertainties, including the initial conditions, boundary conditions, forcing, parameters, and even the model parameterizations and equations themselves. For efficient and rigorous quantification and prediction of these uncertainities, the stochastic Dynamically Orthogonal (DO) PDEs for a primitive equation ocean modeling system with a nonlinear free-surface are derived and numerical schemes for their space-time integration are obtained. Detailed numerical studies with idealized-to-realistic regional ocean dynamics are completed. These include consistency checks for the numerical schemes and comparisons with ensemble realizations. As an illustrative example, we simulate the 4-d multiscale uncertainty in the Middle Atlantic/New York Bight region during the months of Jan to Mar 2017. To provide intitial conditions for the uncertainty subspace, uncertainties in the region were objectively analyzed using historical data. The DO primitive equations were subsequently integrated in space and time. The probability distribution function (pdf) of the ocean fields is compared to in-situ, remote sensing, and opportunity data collected during the coincident POSYDON experiment. Results show that our probabilistic predictions had skill and are 3- to 4- orders of magnitude faster than classic ensemble schemes.

Biotic and human vulnerability to projected changes in ocean biogeochemistry over the 21st century.

Science.gov (United States)

Mora, Camilo; Wei, Chih-Lin; Rollo, Audrey; Amaro, Teresa; Baco, Amy R; Billett, David; Bopp, Laurent; Chen, Qi; Collier, Mark; Danovaro, Roberto; Gooday, Andrew J; Grupe, Benjamin M; Halloran, Paul R; Ingels, Jeroen; Jones, Daniel O B; Levin, Lisa A; Nakano, Hideyuki; Norling, Karl; Ramirez-Llodra, Eva; Rex, Michael; Ruhl, Henry A; Smith, Craig R; Sweetman, Andrew K; Thurber, Andrew R; Tjiputra, Jerry F; Usseglio, Paolo; Watling, Les; Wu, Tongwen; Yasuhara, Moriaki

2013-10-01

Ongoing greenhouse gas emissions can modify climate processes and induce shifts in ocean temperature, pH, oxygen concentration, and productivity, which in turn could alter biological and social systems. Here, we provide a synoptic global assessment of the simultaneous changes in future ocean biogeochemical variables over marine biota and their broader implications for people. We analyzed modern Earth System Models forced by greenhouse gas concentration pathways until 2100 and showed that the entire world's ocean surface will be simultaneously impacted by varying intensities of ocean warming, acidification, oxygen depletion, or shortfalls in productivity. In contrast, only a small fraction of the world's ocean surface, mostly in polar regions, will experience increased oxygenation and productivity, while almost nowhere will there be ocean cooling or pH elevation. We compiled the global distribution of 32 marine habitats and biodiversity hotspots and found that they would all experience simultaneous exposure to changes in multiple biogeochemical variables. This superposition highlights the high risk for synergistic ecosystem responses, the suite of physiological adaptations needed to cope with future climate change, and the potential for reorganization of global biodiversity patterns. If co-occurring biogeochemical changes influence the delivery of ocean goods and services, then they could also have a considerable effect on human welfare. Approximately 470 to 870 million of the poorest people in the world rely heavily on the ocean for food, jobs, and revenues and live in countries that will be most affected by simultaneous changes in ocean biogeochemistry. These results highlight the high risk of degradation of marine ecosystems and associated human hardship expected in a future following current trends in anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

Biotic and human vulnerability to projected changes in ocean biogeochemistry over the 21st century.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Camilo Mora

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Ongoing greenhouse gas emissions can modify climate processes and induce shifts in ocean temperature, pH, oxygen concentration, and productivity, which in turn could alter biological and social systems. Here, we provide a synoptic global assessment of the simultaneous changes in future ocean biogeochemical variables over marine biota and their broader implications for people. We analyzed modern Earth System Models forced by greenhouse gas concentration pathways until 2100 and showed that the entire world's ocean surface will be simultaneously impacted by varying intensities of ocean warming, acidification, oxygen depletion, or shortfalls in productivity. In contrast, only a small fraction of the world's ocean surface, mostly in polar regions, will experience increased oxygenation and productivity, while almost nowhere will there be ocean cooling or pH elevation. We compiled the global distribution of 32 marine habitats and biodiversity hotspots and found that they would all experience simultaneous exposure to changes in multiple biogeochemical variables. This superposition highlights the high risk for synergistic ecosystem responses, the suite of physiological adaptations needed to cope with future climate change, and the potential for reorganization of global biodiversity patterns. If co-occurring biogeochemical changes influence the delivery of ocean goods and services, then they could also have a considerable effect on human welfare. Approximately 470 to 870 million of the poorest people in the world rely heavily on the ocean for food, jobs, and revenues and live in countries that will be most affected by simultaneous changes in ocean biogeochemistry. These results highlight the high risk of degradation of marine ecosystems and associated human hardship expected in a future following current trends in anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

A synoptic decomposition of rainfall over the Cape south coast of South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Engelbrecht, CJ

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Reviewers: Alice Favre afavre@csag.uct.ac.za Expert in cut-off lows occurring over South Africa Chris Reason chris.reason@uct.ac.za Expert in southern Africa climate variability Michael Pook mike.pook@csiro.au Expert in developing synoptic climatology...

Automated Identification of Coronal Holes from Synoptic EUV Maps

Science.gov (United States)

Hamada, Amr; Asikainen, Timo; Virtanen, Ilpo; Mursula, Kalevi

2018-04-01

Coronal holes (CHs) are regions of open magnetic field lines in the solar corona and the source of the fast solar wind. Understanding the evolution of coronal holes is critical for solar magnetism as well as for accurate space weather forecasts. We study the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) synoptic maps at three wavelengths (195 Å/193 Å, 171 Å and 304 Å) measured by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SOHO/EIT) and the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SDO/AIA) instruments. The two datasets are first homogenized by scaling the SDO/AIA data to the SOHO/EIT level by means of histogram equalization. We then develop a novel automated method to identify CHs from these homogenized maps by determining the intensity threshold of CH regions separately for each synoptic map. This is done by identifying the best location and size of an image segment, which optimally contains portions of coronal holes and the surrounding quiet Sun allowing us to detect the momentary intensity threshold. Our method is thus able to adjust itself to the changing scale size of coronal holes and to temporally varying intensities. To make full use of the information in the three wavelengths we construct a composite CH distribution, which is more robust than distributions based on one wavelength. Using the composite CH dataset we discuss the temporal evolution of CHs during the Solar Cycles 23 and 24.

MODELING OF MOVING DEFORMABLE CONTINENTS BY ACTIVE TRACERS: CLOSING AND OPENING OF OCEANS, RECIRCULATION OF OCEANIC CRUST

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. V. Bobrov

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The evolution of the ‘mantle – moving deformable continents’ system has been studied by numerical experiments. The continents move self-consistently with the mantle flows of thermo-compositional convection. Our model (two-dimensional mantle convection, non-Newtonian rheology, the presence of deformable continents demonstrates the main features of global geodynamics: convergence and divergence of continents; appearance and disappearance of subduction zones; backrolling of subduction zones; restructuring of mantle flows; stretching, breakup and divergence of continents; opening and closing of oceans; oceanic crust recirculation in the mantle, and overriding of hot mantle plumes by continents. In our study, the continental crust is modeled by active markers which transfer additional viscosity and buoyancy, while the continental lithosphere is marked only by increased viscosity with neutral buoyancy. The oceanic crust, in its turn, is modeled by active markers that have only an additional buoyancy. The principal result of our modeling is a consistency between the numerical calculations and the bimodal dynamics of the real Earth: the oceanic crust, despite its positive buoyancy near the surface, submerges in subduction zones and sinks deep into the mantle. (Some part of the oceanic crust remains attached to the continental margins for a long time. In contrast to the oceanic crust, the continental crust does not sink in subduction zones. The continental lithosphere, despite its neutral buoyancy, also remains on the surface due to its viscosity and coupling with the continental crust. It should be noted that when a continent overrides a subduction zone, the subduction zone disappears, and the flows in the mantle are locally reorganized. The effect of basalt-eclogite transition in the oceanic crust on the mantle flow pattern and on the motion of continents has been studied. Our numerical experiments show that the inclusion of this effect in the

Synoptic sampling and principal components analysis to identify sources of water and metals to an acid mine drainage stream

OpenAIRE

Byrne, Patrick; Runkel, Robert L.; Walton-Day, Katherine

2017-01-01

Combining the synoptic mass balance approach with principal components analysis (PCA) can be an effective method for discretising the chemistry of inflows and source areas in watersheds where contamination is diffuse in nature and/or complicated by groundwater interactions. This paper presents a field-scale study in which synoptic sampling and PCA are employed in a mineralized watershed (Lion Creek, Colorado, USA) under low flow conditions to (i) quantify the impacts of mining activity on str...

Influence of synoptic condition and holiday effects on VOCs and ozone production in the Yangtze River Delta region, China

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Zhengning; Huang, Xin; Nie, Wei; Chi, Xuguang; Xu, Zheng; Zheng, Longfei; Sun, Peng; Ding, Aijun

2017-11-01

Both anthropogenic emission and synoptic conditions play important roles in ozone (O3) formation and accumulation. In order to understand the influence of synoptic condition and holiday effects on ozone production in the Yangtze River Delta region, China, concentrations of speciated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and O3 as well as other relevant trace gases were simultaneously measured at the Station for Observing Regional Processes of the Earth System (SORPES) in Nanjing around the National Day holidays of China in 2014, which featured substantial change of emissions and dominated by typical anti-cyclones. Different groups of VOC species and their chemical reactivities were comprehensively analyzed. We observed clear diurnal variations of short alkenes during the measurement period, considerable amount of short alkenes were observed during night (more than 10 ppb) while almost no alkenes were measured during daytime, which might be attributed to different chemical processes. The obvious enhancement of the VOC tracers during the National Day holidays (Oct. 1st-Oct. 7th) indicated that the holiday effect strongly influenced the distribution of VOC profile and chemical reactivity in the atmosphere. At the same time, two meso-scale anticyclone processes were also observed during the measurement period. The synoptic condition contributed to the accumulation of VOCs and other precursors, which consequently impacted the ozone production in this region. The integrated influence of synoptic and holiday effects was also analyzed with an Observation Based Model (OBM) based on simplified MCM (Master Chemical Mechanism) chemical mechanism. The calculated relative increment reactivity (RIR) of different VOC groups revealed that during the holidays, this region was in VOC-limited regime and the variation of RIR shows a close linkage to the development and elimination of anti-cyclones, indicating an in-negligible contribution of synoptic effect toward ozone production in this

On anisotropy and internal pressure errors in numerical ocean models and processes near the shelf edge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thiem, Oeyvind A.

2004-12-01

In this thesis the focus has been on anisotropy, internal pressure errors and shelf edge/slope processes. Anisotropy is a common problem in ocean models. Especially where a rectangular grid is used to discretize the horizontal. Selecting a horizontal grid, which reduces the anisotropy, will therefore probably be important when new ocean models are being developed. Hexagonal grid discretization in the horizontal has the desired property of reducing anisotropy, and therefore this grid should be considered as a reasonable choice for new ocean models. In sigma coordinate models internal pressure errors occur in areas with steep topography. In the second paper in this thesis, it is shown that the internal pressure errors depend on the grid orientation. It is further shown that the erroneous velocities in the sea mount test case of Beckmann and Haidvogel (1993) can be reduced significantly by first computing the internal pressure gradients in both the original and a coordinate system where the axis are rotated 45 degrees to the original. Then a normalized weighted linear combination of the two estimates is used as the internal pressure gradients in the simulation. A following up paper where this method is used on a real ocean should be performed to investigate how well this method performs in domains with irregular topography. In such an experiment the boundary should be closed and the initial velocities set to zero. The occurring currents should then be compared with a corresponding experiment, where the initial pressure gradients are computed in the original grid only. In the third and fourth paper the focus is on the use of BOM in along shelf barotropic flow. First the generation of eddies is investigated. This is done in the third paper and two simulations are performed. The first simulation is a barotropic simulation, and the second is a two layer simulation. The results from both simulations show development of eddies, but the strength of the eddies depend on the

The Impacts of Daily Surface Forcing in the Upper Ocean over Tropical Pacific: A Numerical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Sui, C.-H.; Rienecker, Michele M.; Li, Xiaofan; Lau, William K.-M.; Laszlo, Istvan; Pinker, Rachel T.

2001-01-01

Tropical Pacific Ocean is an important region that affects global climate. How the ocean responds to the atmospheric surface forcing (surface radiative, heat and momentum fluxes) is a major topic in oceanographic research community. The ocean becomes warm when more heat flux puts into the ocean. The monthly mean forcing has been used in the past years since daily forcing was unavailable due to the lack of observations. The daily forcing is now available from the satellite measurements. This study investigates the response of the upper ocean over tropical Pacific to the daily atmospheric surface forcing. The ocean surface heat budgets are calculated to determine the important processes for the oceanic response. The differences of oceanic responses between the eastern and western Pacific are intensively discussed.

Ocean Wave Simulation Based on Wind Field.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhongyi Li

Full Text Available Ocean wave simulation has a wide range of applications in movies, video games and training systems. Wind force is the main energy resource for generating ocean waves, which are the result of the interaction between wind and the ocean surface. While numerous methods to handle simulating oceans and other fluid phenomena have undergone rapid development during the past years in the field of computer graphic, few of them consider to construct ocean surface height field from the perspective of wind force driving ocean waves. We introduce wind force to the construction of the ocean surface height field through applying wind field data and wind-driven wave particles. Continual and realistic ocean waves result from the overlap of wind-driven wave particles, and a strategy was proposed to control these discrete wave particles and simulate an endless ocean surface. The results showed that the new method is capable of obtaining a realistic ocean scene under the influence of wind fields at real time rates.

Numerical simulations of the stratified oceanic bottom boundary layer

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, John R.

Numerical simulations are used to consider several problems relevant to the turbulent oceanic bottom boundary layer. In the first study, stratified open channel flow is considered with thermal boundary conditions chosen to approximate a shallow sea. Specifically, a constant heat flux is applied at the free surface and the lower wall is assumed to be adiabatic. When the surface heat flux is strong, turbulent upwellings of low speed fluid from near the lower wall are inhibited by the stable stratification. Subsequent studies consider a stratified bottom Ekman layer over a non-sloping lower wall. The influence of the free surface is removed by using an open boundary condition at the top of the computational domain. Particular attention is paid to the influence of the outer layer stratification on the boundary layer structure. When the density field is initialized with a linear profile, a turbulent mixed layer forms near the wall, which is separated from the outer layer by a strongly stable pycnocline. It is found that the bottom stress is not strongly affected by the outer layer stratification. However, stratification reduces turbulent transport to the outer layer and strongly limits the boundary layer height. The mean shear at the top of the boundary layer is enhanced when the outer layer is stratified, and this shear is strong enough to cause intermittent instabilities above the pycnocline. Turbulence-generated internal gravity waves are observed in the outer layer with a relatively narrow frequency range. An explanation for frequency content of these waves is proposed, starting with an observed broad-banded turbulent spectrum and invoking linear viscous decay to explain the preferential damping of low and high frequency waves. During the course of this work, an open-source computational fluid dynamics code has been developed with a number of advanced features including scalar advection, subgrid-scale models for large-eddy simulation, and distributed memory

Variants of synoptic-scale patterns inducing heavy rains in the Czech Republic

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kašpar, Marek; Müller, Miloslav

2010-01-01

Roč. 35, 9-12 (2010), s. 477-483 ISSN 1474-7065 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR KJB300420701; GA AV ČR KJB300420802 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30420517 Keywords : Widespread heavy rain * synoptic-scale pattern * moisture flux * classification Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 0.917, year: 2010

SYNOPTIC ASSESSMENT OF WETLAND FUNCTION: A PLANNING TOOL FOR PROTECTION OF WETLAND SPECIES DIVERSITY

Science.gov (United States)

We present a synoptic assessment intended to maximize the benefits to wetland species biodiversity gained through Clean Water Act regulatory efforts within 225 sub-basins in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7), USA. Our assessment...

Inverse problem of Ocean Acoustic Tomography (OAT) - A numerical experiment

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Murty, T.V.R.; Somayajulu, Y.K.; Mahadevan, R.; Murty, C.S.

Acoustic model simulation experiments related to the forward and inverse aspects of ocean tomography have been taken up with a view to estimate the vertical sound speed field by inverting the travel time data. Two methods of inversion have been...

Aspects of extratropical synoptic-scale processes in opposing ENSO phases

Science.gov (United States)

Schwierz, C.; Wernli, H.; Hess, D.

2003-04-01

Energy and momentum provided by anomalous tropical heating/cooling affect the circulation on the global scale. Pacific Sea surface temperature anomalies strongly force local conditions in the equatorial Pacific, but are also known to change the climate in the extratropics, particularly over the American continent. The impact on more remote areas such as the Atlantic-European region is less clear. There the observed effects in both analyses and model studies show dependence on the resolution of the model/data, as well as on the time scales under consideration (Merkel and Latif, 2002; Compo et al., 2001). Most of the previous studies focus on larger-scale processes and seasonal time scales (or longer). Here we concentrate on the impact of opposing ENSO phases on extratropical synoptic-scale dynamics. The investigation is undertaken for the Niño/Niña events of 1972/3 and 1973/4 respectively, for 5 winter months (NDJFM) using ECMWF ERA40 data with 1o× 1o horizontal resolution and 60 vertical levels. The examination of the resulting differences in terms of standard dynamical fields (temperature, sea level pressure, precipitation, geopotential) is complemented with additional diagnostic fields (e.g. potential vorticity (PV), anti-/cyclone tracks and frequencies, PV streamers/cut-offs, blocking) in an attempt to gain more insight into aspects of extratropical synoptic-scale dynamical processes associated with ENSO SST anomalies.

Synoptic climatological analysis of persistent cold air pools over the Carpathian Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Szabóné André, Karolina; Bartholy, Judit; Pongrácz, Rita

2016-04-01

A persistent cold air pool (PCAP) is a winter-time, anticyclone-related weather event over a relatively large basin. During this time the air is colder near the surface than aloft. This inversion near the surface can last even for weeks. As the cold air cools down, relative humidity increases and fog forms. The entire life cycle of a PCAP depends on the large scale circulation pattern. PCAP usually appears when an anticyclone builds up after a cold front passed over the examined basin, and it is usually destructed by a coming strong cold front of another midlatitude cyclone. Moreover, the intensity of the anticyclone affects the intensity of the PCAP. PCAP may result in different hazards for the population: (1) Temperature inversion in the surface layers together with weak wind may lead to severe air pollution causing health problems for many people, especially, elderly and children. (2) The fog and/or smog during chilly weather conditions often results in freezing rain. Both fog and freezing rain can distract transportation and electricity supply. Unfortunately, the numerical weather prediction models have difficulties to predict PCAP formation and destruction. One of the reasons is that PCAP is not defined objectively with a simple formula, which could be easily applied to the numerical output data. However, according to some recommendations from the synoptic literature, the shallow convective potential energy (SCPE) can be used to mathematically describe PCAP. In this study, we used the ERA-Interim reanalysis datasets to examine this very specific weather event (i.e., PCAP) over the Carpathian Basin. The connection between the mean sea level pressure and some PCAP measures (e.g., SCPE, energy deficit, etc.) is evaluated. For instance, we used logistic regression to identify PCAP periods over the Carpathian Basin. Then, further statistical analysis includes the evaluation of the length and intensity of these PCAP periods.

Measuring Ocean Literacy: What teens understand about the ocean using the Survey of Ocean Literacy and Engagement (SOLE)

Science.gov (United States)

Greely, T. M.; Lodge, A.

2009-12-01

Ocean issues with conceptual ties to science and global society have captured the attention, imagination, and concern of an international audience. Climate change, over fishing, marine pollution, freshwater shortages and alternative energy sources are a few ocean issues highlighted in our media and casual conversations. The ocean plays a role in our life in some way everyday, however, disconnect exists between what scientists know and the public understands about the ocean as revealed by numerous ocean and coastal literacy surveys. While the public exhibits emotive responses through care, concern and connection with the ocean, there remains a critical need for a baseline of ocean knowledge. However, knowledge about the ocean must be balanced with understanding about how to apply ocean information to daily decisions and actions. The present study analyzed underlying factors and patterns contributing to ocean literacy and reasoning within the context of an ocean education program, the Oceanography Camp for Girls. The OCG is designed to advance ocean conceptual understanding and decision making by engagement in a series of experiential learning and stewardship activities from authentic research settings in the field and lab. The present study measured a) what understanding teens currently hold about the ocean (content), b) how teens feel toward the ocean environment (environmental attitudes and morality), and c) how understanding and feelings are organized when reasoning about ocean socioscientific issues (e.g. climate change, over fishing, energy). The Survey of Ocean Literacy and Engagement (SOLE), was used to measure teens understanding about the ocean. SOLE is a 57-item survey instrument aligned with the Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts of Ocean Literacy (NGS, 2007). Rasch analysis was used to refine and validate SOLE as a reasonable measure of ocean content knowledge (reliability, 0.91). Results revealed that content knowledge and environmental

Evaluation of the air quality at the two monitoring sities in Brno related to the synoptic situation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Svoboda

2005-01-01

Full Text Available The main objective of this work was to evaluate influnce of transportation on the air quality using IAQ (index of air quality. The data from one of the AIM station were evaluated. The trend in air quality development in years 1996–2003 was described. In days with adverse IAQ values the probable cause of the phenomenon was determined. It is obvious that adverse IAQ values were recorded during these synoptic situations: centre anticyklone, wedge of high pressure, weak pressure field and warm sector of front systém. The most frequent was the centre anticyklone synoptic situation which is typical (mainly during winter by air temperature inversion.

Thermal Coupling Between the Ocean and Mantle of Europa: Implications for Ocean Convection

Science.gov (United States)

Soderlund, Krista M.; Schmidt, Britney E.; Wicht, Johannes; Blankenship, Donald D.

2015-11-01

Magnetic induction signatures at Europa indicate the presence of a subsurface ocean beneath the cold icy crust. The underlying mantle is heated by radioactive decay and tidal dissipation, leading to a thermal contrast sufficient to drive convection and active dynamics within the ocean. Radiogenic heat sources may be distributed uniformly in the interior, while tidal heating varies spatially with a pattern that depends on whether eccentricity or obliquity tides are dominant. The distribution of mantle heat flow along the seafloor may therefore be heterogeneous and impact the regional vigor of ocean convection. Here, we use numerical simulations of thermal convection in a global, Europa-like ocean to test the sensitivity of ocean dynamics to variations in mantle heat flow patterns. Towards this end, three end-member cases are considered: an isothermal seafloor associated with dominant radiogenic heating, enhanced seafloor temperatures at high latitudes associated with eccentricity tides, and enhanced equatorial seafloor temperatures associated with obliquity tides. Our analyses will focus on convective heat transfer since the heat flux pattern along the ice-ocean interface can directly impact the ice shell and the potential for geologic activity within it.

Numerical studies on the interaction between atmosphere and ocean using different kinds of parallel computers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Soon-Hwan; Chino, Masamichi

2000-01-01

The coupling between atmosphere and ocean model has physical and computational difficulties for short-term forecasting of weather and ocean current. In this research, a combination system between high-resolution meso-scale atmospheric model and ocean model has been constructed using a new message-passing library, called Stampi (Seamless Thinking Aid Message Passing Interface), for prediction of particle dispersion at emergency nuclear accident. Stampi, which is based on the MPI (Message Passing Interface) 2 specification, makes us carry out parallel calculations of combination system without parallelization skill to model code. And it realizes dynamic process creation on different machines and communication between spawned one within the scope of MPI semantics. The models included in this combination system are PHYSIC as an atmosphere model, and POM (Princeton Ocean Model) as an ocean model. We applied this combination system to predict sea surface current at Sea of Japan in winter season. Simulation results indicate that the wind stress near the sea surface tends to be a predominant factor to determine surface ocean currents and dispersion of radioactive contamination in the ocean. The surface ocean current is well correspondent with wind direction, induced by high mountains at North Korea. The satellite data of NSCAT (NASA-SCATterometer), which is an image of sea surface current, also agrees well with the results of this system. (author)

Synoptic-climatological evaluation of the classifications of atmospheric circulation patterns over Europe

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Huth, Radan; Beck, Ch.; Kučerová, Monika

2016-01-01

Roč. 36, č. 7 (2016), s. 2710-2726 ISSN 0899-8418 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GPP209/12/P811; GA MŠk OC 115 Institutional support: RVO:68378289 Keywords : circulation types * classification * synoptic climatology * COST733 Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 3.760, year: 2016 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/joc.4546/full

Desert Dust Outbreaks over Mediterranean Basin: A Modeling, Observational, and Synoptic Analysis Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Calastrini

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Dust intrusions from African desert regions have an impact on the Mediterranean Basin (MB, as they cause an anomalous increase of aerosol concentrations in the tropospheric column and often an increase of particulate matter at the ground level. To estimate the Saharan dust contribution to PM10, a significant dust intrusion event that occurred in June 2006 is investigated, joining numerical simulations and specific measurements. As a first step, a synoptic analysis of this episode is performed. Such analysis, based only on meteorological and aerosol optical thickness observations, does not allow the assessment of exhaustive informations. In fact, it is not possible to distinguish dust outbreaks transported above the boundary layer without any impact at the ground level from those causing deposition. The approach proposed in this work applies an ad hoc model chain to describe emission, transport and deposition dynamics. Furthermore, physical and chemical analyses (PIXE analysis and ion chromatography were used to measure the concentration of all soil-related elements to quantify the contribution of dust particles to PM10. The comparison between simulation results and in-situ measurements show a satisfying agreement, and supports the effectiveness of the model chain to estimate the Saharan dust contribution at ground level.

From magma-poor Ocean Continent Transitions to steady state oceanic spreading: the balance between tectonic and magmatic processes

Science.gov (United States)

Gillard, Morgane; Manatschal, Gianreto; Autin, Julia; Decarlis, Alessandro; Sauter, Daniel

2016-04-01

The evolution of magma-poor rifted margins is linked to the development of a transition zone whose basement is neither clearly continental nor oceanic. The development of this Ocean-Continent Transition (OCT) is generally associated to the exhumation of serpentinized mantle along one or several detachment faults. That model is supported by numerous observations (IODP wells, dredges, fossil margins) and by numerical modelling. However, if the initiation of detachment faults in a magma-poor setting tends to be better understood by numerous studies in various area, the transition with the first steady state oceanic crust and the associated processes remain enigmatic and poorly studied. Indeed, this latest stage of evolution appears to be extremely gradual and involves strong interactions between tectonic processes and magmatism. Contrary to the proximal part of the exhumed domain where we can observe magmatic activity linked to the exhumation process (exhumation of gabbros, small amount of basalts above the exhumed mantle), in the most distal part the magmatic system appears to be independent and more active. In particular, we can observe large amounts of extrusive material above a previously exhumed and faulted basement (e.g. Alps, Australia-Antarctica margins). It seems that some faults can play the role of feeder systems for the magma in this area. Magmatic underplating is also important, as suggested by basement uplift and anomalously thick crust (e.g. East Indian margin). It results that the transition with the first steady state oceanic crust is marked by the presence of a hybrid basement, composed by exhumed mantle and magmatic material, whose formation is linked to several tectonic and magmatic events. One could argue that this basement is not clearly different from an oceanic basement. However, we consider that true, steady state oceanic crust only exists, if the entire rock association forming the crust is created during a single event, at a localized

SYNOPTIC ASSESSMENT OF WETLAND FUNCTION: A PLANNING TOOL FOR PROTECTION OF WETLAND SPECIES BIODIVERSITY

Science.gov (United States)

We present a synoptic assessment intended to maximize the benefits to wetland species biodiversity gained through Clean Water Act regulatory efforts within 225 sub-basins in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas (U.S. EPA, Region 7) USA. Our assessment provides a method for identif...

Are Hydrostatic Models Still Capable of Simulating Oceanic Fronts

Science.gov (United States)

2016-11-10

Hydrostatic Models Still Capable of Simulating Oceanic Fronts Yalin Fan Zhitao Yu Ocean Dynamics and Prediction Branch Oceanography Division FengYan Shi...OF PAGES 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT Are Hydrostatic Models Still Capable of Simulating Oceanic Fronts? Yalin Fan, Zhitao Yu, and, Fengyan Shi1 Naval...mixed layer and thermocline simulations as well as large scale circulations. Numerical experiments are conducted using hydrostatic (HY) and

Numerical simulation of vertical transport and oxidation of methane in Arctic Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Stepanenko, Victor; Iakovlev, Nikolai

2013-04-01

The high abundance of methane in shelf of East Siberian Arctic Seas (ESAS) has been a subject of a number of field studies (e.g. Shakhova et al., 2010). This experimental evidence provoked discussions on probable origins of that methane and possible feedbacks to modern climate change. For instance, the hypothesis of methane hydrates degradation under current ocean warming was tested recently in several modeling studies none of which supported this degradation to be significant feedback for climate change. Regardless the origin of methane the knowledge of its budget in the water column is important to link its bottom flux with emission to the atmosphere (and vice versa). It is frequently assumed that all methane released from a seabed of ESAS shelf reaches the atmosphere. When using ocean circulation models (Biastoch et al., 2011) this simplification is cancelled out but the vertical resolution of 3D models at the shelf (that is several tens meters deep) is not enough to accurately resolve turbulent transport of methane and other gases. Moreover, up the knowledge of authors none of the ocean models includes explicitly bubble transport of gases. These constrains motivate this study. In this study a high-resolution 1D single column ocean model is constructed to explicitly simulate the methane transport, oxidation and emission to the atmosphere. The model accounts for both vertical turbulent transport (using k-ɛ closure) and bubble transport of gases. The ground under the seabed is represented by multilayer heat and moisture transfer model, including methane hydrate evolution. It is forced by time series of atmospheric variables from NCEP reanalysis and horizontal advection terms taken from FEMAO-1 3D ocean model. The baseline simulation is performed for the period 1948-2011. The model is validated using temperature profiles measured at research vessels in ESAS. The annual cycle and multiyear variability of methane profiles in water are studied and compared to

Synoptic surveys of major reservoirs in South Carolina, 1988--1989

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bowers, J.A.

1992-03-01

Comprehensive synoptic surveys of ten South Carolina airs (L Lake, Savannah River Site (SRS), Par Pond, SRS, Pond B, SRS, Lake Moultrie, Lake Marion, Lake Murray, Lake Monticello, Lake Robinson, Lake Richard B. Russell, and Lake Greenwood) were performed to characterize and compare these basins with regard to water quality, trophic status, and community structure during September 1988 and September 1989. All of the reservoirs were mesoeutrophic to eutrophic having significantly greater productivity rates than oligotrophic ecosystems. This report presents and discusses the results of these surveys

Relation between the St. Louis urban precipitation anomaly and synoptic weather factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vogel, J.L.; Huff, F.A.

1978-01-01

The summer (June--August) rainfall distribution on the METROMEX network was analyzed to determine the synoptic conditions during which the urban-industrial regions of St. Louis affect the precipitation process. The rainfall patterns were stratified by direction of movement of convective entities in storm systems, surface wind direction, and basic synoptic weather types. The results provide support for enhancement of rainfall downstorm from the urban-industrial region. Although only 23% of the 330 storms moved from the west-southwest, the storms produced 42% of the network rainfall and were strong contributors to the rainfall anomaly that maximizes 25--30 km northeast of St. Louis. Cold front conditions with the major convective entities moving from the southwest, and squall lines with any storm motion were associated with the most intense rainstorms over the raingage network, and these storms were also largely responsible for the rainfall anomaly. The rainfall pattern based on air mass storms did not indicate any The rainfall pattern based on air mass storms did not indicate any significant urban enhancement of rainfall and study of squall zone storms suggested possible reduction of rainfall in the urban region

Ocean tides for satellite geodesy

Science.gov (United States)

Dickman, S. R.

1990-01-01

Spherical harmonic tidal solutions have been obtained at the frequencies of the 32 largest luni-solar tides using prior theory of the author. That theory was developed for turbulent, nonglobal, self-gravitating, and loading oceans possessing realistic bathymetry and linearized bottom friction; the oceans satisfy no-flow boundary conditions at coastlines. In this theory the eddy viscosity and bottom drag coefficients are treated as spatially uniform. Comparison of the predicted degree-2 components of the Mf, P1, and M2 tides with those from numerical and satellite-based tide models allows the ocean friction parameters to be estimated at long and short periods. Using the 32 tide solutions, the frequency dependence of tidal admittance is investigated, and the validity of sideband tide models used in satellite orbit analysis is examined. The implications of admittance variability for oceanic resonances are also explored.

Ray Tracing for Ocean Acoustic Tomography

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Dushaw, Brian

1998-01-01

.... The Numerical Recipes software package provided the basis for much of this computer code. The ray equations are reviewed, and ray equations that include the effects of ocean current are derived...

Southern Ocean carbon-wind stress feedback

Science.gov (United States)

Bronselaer, Ben; Zanna, Laure; Munday, David R.; Lowe, Jason

2018-02-01

The Southern Ocean is the largest sink of anthropogenic carbon in the present-day climate. Here, Southern Ocean pCO2 and its dependence on wind forcing are investigated using an equilibrium mixed layer carbon budget. This budget is used to derive an expression for Southern Ocean pCO2 sensitivity to wind stress. Southern Ocean pCO2 is found to vary as the square root of area-mean wind stress, arising from the dominance of vertical mixing over other processes such as lateral Ekman transport. The expression for pCO2 is validated using idealised coarse-resolution ocean numerical experiments. Additionally, we show that increased (decreased) stratification through surface warming reduces (increases) the sensitivity of the Southern Ocean pCO2 to wind stress. The scaling is then used to estimate the wind-stress induced changes of atmospheric pCO_2 in CMIP5 models using only a handful of parameters. The scaling is further used to model the anthropogenic carbon sink, showing a long-term reversal of the Southern Ocean sink for large wind stress strength.

North Pacific Mesoscale Coupled Air-Ocean Simulations Compared with Observations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koracin, Darko; Cerovecki, Ivana; Vellore, Ramesh; Mejia, John; Hatchett, Benjamin; McCord, Travis; McLean, Julie; Dorman, Clive

2013-04-11

Executive summary The main objective of the study was to investigate atmospheric and ocean interaction processes in the western Pacific and, in particular, effects of significant ocean heat loss in the Kuroshio and Kuroshio Extension regions on the lower and upper atmosphere. It is yet to be determined how significant are these processes are on climate scales. The understanding of these processes led us also to development of the methodology of coupling the Weather and Research Forecasting model with the Parallel Ocean Program model for western Pacific regional weather and climate simulations. We tested NCAR-developed research software Coupler 7 for coupling of the WRF and POP models and assessed its usability for regional-scale applications. We completed test simulations using the Coupler 7 framework, but implemented a standard WRF model code with options for both one- and two-way mode coupling. This type of coupling will allow us to seamlessly incorporate new WRF updates and versions in the future. We also performed a long-term WRF simulation (15 years) covering the entire North Pacific as well as high-resolution simulations of a case study which included extreme ocean heat losses in the Kuroshio and Kuroshio Extension regions. Since the extreme ocean heat loss occurs during winter cold air outbreaks (CAO), we simulated and analyzed a case study of a severe CAO event in January 2000 in detail. We found that the ocean heat loss induced by CAOs is amplified by additional advection from mesocyclones forming on the southern part of the Japan Sea. Large scale synoptic patterns with anomalously strong anticyclone over Siberia and Mongolia, deep Aleutian Low, and the Pacific subtropical ridge are a crucial setup for the CAO. It was found that the onset of the CAO is related to the breaking of atmospheric Rossby waves and vertical transport of vorticity that facilitates meridional advection. The study also indicates that intrinsic parameterization of the surface fluxes

Eddy-resolving 1/10° model of the World Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrayev, R. A.; Khabeev, R. N.; Ushakov, K. V.

2012-02-01

The first results on simulating the intra-annual variability of the World Ocean circulation by use of the eddy-resolving model are considered. For this purpose, a model of the World Ocean with a 1/10° horizontal resolution and 49 vertical levels was developed (a 1/10 × 1/10 × 49 model of the World Ocean). This model is based on the traditional system of three-dimensional equations of the large-scale dynamics of the ocean and boundary conditions with an explicit allowance for water fluxes on the free surface of the ocean. The equations are written in the tripolar coordinate system. The numerical method is based on the separation of the barotropic and baroclinic components of the solution. Discretization in time is implemented using explicit schemes allowing effective parallelization for a large number of processors. The model uses the sub-models of the boundary layer of the atmosphere and the submodel of sea-ice thermodynamics. The model of the World Ocean was developed at the Institute of Numerical Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (INM RAS) and the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanogy (IO RAS). The formulation of the problem of simulating the intra-annual variability of thermohydrodynamic processes of the World Ocean and the parameterizations that were used are considered. In the numerical experiment, the temporal evolution of the atmospheric effect is determined by the normal annual cycle according to the conditions of the international Coordinated Ocean-Ice Reference Experiment (CORE-I). The calculation was carried out on a multiprocessor computer with distributed memory; 1601 computational cores were used. The presented analysis demonstrates that the obtained results are quite satisfactory when compared to the results that were obtained by other eddy-resolving models of the global ocean. The analysis of the model solution is, to a larger extent, of a descriptive character. A detailed analysis of the results is to be presented in following works

Numerical experiment with modelled return echo of a satellite

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Abstract. We have simulated the return echo of a satellite altimeter from a rough ocean surface using an analytical formula and have studied its sensitivity with respect to various oceanic and altimeter parameters. Our numerical expcriment shows that for normally observed significant wave heights (SWFI) the effect of ...

Oceanic diffusion in the coastal area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rukuda, Masaaki

1980-03-01

Described in this paper is the eddy diffusion in the area off Tokai Village investigated by means of dye diffusion experiment and of oceanic observation. In order to assess the oceanic diffusion in coastal areas, improved methods effective in complex field were developed. The oceanic diffusion was separated in two groups, horizontal and vertical diffusion respectively. Both these diffusions are combined and their analysis together is difficult. The oceanic diffusion is thus considered separately. Instantaneous point release is the basis of horizontal diffusion analysis. Continuous release is then the overlap of numerous instantaneous releases. It was shown that the diffusion parameters derived from the results of diffusion experiment or oceanic observation vary widely with time and place and with sea conditions. A simple diffusion equation was developed from the equation of continuity. The results were in good agreement with seasonal mean horizontal distribution of river water in the sea area. The vertical observation in diffusion experiment is difficult and the vertical structure of oceanic condition is complex, so that the research on vertical diffusion generally is not advanced yet. With river water as the tracer, a method of estimating vertical diffusion parameters with a Gaussian model or one-dimensional model was developed. The vertical diffusion near sea bottom was numerically analized with suspended particles in seawater as the tracer. Diffusion was computed for each particle size, and by summing up the vertical distribution of beam attenuation coefficient was estimated. By comparing the results of estimation and those of observation the vertical diffusivity and the particle size distribution at sea bottom could be estimated. (author)

Oceanic Channel of the IOD-ENSO teleconnection over the Indo-Pacific Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Dongliang; Wang, Jing; Zhao, Xia; Zhou, Hui; Xu, Tengfei; Xu, Peng

2017-04-01

The lag correlations of observations and model simulated data that participate the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase-5 (CMIP5) are used to study the precursory teleconnection between the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and the Pacific ENSO one year later through the Indonesian seas. The results suggest that Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) play an important role in the IOD-ENSO teleconnection. Numerical simulations using a hierarchy of ocean models and climate coupled models have shown that the interannual sea level depressions in the southeastern Indian Ocean during IOD force enhanced ITF to transport warm water of the Pacific warm pool to the Indian Ocean, producing cold subsurface temperature anomalies, which propagate to the eastern equatorial Pacific and induce significant coupled ocean-atmosphere evolution. The teleconnection is found to have decadal variability. Similar decadal variability has also been identified in the historical simulations of the CMIP5 models. The dynamics of the inter-basin teleconnection during the positive phases of the decadal variability are diagnosed to be the interannual variations of the ITF associated with the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). During the negative phases, the thermocline in the eastern equatorial Pacific is anomalously deeper so that the sea surface temperature anomalies in the cold tongue are not sensitive to the thermocline depth changes. The IOD-ENSO teleconnection is found not affected significantly by the anthropogenic forcing.

Repeat synoptic sampling reveals drivers of change in carbon and nutrient chemistry of Arctic catchments

Science.gov (United States)

Zarnetske, J. P.; Abbott, B. W.; Bowden, W. B.; Iannucci, F.; Griffin, N.; Parker, S.; Pinay, G.; Aanderud, Z.

2017-12-01

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC), nutrients, and other solute concentrations are increasing in rivers across the Arctic. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain these trends: 1. distributed, top-down permafrost degradation, and 2. discrete, point-source delivery of DOC and nutrients from permafrost collapse features (thermokarst). While long-term monitoring at a single station cannot discriminate between these mechanisms, synoptic sampling of multiple points in the stream network could reveal the spatial structure of solute sources. In this context, we sampled carbon and nutrient chemistry three times over two years in 119 subcatchments of three distinct Arctic catchments (North Slope, Alaska). Subcatchments ranged from 0.1 to 80 km2, and included three distinct types of Arctic landscapes - mountainous, tundra, and glacial-lake catchments. We quantified the stability of spatial patterns in synoptic water chemistry and analyzed high-frequency time series from the catchment outlets across the thaw season to identify source areas for DOC, nutrients, and major ions. We found that variance in solute concentrations between subcatchments collapsed at spatial scales between 1 to 20 km2, indicating a continuum of diffuse- and point-source dynamics, depending on solute and catchment characteristics (e.g. reactivity, topography, vegetation, surficial geology). Spatially-distributed mass balance revealed conservative transport of DOC and nitrogen, and indicates there may be strong in-stream retention of phosphorus, providing a network-scale confirmation of previous reach-scale studies in these Arctic catchments. Overall, we present new approaches to analyzing synoptic data for change detection and quantification of ecohydrological mechanisms in ecosystems in the Arctic and beyond.

