scholarly journals The Role of CO2 and Dynamic Vegetation on the Impact of Temperate Land-Use Change in the HadCM3 Coupled Climate Model

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Armstrong ◽  
Paul Valdes ◽  
Jo House ◽  
Joy Singarayer
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Energy Balance ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Atmospheric Co2 ◽  
Vegetation Distribution ◽  
Coupled Climate Model ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Human-induced land-use change (LUC) alters the biogeophysical characteristics of the land surface influencing the surface energy balance. The level of atmospheric CO2 is expected to increase in the coming century and beyond, modifying temperature and precipitation patterns and altering the distribution and physiology of natural vegetation. It is important to constrain how CO2-induced climate and vegetation change may influence the regional extent to which LUC alters climate. This sensitivity study uses the HadCM3 coupled climate model under a range of equilibrium forcings to show that the impact of LUC declines under increasing atmospheric CO2, specifically in temperate and boreal regions. A surface energy balance analysis is used to diagnose how these changes occur. In Northern Hemisphere winter this pattern is attributed in part to the decline in winter snow cover and in the summer due to a reduction in latent cooling with higher levels of CO2. The CO2-induced change in natural vegetation distribution is also shown to play a significant role. Simulations run at elevated CO2, yet present-day vegetation show a significantly increased sensitivity to LUC, driven in part by an increase in latent cooling. This study shows that modeling the impact of LUC needs to accurately simulate CO2-driven changes in precipitation and snowfall and incorporate accurate, dynamic vegetation distribution.

scholarly journals Updated cloud physics in a regional atmospheric climate model improves the modelled surface energy balance of Antarctica

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. van Wessem ◽  
C. H. Reijmer ◽  
J. T. M. Lenaerts ◽  
W. J. van de Berg ◽  
M. R. van den Broeke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Sensible Heat Flux ◽  
Sensible Heat ◽  
Ice Cloud ◽  
Long Wave ◽  
Regional Atmospheric Climate Model

Abstract. In this study the effects of changes in the physics package of the regional atmospheric climate model RACMO2 on the modelled surface energy balance, near-surface temperature and wind speed of Antarctica are presented. The physics package update primarily consists of an improved turbulent and radiative flux scheme and a revised cloud scheme that includes a parameterisation for ice cloud super-saturation. The ice cloud super-saturation has led to more moisture being transported onto the continent, resulting in more and optically thicker clouds and more downward long-wave radiation. Overall, the updated model better represents the surface energy balance, based on a comparison with >750 months of data from nine automatic weather stations located in East Antarctica. Especially the representation of the turbulent sensible heat flux and net long-wave radiative flux has improved with a decrease in biases of up to 40%. As a result, modelled surface temperatures have increased and the bias, when compared to 10 m snow temperatures from 64 ice-core observations, has decreased from −2.3 K to −1.3 K. The weaker surface temperature inversion consequently improves the representation of the sensible heat flux, whereas wind speed biases remain unchanged. However, significant model biases remain, partly because RACMO2 at a resolution of 27 km is unable to resolve steep topography.

scholarly journals Analysing surface energy balance closure and partitioning over a semi-arid savanna FLUXNET site in Skukuza, Kruger National Park, South Africa

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nobuhle P. Majozi ◽  
Chris M. Mannaerts ◽  
Abel Ramoelo ◽  
Renaud Mathieu ◽  
Alecia Nickless ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Latent Heat ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Surface Energy Budget ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Energy Balance Closure ◽  
Flux Tower ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Flux tower sites and data are in great demand to provide essential terrestrial climate, water and radiation budget information needed for environmental monitoring and evaluation of climate change impacts on ecosystems and society in general. They are also intended for calibration and validation of satellite-based earth observation and monitoring efforts, such as for example assessment of evapotranspiration from land and vegetation surfaces using surface energy balance approaches. Surface energy budget methods for ET estimation rely to a large extend on the basic assumption of a surface energy balance closure, assuming the full conversion of net solar radiation reaching the land surface into soil heat conduction and turbulent fluxes, i.e. the sensible (or convection) and latent heat components of the energy balance. Evapotranspiration is the conversion of the latent heat exchange fraction of the balance. In this paper, the Skukuza flux tower data were analysed in order to verify their use for validation of satellite–based evapotranspiration methods, under development in South Africa.Data series from 2000 until 2014 were used in the analysis. The energy balance ratio (EBR) concept, defined as the ratio between the sum of the turbulent convective and latent heat fluxes and radiation minus soil heat was used. At first typical diurnal patterns of EB partitioning were derived for four different seasons, well illustrating how this savannah-type biome responses to the weather conditions. Also the particular behaviour of the EB components during sunrise and sunset conditions, being important but usually neglected periods of energy transitions and inversions were noted and analysed. Annual estimates of the surface energy balance and its components were generated, including an evaluation of the balance closure. The seasonal variations were also investigated as well as the impact of nocturnal observations on the overall EB behaviour.

scholarly journals Dependence of Eemian Greenland temperature reconstructions on the ice sheet topography

