scholarly journals Observed Large‐scale Structures and Diabatic Heating Profiles of Precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau and South China

Author(s):  
Chunyan Zhang ◽  
Donghai Wang ◽  
Zihao Pang ◽  
Xiaoling Jiang
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (15) ◽  
pp. 5791-5803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunying Li ◽  
Minghua Zhang

Cumulus (Cu) from shallow convection is one of the dominant cloud types over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) in the summer according to CloudSat– CALIPSO observations. Its thermodynamic effects on the atmospheric environment and impacts on the large-scale atmospheric circulation are studied in this paper using the Community Atmospheric Model, version 5.3 (CAM5.3). It is found that the model can reasonably simulate the unique distribution of diabatic heating and Cu over the TP. Shallow convection provides the dominant diabatic heating and drying to the lower and middle atmosphere over the TP. A sensitivity experiment indicates that without Cu over the TP, large-scale condensation and stratiform clouds would increase dramatically, which induces enhanced low-level wind and moisture convergence toward the TP, resulting in significantly enhanced monsoon circulation with remote impact on the areas far beyond the TP. Cu therefore acts as a safety valve to modulate the atmospheric environment that prevents the formation of superclusters of stratiform clouds and precipitation over the TP.


Palaeomagnetic data from the Lhasa, Qiangtang and Kunlun Terranes of the Tibetan Plateau are used with data from stable Eurasia, eastern China and Indochina, to test different models of crustal thickening in the Tibetan Plateau, to attempt a Carboniferous palaeogeographic reconstruction, and to calculate the relative motion between the South China Block and the Indochina Block. The data suggest that since the onset of the India—Eurasia collision, the Lhasa Terrane has moved 2000 + 800 km north with respect to stable Eurasia. This indicates that strong internal defomation must have taken place in southern Eurasia since the collision, and thus challenges the model of large-scale underthrusting of the Indian subcontinent beneath the Tibetan Plateau as the mechanism for crustal thickening in Tibet. Palaeomagnetic results from the Kunlun Terrane show that it was at 22° south latitude during the Carboniferous. A Carboniferous reconstruction is presented in which the Kunlun and Qiangtang Terranes, several Indochina terranes, and the North and South China Blocks are grouped together. These units of continental crust all share the specific tropical and subtropical Cathaysian flora, and the group is therefore called the Cathaysian composite continent. To test the model of propagating extrusion tectonics, we have used newly available palaeomagnetic results from South China and Indochina to calculate probable displacements. This exercise suggests a rotation of about 8° of Indochina with respect to the South China Block that is smaller than the predicted rotation of 40°, A large eastward translation of the South China Block relative to the Indochina Block of about 1500 km is consistent with the palaeomagnetic data.


2007 ◽  
Vol 64 (7) ◽  
pp. 2593-2610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney Schumacher ◽  
Minghua H. Zhang ◽  
Paul E. Ciesielski