Statistical fluctuations of an ocean surface inferred from shoes and ships

Science.gov (United States)

Lerche, Ian; Maubeuge, Frédéric

1995-12-01

This paper shows that it is possible to roughly estimate some ocean properties using simple time-dependent statistical models of ocean fluctuations. Based on a real incident, the loss by a vessel of a Nike shoes container in the North Pacific Ocean, a statistical model was tested on data sets consisting of the Nike shoes found by beachcombers a few months later. This statistical treatment of the shoes' motion allows one to infer velocity trends of the Pacific Ocean, together with their fluctuation strengths. The idea is to suppose that there is a mean bulk flow speed that can depend on location on the ocean surface and time. The fluctuations of the surface flow speed are then treated as statistically random. The distribution of shoes is described in space and time using Markov probability processes related to the mean and fluctuating ocean properties. The aim of the exercise is to provide some of the properties of the Pacific Ocean that are otherwise calculated using a sophisticated numerical model, OSCURS, where numerous data are needed. Relevant quantities are sharply estimated, which can be useful to (1) constrain output results from OSCURS computations, and (2) elucidate the behavior patterns of ocean flow characteristics on long time scales.

Bifurcation analysis of 3D ocean flows using a parallel fully-implicit ocean model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Thies, J.; Wubs, F.W.; Dijkstra, H.A.

2009-01-01

To understand the physics and dynamics of the ocean circulation, techniques of numerical bifurcation theory such as continuation methods have proved to be useful. Up to now these techniques have been applied to models with relatively few degrees of freedom such as multi-layer quasi-geostrophic and

Bifurcation analysis of 3D ocean flows using a parallel fully-implicit ocean model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Thies, Jonas; Wubs, Fred; Dijkstra, Henk A.

2009-01-01

To understand the physics and dynamics of the ocean circulation, techniques of numerical bifurcation theory such as continuation methods have proved to be useful. Up to now these techniques have been applied to models with relatively few (O(10(5))) degrees of freedom such as multi-layer

Interannual Variations in the Synoptic-Scale Disturbances over the western North Pacific

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Xingyan; Lu, Riyu

2017-04-01

The present study investigates the interannual variation of synoptic disturbance activities over the western North Pacific (WNP) and its relationship with the large-scale circulation and tropical SST during June-November for the period 1958-2014. It is shown that the interannual variability of 850-hPa eddy kinetic energy (EKE) anomalies over the WNP could be well described by its two leading modes of EOF, i.e., northeast pattern and southwest pattern. The high value zone of former is located over the WNP, while latter around the Philippines, which just overlap a broad area of the WNP. Background flows play an important role in the formation of these two patterns, it could induce the cyclonic ( anticyclonic ) anomalies over the variation centers which favors ( disfavors) synoptic eddies to get kinetic energy from the mean flows through barotropic energy conversion. The SST anomalies of the equatorial central and eastern Pacific also contribute to these two patterns. When the SST of equatorial central and eastern Pacific above (below) the normal, a cyclonic (anticyclonic) anomaly appears in the Philippine Sea while an anticyclonic (cyclonic) anomaly happens in the South China Sea, which will induce positive (negative) EKE anomalies over the WNP but negative (positive) anomalies over the South China Sea and the Philippines.

Relationship between synoptic scale weather systems and column averaged atmospheric CO2

Science.gov (United States)

Naja, M.; Yaremchuk, A.; Onishi, R.; Maksyutov, S.; Inoue, G.

2005-12-01

Analysis of the atmospheric CO2 observations with transport models contributes to the understanding of the geographical distributions of CO2 sources and sinks. Space-borne sensors could be advantageous for CO2 measurements as they can provide wider spatial and temporal coverage. Inversion studies have suggested requirement of better than 1% precision for the space-borne observations. Since sources and sinks are inferred from spatial and temporal gradients in CO2, the space-borne observations must have no significant geographically varying biases. To study the dynamical biases in column CO2 due to possible correlation between clouds and atmospheric CO2 at synoptic scale, we have made simulations of CO2 (1988-2003) using NIES tracer transport model. Model resolution is 2.5o x 2.5o in horizontal and it has 15 vertical sigma-layers. Fluxes for (1) fossil fuels, (2) terrestrial biosphere (CASA NEP), (3) the oceans, and (4) inverse model derived monthly regional fluxes from 11 land and 11 ocean regions are used. SVD truncation is used to filter out noise in the inverse model flux time series. Model reproduces fairly well CO2 global trend and observed time series at monitoring sites around the globe. Lower column CO2 concentration is simulated inside cyclonic systems in summer over North hemispheric continental areas. Surface pressure is used as a proxy for dynamics and it is demonstrated that anomalies in column averaged CO2 has fairly good correlation with the anomalies in surface pressure. Positive correlation, as high as 0.7, has been estimated over parts of Siberia and N. America in summer time. Our explanation is based on that the low-pressure system is associated the upward motion, which leads to lower column CO2 values over these regions due to lifting of CO2-depleted summertime PBL air, and higher column CO2 over source areas. A sensitivity study without inverse model fluxes shows same correlation. The low-pressure systems' induced negative biases are 0

Satellite Sounder Observations of Contrasting Tropospheric Moisture Transport Regimes: Saharan Air Layers, Hadley Cells, and Atmospheric Rivers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nalli, Nicholas R.; Barnet, Christopher D.; Reale, Tony; Liu, Quanhua; Morris, Vernon R.; Spackman, J. Ryan; Joseph, Everette; Tan, Changyi; Sun, Bomin; Tilley, Frank; Leung, L. Ruby; Wolfe, Daniel

2016-12-01

This paper examines the performance of satellite sounder atmospheric vertical moisture proles (AVMP) under tropospheric conditions encompassing moisture contrasts driven by convection and advection transport mechanisms, specifically Atlantic Ocean Saharan air layers (SALs) and Pacific Ocean moisture conveyer belts (MCBs) commonly referred to as atmospheric rivers (ARs), both of these being mesoscale to synoptic meteorological phenomena within the vicinity of subtropical Hadley subsidence zones. Operational AVMP environmental data records retrieved from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) NOAA-Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) are collocated with dedicated radiosonde observations (RAOBs) obtained from ocean-based intensive field campaigns; these RAOBs provide uniquely independent correlative truth data not assimilated into numerical weather prediction models for satellite sounder validation over open ocean. Using these marine-based data, we empirically assess the performance of the operational NUCAPS AVMP product for detecting and resolving these tropospheric moisture features over otherwise RAOB-sparse regions.

Synoptic situations and pollutant concentrations in fog water samples from the Milešovka Mt

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Fišák, Jaroslav; Řezáčová, Daniela; Weignerová, Veronika; Tesař, Miroslav

2004-01-01

Roč. 48, - (2004), s. 469-481 ISSN 0039-3169 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA3042301 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z3042911 Keywords : synoptic situation * steering flow * fog /cloud water Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 0.447, year: 2004

Parameterization of synoptic weather systems in the South Atlantic Bight for modeling applications

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Xiaodong; Voulgaris, George; Kumar, Nirnimesh

2017-10-01

An event based, long-term, climatological analysis is presented that allows the creation of coastal ocean atmospheric forcing on the coastal ocean that preserves both frequency of occurrence and event time history. An algorithm is developed that identifies individual storm event (cold fronts, warm fronts, and tropical storms) from meteorological records. The algorithm has been applied to a location along the South Atlantic Bight, off South Carolina, an area prone to cyclogenesis occurrence and passages of atmospheric fronts. Comparison against daily weather maps confirms that the algorithm is efficient in identifying cold fronts and warm fronts, while the identification of tropical storms is less successful. The average state of the storm events and their variability are represented by the temporal evolution of atmospheric pressure, air temperature, wind velocity, and wave directional spectral energy. The use of uncorrected algorithm-detected events provides climatologies that show a little deviation from those derived using corrected events. The effectiveness of this analysis method is further verified by numerically simulating the wave conditions driven by the characteristic wind forcing and comparing the results with the wave climatology that corresponds to each storm type. A high level of consistency found in the comparison indicates that this analysis method can be used for accurately characterizing event-based oceanic processes and long-term storm-induced morphodynamic processes on wind-dominated coasts.

Winter- and summertime continental influences on tropospheric O3 and CO observed by TES over the western North Atlantic Ocean

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Talbot

2010-04-01

Full Text Available The distributions of tropospheric ozone (O3 and carbon monoxide (CO, and the synoptic factors regulating these distributions over the western North Atlantic Ocean during winter and summer were investigated using profile retrievals from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES for 2004–2006. Seasonal composites of TES retrievals, reprocessed to remove the influence of the a priori on geographical and seasonal structure, exhibited strong seasonal differences. At the 681 hPa level during winter months of December, January and February (DJF the composite O3 mixing ratios were uniformly low (~45 ppbv, but continental export was evident in a channel of enhanced CO (100–110 ppbv flowing eastward from the US coast. In summer months June, July, and August (JJA O3 mixing ratios were variable (45–65 ppbv and generally higher due to increased photochemical production. The summer distribution also featured a channel of enhanced CO (95–105 ppbv flowing northeastward around an anticyclone and exiting the continent over the Canadian Maritimes around 50° N. Offshore O3-CO slopes were generally 0.15–0.20 mol mol−1 in JJA, indicative of photochemical O3 production. Composites for 4 predominant synoptic patterns or map types in DJF suggested that export to the lower free troposphere (681 hPa level was enhanced by the warm conveyor belt airstream of mid-latitude cyclones while stratospheric intrusions increased TES O3 levels at 316 hPa. A major finding in the DJF data was that offshore 681 hPa CO mixing ratios behind cold fronts could be enhanced up to >150 ppbv likely by lofting from the surface via shallow convection resulting from rapid destabilization of cold air flowing over much warmer ocean waters. In JJA composites for 3 map types showed that the general export pattern of the seasonal composites was associated with a synoptic pattern featuring the Bermuda High. However, weak cyclones and frontal troughs could enhance offshore 681 hPa CO

Thinking Outside of the Blue Marble: Novel Ocean Applications Using the VIIRS Sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Vandermeulen, Ryan A.; Arnone, Robert

2016-01-01

While planning for future space-borne sensors will increase the quality, quantity, and duration of ocean observations in the years to come, efforts to extend the limits of sensors currently in orbit can help shed light on future scientific gains as well as associated uncertainties. Here, we present several applications that are unique to the polar orbiting Visual Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), each of which challenge the threshold capabilities of the sensor and provide lessons for future missions. For instance, while moderate resolution polar orbiters typically have a one day revisit time, we are able to obtain multiple looks of the same area by focusing on the extreme zenith angles where orbital views overlap, and pair these observations with those from other sensors to create pseudo-geostationary data sets. Or, by exploiting high spatial resolution (imaging) channels and analyzing patterns of synoptic covariance across the visible spectrum, we can obtain higher spatial resolution bio-optical products. Alternatively, non-traditional products can illuminate important biological interactions in the ocean, such as the use of the Day-Night-Band to provide some quantification of phototactic behavior of marine life along light polluted beaches, as well as track the location of marine fishing vessel fleets along ocean fronts. In this talk, we explore ways to take full advantage of the capabilities of existing sensors in order to maximize insights for future missions.

Global Ocean Evaporation Increases Since 1960 in Climate Reanalyses: How Accurate Are They?

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Franklin R.; Roberts, Jason B.; Bosilovich, Michael G.

2016-01-01

AGCMs w/ Specified SSTs (AMIPs) GEOS-5, ERA-20CM Ensembles Incorporate best historical estimates of SST, sea ice, radiative forcing Atmospheric "weather noise" is inconsistent with specified SST. Instantaneous Sfc fluxes can be wrong sign (e.g. Indian Ocean Monsoon, high latitude oceans). Averaging over ensemble members helps isolate SST-forced signal. Reduced Observational Reanalyses: NOAA 20CR V2C, ERA-20C, JRA-55C Incorporate observed Sfc Press (20CR), Marine Winds (ERA-20C) and rawinsondes (JRA-55C) to recover much of true synoptic or weather w/o shock of new sat obs. Comprehensive Reanalyses (MERRA-2) Full suite of observational constraints- both conventional and remote sensing. But... substantial uncertainties owing to evolving satellite observing system. Multi-source Statistically Blended OAFlux, LargeYeager Blend reanalysis, satellite, and ocean buoy information. While climatological biases are removed, non-physical trends or variations in components remain. Satellite Retrievals GSSTF3, SeaFlux, HOAPS3... Global coverage. Retrieved near sfc wind speed, & humidity used with SST to drive accurate bulk aerodynamic flux estimates. Satellite inter-calibration, spacecraft pointing variations crucial. Short record ( late 1987-present). In situ Measurements ICOADS, IVAD, Res Cruises VOS and buoys offer direct measurements. Sparse data coverage (esp south of 30S. Changes in measurement techniques (e.g. shipboard anemometer height).

An overview of approaches and challenges for retrieving marine inherent optical properties from ocean color remote sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Werdell, P. Jeremy; McKinna, Lachlan I. W.; Boss, Emmanuel; Ackleson, Steven G.; Craig, Susanne E.; Gregg, Watson W.; Lee, Zhongping; Maritorena, Stéphane; Roesler, Collin S.; Rousseaux, Cécile S.; Stramski, Dariusz; Sullivan, James M.; Twardowski, Michael S.; Tzortziou, Maria; Zhang, Xiaodong

2018-01-01

Ocean color measured from satellites provides daily global, synoptic views of spectral water-leaving reflectances that can be used to generate estimates of marine inherent optical properties (IOPs). These reflectances, namely the ratio of spectral upwelled radiances to spectral downwelled irradiances, describe the light exiting a water mass that defines its color. IOPs are the spectral absorption and scattering characteristics of ocean water and its dissolved and particulate constituents. Because of their dependence on the concentration and composition of marine constituents, IOPs can be used to describe the contents of the upper ocean mixed layer. This information is critical to further our scientific understanding of biogeochemical oceanic processes, such as organic carbon production and export, phytoplankton dynamics, and responses to climatic disturbances. Given their importance, the international ocean color community has invested significant effort in improving the quality of satellite-derived IOP products, both regionally and globally. Recognizing the current influx of data products into the community and the need to improve current algorithms in anticipation of new satellite instruments (e.g., the global, hyperspectral spectroradiometer of the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission), we present a synopsis of the current state of the art in the retrieval of these core optical properties. Contemporary approaches for obtaining IOPs from satellite ocean color are reviewed and, for clarity, separated based their inversion methodology or the type of IOPs sought. Summaries of known uncertainties associated with each approach are provided, as well as common performance metrics used to evaluate them. We discuss current knowledge gaps and make recommendations for future investment for upcoming missions whose instrument characteristics diverge sufficiently from heritage and existing sensors to warrant reassessing current approaches.

Parameterization of typhoon-induced ocean cooling using temperature equation and machine learning algorithms: an example of typhoon Soulik (2013)

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Jun; Jiang, Guo-Qing; Liu, Xin

2017-09-01

This study proposed three algorithms that can potentially be used to provide sea surface temperature (SST) conditions for typhoon prediction models. Different from traditional data assimilation approaches, which provide prescribed initial/boundary conditions, our proposed algorithms aim to resolve a flow-dependent SST feedback between growing typhoons and oceans in the future time. Two of these algorithms are based on linear temperature equations (TE-based), and the other is based on an innovative technique involving machine learning (ML-based). The algorithms are then implemented into a Weather Research and Forecasting model for the simulation of typhoon to assess their effectiveness, and the results show significant improvement in simulated storm intensities by including ocean cooling feedback. The TE-based algorithm I considers wind-induced ocean vertical mixing and upwelling processes only, and thus obtained a synoptic and relatively smooth sea surface temperature cooling. The TE-based algorithm II incorporates not only typhoon winds but also ocean information, and thus resolves more cooling features. The ML-based algorithm is based on a neural network, consisting of multiple layers of input variables and neurons, and produces the best estimate of the cooling structure, in terms of its amplitude and position. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the typhoon-induced ocean cooling is a nonlinear process involving interactions of multiple atmospheric and oceanic variables. Therefore, with an appropriate selection of input variables and neuron sizes, the ML-based algorithm appears to be more efficient in prognosing the typhoon-induced ocean cooling and in predicting typhoon intensity than those algorithms based on linear regression methods.

Impacts of synoptic condition and planetary boundary layer structure on the trans-boundary aerosol transport from Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to northeast China

Science.gov (United States)

Miao, Yucong; Guo, Jianping; Liu, Shuhua; Zhao, Chun; Li, Xiaolan; Zhang, Gen; Wei, Wei; Ma, Yanjun

2018-05-01

The northeastern China frequently experiences severe aerosol pollution in winter under unfavorable meteorological conditions. How and to what extent the meteorological factors affect the air quality there are not yet clearly understood. Thus, this study investigated the impacts of synoptic patterns on the aerosol transport and planetary boundary layer (PBL) structure in Shenyang from 1 to 3 December 2016, using surface observations, sounding measurements, satellite data, and three-dimensional simulations. Results showed that the aerosol pollution occurred in Shenyang was not only related to the local emissions, but also contributed by trans-boundary transport of aerosols from the Beiijng-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region. In the presence of the westerly and southwesterly synoptic winds, the aerosols emitted from BTH could be brought to Shenyang. From December 2 to 3, the aerosols emitted from BTH accounted for ∼20% of near-surface PM2.5 in Shenyang. In addition, the large-scale synoptic forcings could affect the vertical mixing of pollutants through modulating the PBL structure in Shenyang. The westerly and southwesterly synoptic winds not only brought the aerosols but also the warmer air masses from the southwest regions to Shenyang. The strong warm advections above PBL could enhance the already existing thermal inversion layers capping over PBL in Shenyang, leading to the suppressions of PBL. Both the trans-boundary transport of aerosols and the suppressions of PBL caused by the large-scale synoptic forcings should be partly responsible for the poor air quality in Shenyang, in addition to the high pollutant emissions. The present study revealed the physical mechanisms underlying the aerosol pollution in Shenyang, which has important implications for better forecasting and controlling the aerosols pollution.

Sensitivity of Ocean Reflectance Inversion Models for Identifying and Discriminating Between Phytoplankton Functional Groups

Science.gov (United States)

Werdell, P. Jeremy; Ooesler, Collin S.

2012-01-01

The daily, synoptic images provided by satellite ocean color instruments provide viable data streams for observing changes in the biogeochemistrY of marine ecosystems. Ocean reflectance inversion models (ORMs) provide a common mechanism for inverting the "color" of the water observed a satellite into marine inherent optical properties (lOPs) through a combination of empiricism and radiative transfer theory. lOPs, namely the spectral absorption and scattering characteristics of ocean water and its dissolved and particulate constituents, describe the contents of the upper ocean, information critical for furthering scientific understanding of biogeochemical oceanic processes. Many recent studies inferred marine particle sizes and discriminated between phytoplankton functional groups using remotely-sensed lOPs. While all demonstrated the viability of their approaches, few described the vertical distributions of the water column constituents under consideration and, thus, failed to report the biophysical conditions under which their model performed (e.g., the depth and thickness of the phytoplankton bloom(s)). We developed an ORM to remotely identifY Noctiluca miliaris and other phytoplankton functional types using satellite ocean color data records collected in the northern Arabian Sea. Here, we present results from analyses designed to evaluate the applicability and sensitivity of the ORM to varied biophysical conditions. Specifically, we: (1) synthesized a series of vertical profiles of spectral inherent optical properties that represent a wide variety of bio-optical conditions for the northern Arabian Sea under aN Miliaris bloom; (2) generated spectral remote-sensing reflectances from these profiles using Hydrolight; and, (3) applied the ORM to the synthesized reflectances to estimate the relative concentrations of diatoms and N Miliaris for each example. By comparing the estimates from the inversion model to those from synthesized vertical profiles, we were able to

Simultaneous nested modeling from the synoptic scale to the LES scale for wind energy applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Yubao; Warner, Tom; Liu, Yuewei

2011-01-01

This paper describes an advanced multi-scale weather modeling system, WRF–RTFDDA–LES, designed to simulate synoptic scale (~2000 km) to small- and micro-scale (~100 m) circulations of real weather in wind farms on simultaneous nested grids. This modeling system is built upon the National Center f...

Estimating instream constituent loads using replicate synoptic sampling, Peru Creek, Colorado

Science.gov (United States)

Runkel, Robert L.; Walton-Day, Katherine; Kimball, Briant A.; Verplanck, Philip L.; Nimick, David A.

2013-01-01

The synoptic mass balance approach is often used to evaluate constituent mass loading in streams affected by mine drainage. Spatial profiles of constituent mass load are used to identify sources of contamination and prioritize sites for remedial action. This paper presents a field scale study in which replicate synoptic sampling campaigns are used to quantify the aggregate uncertainty in constituent load that arises from (1) laboratory analyses of constituent and tracer concentrations, (2) field sampling error, and (3) temporal variation in concentration from diel constituent cycles and/or source variation. Consideration of these factors represents an advance in the application of the synoptic mass balance approach by placing error bars on estimates of constituent load and by allowing all sources of uncertainty to be quantified in aggregate; previous applications of the approach have provided only point estimates of constituent load and considered only a subset of the possible errors. Given estimates of aggregate uncertainty, site specific data and expert judgement may be used to qualitatively assess the contributions of individual factors to uncertainty. This assessment can be used to guide the collection of additional data to reduce uncertainty. Further, error bars provided by the replicate approach can aid the investigator in the interpretation of spatial loading profiles and the subsequent identification of constituent source areas within the watershed.The replicate sampling approach is applied to Peru Creek, a stream receiving acidic, metal-rich effluent from the Pennsylvania Mine. Other sources of acidity and metals within the study reach include a wetland area adjacent to the mine and tributary inflow from Cinnamon Gulch. Analysis of data collected under low-flow conditions indicates that concentrations of Al, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn in Peru Creek exceed aquatic life standards. Constituent loading within the study reach is dominated by effluent from the

Estimating instream constituent loads using replicate synoptic sampling, Peru Creek, Colorado

Science.gov (United States)

Runkel, Robert L.; Walton-Day, Katherine; Kimball, Briant A.; Verplanck, Philip L.; Nimick, David A.

2013-05-01

SummaryThe synoptic mass balance approach is often used to evaluate constituent mass loading in streams affected by mine drainage. Spatial profiles of constituent mass load are used to identify sources of contamination and prioritize sites for remedial action. This paper presents a field scale study in which replicate synoptic sampling campaigns are used to quantify the aggregate uncertainty in constituent load that arises from (1) laboratory analyses of constituent and tracer concentrations, (2) field sampling error, and (3) temporal variation in concentration from diel constituent cycles and/or source variation. Consideration of these factors represents an advance in the application of the synoptic mass balance approach by placing error bars on estimates of constituent load and by allowing all sources of uncertainty to be quantified in aggregate; previous applications of the approach have provided only point estimates of constituent load and considered only a subset of the possible errors. Given estimates of aggregate uncertainty, site specific data and expert judgement may be used to qualitatively assess the contributions of individual factors to uncertainty. This assessment can be used to guide the collection of additional data to reduce uncertainty. Further, error bars provided by the replicate approach can aid the investigator in the interpretation of spatial loading profiles and the subsequent identification of constituent source areas within the watershed. The replicate sampling approach is applied to Peru Creek, a stream receiving acidic, metal-rich effluent from the Pennsylvania Mine. Other sources of acidity and metals within the study reach include a wetland area adjacent to the mine and tributary inflow from Cinnamon Gulch. Analysis of data collected under low-flow conditions indicates that concentrations of Al, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn in Peru Creek exceed aquatic life standards. Constituent loading within the study reach is dominated by effluent

The Asymmetric Continental Shelf Wave in Response to the Synoptic Wind Burst in a Semienclosed Double-Shelf Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Qu, Lixin; Lin, Xiaopei; Hetland, Robert D.; Guo, Jingsong

2018-01-01

The primary goal of this study is to investigate the asymmetric structure of continental shelf wave in a semienclosed double-shelf basin, such as the Yellow Sea. Supported by in situ observations and realistic numerical simulations, it is found that in the Yellow Sea, the shelf wave response to the synoptic wind forcing does not match the mathematically symmetric solution of classic double-shelf wave theory, but rather exhibits a westward shift. To study the formation mechanism of this asymmetric structure, an idealized model was used and two sets of experiments were conducted. The results confirm that the asymmetric structure is due to the existence of a topographic waveguide connecting both shelves. For a semienclosed basin, such as the Yellow Sea, a connection at the end of the basin eliminates the potential vorticity barrier between the two shelves and hence plays a role as a connecting waveguide for shelf waves. This waveguide enables the shelf wave to propagate from one shelf to the other shelf and produces the asymmetric response in sea level and upwind flow evolutions.

Surface features of central North America: a synoptic view from computer graphics

Science.gov (United States)

Pike, R.J.

1991-01-01

A digital shaded-relief image of the 48 contiguous United States shows the details of large- and small-scale landforms, including several linear trends. The features faithfully reflect tectonism, continental glaciation, fluvial activity, volcanism, and other surface-shaping events and processes. The new map not only depicts topography accurately and in its true complexity, but does so in one synoptic view that provides a regional context for geologic analysis unobscured by clouds, culture, vegetation, or artistic constraints. -Author

The Coastal Ocean Prediction Systems program: Understanding and managing our coastal ocean

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-01-01

The proposed COPS (Coastal Ocean Prediction Systems) program is concerned with combining numerical models with observations (through data assimilation) to improve our predictive knowledge of the coastal ocean. It is oriented toward applied research and development and depends upon the continued pursuit of basic research in programs like COOP (Coastal Ocean Processes); i.e., to a significant degree it is involved with ''technology transfer'' from basic knowledge to operational and management applications. This predictive knowledge is intended to address a variety of societal problems: (1) ship routing, (2) trajectories for search and rescue operations, (3) oil spill trajectory simulations, (4) pollution assessments, (5) fisheries management guidance, (6) simulation of the coastal ocean's response to climate variability, (7) calculation of sediment transport, (8) calculation of forces on structures, and so forth. The initial concern is with physical models and observations in order to provide a capability for the estimation of physical forces and transports in the coastal ocean. For all these applications, there are common needs for physical field estimates: waves, tides, currents, temperature, and salinity, including mixed layers, thermoclines, fronts, jets, etc. However, the intent is to work with biologists, chemists, and geologists in developing integrated multidisciplinary prediction systems as it becomes feasible to do so. From another perspective, by combining observations with models through data assimilation, a modern approach to monitoring is provided through whole-field estimation

EPOCA/EUR-OCEANS data compilation on the biological and biogeochemical responses to ocean acidification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.-M. Nisumaa

2010-07-01

Full Text Available The uptake of anthropogenic CO₂ by the oceans has led to a rise in the oceanic partial pressure of CO₂, and to a decrease in pH and carbonate ion concentration. This modification of the marine carbonate system is referred to as ocean acidification. Numerous papers report the effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms and communities but few have provided details concerning full carbonate chemistry and complementary observations. Additionally, carbonate system variables are often reported in different units, calculated using different sets of dissociation constants and on different pH scales. Hence the direct comparison of experimental results has been problematic and often misleading. The need was identified to (1 gather data on carbonate chemistry, biological and biogeochemical properties, and other ancillary data from published experimental data, (2 transform the information into common framework, and (3 make data freely available. The present paper is the outcome of an effort to integrate ocean carbonate chemistry data from the literature which has been supported by the European Network of Excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis (EUR-OCEANS and the European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA. A total of 185 papers were identified, 100 contained enough information to readily compute carbonate chemistry variables, and 81 data sets were archived at PANGAEA – The Publishing Network for Geoscientific & Environmental Data. This data compilation is regularly updated as an ongoing mission of EPOCA.

Data access: http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.735138

Ozone and atmospheric pollution at synoptic scale: the monitoring network Paes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gheusi, F.; Chevalier, A.; Delmas, R.; Athier, G.; Bouchou, P.; Cousin, J.M.; Meyerfeld, Y.; Laj, P.; Sellegri, K.; Ancellet, G.

2007-01-01

Ozone as an environmental concern extends beyond the questions usually covered by media - stratospheric ozone depletion and urban pollution peaks. Strong expositions to this pollutant are frequent even far from pollution sources, and the background tropospheric content of ozone has been growing fivefold over the last century. In response to this concern at the French national scale, formerly independent monitoring stations have been coordinated since 2004 in a structured network: Paes (French acronym for atmospheric pollution at synoptic scale). The data are put in free access online. (authors)

A Hierarchical and Dynamic Seascape Framework for Scaling and Comparing Ocean Biodiversity Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Kavanaugh, M.; Muller-Karger, F. E.; Montes, E.; Santora, J. A.; Chavez, F.; Messié, M.; Doney, S. C.

2016-02-01

The pelagic ocean is a complex system in which physical, chemical and biological processes interact to shape patterns on multiple spatial and temporal scales and levels of ecological organization. Monitoring and management of marine seascapes must consider a hierarchical and dynamic mosaic, where the boundaries, extent, and location of features change with time. As part of a Marine Biodiversity Observing Network demonstration project, we conducted a multiscale classification of dynamic coastal seascapes in the northeastern Pacific and Gulf of Mexico using multivariate satellite and modeled data. Synoptic patterns were validated using mooring and ship-based observations that spanned multiple trophic levels and were collected as part of several long-term monitoring programs, including the Monterey Bay and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuaries. Seascape extent and habitat diversity varied as a function of both seasonal and interannual forcing. We discuss the patterns of in situ observations in the context of seascape dynamics and the effect on rarefaction, spatial patchiness, and tracking and comparing ecosystems through time. A seascape framework presents an effective means to translate local biodiversity measurements to broader spatiotemporal scales, scales relevant for modeling the effects of global change and enabling whole-ecosystem management in the dynamic ocean.

Sea surface temperature estimates for the mid-Piacenzian Indian Ocean—Ocean Drilling Program sites 709, 716, 722, 754, 757, 758, and 763

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Marci M.; Dowsett, Harry J.; Stoll, Danielle K.

2018-01-30

Despite the wealth of global paleoclimate data available for the warm period in the middle of the Piacenzian Stage of the Pliocene Epoch (about 3.3 to 3.0 million years ago [Ma]; Dowsett and others, 2013, and references therein), the Indian Ocean has remained a region of sparse geographic coverage in terms of microfossil analysis. In an effort to characterize the surface Indian Ocean during this interval, we examined the planktic foraminifera from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) sites 709, 716, 722, 754, 757, 758, and 763, encompassing a wide range of oceanographic conditions. We quantitatively analyzed the data for sea surface temperature (SST) estimation using both the modern analog technique (MAT) and a factor analytic transfer function. The data will contribute to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Pliocene Research, Interpretation and Synoptic Mapping (PRISM) Project’s global SST reconstruction and climate model SST boundary condition for the mid-Piacenzian and will become part of the PRISM verification dataset designed to ground-truth Pliocene climate model simulations (Dowsett and others, 2013).

A synoptic reporting system for bone marrow aspiration and core biopsy specimens.

Science.gov (United States)

Murari, Manjula; Pandey, Rakesh

2006-12-01

Advances in information technology have made electronic systems productive tools for pathology report generation. Structured data formats are recommended for better understanding of pathology reports by clinicians and for retrieval of pathology reports. Suitable formats need to be developed to include structured data elements for report generation in electronic systems. To conform to the requirement of protocol-based reporting and to provide uniform and standardized data entry and retrieval, we developed a synoptic reporting system for generation of bone marrow cytology and histology reports for incorporation into our hospital information system. A combination of macro text, short preformatted templates of tabular data entry sheets, and canned files was developed using a text editor enabling protocol-based input. The system is flexible and has facility for appending free text entry. It also incorporates SNOMED coding and codes for teaching, research, and internal auditing. This synoptic reporting system is easy to use and adaptable. Features and advantages include pick-up text with defined choices, flexibility for appending free text, facility for data entry for protocol-based reports for research use, standardized and uniform format of reporting, comparable follow-up reports, minimized typographical and transcription errors, and saving on reporting time, thus helping shorten the turnaround time. Simple structured pathology report templates are a powerful means for supporting uniformity in reporting as well as subsequent data viewing and extraction, particularly suitable to computerized reporting.

Efficient computation of past global ocean circulation patterns using continuation in paleobathymetry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mulder, T. E.; Baatsen, M. L.J.; Wubs, F.W.; Dijkstra, H. A.

2017-01-01

In the field of paleoceanographic modeling, the different positioning of Earth's continental configurations is often a major challenge for obtaining equilibrium ocean flow solutions. In this paper, we introduce numerical parameter continuation techniques to compute equilibrium solutions of ocean

ENSO regimes and the late 1970's climate shift: The role of synoptic weather and South Pacific ocean spiciness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Kane, Terence J.; Matear, Richard J.; Chamberlain, Matthew A.; Oke, Peter R.

2014-01-01

South Pacific subtropical density compensated temperature and salinity (spiciness) anomalies are known to be associated with decadal equatorial variability, however, the mechanisms by which such disturbances are generated, advect and the degree to which they modulate the equatorial thermocline remains controversial. During the late 1970's a climate regime transition preceded a period of strong and sustained El Nino events. Using an ocean general circulation model forced by the constituent mechanical and thermodynamic components of the reanalysed atmosphere we show that the late 1970's transition coincided with the arrival of a large-scale, subsurface cold and fresh water anomaly in the central tropical Pacific. An ocean reanalysis for the period 1990–2007 that assimilates subsurface Argo, XBT and CTD data, reveals that disturbances occur due to the subduction of negative surface salinity anomalies from near 30° S, 100° W which are advected along the σ=25–26 kgm −3 isopycnal surfaces. These anomalies take, on average, seven years to reach the central equatorial Pacific where they may substantially perturb the thermocline before the remnants ultimately ventilate in the region of the western Pacific warm pool. Positive (warm–salty) disturbances, known to occur due to late winter diapycnal mixing and isopycnal outcropping, arise due to both subduction of subtropical mode waters and subsurface injection. On reaching the equatorial band (10° S–0° S) these disturbances tend to deepen the thermocline reducing the model's ENSO. In contrast the emergence of negative (cold–fresh) disturbances at the equator are associated with a shoaling of the thermocline and El Nino events. Process studies are used to show that the generation and advection of anomalous density compensated thermocline disturbances critically depend on stochastic forcing of the intrinsic ocean by weather. We further show that in the absence of the inter-annual component of the atmosphere

Ocean Acidification from space: recent advances

Science.gov (United States)

Sabia, Roberto; Shutler, Jamie; Land, Peter; Fernandez-Prieto, Diego; Donlon, Craig; Reul, Nicolas

2017-04-01

The phenomenon referred to as Ocean Acidification (OA) is gathering increasing attention as one of the major foci of climate-related research, for its profound impact at scientific and socio-economic level. To date, the majority of the scientific studies into the potential impacts of OA have focused on in-situ measurements, laboratory-controlled experiments and models simulations. Satellite remote sensing technology have yet to be fully exploited, despite it has been stressed it could play a significant role by providing synoptic and frequent measurements for investigating globally OA processes, also extending in-situ carbonate chemistry measurements on different spatial/temporal scales [1,2]. Within this context, the purpose of the recently completed ESA "Pathfinders - Ocean Acidification" project was to quantitatively and routinely estimate OA-related parameters by means of a blending of satellite observations and model outputs in five case-study regions (global ocean, Amazon plume, Barents sea, Greater Caribbean and Bay of Bengal). Satellite Ocean Colour, Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) have been exploited, with an emphasis on the latter being the latest addition to the portfolio of satellite measured parameters. A proper merging of these different satellites products allows computing at least two independent proxies among the seawater carbonate system parameters: the partial pressure of CO2 in surface seawater (pCO2); the total Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC), the total alkalinity (TA) and the surface ocean pH. In the project, efforts have been devoted to a systematic characterization of TA and DIC from space in the mentioned case-study regions; in this paper, also through the knowledge of these parameters, the objective is to come up with the currently best educated guess of the surface ocean pH [3] and Aragonite saturation state. This will also include an estimation of the achievable accuracy by propagating the errors in the

Synoptic meteorological modes of variability for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air quality in major metropolitan regions of China

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Danny M.; Tai, Amos P. K.; Mickley, Loretta J.; Moch, Jonathan M.; van Donkelaar, Aaron; Shen, Lu; Martin, Randall V.

2018-05-01

In his study, we use a combination of multivariate statistical methods to understand the relationships of PM2.5 with local meteorology and synoptic weather patterns in different regions of China across various timescales. Using June 2014 to May 2017 daily total PM2.5 observations from ˜ 1500 monitors, all deseasonalized and detrended to focus on synoptic-scale variations, we find strong correlations of daily PM2.5 with all selected meteorological variables (e.g., positive correlation with temperature but negative correlation with sea-level pressure throughout China; positive and negative correlation with relative humidity in northern and southern China, respectively). The spatial patterns suggest that the apparent correlations with individual meteorological variables may arise from common association with synoptic systems. Based on a principal component analysis of 1998-2017 meteorological data to diagnose distinct meteorological modes that dominate synoptic weather in four major regions of China, we find strong correlations of PM2.5 with several synoptic modes that explain 10 to 40 % of daily PM2.5 variability. These modes include monsoonal flows and cold frontal passages in northern and central China associated with the Siberian High, onshore flows in eastern China, and frontal rainstorms in southern China. Using the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region as a case study, we further find strong interannual correlations of regionally averaged satellite-derived annual mean PM2.5 with annual mean relative humidity (RH; positive) and springtime fluctuation frequency of the Siberian High (negative). We apply the resulting PM2.5-to-climate sensitivities to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) climate projections to predict future PM2.5 by the 2050s due to climate change, and find a modest decrease of ˜ 0.5 µg m-3 in annual mean PM2.5 in the BTH region due to more frequent cold frontal ventilation

Photochemical oxidant transport - Mesoscale lake breeze and synoptic-scale aspects

Science.gov (United States)

Lyons, W. A.; Cole, H. S.

1976-01-01

Data from routine ozone monitoring in southeastern Wisconsin and limited monitoring of the Milwaukee area by the Environmental Protection Agency are examined. Hourly averages as high as 30 pphm have been recorded in southeastern Wisconsin, and high readings have been reported in rural regions throughout the state. The observations indicate that photochemical oxidants and their nitrogen oxide and reactive hydrocarbon precursers advect from Chicago and northern Indiana into southeastern Wisconsin. There is evidence that synoptic-scale transport of photochemical oxidants occurs, allowing the pollution of entire anticyclones. These results cast doubt on the validity of the Air Quality Control Regions established by amendment to the Clean Air Act of 1970.

Decadal atmosphere-ocean variations in the Pacific

Science.gov (United States)

Trenberth, Kevin E.; Hurrell, James W.

1994-03-01

Considerable evidence has emerged of a substantial decade-long change in the north Pacific atmosphere and ocean lasting from about 1976 to 1988. Observed significant changes in the atmospheric circulation throughout the troposphere revealed a deeper and eastward shifted Aleutian low pressure system in the winter half year which advected warmer and moister air along the west coast of North America and into Alaska and colder air over the north Pacific. Consequently, there were increases in temperatures and sea surface temperatures (SSTs) along the west coast of North America and Alaska but decreases in SSTs over the central north Pacific, as well as changes in coastal rainfall and streamflow, and decreases in sea ice in the Bering Sea. Associated changes occurred in the surface wind stress, and, by inference, in the Sverdrup transport in the north Pacific Ocean. Changes in the monthly mean flow were accompanied by a southward shift in the storm tracks and associated synoptic eddy activity and in the surface ocean sensible and latent heat fluxes. In addition to the changes in the physical environment, the deeper Aleutian low increased the nutrient supply as seen through increases in total chlorophyll in the water column, phytoplankton and zooplankton. These changes, along with the altered ocean currents and temperatures, changed the migration patterns and increased the stock of many fish species. A north Pacific (NP) index is defined to measure the decadal variations, and the temporal variability of the index is explored on daily, annual, interannual and decadal time scales. The dominant atmosphere-ocean relation in the north Pacific is one where atmospheric changes lead SSTs by one to two months. However, strong ties are revealed with events in the tropical Pacific, with changes in tropical Pacific SSTs leading SSTs in the north Pacific by three months. Changes in the storm tracks in the north Pacific help to reinforce and maintain the anomalous circulation in the

Indian Ocean and Indian summer monsoon: relationships without ENSO in ocean-atmosphere coupled simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Crétat, Julien; Terray, Pascal; Masson, Sébastien; Sooraj, K. P.; Roxy, Mathew Koll

2017-08-01

The relationship between the Indian Ocean and the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) and their respective influence over the Indo-Western North Pacific (WNP) region are examined in the absence of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in two partially decoupled global experiments. ENSO is removed by nudging the tropical Pacific simulated sea surface temperature (SST) toward SST climatology from either observations or a fully coupled control run. The control reasonably captures the observed relationships between ENSO, ISM and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). Despite weaker amplitude, IODs do exist in the absence of ENSO and are triggered by a boreal spring ocean-atmosphere coupled mode over the South-East Indian Ocean similar to that found in the presence of ENSO. These pure IODs significantly affect the tropical Indian Ocean throughout boreal summer, inducing a significant modulation of both the local Walker and Hadley cells. This meridional circulation is masked in the presence of ENSO. However, these pure IODs do not significantly influence the Indian subcontinent rainfall despite overestimated SST variability in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean compared to observations. On the other hand, they promote a late summer cross-equatorial quadrupole rainfall pattern linking the tropical Indian Ocean with the WNP, inducing important zonal shifts of the Walker circulation despite the absence of ENSO. Surprisingly, the interannual ISM rainfall variability is barely modified and the Indian Ocean does not force the monsoon circulation when ENSO is removed. On the contrary, the monsoon circulation significantly forces the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal SSTs, while its connection with the western tropical Indian Ocean is clearly driven by ENSO in our numerical framework. Convection and diabatic heating associated with above-normal ISM induce a strong response over the WNP, even in the absence of ENSO, favoring moisture convergence over India.

