| 1. |
- Azorin-Molina, Cesar, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluating anemometer drift: A statistical approach to correct biases in wind speed measurement
- 2018
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Ingår i: Atmospheric research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-8095. ; 203, s. 175-188
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent studies on observed wind variability have revealed a decline (termed “stilling”) of near-surface wind speed during the last 30–50 years over many mid-latitude terrestrial regions, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. The well-known impact of cup anemometer drift (i.e., wear on the bearings) on the observed weakening of wind speed has been mentioned as a potential contributor to the declining trend. However, to date, no research has quantified its contribution to stilling based on measurements, which is most likely due to lack of quantification of the ageing effect. In this study, a 3-year field experiment (2014–2016) with 10-minute paired wind speed measurements from one new and one malfunctioned (i.e., old bearings) SEAC SV5 cup anemometer which has been used by the Spanish Meteorological Agency in automatic weather stations since mid-1980s, was developed for assessing for the first time the role of anemometer drift on wind speed measurement. The results showed a statistical significant impact of anemometer drift on wind speed measurements, with the old anemometer measuring lower wind speeds than the new one. Biases show a marked temporal pattern and clear dependency on wind speed, with both weak and strong winds causing significant biases. This pioneering quantification of biases has allowed us to define two regression models that correct up to 37% of the artificial bias in wind speed due to measurement with an old anemometer.
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| 2. |
- Chen, Aifang, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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Tropical cyclone rainfall in the Mekong River Basin for 1983–2016
- 2019
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-8095. ; 226, s. 66-75
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As home to about 70 million people, the Mekong River Basin (MRB), located in Mainland Southeast Asia, is often influenced by tropical cyclones (TCs) landfalling. The TCs not only cause flood and storm hazards, but also play important roles in providing freshwater resource and welcomed sediment transports. Our study focuses on the climatology of TCs and associated rainfall (TCR) in the MRB for 1983–2016. Results show that: (i) the mean landfall occurrence of TCs is 6.2 yr −1 , leading to 36.7 mm yr −1 of annual mean TCR (2.5% of the annual total precipitation), which mainly occur in monsoon-TC season (i.e., June–November); (ii) TCs highly concentrate on the lower eastern MRB, generating the largest TCR contribution of 12.4% to the annual total precipitation; (iii) the annual mean contribution of TCs induced extreme precipitation - R20mm and R50mm (days of heavy precipitation rate ≥20 mm day −1 and ≥50 mm day −1 , respectively) - to that from annual total precipitation is large in the lower eastern MRB; (iv) over 60% of the basin area is influenced by TCR on average; and (v) a significant weakening trend of the TC frequency has been observed. The present findings lay a foundation for further in-depth research of the potential influence of the dynamic TCs and the associated rainfall in the MRB. © 2019
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| 3. |
- Estrela, M. J., et al.
(författare)
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Spatio-temporal variability of fog-water collection in the eastern Iberian Peninsula: 2003–2012
- 2019
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-8095. ; 226, s. 87-101
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Among the different inputs involved in the hydrological system, fog water measured by man-made passive devices is one of the most unknown components, although it could be an additional water resource for specific environmental applications (forest restoration, forest firefighting, etc.). Focusing on the Mediterranean Iberian Peninsula, the aim of this work is to quantify fog-water collected by a 24-fog-stations network spread across three latitudinal sectors with different locations (coastal, pre-littoral and inland), and to determine the most productive sites. Measurements from the network show that distance-to-sea, latitude or elevation differences between stations are factors affecting fog-water collection potential. The network, based on passive cylindrical omnidirectional fog-water collectors, was active during the period 2003–2012. In addition to fog collection, other environmental variables such as rainfall, wind speed and wind direction, air temperature and relative humidity were measured. These ancillary data were used in a specific data reduction technique to eliminate the simultaneous rainwater component from the fog water measurements, and in the retrieval of the optimum mean wind directions to harvest fog-water efficiently. It was concluded that (i) positive differences in elevation allow greater collection rates, even under 100 m differences; (ii) optimum harvesting wind directions for inland locations are in line with the orientation of the existent valley coupled with the shortest path to the coastline, their collected fog-water volumes being generally smaller than those near the coast; (iii) fog-water collection at coastal locations present more dispersed optimal wind directions, ranging from north to the direction of the most immediate coastline; and (iv) there is a practically null dependence of the optimum mean wind direction on seasonality, but a strong dependence of fog-water captured volumes, however. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.
