scholarly journals Assessment of radiative heating errors in Tropical Atmosphere Ocean array marine air temperature measurements

2022 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 014040
Author(s):  
Francesco De Rovere ◽  
Davide Zanchettin ◽  
Michael J McPhaden ◽  
Angelo Rubino

Abstract We assess the radiative heating error affecting marine air temperature (MAT) measurements in the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean array. The error in historical observations is found to be ubiquitous across the array, spatially variable and approximately stationary in time. The error induces spurious warming during daytime hours, but does not affect night-time temperatures. The range encompassing the real, unknown daily- and monthly-mean values is determined using daytime and night-time mean temperatures as upper and lower limits. The uncertainty in MAT is less than or equal to 0.5 °C and 0.2 °C for 95% of daily and monthly estimates, respectively. Uncertainties impact surface turbulent heat flux estimates, with potentially significant influences on the quantification of coupled ocean-atmosphere processes.

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (243) ◽  
pp. 89-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
JIZU CHEN ◽  
XIANG QIN ◽  
SHICHANG KANG ◽  
WENTAO DU ◽  
WEIJUN SUN ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTWe analyzed a 2-year time series of meteorological data (January 2011–December 2012) from three automatic weather stations on Laohugou glacier No. 12, western Qilian Mountains, China. Air temperature, humidity and incoming radiation were significantly correlated between the three sites, while wind speed and direction were not. In this work, we focus on the effects of clouds on other meteorological parameters and on glacier melt. On an average, ~18% of top-of-atmosphere shortwave radiation was attenuated by the clear-sky atmosphere, and clouds attenuated a further 12%. Most of the time the monthly average increases in net longwave radiation caused by clouds were larger than decreases in net shortwave radiation but there was a tendency to lose energy during the daytime when melting was most intense. Air temperature and wind speed related to turbulent heat flux were found to suppress glacier melt during cloudy periods, while increased water vapor pressure during cloudy days could enhance glacier melt by reducing energy loss by latent heat. From these results, we have increased the physical understanding of the significance of cloud effects on continental glaciers.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Cropper ◽  
Elizabeth Kent ◽  
David Berry ◽  
Richard Cornes ◽  
Beatriz Recinos-Rivas

<p>Accurate, long-term time series of near-surface air temperature (AT) are the fundamental datasets on which the magnitude of anthropogenic climate change is scientifically and societally addressed. Across the ocean, these (near-surface) climate records use Sea Surface Temperature (SST) instead of Marine Air Temperature (MAT) and blend the SST and AT over land to create datasets. MAT has often been overlooked as a data choice as daytime MAT observations from ships are known to contain warm biases due to the storage of accumulated solar energy. Two recent MAT datasets, CLASSnmat (1881 – 2019) and UAHNMAT (1900 – 2018), both use night-time MAT observations only. Daytime MAT observations in the International Comprehensive Ocean–Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS) account for over half of the MAT observations in ICOADS, and this proportion increases further back in time (i.e. pre-1850s). If long-term MAT records over the ocean are to be extended, the use of daytime MAT is vital.</p><p> </p><p>To adjust for the daytime MAT heating bias, and apply it to ICOADS, we present the application of a physics-based model, which accounts for the accumulated energy storage throughout the day. As the ‘true’ diurnal cycle of MAT over the ocean has not been, to-date, adequately quantified, our approach also removes the diurnal cycle from ICOADS observations and generates a night-time equivalent MAT for all observations. We fit this model to MAT observations from groups of ships in ICOADS that share similar heating biases and metadata characteristics. This enables us to use the empirically derived coefficients (representing the physical energy transfer terms of the heating model) obtained from the fit for use in removal of the heating bias and diurnal cycle from ship-based MAT observations throughout ICOADS which share similar characteristics (i.e. we can remove the diurnal cycle from a ship which only reports once daily at noon). This adjustment will create an MAT record of night-time-equivalent temperatures that will enable an extension of the marine surface AT record back into the 18<sup>th</sup> century.</p>


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noel Fitzpatrick ◽  
Valentina Radic ◽  
Brian Menounos

Abstract. The roughness length values for momentum, temperature, and water vapour are key inputs to the bulk aerodynamic method for estimating turbulent heat flux. Measurements of site-specific roughness length are rare for glacier surfaces, and substantial uncertainty remains in the values and ratios commonly assumed when parameterising turbulence. Over three melt seasons, eddy covariance observations were implemented to derive the momentum and scalar roughness lengths at several locations on two mid-latitude mountain glaciers. In addition, two techniques were developed in this study for the remote estimation of momentum roughness length, utilising LiDAR-derived digital elevation models with a 1 × 1 m resolution. Seasonal mean momentum roughness length values derived from eddy covariance observations at each location ranged from 0.7–4.5 mm for ice surfaces, and 0.5–2.4 mm for snow surfaces. From one season to the next, mean momentum roughness length values over ice remained relatively consistent at a given location (0–1 mm difference between seasonal mean values), while within a season, temporal variability in momentum roughness length over melting snow was found to be substantial (> an order of magnitude). The two remote techniques were able to differentiate between ice and snow cover, and return momentum roughness lengths that were within 1–2 mm (