Marine geochemistry ocean circulation, carbon cycle and climate change

CERN Document Server

Roy-Barman, Matthieu

2016-01-01

Marine geochemistry uses chemical elements and their isotopes to study how the ocean works. It brings quantitative answers to questions such as: What is the deep ocean mixing rate? How much atmospheric CO2 is pumped by the ocean? How fast are pollutants removed from the ocean? How do ecosystems react to the anthropogenic pressure? The book provides a simple introduction to the concepts (environmental chemistry, isotopes), the methods (field approach, remote sensing, modeling) and the applications (ocean circulation, carbon cycle, climate change) of marine geochemistry with a particular emphasis on isotopic tracers. Marine geochemistry is not an isolated discipline: numerous openings on physical oceanography, marine biology, climatology, geology, pollutions and ecology are proposed and provide a global vision of the ocean. It includes new topics based on ongoing research programs such as GEOTRACES, Global Carbon Project, Tara Ocean. It provides a complete outline for a course in marine geochemistry. To favor a...

Numerical Simulations of Melting-Crystallisation Processes at the Boundaries Between Magma Oceans and Solid Mantle

Science.gov (United States)

Bolrão, D. P.; Rozel, A.; Morison, A.; Labrosse, S.; Tackley, P. J.

2017-12-01

The idea that the Earth had a global magma ocean, mostly created by impacts, core formation, radiogenic and tidal heating, is well accepted nowadays. When this ocean starts to crystallise, if the melt is denser than the solid, a basal magma ocean is created below the solid part. These two magma oceans influence the dynamics and evolution of solid mantle. Near the boundaries, the vertical flow in the solid part creates a topography. If this topography is destroyed by melting/crystallisation processes in a time scale much shorter than the time needed to adjust the topography by viscous relaxation, then matter can cross the boundary. In this case, the boundary is said to be permeable. On the other hand, if this time is longer, matter cannot cross and the boundary is said impermeable. This permeability is defined by a non-dimensional phase change number, φ, introduced by Deguen, 2013. This φ is the ratio of the two timescales mentioned, and defines a permeable boundary when φ « 1, and an impermeable one when φ » 1. To understand the impact of magma oceans on the dynamics of the solid mantle, we use the convection code StagYY, with a 2D spherical annulus geometry, to compute the convection of the solid part. Our results show different convection behaviours depending on the type of boundary chosen. For the permeable case, we investigate the thermo-compositional evolution of the solid domain, explicitly taking into account the compositional evolution of the magma oceans. Reference: Deguen, R. Thermal convection in a spherical shell with melting/freezing at either or both of its boundaries. Journal of Earth Science, Vol. 24, No. 5, p. 669-682, 2013. doi: 10.1007/s12583-013-0364-8

An Initial Assessment of the Impact of CYGNSS Ocean Surface Wind Assimilation on Navy Global and Mesoscale Numerical Weather Prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, N. L.; Tsu, J.; Swadley, S. D.

2017-12-01

We assess the impact of assimilation of CYclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) ocean surface winds observations into the NAVGEM[i] global and COAMPS®[ii] mesoscale numerical weather prediction (NWP) systems. Both NAVGEM and COAMPS® used the NRL 4DVar assimilation system NAVDAS-AR[iii]. Long term monitoring of the NAVGEM Forecast Sensitivity Observation Impact (FSOI) indicates that the forecast error reduction for ocean surface wind vectors (ASCAT and WindSat) are significantly larger than for SSMIS wind speed observations. These differences are larger than can be explained by simply two pieces of information (for wind vectors) versus one (wind speed). To help understand these results, we conducted a series of Observing System Experiments (OSEs) to compare the assimilation of ASCAT wind vectors with the equivalent (computed) ASCAT wind speed observations. We found that wind vector assimilation was typically 3 times more effective at reducing the NAVGEM forecast error, with a higher percentage of beneficial observations. These results suggested that 4DVar, in the absence of an additional nonlinear outer loop, has limited ability to modify the analysis wind direction. We examined several strategies for assimilating CYGNSS ocean surface wind speed observations. In the first approach, we assimilated CYGNSS as wind speed observations, following the same methodology used for SSMIS winds. The next two approaches converted CYGNSS wind speed to wind vectors, using NAVGEM sea level pressure fields (following Holton, 1979), and using NAVGEM 10-m wind fields with the AER Variational Analysis Method. Finally, we compared these methods to CYGNSS wind speed assimilation using multiple outer loops with NAVGEM Hybrid 4DVar. Results support the earlier studies suggesting that NAVDAS-AR wind speed assimilation is sub-optimal. We present detailed results from multi-month NAVGEM assimilation runs along with case studies using COAMPS®. Comparisons include the fit of

A hybrid numerical model system of LCO2 and CO2 enriched seawater dynamics in the ocean induced by moving-ship releasing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, B.; Song, Y.; Ohsumi, T.; AIST, Ibaraki; Nishio, M.; Akai, M.

2004-01-01

A numerical modeling system has been developed, based on an engineering background, of the direct disposal of liquid carbon dioxide into the ocean by a moving-ship, to predict the physico-chemical dynamics of liquid carbon dioxide droplets and carbon dioxide enriched seawater in the ocean. This is a hybrid simulation model system consisting of a three-dimensional small-scale near-field model and a two-dimensional horizontal turbulent dispersion model. The dynamics near to release sites include double-plume creation, interaction, evolution, and coupling with ocean currents; these are described by using two-fluid large-eddy simulation technology. The further development of carbon dioxide enriched seawater, as a passive-inert scalar, in relatively larger spatial and time scales (28x28 km and up to 100 h) is then simulated by a horizontal turbulent dispersion model. For the case of liquid carbon dioxide release at a depth of 2000 m with mass flow rate of 100 kg/s and initial droplet diameter of 8.0 mm, and with ship speed of 3.0 m/s, the model predicts a vertically separated carbon dioxide enriched seawater plume, 330 m in height and 40 m in width at time about 1 h after release with a minimum pH of 6.20 corresponding to carbon dioxide concentration of 0.18 kg/m 3 , in the surrounding area. This carbon dioxide enriched seawater plume diffused turbulently in the horizontal surface to an area of 9.8x10.5 km 2 after 100 h. (author)

Magnetically-driven oceans on Jovian satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Gissinger, C.; Petitdemange, L.

2017-12-01

During the last decade, data from Galileo space missions have added strong support for the existence of subsurface liquid oceans on several moons of Jupiter. For instance, it is now commonly accepted that an electrically conducting fluid beneath the icy crust of Europa's surface may explain the variations of the induced field measured near the satellite. These observations have raised many questions regarding the size and the salinity of such subsurface ocean, or how and why the water remains liquid. In addition, the hydrodynamics of such oceans is mostly unknown. These questions are of primary importance since Europa is often considered as a good candidate for the presence of life beyond the Earth. Here, we present the first numerical modeling of the rapidly-rotating magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow generated in Europa's interior: due to Jupiter's rotation with respect to Europa, we show that the Lorentz force induced by the time-varying Jovian magnetic field is able to generate an oceanic flow of a few km/h. Our results are understood in the framework of a simple theoretical model and we obtain a scaling law for the prediction of the mean oceanic velocity and the total heating generated inside the ocean of Europa. Finally, by comparing our simulations to Galileo observations, we make predictions on both the thickness and the electrical conductivity of the ocean of different Jovian's satellites.

Synoptic evaluation of scale-dependent metrics for hydrographic line feature geometry

Science.gov (United States)

Stanislawski, Larry V.; Buttenfield, Barbara P.; Raposo, Paulo; Cameron, Madeline; Falgout, Jeff T.

2015-01-01

Methods of acquisition and feature simplification for vector feature data impact cartographic representations and scientific investigations of these data, and are therefore important considerations for geographic information science (Haunert and Sester 2008). After initial collection, linear features may be simplified to reduce excessive detail or to furnish a reduced-scale version of the features through cartographic generalization (Regnauld and McMaster 2008, Stanislawski et al. 2014). A variety of algorithms exist to simplify linear cartographic features, and all of the methods affect the positional accuracy of the features (Shahriari and Tao 2002, Regnauld and McMaster 2008, Stanislawski et al. 2012). In general, simplification operations are controlled by one or more tolerance parameters that limit the amount of positional change the operation can make to features. Using a single tolerance value can have varying levels of positional change on features; depending on local shape, texture, or geometric characteristics of the original features (McMaster and Shea 1992, Shahriari and Tao 2002, Buttenfield et al. 2010). Consequently, numerous researchers have advocated calibration of simplification parameters to control quantifiable properties of resulting changes to the features (Li and Openshaw 1990, Raposo 2013, Tobler 1988, Veregin 2000, and Buttenfield, 1986, 1989).This research identifies relations between local topographic conditions and geometric characteristics of linear features that are available in the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD). The NHD is a comprehensive vector dataset of surface 18 th ICA Workshop on Generalisation and Multiple Representation, Rio de Janiero, Brazil 2015 2 water features within the United States that is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In this paper, geometric characteristics of cartographic representations for natural stream and river features are summarized for subbasin watersheds within entire regions of the

Lodgepole pine site index in relation to synoptic measures of climate, soil moisture and soil nutrients.

Science.gov (United States)

G. Geoff Wang; Shongming Huang; Robert A. Monserud; Ryan J. Klos

2004-01-01

Lodgepole pine site index was examined in relation to synoptic measures of topography, soil moisture, and soil nutrients in Alberta. Data came from 214 lodgepole pine-dominated stands sampled as a part of the provincial permanent sample plot program. Spatial location (elevation, latitude, and longitude) and natural subregions (NSRs) were topographic variables that...

Synoptic and Climate Attributions of the December 2015 Extreme Flooding in Missouri, USA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boniface Fosu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Three days of extreme rainfall in late December 2015 in the middle of the Mississippi River led to severe flooding in Missouri. The meteorological context of this event was analyzed through synoptic diagnosis into the atmospheric circulation that contributed to the precipitation event’s severity. The midlatitude synoptic waves that induced the extreme precipitation and ensuing flooding were traced to the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO, which amplified the trans-Pacific Rossby wave train likely associated with the strong El Niño of December 2015. Though the near-historical El Niño contributed to a quasi-stationary trough over the western U.S. that induced the high precipitation event, an interference between the MJO and El Niño teleconnections resulted in a relatively weak atmospheric signature of the El Niño in comparison to that of the MJO. The influence of anthropogenic climate change on the relationship between ENSO and precipitation across several central U.S. states was also investigated using 17 CMIP5 models from the historical single-forcing experiments. A regime change in ENSO-related precipitation anomalies appears to have occurred, from being negatively correlated before 1950 to positive and significantly correlated after 1970, suggesting a likely effect of anthropogenic warming on the December 2015 extreme precipitation event.

The Coastal Ocean Prediction Systems program: Understanding and managing our coastal ocean. Volume 1: Strategic summary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1990-05-15

The proposed COPS (Coastal Ocean Prediction Systems) program is concerned with combining numerical models with observations (through data assimilation) to improve our predictive knowledge of the coastal ocean. It is oriented toward applied research and development and depends upon the continued pursuit of basic research in programs like COOP (Coastal Ocean Processes); i.e., to a significant degree it is involved with ``technology transfer`` from basic knowledge to operational and management applications. This predictive knowledge is intended to address a variety of societal problems: (1) ship routing, (2) trajectories for search and rescue operations, (3) oil spill trajectory simulations, (4) pollution assessments, (5) fisheries management guidance, (6) simulation of the coastal ocean`s response to climate variability, (7) calculation of sediment transport, (8) calculation of forces on structures, and so forth. The initial concern is with physical models and observations in order to provide a capability for the estimation of physical forces and transports in the coastal ocean. For all these applications, there are common needs for physical field estimates: waves, tides, currents, temperature, and salinity, including mixed layers, thermoclines, fronts, jets, etc. However, the intent is to work with biologists, chemists, and geologists in developing integrated multidisciplinary prediction systems as it becomes feasible to do so. From another perspective, by combining observations with models through data assimilation, a modern approach to monitoring is provided through whole-field estimation.

Seasonal forecasting of synoptic type variability: potential intraseasonal predictability relevant to the Cape south coast of South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Engelbrecht, CJ

2015-09-01

Full Text Available An ensemble of 12 sea-level pressure (SLP) simulations from the United Kingdom Meteorological Office (UKMO) Global Seasonal Forecast System 5 (GloSea5) is used to investigate the potential predictability of synoptic types within 14 austral spring...

A review of ocean energy converters, with an Australian focus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chris Knight

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The requirement to move away from carbon based fossil fuels has led to a renewed interest in unconventional energy sources. Of interest in this article are ocean waves and current and tidal flows. This paper reviews the numerous options for ocean energy conversion systems that are currently available. A basic nomenclature for the variety of systems is utilized to classify the devices. A variety of issues including competing use, boating, fishing, commercial shipping and tourism are discussed with respect to impacts on and from ocean renewable energy.

Development of three dimensional ocean current model for coastal region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kobayashi, Takuya

1999-12-01

In order to study the migration behavior of radionuclides released into a coastal region around Japan, Princeton Ocean Model (POM) was introduced. This three-dimensional ocean current model was modified to be applied for oceanic simulations around Japan. This report describes the governing equations, numerical methods and model improvements. In addition, database system which is utilized for calculations and visualization system for graphical outputs are also described. Model simulation was carried out at off the area of Shimokita. Aomori-ken, Japan to investigate the effects of the boundary conditions on simulated results. (author)

Synoptic of the propositions of the greenhouse effect mission and the OPECST report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nifenecker, H.

2006-09-01

This synoptic provides an evaluation of the propositions for two reports on the climatic change: the report Mission of the Greenhouse effect of the National Assembly and the report OPECST of the Parliamentary Office of the Evaluation of the Scientific Choices and techniques. The evaluation concerns the reduction objectives, the implications of the local government, the formation information and mobilization, the financial aspects, the ternary sector and the buildings, the transports, the research programs, the energy, industry, enterprises and products. (A.L.B.)

Bothid larvae (Pleuronectiformes-Pisces) of the Indian Ocean

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Devi, C.B.L.

the Indian Ocean, their regional, seasonal as well as diurnal variations. Engyprosopon grandisquamis dominated contributing to 23.2% of the total larvae. Numerically the incidence of bothid larvae suggested a uniform pattern of distribution during the two...

Research status and some results of numerical system to study regional environment: SPEEDI-MP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chino, Masamichi

2004-01-01

Research status and some results of 'Numerical system to study regional environment: SPEEDI-MP', which reproduces circulations of materials in the atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial environments, are introduced. The purpose of this system are the development of various environmental models, the connection of atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial models and the construction of research bases for numerical environmental studies. In addition to the accurate prediction of environmental behavior of radionuclides, the system has been applied to the non-nuclear fields, e.g., numerical analysis of environmental effects to volcanic gases from Miyake Jima, real-time prediction of the migration of rice planthoppers from Eastern Asia. (author)

Potential feedback mechanism between phytoplankton and upper ocean circulation with oceanic radiative transfer processes influenced by phytoplankton - Numerical ocean, general circulation models and an analytical solution

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Nakamoto, S.; Kano, M.; PrasannaKumar, S.; Oberhuber, J.M.; Muneyama, K.; Ueyoshi, K.; Subrahmanyam, B.; Nakata, K.; Lai, C.A.; Frouin, R.

29208, USA 'Ocean Engineering Department, Tokai University, Shimizu, Japan "LOS Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA *Corresponding author. E-mail address: nakamotoocean@aol.com (S. Nakamoto?. Elsevier Oceanography Series 73 255 Edited...

Defining Winter and Identifying Synoptic Air Mass Change in the Northeast and Northern Plains U.S. since 1950

Science.gov (United States)

Chapman, C. J.; Pennington, D.; Beitscher, M. R.; Godek, M. L.

2017-12-01

Understanding and forecasting the characteristics of winter weather change in the northern U.S. is vital to regional economy, agriculture, tourism and resident life. This is especially true in the Northeast and Northern Plains where substantial changes to the winter season have already been documented in the atmospheric science and biological literature. As there is no single established definition of `winter', this research attempts to identify the winter season in both regions utilizing a synoptic climatological approach with air mass frequencies. The Spatial Synoptic Classification is used to determine the daily air mass/ weather type conditions since 1950 at 40 locations across the two regions. Annual frequencies are first computed as a baseline reference. Then winter air mass frequencies and departures from normal are calculated to define the season along with the statistical significance. Once the synoptic winter is established, long-term regional changes to the season and significance are explored. As evident global changes have occurred after 1975, an Early period of years prior to 1975 and a Late set for all years following this date are compared. Early and Late record synoptic changes are then examined to assess any thermal and moisture condition changes of the regional winter air masses over time. Cold to moderately dry air masses dominate annually in both regions. Northeast winters are also characterized by cold to moderate dry air masses, with coastal locations experiencing more Moist Polar types. The Northern Plains winters are dominated by cold, dry air masses in the east and cold to moderate dry air masses in the west. Prior to 1975, Northeast winters are defined by an increase in cooler and wetter air masses. Dry Tropical air masses only occur in this region after 1975. Northern Plains winters are also characterized by more cold, dry air masses prior to 1975. More Dry Moderate and Moist Moderate air masses have occurred since 1975. These results

Understanding the Transport of Patagonian Dust and Its Influence on Marine Biological Activity in the South Atlantic Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Matthew; Meskhidze, Nicholas; Kiliyanpilakkil, Praju; Gasso, Santiago

2010-01-01

Modeling and remote sensing techniques were applied to examine the horizontal and vertical transport pathways of Patagonian dust and quantify the effect of soluble-iron- laden mineral dust deposition on marine primary productivity in the South Atlantic Ocean (SAO) surface waters. The global chemistry transport model GEOS-Chem, implemented with an iron dissolution scheme, was applied to evaluate the atmospheric transport and deposition of mineral dust and bioavailable iron during two dust outbreaks originating in the source regions of Patagonia. In addition to this "rapidly released" iron, offline calculations were also carried out to estimate the amount of bioavailable iron leached during the residence time of dust in the ocean mixed layer. Model simulations showed that the horizontal and vertical transport pathways of Patagonian dust plumes were largely influenced by the synoptic meteorological patterns of high and low pressure systems. Model-predicted horizontal and vertical transport pathways of Patagonian dust over the SAO were in reasonable agreement with remotely-sensed data. Comparison between remotely-sensed and offline calculated ocean surface chlorophyll-a concentrations indicated that, for the two dust outbreaks examined in this study, the deposition of bioavailable iron in the SAO through atmospheric pathways was insignificant. As the two dust transport episodes examined here represent typical outflows of mineral dust from South American sources, our study suggests that the atmospheric deposition of mineral dust is unlikely to induce large scale marine primary productivity and carbon sequestration in the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean.

Interactions of the tropical oceans. Rev.ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Latif, M.; Barnett, T.P.

1994-01-01

We have investigated the interactions of the tropical oceans on interannual time scales by conducting a series of uncoupled atmospheric and oceanic general circulation experiments and hybrid coupled model simulations. Our results illustrate the key role of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon in generating interannual variability in all three tropical ocean basins. Sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the tropical Pacific force via a changed atmospheric circulation SST anomalies of the same sign in the Indian Ocean and SST anomalies of the opposite sign in the Atlantic. However, although air-sea interactions in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans are much weaker than those in the Pacific, they contribute significantly to the variability in these two regions. The role of these air-sea interactions is mainly that of an amplifyer by which the ENSO induced signals are enhanced in ocean and atmosphere. This process is particularly important in the tropical Atlantic region. We investigated also whether ENSO is part of a zonally propagating ''wave'' which travels around the globe with a time scale of several years. Consistent with observations, the upper ocean heat content in the various numerical simulations seems to propagate slowly around the globe. SST anomalies in the Pacific Ocean introduce a global atmospheric response which in turn forces variations in the other tropical oceans. Since the different oceans exhibit different response characteristics to low-frequency wind changes, the individual tropical ocean responses can add up coincidentally to look like a global wave, and that appears to be the situation. In particular, no evidence is found that the Indian Ocean can significantly affect the ENSO cycle in the Pacific. Finally, the potential for climate forecasts in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans appears to be enhanced if one includes, in a coupled way, remote influences from the Pacific. (orig.)

Ocean forecasting in terrain-following coordinates: Formulation and skill assessment of the Regional Ocean Modeling System

Science.gov (United States)

Haidvogel, D.B.; Arango, H.; Budgell, W.P.; Cornuelle, B.D.; Curchitser, E.; Di, Lorenzo E.; Fennel, K.; Geyer, W.R.; Hermann, A.J.; Lanerolle, L.; Levin, J.; McWilliams, J.C.; Miller, A.J.; Moore, A.M.; Powell, T.M.; Shchepetkin, A.F.; Sherwood, C.R.; Signell, R.P.; Warner, J.C.; Wilkin, J.

2008-01-01

Systematic improvements in algorithmic design of regional ocean circulation models have led to significant enhancement in simulation ability across a wide range of space/time scales and marine system types. As an example, we briefly review the Regional Ocean Modeling System, a member of a general class of three-dimensional, free-surface, terrain-following numerical models. Noteworthy characteristics of the ROMS computational kernel include: consistent temporal averaging of the barotropic mode to guarantee both exact conservation and constancy preservation properties for tracers; redefined barotropic pressure-gradient terms to account for local variations in the density field; vertical interpolation performed using conservative parabolic splines; and higher-order, quasi-monotone advection algorithms. Examples of quantitative skill assessment are shown for a tidally driven estuary, an ice-covered high-latitude sea, a wind- and buoyancy-forced continental shelf, and a mid-latitude ocean basin. The combination of moderate-order spatial approximations, enhanced conservation properties, and quasi-monotone advection produces both more robust and accurate, and less diffusive, solutions than those produced in earlier terrain-following ocean models. Together with advanced methods of data assimilation and novel observing system technologies, these capabilities constitute the necessary ingredients for multi-purpose regional ocean prediction systems. 

THE PITFALLS OF THE BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY CANVAS

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindgren, Peter; Saghaug, Kristin Margrethe; Clemmensen, Suberia

2009-01-01

Numerous authors have developed a list of tactics and analyticaltechniques to discover new business or new business models (Markides2008)(Johnson 2008). The Blue Ocean strategy (Kim & Mauborgne 2005)have been one of these - probably one of the most important analyticaltechniques related to the area...... of innovation and new business model (BM)innovation since 2005. Today many consultancies and managersresponsible for innovation use the Blue Ocean framework as one of theirtop 5 innovation tools.Wanting to accentuate the importance of analyzing the strategy canvascarefully, when generating new business models...... - it is important tounderstand the very foundation and construction of the strategy canvas -namely value.This paper addresses the question on How is value defined, measured andfrom which viewed in the Blue Ocean theory and framework. How is valuedefined and used by companies using the Blue Ocean strategy...

West Florida shelf circulation and temperature budget for the 1998 fall transition

Science.gov (United States)

He, Ruoying; Weisberg, Robert H.

2003-05-01

Mid-latitude continental shelves undergo a fall transition as the net heat flux changes from warming to cooling. Using in situ data and a numerical model we investigate the circulation on the west Florida shelf (WFS) for the fall transition of 1998. The model is a regional adaptation of the primitive equation, Princeton Ocean Model forced by NCEP reanalysis wind, air pressure, and heat flux fields, plus river inflows. After comparison with observations the model is used to draw inferences on the seasonal and synoptic scale features of the shelf circulation. By running twin experiments, one without and the other with an idealized Loop Current (LC), we explore the relative importance of local versus deep-ocean forcing. We find that local forcing largely controls the inner-shelf circulation, including changes from the Florida Panhandle in the north to regions farther south. The effects of the LC in fall 1998 are to reinforce the mid-shelf currents and to increase the across-shelf transports in the bottom Ekman layer, thereby accentuating the shoreward transport of cold, nutrient rich water of deep-ocean origin. A three-dimensional analysis of the temperature budget reveals that surface heat flux largely controls both the seasonal and synoptic scale temperature variations. Surface cooling leads to convective mixing that rapidly alters temperature gradients. One interesting consequence is that upwelling can result in near-shore warming as warmer offshore waters are advected landward. The temperature balances on the shelf are complex and fully three-dimensional.

Characterizing the Severe Turbulence Environments Associated With Commercial Aviation Accidents. Part 1; 44 Case Study Synoptic Observational Analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, Michael L.; Huffman, Allan W.; Lux, Kevin M.; Charney, Joseph J.; Riordan, Allan J.; Lin, Yuh-Lang; Proctor, Fred H. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

A 44 case study analysis of the large-scale atmospheric structure associated with development of accident-producing aircraft turbulence is described. Categorization is a function of the accident location, altitude, time of year, time of day, and the turbulence category, which classifies disturbances. National Centers for Environmental Prediction Reanalyses data sets and satellite imagery are employed to diagnose synoptic scale predictor fields associated with the large-scale environment preceding severe turbulence. These analyses indicate a predominance of severe accident-producing turbulence within the entrance region of a jet stream at the synoptic scale. Typically, a flow curvature region is just upstream within the jet entrance region, convection is within 100 km of the accident, vertical motion is upward, absolute vorticity is low, vertical wind shear is increasing, and horizontal cold advection is substantial. The most consistent predictor is upstream flow curvature and nearby convection is the second most frequent predictor.

Synoptic analysis of heat waves in the Barcelona city (Catalonia, Spain) during 21st century

Science.gov (United States)

Amaro, Jéssica; Peña, Juan Carlos; Miró, Josep Ramon; Aran, Montserrat

2017-04-01

The impact of extremely warm episodes on health has been analysed by a large number of studies conducted in different countries and cities, showing that heat waves events (HWE) can cause an abrupt increase in mortality. A HWE was defined as a 7-day sequence following a key-day labelled by the 95th percentile of Barcelona daily mortality (see Peña et al., 2015). The aim of this study is to identify synoptic patterns associated to HWE in Barcelona over the 21st century and evaluate the impact and possible mitigations. To achieve it, a multivariate analysis (MVA) integrating different atmospheric levels (sea level pressure, temperature at 850 hPa and geopotential at 500 hPa) was undertaken. The observed data used for this study was the 20th Century Reanalysis. The Max Planck Institute Earth system model was used to study two scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) during the 21st century. The model was calibrated given the variability in the climate scenario, using the Quantile-Quantile mapping transformation (Q-Q). The MVA applied to the observed period (1990-2015) distinguish three main synoptic patterns: two dynamic configurations produced by southern fluxes related to an Atlantic low, associated with HWE recorded in southern Europe, and a third pattern identified by a stagnation situation related to persistent anticyclone periods. These patterns were also detected in the control simulated period (1961-2005) after the Q-Q calibration, preserving, therefore, the climatic variability: the number of HWE during the warm period (1990-2005) is twice more than during the cold period (1976-1989) due to an intensification of the warm masses. In the RCP 4.5 scenario (2006-2100 period) a positive and significant trend is shown in synoptic patterns which provoke HWE in Barcelona, especially during August; in the RCP 8.5 scenario there is no significant trend, but the intensification of the warm masses is higher.

Regime Behavior in Paleo-Reconstructed Streamflow: Attributions to Atmospheric Dynamics, Synoptic Circulation and Large-Scale Climate Teleconnection Patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Ravindranath, A.; Devineni, N.

2017-12-01

Studies have shown that streamflow behavior and dynamics have a significant link with climate and climate variability. Patterns of persistent regime behavior from extended streamflow records in many watersheds justify investigating large-scale climate mechanisms as potential drivers of hydrologic regime behavior and streamflow variability. Understanding such streamflow-climate relationships is crucial to forecasting/simulation systems and the planning and management of water resources. In this study, hidden Markov models are used with reconstructed streamflow to detect regime-like behaviors - the hidden states - and state transition phenomena. Individual extreme events and their spatial variability across the basin are then verified with the identified states. Wavelet analysis is performed to examine the signals over time in the streamflow records. Joint analyses of the climatic data in the 20th century and the identified states are undertaken to better understand the hydroclimatic connections within the basin as well as important teleconnections that influence water supply. Compositing techniques are used to identify atmospheric circulation patterns associated with identified states of streamflow. The grouping of such synoptic patterns and their frequency are then examined. Sliding time-window correlation analysis and cross-wavelet spectral analysis are performed to establish the synchronicity of basin flows to the identified synoptic and teleconnection patterns. The Missouri River Basin (MRB) is examined in this study, both as a means of better understanding the synoptic climate controls in this important watershed and as a case study for the techniques developed here. Initial wavelet analyses of reconstructed streamflow at major gauges in the MRB show multidecadal cycles in regime behavior.

Synoptic sampling and principal components analysis to identify sources of water and metals to an acid mine drainage stream.

Science.gov (United States)

Byrne, Patrick; Runkel, Robert L; Walton-Day, Katherine

2017-07-01

Combining the synoptic mass balance approach with principal components analysis (PCA) can be an effective method for discretising the chemistry of inflows and source areas in watersheds where contamination is diffuse in nature and/or complicated by groundwater interactions. This paper presents a field-scale study in which synoptic sampling and PCA are employed in a mineralized watershed (Lion Creek, Colorado, USA) under low flow conditions to (i) quantify the impacts of mining activity on stream water quality; (ii) quantify the spatial pattern of constituent loading; and (iii) identify inflow sources most responsible for observed changes in stream chemistry and constituent loading. Several of the constituents investigated (Al, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn) fail to meet chronic aquatic life standards along most of the study reach. The spatial pattern of constituent loading suggests four primary sources of contamination under low flow conditions. Three of these sources are associated with acidic (pH mine water in the Minnesota Mine shaft located to the north-east of the river channel. In addition, water chemistry data during a rainfall-runoff event suggests the spatial pattern of constituent loading may be modified during rainfall due to dissolution of efflorescent salts or erosion of streamside tailings. These data point to the complexity of contaminant mobilisation processes and constituent loading in mining-affected watersheds but the combined synoptic sampling and PCA approach enables a conceptual model of contaminant dynamics to be developed to inform remediation.

Marine isoprene production and consumption in the mixed layer of the surface ocean - a field study over two oceanic regions

Science.gov (United States)

Booge, Dennis; Schlundt, Cathleen; Bracher, Astrid; Endres, Sonja; Zäncker, Birthe; Marandino, Christa A.

2018-02-01

Parameterizations of surface ocean isoprene concentrations are numerous, despite the lack of source/sink process understanding. Here we present isoprene and related field measurements in the mixed layer from the Indian Ocean and the eastern Pacific Ocean to investigate the production and consumption rates in two contrasting regions, namely oligotrophic open ocean and the coastal upwelling region. Our data show that the ability of different phytoplankton functional types (PFTs) to produce isoprene seems to be mainly influenced by light, ocean temperature, and salinity. Our field measurements also demonstrate that nutrient availability seems to have a direct influence on the isoprene production. With the help of pigment data, we calculate in-field isoprene production rates for different PFTs under varying biogeochemical and physical conditions. Using these new calculated production rates, we demonstrate that an additional significant and variable loss, besides a known chemical loss and a loss due to air-sea gas exchange, is needed to explain the measured isoprene concentration. We hypothesize that this loss, with a lifetime for isoprene between 10 and 100 days depending on the ocean region, is potentially due to degradation or consumption by bacteria.

Simulation of the Impact of New Aircraft-and Satellite-based Ocean Surface Wind Measurements on Wind Analyses and Numerical Forecasts

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, TImothy; Atlas, Robert; Black, Peter; Chen, Shuyi; Jones, Linwood; Ruf, Chris; Uhlhorn, Eric; Gamache, John; Amarin, Ruba; El-Nimri, Salem;

Sensitivity of the regional ocean acidification and carbonate system in Puget Sound to ocean and freshwater inputs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Bianucci

2018-03-01

Full Text Available While ocean acidification was first investigated as a global phenomenon, coastal acidification has received significant attention in recent years, as its impacts have been felt by different socio-economic sectors (e.g., high mortality of shellfish larvae in aquaculture farms. As a region that connects land and ocean, the Salish Sea (consisting of Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Georgia receives inputs from many different sources (rivers, wastewater treatment plants, industrial waste treatment facilities, etc., making these coastal waters vulnerable to acidification. Moreover, the lowering of pH in the Northeast Pacific Ocean also affects the Salish Sea, as more acidic waters get transported into the bottom waters of the straits and estuaries. Here, we use a numerical ocean model of the Salish Sea to improve our understanding of the carbonate system in Puget Sound; in particular, we studied the sensitivity of carbonate variables (e.g., dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, pH, saturation state of aragonite to ocean and freshwater inputs. The model is an updated version of our FVCOM-ICM framework, with new carbonate-system and sediment modules. Sensitivity experiments altering concentrations at the open boundaries and freshwater sources indicate that not only ocean conditions entering the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but also the dilution of carbonate variables by freshwater sources, are key drivers of the carbonate system in Puget Sound.

Global Earth Response to Loading by Ocean Tide Models

Science.gov (United States)

Estes, R. H.; Strayer, J. M.

1979-01-01

Mathematical and programming techniques to numerically calculate Earth response to global semidiurnal and diurnal ocean tide models were developed. Global vertical crustal deformations were evaluated for M sub 2, S sub 2, N sub 2, K sub 2, K sub 1, O sub 1, and P sub 1 ocean tide loading, while horizontal deformations were evaluated for the M sub 2 tidal load. Tidal gravity calculations were performed for M sub 2 tidal loads, and strain tensor elements were evaluated for M sub 2 loads. The M sub 2 solution used for the ocean tide included the effects of self-gravitation and crustal loading.

Water Quality Data from Two Agricultural Drainage Basins in Northwestern Indiana and Northeastern Illinois: I. Lagrangian and Synoptic Data, 1999-2002

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Antweiler, Ronald C; Smith, Richard L; Voytek, Mary A; Boehlke, John-Karl; Richards, Kevin D

2004-01-01

Methods of data collection and results of analyses are presented for Lagrangian and synoptic water-quality data collected from two agricultural drainages, the Iroquois River in northwestern Indiana...

Synoptic Mid-IR Spectra ToO Novae

Science.gov (United States)

Helton, L. Andrew; Woodward, Chick; Evans, Nye; Geballe, Tom; Spitzer Nova Team

2007-02-01

Stars are the engines of energy production and chemical evolution in our Universe, depositing radiative and mechanical energy into their environments and enriching the ambient ISM with elements synthesized in their interiors and dust grains condensed in their atmospheres. Classical novae (CN) contribute to this cycle of chemical enrichment through explosive nucleosynthesis and the violent ejection of material dredged from the white dwarf progenitor and mixed with the accreted surface layers. We propose to obtain mid-IR spectra of a new galactic CN in outburst to investigate aspects of the CN phenomenon including the in situ formation and mineralogy of nova dust and the elemental abundances resulting from thermonuclear runaway. Synoptic, high S/N Michelle spectra permit: 1) determination of the grain size distribution and mineral composition of nova dust; 2) estimation of chemical abundances of nova ejecta from coronal and other emission line spectroscopy; and 3) measurement of the density and masses of the ejecta. This Gemini `Target of Opportunity' initiative (trigger K=5- 8 mag, assuming adequate PWFS guide stars exist) complements our extensive Spitzer, Chandra, Swift, XMM-Newton CN DDT/ToO programs.

Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions Modulate Irrigation's Climate Impacts

Science.gov (United States)

Krakauer, Nir Y.; Puma, Michael J.; Cook, Benjamin I.; Gentine, Pierre; Nazarenko, Larissa

2016-01-01

Numerous studies have focused on the local and regional climate effects of irrigated agriculture and other land cover and land use change (LCLUC) phenomena, but there are few studies on the role of ocean- atmosphere interaction in modulating irrigation climate impacts. Here, we compare simulations with and without interactive sea surface temperatures of the equilibrium effect on climate of contemporary (year 2000) irrigation geographic extent and intensity. We find that ocean-atmosphere interaction does impact the magnitude of global-mean and spatially varying climate impacts, greatly increasing their global reach. Local climate effects in the irrigated regions remain broadly similar, while non-local effects, particularly over the oceans, tend to be larger. The interaction amplifies irrigation-driven standing wave patterns in the tropics and mid-latitudes in our simulations, approximately doubling the global-mean amplitude of surface temperature changes due to irrigation. The fractions of global area experiencing significant annual-mean surface air temperature and precipitation change also approximately double with ocean-atmosphere interaction. Subject to confirmation with other models, these findings imply that LCLUC is an important contributor to climate change even in remote areas such as the Southern Ocean, and that attribution studies should include interactive oceans and need to consider LCLUC, including irrigation, as a truly global forcing that affects climate and the water cycle over ocean as well as land areas.

Storm-driven Mixing and Potential Impact on the Arctic Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jiayan; Comiso, Josefino; Walsh, David; Krishfield, Richard; Honjo, Susumu; Koblinsky, Chester J. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Observations of the ocean, atmosphere, and ice made by Ice-Ocean Environmental Buoys (IOEBs) indicate that mixing events reaching the depth of the halocline have occurred in various regions in the Arctic Ocean. Our analysis suggests that these mixing events were mechanically forced by intense storms moving across the buoy sites. In this study, we analyzed these mixing events in the context of storm developments that occurred in the Beaufort Sea and in the general area just north of Fram Strait, two areas with quite different hydrographic structures. The Beaufort Sea is strongly influenced by inflow of Pacific water through Bering Strait, while the area north of Fram Strait is directly affected by the inflow of warm and salty North Atlantic water. Our analyses of the basin-wide evolution of the surface pressure and geostrophic wind fields indicate that the characteristics of the storms could be very different. The buoy-observed mixing occurred only in the spring and winter seasons when the stratification was relatively weak. This indicates the importance of stratification, although the mixing itself was mechanically driven. We also analyze the distribution of storms, both the long-term climatology as well as the patterns for each year in the last two decades. The frequency of storms is also shown to be correlated- (but not strongly) to Arctic Oscillation indices. This study indicates that the formation of new ice that leads to brine rejection is unlikely the mechanism that results in the type of mixing that could overturn the halocline. On the other hand, synoptic-scale storms can force mixing deep enough to the halocline and thermocline layer. Despite a very stable stratification associated with the Arctic halocline, the warm subsurface thermocline water is not always insulated from the mixed layer.

Downscaling Ocean Conditions: Initial Results using a Quasigeostrophic and Realistic Ocean Model

Science.gov (United States)

Katavouta, Anna; Thompson, Keith

2014-05-01

Previous theoretical work (Henshaw et al, 2003) has shown that the small-scale modes of variability of solutions of the unforced, incompressible Navier-Stokes equation, and Burgers' equation, can be reconstructed with surprisingly high accuracy from the time history of a few of the large-scale modes. Motivated by this theoretical work we first describe a straightforward method for assimilating information on the large scales in order to recover the small scale oceanic variability. The method is based on nudging in specific wavebands and frequencies and is similar to the so-called spectral nudging method that has been used successfully for atmospheric downscaling with limited area models (e.g. von Storch et al., 2000). The validity of the method is tested using a quasigestrophic model configured to simulate a double ocean gyre separated by an unstable mid-ocean jet. It is shown that important features of the ocean circulation including the position of the meandering mid-ocean jet and associated pinch-off eddies can indeed be recovered from the time history of a small number of large-scales modes. The benefit of assimilating additional time series of observations from a limited number of locations, that alone are too sparse to significantly improve the recovery of the small scales using traditional assimilation techniques, is also demonstrated using several twin experiments. The final part of the study outlines the application of the approach using a realistic high resolution (1/36 degree) model, based on the NEMO (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean) modeling framework, configured for the Scotian Shelf of the east coast of Canada. The large scale conditions used in this application are obtained from the HYCOM (HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model) + NCODA (Navy Coupled Ocean Data Assimilation) global 1/12 degree analysis product. Henshaw, W., Kreiss, H.-O., Ystrom, J., 2003. Numerical experiments on the interaction between the larger- and the small-scale motion of

A Multi-Process Test Case to Perform Comparative Analysis of Coastal Oceanic Models

Science.gov (United States)

Lemarié, F.; Burchard, H.; Knut, K.; Debreu, L.