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| 4. |
- Freud, Eyal, et al.
(författare)
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Cloud microphysical background for the Israel-4 cloud seeding experiment
- 2015
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Ingår i: Atmospheric research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-8095 .- 1873-2895. ; 158-159, s. 122-138
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The modest amount of rainfall in Israel occurs in winter storms that bring convective clouds from the Mediterranean Sea when the cold post frontal air interacts with its relatively warm surface. These clouds were seeded in the Israel-1 and Israel-2 cloud glaciogenic seeding experiments, which have shown statistically significant positive effect of added rainfall of at least 13% in northern Israel, whereas the Israel-3 experiment showed no added rainfall in the south. This was followed by operational seeding in the north since 1975. The lack of physical evidence for the causes of the positive effects in the north caused a lack of confidence in the statistical results and led to the Israel-4 randomized seeding experiment in northern Israel. This experiment started in the winter of 2013/14. The main difference from the previous experiments is the focus on the orographic clouds in the catchment of the Sea of Galilee. The decision to commence the experiment was partially based on evidence supporting the existence of seeding potential, which is reported here. Aircraft and satellite microphysical and dynamic measurements of the clouds document the critical roles of aerosols, especially sea spray, on cloud microstructure and precipitation forming processes. It was found that the convective clouds over sea and coastal areas are naturally seeded hygroscopically by sea spray and develop precipitation efficiently. The diminution of the large sea spray aerosols farther inland along with the increase in aerosol concentrations causes the clouds to develop precipitation more slowly. The short time available for the precipitation forming processes in super-cooled orographic clouds over the Golan Heights farthest inland represents the best glaciogenic seeding potential.
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| 5. |
- Guðlaugsdóttir, H., et al.
(författare)
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The influence of volcanic eruptions on weather regimes over the North Atlantic simulated by ECHAM5/MPI-OM ensemble runs from 800 to 2000 CE
- 2018
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-8095. ; 213, s. 211-223
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The volcanic fingerprint on the winter North Atlantic atmospheric circulation and climate is analyzed in six ensemble runs of ECHAM5/MPI-OM covering 800–2000 CE, both for equatorial and Northern Hemisphere (NH) eruptions. Large volcanic eruptions influence climate on both annual and decadal time scales due to dynamic interactions of different climate components in the Earth's system. It is well known that the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) tends to shift towards its positive phase during winter in the first 1–2 years after large tropical volcanic eruptions, causing warming over Europe, but other North Atlantic weather regimes have received less attention. Here we investigate the four dominant weather regimes in the North Atlantic: The negative and positive phase of NAO as well as the Atlantic Ridge, Scandinavian blocking. The volcanic fingerprint is detected as a change in the frequency of occurrence and anomalies in the wind and temperature fields as well as in the sea ice cover. We observe a strong significant increase in the frequency of Atlantic Ridge in the second year after equatorial eruptions that precede the NAO+ detected in year 3–5 as a result of a strong zonal wind anomalies in year 1–2. Evidence for a stronger polar vortex is detected in years 12–14 where NAO+ is detected both as a frequency increase and in the wind and temperature fields. A short-term response is also detected 2–4 years after NH eruptions. The longterm signal after NH eruptions indicate a weak polar vortex around a decade after an eruption. Although the signal after NH eruptions is weaker our results stress the need for further studies. The simulated atmospheric response recorded in ECHAM5 after volcanic eruptions suggest a more dynamic response than previously thought. The methodology used can also be applied to other forcing scenario, for example for future climate projections where the aim is to search for a long-term climate signal.
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| 6. |
- Gultepe, Ismail, et al.