Abstract Heating profiles calculated from sounding networks and other observations during three Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) field campaigns [the Kwajalein Experiment (KWAJEX), TRMM Large-Scale Biosphere–Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA), and South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX)] show distinct geographical differences between oceanic, continental, and monsoon regimes. Differing cloud types (both precipitating and nonprecipitating) play an important role in determining the total diabatic heating profile. Variations in the vertical structure of the apparent heat source, Q1, can be related to the diurnal cycle, large-scale forcings such as atmospheric waves, and rain thresholds at each location. For example, TRMM-LBA, which occurred in the Brazilian Amazon, had mostly deep convection during the day while KWAJEX, which occurred in the western portion of the Pacific intertropical convergence zone, had more shallow and moderately deep daytime convection. Therefore, the afternoon height of maximum heating was more bottom heavy (i.e., heating below 600 hPa) during KWAJEX compared to TRMM-LBA. More organized convective systems with extensive stratiform rain areas and upper-level cloud decks tended to occur in the early and late morning hours during TRMM-LBA and KWAJEX, respectively, thereby causing Q1 profiles to be top heavy (i.e., maxima from 600 to 400 hPa) at those times. SCSMEX, which occurred in the South China Sea during the monsoon season, had top-heavy daytime and nighttime heating profiles suggesting that mesoscale convective systems occurred throughout the diurnal cycle, although more precipitation and upper-level cloud in the afternoon caused the daytime heating maximum to be larger. A tendency toward bottom- and top-heavy heating profile variations is also associated with the different cloud types that occurred before and after the passage of easterly wave troughs during KWAJEX, the easterly and westerly regimes during TRMM-LBA, and the monsoon onset and postonset active periods during SCSMEX. Rain thresholds based on heavy, moderate, and light/no-rain amounts can further differentiate top-heavy heating, bottom-heavy heating, and tropospheric cooling. These budget studies suggest that model calculations and satellite retrievals of Q1 must account for a large number of factors in order to accurately determine the vertical structure of diabatic heating associated with tropical cloud systems.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaocheng Xie ◽  
Timothy Hume ◽  
Christian Jakob ◽  
Stephen A. Klein ◽  
Renata B. McCoy ◽  
...  

Abstract This study documents the characteristics of the large-scale structures and diabatic heating and drying profiles observed during the Tropical Warm Pool–International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE), which was conducted in January–February 2006 in Darwin during the northern Australian monsoon season. The examined profiles exhibit significant variations between four distinct synoptic regimes that were observed during the experiment. The active monsoon period is characterized by strong upward motion and large advective cooling and moistening throughout the entire troposphere, while the suppressed and clear periods are dominated by moderate midlevel subsidence and significant low- to midlevel drying through horizontal advection. The midlevel subsidence and horizontal dry advection are largely responsible for the dry midtroposphere observed during the suppressed period and limit the growth of clouds to low levels. During the break period, upward motion and advective cooling and moistening located primarily at midlevels dominate together with weak advective warming and drying (mainly from horizontal advection) at low levels. The variations of the diabatic heating and drying profiles with the different regimes are closely associated with differences in the large-scale structures, cloud types, and rainfall rates between the regimes. Strong diabatic heating and drying are seen throughout the troposphere during the active monsoon period while they are moderate and only occur above 700 hPa during the break period. The diabatic heating and drying tend to have their maxima at low levels during the suppressed periods. The diurnal variations of these structures between monsoon systems, continental/coastal, and tropical inland-initiated convective systems are also examined.


1999 ◽  
Vol 173 ◽  
pp. 243-248
Author(s):  
D. Kubáček ◽  
A. Galád ◽  
A. Pravda

AbstractUnusual short-period comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 inspired many observers to explain its unpredictable outbursts. In this paper large scale structures and features from the inner part of the coma in time periods around outbursts are studied. CCD images were taken at Whipple Observatory, Mt. Hopkins, in 1989 and at Astronomical Observatory, Modra, from 1995 to 1998. Photographic plates of the comet were taken at Harvard College Observatory, Oak Ridge, from 1974 to 1982. The latter were digitized at first to apply the same techniques of image processing for optimizing the visibility of features in the coma during outbursts. Outbursts and coma structures show various shapes.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (108) ◽  
pp. 20150044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dervis C. Vural ◽  
Alexander Isakov ◽  
L. Mahadevan

Starting with Darwin, biologists have asked how populations evolve from a low fitness state that is evolutionarily stable to a high fitness state that is not. Specifically of interest is the emergence of cooperation and multicellularity where the fitness of individuals often appears in conflict with that of the population. Theories of social evolution and evolutionary game theory have produced a number of fruitful results employing two-state two-body frameworks. In this study, we depart from this tradition and instead consider a multi-player, multi-state evolutionary game, in which the fitness of an agent is determined by its relationship to an arbitrary number of other agents. We show that populations organize themselves in one of four distinct phases of interdependence depending on one parameter, selection strength. Some of these phases involve the formation of specialized large-scale structures. We then describe how the evolution of independence can be manipulated through various external perturbations.


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