2016-12-01

Due to the wide variety of choices that need to be made during the development of dynamical kernels of oceanic models, there is a strong need for an effective and objective assessment of the various methods and approaches that predominate in the community. We present here an idealized multi-scale scenario for coastal ocean models combining estuarine, coastal and shelf sea scales at midlatitude. The bathymetry, initial conditions and external forcings are defined analytically so that any model developer or user could reproduce the test case with its own numerical code. Thermally stratified conditions are prescribed and a tidal forcing is imposed as a propagating coastal Kelvin wave. The following physical processes can be assessed from the model results: estuarine process driven by tides and buoyancy gradients, the river plume dynamics, tidal fronts, and the interaction between tides and inertial oscillations. We show results obtained using the GETM (General Estuarine Transport Model) and the CROCO (Coastal and Regional Ocean Community model) models. Those two models are representative of the diversity of numerical methods in use in coastal models: GETM is based on a quasi-lagrangian vertical coordinate, a coupled space-time approach for advective terms, a TVD (Total Variation Diminishing) tracer advection scheme while CROCO is discretized with a quasi-eulerian vertical coordinate, a method of lines is used for advective terms, and tracer advection satisfies the TVB (Total Variation Bounded) property. The multiple scales are properly resolved thanks to nesting strategies, 1-way nesting for GETM and 2-way nesting for CROCO. Such test case can be an interesting experiment to continue research in numerical approaches as well as an efficient tool to allow intercomparison between structured-grid and unstructured-grid approaches. Reference : Burchard, H., Debreu, L., Klingbeil, K., Lemarié, F. : The numerics of hydrostatic structured-grid coastal ocean models: state of

Sensitivity of ocean model simulation in the coastal ocean to the resolution of the meteorological forcing

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Feng; Shapiro, Georgy; Thain, Richard

2013-04-01

The quality of ocean simulations depends on a number of factors such as approximations in governing equations, errors introduced by the numerical scheme, uncertainties in input parameters, and atmospheric forcing. The identification of relations between the uncertainties in input and output data is still a challenge for the development of numerical models. The impacts of ocean variables on ocean models are still not well known (e.g., Kara et al., 2009). Given the considerable importance of the atmospheric forcing to the air-sea interaction, it is essential that researchers in ocean modelling work need a good understanding about how sensitive the atmospheric forcing is to variations of model results, which is beneficial to the development of ocean models. Also, it provides a proper way to choose the atmospheric forcing in ocean modelling applications. Our previous study (Shapiro et al, 2011) has shown that the basin-wide circulation pattern and the temperature structure in the Black Sea produced by the same model is significantly dependent on the source of the meteorological input, giving remarkably different responses. For the purpose of this study we have chosen the Celtic Sea where high resolution meteo data are available from the UK Met office since 2006. The Celtic Sea is tidally dominated water basin, with the tidal stream amplitude varying from 0.25m/s in the southwest to 2 m/s in the Bristol Channel. It is also filled with mesoscale eddies which contribute to the formation of the residual (tidally averaged) circulation pattern (Young et al, 2003). The sea is strongly stratified from April to November, which adds to the formation of density driven currents. In this paper we analyse how sensitive the model output is to variations in the spatial resolution of meteorological using low (1.6°) and high (0.11°) resolution meteo forcing, giving the quantitative relation between variations of met forcing and the resulted differences of model results, as well as

Saharan dust intrusions in Spain: Health impacts and associated synoptic conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Díaz, Julio; Linares, Cristina; Carmona, Rocío; Russo, Ana; Ortiz, Cristina; Salvador, Pedro; Trigo, Ricardo Machado

2017-07-01

A lot of papers have been published about the impact on mortality of Sahara dust intrusions in individual cities. However, there is a lack of studies that analyse the impact on a country and scarcer if in addition the analysis takes into account the meteorological conditions that favour these intrusions. The main aim is to examine the effect of Saharan dust intrusions on daily mortality in different Spanish regions and to characterize the large-scale atmospheric circulation anomalies associated with such dust intrusions. For determination of days with Saharan dust intrusions, we used information supplied by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Environment, it divides Spain into 9 main areas. In each of these regions, a representative province was selected. A time series analysis has been performed to analyse the relationship between daily mortality and PM 10 levels in the period from 01.01.04 to 31.12.09, using Poisson regression and stratifying the analysis by the presence or absence of Saharan dust advections. The proportion of days on which there are Saharan dust intrusions rises to 30% of days. The synoptic pattern is characterised by an anticyclonic ridge extending from northern Africa to the Iberian Peninsula. Particulate matter (PM) on days with intrusions are associated with daily mortality, something that does not occur on days without intrusions, indicating that Saharan dust may be a risk factor for daily mortality. In other cases, what Saharan dust intrusions do is to change the PM-related mortality behaviour pattern, going from PM 2.5 . A study such as the one conducted here, in which meteorological analysis of synoptic situations which favour Saharan dust intrusions, is combined with the effect on health at a city level, would seem to be crucial when it comes to analysing the differentiated mortality pattern in situations of Saharan dust intrusions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Statistical-Synoptic Analysis of the Atmosphere Thickness Pattern of Iran’s Pervasive Frosts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iman Rousta

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The present study aimed at analyzing the synoptic pattern of atmospheric thickness of winter pervasive frosts in Iran. To this end, the data related to the daily minimum temperature of a 50-year period (1961–2010 were gathered from 451 synoptic and climatology stations. Then, the instances in which the temperature was below 0 °C for at least two consecutive days and this phenomenon covered at least 50% of the entirety of Iran were selected. Subsequently, the atmosphere thickness pattern was extracted for these days, with the representative day being identified and analyzed through cluster analysis. The results showed that the Siberian high pressure plays a significant role in the occurrence of pervasive frosts in Iran. In some other cases, the northeast–southwest direction of this pattern leads to its combination with the East Europe high pressure, causing widespread frosts in Iran. Furthermore, the interaction between counter clockwise currents in this system and the clockwise currents in the Azores high pressure tongue directs cold weather from northern parts of Europe toward Iran. The formation of blocking systems leads to the stagnation of cold weather over Iran, a phenomenon that results in significant reduction of temperature and severe frosts in these areas. In addition, the omega pattern (the fifth pattern and Deep Eastern European trough and polar low pressure pattern (the fourth pattern were the most dominant and severe frost patterns in Iran respectively.

A Synoptic Assessment of the Amazon River-Ocean Continuum during Boreal Autumn: From Physics to Plankton Communities and Carbon Flux

Science.gov (United States)

Araujo, Moacyr; Noriega, Carlos; Hounsou-gbo, Gbekpo Aubains; Veleda, Doris; Araujo, Julia; Bruto, Leonardo; Feitosa, Fernando; Flores-Montes, Manuel; Lefèvre, Nathalie; Melo, Pedro; Otsuka, Amanda; Travassos, Keyla; Schwamborn, Ralf; Neumann-Leitão, Sigrid

2017-01-01

The Amazon generates the world's largest offshore river plume, which covers extensive areas of the tropical Atlantic. The data and samples in this study were obtained during the oceanographic cruise Camadas Finas III in October 2012 along the Amazon River-Ocean Continuum (AROC). The cruise occurred during boreal autumn, when the river plume reaches its maximum eastward extent. In this study, we examine the links between physics, biogeochemistry and plankton community structure along the AROC. Hydrographic results showed very different conditions, ranging from shallow well-mixed coastal waters to offshore areas, where low salinity Amazonian waters mix with open ocean waters. Nutrients, mainly NO3− and SiO2−, were highly depleted in coastal regions, and the magnitude of primary production was greater than that of respiration (negative apparent oxygen utilization). In terms of phytoplankton groups, diatoms dominated the region from the river mouth to the edge of the area affected by the North Brazil Current (NBC) retroflection (with chlorophyll a concentrations ranging from 0.02 to 0.94 mg m−3). The North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC) region, east of retroflection, is fully oligotrophic and the most representative groups are Cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates. Additionally, in this region, blooms of cyanophyte species were associated with diatoms and Mesozooplankton (copepods). A total of 178 zooplankton taxa were observed in this area, with Copepoda being the most diverse and abundant group. Two different zooplankton communities were identified: a low-diversity, high-abundance coastal community and a high-diversity, low-abundance oceanic community offshore. The CO2 fugacity (fCO2sw), calculated from total alkalinity (1,450 35 and higher-intensity winds, the CO2 flux is reversed. Lower fCO2sw values were observed in the NECC area. The ΔfCO2 in this region was less than 5 μatm (−0.3 mmol m−2 d−1), while the ΔfCO2 in the coastal region was

A Synoptic Assessment of the Amazon River-Ocean Continuum during Boreal Autumn: From Physics to Plankton Communities and Carbon Flux.

Science.gov (United States)

Araujo, Moacyr; Noriega, Carlos; Hounsou-Gbo, Gbekpo Aubains; Veleda, Doris; Araujo, Julia; Bruto, Leonardo; Feitosa, Fernando; Flores-Montes, Manuel; Lefèvre, Nathalie; Melo, Pedro; Otsuka, Amanda; Travassos, Keyla; Schwamborn, Ralf; Neumann-Leitão, Sigrid

2017-01-01

The Amazon generates the world's largest offshore river plume, which covers extensive areas of the tropical Atlantic. The data and samples in this study were obtained during the oceanographic cruise Camadas Finas III in October 2012 along the Amazon River-Ocean Continuum (AROC). The cruise occurred during boreal autumn, when the river plume reaches its maximum eastward extent. In this study, we examine the links between physics, biogeochemistry and plankton community structure along the AROC. Hydrographic results showed very different conditions, ranging from shallow well-mixed coastal waters to offshore areas, where low salinity Amazonian waters mix with open ocean waters. Nutrients, mainly [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], were highly depleted in coastal regions, and the magnitude of primary production was greater than that of respiration (negative apparent oxygen utilization). In terms of phytoplankton groups, diatoms dominated the region from the river mouth to the edge of the area affected by the North Brazil Current (NBC) retroflection (with chlorophyll a concentrations ranging from 0.02 to 0.94 mg m -3 ). The North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC) region, east of retroflection, is fully oligotrophic and the most representative groups are Cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates. Additionally, in this region, blooms of cyanophyte species were associated with diatoms and Mesozooplankton (copepods). A total of 178 zooplankton taxa were observed in this area, with Copepoda being the most diverse and abundant group. Two different zooplankton communities were identified: a low-diversity, high-abundance coastal community and a high-diversity, low-abundance oceanic community offshore. The CO 2 fugacity (fCO 2 sw), calculated from total alkalinity (1,450 35 and higher-intensity winds, the CO 2 flux is reversed. Lower fCO 2 sw values were observed in the NECC area. The ΔfCO 2 in this region was less than 5 μatm (-0.3 mmol m -2 d -1 ), while the ΔfCO 2 in the

Excitation of the Earth's Chandler wobble by a turbulent oceanic double-gyre

Science.gov (United States)

Naghibi, S. E.; Jalali, M. A.; Karabasov, S. A.; Alam, M.-R.

2017-04-01

We develop a layer-averaged, multiple-scale spectral ocean model and show how an oceanic double-gyre can communicate with the Earth's Chandler wobble. The overall transfers of energy and angular momentum from the double-gyre to the Chandler wobble are used to calibrate the turbulence parameters of the layer-averaged model. Our model is tested against a multilayer quasi-geostrophic ocean model in turbulent regime, and base states used in parameter identification are obtained from mesoscale eddy resolving numerical simulations. The Chandler wobble excitation function obtained from the model predicts a small role of North Atlantic ocean region on the wobble dynamics as compared to all oceans, in agreement with the existing observations.

The Eddington approximation calculation of radiation flux in the atmosphere–ocean system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi, Chong; Nakajima, Teruyuki

2015-01-01

An analytical approximation method is presented to calculate the radiation flux in the atmosphere–ocean system using the Eddington approximation when the upwelling radiation from the ocean body is negligibly small. Numerical experiments were carried out to investigate the feasibility of the method in two cases: flat and rough ocean surfaces. The results show good consistency for the reflectivity at the top of atmosphere and transmissivity just above the ocean surface, in comparison with the exact values calculated by radiative transfer models in each case. Moreover, an obvious error might be introduced for the calculation of radiation flux at larger solar zenith angles when the roughness of the ocean surface is neglected. - Highlights: • The Eddington approximation method is extended to the atmosphere–ocean system. • The roughness of ocean surface cannot be neglected at lager solar zenith angles. • Unidirectional reflectivity for rough ocean surface is proposed

Twentieth century North Atlantic climate change. Part II: Understanding the effect of Indian Ocean warming

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoerling, M.P.; Xu, T.; Bates, G.T. [Climate Diagnostics Center NOAA, Boulder, CO 80305-3328 (United States); Hurrell, J.W.; Phillips, A.S. [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)

2004-09-01

Ensembles of atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) experiments are used in an effort to understand the boreal winter Northern Hemisphere (NH) extratropical climate response to the observed warming of tropical sea surface temperatures (SSTs) over the last half of the twentieth Century. Specifically, we inquire about the origins of unusual, if not unprecedented, changes in the wintertime North Atlantic and European climate that are well described by a linear trend in most indices of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The simulated NH atmospheric response to the linear trend component of tropic-wide SST change since 1950 projects strongly onto the positive polarity of the NAO and is a hemispheric pattern distinguished by decreased (increased) Arctic (middle latitude) sea level pressure. Progressive warming of the Indian Ocean is the principal contributor to this wintertime extratropical response, as shown through additional AGCM ensembles forced with only the SST trend in that sector. The Indian Ocean influence is further established through the reproducibility of results across three different models forced with identical, idealized patterns of the observed warming. Examination of the transient atmospheric adjustment to a sudden ''switch-on'' of an Indian Ocean SST anomaly reveals that the North Atlantic response is not consistent with linear theory and most likely involves synoptic eddy feedbacks associated with changes in the North Atlantic storm track. The tropical SST control exerted over twentieth century regional climate underlies the importance of determining the future course of tropical SST for regional climate change and its uncertainty. Better understanding of the extratropical responses to different, plausible trajectories of the tropical oceans is key to such efforts. (orig.)

Risk assessment for cardiovascular and respiratory mortality due to air pollution and synoptic meteorology in 10 Canadian cities.

Science.gov (United States)

Vanos, Jennifer K; Hebbern, Christopher; Cakmak, Sabit

2014-02-01

Synoptic weather and ambient air quality synergistically influence human health. We report the relative risk of mortality from all non-accidental, respiratory-, and cardiovascular-related causes, associated with exposure to four air pollutants, by weather type and season, in 10 major Canadian cities for 1981 through 1999. We conducted this multi-city time-series study using Poisson generalized linear models stratified by season and each of six distinctive synoptic weather types. Statistically significant relationships of mortality due to short-term exposure to carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and ozone were found, with significant modifications of risk by weather type, season, and mortality cause. In total, 61% of the respiratory-related mortality relative risk estimates were significantly higher than for cardiovascular-related mortality. The combined effect of weather and air pollution is greatest when tropical-type weather is present in the spring or summer. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spectral changes in stochastic anisotropic electromagnetic beams propagating through turbulent ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Miaomiao; Zhao, Daomu

2014-02-01

Based on the extended Huygens-Fresnel principle and the unified theory of coherence and polarization of light, the spectral changes of stochastic anisotropic electromagnetic beams propagating through oceanic turbulence are revealed. As an example, some numerical calculations are illustrated for an anisotropic electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model beam propagating in a homogeneous and isotropic turbulent ocean. It is shown that, under the influence of oceanic turbulence, the on-axis spectrum is always blue-shifted along with the propagation distance, however, for the off-axis positions, red-blue spectral switch can be found.

Quotations from the songs about Servant of Yahwe in Synoptic Gospels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dariusz Adamczyk

2011-03-01

Full Text Available We don’t get to know from Isaiah’s songs, who is the Servant of Yahwe. In Synoptic Gospels quotations are contained from the first and fourth songs about the Servant of Yahweh. Synopticians interpreted in a new way Old Testament texts in light of Christs resurrection. They see prophetic announcement and the same type of Jesus Christ, Messiah and Saviour in Isaiah’s Servant. In Jesus Christ is filled out in a perfect and final way everything the Old Testament has announced about the Servant of Yahweh. The evangelical context of these quotations allows one to see in the suffering of the Servant of God, announcement of the redemptive fatigue, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Status of the Polar Engineering Development Center's (PEDC) Open-Closed Boundary Synoptic Nowcast

Science.gov (United States)

Gerrard, A. J.; Kim, H.

2017-12-01

We present the most recent Polar Engineering Development Center (PEDC) developments, specifically the first magnetic-field open-closed boundary (OCB) determination scheme. This scheme is implemented in "near real time" and utilizes data from an array of fluxgate magnetometers that are distributed across the high Antarctic plateau, as per Urban et al. [2012]. This OCB determination enables a high-latitude, synoptic measure of space weather variability that provides for more regional determinations of particle precipitation and related impacts. This methodology therefore supplements exciting "index-based" or empically-based space weather nowcasts currently in use.

Submesoscale processes promote seasonal restratification in the Subantarctic Ocean

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Du Plessis, M

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Traditionally, the mechanism driving the seasonal restratification of the Southern Ocean mixed layer (ML) is thought to be the onset of springtime warming. Recent developments in numerical modeling and North Atlantic observations have shown...

Transition of R&D into Operations at Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center

Science.gov (United States)

Clancy, R. M.

2006-12-01

The U.S. Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) plays a significant role in the National capability for operational weather and ocean prediction through its operation of sophisticated global and regional meteorological and oceanographic models, extending from the top of the atmosphere to the bottom of the ocean. FNMOC uniquely satisfies the military's requirement for a global operational weather prediction capability based on software certified to DoD Information Assurance standards and operated in a secure classified computer environment protected from outside intrusion by DoD certified firewalls. FNMOC operates around-the-clock, 365 days per year and distributes products to military and civilian users around the world, both ashore and afloat, through a variety of means. FNMOC's customers include all branches of the Department of Defense, other government organizations such as the National Weather Service, private companies, a number of colleges and universities, and the general public. FNMOC employs three primary models, the Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS), the Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS), and the WaveWatch III model (WW3), along with a number of specialized models and related applications. NOGAPS is a global weather model, driving nearly all other FNMOC models and applications in some fashion. COAMPS is a high- resolution regional model that has proved to be particularly valuable for forecasting weather and ocean conditions in highly complex coastal areas. WW3 is a state-of-the-art ocean wave model that is employed both globally and regionally in support of a wide variety of naval operations. Other models support and supplement the main models with predictions of ocean thermal structure, ocean currents, sea-ice characteristics, and other data. Fleet Numerical operates at the leading edge of science and technology, and benefits greatly from collocation with its supporting

Western Indian Ocean - A glimpse of the tectonic scenario

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Bhattacharya, G.C.; Chaubey, A.K.

is the en echelon displacement of the NW-SE trending ridge axis by numerous NE-SW trending fracture Western Indian Ocean - A Glimpse of the Tectonic Scenario 693 Table 1. Some information from the scientific drilling campaigns in the western Indian Ocean...: Raman Seamount; P: Panikkar Seamount; W: Wadia Guyot; S: SagarKanya Seamount; SR: ShebaRidge; CR: Carlsberg Ridge; CIR: Central Indian Ridge; SWIR: Southwest Indian Ridge; RTJ: Rodrigues Triple Junction; OFZ: Owen Fracture Zone; LR: Laxmi Ridge; MR...

Large scale deformation of the oceanic lithosphere: insights from numerical modeling of the Indo-Australian intraplate deformation

Science.gov (United States)

Royer, J.; Brandon, V.

2011-12-01

The large-scale deformation observed in the Indo-Australian plate seems to challenge tenets of plate tectonics: plate rigidity and narrow oceanic plate boundaries. Its distribution along with kinematic data inversions however suggest that the Indo-Australian plate can be viewed as a composite plate made of three rigid component plates - India, Capricorn, Australia - separated by wide and diffuse boundaries either extensional or compressional. We tested this model using the SHELLS numerical code (Kong & Bird, 1995) where the Indo-Australian plate was meshed into 5281 spherical triangular finite elements. Model boundary conditions are defined only by the plate velocities of the rigid parts of the Indo-Australian plate relative to their neighboring plates. Different plate velocity models were tested. From these boundary conditions, and taking into account the age of the lithosphere, seafloor topography, and assumptions on the rheology of the oceanic lithosphere, SHELLS predicts strain rates within the plate. We also tested the role of fossil fracture zones as potential lithospheric weaknesses. In a first step, we considered different component plate pairs (India/Capricorn, Capricorn/Australia, India/Australia). Since the limits of their respective diffuse boundary (i.e. the limits of the rigid component plates) are not known, we let the corresponding edge free. In a second step, we merged the previous meshes to consider the whole Indo-Australian plate. In this case, the velocities on the model boundaries are all fully defined and were set relative to the Capricorn plate. Our models predict deformation patterns very consistent with that observed. Pre-existing structures of the lithosphere play an important role in the intraplate deformation and its distribution. The Chagos Bank focuses the extensional deformation between the Indian and Capricorn plates. Reactivation of fossil fracture zones may accommodate large part of the deformation both in extensional areas, off

The influence of meridional ice transport on Europa's ocean stratification and heat content

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, P.; Manucharyan, G.; Thompson, A. F.; Goodman, J. C.; Vance, S.

2017-12-01

Jupiter's moon Europa likely hosts a saltwater ocean beneath its icy surface. Geothermal heating and rotating convection in the ocean may drive a global overturning circulation that redistributes heat vertically and meridionally, preferentially warming the ice shell at the equator. Here we assess thepreviously unconstrained influence of ocean-ice coupling on Europa's ocean stratification and heat transport. We demonstrate that a relatively fresh layer can form at the ice-ocean interface due to a meridional ice transport forced by the differential ice shell heating between the equator and the poles. We provide analytical and numerical solutions for the layer's characteristics, highlighting their sensitivity to critical ocean parameters. For a weakly turbulent and highly saline ocean, a strong buoyancy gradient at the base of the freshwater layer can suppress vertical tracer exchange with the deeper ocean. As a result, the freshwater layer permits relatively warm deep ocean temperatures.

The seasonal sea-ice zone in the glacial Southern Ocean as a carbon sink.

Science.gov (United States)

Abelmann, Andrea; Gersonde, Rainer; Knorr, Gregor; Zhang, Xu; Chapligin, Bernhard; Maier, Edith; Esper, Oliver; Friedrichsen, Hans; Lohmann, Gerrit; Meyer, Hanno; Tiedemann, Ralf

2015-09-18

Reduced surface-deep ocean exchange and enhanced nutrient consumption by phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean have been linked to lower glacial atmospheric CO2. However, identification of the biological and physical conditions involved and the related processes remains incomplete. Here we specify Southern Ocean surface-subsurface contrasts using a new tool, the combined oxygen and silicon isotope measurement of diatom and radiolarian opal, in combination with numerical simulations. Our data do not indicate a permanent glacial halocline related to melt water from icebergs. Corroborated by numerical simulations, we find that glacial surface stratification was variable and linked to seasonal sea-ice changes. During glacial spring-summer, the mixed layer was relatively shallow, while deeper mixing occurred during fall-winter, allowing for surface-ocean refueling with nutrients from the deep reservoir, which was potentially richer in nutrients than today. This generated specific carbon and opal export regimes turning the glacial seasonal sea-ice zone into a carbon sink.

What are the most fire-dangerous atmospheric circulations in the Eastern-Mediterranean? Analysis of the synoptic wildfire climatology.

Science.gov (United States)

Paschalidou, A K; Kassomenos, P A

2016-01-01

Wildfire management is closely linked to robust forecasts of changes in wildfire risk related to meteorological conditions. This link can be bridged either through fire weather indices or through statistical techniques that directly relate atmospheric patterns to wildfire activity. In the present work the COST-733 classification schemes are applied in order to link wildfires in Greece with synoptic circulation patterns. The analysis reveals that the majority of wildfire events can be explained by a small number of specific synoptic circulations, hence reflecting the synoptic climatology of wildfires. All 8 classification schemes used, prove that the most fire-dangerous conditions in Greece are characterized by a combination of high atmospheric pressure systems located N to NW of Greece, coupled with lower pressures located over the very Eastern part of the Mediterranean, an atmospheric pressure pattern closely linked to the local Etesian winds over the Aegean Sea. During these events, the atmospheric pressure has been reported to be anomalously high, while anomalously low 500hPa geopotential heights and negative total water column anomalies were also observed. Among the various classification schemes used, the 2 Principal Component Analysis-based classifications, namely the PCT and the PXE, as well as the Leader Algorithm classification LND proved to be the best options, in terms of being capable to isolate the vast amount of fire events in a small number of classes with increased frequency of occurrence. It is estimated that these 3 schemes, in combination with medium-range to seasonal climate forecasts, could be used by wildfire risk managers to provide increased wildfire prediction accuracy. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dynamic ocean-tide effects on Earth's rotation

Science.gov (United States)

Dickman, S. R.

1993-01-01

This article develops 'broad-band' Liouville equations which are capable of determining the effects on the rotation of the Earth of a periodic excitation even at frequencies as high as semi-diurnal; these equations are then used to predict the rotational effects of altimetric, numerical and 32-constituent spherical harmonic ocean-tide models. The rotational model includes a frequency-dependent decoupled core, the effects of which are especially marked near retrograde diurnal frequencies; and a fully dynamic oceanic response, whose effects appear to be minor despite significant frequency dependence. The model also includes solid-earth effects which are frequency dependent as the result of both anelasticity at long periods and the fluid-core resonance at nearly diurnal periods. The effects of both tidal inertia and relative angular momentum on Earth rotation (polar motion, length of day, 'nutation' and Universal Time) are presented for 32 long- and short-period ocean tides determined as solutions to the author's spherical harmonic tide theory. The lengthening of the Chandler wobble period by the pole tide is also re-computed using the author's full theory. Additionally, using the spherical harmonic theory, tidal currents and their effects on rotation are determined for available numerical and altimetric tide height models. For all models, we find that the effects of tidal currents are at least as important as those of tide height for diurnal and semi-diurnal constituents.

Application of numerical environment system to regional atmospheric radioactivity transport simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamazawa, H.; Ohkura, T.; Iida, T.; Chino, M.; Nagai, H.

2003-01-01

Main functions of the Numerical Environment System (NES), as a part of the Information Technology Based Laboratory (ITBL) project implemented by Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, became available for test use purposes although the development of the system is still underway. This system consists of numerical models of meteorology and atmospheric dispersion, database necessary for model simulations, post- and pre-processors such as data conversion and visualization, and a suite of system software which provide the users with system functions through a web page access. The system utilizes calculation servers such as vector- and scalar-parallel processors for numerical model execution, a EWS which serves as a hub of the system. This system provides users in the field of nuclear emergency preparedness and atmospheric environment with easy-to-use functions of atmospheric dispersion simulations including input meteorological data preparation and visualization of simulation results. The performance of numerical models in the system was examined with observation data of long-range transported radon-222. The models in the system reproduced quite well temporal variations in the observed radon-222 concentrations in air which were caused by changes in the meteorological field in the synoptic scale. By applying the NES models in combination with the idea of backward-in-time atmospheric dispersion simulation, seasonal shift of source areas of radon-222 in the eastern Asian regions affecting the concentrations in Japan was quantitatively illustrated. (authors)

Oceanic rafting by a coastal community.

Science.gov (United States)

Fraser, Ceridwen I; Nikula, Raisa; Waters, Jonathan M

2011-03-07

Oceanic rafting is thought to play a fundamental role in assembling the biological communities of isolated coastal ecosystems. Direct observations of this key ecological and evolutionary process are, however, critically lacking. The importance of macroalgal rafting as a dispersal mechanism has remained uncertain, largely owing to lack of knowledge about the capacity of fauna to survive long voyages at sea and successfully make landfall and establish. Here, we directly document the rafting of a diverse assemblage of intertidal organisms across several hundred kilometres of open ocean, from the subantarctic to mainland New Zealand. Multispecies analyses using phylogeographic and ecological data indicate that 10 epifaunal invertebrate species rafted on six large bull kelp specimens for several weeks from the subantarctic Auckland and/or Snares Islands to the Otago coast of New Zealand, a minimum distance of some 400-600 km. These genetic data are the first to demonstrate that passive rafting can enable simultaneous trans-oceanic transport and landfall of numerous coastal taxa.

Synoptic sampling and principal components analysis to identify sources of water and metals to an acid mine drainage stream

Science.gov (United States)

Byrne, Patrick; Runkel, Robert L.; Walton-Day, Katie

2017-01-01

Combining the synoptic mass balance approach with principal components analysis (PCA) can be an effective method for discretising the chemistry of inflows and source areas in watersheds where contamination is diffuse in nature and/or complicated by groundwater interactions. This paper presents a field-scale study in which synoptic sampling and PCA are employed in a mineralized watershed (Lion Creek, Colorado, USA) under low flow conditions to (i) quantify the impacts of mining activity on stream water quality; (ii) quantify the spatial pattern of constituent loading; and (iii) identify inflow sources most responsible for observed changes in stream chemistry and constituent loading. Several of the constituents investigated (Al, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn) fail to meet chronic aquatic life standards along most of the study reach. The spatial pattern of constituent loading suggests four primary sources of contamination under low flow conditions. Three of these sources are associated with acidic (pH metal and major ion) chemistry using PCA suggests a hydraulic connection between many of the left bank inflows and mine water in the Minnesota Mine shaft located to the north-east of the river channel. In addition, water chemistry data during a rainfall-runoff event suggests the spatial pattern of constituent loading may be modified during rainfall due to dissolution of efflorescent salts or erosion of streamside tailings. These data point to the complexity of contaminant mobilisation processes and constituent loading in mining-affected watersheds but the combined synoptic sampling and PCA approach enables a conceptual model of contaminant dynamics to be developed to inform remediation.

Idealised modelling of ocean circulation driven by conductive and hydrothermal fluxes at the seabed

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, Jowan M.; Morales Maqueda, Miguel A.; Polton, Jeff A.; Megann, Alex P.

2018-02-01

Geothermal heating is increasingly recognised as an important factor affecting ocean circulation, with modelling studies suggesting that this heat source could lead to first-order changes in the formation rate of Antarctic Bottom Water, as well as a significant warming effect in the abyssal ocean. Where it has been represented in numerical models, however, the geothermal heat flux into the ocean is generally treated as an entirely conductive flux, despite an estimated one third of the global geothermal flux being introduced to the ocean via hydrothermal sources. A modelling study is presented which investigates the sensitivity of the geothermally forced circulation to the way heat is supplied to the abyssal ocean. An analytical two-dimensional model of the circulation is described, which demonstrates the effects of a volume flux through the ocean bed. A simulation using the NEMO numerical general circulation model in an idealised domain is then used to partition a heat flux between conductive and hydrothermal sources and explicitly test the sensitivity of the circulation to the formulation of the abyssal heat flux. Our simulations suggest that representing the hydrothermal flux as a mass exchange indeed changes the heat distribution in the abyssal ocean, increasing the advective heat transport from the abyss by up to 35% compared to conductive heat sources. Consequently, we suggest that the inclusion of hydrothermal fluxes can be an important addition to course-resolution ocean models.

Analysis of mesoscale factors at the onset of deep convection on hailstorm days in Southern France and their relation to the synoptic patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Sanchez, Jose Luis; Wu, Xueke; Gascón, Estibaliz; López, Laura; Melcón, Pablo; García-Ortega, Eduardo; Berthet, Claude; Dessens, Jean; Merino, Andrés

2013-04-01

Showalter Index (SI) provided by WRF simulations for each hail grid point, which is very conducive to predicting the occurrence of hail in each one of the mesoscale configurations. This mesoscale analysis and its relation to the synoptic anomalies is discussed and the contribution to improve the numerical model applied to the forecast of hailfall in this area. Acknowledgments: This study was supported by the Plan Nacional de I+D of Spain, through the grants CGL2010-15930, Micrometeo IPT-310000-2010-022 and the Junta de Castilla y León through the grant LE220A11-2

Biogeochemical-Argo: achievements, challenges for the future and potential synergies with other components of ocean observation systems

Science.gov (United States)

Claustre, Hervé; Johnson, Ken

2017-04-01

The recently launched Biogeochemical-Argo (BGC-Argo) program aims at developing a global network of biogeochemical sensors on Argo profiling floats for acquiring long-term high-quality time-series of oceanic properties. BGC-Argo is in particular poised to address a number of challenges in ocean science (e.g. hypoxia, carbon uptake, ocean acidification, biological-carbon pump and phytoplankton communities), topics that are difficult, if not impossible, to address with our present observing assets. Presently six variables are considered as core BGC-Argo variables (O2, NO3, pH, Chla, suspended particles and downwelling irradiance). Historically, BGC-Argo has been initiated through small-scale "showcase" projects progressively scaling up into regional case studies essentially addressing key biological pump-related questions in specific regions (e.g. sub-tropical gyres, North Atlantic, Southern Ocean). Now BGC-Argo is transitioning towards a global and sustained observation system thanks to progressive international coordination of national contributions and to increasingly mature and efficient data management and distribution systems. In this presentation, we will highlight a variety of results derived from BGC-Argo observations and encompassing a wide range of topics related to ocean biogeochemistry. Challenges for the future and long-term sustainability of the system will be addressed in particular with respect to maintaining a high-quality and interoperable dataset over long-term. Part of this can be achieved through a tight interaction with programs (e.g. GOSHIP) and their historical databases, which should constitute a corner stone to assess data quality. Example on the interplay between BGC-Argo and GlodapV2 databases will be particularly exemplified in this context. Furthermore, we will illustrate the potential synergies between synoptically measured surface satellite-quantities and their vertically resolved (BGC-Argo) counterparts into the development of 3D

Citizen Bio-Optical Observations from Coast- and Ocean and Their Compatibility with Ocean Colour Satellite Measurements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia A. Busch

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Marine processes are observed with sensors from both the ground and space over large spatio-temporal scales. Citizen-based contributions can fill observational gaps and increase environmental stewardship amongst the public. For this purpose, tools and methods for citizen science need to (1 complement existing datasets; and (2 be affordable, while appealing to different user and developer groups. In this article, tools and methods developed in the 7th Framework Programme of European Union (EU FP 7 funded project Citclops (citizens’ observatories for coast and ocean optical monitoring are reviewed. Tools range from a stand-alone smartphone app to devices with Arduino and 3-D printing, and hence are attractive to a diversity of users; from the general public to more specified maker- and open labware movements. Standardization to common water quality parameters and methods allows long-term storage in regular marine data repositories, such as SeaDataNet and EMODnet, thereby providing open data access. Due to the given intercomparability to existing remote sensing datasets, these tools are ready to complement the marine datapool. In the future, such combined satellite and citizen observations may set measurements by the engaged public in a larger context and hence increase their individual meaning. In a wider sense, a synoptic use can support research, management authorities, and societies at large.

A Synoptic Assessment of the Amazon River-Ocean Continuum during Boreal Autumn: From Physics to Plankton Communities and Carbon Flux

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moacyr Araujo

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The Amazon generates the world's largest offshore river plume, which covers extensive areas of the tropical Atlantic. The data and samples in this study were obtained during the oceanographic cruise Camadas Finas III in October 2012 along the Amazon River-Ocean Continuum (AROC. The cruise occurred during boreal autumn, when the river plume reaches its maximum eastward extent. In this study, we examine the links between physics, biogeochemistry and plankton community structure along the AROC. Hydrographic results showed very different conditions, ranging from shallow well-mixed coastal waters to offshore areas, where low salinity Amazonian waters mix with open ocean waters. Nutrients, mainly NO3− and SiO2−, were highly depleted in coastal regions, and the magnitude of primary production was greater than that of respiration (negative apparent oxygen utilization. In terms of phytoplankton groups, diatoms dominated the region from the river mouth to the edge of the area affected by the North Brazil Current (NBC retroflection (with chlorophyll a concentrations ranging from 0.02 to 0.94 mg m−3. The North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC region, east of retroflection, is fully oligotrophic and the most representative groups are Cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates. Additionally, in this region, blooms of cyanophyte species were associated with diatoms and Mesozooplankton (copepods. A total of 178 zooplankton taxa were observed in this area, with Copepoda being the most diverse and abundant group. Two different zooplankton communities were identified: a low-diversity, high-abundance coastal community and a high-diversity, low-abundance oceanic community offshore. The CO2 fugacity (fCO2sw, calculated from total alkalinity (1,450 < TA < 2,394 μmol kg−1 and dissolved inorganic carbon (1,303 < DIC < 2,062 μmol kg−1 measurements, confirms that the Amazon River plume is a sink of atmospheric CO2 in areas with salinities <35 psu, whereas, in regions

Contrasting self-aggregation over land and ocean surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Inda Diaz, H. A.; O'Brien, T. A.

2017-12-01

The spontaneous organization of convection into clusters, or self-aggregation, demonstrably changes the nature and statistics of precipitation. While there has been much recent progress in this area, the processes that control self-aggregation are still poorly understood. Most of the work to date has focused on self-aggregation over ocean-like surfaces, but it is particularly pressing to understand what controls convective aggregation over land, since the associated change in precipitation statistics—between non-aggregated and aggregated convection—could have huge impacts on society and infrastructure. Radiative-convective equilibrium (RCE), has been extensively used as an idealized framework to study the tropical atmosphere. Self-aggregation manifests in numerous numerical models of RCE, nevertheless, there is still a lack of understanding in how it relates to convective organization in the observed world. Numerous studies have examined self-aggregation using idealized Cloud Resolving Models (CRMs) and General Circulation Models over the ocean, however very little work has been done on RCE and self-aggregation over land. Idealized models of RCE over ocean have shown that aggregation is sensitive to sea surface temperature (SST), more intense precipitation occurs in aggregated systems, and a variety of feedbacks—such as surface flux, cloud radiative, and upgradient moisture transport— contribute to the maintenance of aggregation, however it is not clear if these results apply over land. Progress in this area could help relate understanding of self-aggregation in idealized simulations to observations. In order to explore the behavior of self-aggregation over land, we use a CRM to simulate idealized RCE over land. In particular, we examine the aggregation of convection and how it compares with aggregation over ocean. Based on previous studies, where a variety of different CRMs exhibit a SST threshold below which self-aggregation does not occur, we hypothesize

TransCom model simulations of hourly atmospheric CO2: Analysis of synoptic-scale variations for the period 2002-2003

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Patra, P. K.; Law, R. M.; Peters, W.; RöDenbeck, C.; Takigawa, M.; Aulagnier, C.; Baker, I.; Bergmann, D. J.; Bousquet, P.; Brandt, J.; Bruhwiler, L.; Cameron-Smith, P. J.; Christensen, J. H.; Delage, F.; Denning, A. S.; Fan, S.; Geels, C.; Houweling, S.; Imasu, R.; Karstens, U.; Kawa, S. R.; Kleist, J.; Krol, M. C.; Lin, S.-J.; Lokupitiya, R.; Maki, T.; Maksyutov, S.; Niwa, Y.; Onishi, R.; Parazoo, N.; Pieterse, G.; Rivier, L.; Satoh, M.; Serrar, S.; Taguchi, S.; Vautard, R.; Vermeulen, A. T.; Zhu, Z.

2008-01-01

The ability to reliably estimate CO2 fluxes from current in situ atmospheric CO2 measurements and future satellite CO2 measurements is dependent on transport model performance at synoptic and shorter timescales. The TransCom continuous experiment was designed to evaluate the performance of forward

Average intensity and coherence properties of a partially coherent Lorentz-Gauss beam propagating through oceanic turbulence

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Dajun; Wang, Guiqiu; Wang, Yaochuan

2018-01-01

Based on the Huygens-Fresnel integral and the relationship of Lorentz distribution and Hermite-Gauss function, the average intensity and coherence properties of a partially coherent Lorentz-Gauss beam propagating through oceanic turbulence have been investigated by using numerical examples. The influences of beam parameters and oceanic turbulence on the propagation properties are also discussed in details. It is shown that the partially coherent Lorentz-Gauss beam with smaller coherence length will spread faster in oceanic turbulence, and the stronger oceanic turbulence will accelerate the spreading of partially coherent Lorentz-Gauss beam in oceanic turbulence.

Formulation of an ocean model for global climate simulations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. M. Griffies

2005-01-01

Full Text Available This paper summarizes the formulation of the ocean component to the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory's (GFDL climate model used for the 4th IPCC Assessment (AR4 of global climate change. In particular, it reviews the numerical schemes and physical parameterizations that make up an ocean climate model and how these schemes are pieced together for use in a state-of-the-art climate model. Features of the model described here include the following: (1 tripolar grid to resolve the Arctic Ocean without polar filtering, (2 partial bottom step representation of topography to better represent topographically influenced advective and wave processes, (3 more accurate equation of state, (4 three-dimensional flux limited tracer advection to reduce overshoots and undershoots, (5 incorporation of regional climatological variability in shortwave penetration, (6 neutral physics parameterization for representation of the pathways of tracer transport, (7 staggered time stepping for tracer conservation and numerical efficiency, (8 anisotropic horizontal viscosities for representation of equatorial currents, (9 parameterization of exchange with marginal seas, (10 incorporation of a free surface that accomodates a dynamic ice model and wave propagation, (11 transport of water across the ocean free surface to eliminate unphysical ``virtual tracer flux' methods, (12 parameterization of tidal mixing on continental shelves. We also present preliminary analyses of two particularly important sensitivities isolated during the development process, namely the details of how parameterized subgridscale eddies transport momentum and tracers.

Does deep ocean mixing drive upwelling or downwelling of abyssal waters?

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrari, R. M.; McDougall, T. J.; Mashayek, A.; Nikurashin, M.; Campin, J. M.

2016-02-01

It is generally understood that small-scale mixing, such as is caused by breaking internal waves, drives upwelling of the densest ocean waters that sink to the ocean bottom at high latitudes. However the observational evidence that the turbulent fluxes generated by small-scale mixing in the stratified ocean interior are more vigorous close to the ocean bottom than above implies that small-scale mixing converts light waters into denser ones, thus driving a net sinking of abyssal water. Using a combination of numerical models and observations, it will be shown that abyssal waters return to the surface along weakly stratified boundary layers, where the small-scale mixing of density decays to zero. The net ocean meridional overturning circulation is thus the small residual of a large sinking of waters, driven by small-scale mixing in the stratified interior, and a comparably large upwelling, driven by the reduced small-scale mixing along the ocean boundaries.

Ocean Acidification | Smithsonian Ocean Portal

Science.gov (United States)

Natural History Blog For Educators At The Museum Media Archive Ocean Life & Ecosystems Mammals Sharks Mangroves Poles Census of Marine Life Planet Ocean Tides & Currents Waves & Storms The Seafloor ocean is affected. Such a relatively quick change in ocean chemistry doesn't give marine life, which

New satellite altimetry products for coastal oceans

Science.gov (United States)

Dufau, Claire; Mercier, F.; Ablain, M.; Dibarboure, G.; Carrere, L.; Labroue, S.; Obligis, E.; Sicard, P.; Thibaut, P.; Birol, F.; Bronner, E.; Lombard, A.; Picot, N.

Since the launch of Topex-Poseidon in 1992, satellite altimetry has become one of the most essential elements of the Earth's observing system. Its global view of the ocean state has permitted numerous improvements in the environment understanding, particularly in the global monitoring of climate changes and ocean circulation. Near the coastlines where human activities have a major impact on the ocean, satellite altimeter techniques are unfortunately limited by a growth of their error budget. This quality loss is due to land contamination in the altimetric and radiometric footprints but also to inaccurate geophysical corrections (tides, high-frequency processes linked to atmospheric forcing).Despite instrumental perturbations by emerged lands until 10 km (altimeter) and 50 km (radiometer) off the coasts, measurements are made and may contain useful information for coastal studies. In order to recover these data close to the coast, the French Spatial Agency (CNES) has funded the development of the PISTACH prototype dedicated to Jason-2 altimeter processing in coastal ocean. Since November 2008, these new satellite altimeter products have been providing new retracking solutions, several state-of-the-art or with higher resolution corrections in addition to standard fields. This presentation will present and illustrate this new set of satellite data for the coastal oceans.