(författare)
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A review on ice fog measurements and modeling
- 2015
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Ingår i: Atmospheric research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-8095 .- 1873-2895. ; 151, s. 2-19
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The rate of weather-related aviation accident occurrence in the northern latitudes is likely 25 times higher than the national rate of Canada. If only cases where reduced visibility was a factor are considered, the average rate of occurrence in the north is about 31 times higher than the Canadian national rate. Ice fog occurs about 25% of the time in the northern latitudes and is an important contributor to low visibility. This suggests that a better understanding of ice fog prediction and detection is required over the northern latitudes. The objectives of this review are the following: 1) to summarize the current knowledge of ice fog microphysics, as inferred from observations and numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, and 2) to describe the remaining challenges associated with measuring ice fog properties, remote sensing microphysical retrievals, and simulating/predicting ice fog within numerical models. Overall, future challenges related to ice fog microphysics and visibility are summarized and current knowledge is emphasized.
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| 7. |
- Navarro-Serrano, F., et al.
(författare)
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Air temperature measurements using autonomous self-recording dataloggers in mountainous and snow covered areas
- 2019
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-8095. ; 224, s. 168-179
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- High mountain areas are poorly represented by official weather observatories. It implies that new instruments must be evaluated over snow-covered and strongly insolated environments (i.e. mid-latitude mountain areas). We analyzed uncertainty sources over snow covered areas including: 1) temperature logger accuracy and bias of two widely used temperature sensors (Tinytag and iButton); 2) radiation shield performance under various radiation, snow, and wind conditions; 3) appropriate measurement height over snow covered ground; and 4) differences in air temperature measured among nearby devices over a horizontal band. The major results showed the following. 1) Tinytag performance device (mean absolute error: MAE approximate to 0.1-0.2 degrees C in relation to the reference thermistor) was superior to the iButton (MAE approximate to 0.7 degrees C), which was subject to operating errors. 2) Multi-plate radiation shield showed the best performance under all conditions ( > 90% samples has bias between +/- 0.5 degrees C). The tube shield required wind ( > 2.5 m s(-1)) for adequate performance, while the funnel shield required limited radiation ( < 400 W m(-2)). Snow cover causes certain overheating. 3) Air temperatures were found to stabilize at 75-100 cm above the snow surface. Air temperature profile was more constant at night, showing a considerable cooling on near surface at midday. 4) Horizontal air temperature differences were larger at midday (0.5 degrees C). These findings indicate that to minimize errors air temperature measurements over snow surfaces should be carried out using multi-plate radiation shields with high-end thermistors such as Tinytags, and be made at a minimum height above the snow covered ground.
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| 8. |
- Sabri, M. H. M., et al.
(författare)
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Initial electric field changes of lightning flashes in tropical thunderstorms and their relationship to the lightning initiation mechanism
- 2019
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Ingår i: Atmospheric research. - : ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. - 0169-8095 .- 1873-2895. ; 226, s. 138-151
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, the key finding is that all the examined first classic Initial Breakdown (IB) pulses in tropical flashes within the reversal distance were found to be initiated by a clearly detectable Initial E-field Change or IEC (45 -CG, 32 normal IC, and 3 IC initiated by +NBE). The durations of IECs for both -CG and IC flashes in tropical storms were longer than in Florida storms. On the other hand, for the magnitudes of the E-change, the values were smaller compared to Florida storms with averages of 0.30 V/m compared to 1.65 V/m for -CG flashes, and -0.81 V/m compared to -6.30 V/m for IC flashes. The IEC process of lightning flashes in tropical regions took longer to increase the local electric field in order to produce the first IB pulse because of the smaller magnitude of E-change. On the other hand, in Florida storms, the IEC process took a shorter time to increase the local electric field to produce the first IB pulse because of the larger magnitude of E-change. We found that very high frequency (VHF) pulses for tropical thunderstorms started sometime prior to the onset of the IECs. They started between 12.69 and 251.60 mu s before the initiation of the IEC for two normal IC flashes. The first two VHF pulses were detected alone without narrow IB pulses (fast antenna and slow antenna records) or any pulses from the B-field and dE/dt records. Furthermore, the VHF pulses for three IC flashes initiated by + NBEs were also detected before the onset of the IEC. The IEC started immediately after the detection of the + NBE. It is clear that the IEC is initiated by VHF pulses. It can be suggested that lightning is initiated by Fast Positive Breakdowns or FPBs (which emit strong VHF pulses and large + NBEs) and is followed by several negative breakdowns (weak VHF pulses and/or weak NBE-type pulses) before the IEC started. For the case of normal IC flashes, several weaker VHF pulses (mean values of 41.97 mV and 46.4 mV compared to the amplitudes of the VHF pulses of + NBEs of around 800 mV) were detected before the onset of the IEC. As FPBs can occur with a wide range of VHF strengths and E-change amplitudes, it can be suggested these weak VHF pulses accompanied by narrow IB pulses or weak NBE-type pulses detected before the onset of IEC are actually FPBs followed by negative breakdowns or several attempted FPBs.