1980 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 1433-1438 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. H. Papst ◽  
J. A. Mathias ◽  
J. Barica

Periods of summer oxygen depletion (summerkill), occurring in shallow prairie lakes, are dependent on the collapse of algae blooms but are not an obligatory result of the collapse. A period of thermal instability following this bloom collapse, or coincidental with it, is a necessary requirement. Wind stress and night-time air temperature are the principal factors determining the degree of thermal stability. These findings explain the speed with which oxygen depletion can occur, that the occurrence of algal biomass collapses without severe oxygen depletion (partial collapses), and the correlation between the occurrence of periods of lake oxygen depletion and changing weather conditions.Key words: lake, summerkill, anoxia, mixing, oxygen depletion, thermal stability, weather, Aphanizomenon


1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kim ◽  
T. W. Simon ◽  
M. Kestoras

An experimental investigation of transition on a flat-plate boundary layer was performed. Mean and turbulence quantities, including turbulent heat flux, were sampled according to the intermittency function. Such sampling allows segregation of the signal into two types of behavior—laminarlike and turbulentlike. Results show that during transition these two types of behavior cannot be thought of as separate Blasius and fully turbulent profiles, respectively. Thus, simple transition models in which the desired quantity is assumed to be an average, weighted on intermittency, of the laminar and fully turbulent values may not be entirely successful. Deviation of the flow identified as laminarlike from theoretical laminar behavior is due to a slow recovery after the passage of a turbulent spot, while deviation of the flow identified as turbulentlike from fully turbulent characteristics is possibly due to an incomplete establishment of the fully turbulent power spectral distribution. Measurements were taken for two levels of free-stream disturbance—0.32 and 1.79 percent. Turbulent Prandtl numbers for the transitional flow, computed from measured shear stress, turbulent heat flux, and mean velocity and temperature profiles, were less than unity.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwang-Yul Kim ◽  
Benjamin D. Hamlington ◽  
Hanna Na ◽  
Jinju Kim

Abstract. Sea ice melting is proposed as a primary reason for the Artic amplification, although physical mechanism of the Arctic amplification and its connection with sea ice melting is still in debate. In the present study, monthly ERA-interim reanalysis data are analyzed via cyclostationary empirical orthogonal function analysis to understand the seasonal mechanism of sea ice melting in the Arctic Ocean and the Arctic amplification. While sea ice melting is widespread over much of the perimeter of the Arctic Ocean in summer, sea ice remains to be thin in winter only in the Barents-Kara Seas. Excessive turbulent heat flux through the sea surface exposed to air due to sea ice melting warms the atmospheric column. Warmer air increases the downward longwave radiation and subsequently surface air temperature, which facilitates sea surface remains to be ice free. A 1 % reduction in sea ice concentration in winter leads to ~ 0.76 W m−2 increase in upward heat flux, ~ 0.07 K increase in 850 hPa air temperature, ~ 0.97 W m−2 increase in downward longwave radiation, and ~ 0.26 K increase in surface air temperature. This positive feedback mechanism is not clearly observed in the Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas, since sea ice refreezes in late fall (November) before excessive turbulent heat flux is available for warming the atmospheric column in winter. A detailed seasonal heat budget is presented in order to understand specific differences between the Barents-Kara Seas and Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-298
Author(s):  
ATHANASIOS KAMOUTSIS ◽  
KOSTAS CHRONOPOULOS ◽  
ARISTIDIS MATSOUKIS

Topography and canopy play a decisive role on air temperature (T) conditions in forested areas. Air temperature is a crucial factor in decision making process for the development of these areas. To our knowledge, there is no information regarding the effect of topography along with canopy cover (Pc) on thermal conditions of a vulnerable mountainous forested region of Greece, Mount (Mt) Aenos in the island of Cephalonia, Ionian Islands, Greece. Therefore, the purpose of our work is the investigation of the aforementioned parameters, especially the effect of altitude (alt) and Pc on T of Mt Aenos. Mean values for maximum air temperature (Tx) and Pc were estimated for twelve sites at various alts in Mt Aenos during the period May-October of three consecutive years (2011-2013). The analysis of the results showed that Tx was related to alt and Pc. Altitude has a greater effect on T in relation to Pc. When examining same or similar alts, an increase of Pc up to 51% resulted in a significant decrease of Tx (p<0.05) up to 3.6 °C. Our findings could be taken into account in planning the construction of hiking trails for recreational activities in Mt Aenos, and, in general, in mountainous forest areas of special importance.


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