The record precipitation and flood event in Iberia in December 1876: description and synoptic analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ricardo Machado Trigo

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The first week of December 1876 was marked by extreme weather conditions that affected the south-western sector of the Iberian Peninsula, leading to an all-time record flow in two large international rivers. As a direct consequence, several Portuguese and Spanish towns and villages located in the banks of both rivers suffered serious flood damage on 7 December 1876. These unusual floods were amplified by the preceding particularly autumn wet months, with October 1876 presenting extremely high precipitation anomalies for all western Iberia stations. Two recently digitised stations in Portugal (Lisbon and Evora, present a peak value on 5 December 1876. Furthermore, the values of precipitation registered between 28 November and 7 December were so remarkable that, the episode of 1876 still corresponds to the maximum average daily precipitation values for temporal scales between 2 and 10 days. Using several different data sources, such as historical newspapers of that time, meteorological data recently digitised from several stations in Portugal and Spain and the recently available 20th Century Reanalysis, we provide a detailed analysis on the socio-economic impacts, precipitation values and the atmospheric circulation conditions associated with this event. The atmospheric circulation during these months was assessed at the monthly, daily and sub-daily scales. All months considered present an intense negative NAO index value, with November 1876 corresponding to the lowest NAO value on record since 1865. We have also computed a multivariable analysis of surface and upper air fields in order to provide some enlightening into the evolution of the synoptic conditions in the week prior to the floods. These events resulted from the continuous pouring of precipitation registered between 28 November and 7 December, due to the consecutive passage of Atlantic low-pressure systems fuelled by the presence of an atmospheric-river tropical moisture flow over

Compete or Leapfrog: Creating Blue Ocean through Entrepreneurial Orientation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arslan Ayub

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The study analyzes the role of entrepreneurial orientation with mediating effect of knowledge creation process to creating Blue Ocean in corporate sector in Pakistan There is an increasing competition among companies due to globalization and technological advancements. Thus, it requires a study to measure the multifaceted influence of entrepreneurial orientation on knowledge creation process and Blue Ocean besides the actual paradigm of this terminology. This concept has been well discussed in this research arena since its inception in 2005. Numerous such initiatives have already been taken, however this concept invites a lot more addition, related companies are still in pursuit to materialize the research concepts. We highlight the contingencies in the shift from a red ocean to Blue Ocean. The study uses exploratory approach; primary data is collected from 391 professionals working in different sectors of Pakistan. The study uses structural equation model (SEM technique to test the hypotheses. The study found a positive relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and Blue Ocean, entrepreneurial orientation, knowledge creation process, and Blue Ocean. The study throws light on the importance of entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge creation process to head on this fast-paced competition.

On the CO2 exchange between the atmosphere and the biosphere: the role of synoptic and mesoscale processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chan, Douglas; Higuchi, Kaz; Shashkov, Alexander; Worthy, Douglas; Liu, Jane; Chen Jing; Yuen Chiu Wai

2004-01-01

Estimating global carbon fluxes by inverting atmospheric CO 2 through the use of atmospheric transport models has shown the importance of the covariance between biospheric fluxes and atmospheric transport on the carbon budget. This covariance or coupling occurs on many time scales. This study examines the coupling of the biosphere and the atmosphere on the meso- and synoptic scales using a coupled atmosphere-biosphere regional model covering Canada. The results are compared with surface and light aircraft measurement campaigns at two boreal forest sites in Canada. Associated with cold and warm frontal features, the model results showed that the biospheric fluxes are strongly coupled to the atmosphere through radiative forcing. The presence of cloud near frontal regions usually results in reduced photosynthetic uptake, producing CO 2 concentration gradients across the frontal regions on the order of 10 parts per million (ppm). Away from the frontal region, the biosphere is coupled to the mesoscale variations in similar ways, resulting in mesoscale variations in CO 2 concentrations of about 5 ppm. The CO 2 field is also coupled strongly to the atmospheric dynamics. In the presence of frontal circulation, the CO 2 near the surface can be transported to the mid to upper troposphere. Mesoscale circulation also plays a significant part in transporting the CO 2 from the planetary boundary layer (PBL) to the mid-troposphere. In the absence of significant mesoscale or synoptic scale circulation, the CO 2 in the PBL has minimal exchange with the free troposphere, leading to strong gradients across the top of the PBL. We speculate that the ubiquity of the common synoptic and mesoscale processes in the atmosphere may contribute significantly to the rectifier effect and hence CO 2 inversion calculations

A numerical investigation into upstream boundary-layer interruption and its potential benefits for river and ocean kinetic hydropower

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gaden, David L.F.; Bibeau, Eric L. [Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada)

2010-10-15

River and ocean kinetic hydropower involves the use of underwater turbines in external flow conditions. These conditions include reduced velocities due to the boundary-layer of the surrounding walls, and hazardous debris-laden flows such as rocks and boulders during coastal storms or branches and logs during spring run-off. A numerical investigation evaluates the effect of placing an object upstream of the turbine to improve flow velocity as well as create a protective wake zone into which the turbine can be moved during risky conditions. Six different object shapes are compared and critical design elements are identified. It is found that such an object can improve the downstream power density by over 15%, and create a large wake zone capable of accommodating a turbine. The object can also serve as an anchor thus providing added power without a significant expense in some application. Further study of the optimum object is performed. These additional analyses show a greater increase in power output is seen in the simulation when a turbine model is included. By increasing the expected power output, less attractive sites may become more commercially viable. (author)

Mooring Analysis of the Ocean Sentinel through Field Observation and Numerical Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-22

or floating wind turbines . A summary of different mooring configurations and their characteristics is shown in Table 2. 10 Figure 10...DAS controls the Ocean Sentinel’s three power systems: a diesel generator, a wind turbine , and two solar panels. The DAS monitors sensors that detect...to thank my committee members, Dr. Solomon Yim, Dr. Dan Cox, and Dr. Kelly Benoit- Bird , for volunteering to be part of my graduate committee. I

Mixing parametrizations for ocean climate modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Gusev, Anatoly; Moshonkin, Sergey; Diansky, Nikolay; Zalesny, Vladimir

2016-04-01

The algorithm is presented of splitting the total evolutionary equations for the turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) and turbulence dissipation frequency (TDF), which is used to parameterize the viscosity and diffusion coefficients in ocean circulation models. The turbulence model equations are split into the stages of transport-diffusion and generation-dissipation. For the generation-dissipation stage, the following schemes are implemented: the explicit-implicit numerical scheme, analytical solution and the asymptotic behavior of the analytical solutions. The experiments were performed with different mixing parameterizations for the modelling of Arctic and the Atlantic climate decadal variability with the eddy-permitting circulation model INMOM (Institute of Numerical Mathematics Ocean Model) using vertical grid refinement in the zone of fully developed turbulence. The proposed model with the split equations for turbulence characteristics is similar to the contemporary differential turbulence models, concerning the physical formulations. At the same time, its algorithm has high enough computational efficiency. Parameterizations with using the split turbulence model make it possible to obtain more adequate structure of temperature and salinity at decadal timescales, compared to the simpler Pacanowski-Philander (PP) turbulence parameterization. Parameterizations with using analytical solution or numerical scheme at the generation-dissipation step of the turbulence model leads to better representation of ocean climate than the faster parameterization using the asymptotic behavior of the analytical solution. At the same time, the computational efficiency left almost unchanged relative to the simple PP parameterization. Usage of PP parametrization in the circulation model leads to realistic simulation of density and circulation with violation of T,S-relationships. This error is majorly avoided with using the proposed parameterizations containing the split turbulence model

Spatial variation of the zooplankton community in the western tropical Pacific Ocean during the summer of 2014

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Guang; Li, Chaolun; Wang, Yanqing; Wang, Xiaocheng; Dai, Luping; Tao, Zhencheng; Ji, Peng

2017-03-01

Knowledge of the zooplankton community in the western tropical Pacific Ocean is poor compared to that of the communities in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. The zooplankton composition, abundance, biomass and community structure in the western Pacific Ocean were studied based on data collected during a synoptic cruise (August-September 2014). Four zooplankton communities were determined via cluster analysis, and these four clusters were mainly spatially related to four different currents: the Luzon Current (LC), Subtropical Countercurrent (STCC), North Equatorial Current (NEC) and North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC). The estimated mean abundance and biomass of the zooplankton for the whole surveyed area were 146.7±178.1 ind/m3 and 36.9±40.3 mg/m3, respectively. The zooplankton abundance was dominated by small copepods, such as Clausocalanus furcatus, C. pergens, Oncaea mediterranea and Oithona plumifera. The zooplankton abundance and biomass values were lowest in the STCC region and highest in the NECC region. BEST analysis based on surface environmental factors showed that chlorophyll a (chl a), pH, temperature and salinity were the environmental variables that best explained the distribution pattern of the zooplankton community (pw=0.372). The zooplankton abundance was higher south of the salinity front at 16°N, in accordance with the relatively higher nutrient and chl a levels. Maximum zooplankton biomass was found in regions on the periphery of the cyclonic Mindanao Eddy (ME) and anticyclonic Halmahera Eddy (HE).

Characterization of synoptic patterns causing dust outbreaks that affect the Arabian Peninsula

Science.gov (United States)

Hermida, L.; Merino, A.; Sánchez, J. L.; Fernández-González, S.; García-Ortega, E.; López, L.

2018-01-01

Dust storms pose serious weather hazards in arid and semiarid regions of the earth. Understanding the main synoptic conditions that give rise to dust outbreaks is important for issuing forecasts and warnings to the public in cases of severe storms. The aim of the present study is to determine synoptic patterns that are associated with or even favor dust outbreaks over the Arabian Peninsula. In this respect, red-green-blue dust composite images from the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite are used to detect dust outbreaks affecting the Arabian Peninsula, with possible influences in southwestern Asia and northeastern Africa, between 2005 and 2013. The Meteosat imagery yielded a sample of 95 dust storm days. Meteorological fields from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data of wind fields at 10 m and 250 hPa, mean sea level pressure, and geopotential heights at 850 and 500 hPa were obtained for the dust storm days. Using principal component analysis in T-mode and non-hierarchical k-means clustering, we obtained four major atmospheric circulation patterns associated with dust outbreaks during the study days. Cluster 4 had the largest number of days with dust events, which were constrained to summer, and cluster 3 had the fewest. In clusters 1, 2 and 3, the jet stream favored the entry of a low-pressure area or trough that varied in location between the three clusters. Their most northerly location was found in cluster 4, along with an extensive low-pressure area supporting strong winds over the Arabian Peninsula. The spatial distribution of aerosol optical depth for each cluster obtained was characterized using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data. Then, using METAR stations, clusters were also characterized in terms of frequency and visibility.

Small-scale orographic gravity wave drag in stable boundary layers and its impact on synoptic systems and near surface meteorology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tsiringakis, Aristofanis; Steeneveld, G.J.; Holtslag, A.A.M.

2017-01-01

At present atmospheric models for weather and climate use enhanced turbulent drag under stable conditions, because these empirically provide the necessary momentum drag for accurate forecast of synoptic systems. The enhanced mixing (also known as the "long-tail"), introduces drag that can not be

Dynamics of the east India coastal current. 2. Numerical solutions

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

McCreary, J.P.; Han, W.; Shankar, D.; Shetye, S.R.

A linear, continuously stratified model is used to investigate the dynamics of the East India Coastal Current (EICC). Solutions are found numerically in a basin that resembles the Indian Ocean basin north of 29 degrees S, and they are forced...

Numerical Simulations of an Inversion Fog Event in the Salt Lake Valley during the MATERHORN-Fog Field Campaign

Science.gov (United States)

Chachere, Catherine N.; Pu, Zhaoxia

2018-01-01

An advanced research version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is employed to simulate a wintertime inversion fog event in the Salt Lake Valley during the Mountain Terrain Atmospheric Modeling and Observations Program (MATERHORN) field campaign during January 2015. Simulation results are compared to observations obtained from the field program. The sensitivity of numerical simulations to available cloud microphysical (CM), planetary boundary layer (PBL), radiation, and land surface models (LSMs) is evaluated. The influence of differing visibility algorithms and initialization times on simulation results is also examined. Results indicate that the numerical simulations of the fog event are sensitive to the choice of CM, PBL, radiation, and LSM as well as the visibility algorithm and initialization time. Although the majority of experiments accurately captured the synoptic setup environment, errors were found in most experiments within the boundary layer, specifically a 3° warm bias in simulated surface temperatures compared to observations. Accurate representation of surface and boundary layer variables are vital in correctly predicting fog in the numerical model.

Role of the Angola Low in modulating southern African austral summer rainfall and relationships with synoptic and interannual modes of variability

Science.gov (United States)

Crétat, Julien; Pohl, Benjamin; Dieppois, Bastien

2017-04-01

The Angola Low has been suggested in many previous studies to be an important regional feature governing southern African rainfall variability during austral summer, which is, in particular, expressed through modulations of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) impacts on rainfall at the interannual timescale. Here, we analyse a variety of state-of-the-art reanalyses (NCEP2, ERA-Interim and MERRA2) and rainfall data (in situ rain-gauges and satellite-derived products) for: i) identifying the recurrent regimes of the Angola Low (position and intensity) at the daily timescale; ii) diagnosing how they modulate the spatio-temporal variability of austral summer rainfall; and iii) examining their relationships with synoptic convective regimes and ENSO, both at the interannual timescale. The recurrent regimes of the Angola Low are identified over the 1980-2015 period by applying a cluster analysis to daily 700-hPa wind vorticity anomalies over the Angola sector from November to March. The exact number and morphological properties of vorticity regimes vary significantly among the reanalyses, in particular when using the lowest spatial resolution reanalysis (i.e., NCEP2) that leads to detect less diversity, smoothest patterns and weakest intensity across the recurrent regimes. Despite such uncertainties, the regimes describing active Angola Low are quite robust among the reanalyses. Three preferential locations (locked over eastern Angola, shifted few degrees eastward or south-westward), which significantly impact on the rainfall spatial distribution over tropical and subtropical southern Africa, are identified. Independently from its location, Angola Low favours moisture advection from the southwest Indian Ocean and reduces moisture export towards the southeast Atlantic, hence contributing to increase moisture convergence over the subcontinent. Lead/lag correlations with synoptic convective regimes suggest that Angola Low may be a local precursor of tropical

Fortnightly Ocean Tides, Earth Rotation, and Mantle Anelasticity

Science.gov (United States)

Ray, Richard; Egbert, Gary

2012-01-01

The fortnightly Mf ocean tide is the largest of the long-period tides (periods between 1 week and 18.6 years), but Mf is still very small, generally 2 cm or less. All long-period tides are thought to be near equilibrium with the astronomical tidal potential, with an almost pure zonal structure. However, several lines of evidence point to Mf having a significant dynamic response to forcing. We use a combination of numerical modeling, satellite altimetry, and observations of polar motion to determine the Mf ocean tide and to place constraints on certain global properties, such as angular momentum. Polar motion provides the only constraints on Mf tidal currents. With a model of the Mf ocean tide in hand, we use it to remove the effects of the ocean from estimates of fortnightly variations in length-of-day. The latter is dominated by the earth's body tide, but a small residual allows us to place new constraints on the anelasticity of the earth's mantle. The result gives the first experimental confirmation of theoretical predictions made by Wahr and Bergen in 1986.

Dynamic Biological Functioning Important for Simulating and Stabilizing Ocean Biogeochemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Buchanan, P. J.; Matear, R. J.; Chase, Z.; Phipps, S. J.; Bindoff, N. L.

2018-04-01

The biogeochemistry of the ocean exerts a strong influence on the climate by modulating atmospheric greenhouse gases. In turn, ocean biogeochemistry depends on numerous physical and biological processes that change over space and time. Accurately simulating these processes is fundamental for accurately simulating the ocean's role within the climate. However, our simulation of these processes is often simplistic, despite a growing understanding of underlying biological dynamics. Here we explore how new parameterizations of biological processes affect simulated biogeochemical properties in a global ocean model. We combine 6 different physical realizations with 6 different biogeochemical parameterizations (36 unique ocean states). The biogeochemical parameterizations, all previously published, aim to more accurately represent the response of ocean biology to changing physical conditions. We make three major findings. First, oxygen, carbon, alkalinity, and phosphate fields are more sensitive to changes in the ocean's physical state. Only nitrate is more sensitive to changes in biological processes, and we suggest that assessment protocols for ocean biogeochemical models formally include the marine nitrogen cycle to assess their performance. Second, we show that dynamic variations in the production, remineralization, and stoichiometry of organic matter in response to changing environmental conditions benefit the simulation of ocean biogeochemistry. Third, dynamic biological functioning reduces the sensitivity of biogeochemical properties to physical change. Carbon and nitrogen inventories were 50% and 20% less sensitive to physical changes, respectively, in simulations that incorporated dynamic biological functioning. These results highlight the importance of a dynamic biology for ocean properties and climate.

Cascading ocean basins: numerical simulations of the circulation and interbasin exchange in the Azov-Black-Marmara-Mediterranean Seas system

Science.gov (United States)

Stanev, Emil Vassilev; Grashorn, Sebastian; Zhang, Yinglong Joseph

2017-08-01

In this paper, we use the unstructured grid model SCHISM to simulate the thermohydrodynamics in a chain of baroclinic, interconnected basins. The model shows a good skill in simulating the horizontal circulation and vertical profiles of temperature, salinity, and currents. The magnitude and phases of the seasonal changes of circulation are consistent with earlier observations. Among the mesoscale and subbasin-scale circulation features that are realistically simulated are the anticyclonic coastal eddies, the Sebastopol and Batumi eddies, the Marmara Sea outflow around the southern coast of the Limnos Island, and the pathway of the cold water originating from the shelf. The superiority of the simulations compared to earlier numerical studies is demonstrated with the example of model capabilities to resolve the strait dynamics, gravity currents originating from the straits, high-salinity bottom layer on the shallow shelf, as well as the multiple intrusions from the Bosporus Strait down to 700 m depth. The warm temperature intrusions from the strait produce the warm water mass in the intermediate layers of the Black Sea. One novel result is that the seasonal intensification of circulation affects the interbasin exchange, thus allowing us to formulate the concept of circulation-controlled interbasin exchange. To the best of our knowledge, the present numerical simulations, for the first time, suggest that the sea level in the interior part of the Black Sea can be lower than the sea level in the Marmara Sea and even in some parts of the Aegean Sea. The comparison with observations shows that the timings and magnitude of exchange flows are also realistically simulated, along with the blocking events. The short-term variability of the strait transports is largely controlled by the anomalies of wind. The simulations demonstrate the crucial role of the narrow and shallow strait of Bosporus in separating the two pairs of basins: Aegean-Marmara Seas from one side and Azov

Synoptic-scale fire weather conditions in Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Hayasaka, Hiroshi; Tanaka, Hiroshi L.; Bieniek, Peter A.

2016-09-01

Recent concurrent widespread fires in Alaska are evaluated to assess their associated synoptic-scale weather conditions. Several periods of high fire activity from 2003 to 2015 were identified using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) hotspot data by considering the number of daily hotspots and their continuity. Fire weather conditions during the top six periods of high fire activity in the fire years of 2004, 2005, 2009, and 2015 were analyzed using upper level (500 hPa) and near surface level (1000 hPa) atmospheric reanalysis data. The top four fire-periods occurred under similar unique high-pressure fire weather conditions related to Rossby wave breaking (RWB). Following the ignition of wildfires, fire weather conditions related to RWB events typically result in two hotspot peaks occurring before and after high-pressure systems move from south to north across Alaska. A ridge in the Gulf of Alaska resulted in southwesterly wind during the first hotspot peak. After the high-pressure system moved north under RWB conditions, the Beaufort Sea High developed and resulted in relatively strong easterly wind in Interior Alaska and a second (largest) hotspot peak during each fire period. Low-pressure-related fire weather conditions occurring under cyclogenesis in the Arctic also resulted in high fire activity under southwesterly wind with a single large hot-spot peak.

Shallow Carbon Export from an Iron fertilised Plankton Bloom in the Southern Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, R.; Pollard, R.; Morris, P.; Statham, P.; Moore, C. M. M.; Lucas, M.

2009-04-01

Some regions of the global ocean, notably the Southern Ocean, have high levels of macronutrients yet low levels of chlorophyll (the high nutrient, low chlorophyll or HNLC condition). Numerous artificial iron fertilization experiments conducted in the Southern Ocean have resulted in enhanced phytoplankton biomass and macronutrient drawdown. However the subsequent long-term biogeochemical consequences of such iron fertilization are unclear due in part to the limited size and duration of such experiments. An alternative way to assess the affect of iron over the Southern Ocean biological carbon pump is to observe the evolution of plankton production in regions of the Southern Ocean where shallow topography and Ocean currents interact to promote to release terrestrial iron into HNLC waters. During 2004-5 RRS Discovery conduced a complex programme of observations in such a region around the Crozet Islands in the SW Indian Ocean. The results of this programme, focussing on a quantitative estimate of carbon export per unit iron addition, will be presented.

GRACE gravity model: assssment in terms of deep ocean currents from hydrography and from the ECCO ocean model

Science.gov (United States)

Zlotnicki, V.; Stammer, D.; Fukumori, I.

2003-01-01

Here we assess the new generation of gravity models, derived from GRACE data. The differences between a global geoid model (one from GRACE data and one the well-known EGM-96), minus a Mean Sea Surface derived from over a decade of altimetric data are compared to hydrographic data from the Levitus compilation and to the ECCO numerical ocean model, which assimilates altimetry and other data.

Motionally-induced electromagnetic fields generated by idealized ocean currents

Science.gov (United States)

Tyler, R. H.; Mysak, L. A.

. How can we know that measured magnetic variations are due to variations in the ocean induction and not due to sources in the ionosphere or earth's core? This is a difficult problem, but there may be some ways to resolve it. Variations in ocean circulation or conductivity are rather slow compared to the rapid magnetic storms and most other variations due to external sources. Also the external effects at the earth's surface tend to have large spatial scales which allows removal using techniques such as 'remote referencing' as done by Lilley et al. (1993). With regard to sources in the earth's core, the geometric and electromagnetic filtering by the mantle are thought to prevent all but the lowest frequencies from reaching the earth's surface. Hence, it is conceivable that at the earth's surface, magnetic fields due to the earth's core can only appear as relatively smooth, slowly-varying fields with periods of decadal scale and longer. Hence, there is probably a fortuitous 'spectral window' through which we can view interannual variations in the ocean-induced fields. It is also important that the accuracy in measuring the time rate of change of the magnetic field on these time scales is greater than the accuracy of the field values (at least at the land observatories). This is because when differencing the magnetic series, errors in the baseline drift are reduced. Hence, it is probable that fluctuations in the ocean-induced magnetic fields would be easier to detect than the steady-state fields. The results presented here should also be helpful in designing future strategies for numerically modelling the ocean-induced electromagnetic fields. As we mentioned, (73) is similar in principle to the two-dimensional equation solved by Stephenson and Bryan (1992) but is more general, allowing for a more realistic description of conductivity and allowing for horizontal divergence in the conductivity transport. Other results in this paper may be helpful in finding new approaches to

Investigation of dust storms entering Western Iran using remotely sensed data and synoptic analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Boloorani, Ali D; Nabavi, Seyed O; Bahrami, Hosain A; Mirzapour, Fardin; Kavosi, Musa; Abasi, Esmail; Azizi, Rasoul

2014-01-01

One of the natural phenomena which have had considerable impacts on various regions of the world, including Iran, is "dust storm". In recent years, this phenomenon has taken on new dimensions in Iran and has changed from a local problem to a national issue. This study is an attempt to investigate the formation of the dust storms crossing the Western Iran. To find the sources of the dust storms entering Iran, first we examine three determined dust paths in the region and their temporal activities, using MODIS satellite images. Then, four regions were identified as dust sources through soil, land cover and wind data. Finally, atmospheric analyses are implemented to find synoptic patterns inducing dust storms. Source 1 has covered the region between the eastern banks of Euphrates and western banks of Tigris. Source 2 is in desert area of western and south-western Iraq. Finally source 3 is bounded in eastern and south-eastern deserts of Saudi Arabia called Rub-Al-Khali desert, or Empty Quarter. Moreover, south-eastern part of Iraq (source 4) was also determined as a secondary source which thickens the dust masses originating from the above mentioned sources. The study of synoptic circulations suggests that the dust storms originating from source 1 are formed due to the intense pressure gradient between the low-pressure system of Zagros and a high-pressure cell formed on Mediterranean Sea. The dust events in sources 2 and 3 are outcomes of the atmospheric circulations dominant in the cold period of the year in mid-latitudes.

Future projections of synoptic weather types over the Arabian Peninsula during the twenty-first century using an ensemble of CMIP5 models

KAUST Repository

El Kenawy, Ahmed M.; McCabe, Matthew

2016-01-01

An assessment of future change in synoptic conditions over the Arabian Peninsula throughout the twenty-first century was performed using 20 climate models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) database. We employed the mean

Dynamics of fault slip near the stability transition combining laboratory and numerical experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Mele Veedu, D.; Giorgetti, C.; Scuderi, M. M.; Barbot, S.; Marone, C.; Collettini, C.

2017-12-01

Frictional stability controls the seismogenic potential of faults. Laboratory (1) and theoretical (2) studies document and predict the conditions under which fault slip is seismic or aseismic. However, the full gamut of fault slip behavior near the stable/unstable boundary is still poorly known. Here, we combine insight from laboratory and numerical experiments to identify the wide spectrum of frictional instabilities around that transition, including slow-slip events, period-multiplying events, and chaos. We present a synoptic picture of the dynamics of fault slip in a bifurcation diagram obtained from a series of laboratory and numerical experiments. We compare the laboratory observations with spring-slider and finite-fault numerical models. In the laboratory, we vary the stiffness of the system by modulating the stress field around the experimental fault. In the numerical experiments, we vary the characteristic weakening distance to explore a range of critical nucleation sizes. Contrarily to previously found (3), complex fault dynamics can be obtained with a rate-and-state constitutive law with a single state variable. While the dynamics of fault slip is complicated on large faults by the presence of morphological and rheological heterogeneities, the range of instabilities identified in the laboratory is reminiscent of the variety of slow and fast earthquakes found along subduction zones (4). The accord between laboratory data and theoretical models affords more realistic predictions of fault behavior at slow slip speeds. (1) Scuderi et al., (2016), (2) Ruina (1983), (3) Gu & Wong (1994), (4) Obara & Kato (2016)

Multi-Decadal Oscillations of the Ocean Active Upper-Layer Heat Content

Science.gov (United States)

Byshev, Vladimir I.; Neiman, Victor G.; Anisimov, Mikhail V.; Gusev, Anatoly V.; Serykh, Ilya V.; Sidorova, Alexandra N.; Figurkin, Alexander L.; Anisimov, Ivan M.

2017-07-01

Spatial patterns in multi-decadal variability in upper ocean heat content for the last 60 years are examined using a numerical model developed at the Institute of Numerical Mathematics of Russia (INM Model) and sea water temperature-salinity data from the World Ocean Database (in: Levitus, NOAA Atlas NESDIS 66, U.S. Wash.: Gov. Printing Office, 2009). Both the model and the observational data show that the heat content of the Active Upper Layer (AUL) in particular regions of the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern oceans have experienced prominent simultaneous variations on multi-decadal (25-35 years) time scales. These variations are compared earlier revealed climatic alternations in the Northern Atlantic region during the last century (Byshev et al. in Doklady Earth Sci 438(2):887-892, 2011). We found that from the middle of 1970s to the end of 1990s the AUL heat content decreased in several oceanic regions, while the mean surface temperature increased on Northern Hemisphere continents according to IPCC (in: Stocker et al. Contribution of working group I to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2013). This means that the climate-forcing effect of the ocean-atmosphere interaction in certain energy-active areas determines not only local climatic processes, but also have an influence on global-scale climate phenomena. Here we show that specific regional features of the AUL thermal structure are in a good agreement with climatic conditions on the adjacent continents. Further, the ocean AUL in the five distinctive regions identified in our study have resumed warming in the first decade of this century. By analogy inference from previous climate scenarios, this may signal the onset of more continental climate over mainlands.

Numerical tsunami simulations in the western Pacific Ocean and East China Sea from hypothetical M 9 earthquakes along the Nankai trough

Science.gov (United States)

Harada, Tomoya; Satake, Kenji; Furumura, Takashi

2017-04-01

We carried out tsunami numerical simulations in the western Pacific Ocean and East China Sea in order to examine the behavior of massive tsunami outside Japan from the hypothetical M 9 tsunami source models along the Nankai Trough proposed by the Cabinet Office of Japanese government (2012). The distribution of MTHs (maximum tsunami heights for 24 h after the earthquakes) on the east coast of China, the east coast of the Philippine Islands, and north coast of the New Guinea Island show peaks with approximately 1.0-1.7 m，4.0-7.0 m，4.0-5.0 m, respectively. They are significantly higher than that from the 1707 Ho'ei earthquake (M 8.7), the largest earthquake along the Nankai trough in recent Japanese history. Moreover, the MTH distributions vary with the location of the huge slip(s) in the tsunami source models although the three coasts are far from the Nankai trough. Huge slip(s) in the Nankai segment mainly contributes to the MTHs, while huge slip(s) or splay faulting in the Tokai segment hardly affects the MTHs. The tsunami source model was developed for responding to the unexpected occurrence of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, with 11 models along the Nanakai trough, and simulated MTHs along the Pacific coasts of the western Japan from these models exceed 10 m, with a maximum height of 34.4 m. Tsunami propagation was computed by the finite-difference method of the non-liner long-wave equations with the Corioli's force and bottom friction (Satake, 1995) in the area of 115-155 ° E and 8° S-40° N. Because water depth of the East China Sea is shallower than 200 m, the tsunami propagation is likely to be affected by the ocean bottom fiction. The 30 arc-seconds gridded bathymetry data provided by the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO-2014) are used. For long propagation of tsunami we simulated tsunamis for 24 hours after the earthquakes. This study was supported by the"New disaster mitigation research project on Mega thrust earthquakes around Nankai

Finite element analysis of thermal convection in deep ocean sediments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gartling, D.K.

1980-01-01

Of obvious importance to the study and engineering of a seabed disposal is the determination of the temperature and fluid flow fields existing in the sediment layer and the perturbation of these fields due to the implantation of localized heat sources. The fluid mechanical and heat transfer process occurring in oceanic sediments may be characterized as free (or natural) convection in a porous material. In the case of an undisturbed sediment layer, the driving force for the natural circulation of pore water comes from the geothermal heat flux. Current theories for heat flow from the sea floor suggest the possibility of large scale hydrothermal circulation in the oceanic crust (see e.g., Ribando, et al. 1976) which is in turn coupled with a convection process in the overlying sediment layer (Anderson 1980, Anderson, et al. 1979). The introduction of a local heat source, such as a waste canister, into a saturated sediment layer would by itself initiate a convection process due to buoyancy forces. Since the mathematical description of natural convection in a porous medium is of sufficient complexity to preclude the use of most analytic methods of analysis, approximate numerical procedures are often employed. In the following sections, a particular type of numerical method is described that has proved useful in the solution of a variety of porous flow problems. However, rather than concentrate on the details of the numerical algorithm the main emphasis of the presentation will be on the types of problems and results that are encountered in the areas of oceanic heat flow and seabed waste disposal

Challenges and potential solutions for European coastal ocean modelling

Science.gov (United States)

She, Jun; Stanev, Emil

2017-04-01

Coastal operational oceanography is a science and technological platform to integrate and transform the outcomes in marine monitoring, new knowledge generation and innovative technologies into operational information products and services in the coastal ocean. It has been identified as one of the four research priorities by EuroGOOS (She et al. 2016). Coastal modelling plays a central role in such an integration and transformation. A next generation coastal ocean forecasting system should have following features: i) being able to fully exploit benefits from future observations, ii) generate meaningful products in finer scales e.g., sub-mesoscale and in estuary-coast-sea continuum, iii) efficient parallel computing and model grid structure, iv) provide high quality forecasts as forcing to NWP and coastal climate models, v) resolving correctly inter-basin and inter-sub-basin water exchange, vi) resolving synoptic variability and predictability in marine ecosystems, e.g., for algae bloom, vi) being able to address critical and relevant issues in coastal applications, e.g., marine spatial planning, maritime safety, marine pollution protection, disaster prevention, offshore wind energy, climate change adaptation and mitigation, ICZM (integrated coastal zone management), the WFD (Water Framework Directive), and the MSFD (Marine Strategy Framework Directive), especially on habitat, eutrophication, and hydrographic condition descriptors. This presentation will address above challenges, identify limits of current models and propose correspondent research needed. The proposed roadmap will address an integrated monitoring-modelling approach and developing Unified European Coastal Ocean Models. In the coming years, a few new developments in European Sea observations can expected, e.g., more near real time delivering on profile observations made by research vessels, more shallow water Argo floats and bio-Argo floats deployed, much more high resolution sea level data from SWOT

Cranial computerized tomography. A synoptical atlas. Kranielle Computertomographie. Ein synoptischer Atlas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nadjmi, M; Piepgras, U; Vogelsang, H

1981-01-01

The introductory chapters of the book cover, insofar as they differ from conventional radiology, the physico-technical fundamentals, the investigative procedure, as well as the anatomy and pathology. The anatomic pathology and classic neuroradiology of the individual groups are described in each chapter. These descriptions form the basis for interpreting the results obtained with computed tomography. This synoptical presentation makes it possible for non-neuroradiologists to obtain an overall impression on an often heterogeneous subject. The chapter on tumors also covers tumors in infants and children. The chapters on inflammatory diseases, traumatology and orbita include coverage of all age groups. The chapter of neuropediatrics deals mainly with the aspects of birth trauma and abnormal development. The legends to the illustrations comprise clinical data insofar as they contribute to a didactically important synthesis between syndrome, diagnosis and therapy.

Gyrotactic trapping: A numerical study

Science.gov (United States)

Ghorai, S.

2016-04-01

Gyrotactic trapping is a mechanism proposed by Durham et al. ["Disruption of vertical motility by shear triggers formation of thin Phytoplankton layers," Science 323, 1067-1070 (2009)] to explain the formation of thin phytoplankton layer just below the ocean surface. This mechanism is examined numerically using a rational model based on the generalized Taylor dispersion theory. The crucial role of sedimentation speed in the thin layer formation is demonstrated. The effects of variation in different parameters on the thin layer formation are also investigated.

Seafloor weathering buffering climate: numerical experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Farahat, N. X.; Archer, D. E.; Abbot, D. S.

2013-12-01

Continental silicate weathering is widely held to consume atmospheric CO2 at a rate controlled in part by temperature, resulting in a climate-weathering feedback [Walker et al., 1981]. It has been suggested that weathering of oceanic crust of warm mid-ocean ridge flanks also has a CO2 uptake rate that is controlled by climate [Sleep and Zahnle, 2001; Brady and Gislason, 1997]. Although this effect might not be significant on present-day Earth [Caldeira, 1995], seafloor weathering may be more pronounced during snowball states [Le Hir et al., 2008], during the Archean when seafloor spreading rates were faster [Sleep and Zahnle, 2001], and on waterworld planets [Abbot et al., 2012]. Previous studies of seafloor weathering have made significant contributions using qualitative, generally one-box, models, and the logical next step is to extend this work using a spatially resolved model. For example, experiments demonstrate that seafloor weathering reactions are temperature dependent, but it is not clear whether the deep ocean temperature affects the temperature at which the reactions occur, or if instead this temperature is set only by geothermal processes. Our goal is to develop a 2-D numerical model that can simulate hydrothermal circulation and resulting alteration of oceanic basalts, and can therefore address such questions. A model of diffusive and convective heat transfer in fluid-saturated porous media simulates hydrothermal circulation through porous oceanic basalt. Unsteady natural convection is solved for using a Darcy model of porous media flow that has been extensively benchmarked. Background hydrothermal circulation is coupled to mineral reaction kinetics of basaltic alteration and hydrothermal mineral precipitation. In order to quantify seafloor weathering as a climate-weathering feedback process, this model focuses on hydrothermal reactions that influence carbon uptake as well as ocean alkalinity: silicate rock dissolution, calcium and magnesium leaching

75 FR 18778 - Safety Zone; Ocean City Air Show 2010, Atlantic Ocean, Ocean City, MD

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-13

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Ocean City Air Show 2010, Atlantic Ocean, Ocean City, MD AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... zone on the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of Ocean City, Maryland to support the Ocean City Air Show. This action is intended to restrict vessel traffic movement on the Atlantic Ocean to protect mariners...

Synoptic channel morphodynamics with topo-bathymetric airborne lidar: promises, pitfalls and research needs

Science.gov (United States)

Lague, D.; Launeau, P.; Gouraud, E.

2017-12-01

Topo-bathymetric airborne lidar sensors using a green laser penetrating water and suitable for hydrography are now sold by major manufacturers. In the context of channel morphodynamics, repeat surveys could offer synoptic high resolution measurement of topo-bathymetric change, a key data that is currently missing. Yet, beyond the technological promise, what can we really achieve with these sensors in terms of depth penetration and bathymetric accuracy ? Can all rivers be surveyed ? How easy it is to process this new type of data to get the data needed by geomorphologists ? Here we report on the use of the Optech Titan dual wavelength (1064 nm & 532 nm) operated by the universities of Rennes and Nantes (France) and deployed over several rivers and lakes in France, including repeat surveys. We will illustrate cases where the topo-bathymetric survey is complete, reaching up to 6 m in rivers and offers unprecedented data for channel morphology analysis over tens of kilometres. We will also present challenging cases for which the technology will never work, or for which new algorithms to process full waveform are required. We will illustrate new developments for automated processing of large datasets, including the critical step of water surface detection and refraction correction. In suitable rivers, airborne topo-bathymetric surveys offer unprecedented synoptic 3D data at very high resolution (> 15 pts/m² in bathy) and precision (better than 10 cm for the bathy) down to 5-6 meters depth, with a perfectly continuous topography to bathymetry transition. This presentation will illustrate how this new type of data, when combined with 2D hydraulics modelling offers news insights into the spatial variations of friction in relation to channel bedforms, and the connectivity between rivers and floodplains.

A synoptic summary approach to better understanding groundwater contamination problems and evaluating long-term environmental consequences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelson, R.W.

1990-09-01

A summary approach has been developed within groundwater hydrology to communicate with a broad audience and more completely evaluate the long-term impacts of subsurface contamination problems. This synoptic approach both highlights the dominant features occurring in subsurface contamination problems and emphasizes the information required to determine the long-term environmental impacts. The special merit of a summary approach is in providing a better understanding of subsurface contamination problems to adjoining technical disciplines, public decision makers, and private citizens. 14 refs

The Little Ice Age climate of New Zealand reconstructed from Southern Alps cirque glaciers: a synoptic type approach

Science.gov (United States)

Lorrey, Andrew; Fauchereau, Nicolas; Stanton, Craig; Chappell, Petra; Phipps, Steven; Mackintosh, Andrew; Renwick, James; Goodwin, Ian; Fowler, Anthony

2014-06-01

Little Ice Age (LIA) austral summer temperature anomalies were derived from palaeoequilibrium line altitudes at 22 cirque glacier sites across the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Modern analog seasons with temperature anomalies akin to the LIA reconstructions were selected, and then applied in a sampling of high-resolution gridded New Zealand climate data and global reanalysis data to generate LIA climate composites at local, regional and hemispheric scales. The composite anomaly patterns assist in improving our understanding of atmospheric circulation contributions to the LIA climate state, allow an interrogation of synoptic type frequency changes for the LIA relative to present, and provide a hemispheric context of the past conditions in New Zealand. An LIA summer temperature anomaly of -0.56 °C (±0.29 °C) for the Southern Alps based on palaeo-equilibrium lines compares well with local tree-ring reconstructions of austral summer temperature. Reconstructed geopotential height at 1,000 hPa (z1000) suggests enhanced southwesterly flow across New Zealand occurred during the LIA to generate the terrestrial temperature anomalies. The mean atmospheric circulation pattern for summer resulted from a crucial reduction of the `HSE'-blocking synoptic type (highs over and to the west of NZ; largely settled conditions) and increases in both the `T'- and `SW'-trough synoptic types (lows passing over NZ; enhanced southerly and southwesterly flow) relative to normal. Associated land-based temperature and precipitation anomalies suggest both colder- and wetter-than-normal conditions were a pervasive component of the base climate state across New Zealand during the LIA, as were colder-than-normal Tasman Sea surface temperatures. Proxy temperature and circulation evidence were used to corroborate the spatially heterogeneous Southern Hemisphere composite z1000 and sea surface temperature patterns generated in this study. A comparison of the composites to climate mode archetypes

The impact of Greenland's deglaciation on the Arctic circulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dethloff, K.; Dorn, W.; Rinke, A.

2004-01-01

connected with shifts in the synoptic storm tracks during winter would have important consequences for the atmospheric freshwater input into the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic sea with the potential to cause variability in the Arctic Ocean dynamics on centennial to millennial time scales. The significant...

Practical global oceanic state estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Wunsch, Carl; Heimbach, Patrick

2007-06-01

The problem of oceanographic state estimation, by means of an ocean general circulation model (GCM) and a multitude of observations, is described and contrasted with the meteorological process of data assimilation. In practice, all such methods reduce, on the computer, to forms of least-squares. The global oceanographic problem is at the present time focussed primarily on smoothing, rather than forecasting, and the data types are unlike meteorological ones. As formulated in the consortium Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO), an automatic differentiation tool is used to calculate the so-called adjoint code of the GCM, and the method of Lagrange multipliers used to render the problem one of unconstrained least-squares minimization. Major problems today lie less with the numerical algorithms (least-squares problems can be solved by many means) than with the issues of data and model error. Results of ongoing calculations covering the period of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment, and including among other data, satellite altimetry from TOPEX/POSEIDON, Jason-1, ERS- 1/2, ENVISAT, and GFO, a global array of profiling floats from the Argo program, and satellite gravity data from the GRACE mission, suggest that the solutions are now useful for scientific purposes. Both methodology and applications are developing in a number of different directions.