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| 9. |
- Salih, Abubakr A. M., et al.
(författare)
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Characterization of the Sahelian-Sudan rainfall based on observations and regional climate models
- 2018
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Ingår i: Atmospheric research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-8095 .- 1873-2895. ; 202, s. 205-218
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The African Sahel region is known to be highly vulnerable to climate variability and change. We analyze rainfall in the Sahelian Sudan in terms of distribution of rain-days and amounts, and examine whether regional climate models can capture these rainfall features. Three regional models namely, Regional Model (REMO), Rossby Center Atmospheric Model (RCA) and Regional Climate Model (RegCM4), are evaluated against gridded observations (Climate Research Unit, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, and ERA-interim reanalysis) and rain gauge data from six arid and semi-arid weather stations across Sahelian Sudan over the period 1989 to 2008. Most of the observed rain-days are characterized by weak (0.1-1.0 mm/day) to moderate ( > 1.0-10.0 mm/day) rainfall, with average frequencies of 18.5% and 48.0% of the total annual rain-days, respectively. Although very strong rainfall events ( > 30.0 mm/day) occur rarely, they account for a large fraction of the total annual rainfall (28-42% across the stations). The performance of the models varies both spatially and temporally. RegCM4 most closely reproduces the observed annual rainfall cycle, especially for the more arid locations, but all of the three models fail to capture the strong rainfall events and hence underestimate its contribution to the total annual number of rain days and rainfall amount. However, excessive moderate rainfall compensates this underestimation in the models in an annual average sense. The present study uncovers some of the models' limitations in skillfully reproducing the observed climate over dry regions, will aid model users in recognizing the uncertainties in the model output and will help climate and hydrological modeling communities in improving models.
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| 10. |
- Shi, P. J., et al.
(författare)
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Variability of winter haze over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region tied to wind speed in the lower troposphere and particulate sources
- 2019
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-8095. ; 215, s. 1-11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study analyzes the variability of winter haze days and visibility in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, in relation to the regional average wind speed changes in the lower troposphere and emissions for 1961-2014. Winter mean surface meteorological data, NCEP/NCAR atmospheric reanalysis data, and fossil fuel emission data are used. The results reveal a significant increase in the haze days of +0.8 days decade(-1) (p < .01), and a subsequent decline in visibility of-1.56 km decade-1 (p < .01). Most interestingly, an accelerated increase in the number of haze days was observed for the last 11-year period (+8.3 days decade(-1), p <.01) of the study period (2004-2014). Regression analysis indicates that the increase of haze occurrence and decrease in visibility are partly due to the significant (p <.01) declining trend of the mean wind speed in the lower troposphere (-0.19 m s(-1) decade(-1) at 10 m, (-0.23 m s(-1) decade(-1) at 925 hPa), and -0.21 m s(-1) decade(-1) at 850 hPa), and partly due to the declining (dust storm frequency as a proxy, -0.41 days dec(-1)) surrounding particulate sources and increasing fossil fuel emissions (total carbon emission as a proxy, +48,206.8 thousand metric tons dec(-1)). Specifically, wind speed changes in the lower troposphere explain 41.3% of the interannual varation of the winter haze days and 71.2% of the visibility variance. These are extended to 51.7% and 81.6% respectively when combined with information about the natural (dust storm frequency) and anthropogenic (fossil fuel emissions) particulate sources. Therefore, the analyses show that wind speed changes in the lower troposphere, together with the varied natural and anthropogenic sources of particulates, play a key role in modulating winter haze and visibility conditions in the BTH area.
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