Satellite Radiothermovision on Synoptic and Climatically Significant Scales

Science.gov (United States)

Ermakov, D. M.; Sharkov, E. A.; Chernushich, A. P.

2017-12-01

This paper is focused on the development of a methodological basis for the authors' approach to the processing of large volumes of satellite radiothermal data, which is known as satellite radiothermovision. A closed scheme for calculating the latent heat flux (and other integral characteristics of the dynamics of geophysical fields) through arbitrary contours (boundaries) has been constructed and mathematically described. The opportunity for working with static, as well as movable and deformable boundaries of arbitrary shape, has been provided. The computational scheme was tested using the example of calculations of the atmospheric advection of the latent heat from the North Atlantics to the Arctic in 2014. Preliminary analysis of the results showed a high potential of the approach when applying it to the study of a wide range of synoptic and climatically significant atmospheric processes of the Earth. Some areas for the further development of the satellite radiothermovision approach are briefly discussed. It is noted that expanding the analysis of the available satellite data to as much data as possible is of considerable importance. Among the immediate prospects is the analysis of large arrays of data already accumulated and processed in terms of the satellite radiothermovision ideology, which are partially presented and continuously updated on a specialized geoportal.

Transport processes near coastal ocean outfalls

Science.gov (United States)

Noble, M.A.; Sherwood, C.R.; Lee, Hooi-Ling; Xu, Jie; Dartnell, P.; Robertson, G.; Martini, M.

2001-01-01

The central Southern California Bight is an urbanized coastal ocean where complex topography and largescale atmospheric and oceanographic forcing has led to numerous sediment-distribution patterns. Two large embayments, Santa Monica and San Pedro Bays, are connected by the short, very narrow shelf off the Palos Verdes peninsula. Ocean-sewage outfalls are located in the middle of Santa Monica Bay, on the Palos Verdes shelf and at the southeastern edge of San Pedro Bay. In 1992, the US Geological Survey, together with allied agencies, began a series of programs to determine the dominant processes that transport sediment and associated pollutants near the three ocean outfalls. As part of these programs, arrays of instrumented moorings that monitor currents, waves, water clarity, water density and collect resuspended materials were deployed on the continental shelf and slope information was also collected on the sediment and contaminant distributions in the region. The data and models developed for the Palos Verdes shelf suggest that the large reservoir of DDT/DDE in the coastal ocean sediments will continue to be exhumed and transported along the shelf for a long time. On the Santa Monica shelf, very large internal waves, or bores, are generated at the shelf break. The near-bottom currents associated with these waves sweep sediments and the associated contaminants from the shelf onto the continental slope. A new program underway on the San Pedro shelf will determine if water and contaminants from a nearby ocean outfall are transported to the local beaches by coastal ocean processes. The large variety of processes found that transport sediments and contaminants in this small region of the continental margin suggest that in regions with complex topography, local processes change markedly over small spatial scales. One cannot necessarily infer that the dominant transport processes will be similar even in adjacent regions.

Dispersal from deep ocean sources: physical and related scientific processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robinson, A.R.; Kupferman, S.L.

1985-02-01

This report presents the results of the workshop ''Dispersal from Deep Ocean Sources: Physical and Related Scientific Processes,'' together with subsequent developments and syntheses of the material discussed there. The project was undertaken to develop usable predictive descriptions of dispersal from deep oceanic sources. Relatively simple theoretical models embodying modern ocean physics were applied, and observational and experimental data bases were exploited. All known physical processes relevant to the dispersal of passive, conservative tracers were discussed, and contact points for inclusion of nonconservative processes (biological and chemical) were identified. Numerical estimates of the amplitude, space, and time scales of dispersion were made for various mechanisms that control the evolution of the dispersal as the material spreads from a bottom point source to small-, meso-, and world-ocean scales. Recommendations for additional work are given. The volume is presented as a handbook of dispersion processes. It is intended to be updated as new results become available

CDOM-DOC relationship in contrasted coastal waters: implication for DOC retrieval from ocean color remote sensing observation.

Science.gov (United States)

Vantrepotte, Vincent; Danhiez, François-Pierre; Loisel, Hubert; Ouillon, Sylvain; Mériaux, Xavier; Cauvin, Arnaud; Dessailly, David

2015-01-12

Increasing our knowledge on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) spatio-temporal distribution in the coastal ocean represents a crucial challenge for better understanding the role of these ecosystems in the global oceanic carbon cycle. The assessment of DOC concentration from the absorption properties of the colored part of the dissolved organic matter (a(cdom)) was investigated from an extensive data set covering a variety of coastal environments. Our results confirmed that variation in the a(cdom)(412) to DOC ratio (a*(cdom)(412)) can be depicted from the CDOM spectral slope in the UV domain (S(275-295)). They also evidenced that regional first order variation in both a*(cdom)(412) and S(275-295) are highly correlated to variation in a(cdom)(412). From these observations, generalized relationships for estimating a*(cdom)(412) from S(275-295) or a(cdom)(412) were parameterized from our development sites (N = 158; English Channel, French Guiana, Hai Phong Bay) and tested against an independent data set covering others coastal regions (N = 223; French Polynesia, Rhone River estuary, Gulf of Maine, Chesapeake Bay, Southern Middle Atlantic Bight) demonstrating the possibility to derive DOC estimates from in situ CDOM optical properties with an average accuracy of ~16% over very contrasted coastal environments (with DOC ranging from 50 to 250 µmol.L(-1)). The applicability of these generalized approaches was evaluated in the context of ocean color remote sensing observation emphasizing the limits of S(275-295)-based formulations and the potential for a(cdom)-based approaches to represent a compelling alternative for assessing synoptic DOC distribution.

Resilience of SAR11 bacteria to rapid acidification in the high latitude open ocean

OpenAIRE

Hartmann, Manuela; Hill, Polly G.; Tynan, Eithne; Achterberg, Eric P.; Leakey, Raymond J. G.; Zubkov, Mikhail V.

2016-01-01

Ubiquitous SAR11 Alphaproteobacteria numerically dominate marine planktonic communities. Because they are excruciatingly difficult to cultivate, there is comparatively little known about their physiology and metabolic responses to long- and short- term environmental changes. As surface oceans take up anthropogenic, atmospheric CO2, the consequential process of ocean acidification could affect the global biogeochemical significance of SAR11. Shipping accidents or inadvertent release of chemica...

Large bio-geographical shifts in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hátún, Hjálmar; Payne, Mark; Beaugrand, G.

2009-01-01

and persistent bottom-up bio-physical link is demonstrated using a numerical ocean general circulation model and data on four trophically connected levels in the food chain – phytoplankton, zooplankton, blue whiting, and pilot whales. The plankton data give a unique basin-scale depiction of these changes...

Automated sensor networks to advance ocean science

Science.gov (United States)

Schofield, O.; Orcutt, J. A.; Arrott, M.; Vernon, F. L.; Peach, C. L.; Meisinger, M.; Krueger, I.; Kleinert, J.; Chao, Y.; Chien, S.; Thompson, D. R.; Chave, A. D.; Balasuriya, A.

2010-12-01

The National Science Foundation has funded the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), which over the next five years will deploy infrastructure to expand scientist’s ability to remotely study the ocean. The deployed infrastructure will be linked by a robust cyberinfrastructure (CI) that will integrate marine observatories into a coherent system-of-systems. OOI is committed to engaging the ocean sciences community during the construction pahse. For the CI, this is being enabled by using a “spiral design strategy” allowing for input throughout the construction phase. In Fall 2009, the OOI CI development team used an existing ocean observing network in the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) to test OOI CI software. The objective of this CI test was to aggregate data from ships, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), shore-based radars, and satellites and make it available to five different data-assimilating ocean forecast models. Scientists used these multi-model forecasts to automate future glider missions in order to demonstrate the feasibility of two-way interactivity between the sensor web and predictive models. The CI software coordinated and prioritized the shared resources that allowed for the semi-automated reconfiguration of assett-tasking, and thus enabled an autonomous execution of observation plans for the fixed and mobile observation platforms. Efforts were coordinated through a web portal that provided an access point for the observational data and model forecasts. Researchers could use the CI software in tandem with the web data portal to assess the performance of individual numerical model results, or multi-model ensembles, through real-time comparisons with satellite, shore-based radar, and in situ robotic measurements. The resulting sensor net will enable a new means to explore and study the world’s oceans by providing scientists a responsive network in the world’s oceans that can be accessed via any wireless network.

Reflection of equatorial Kelvin waves at eastern ocean boundaries Part II: Pacific and Atlantic Oceans

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Soares

1999-06-01

Full Text Available The effect of viscosity, non linearities, incident wave period and realistic eastern coastline geometry on energy fluxes are investigated using a shallow water model with a spatial resolution of 1/4 degree in both meridional and zonal directions. Equatorial and mid-latitude responses are considered. It is found that (1 the influence of the coastline geometry and the incident wave period is more important for the westward energy flux than for the poleward flux, and (2 the effect of the inclination of the eastern ocean boundary on the poleward energy flux, for the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, decline as the period of the incident wave increases. Furthermore, the model simulations suggest that the poleward energy fluxes from meridional boundaries give plausible results for motions of seasonal and annual periods. For comparatively shorter periods, a realistic coastline geometry has to be included for more accurate results. It is recommended that any numerical model involving the reflection of baroclinic Rossby waves (of intraseasonal, seasonal or annual periods on the eastern Pacific or Atlantic Oceans, should consider the effect of the coastline geometry in order to improve the accuracy of the results.Key words. Oceanography: general (climate and interannual variability; equatorial oceanography. Oceanography: physical (eastern boundary currents.

Atmosphere-ocean feedbacks in a coastal upwelling system

Science.gov (United States)

Alves, J. M. R.; Peliz, A.; Caldeira, R. M. A.; Miranda, P. M. A.

2018-03-01

The COAWST (Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport) modelling system is used in different configurations to simulate the Iberian upwelling during the 2012 summer, aiming to assess the atmosphere-ocean feedbacks in the upwelling dynamics. When model results are compared with satellite measurements and in-situ data, two-way coupling is found to have a moderate impact in data-model statistics. A significant reinforcement of atmosphere-ocean coupling coefficients is, however, observed in the two-way coupled run, and in the WRF and ROMS runs forced by previously simulated SST and wind fields, respectively. The increasing in the coupling coefficient is associated with slight, but potentially important changes in the low-level coastal jet in the atmospheric marine boundary layer. While these results do not imply the need for fully coupled simulations in many applications, they show that in seasonal numerical studies such simulations do not degrade the overall model performance, and contribute to produce better dynamical fields.

Model Scaling of Hydrokinetic Ocean Renewable Energy Systems

Science.gov (United States)

von Ellenrieder, Karl; Valentine, William

2013-11-01

Numerical simulations are performed to validate a non-dimensional dynamic scaling procedure that can be applied to subsurface and deeply moored systems, such as hydrokinetic ocean renewable energy devices. The prototype systems are moored in water 400 m deep and include: subsurface spherical buoys moored in a shear current and excited by waves; an ocean current turbine excited by waves; and a deeply submerged spherical buoy in a shear current excited by strong current fluctuations. The corresponding model systems, which are scaled based on relative water depths of 10 m and 40 m, are also studied. For each case examined, the response of the model system closely matches the scaled response of the corresponding full-sized prototype system. The results suggest that laboratory-scale testing of complete ocean current renewable energy systems moored in a current is possible. This work was supported by the U.S. Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC).

Model coupler for coupling of atmospheric, oceanic, and terrestrial models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagai, Haruyasu; Kobayashi, Takuya; Tsuduki, Katsunori; Kim, Keyong-Ok

2007-02-01

A numerical simulation system SPEEDI-MP, which is applicable for various environmental studies, consists of dynamical models and material transport models for the atmospheric, terrestrial, and oceanic environments, meteorological and geographical databases for model inputs, and system utilities for file management, visualization, analysis, etc., using graphical user interfaces (GUIs). As a numerical simulation tool, a model coupling program (model coupler) has been developed. It controls parallel calculations of several models and data exchanges among them to realize the dynamical coupling of the models. It is applicable for any models with three-dimensional structured grid system, which is used by most environmental and hydrodynamic models. A coupled model system for water circulation has been constructed with atmosphere, ocean, wave, hydrology, and land-surface models using the model coupler. Performance tests of the coupled model system for water circulation were also carried out for the flood event at Saudi Arabia in January 2005 and the storm surge case by the hurricane KATRINA in August 2005. (author)

An ocean current inversion accuracy analysis based on a Doppler spectrum model

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

BAO Qingliu; ZHANG Youguang; LIN Mingsen; GONG Peng

2017-01-01

Microwave remote sensing is one of the most useful methods for observing the ocean parameters.The Doppler frequency or interferometric phase of the radar echoes can be used for an ocean surface current speed retrieval,which is widely used in spaceborne and airborne radars.While the effect of the ocean currents and waves is interactional.It is impossible to retrieve the ocean surface current speed from Doppler frequency shift directly.In order to study the relationship between the ocean surface current speed and the Doppler frequency shift,a numerical ocean surface Doppler spectrum model is established and validated with a reference.The input parameters of ocean Doppler spectrum include an ocean wave elevation model,a directional distribution function,and wind speed and direction.The suitable ocean wave elevation spectrum and the directional distribution function are selected by comparing the ocean Doppler spectrum in C band with an empirical geophysical model function (CDOP).What is more,the error sensitivities of ocean surface current speed to the wind speed and direction are analyzed.All these simulations are in Ku band.The simulation results show that the ocean surface current speed error is sensitive to the wind speed and direction errors.With VV polarization,the ocean surface current speed error is about 0.15 m/s when the wind speed error is 2 m/s,and the ocean surface current speed error is smaller than 0.3 m/s when the wind direction error is within 20° in the cross wind direction.

Driving Roles of Tropospheric and Stratospheric Thermal Anomalies in Intensification and Persistence of the Arctic Superstorm in 2012

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Wei; Zhang, Jing; Fu, Yunfei; Zhang, Xiangdong

2017-10-01

Intense synoptic-scale storms have been more frequently observed over the Arctic during recent years. Specifically, a superstorm hit the Arctic Ocean in August 2012 and preceded a new record low Arctic sea ice extent. In this study, the major physical processes responsible for the storm's intensification and persistence are explored through a series of numerical modeling experiments with the Weather Research and Forecasting model. It is found that thermal anomalies in troposphere as well as lower stratosphere jointly lead to the development of this superstorm. Thermal contrast between the unusually warm Siberia and the relatively cold Arctic Ocean results in strong troposphere baroclinicity and upper level jet, which contribute to the storm intensification initially. On the other hand, Tropopause Polar Vortex (TPV) associated with the thermal anomaly in lower stratosphere further intensifies the upper level jet and accordingly contributes to a drastic intensification of the storm. Stacking with the enhanced surface low, TPV intensifies further, which sustains the storm to linger over the Arctic Ocean for an extended period.

Diurnal tides in the Arctic Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Kowalik, Z.; Proshutinsky, A. Y.

1993-01-01

A 2D numerical model with a space grid of about 14 km is applied to calculate diurnal tidal constituents K(1) and O(1) in the Arctic Ocean. Calculated corange and cotidal charts show that along the continental slope, local regions of increased sea level amplitude, highly variable phase and enhanced currents occur. It is shown that in these local regions, shelf waves (topographic waves) of tidal origin are generated. In the Arctic Ocean and Northern Atlantic Ocean more than 30 regions of enhanced currents are identified. To prove the near-resonant interaction of the diurnal tides with the local bottom topography, the natural periods of oscillations for all regions have been calculated. The flux of energy averaged over the tidal period depicts the gyres of semitrapped energy, suggesting that the shelf waves are partially trapped over the irregularities of the bottom topography. It is shown that the occurrence of near-resonance phenomenon changes the energy flow in the tidal waves. First, the flux of energy from the astronomical sources is amplified in the shelf wave regions, and afterwards the tidal energy is strongly dissipated in the same regions.

Deciphering ocean carbon in a changing world.

Science.gov (United States)

Moran, Mary Ann; Kujawinski, Elizabeth B; Stubbins, Aron; Fatland, Rob; Aluwihare, Lihini I; Buchan, Alison; Crump, Byron C; Dorrestein, Pieter C; Dyhrman, Sonya T; Hess, Nancy J; Howe, Bill; Longnecker, Krista; Medeiros, Patricia M; Niggemann, Jutta; Obernosterer, Ingrid; Repeta, Daniel J; Waldbauer, Jacob R

2016-03-22

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the oceans is one of the largest pools of reduced carbon on Earth, comparable in size to the atmospheric CO2 reservoir. A vast number of compounds are present in DOM, and they play important roles in all major element cycles, contribute to the storage of atmospheric CO2 in the ocean, support marine ecosystems, and facilitate interactions between organisms. At the heart of the DOM cycle lie molecular-level relationships between the individual compounds in DOM and the members of the ocean microbiome that produce and consume them. In the past, these connections have eluded clear definition because of the sheer numerical complexity of both DOM molecules and microorganisms. Emerging tools in analytical chemistry, microbiology, and informatics are breaking down the barriers to a fuller appreciation of these connections. Here we highlight questions being addressed using recent methodological and technological developments in those fields and consider how these advances are transforming our understanding of some of the most important reactions of the marine carbon cycle.

Large-scale and synoptic meteorology in the south-east Pacific during the observations campaign VOCALS-REx in austral Spring 2008

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Toniazzo

2011-05-01

Full Text Available We present a descriptive overview of the meteorology in the south eastern subtropical Pacific (SEP during the VOCALS-REx intensive observations campaign which was carried out between October and November 2008. Mainly based on data from operational analyses, forecasts, reanalysis, and satellite observations, we focus on spatio-temporal scales from synoptic to planetary. A climatological context is given within which the specific conditions observed during the campaign are placed, with particular reference to the relationships between the large-scale and the regional circulations. The mean circulations associated with the diurnal breeze systems are also discussed. We then provide a summary of the day-to-day synoptic-scale circulation, air-parcel trajectories, and cloud cover in the SEP during VOCALS-REx. Three meteorologically distinct periods of time are identified and the large-scale causes for their different character are discussed. The first period was characterised by significant variability associated with synoptic-scale systems interesting the SEP; while the two subsequent phases were affected by planetary-scale disturbances with a slower evolution. The changes between initial and later periods can be partly explained from the regular march of the annual cycle, but contributions from subseasonal variability and its teleconnections were important. Across the whole of the two months under consideration we find a significant correlation between the depth of the inversion-capped marine boundary layer (MBL and the amount of low cloud in the area of study. We discuss this correlation and argue that at least as a crude approximation a typical scaling may be applied relating MBL and cloud properties with the large-scale parameters of SSTs and tropospheric temperatures. These results are consistent with previously found empirical relationships involving lower-tropospheric stability.

Taking Poseidon's Measure from Space: Advances in our Understanding of the Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Avery, S. K.

2017-12-01

In many ways the ocean defines our planet and makes it livable. It provides marine resources and ecosystem services that are critical to a sustainable society. Today we understand that there is a growing need to predict, manage, and adapt to changes on our planet - changes that occur not only in the atmosphere but also in the ocean. Over the last 40 years remarkable advances in measuring key ocean quantities have been made - through the development of new satellite technologies and successful missions as well as through in-situ observing systems enabled by advances in robotics, communications, navigation, and sensors. Ocean science (and atmospheric science) is a science of numbers, imaging, and numerical models. Predictability of the ocean is tied to the scale of variability in space and time. Satellite observations have spectacularly showed us the incredible structure and variability of the ocean. It has been the combination of satellites and in-situ sensors that have allowed us to advance understanding and prediction. This presentation will highlight some of the key scientific advances that have been enabled by satellites.

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF UJONG SEUDEUN LAND SEPARATION CAUSED BY THE 2004 INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI, ACEH-INDONESIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Musa Al'ala

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The Aceh province in Indonesia, located around the Sumatra subduction area, was one of the worst hit areas with respect to damage from the impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. A 9.15 Mw earthquake triggered the tsunami. One of the impacts was the disconnection of several areas from their mainland, thus creating new small islands. This happened around Ujong Seudeun village in Aceh Jaya District. Prior to the tsunami, the village had approximately 500 residents. However, after the tsunami, the area was severely eroded and a small strait had been inserted between the village and the Sumatra Island mainland. This study investigates the magnitude of the tsunami wave forces that separated the area to yield a newly deserted small island. This study was conducted by numerical simulations and by coupling the COMCOT (Cornell Multi-grid Coupled Tsunami Model and Delft3D models. These tools have specific advantages, namely, COMCOT’s linear modeling is based on a series of earthquake mechanisms and Delft3D uses non-linear morphological dynamic modeling. Their software includes the explicit leapfrog finite difference scheme (COMCOT and the non-linear shallow water equation (Delft3D. Bathymetry data fromnewly formed coastline and the small island’s shape were digitized using 2005 Quickbird Images. Results from this research reveal the estimated tsunami wave heights and forces that disconnected the small island of Ujong Seuden from the Sumatra Island mainland. These results can be used to further develop the COMCOT model to incorporate sediment modules.

Ocean acidification effects on Caribbean scleractinian coral calcification using a recirculating system: a novel approach to OA research

Science.gov (United States)

Projected increases in ocean pCO2 levels are likely to affect calcifying organisms more rapidly and to a greater extent than any other marine organisms. The effects of ocean acidification (OA) has been documented in numerous species of corals in both laboratory and field studies....

Evaluation of OSCAR ocean surface current product in the tropical ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Next, the evaluation has been carried out by comparing the OSCAR currents with currents measured by moored buoys ... measurements, to derive the surface current prod- uct, known ... ogy of surface currents based on drifter data. The ... and prediction (RAMA). ..... of satellite derived forcings on numerical ocean model sim-.

Numerical simulation system for environmental studies: SPEEDI-MP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagai, Haruyasu; Chino, Masamichi; Terada, Hiroaki; Harayama, Takaya; Kobayashi, Takuya; Tsuduki, Katsunori; Kim, Keyong-Ok; Furuno, Akiko

2006-09-01

A numerical simulation system SPEEDI-MP has been developed to apply for various environmental studies. SPEEDI-MP consists of dynamical models and material transport models for the atmospheric, terrestrial, and oceanic environments, meteorological and geographical database for model inputs, and system utilities for file management, visualization, analysis, etc., using graphical user interfaces (GUIs). As a numerical simulation tool, a model coupling program (model coupler) has been developed. It controls parallel calculations of several models and data exchanges among them to realize the dynamical coupling of the models. A coupled model system for water circulation has been constructed with atmosphere, ocean, wave, hydrology, and land-surface models using the model coupler. System utility GUIs are based on the Web technology, allowing users to manipulate all the functions on the system using their own PCs via the internet. In this system, the source estimation function in the atmospheric transport model can be executed on the grid computer system. Performance tests of the coupled model system for water circulation were also carried out for the flood event at Saudi Arabia in January 2005 and the storm surge case by the hurricane KATRINA in August 2005. (author)

Ocean tides from Seasat-A

Science.gov (United States)

Hendershott, M. C.; Munk, W. H.; Zetler, B. D.

1974-01-01

Two procedures for the evaluation of global tides from SEASAT-A altimetry data are elaborated: an empirical method leading to the response functions for a grid of about 500 points from which the tide can be predicted for any point in the oceans, and a dynamic method which consists of iteratively modifying the parameters in a numerical solution to Laplace tide equations. It is assumed that the shape of the received altimeter signal can be interpreted for sea state and that orbit calculations are available so that absolute sea levels can be obtained.

On the interaction between ocean surface waves and seamounts

Science.gov (United States)

Sosa, Jeison; Cavaleri, Luigi; Portilla-Yandún, Jesús

2017-12-01

Of the many topographic features, more specifically seamounts, that are ubiquitous in the ocean floor, we focus our attention on those with relatively shallow summits that can interact with wind-generated surface waves. Among these, especially relatively long waves crossing the oceans (swells) and stormy seas are able to affect the water column up to a considerable depth and therefore interact with these deep-sea features. We quantify this interaction through numerical experiments using a numerical wave model (SWAN), in which a simply shaped seamount is exposed to waves of different length. The results show a strong interaction that leads to significant changes in the wave field, creating wake zones and regions of large wave amplification. This is then exemplified in a practical case where we analyze the interaction of more realistic sea conditions with a very shallow rock in the Yellow Sea. Potentially important for navigation and erosion processes, mutatis mutandis, these results are also indicative of possible interactions with emerged islands and sand banks in shelf seas.

Explosive development of winter storm Xynthia over the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. L. R. Liberato

2013-09-01

Full Text Available In winter of 2009–2010 south-western Europe was hit by several destructive windstorms. The most important was Xynthia (26–28 February 2010, which caused 64 reported casualties and was classified as the 2nd most expensive natural hazard event for 2010 in terms of economic losses. In this work we assess the synoptic evolution, dynamical characteristics and the main impacts of storm Xynthia, whose genesis, development and path were very uncommon. Wind speed gusts observed at more than 500 stations across Europe are evaluated as well as the wind gust field obtained with a regional climate model simulation for the entire North Atlantic and European area. Storm Xynthia was first identified on 25 February around 30° N, 50° W over the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean. Its genesis occurred on a region characterized by warm and moist air under the influence of a strong upper level wave embedded in the westerlies. Xynthia followed an unusual SW–NE path towards Iberia, France and central Europe. The role of moist air masses on the explosive development of Xynthia is analysed by considering the evaporative sources. A lagrangian model is used to identify the moisture sources, sinks and moisture transport associated with the cyclone during its development phase. The main supply of moisture is located over an elongated region of the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean with anomalously high SST, confirming that the explosive development of storm Xynthia had a significant contribution from the subtropics.

Rain-shadow: An area harboring "Gray Ocean" clouds

Science.gov (United States)

Padmakumari, B.; Maheskumar, R. S.; Harikishan, G.; Morwal, S. B.; Kulkarni, J. R.

2018-06-01

The characteristics of monsoon convective clouds over the rain-shadow region of north peninsular India have been investigated using in situ aircraft cloud microphysical observations collected during Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement EXperiment (CAIPEEX). The parameters considered for characterization are: liquid water content (LWC), cloud vertical motion (updraft, downdraft: w), cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC) and effective radius (Re). The results are based on 15 research flights which were conducted from the base station Hyderabad during summer monsoon season. The clouds studied were developing congestus. The clouds have low CDNC and low updraft values resembling the oceanic convective clouds. The super-saturation in clouds is found to be low (≤0.2%) due to low updrafts. The land surface behaves like ocean surface during monsoon as deduced from Bowen ratio. Microphysically the clouds showed oceanic characteristics. However, these clouds yield low rainfall due to their low efficiency (mean 14%). The cloud parameters showed a large variability; hence their characteristic values are reported in terms of median values. These values will serve the numerical models for rainfall simulations over the region and also will be useful as a scientific basis for cloud seeding operations to increase the rainfall efficiency. The study revealed that monsoon convective clouds over the rain-shadow region are of oceanic type over the gray land, and therefore we christen them as "Gray Ocean" clouds.

The Influence of Ocean on Typhoon Nuri (2008)

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, J.; Oey, L. Y.; Xu, F.; Lin, Y.; Huang, S. M.; Chang, R.

2014-12-01

The influence of ocean on typhoon Nuri (2008) is investigated in this study using the WRF numerical model. Typhoon Nuri formed over the warm pool of the western North Pacific. The storm traversed west-northwestward and became a Category 3 typhoon over the Kuroshio east of the Luzon Strait and weakened as it moved across South China Sea. Three types of SST: NCEP RTG_SST (Real-time，global，sea surface temperature) GHRsst (Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature) and SST from the ATOP North Pacific ocean model [Oey et al 2014, JPO] are used in WRF to test the effect of ocean on the intensity of typhoon Nuri. The typhoon intensity and track are also compared with simulations using different microphysics schemes but with fixed SST. The results show that thermodynamic control through ocean response is the dominant factor which determines Nuri's intensity. The simulated intensity agrees well with the observed intensity when ATOP SST is used, while using NCEP SST and GHRsst yield errors both in intensity and timing of maximum intensity. Over the Kuroshio, the thicker depth of 26 ℃ from ATOP provides stronger heating for the correct timing of intensification of Nuri. In South China Sea, the storm weakened because of cooled SST through ocean mixing by inertial resonance. A new way of explaining typhoon intensification though PV is proposed.

Geothermal influences on the abyssal ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Emile-Geay, J.; Madec, G.

2017-12-01

Long considered a negligible contribution to ocean dynamics, geothermal heat flow (GHF) is now increasingly recognized as an important contributor to the large scale ocean's deep structure and circulation. This presentation will review the history of theories regarding geothermal influences on the abyssal ocean. Though the contribution to the thermal structure was recognized early on, its potential in driving a circulation [Worthington, 1968] was largely ignored on the grounds that it could not materially affect potential vorticity. Huang [JPO, 1999] proposed that GHF may provide 30-50% of the energy available for deep mixing, a calculation that later proved too optimistic [Wunsch & Ferrari ARFM 2004]. Model simulations suggested that a uniform GHF of 50 mW/m2 could drive an abyssal of a few Sverdrups (1 Sv = 106 m3.s-1) [Adcroft et al, GRL 2001], but it was not until Emile-Geay & Madec [OS, 2009] (EM09) that GHF began to be taken seriously [Mashayek et al, GRL 2013; Voldoire et al. Clim. Dyn. 2013; Dufresnes et al., Clim. Dyn. 2013]. Using analytical and numerical approaches, the study made 3 main points: GHF brings as much energy to the deep ocean as intense diapycnal mixing (1 cm2/s). GHF consumes the densest water masses, inducing a deep circulation of 5 Sv even without mixing. This circulation varies in inverse proportion to abyssal stratification. The spatial structure of GHF, highest at mid-ocean ridges and lowest in abyssal plains, matters far less than the fact that it bathes vast fractions of the ocean floor in a relatively low, constant flux. EM09 concluded that GHF "is an important actor of abyssal dynamics, and should no longer be neglected in oceanographic studies". Recent work has confirmed that geothermal heat flow is of comparable importance to ocean circulation as bottom-intensified mixing induced by internal wave breaking [De Lavergne et al, JPO 2016a,b]. Thus, including GHF in ocean general circulation models improves abyssal structure and

Simulation of the Impact of New Aircraft- and Satellite-Based Ocean Surface Wind Measurements on H*Wind Analyses and Numerical Forecasts

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Timothy; Atlas, Robert; Black, Peter; Chen, Shuyi; Hood, Robbie; Johnson, James; Jones, Linwood; Ruf, Chris; Uhlhorn, Eric; Krishnamurti, T. N.;

Analysis of Solar Coronal Holes with Synoptic Magnetogram Data

Science.gov (United States)

Canner, A.; Kim, T. K.; Pogorelov, N.; Yalim, M. S.

2017-12-01

Coronal holes are regions in which the magnetic field of the Sun is open with high magnetic flux and low plasma density. Because of the low plasma beta in these regions, the open field lines transport plasma from the Sun throughout the heliosphere. Coronal hole area is closely related to the expansion factor of the magnetic flux tube, as demonstrated by Tokumaru et al. (2017). Following the approach of Tokumaru et al. (2017), we employ a potential field source surface model to identify the open field regions on the photosphere and estimate the area and expansion factor for each coronal hole. While Tokumaru et al. (2017) analyzed synoptic maps from Kitt Peak National Observatory for the period 1995-2011, we use different magnetograph observations with higher spatial resolution (e.g., SOHO-MDI) for the same time period. We compare the coronal hole area - expansion factor relationship with the original results of Tokumaru et al (2017). This work was supported by the NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program "Solar and Heliospheric Physics at UAH and MSFC" run by the University of Alabama in Huntsville in partnership with the Marshall Space Flight Center through grant AGS-1460767.

Biological oceanography across the Southern Indian Ocean – basinscale trends in the zooplankton community

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jonasdottir, Sigrun; Nielsen, Torkel Gissel; Borg, Christian Marc Andersen

2013-01-01

We present a study on the protozooplankton 45 mm and copepods larger than 50 mm at a series of contrasting stations across the Southern Indian Ocean (SIO). Numerically, over 80% of the copepod community across the transect was less than 650 mm in size, dominated by nauplii, and smaller copepods...... stations. Secondary production was low (carbon specific egg production o0.14 d1) but typical for food limited oligotrophic oceans...

Using a {sigma}-coordinate numerical ocean model for simulating the circulation at Ormen Lange

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eliassen, Inge K.; Berntsen, Jarle

2000-01-01

This report describes a numerical model for the simulation of circulation at the Ormen Lange oil field. The model uses a topography following vertical coordinate and time split integration procedure. The model is implemented for a 28 km x 46 km area at Ormen Lange. The equations are given in detail and numerical experiments are discussed. The numerical studies investigate how the flow specified at open boundaries surrounding the Ormen Lange area may be interpolated into the interior domain taking into account the conservation laws that are believed to determine the flow and the local topography.

Oceanic magmatic evolution during ocean opening under influence of mantle plume

Science.gov (United States)

Sushchevskaya, Nadezhda; Melanholina, Elena; Belyatsky, Boris; Krymsky, Robert; Migdisova, Natalya

2015-04-01

Petrology, geochemistry and geophysics as well as numerical simulation of spreading processes in plume impact environments on examples of Atlantic Ocean Iceland and the Central Atlantic plumes and Kerguelen plume in the Indian Ocean reveal: - under interaction of large plume and continental landmass the plume can contribute to splitting off individual lithosphere blocks, and their subsequent movement into the emergent ocean. At the same time enriched plume components often have geochemical characteristics of the intact continental lithosphere by early plume exposure. This is typical for trap magmatism in Antarctica, and for magmatism of North and Central Atlantic margins; - in the course of the geodynamic reconstruction under the whole region of the South Atlantic was formed (not in one step) metasomatized enriched sub-oceanic mantle with pyroxenite mantle geochemical characteristics and isotopic composition of enriched HIMU and EM-2 sources. That is typical for most of the islands in the West Antarctic. This mantle through spreading axes jumping involved in different proportions in the melting under the influence of higher-temperature rising asthenospheric lherzolite mantle; - CAP activity was brief enough (200 ± 2 Ma), but Karoo-Maud plume worked for a longer time and continued from 180 to 170 Ma ago in the main phase. Plume impact within Antarctica distributed to the South and to the East, leading to the formation of extended igneous provinces along the Transantarctic Mountains and along the east coast (Queen Maud Land province and Schirmacher Oasis). Moreover, this plume activity may be continued later on, after about 40 million years cessation, as Kerguelen plume within the newly-formed Indian Ocean, significantly affects the nature of the rift magmatism; - a large extended uplift in the eastern part of the Indian Ocean - Southeastern Indian Ridge (SEIR) was formed on the ancient spreading Wharton ridge near active Kerguelen plume. The strongest plume

Global Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Coordination

Science.gov (United States)

Telszewski, Maciej; Tanhua, Toste; Palacz, Artur

2016-04-01

The complexity of the marine carbon cycle and its numerous connections to carbon's atmospheric and terrestrial pathways means that a wide range of approaches have to be used in order to establish it's qualitative and quantitative role in the global climate system. Ocean carbon and biogeochemistry research, observations, and modelling are conducted at national, regional, and global levels to quantify the global ocean uptake of atmospheric CO2 and to understand controls of this process, the variability of uptake and vulnerability of carbon fluxes into the ocean. These science activities require support by a sustained, international effort that provides a central communication forum and coordination services to facilitate the compatibility and comparability of results from individual efforts and development of the ocean carbon data products that can be integrated with the terrestrial, atmospheric and human dimensions components of the global carbon cycle. The International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP) was created in 2005 by the IOC of UNESCO and the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research. IOCCP provides an international, program-independent forum for global coordination of ocean carbon and biogeochemistry observations and integration with global carbon cycle science programs. The IOCCP coordinates an ever-increasing set of observations-related activities in the following domains: underway observations of biogeochemical water properties, ocean interior observations, ship-based time-series observations, large-scale ocean acidification monitoring, inorganic nutrients observations, biogeochemical instruments and autonomous sensors and data and information creation. Our contribution is through the facilitation of the development of globally acceptable strategies, methodologies, practices and standards homogenizing efforts of the research community and scientific advisory groups as well as integrating the ocean biogeochemistry observations with the

Calcification in Caribbean reef-building corals at high pCO2 levels in a recirculating ocean acidification exposure system

Science.gov (United States)

Projected increases in ocean pCO2 levels are anticipated to affect calcifying organisms more rapidly and to a greater extent than other marine organisms. The effects of ocean acidification (OA) have been documented in numerous species of corals in laboratory studies, largely test...

The mechanism of upper-oceanic vertical motions forced by a moving typhoon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, Shin-ichi; Niino, Hiroshi; Kimura, Ryuji

2011-01-01

The upper-oceanic response to a moving typhoon, and the mechanism of the response, are studied based on linear theory and a numerical experiment. The results of the analysis by linear theory are summarized as follows. Three different processes (Ekman pumping, inertial pumping and 'anti-Ekman' pumping) contribute to the upper-oceanic vertical motions caused by a moving atmospheric disturbance. The dominant process depends on the Coriolis parameter f, the moving speed U of the disturbance and the along-track wavenumber spectrum of the wind stress curl. In the case of a typhoon, when the wavenumber spectrum has a dominant amplitude at k< f/U, Ekman pumping is the dominant mechanism and upwelling occurs at the typhoon center, where k is the along-track wavenumber. When the wavenumber spectrum has a significant amplitude near k∼f/U, inertial pumping is dominant and upwelling occurs to the rear of the typhoon center. The results of the numerical experiments show that linear theory performs well in explaining the horizontal structures of the upper-oceanic vertical motions and their dependence on the moving speed of the typhoon.

Model representations of aerosol layers transported from North America over the Atlantic Ocean during the Two-Column Aerosol Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fast, Jerome D.; Berg, Larry K.; Zhang, Kai; Easter, Richard C.; Ferrare, Richard A.; Hair, John; Hostetler, Chris A.; Liu, Ying; Ortega, Ivan; Sedlacek, Art; Shilling, John E.; Shrivastava, ManishKumar B.; Springston, Stephen R.; Tomlinson, Jason M.; Volkamer, Rainer M.; Wilson, Jacqueline M.; Zaveri, Rahul A.; Zelenyuk-Imre, Alla

2016-08-22

The ability of the Weather Research and Forecasting model with chemistry (WRF-Chem) version 3.7 and the Community Atmosphere Model version 5.3 (CAM5) in simulating profiles of aerosol properties is quantified using extensive in situ and remote sensing measurements from the Two Column Aerosol Project (TCAP) conducted during July of 2012. TCAP was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program and was designed to obtain observations within two atmospheric columns; one fixed over Cape Cod, Massachusetts and the other several hundred kilometers over the ocean. The performance is quantified using most of the available aircraft and surface measurements during July, and two days are examined in more detail to identify the processes responsible for the observed aerosol layers. The higher resolution WRF-Chem model produced more aerosol mass in the free troposphere than the coarser resolution CAM5 model so that the fraction of aerosol optical thickness above the residual layer from WRF-Chem was more consistent with lidar measurements. We found that the free troposphere layers are likely due to mean vertical motions associated with synoptic-scale convergence that lifts aerosols from the boundary layer. The vertical displacement and the time period associated with upward transport in the troposphere depend on the strength of the synoptic system and whether relatively high boundary layer aerosol concentrations are present where convergence occurs. While a parameterization of subgrid scale convective clouds applied in WRF-Chem modulated the concentrations of aerosols aloft, it did not significantly change the overall altitude and depth of the layers.

Transport mechanisms for synoptic, seasonal and interannual SF6 variations and "age" of air in troposphere

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Miyazaki

2009-02-01

Full Text Available We use an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM driven chemistry-transport model (ACTM to simulate the evolution of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6 in the troposphere. The model results are compared with continuous measurements at 6 sites over 71° N–90° S. These comparisons demonstrate that the ACTM simulations lie within the measurement uncertainty over the analysis period (1999–2006 and capture salient features of synoptic, seasonal and interannual SF6 variability. To understand transport timescales of SF6 within the troposphere, transport times of air parcels from the surface to different regions of the troposphere ("age" are estimated from a simulation of an idealized tracer. The age estimation error and its sensitivity to the selection of reanalysis meteorology for ACTM nudging or the tracer transport by deep cumulus convection as represented in the model are discussed. Monthly-mean, 2-box model exchange times (τex are calculated from both the observed and simulated SF6 time series at the 6 observing sites and show favorable agreement, suggesting that the ACTM adequately represents large-scale interhemispheric transport. The simulated SF6 variability is further investigated through decomposition of the mixing ratio time-tendency into advective, convective, and vertical diffusive components. The transport component analysis illustrates the role of each process in SF6 synoptic variability at the site level and provides insight into the seasonality of τex.

Exploring tectonomagmatic controls on mid-ocean ridge faulting and morphology with 3-D numerical models

Science.gov (United States)

Howell, S. M.; Ito, G.; Behn, M. D.; Olive, J. A. L.; Kaus, B.; Popov, A.; Mittelstaedt, E. L.; Morrow, T. A.

2016-12-01

Previous two-dimensional (2-D) modeling studies of abyssal-hill scale fault generation and evolution at mid-ocean ridges have predicted that M, the ratio of magmatic to total extension, strongly influences the total slip, spacing, and rotation of large faults, as well as the morphology of the ridge axis. Scaling relations derived from these 2-D models broadly explain the globally observed decrease in abyssal hill spacing with increasing ridge spreading rate, as well as the formation of large-offset faults close to the ends of slow-spreading ridge segments. However, these scaling relations do not explain some higher resolution observations of segment-scale variability in fault spacing along the Chile Ridge and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where fault spacing shows no obvious correlation with M. This discrepancy between observations and 2-D model predictions illuminates the need for three-dimensional (3-D) numerical models that incorporate the effects of along-axis variations in lithospheric structure and magmatic accretion. To this end, we use the geodynamic modeling software LaMEM to simulate 3-D tectono-magmatic interactions in a visco-elasto-plastic lithosphere under extension. We model a single ridge segment subjected to an along-axis gradient in the rate of magma injection, which is simulated by imposing a mass source in a plane of model finite volumes beneath the ridge axis. Outputs of interest include characteristic fault offset, spacing, and along-axis gradients in seafloor morphology. We also examine the effects of along-axis variations in lithospheric thickness and off-axis thickening rate. The main objectives of this study are to quantify the relative importance of the amount of magmatic extension and the local lithospheric structure at a given along-axis location, versus the importance of along-axis communication of lithospheric stresses on the 3-D fault evolution and morphology of intermediate-spreading-rate ridges.

Towards high fidelity numerical wave tanks for modelling coastal and ocean engineering processes

Science.gov (United States)

Cozzuto, G.; Dimakopoulos, A.; de Lataillade, T.; Kees, C. E.

2017-12-01

With the increasing availability of computational resources, the engineering and research community is gradually moving towards using high fidelity Comutational Fluid Mechanics (CFD) models to perform numerical tests for improving the understanding of physical processes pertaining to wave propapagation and interaction with the coastal environment and morphology, either physical or man-made. It is therefore important to be able to reproduce in these models the conditions that drive these processes. So far, in CFD models the norm is to use regular (linear or nonlinear) waves for performing numerical tests, however, only random waves exist in nature. In this work, we will initially present the verification and validation of numerical wave tanks based on Proteus, an open-soruce computational toolkit based on finite element analysis, with respect to the generation, propagation and absorption of random sea states comprising of long non-repeating wave sequences. Statistical and spectral processing of results demonstrate that the methodologies employed (including relaxation zone methods and moving wave paddles) are capable of producing results of similar quality to the wave tanks used in laboratories (Figure 1). Subsequently cases studies of modelling complex process relevant to coastal defences and floating structures such as sliding and overturning of composite breakwaters, heave and roll response of floating caissons are presented. Figure 1: Wave spectra in the numerical wave tank (coloured symbols), compared against the JONSWAP distribution

Transformations and Fates of Terrigenous Dissolved Organic Matter in River-influenced Ocean Margins

Science.gov (United States)

Fichot, Cedric G.

of tDOC mineralization rates on the Louisiana shelf. Seasonal tDOC mass balances for the shelf revealed that between 26% (winter) and 71% (summer) of the mixed layer tDOC is mineralized during its residence on the shelf. Independent approaches further indicated biomineralization accounts for 60% of the tDOC mineralization whereas photomineralization contributes only 8%. The remaining 32% was attributed to the coupled photo-biomineralization. On an annual basis, our results indicated ˜40% of the tDOC discharged by the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers to the Louisiana shelf (˜1 Tg tDOC) is mineralized within 2 to 3 months. This extensive mineralization on the shelf is direct evidence ocean margins act as efficient filters of tDOC between the land and ocean. Finally, the amenability of S275-295 to ocean color remote sensing was demonstrated, and facilitates the real-time, synoptic monitoring of tDOC and freshwater runoff in coastal waters. Implementation of this approach provided the first pan-Arctic distributions of tDOC and continental runoff in surface polar waters, and will help understand the manifestations of climate change in this remote region.

Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS) provides numerical guidance and products in support of a wide range of Navy oceanographic and...

IAEA To Launch Centre On Ocean Acidification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-01-01

Full text: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is to launch a new centre this summer to address the growing problem of ocean acidification. Operated by the Agency's Monaco Environmental Laboratories, the Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre will serve the scientific community - as well as policymakers, universities, media and the general public - by facilitating, promoting and communicating global actions on ocean acidification. Growing amounts of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere are being absorbed in the planet's oceans which increases their acidity. According to the experts, ocean acidification may render most regions of the ocean inhospitable to coral reefs by 2050 if atmospheric carbon dioxide levels continue to increase. This could lead to substantial changes in commercial fish stocks, threatening food security for millions of people as well as the multi-billion dollar fishing industry. International scientists have been studying the effect and possible responses, and the new centre will help coordinate their efforts. ''During the past five years, numerous multinational and national research projects on ocean acidification have emerged and significant research advances have been made,'' said Daud bin Mohamad, IAEA Deputy Director General for Nuclear Sciences and Applications. ''The time is now ripe to provide international coordination to gain the greatest value from national efforts and research investments.'' The centre will be supported by several IAEA Member States and through the Peaceful Uses Initiative, and it will be overseen by an Advisory Board consisting of leading institutions, including the U.N. Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco, the OA-Reference User Group, as well as leading scientists and economists in the field. The new centre will focus on international

Anomalous Structure of Oceanic Lithosphere in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans: A Preliminary Analysis Based on Bathymetry, Gravity and Crustal Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Barantsrva, O.

2014-12-01

We present a preliminary analysis of the crustal and upper mantle structure for off-shore regions in the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans. These regions have anomalous oceanic lithosphere: the upper mantle of the North Atlantic ocean is affected by the Iceland plume, while the Arctic ocean has some of the slowest spreading rates. Our specific goal is to constrain the density structure of the upper mantle in order to understand the links between the deep lithosphere dynamics, ocean spreading, ocean floor bathymetry, heat flow and structure of the oceanic lithosphere in the regions where classical models of evolution of the oceanic lithosphere may not be valid. The major focus is on the oceanic lithosphere, but the Arctic shelves with a sufficient data coverage are also included into the analysis. Out major interest is the density structure of the upper mantle, and the analysis is based on the interpretation of GOCE satellite gravity data. To separate gravity anomalies caused by subcrustal anomalous masses, the gravitational effect of water, crust and the deep mantle is removed from the observed gravity field. For bathymetry we use the global NOAA database ETOPO1. The crustal correction to gravity is based on two crustal models: (1) global model CRUST1.0 (Laske, 2013) and, for a comparison, (2) a regional seismic model EUNAseis (Artemieva and Thybo, 2013). The crustal density structure required for the crustal correction is constrained from Vp data. Previous studies have shown that a large range of density values corresponds to any Vp value. To overcome this problem and to reduce uncertainty associated with the velocity-density conversion, we account for regional tectonic variations in the Northern Atlantics as constrained by numerous published seismic profiles and potential-field models across the Norwegian off-shore crust (e.g. Breivik et al., 2005, 2007), and apply different Vp-density conversions for different parts of the region. We present preliminary results

Synoptic and climatological aspects of extra-tropical cyclones

Science.gov (United States)

Leckebusch, G. C.

2010-09-01

Mid-latitude cyclones are highly complex dynamical features embedded in the general atmospheric circulation of the extra-tropics. Although the basic mechanisms leading to the formation of cyclones are commonly understood, the specific conditions and physical reasons triggering extreme, partly explosive development, are still under investigation. This includes also the identification of processes which might modulate the frequency and intensity of cyclone systems on time scales from days to centennials. This overview presentation will thus focus on three main topics: Firstly, the dynamic-synoptic structures of cyclones, the possibility to objectively identify cyclones and wind storms, and actual statistical properties of cyclone occurrence under recent climate conditions are addressed. In a second part, aspects of the interannual variability and its causing mechanisms are related to the seasonal predictability of extreme cyclones producing severe storm events. Extending the time frame will mean to deduce information on decadal or even centennial time periods. Thus, actual work to decadal as well as climatological variability and changes will be presented. In the last part of the talk focus will be laid on potential socio-economical impacts of changed cyclone occurrence. By means of global and regional climate modeling, future damages in terms of insured losses will be investigated and measures of uncertainty estimated from a multi-model ensemble analysis will be presented.

The spatio-temporal distribution of lightning over Israel and the neighboring area and its relation to regional synoptic systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Shalev

2011-08-01

Full Text Available The spatio-temporal distribution of lightning flashes over Israel and the neighboring area and its relation to the regional synoptic systems has been studied, based on data obtained from the Israel Lightning Location System (ILLS operated by the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC. The system detects cloud-to-ground lightning discharges in a range of ~500 km around central Israel (32.5° N, 35° E. The study period was defined for annual activity from August through July, for 5 seasons in the period 2004–2010.

The spatial distribution of lightning flash density indicates the highest concentration over the Mediterranean Sea, attributed to the contribution of moisture as well as sensible and latent heat fluxes from the sea surface. Other centers of high density appear along the coastal plain, orographic barriers, especially in northern Israel, and downwind from the metropolitan area of Tel Aviv, Israel. The intra-annual distribution shows an absence of lightning during the summer months (JJA due to the persistent subsidence over the region. The vast majority of lightning activity occurs during 7 months, October to April. Although over 65 % of the rainfall in Israel is obtained during the winter months (DJF, only 35 % of lightning flashes occur in these months. October is the richest month, with 40 % of total annual flashes. This is attributed both to tropical intrusions, i.e., Red Sea Troughs (RST, which are characterized by intense static instability and convection, and to Cyprus Lows (CLs arriving from the west.

Based on daily study of the spatial distribution of lightning, three patterns have been defined; "land", "maritime" and "hybrid". CLs cause high flash density over the Mediterranean Sea, whereas some of the RST days are typified by flashes over land. The pattern defined "hybrid" is a combination of the other 2 patterns. On CL days, only the maritime pattern was noted, whereas in RST days all 3 patterns were found

A Quality Management Evaluation of the Graduate Education Process for Ocean Engineers in the Civil Engineer Corps

Science.gov (United States)

1993-12-01

graduate education required for Ocean Facilities Program (OFP) officers in the Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) of the United States Navy. For the purpose...determined by distributing questionnaires to all officers in the OFP. Statistical analyses of numerical data and judgmental3 analysis of professional...45 B. Ocean Facility Program Officer Graduate Education Questionnaire ....... 47 C. Summary of Questionnaire Responses

The impact of wind energy turbine piles on ocean dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Grashorn, Sebastian; Stanev, Emil V.

2016-04-01

The small- and meso-scale ocean response to wind parks has not been investigated in the southern North Sea until now with the help of high-resolution numerical modelling. Obstacles such as e.g. wind turbine piles may influence the ocean current system and produce turbulent kinetic energy which could affect sediment dynamics in the surrounding area. Two setups of the unstructured-grid model SCHISM (Semi-implicit Cross-scale Hydroscience Integrated System Model) have been developed for an idealized channel including a surface piercing cylindrical obstacle representing the pile and a more realistic test case including four exemplary piles. Experiments using a constant flow around the obstacles and a rotating M2 tidal wave are carried out. The resulting current and turbulence patterns are investigated to estimate the influence of the obstacles on the surrounding ocean dynamics. We demonstrate that using an unstructured ocean model provides the opportunity to embed a high-resolution representation of a wind park turbine pile system into a coarser North Sea setup, which is needed in order to perform a seamless investigation of the resulting geophysical processes.

Influence of coma aberration on aperture averaged scintillations in oceanic turbulence

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Yujuan; Ji, Xiaoling; Yu, Hong

2018-01-01

The influence of coma aberration on aperture averaged scintillations in oceanic turbulence is studied in detail by using the numerical simulation method. In general, in weak oceanic turbulence, the aperture averaged scintillation can be effectively suppressed by means of the coma aberration, and the aperture averaged scintillation decreases as the coma aberration coefficient increases. However, in moderate and strong oceanic turbulence the influence of coma aberration on aperture averaged scintillations can be ignored. In addition, the aperture averaged scintillation dominated by salinity-induced turbulence is larger than that dominated by temperature-induced turbulence. In particular, it is shown that for coma-aberrated Gaussian beams, the behavior of aperture averaged scintillation index is quite different from the behavior of point scintillation index, and the aperture averaged scintillation index is more suitable for characterizing scintillations in practice.

Arctic Ocean outflow and glacier-ocean interactions modify water over the Wandel Sea shelf (northeastern Greenland)

Science.gov (United States)

Dmitrenko, Igor A.; Kirillov, Sergey A.; Rudels, Bert; Babb, David G.; Toudal Pedersen, Leif; Rysgaard, Søren; Kristoffersen, Yngve; Barber, David G.

2017-12-01

The first-ever conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) observations on the Wandel Sea shelf in northeastern Greenland were collected in April-May 2015. They were complemented by CTDs taken along the continental slope during the Norwegian FRAM 2014-2015 drift. The CTD profiles are used to reveal the origin of water masses and interactions with ambient water from the continental slope and the tidewater glacier outlet. The subsurface water is associated with the Pacific water outflow from the Arctic Ocean. The underlying halocline separates the Pacific water from a deeper layer of polar water that has interacted with the warm Atlantic water outflow through the Fram Strait, recorded below 140 m. Over the outer shelf, the halocline shows numerous cold density-compensated intrusions indicating lateral interaction with an ambient polar water mass across the continental slope. At the front of the tidewater glacier outlet, colder and turbid water intrusions were observed at the base of the halocline. On the temperature-salinity plots these stations indicate a mixing line that is different from the ambient water and seems to be conditioned by the ocean-glacier interaction. Our observations of Pacific water are set within the context of upstream observations in the Beaufort Sea and downstream observations from the Northeast Water Polynya, and clearly show the modification of Pacific water during its advection across the Arctic Ocean. Moreover, ambient water over the Wandel Sea slope shows different thermohaline structures indicating the different origin and pathways of the on-shore and off-shore branches of the Arctic Ocean outflow through the western Fram Strait.

Numerical modeling in real-time assessment of dispersal of radionuclides beyond ten to twenty kilometres from an accidental release

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

ApSimon, H.M.; Wilson, J.J.N.

1990-01-01

The Chernobyl accident has demonstrated the need for capabilities to assess transport and contamination out to considerable distances and across national frontiers in the event of a nuclear accident. For real-time assessment close to the source, the transport, dilution and deposition of material are usually based on simple Gaussian plume or puff techniques. At greater distances, usually beyond 10 or 20 km., changing meteorological conditions and topographical features become increasingly important and may require rather different modelling techniques. At yet longer distances synoptic scale weather patterns and their evolution govern where material will travel, and regions where precipitation may potentially yield higher deposition of critical nuclides such as I-131 and Cs-137. This paper will consider the questions to be addressed by numerical models during a nuclear emergency, and how such models may be incorporated in an overall assessment system for emergency procedures, extending to span the European Continent. The appropriate modelling techniques available for simulating transport over mesoscale distances (out to a few hundred kilometres), and for the synoptic scale (out to a few thousand kilometres) will be reviewed. The radiological measurements which would be of the greatest use for checking and revising model calculations in an emergency situation will also be discussed, and the importance of international exchange of such information emphasized

M2, S2, K1 models of the global ocean tide

Science.gov (United States)

Parke, M. E.; Hendershott, M. C.

1979-01-01

Ocean tidal signals appear in many geophysical measurements. Geophysicists need realistic tidal models to aid in interpretation of their data. Because of the closeness to resonance of dissipationless ocean tides, it is difficult for numerical models to correctly represent the actual open ocean tide. As an approximate solution to this problem, test functions derived by solving Laplace's Tidal Equations with ocean loading and self gravitation are used as a basis for least squares dynamic interpolation of coastal and island tidal data for the constituents M2, S2, and Kl. The resulting representations of the global tide are stable over at least a ?5% variation in the mean depth of the model basin, and they conserve mass. Maps of the geocentric tide, the induced free space potential, the induced vertical component of the solid earth tide, and the induced vertical component of the gravitational field for each contituent are presented.

Estimation of Rainfall Associated with Typhoons over the Ocean Using TRMM/TMI and Numerical Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nan-Ching Yeh

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This study quantitatively estimated the precipitation associated with a typhoon in the northwestern Pacific Ocean by using a physical algorithm which included the Weather Research and Forecasting model, Radiative Transfer for TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder model, and data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM/TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI and TRMM/Precipitation Radar (PR. First, a prior probability distribution function (PDF was constructed using over three million rain rate retrievals from the TRMM/PR data for the period 2002–2010 over the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Subsequently, brightness temperatures for 15 typhoons that occurred over the northwestern Pacific Ocean were simulated using a microwave radiative transfer model and a conditional PDF was obtained for these typhoons. The aforementioned physical algorithm involved using a posterior PDF. A posterior PDF was obtained by combining the prior and conditional PDFs. Finally, the rain rate associated with a typhoon was estimated by inputting the observations of the TMI (attenuation indices at 10, 19, 37 GHz into the posterior PDF (lookup table. Results based on rain rate retrievals indicated that rainband locations with the heaviest rainfall showed qualitatively similar horizontal distributions. The correlation coefficient and root-mean-square error of the rain rate estimation were 0.63 and 4.45 mm·h−1, respectively. Furthermore, the correlation coefficient and root-mean-square error for convective rainfall were 0.78 and 7.25 mm·h−1, respectively, and those for stratiform rainfall were 0.58 and 9.60 mm·h−1, respectively. The main contribution of this study is introducing an approach to quickly and accurately estimate the typhoon precipitation, and remove the need for complex calculations.

Deglacial Millennial-scale Calcium Carbonate Spikes in the North Pacific Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Chikamoto, M. O.; Timmermann, A.; Harada, N.; Okazaki, Y.

2015-12-01

Numerous paleoproxy records from the subarctic Pacific Ocean show two very pronounced deglacial peaks in calcium carbonate content for the Heinrich 1/ Bolling-Allerod (H1-BA) transition (at 14 ka) and for the Younger Dryas/Preboreal transition (at 11 ka). Focusing on the H1-BA transition, some model simulations capture the North Pacific shift from ventilated to stratified conditions and from cooling to warming conditions via oceanic and atmospheric connections between Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. To test the impact of these physical scenarios (variations in ocean stratification and temperature during the H1-BA transition) on calcite production or preservation, we conduct a series of idealized experiments using the Earth System Model Intermediate Complexity LOVECLIM. The variations in North Pacific Ocean stratification by anomalous freshwater forcing show low calcite productivity in associated with the subsurface nutrient decline. On the other hand, the rapid H1-BA warming of the North Pacific Ocean induced by anomalous heat forcing in turn increases calcite productivity due to the temperature-dependent growth rate of phytoplankton. These results suggest the possibility that the millennial-scale calcium carbonate peaks are the result of surface biogeochemical responses to the climate transition, not by the deep circulation response.

Mesoscale to Synoptic Scale Cloud Variability

Science.gov (United States)

Rossow, William B.

1998-01-01

The atmospheric circulation and its interaction with the oceanic circulation involve non-linear and non-local exchanges of energy and water over a very large range of space and time scales. These exchanges are revealed, in part, by the related variations of clouds, which occur on a similar range of scales as the atmospheric motions that produce them. Collection of comprehensive measurements of the properties of the atmosphere, clouds and surface allows for diagnosis of some of these exchanges. The use of a multi-satellite-network approach by the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) comes closest to providing complete coverage of the relevant range space and time scales over which the clouds, atmosphere and ocean vary. A nearly 15-yr dataset is now available that covers the range from 3 hr and 30 km to decade and planetary. This paper considers three topics: (1) cloud variations at the smallest scales and how they may influence radiation-cloud interactions, and (2) cloud variations at "moderate" scales and how they may cause natural climate variability, and (3) cloud variations at the largest scales and how they affect the climate. The emphasis in this discussion is on the more mature subject of cloud-radiation interactions. There is now a need to begin similar detailed diagnostic studies of water exchange processes.

A synoptic review of the Eocene (Ypresian) cartilaginous fishes (Chondrichthyes: Holocephali, Elasmobranchii) of the Bolca Konservat-Lagerstätte, Italy

Science.gov (United States)

Marramà, Giuseppe; Carnevale, Giorgio; Engelbrecht, Andrea; Claeson, Kerin M.; Zorzin, Roberto; Fornasiero, Mariagabriella; Kriwet, Jürgen

2018-01-01

Here, we review and discuss the records and taxonomy of the Ypresian (Eocene) chondrichthyans from the famous Bolca Konservat-Lagerstätte in northeastern Italy. Despite the outstanding diversity and the numerous studies focusing on the actinopterygian faunas from Pesciara and Monte Postale, the current knowledge about the systematics, taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of the cartilaginous fishes from these Eocene sites remains elusive and largely inadequate. The celebrated Eocene Bolca Lagerstätte has yielded several exquisitely preserved articulated remains of chondrichthyan fishes in which delicate structures and soft tissues are preserved, as well as isolated teeth. The cartilaginous fish assemblage of Bolca comprises at least 17 species-level taxa belonging to 10 families in 6 orders, including selachians (Carcharhiniformes, Lamniformes), batoids (Torpediniformes, Myliobatiformes, Rajiformes) and holocephalans (Chimaeriformes). The occurrence of holocephalans represented by an isolated fin-spine of the chimeroid Ischyodus in the Bolca assemblage is reported here for the first time and represents the first record of chimeroids in the Eocene of Italy and also southern Europe. The Bolca chondrichthyan assemblage is remarkably different from those of other contemporaneous Boreal or Tethyan deposits, suggesting that its taxonomic composition is largely influenced by the palaeoenvironmental context. However, this synoptic review also highlights the importance of detailed revisions of all chondrichthyan remains from the Bolca Konservat-Lagerstätten.

Using numerical model simulations to improve the understanding of micro-plastic distribution and pathways in the marine environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hardesty, Britta D.; Harari, Joseph; Isobe, Atsuhiko; Lebreton, Laurent; Maximenko, Nikolai; Potemra, Jim; van Sebille, Erik; Vethaak, A.Dick; Wilcox, Chris

2017-01-01

Numerical modeling is one of the key tools with which we can gain insight into the distribution of marine litter, especially micro-plastics. Over the past decade, a series of numerical simulations have been constructed that specifically target floating marine litter, based on ocean models of various

First Use of Synoptic Vector Magnetograms for Global Nonlinear, Force-Free Coronal Magnetic Field Models

Science.gov (United States)

Tadesse, T.; Wiegelmann, T.; Gosain, S.; MacNeice, P.; Pevtsov, A. A.

2014-01-01

Context. The magnetic field permeating the solar atmosphere is generally thought to provide the energy for much of the activity seen in the solar corona, such as flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), etc. To overcome the unavailability of coronal magnetic field measurements, photospheric magnetic field vector data can be used to reconstruct the coronal field. Currently, there are several modelling techniques being used to calculate three-dimensional field lines into the solar atmosphere. Aims. For the first time, synoptic maps of a photospheric-vector magnetic field synthesized from the vector spectromagnetograph (VSM) on Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun (SOLIS) are used to model the coronal magnetic field and estimate free magnetic energy in the global scale. The free energy (i.e., the energy in excess of the potential field energy) is one of the main indicators used in space weather forecasts to predict the eruptivity of active regions. Methods. We solve the nonlinear force-free field equations using an optimization principle in spherical geometry. The resulting threedimensional magnetic fields are used to estimate the magnetic free energy content E(sub free) = E(sub nlfff) - E(sub pot), which is the difference of the magnetic energies between the nonpotential field and the potential field in the global solar corona. For comparison, we overlay the extrapolated magnetic field lines with the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) observations by the atmospheric imaging assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Results. For a single Carrington rotation 2121, we find that the global nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) magnetic energy density is 10.3% higher than the potential one. Most of this free energy is located in active regions.

WMO Marine Final Reports

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Final reports of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Commission for Marine Meteorology, Commission for Synoptic Meteorology, and Commission for Basic...

State of the Climate Monthly Overview - Synoptic Discussion

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The State of the Climate is a collection of periodic summaries recapping climate-related occurrences on both a global and national scale. The State of the Climate...

EFFECT OF MEASUREMENT ERRORS ON PREDICTED COSMOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS FROM SHEAR PEAK STATISTICS WITH LARGE SYNOPTIC SURVEY TELESCOPE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bard, D.; Chang, C.; Kahn, S. M.; Gilmore, K.; Marshall, S. [KIPAC, Stanford University, 452 Lomita Mall, Stanford, CA 94309 (United States); Kratochvil, J. M.; Huffenberger, K. M. [Department of Physics, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124 (United States); May, M. [Physics Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973 (United States); AlSayyad, Y.; Connolly, A.; Gibson, R. R.; Jones, L.; Krughoff, S. [Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Ahmad, Z.; Bankert, J.; Grace, E.; Hannel, M.; Lorenz, S. [Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (United States); Haiman, Z.; Jernigan, J. G., E-mail: djbard@slac.stanford.edu [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 (United States); and others

2013-09-01

We study the effect of galaxy shape measurement errors on predicted cosmological constraints from the statistics of shear peak counts with the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). We use the LSST Image Simulator in combination with cosmological N-body simulations to model realistic shear maps for different cosmological models. We include both galaxy shape noise and, for the first time, measurement errors on galaxy shapes. We find that the measurement errors considered have relatively little impact on the constraining power of shear peak counts for LSST.

Interconnection of nitrogen fixers and iron in the Pacific Ocean: Theory and numerical simulations

OpenAIRE

Dutkiewicz, S.; Ward, B. A.; Monteiro, F.; Follows, M. J.

2012-01-01

We examine the interplay between iron supply, iron concentrations and phytoplankton communities in the Pacific Ocean. We present a theoretical framework which considers the competition for iron and nitrogen resources between phytoplankton to explain where nitrogen fixing autotrophs (diazotrophs, which require higher iron quotas, and have slower maximum growth) can co-exist with other phytoplankton. The framework also indicates that iron and fixed nitrogen concentrations can be strongly contro...

Regional severe particle pollution and its association with synoptic weather patterns in the Yangtze River Delta region, China

Science.gov (United States)

Shu, Lei; Xie, Min; Gao, Da; Wang, Tijian; Fang, Dexian; Liu, Qian; Huang, Anning; Peng, Liwen

2017-11-01

Regional air pollution is significantly associated with dominant weather systems. In this study, the relationship between the particle pollution over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region and weather patterns is investigated. First, the pollution characteristics of particles in the YRD are studied using in situ monitoring data (PM2.5 and PM10) in 16 cities and Terra/MODIS AOD (aerosol optical depth) products collected from December 2013 to November 2014. The results show that the regional mean value of AOD is high in the YRD, with an annual mean value of 0.71±0.57. The annual mean particle concentrations in the cities of Jiangsu Province all exceed the national air quality standard. The pollution level is higher in inland areas, and the highest concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 are 79 and 130 µg m-3, respectively, in Nanjing. The PM2.5 : PM10 ratios are typically high, thus indicating that PM2.5 is the overwhelmingly dominant particle pollutant in the YRD. The wintertime peak of particle concentrations is tightly linked to the increased emissions during the heating season as well as adverse meteorological conditions. Second, based on NCEP (National Center for Environmental Prediction) reanalysis data, synoptic weather classification is conducted and five typical synoptic patterns are objectively identified. Finally, the synthetic analysis of meteorological fields and backward trajectories are applied to further clarify how these patterns impact particle concentrations. It is demonstrated that air pollution is more or less influenced by high-pressure systems. The relative position of the YRD to the anti-cyclonic circulation exerts significant effects on the air quality of the YRD. The YRD is largely influenced by polluted air masses from the northern and the southern inland areas when it is located at the rear of the East Asian major trough. The significant downward motion of air masses results in stable weather conditions, thereby hindering the diffusion of air

Spacebased Observation of Water Balance Over Global Oceans

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, W.; Xie, X.

2008-12-01

We demonstrated that ocean surface fresh water flux less the water discharge into the ocean from river and ice melt balances the mass loss in the ocean both in magnitude and in the phase of annual variation. The surface water flux was computed from the divergence of the water transport integrated over the depth of the atmosphere. The atmospheric water transport is estimated from the precipitable water measured by Special Sensor Microwave Imager, the surface wind vector by QuikSCAT, and the NOAA cloud drift wind through a statistical model. The transport has been extensively validated using global radiosonde and data and operational numerical weather prediction results. Its divergence has been shown to agree with the difference between evaporation estimated from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer data and the precipitation measured by Tropical Rain Measuring Mission over the global tropical and subtropical oceans both in magnitude and geographical distribution for temporal scales ranging from intraseasonal to interannual. The water loss rate in the ocean is estimated by two methods, one is from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment and the other is by subtracting the climatological steric change from the sea level change measured by radar altimeter on Jason. Only climatological river discharge and ice melt from in situ measurements are available and the lack of temporal variation may contribute to discrepancies in the balance. We have successfully used the spacebased surface fluxes to estimate to climatological mean heat transport in the Atlantic ocean and is attempting to estimate the meridional fresh water (or salt) transport from the surface flux. The approximate closure of the water balance gives a powerful indirect validation of the spacebased products.

Characterizing synoptic and cloud variability in the northern atlantic using self-organizing maps

Science.gov (United States)

Fish, Carly

Low-level clouds have a significant influence on the Earth's radiation budget and it is thus imperative to understand their behavior within the marine boundary layer (MBL). The cloud properties in the Northeast Atlantic region are highly variable in space and time and are a research focus for many atmospheric scientists. Characterizing the synoptic patterns in the region through the implementation of self-organizing maps (SOMs) enables a climatological grasp of cloud and atmospheric fields. ERA -- Interim and MODIS provide the platform to explore the variability in the Northeast Atlantic for over 30 years of data. Station data comes from CAP -- MBL on Graciosa Island in the Azores, which lies in a strong gradient of cloud and other atmospheric fields, offer an opportunity to incorporate an observational aspect for the years of 2009 and 2010.

Global Ocean Sedimentation Patterns: Plate Tectonic History Versus Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Goswami, A.; Reynolds, E.; Olson, P.; Hinnov, L. A.; Gnanadesikan, A.

2014-12-01

Global sediment data (Whittaker et al., 2013) and carbonate content data (Archer, 1996) allows examination of ocean sedimentation evolution with respect to age of the underlying ocean crust (Müller et al., 2008). From these data, we construct time series of ocean sediment thickness and carbonate deposition rate for the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian ocean basins for the past 120 Ma. These time series are unique to each basin and reflect an integrated response to plate tectonics and climate change. The goal is to parameterize ocean sedimentation tied to crustal age for paleoclimate studies. For each basin, total sediment thickness and carbonate deposition rate from 0.1 x 0.1 degree cells are binned according to basement crustal age; area-corrected moments (mean, variance, etc.) are calculated for each bin. Segmented linear fits identify trends in present-day carbonate deposition rates and changes in ocean sedimentation from 0 to 120 Ma. In the North and South Atlantic and Indian oceans, mean sediment thickness versus crustal age is well represented by three linear segments, with the slope of each segment increasing with increasing crustal age. However, the transition age between linear segments varies among the three basins. In contrast, mean sediment thickness in the North and South Pacific oceans are numerically smaller and well represented by two linear segments with slopes that decrease with increasing crustal age. These opposing trends are more consistent with the plate tectonic history of each basin being the controlling factor in sedimentation rates, rather than climate change. Unlike total sediment thickness, carbonate deposition rates decrease smoothly with crustal age in all basins, with the primary controls being ocean chemistry and water column depth.References: Archer, D., 1996, Global Biogeochem. Cycles 10, 159-174.Müller, R.D., et al., 2008, Science, 319, 1357-1362.Whittaker, J., et al., 2013, Geochem., Geophys., Geosyst. DOI: 10.1002/ggge.20181

Mid-ocean ridges produced thicker crust in the Jurassic than in Recent times

Science.gov (United States)

Van Avendonk, H. J.; Harding, J.; Davis, J. K.; Lawver, L. A.

2016-12-01

We present a compilation of published marine seismic refraction data to show that oceanic crust was 1.7 km thicker on average in the mid-Jurassic (170 Ma) than along the present-day mid-ocean ridge system. Plate reconstructions in a fixed hotspot framework show that the thickness of oceanic crust does not correlate with proximity to mantle hotspots, so it is likely that mid-plate volcanism is not the cause of this global trend. We propose that more melt was extracted from the upper mantle beneath mid-ocean ridges in the Jurassic than in recent times. Numerical studies show that temperature increase of 1 degree C in the mantle can lead to approximately 50-70 m thicker crust, so the upper mantle may have cooled 15-20 degrees C/100 Myr since 170 Ma. This average temperature decrease is larger than the secular cooling rate of the Earth's mantle, which is roughly 10 degrees C/100 Myr since the Archean. Apparently, the present-day configuration and dynamics of continental and oceanic plates removes heat more efficiently from the Earth's mantle than in its earlier history. The increase of ocean crustal thickness with plate age is also stronger in the Indian and Atlantic oceans than in the Pacific Ocean basin. This confirms that thermal insulation by the supercontinent Pangaea raised the temperature of the underlying asthenospheric mantle, which in turn led to more magmatic output at the Jurassic mid-ocean ridges of the Indian and Atlantic oceans.

A basal magma ocean dynamo to explain the early lunar magnetic field

Science.gov (United States)

Scheinberg, Aaron L.; Soderlund, Krista M.; Elkins-Tanton, Linda T.

2018-06-01

The source of the ancient lunar magnetic field is an unsolved problem in the Moon's evolution. Theoretical work invoking a core dynamo has been unable to explain the magnitude of the observed field, falling instead one to two orders of magnitude below it. Since surface magnetic field strength is highly sensitive to the depth and size of the dynamo region, we instead hypothesize that the early lunar dynamo was driven by convection in a basal magma ocean formed from the final stages of an early lunar magma ocean; this material is expected to be dense, radioactive, and metalliferous. Here we use numerical convection models to predict the longevity and heat flow of such a basal magma ocean and use scaling laws to estimate the resulting magnetic field strength. We show that, if sufficiently electrically conducting, a magma ocean could have produced an early dynamo with surface fields consistent with the paleomagnetic observations.

North Pacific Acoustic Laboratory: Analysis of Shadow Zone Arrivals and Acoustic Propagation in Numerical Ocean Models

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Dushaw, Brian

2009-01-01

... depth of the receiver lies well below the depths of the predicted cusps. Several models for the temperature and salinity in the North Pacific Ocean were obtained and processed to enable simulations of acoustic propagation for comparison to the observations...

Synoptic backgrounds of the widest wildfire in Mazandaran Province of Iran during December 11-13, 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Ghavidel, Yousef; Farajzadeh, Manuchehr; Khaleghi Babaei, Meysam

2016-12-01

In this paper, atmospheric origins of the widest wildfire in Mazandaran province on 11-13th of December, 2010 have been investigated. Data sets of this research include maximum daily temperature (MDT), minimum relative humidity (MRH) of terrestrial stations, dynamic and thermodynamic features of the atmosphere, Gridded data sets of Self-Calibrated Palmer drought severity index (SCPDSI) and global drought dataset standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and data related to the time and the extent of the wildfire. The ``environmental to circulation'' approach to synoptic classification has been used to investigate relationships between local-scale surface environment (wildfire) and the synoptic-scale atmospheric circulation conditions. Results of study show that during the 3-day wide wildfire, the average of MDT and the MRH was significantly different from the long-term average. During the aforementioned wildfire, the average of MDT in Mazandaran province was 26 °C and the average of MRH was reported 35 %. The long-term average of MDT and the MRH in Mazandaran province during 3 days of wildfire was 12.3 °C and 68 %, respectively. Therefore, the MDT has a positive abnormality of 13.7 °C and the MRH has a negative abnormality of 33 %. In addition, monthly SCPDSI and SPEI indicated severe drought conditions at December 2010 in Mazandaran. Analysis of SLP maps shows that during the 3-day fire, a pressure center of 1110 hPa on Persian Gulf and a very low-pressure center on Turkey and Asia Minor were created. Normally, this event has caused the pressure gradient and warm and dry air advection from Arabian Peninsula to higher longitudes, particularly Mazandaran province. Consequently, the MDT increased and the wildfire of Mazandaran forest took place in an area of 220 ha. Zonal wind maps signify the weakness of Zonal wind and meridional wind maps show the southern direction of meridional wind flow during the wide wildfire. Moreover, Omega maps prove

An Answer to Fermi’s Paradox In the Prevalence of Ocean Worlds?

Science.gov (United States)

Stern, S. Alan

2017-10-01

The Fermi Paradox (e.g., [1]) asks the question about extraterrestrial civilizations, “Where are they?” Given speculations based on numerical evaluations of the Drake Equation that would seem to indicate that the likelihood of precisely N=1 communicating extraterrestrial civilizations in the Universe is small, i.e., that we are unique, the Fermi Paradox remains a puzzle. Many possible explanations have been proffered. We suggest another—namely that the great majority of worlds with biology and civilizations are interior water ocean worlds (WOWs). Interior WOWs appear to be particularly conducive to the development of life owing to several key advantages, including these two: (1) Environmental Independence to Stellar Type, Multiplicity, and Distance. Owing to the several to hundreds of kilometers depth of typical Type II liquid water oceans, and the overlying thermal insulation provided by the planetary lid atop these oceans, the energy balance, temperature, pressure, and toxicity in Type II ocean worlds is only weakly coupled to their host star’s stellar type, stellar multiplicity, stellar distance, and stellar evolutionary stage (i.e., from protostars with winds and high activity through the main sequence to stellar remnants). (2) Environmental Stability. Again owing to the depth of typical Type II oceans and the overlaying thermal insulation provided by the planetary lid atop these oceans, these environments are protected from numerous kinds of external risks to life, such as impacts, radiation, surface climate and obliquity cycles, poisonous atmospheres, and nearby deleterious astrophysical events such as novae and supernovae, hazards stellar flares, and even phenomena like the Faint Early Sun. Interior WOWs are naturally cut off from communication by their interior nature below a thick roof of ice or rock and ice, therefore do not easily reveal themselves. In this talk I will examine this new idea in more detail. [1] Hart, M.H., 1975. Explanation for

June 13, 2013 U.S. East Coast Meteotsunami: Comparing a Numerical Model With Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, D.; Becker, N. C.; Weinstein, S.; Whitmore, P.; Knight, W.; Kim, Y.; Bouchard, R. H.; Grissom, K.

2013-12-01

On June 13, 2013, a tsunami struck the U.S. East Coast and caused several reported injuries. This tsunami occurred after a derecho moved offshore from North America into the Atlantic Ocean. The presence of this storm, the lack of a seismic source, and the fact that tsunami arrival times at tide stations and deep ocean-bottom pressure sensors cannot be attributed to a 'point-source' suggest this tsunami was caused by atmospheric forces, i.e., a meteotsunami. In this study we attempt to reproduce the observed phenomenon using a numerical model with idealized atmospheric pressure forcing resembling the propagation of the observed barometric anomaly. The numerical model was able to capture some observed features of the tsunami at some tide stations, including the time-lag between the time of pressure jump and the time of tsunami arrival. The model also captures the response at a deep ocean-bottom pressure gauge (DART 44402), including the primary wave and the reflected wave. There are two components of the oceanic response to the propagating pressure anomaly, inverted barometer response and dynamic response. We find that the dynamic response over the deep ocean to be much smaller than the inverted barometer response. The time lag between the pressure jump and tsunami arrival at tide stations is due to the dynamic response: waves generated and/or reflected at the shelf-break propagate shoreward and amplify due to the shoaling effect. The evolution of the derecho over the deep ocean (propagation direction and intensity) is not well defined, however, because of the lack of data so the forcing used for this study is somewhat speculative. Better definition of the pressure anomaly through increased observation or high resolution atmospheric models would improve meteotsunami forecast capabilities.

Numerical simulation of passive tracer dispersion in the pacific ocean from Mururoa atoll (French Polynesia); Etude numerique de la dispersion d`un traceur dans le pacifique sud depuis l`atoll de Mururoa

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rancher, J.; Lazar, A.; Maes, Ch.

1996-12-01

In order to evaluate, on a Tropical South Pacific scale over 10 years, the consequences of an hypothetic radionuclide releases to the ocean from French Nuclear test sites, a series of numerical simulations was carried out. Tracer advection and diffusion terms were computed by a dispersion model without taking into account radioactive decay and biological interactions. Ocean dynamics and turbulent mixing coefficients were derived from a Ocean General circulation Model using annual average climatological fields. A punctual release with unit activity concentration throughout the depth showed the existence of two major directions of propagation from Mururoa atoll: one toward the Eastern Pacific when releases originated from 100-150 meters or less, and the other Westward if release depth is greater. The maximum concentrations which may possibly reach the continental South Pacific coastline originated from released points located in the 350 meters depth zone. Another experiment showed that an punctual release yields higher concentrations than the continuous release of an equivalent quantity over 10 years; two punctual releases were carried out at the characteristic depth of 5 m and 364 m: maximum concentrations decrease by factors of 10 000 and 1000 over ten years. A comparison is made with the surface release study of Ribbe and Tomczak (1990), despite a significant discrepancy in propagation direction, the order of magnitude for concentrations is comparable. (author).

The Effect of Thermal Cycling on Crystal-Liquid Separation During Lunar Magma Ocean Differentiation

Science.gov (United States)

Mills, Ryan D.

2013-01-01

Differentiation of magma oceans likely involves a mixture of fractional and equilibrium crystallization [1]. The existence of: 1) large volumes of anorthosite in the lunar highlands and 2) the incompatible- rich (KREEP) reservoir suggests that fractional crystallization may have dominated during differentiation of the Moon. For this to have occurred, crystal fractionation must have been remarkably efficient. Several authors [e.g. 2, 3] have hypothesized that equilibrium crystallization would have dominated early in differentiation of magma oceans because of crystal entrainment during turbulent convection. However, recent numerical modeling [4] suggests that crystal settling could have occurred throughout the entire solidification history of the lunar magma ocean if crystals were large and crystal fraction was low. These results indicate that the crystal size distribution could have played an important role in differentiation of the lunar magma ocean. Here, I suggest that thermal cycling from tidal heating during lunar magma ocean crystallization caused crystals to coarsen, leading to efficient crystal-liquid separation.

Ancient Continental Lithosphere Dislocated Beneath Ocean Basins Along the Mid-Lithosphere Discontinuity: A Hypothesis

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhensheng; Kusky, Timothy M.; Capitanio, Fabio A.

2017-09-01

The documented occurrence of ancient continental cratonic roots beneath several oceanic basins remains poorly explained by the plate tectonic paradigm. These roots are found beneath some ocean-continent boundaries, on the trailing sides of some continents, extending for hundreds of kilometers or farther into oceanic basins. We postulate that these cratonic roots were left behind during plate motion, by differential shearing along the seismically imaged mid-lithosphere discontinuity (MLD), and then emplaced beneath the ocean-continent boundary. Here we use numerical models of cratons with realistic crustal rheologies drifting at observed plate velocities to support the idea that the mid-lithosphere weak layer fostered the decoupling and offset of the African continent's buoyant cratonic root, which was left behind during Meso-Cenozoic continental drift and emplaced beneath the Atlantic Ocean. We show that in some cratonic areas, the MLD plays a similar role as the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary for accommodating lateral plate tectonic displacements.

Numerical model experiments on the variation of the ocean-atmosphere carbon cycle during the last 2100 years: The impact of variations of the thermahaline oceanic circulation; Numerische Modellexperimente zur Veraenderung des Ozean-Atmosphaere-Kohlenstoffkreislaufes waehrend der letzten 21000 Jahre: Der Einfluss von Variationen der thermohalinen Ozeanzirkulation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schulz, M

1998-03-01

In order to quantify the variability of the ocean-atmosphere carbon-cycle on glacial-interglacial time scales numerical biogeochemical models are required. In this work, a modeling approach consisting of a coupling between a newly developed biogeochemical box model (16 oceanic boxes) and a three-dimensional (3D) ocean general circulation model (OGCM) was pursued. The simulation of biogeochemical processes by the box model is almost identical to state of the art 3D-models. The global OGCM (4 x 6 , 12 layers) is forced by temperature and salinity fields obtained from paleoceanographic time-slice reconstructions, and model-derived wind fields. This model setup offers several advantages: (1) The box model is driven by waterfluxes that are diagnosed from the OGCM-fields. This approach results in hydrodynamically consistent water-fluxes for the box model. (2) The OGCM results guide the selection of appropriate box-configurations for time-slices having water-mass distributions that differ from the present-day situation. (3) The high numerical efficiency of the biogeochemical model component allows for a sufficient number of sensitivity experiments. (4) Based on paleoceanographic information, the boundary conditions of the box model can be combined as a function of time in order to conduct time-dependent experiments with the box model. (orig.) [Deutsch] Die globale Quantifizierung von Veraenderungen des Ozean-Atmosphaere-Kohlenstoffkreislaufes auf glazial-interglazialen Zeitskalen erfordert den Einsatz numerischer biogeochemischer Modelle. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde hierzu ein Modellansatz gewaehlt, der aus der Kopplung eines neu entwickelten biogeochemischen Boxmodells (16 ozeanische Boxen) an ein dreidimensionales (3D) allgemeines Ozean-Zirkulationsmodell (OGCM) besteht. Die Simulation biogeochemischer Prozesse erfolgt im Boxmodell analog zu hochentwickelten 3D-Modellen. Das globale (4 x 6 , 12 Schichten) Ozeanmodell wird mit Temperatur- und Salzgehaltsfeldern, die

Anthropogenic radioactivity in the Arctic Ocean. Review of the results from the joint German project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nies, H.; Harms, I.H.; Karcher, M.J.; Dethleff, D.; Bahe, C.

1999-01-01

The paper presents the results of the joint project carried out in Germany in order to assess the consequences in the marine environment from the dumping of nuclear wastes in the Kara and Barents Seas. The project consisted of experimental work on measurements of radionuclides in samples from the Arctic marine environment and numerical modelling of the potential pathways and dispersion of contaminants in the Arctic Ocean. Water and sediment samples were collected for determination of radionuclide such as 137Cs, 90Sr, 239+240Pu, 238Pu, and 241Am and various organic micropollutants. In addition, a few water and numerous surface sediment samples collected in the Kara Sea and from the Kola peninsula were taken by Russian colleagues and analysed for artificial radionuclides by the BSH laboratory. The role of transport by sea ice from the Kara Sea into the Arctic Ocean was assessed by a small subgroup at GEOMAR. This transport process might be considered as a rapid contribution due to entrainment of contaminated sediments into sea ice, following export from the Kara Sea into the transpolar ice drift and subsequent release in the Atlantic Ocean in the area of the East Greenland Current. Numerical modelling of dispersion of pollutants from the Kara and Barents Seas was carried out both on a local scale for the Barents and Kara Seas and for long range dispersion into the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. Three-dimensional baroclinic circulation models were applied to trace the transport of pollutants. Experimental results were used to validate the model results such as the discharges from the nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield and subsequent contamination of the North Sea up the Arctic Seas

Anthropogenic radioactivity in the Arctic Ocean--review of the results from the joint German project.

Science.gov (United States)

Nies, H; Harms, I H; Karcher, M J; Dethleff, D; Bahe, C

1999-09-30

The paper presents the results of the joint project carried out in Germany in order to assess the consequences in the marine environment from the dumping of nuclear wastes in the Kara and Barents Seas. The project consisted of experimental work on measurements of radionuclides in samples from the Arctic marine environment and numerical modelling of the potential pathways and dispersion of contaminants in the Arctic Ocean. Water and sediment samples were collected for determination of radionuclide such as 137Cs, 90Sr, 239 + 240Pu, 238Pu, and 241Am and various organic micropollutants. In addition, a few water and numerous surface sediment samples collected in the Kara Sea and from the Kola peninsula were taken by Russian colleagues and analysed for artificial radionuclide by the BSH laboratory. The role of transport by sea ice from the Kara Sea into the Arctic Ocean was assessed by a small subgroup at GEOMAR. This transport process might be considered as a rapid contribution due to entrainment of contaminated sediments into sea ice, following export from the Kara Sea into the transpolar ice drift and subsequent release in the Atlantic Ocean in the area of the East Greenland Current. Numerical modelling of dispersion of pollutants from the Kara and Barents Seas was carried out both on a local scale for the Barents and Kara Seas and for long range dispersion into the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. Three-dimensional baroclinic circulation models were applied to trace the transport of pollutants. Experimental results were used to validate the model results such as the discharges from the nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield and subsequent contamination of the North Sea up the Arctic Seas.

Slush Fund: Modeling the Multiphase Physics of Oceanic Ices

Science.gov (United States)

Buffo, J.; Schmidt, B. E.

2016-12-01

The prevalence of ice interacting with an ocean, both on Earth and throughout the solar system, and its crucial role as the mediator of exchange between the hydrosphere below and atmosphere above, have made quantifying the thermodynamic, chemical, and physical properties of the ice highly desirable. While direct observations of these quantities exist, their scarcity increases with the difficulty of obtainment; the basal surfaces of terrestrial ice shelves remain largely unexplored and the icy interiors of moons like Europa and Enceladus have never been directly observed. Our understanding of these entities thus relies on numerical simulation, and the efficacy of their incorporation into larger systems models is dependent on the accuracy of these initial simulations. One characteristic of seawater, likely shared by the oceans of icy moons, is that it is a solution. As such, when it is frozen a majority of the solute is rejected from the forming ice, concentrating in interstitial pockets and channels, producing a two-component reactive porous media known as a mushy layer. The multiphase nature of this layer affects the evolution and dynamics of the overlying ice mass. Additionally ice can form in the water column and accrete onto the basal surface of these ice masses via buoyancy driven sedimentation as frazil or platelet ice. Numerical models hoping to accurately represent ice-ocean interactions should include the multiphase behavior of these two phenomena. While models of sea ice have begun to incorporate multiphase physics into their capabilities, no models of ice shelves/shells explicitly account for the two-phase behavior of the ice-ocean interface. Here we present a 1D multiphase model of floating oceanic ice that includes parameterizations of both density driven advection within the `mushy layer' and buoyancy driven sedimentation. The model is validated against contemporary sea ice models and observational data. Environmental stresses such as supercooling and

Numerical Simulations of a Multiscale Model of Stratified Langmuir Circulation

Science.gov (United States)

Malecha, Ziemowit; Chini, Gregory; Julien, Keith

2012-11-01

Langmuir circulation (LC), a prominent form of wind and surface-wave driven shear turbulence in the ocean surface boundary layer (BL), is commonly modeled using the Craik-Leibovich (CL) equations, a phase-averaged variant of the Navier-Stokes (NS) equations. Although surface-wave filtering renders the CL equations more amenable to simulation than are the instantaneous NS equations, simulations in wide domains, hundreds of times the BL depth, currently earn the ``grand challenge'' designation. To facilitate simulations of LC in such spatially-extended domains, we have derived multiscale CL equations by exploiting the scale separation between submesoscale and BL flows in the upper ocean. The numerical algorithm for simulating this multiscale model resembles super-parameterization schemes used in meteorology, but retains a firm mathematical basis. We have validated our algorithm and here use it to perform multiscale simulations of the interaction between LC and upper ocean density stratification. ZMM, GPC, KJ gratefully acknowledge funding from NSF CMG Award 0934827.

More than a solar cycle of synoptic solar and coronal data - a video presentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoeksema, J.T.; Scherrer, P.H.; Herant, M.; Title, A.M.

1988-01-01

Color video movies of synoptic observations of the sun and corona can now be created. Individual analog frames on laser disks can be referenced digitally and played back at any speed. We have brought together photospheric magnetic field data from the Wilcox Solar Observatory at Stanford and the National Solar Observatory, model computations of the coronal magnetic field, and coronal data from the Sacramento Peak coronagraph and the Mauna Loa K-coronameter and made a series of movies presenting the data sets individually and in comparison with one another. This paper presents a description of each of the data sets and movies developed thus far and briefly outlines some of the more interesting and obvious features observed when viewing the movies

Sensitivity of ocean oxygenation to variations in tropical zonal wind stress magnitude

Science.gov (United States)

Ridder, Nina N.; England, Matthew H.

2014-09-01

Ocean oxygenation has been observed to have changed over the past few decades and is projected to change further under global climate change due to an interplay of several mechanisms. In this study we isolate the effect of modified tropical surface wind stress conditions on the evolution of ocean oxygenation in a numerical climate model. We find that ocean oxygenation varies inversely with low-latitude surface wind stress. Approximately one third of this response is driven by sea surface temperature anomalies; the remaining two thirds result from changes in ocean circulation and marine biology. Global mean O2 concentration changes reach maximum values of +4 μM and -3.6 μM in the two most extreme perturbation cases of -30% and +30% wind change, respectively. Localized changes lie between +92 μM under 30% reduced winds and -56 μM for 30% increased winds. Overall, we find that the extent of the global low-oxygen volume varies with the same sign as the wind perturbation; namely, weaker winds reduce the low-oxygen volume on the global scale and vice versa for increased trade winds. We identify two regions, one in the Pacific Ocean off Chile and the other in the Indian Ocean off Somalia, that are of particular importance for the evolution of oxygen minimum zones in the global ocean.

Application of spatial synoptic classification in evaluating links between heat stress and cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in Prague, Czech Republic

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Urban, Aleš; Kyselý, Jan

2018-01-01

Roč. 62, č. 1 (2018), s. 85-96 ISSN 0020-7128 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP209/11/1985 Institutional support: RVO:68378289 Keywords : spatial synoptic classification * mortality * morbidity * cardiovascular diseases * Central Europe Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology OBOR OECD: Meteorology and atmospheric sciences Impact factor: 2.204, year: 2016 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00484-015-1055-1

Surface Weather Observations

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Surface Weather Observation Collection consists primarily of hourly, synoptic, daily, and monthly forms submitted to the archive by the National Weather Service...

National Benthic Infaunal Database (NBID)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The NBID is a quantitative database on abundances of individual benthic species by sample and study region, along with other synoptically measured environmental...

Estimating the Spatial Distribution of Groundwater Age Using Synoptic Surveys of Environmental Tracers in Streams

Science.gov (United States)

Gardner, W. P.

2017-12-01

A model which simulates tracer concentration in surface water as a function the age distribution of groundwater discharge is used to characterize groundwater flow systems at a variety of spatial scales. We develop the theory behind the model and demonstrate its application in several groundwater systems of local to regional scale. A 1-D stream transport model, which includes: advection, dispersion, gas exchange, first-order decay and groundwater inflow is coupled a lumped parameter model that calculates the concentration of environmental tracers in discharging groundwater as a function of the groundwater residence time distribution. The lumped parameters, which describe the residence time distribution, are allowed to vary spatially, and multiple environmental tracers can be simulated. This model allows us to calculate the longitudinal profile of tracer concentration in streams as a function of the spatially variable groundwater age distribution. By fitting model results to observations of stream chemistry and discharge, we can then estimate the spatial distribution of groundwater age. The volume of groundwater discharge to streams can be estimated using a subset of environmental tracers, applied tracers, synoptic stream gauging or other methods, and the age of groundwater then estimated using the previously calculated groundwater discharge and observed environmental tracer concentrations. Synoptic surveys of SF6, CFC's, 3H and 222Rn, along with measured stream discharge are used to estimate the groundwater inflow distribution and mean age for regional scale surveys of the Berland River in west-central Alberta. We find that groundwater entering the Berland has observable age, and that the age estimated using our stream survey is of similar order to limited samples from groundwater wells in the region. Our results show that the stream can be used as an easily accessible location to constrain the regional scale spatial distribution of groundwater age.

Variation of Marine Geoid Due to Ocean Circulation and Sea Level Change

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, P. C.

2017-12-01

Sea level (S) change and ocean circulation largely affect the gravity field and in turns the marine geoid (N). Difference between the two, D = S - N, is the dynamic ocean topography (DOT), whose gradient represents the large-scale surface geostrophic circulations. Thus, temporal variability of marine geoid (δN) is caused by the sea level change (δS) and the DOT variation (δD), δN = δS - δD. Here, δS is identified from temporally varying satellite altimeter measures; δD is calculated from the change of DOT. For large-scale processes with conservation of potential vorticity, the geostrophic flows take minimum energy state. Based on that, a new elliptic equation is derived in this study to determine D. Here, H is the water depth; and (X, Y) are forcing functions calculated from the in-situ density. The well-posed elliptic equation is integrated numerically on 1o grids for the world oceans with the boundary values taken from the mean DOT (1993-2006) field at the NASA/JPL website: https://grace.jpl.nasa.gov/data/get-data/dynamic-ocean-typography/, the forcing function F calculated from the three-dimensional temperature and salinity of the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) World Ocean Atlas 2013 version 2, and sea-floor topography (H) from the NOAA ETOPO5. The numerical solution compares reasonably well (relative root mean square difference of 0.09) with the NASA/JPL satellite observation of the difference between the time-averaged sea surface height and the geoid. In-situ ocean measurements of temperature, salinity, and velocity have also rapidly advanced such that the global ocean is now continuously monitored by near 4,000 free-drifting profiling floats (called Argo) from the surface to 2000 m depth with all data being relayed and made publicly available within hours after collection (http://www.argo.ucsd.edu/). This provides a huge database of temperature and salinity and in turns the forcing function F for the governing elliptic

Simulating the Oceanic Migration of Silver Japanese Eels.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu-Lin Chang

Full Text Available The oceanic migration of silver Japanese eels starts from their continental growth habitats in East Asia and ends at the spawning area near the West Mariana Ridge seamount chain. However, the actual migration routes remain unknown. In this study, we examined the possible oceanic migration routes and strategies of silver Japanese eels using a particle tracking method in which virtual eels (v-eels were programmed to move vertically and horizontally in an ocean circulation model (Japan Coastal Ocean Predictability Experiment 2, JCOPE2. Four horizontal swimming strategies were tested: random heading, true navigation (readjusted heading, orientation toward the spawning area (fixed heading, and swimming against the Kuroshio. We found that all strategies, except random swimming, allowed v-eels swimming at 0.65 m s-1 to reach the spawning area within eight months after their departure from the south coast of Japan (end of the spawning season. The estimated minimum swimming speed required to reach the area spawning within eight months was 0.1 m s-1 for true navigation, 0.12 m s-1 for constant compass heading, and 0.35 m s-1 for swimming against the Kuroshio. The lowest swimming speed estimated from tracked Japanese eels at sea was 0.03 m.s-1, which would not allow them to reach the spawning area within eight months, through any of the tested orientation strategies. Our numerical experiments also showed that ocean circulation significantly affected the migration of Japanese v-eels. A strong Kuroshio could advect v-eels further eastward. In addition, western Pacific ocean currents accelerated the migration of navigating v-eels. The migration duration was shortened in years with a stronger southward flow, contributed by a stronger recirculation south of Japan, an enhanced subtropical gyre, or a higher southward Kuroshio velocity.

Simulating the Oceanic Migration of Silver Japanese Eels.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Yu-Lin; Miyazawa, Yasumasa; Béguer-Pon, Mélanie

2016-01-01

The oceanic migration of silver Japanese eels starts from their continental growth habitats in East Asia and ends at the spawning area near the West Mariana Ridge seamount chain. However, the actual migration routes remain unknown. In this study, we examined the possible oceanic migration routes and strategies of silver Japanese eels using a particle tracking method in which virtual eels (v-eels) were programmed to move vertically and horizontally in an ocean circulation model (Japan Coastal Ocean Predictability Experiment 2, JCOPE2). Four horizontal swimming strategies were tested: random heading, true navigation (readjusted heading), orientation toward the spawning area (fixed heading), and swimming against the Kuroshio. We found that all strategies, except random swimming, allowed v-eels swimming at 0.65 m s-1 to reach the spawning area within eight months after their departure from the south coast of Japan (end of the spawning season). The estimated minimum swimming speed required to reach the area spawning within eight months was 0.1 m s-1 for true navigation, 0.12 m s-1 for constant compass heading, and 0.35 m s-1 for swimming against the Kuroshio. The lowest swimming speed estimated from tracked Japanese eels at sea was 0.03 m.s-1, which would not allow them to reach the spawning area within eight months, through any of the tested orientation strategies. Our numerical experiments also showed that ocean circulation significantly affected the migration of Japanese v-eels. A strong Kuroshio could advect v-eels further eastward. In addition, western Pacific ocean currents accelerated the migration of navigating v-eels. The migration duration was shortened in years with a stronger southward flow, contributed by a stronger recirculation south of Japan, an enhanced subtropical gyre, or a higher southward Kuroshio velocity.

EXPECTED LARGE SYNOPTIC SURVEY TELESCOPE (LSST) YIELD OF ECLIPSING BINARY STARS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prsa, Andrej; Pepper, Joshua; Stassun, Keivan G.

2011-01-01

In this paper, we estimate the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) yield of eclipsing binary stars, which will survey ∼20,000 deg 2 of the southern sky during a period of 10 years in six photometric passbands to r ∼ 24.5. We generate a set of 10,000 eclipsing binary light curves sampled to the LSST time cadence across the whole sky, with added noise as a function of apparent magnitude. This set is passed to the analysis-of-variance period finder to assess the recoverability rate for the periods, and the successfully phased light curves are passed to the artificial-intelligence-based pipeline ebai to assess the recoverability rate in terms of the eclipsing binaries' physical and geometric parameters. We find that, out of ∼24 million eclipsing binaries observed by LSST with a signal-to-noise ratio >10 in mission lifetime, ∼28% or 6.7 million can be fully characterized by the pipeline. Of those, ∼25% or 1.7 million will be double-lined binaries, a true treasure trove for stellar astrophysics.

Log-Normal Turbulence Dissipation in Global Ocean Models

Science.gov (United States)

Pearson, Brodie; Fox-Kemper, Baylor

2018-03-01

Data from turbulent numerical simulations of the global ocean demonstrate that the dissipation of kinetic energy obeys a nearly log-normal distribution even at large horizontal scales O (10 km ) . As the horizontal scales of resolved turbulence are larger than the ocean is deep, the Kolmogorov-Yaglom theory for intermittency in 3D homogeneous, isotropic turbulence cannot apply; instead, the down-scale potential enstrophy cascade of quasigeostrophic turbulence should. Yet, energy dissipation obeys approximate log-normality—robustly across depths, seasons, regions, and subgrid schemes. The distribution parameters, skewness and kurtosis, show small systematic departures from log-normality with depth and subgrid friction schemes. Log-normality suggests that a few high-dissipation locations dominate the integrated energy and enstrophy budgets, which should be taken into account when making inferences from simplified models and inferring global energy budgets from sparse observations.

Internal Waves and Wave Attractors in Enceladus' Subsurface Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

van Oers, A. M.; Maas, L. R.; Vermeersen, B. L. A.

2016-12-01

One of the most peculiar features on Saturn moon Enceladus is its so-called tiger stripe pattern at the geologically active South Polar Terrain (SPT), as first observed in detail by the Cassini spacecraft early 2005. It is generally assumed that the four almost parallel surface lines that constitute this pattern are faults in the icy surface overlying a confined salty water reservoir. In 2013, we formulated the original idea [Vermeersen et al., AGU Fall Meeting 2013, abstract #P53B-1848] that the tiger stripe pattern is formed and maintained by induced, tidally and rotationally driven, wave-attractor motions in the ocean underneath the icy surface of the tiger-stripe region. Such wave-attractor motions are observed in water tank experiments in laboratories on Earth and in numerical experiments [Maas et al., Nature, 338, 557-561, 1997; Drijfhout and Maas, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 37, 2740-2763, 2007; Hazewinkel et al., Phys. Fluids, 22, 107102, 2010]. Numerical simulations show the persistence of wave attractors for a range of ocean shapes and stratifications. The intensification of the wave field near the location of the surface reflections of wave attractors has been numerically and experimentally confirmed. We measured the forces a wave attractor exerts on a solid surface, near a reflection point. These reflection points would correspond to the location of the tiger stripes. Combining experiments and numerical simulations we conclude that (1) wave attractors can exist in Enceladus' subsurface sea, (2) their shape can be matched to the tiger stripes, (3) the wave attractors cause a localized force at the water-ice boundaries, (4) this force could have been large enough to contribute to fracturing the ice and (5) the wave attractors localize energy (and particles) and cause dissipation along its path, helping explain Enceladus' enigmatic heat output at the tiger stripes.

Modelling of bio-optical parameters of open ocean waters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vadim N. Pelevin

2001-12-01

Full Text Available An original method for estimating the concentration of chlorophyll pigments, absorption of yellow substance and absorption of suspended matter without pigments and yellow substance in detritus using spectral diffuse attenuation coefficient for downwelling irradiance and irradiance reflectance data has been applied to sea waters of different types in the open ocean (case 1. Using the effective numerical single parameter classification with the water type optical index m as a parameter over the whole range of the open ocean waters, the calculations have been carried out and the light absorption spectra of sea waters tabulated. These spectra are used to optimize the absorption models and thus to estimate the concentrations of the main admixtures in sea water. The value of m can be determined from direct measurements of the downward irradiance attenuation coefficient at 500 nm or calculated from remote sensing data using the regressions given in the article. The sea water composition can then be readily estimated from the tables given for any open ocean area if that one parameter m characterizing the basin is known.

The Hamburg large scale geostrophic ocean general circulation model. Cycle 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maier-Reimer, E.; Mikolajewicz, U.

1992-02-01

The rationale for the Large Scale Geostrophic ocean circulation model (LSG-OGCM) is based on the observations that for a large scale ocean circulation model designed for climate studies, the relevant characteristic spatial scales are large compared with the internal Rossby radius throughout most of the ocean, while the characteristic time scales are large compared with the periods of gravity modes and barotropic Rossby wave modes. In the present version of the model, the fast modes have been filtered out by a conventional technique of integrating the full primitive equations, including all terms except the nonlinear advection of momentum, by an implicit time integration method. The free surface is also treated prognostically, without invoking a rigid lid approximation. The numerical scheme is unconditionally stable and has the additional advantage that it can be applied uniformly to the entire globe, including the equatorial and coastal current regions. (orig.)

The effects of synoptic weather on influenza infection incidences: a retrospective study utilizing digital disease surveillance

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Naizhuo; Cao, Guofeng; Vanos, Jennifer K.; Vecellio, Daniel J.

2018-01-01

The environmental drivers and mechanisms of influenza dynamics remain unclear. The recent development of influenza surveillance-particularly the emergence of digital epidemiology-provides an opportunity to further understand this puzzle as an area within applied human biometeorology. This paper investigates the short-term weather effects on human influenza activity at a synoptic scale during cold seasons. Using 10 years (2005-2014) of municipal level influenza surveillance data (an adjustment of the Google Flu Trends estimation from the Centers for Disease Control's virologic surveillance data) and daily spatial synoptic classification weather types, we explore and compare the effects of weather exposure on the influenza infection incidences in 79 cities across the USA. We find that during the cold seasons the presence of the polar [i.e., dry polar (DP) and moist polar (MP)] weather types is significantly associated with increasing influenza likelihood in 62 and 68% of the studied cities, respectively, while the presence of tropical [i.e., dry tropical (DT) and moist tropical (MT)] weather types is associated with a significantly decreasing occurrence of influenza in 56 and 43% of the cities, respectively. The MP and the DP weather types exhibit similar close positive correlations with influenza infection incidences, indicating that both cold-dry and cold-moist air provide favorable conditions for the occurrence of influenza in the cold seasons. Additionally, when tropical weather types are present, the humid (MT) and the dry (DT) weather types have similar strong impacts to inhibit the occurrence of influenza. These findings suggest that temperature is a more dominating atmospheric factor than moisture that impacts the occurrences of influenza in cold seasons.

Climate Prediction Center(CPC)Monthly U.S. Selected Cities Temperature Summary

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Monthly U.S. reported temperature summaries in degrees Fahrenheit generated from the GTS metar(hourly) and synoptic(6-hourly)observations for selected cities based...

Ocean wave characteristic in the Sunda Strait using Wave Spectrum Model

Science.gov (United States)

Rachmayani, R.; Ningsih, N. S.; Adiprabowo, S. R.; Nurfitri, S.

2018-03-01

The wave characteristics including significant wave height and direction, seas and swell in the Sunda Strait are analyzed seasonally to provide marine weather information. This is crucial for establishing secured marine activities between islands of Sumatera and Java. Ocean wave characteristics in the Sunda Strait are simulated for one year (July 1996–June 1977) by using SWAN numerical model. The ocean wave characteristics in the Sunda Strait are divided into three areas of interest; southern, centre and northern part of the Sunda Strait. Despite a weaker local wind, the maximum significant wave height is captured at the southern part with its height of 2.6 m in November compared to other seasonally months. This is associated with the dominated swell from the Indian Ocean contributes on wave energy toward the Sunda Strait. The 2D spectrum analysis exhibits the monthly wave characteristic at southern part that is dominated by seas along the year and swell propagating from the Indian Ocean to the Sunda Strait during December to February (northwest monsoon), May, and November. Seas and swell at northern part of the Sunda Strait are apprehended weaker compared to other parts of the Sunda Strait due to its location is farther from the Indian Ocean.

Dynamic modeling of the horizontal eddy viscosity coefficient for quasigeostrophic ocean circulation problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Romit Maulik

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper puts forth a simplified dynamic modeling strategy for the eddy viscosity coefficient parameterized in space and time. The eddy viscosity coefficient is dynamically adjusted to the local structure of the flow using two different nonlinear eddy viscosity functional forms to capture anisotropic dissipation mechanism, namely, (i the Smagorinsky model using the local strain rate field, and (ii the Leith model using the gradient of the vorticity field. The proposed models are applied to the one-layer and two-layer wind-driven quasigeostrophic ocean circulation problems, which are standard prototypes of more realistic ocean dynamics. Results show that both models capture the quasi-stationary ocean dynamics and provide the physical level of eddy viscosity distribution without using any a priori estimation. However, it is found that slightly less dissipative results can be obtained by using the dynamic Leith model. Two-layer numerical experiments also reveal that the proposed dynamic models automatically parameterize the subgrid-scale stress terms in each active layer. Furthermore, the proposed scale-aware models dynamically provide higher values of the eddy viscosity for smaller resolutions taking into account the local resolved flow information, and addressing the intimate relationship between the eddy viscosity coefficients and the numerical resolution employed by the quasigeostrophic models.

Tropical cyclone turbulent mixing as observed by autonomous oceanic profilers with the high repetition rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baranowski, D B; Malinowski, S P; Flatau, P J

2011-01-01

Changes in the ocean mixed layer caused by passage of two consecutive typhoons in the Western Pacific are presented. Ocean profiles were measured by a unique Argo float sampling the upper ocean in high repetition cycle with a period of about one day. It is shown that the typhoon passage coincides with cooling of the mixed layer and variations of its salinity. Independent data from satellite measurements of surface winds were used to set-up an and idealized numerical simulation of mixed layer evolution. Results, compared to Argo profiles, confirm known effect that cooling is a result of increased entrainment from the thermocline due to enhancement of turbulence in the upper ocean by the wind stress. Observed pattern of salinity changes in the mixed layer suggest important role of typhoon precipitation. Fast changes of the mixed layer in course of typhoon passage show that fast profiling (at least once a day) is crucial to study response of the upper ocean to tropical cyclone.

Impact of climatic change on ocean carbon fluxes. Role of the decadal variability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seferian, Roland

2013-01-01

Since the industrial revolution, oceans have absorbed roughly one quarter of the anthropogenic emissions of CO 2 , slowing down climate change. The evolution of the ocean carbon sink, paralleled to the anthropogenic CO 2 emissions, is ruled by the CO 2 as well as climate. Influence of atmospheric CO 2 in the recent evolution of the ocean carbon sink is well understood whilst this is not the case for the climate's one. Indeed, some authors claim that the recent variations of the ocean CO 2 sink can be attributed to climate change, whereas some others suggest that these latter are controlled by a decadal variability, which is poorly understood. In this thesis, we address question relative to the role of the decadal variability of the ocean carbon fluxes through the mean of numerical modeling. On one hand, we have demonstrated that ocean carbon fluxes exhibit decadal fluctuations within the high latitudes oceans. These fluctuations displays modes of 10 to 50-year long which account for 20 to 40% of the year-to-year variability. Thanks to Detection and Attribution methods applied to RECCAP project's reconstructions (1960-2005), we have then assessed whether the occurrence of fluctuations at decadal time scale could hamper the detection of the climate contribution to the recent evolution of ocean carbon fluxes. We have shown that the climate contribution is indeed not detected in the high latitude oceans due to the presence of decadal mode of variability. In the low latitude oceans instead, the weaker fluctuations of ocean carbon fluxes at decadal time scale favor the detection of climate influence in the recent variations of the CO 2 fluxes. (author) [fr

Enhancing Oceanography Classrooms with "Captive and Cultured" Ocean Experiences

Science.gov (United States)

Macko, S. A.; Tuite, M.; O'Connell, M.

2012-04-01

Students in oceanography classes often request more direct exposure to actual ocean situations or field trips. During regular session (13 week) or shorter term (4 week) summer classes such long trips are logistically difficult owing to large numbers of students involved or timing. This new approach to such a course supplement addresses the requests by utilizing local resources and short field trips for a limited number of students (20) to locations in which Ocean experiences are available, and are often supported through education and outreach components. The vision of the class was a mixture of classroom time, readings, along with paper and actual laboratories. In addition short day-long trips to locations where the ocean was "captured" were also used to supplement the experience as well as speakers involved with aquaculture ("cultivated") . Central Virginia is a fortunate location for such a class, with close access for "day travel" to the Chesapeake Bay and numerous field stations, museums with ocean-based exhibits (the Smithsonian and National Zoo) that address both extant and extinct Earth history, as well as national/state aquaria in Baltimore, Washington and Virginia Beach. Furthermore, visits to local seafood markets at local grocery stores, or larger city markets) enhance the exposure to productivity in the ocean, and viability of the fisheries sustainability. The course could then address not only the particulars of the marine science, but also aspects of ethics, including keeping animals in captivity or overfishing of particular species and the special difficulties that arise from captive or culturing ocean populations. In addition, the class was encouraged to post web-based journals of experiences in order to share opinions of observations in each of the settings.

Global ocean modeling on the Connection Machine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, R.D.; Dukowicz, J.K.; Malone, R.C.

1993-01-01

The authors have developed a version of the Bryan-Cox-Semtner ocean model (Bryan, 1969; Semtner, 1976; Cox, 1984) for massively parallel computers. Such models are three-dimensional, Eulerian models that use latitude and longitude as the horizontal spherical coordinates and fixed depth levels as the vertical coordinate. The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, with a turbulent eddy viscosity, and mass continuity equation are solved, subject to the hydrostatic and Boussinesq approximations. The traditional model formulation uses a rigid-lid approximation (vertical velocity = 0 at the ocean surface) to eliminate fast surface waves. These waves would otherwise require that a very short time step be used in numerical simulations, which would greatly increase the computational cost. To solve the equations with the rigid-lid assumption, the equations of motion are split into two parts: a set of twodimensional ''barotropic'' equations describing the vertically-averaged flow, and a set of three-dimensional ''baroclinic'' equations describing temperature, salinity and deviations of the horizontal velocities from the vertically-averaged flow

Ice–ocean coupled computations for sea-ice prediction to support ice navigation in Arctic sea routes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liyanarachchi Waruna Arampath De Silva

2015-11-01

Full Text Available With the recent rapid decrease in summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean extending the navigation period in the Arctic sea routes (ASR, the precise prediction of ice distribution is crucial for safe and efficient navigation in the Arctic Ocean. In general, however, most of the available numerical models have exhibited significant uncertainties in short-term and narrow-area predictions, especially in marginal ice zones such as the ASR. In this study, we predict short-term sea-ice conditions in the ASR by using a mesoscale eddy-resolving ice–ocean coupled model that explicitly treats ice floe collisions in marginal ice zones. First, numerical issues associated with collision rheology in the ice–ocean coupled model (ice–Princeton Ocean Model [POM] are discussed and resolved. A model for the whole of the Arctic Ocean with a coarser resolution (about 25 km was developed to investigate the performance of the ice–POM model by examining the reproducibility of seasonal and interannual sea-ice variability. It was found that this coarser resolution model can reproduce seasonal and interannual sea-ice variations compared to observations, but it cannot be used to predict variations over the short-term, such as one to two weeks. Therefore, second, high-resolution (about 2.5 km regional models were set up along the ASR to investigate the accuracy of short-term sea-ice predictions. High-resolution computations were able to reasonably reproduce the sea-ice extent compared to Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer–Earth Observing System satellite observations because of the improved expression of the ice–albedo feedback process and the ice–eddy interaction process.

Analysis of the synoptic winter mortality climatology in five regions of England: Searching for evidence of weather signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Paschalidou, A K; Kassomenos, P A; McGregor, G R

2017-11-15

Although heat-related mortality has received considerable research attention, the impact of cold weather on public health is less well-developed, probably due to the fact that physiological responses to cold weather can vary substantially among individuals, age groups, diseases etc., depending on a number of behavioral and physiological factors. In the current work we use the classification techniques provided by the COST-733 software to link synoptic circulation patterns with excess cold-related mortality in 5 regions of England. We conclude that, regardless of the classification scheme used, the most hazardous conditions for public health in England are associated with the prevalence of the Easterly type of weather, favoring advection of cold air from continental Europe. It is noteworthy that there has been observed little-to-no regional variation with regards to the classification results among the 5 regions, suggestive of a spatially homogenous response of mortality to the atmospheric patterns identified. In general, the 10 different groupings of days used reveal that excess winter mortality is linked with the lowest daily minimum/maximum temperatures in the area. However it is not uncommon to observe high mortality rates during days with higher, in relative terms, temperatures, when rapidly changing weather results in an increase of mortality. Such a finding confirms the complexity of cold-related mortality and highlights the importance of synoptic climatology in understanding of the phenomenon. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

West Florida shelf circulation and temperature budget for the 1999 spring transition

Science.gov (United States)

He, Ruoying; Weisberg, Robert H.

2002-01-01

Mid-latitude continental shelves undergo a spring transition as the net surface heat flux changes from cooling to warming. Using in situ data and a numerical circulation model we investigate the circulation and temperature budget on the West Florida Continental Shelf (WFS) for the spring transition of 1999. The model is a regional adaptation of the primitive equation, Princeton Ocean Model forced by NCEP reanalysis wind and heat flux fields and by river inflows. Based on agreements between the modeled and observed fields we use the model to draw inferences on how the surface momentum and heat fluxes affect the seasonal and synoptic scale variability. We account for a strong southeastward current at mid-shelf by the baroclinic response to combined wind and buoyancy forcing, and we show how this local forcing leads to annually occurring cold and low salinity tongues. Through term-by-term analyses of the temperature budget we describe the WFS temperature evolution in spring. Heat flux largely controls the seasonal transition, whereas ocean circulation largely controls the synoptic scale variability. These two processes, however, are closely linked. Bottom topography and coastline geometry are important in generating regions of convergence and divergence. Rivers contribute to the local hydrography and are important ecologically. Along with upwelling, river inflows facilitate frontal aggregation of nutrients and the spring formation of a high concentration chlorophyll plume near the shelf break (the so-called ‘Green River’) coinciding with the cold, low salinity tongues. These features originate by local, shelf-wide forcing; the Loop Current is not an essential ingredient.

Numerical simulation of rainfall with assimilation of conventional and GPS observations over north of Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Ali Sharifi

2016-07-01

Full Text Available In this work, the effect of assimilation of synoptic, radiosonde and ground-based GPS precipitable water vapor (PWV data has been investigated on the short-term prediction of precipitation, vertical relative humidity and PWV fields over north of Iran. We selected two rainfall events (i.e. February 1, 2014, and September 17, 2014 caused by synoptic systems affecting the southern coasts of the Caspian Sea. These systems are often associated with a shallow and cold high pressure located over Russia that extends towards the southern Caspian Sea. The three dimensional variational (3DVAR data assimilation system of the weather research and forecasting (WRF model is used in two rainfall cases. In each case, three numerical experiments, namely CTRL, CONVDA and GPSCONVDA, are performed. The CTRL experiment uses the global analysis as the initial and boundary conditions of the model. In the second experiment, surface and radiosonde observations are inserted into the model. Finally, the GPSCONVDA experiment uses the GPS PWV data in the assimilation process in addition to the conventional observations. It is found that in CONVDA experiment, the mean absolute error (MAE of the accumulated precipitation is reduced about 5 and 13 percent in 24h model simulation of February and September cases, respectively, when compared to CTRL. Also, the results in both cases suggest that the assimilation of GPS data has the greatest impact on model PWV simulations, with maximum root mean squares error (RMSE reduction of 0.7 mm. In the GPSCONVDA experiment, comparison of the vertical profiles of 12h simulated relative humidity with the corresponding radiosonde observations shows a slight improvement in the lower levels.

Backward-in-time methods to simulate large-scale transport and mixing in the ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Prants, S. V.

2015-06-01

In oceanography and meteorology, it is important to know not only where water or air masses are headed for, but also where they came from as well. For example, it is important to find unknown sources of oil spills in the ocean and of dangerous substance plumes in the atmosphere. It is impossible with the help of conventional ocean and atmospheric numerical circulation models to extrapolate backward from the observed plumes to find the source because those models cannot be reversed in time. We review here recently elaborated backward-in-time numerical methods to identify and study mesoscale eddies in the ocean and to compute where those waters came from to a given area. The area under study is populated with a large number of artificial tracers that are advected backward in time in a given velocity field that is supposed to be known analytically or numerically, or from satellite and radar measurements. After integrating advection equations, one gets positions of each tracer on a fixed day in the past and can identify from known destinations a particle positions at earlier times. The results provided show that the method is efficient, for example, in estimating probabilities to find increased concentrations of radionuclides and other pollutants in oceanic mesoscale eddies. The backward-in-time methods are illustrated in this paper with a few examples. Backward-in-time Lagrangian maps are applied to identify eddies in satellite-derived and numerically generated velocity fields and to document the pathways by which they exchange water with their surroundings. Backward-in-time trapping maps are used to identify mesoscale eddies in the altimetric velocity field with a risk to be contaminated by Fukushima-derived radionuclides. The results of simulations are compared with in situ mesurement of caesium concentration in sea water samples collected in a recent research vessel cruise in the area to the east of Japan. Backward-in-time latitudinal maps and the corresponding

Advancing Atmosphere-Ocean Remote Sensing with Spaceborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar

Science.gov (United States)

Hostetler, C. A.; Behrenfeld, M. J.; Chepfer, H.; Hu, Y.; Hair, J. W.; Trepte, C. R.; Winker, D. M.; Ferrare, R. A.; Burton, S. P.; Scarino, A. J.; Powell, K. A.; Michaud, J.

2016-12-01

More than 1600 publications employing observations from the CALIOP lidar on CALIPSO testify to the value of spaceborne lidar for aerosol and cloud remote sensing. Recent publications have shown the value of CALIOP data for retrievals of key ocean carbon cycle stocks. In this presentation we focus on the advantages of a more advanced technique, High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL), for aerosol, cloud, and ocean remote sensing. An atmosphere-ocean optimized HSRL achieves greater accuracy over the standard backscatter lidar technique for retrievals of aerosol and cloud extinction and backscatter profiles, provides additional capability to retrieve aerosol and cloud microphysical parameters, and enables vertically-resolved characterization of scattering and absorption properties of suspended and dissolved materials in the ocean. Numerous publications highlight the synergy of coincident CALIOP and passive A-train observations for studies of aerosol-cloud radiative effects and cloud-climate feedback. Less appreciated is the complementarity that would exist between an optimized spaceborne lidar and passive ocean color. An optimized HSRL flown in formation with the Plankton, Aerosol, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission would provide phytoplankton vertical distribution, which is needed for accurately estimating net primary productivity but absent in the PACE ocean color data. The HSRL would also provide data needed to improve atmospheric correction schemes in ocean color retrievals. Because lidar provides measurements both night and day, through tenuous clouds and aerosol layers, and in holes between clouds, the sampling achieved is highly complementary to passive radiometry, providing data in important high latitude regions where ocean color data are sparse or nonexistent. In this presentation we will discuss 1) relevant aerosol, cloud, and ocean retrievals from airborne HSRL field missions; 2) the advantages of an optimized spaceborne HSRL for aerosol, cloud, and ocean

Solar Imagery - Composites - Full Sun Drawings - Boulder

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Synoptic Analysis Drawings, also known as Neutral Line (NL) drawings, are produced each day by space weather forecaster at the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS)...

NCDC Surface Weather Records Inventory - 1981

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Alphabetic listing by state of all the aviation, synoptic, supplementary airways, and similar observations on file at NCDC from the beginning of the record through...

Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Weekly U.S. Selected Cities Temperature Summary

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Weekly U.S. reported temperature summaries in degrees Fahrenheit generated from the GTS metar(hourly) and synoptic(6-hourly)observations for selected cities based on...