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 6683-6732
Author(s):  
N. Merz ◽  
A. Born ◽  
C. C. Raible ◽  
H. Fischer ◽  
T. F. Stocker
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Sensible Heat Flux ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Lapse Rate

Abstract. The influence of a reduced Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) on Greenland's surface climate during the Eemian interglacial is studied using a comprehensive climate model. We find a distinct impact of changes in the GrIS topography on Greenland's surface air temperatures (SAT) even when correcting for changes in surface elevation which influences SAT through the lapse rate effect. The resulting lapse rate corrected SAT anomalies are thermodynamically driven by changes in the local surface energy balance rather than dynamically caused through anomalous advection of warm/cold air masses. The large-scale circulation is indeed very stable among all sensitivity experiments and the NH flow pattern does not depend on Greenland's topography in the Eemian. In contrast, Greenland's surface energy balance is clearly influenced by changes in the GrIS topography and this impact is seasonally diverse. In winter, the variable reacting strongest to changes in the topography is the sensible heat flux (SHFLX). The reason is its dependence on surface winds, which themselves are controlled to a large extent by the shape of the GrIS. Hence, regions where a receding GrIS causes higher surface wind velocities also experience anomalous warming through SHFLX. Vice-versa, regions that become flat and ice-free are characterized by low wind speeds, low SHFLX and anomalous cold winter temperatures. In summer, we find surface warming induced by a decrease in surface albedo in deglaciated areas and regions which experience surface melting. The Eemian temperature records derived from Greenland proxies, thus, likely include a temperature signal arising from changes in the GrIS topography. For the NEEM ice core site, our model suggests that up to 3.2 °C of the annual mean Eemian warming can be attributed to these topography-related processes and hence is not necessarily linked to large-scale climate variations.

scholarly journals A general framework for understanding the response of the water cycle to global warming over land and ocean

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 15263-15294 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. L. Roderick ◽  
F. Sun ◽  
W. H. Lim ◽  
G. D. Farquhar
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Specific Humidity ◽  
Water Vapour Content ◽  
Long Wave ◽  
Small Change

Abstract. Climate models project increases in globally averaged atmospheric specific humidity at the Clausius–Clapeyron (CC) value of around 7% K−1 whilst projections for precipitation (P) and evaporation (E) are somewhat muted at around 2% K−1. Such global projections are useful summaries but do not provide guidance at local (grid box) scales where impacts occur. To bridge that gap in spatial scale, previous research has shown that the following relation, Δ(P − E) ∝ P − E, holds for zonal averages in climate model projections. In this paper we first test whether that relation holds at grid box scales over ocean and over land. We find that the zonally averaged relation does not hold at grid box scales. We further find that the zonally averaged relation does not hold over land – it is specific to zonal averages over the ocean. As an alternative we tested whether the long-standing Budyko framework of catchment hydrology could be used to synthesise climate model projections over land. We find that climate model projections of Δ(P − E) out to the year 2100 conform closely to the Budyko framework. The analysis also revealed that climate models project little change in the net irradiance at the surface. To understand that result we examined projections of the key surface energy balance terms. In terms of global averages, we find the climate model projections are dominated by changes in only three terms of the surface energy balance; an increase in the incoming longwave irradiance while the responses are (mostly) restricted to the outgoing longwave irradiance with a small change in the evaporative flux. Because the change in outgoing longwave irradiance is a function of the change in surface temperature, we show that the precipitation sensitivity (i.e. 2% K−1) is an accurate summary of the partitioning of the greenhouse-induced surface forcing. With that we demonstrate that the precipitation sensitivity (2% K−1) is less than the CC value (7% K−1) because most of the greenhouse-induced surface forcing is partitioned into outgoing longwave irradiance (instead of evaporation). In essence, the models respond to elevated [CO2] by an increase in atmospheric water vapour content that increases the incoming long-wave irradiance at the surface. The surface response is dominated by a near equal increase in outgoing long-wave irradiance with only minor changes in other terms of the surface energy balance.

scholarly journals Potential evaporation estimation through an unstressed surface-energy balance and its sensitivity to climate change

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 4625-4639 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Barella-Ortiz ◽  
J. Polcher ◽  
A. Tuzet ◽  
K. Laval
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Aerodynamic Resistance ◽  
Neutral Stability ◽  
Potential Evaporation ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Humidity Gradient ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Potential evaporation (ETP) is a basic input for many hydrological and agronomic models, as well as a key variable in most actual evaporation estimations. It has been approached through several diffusive and energy balance methods, out of which the Penman–Monteith equation is recommended as the standard one. In order to deal with the diffusive approach, ETP must be estimated at a sub-diurnal frequency, as currently done in land surface models (LSMs). This study presents an improved method, developed in the ORCHIDEE LSM, which consists of estimating ETP through an unstressed surface-energy balance (USEB method). The results confirm the quality of the estimation which is currently implemented in the model (Milly, 1992). The ETP underlying the reference evaporation proposed by the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, (computed at a daily time step) has also been analysed and compared. First, a comparison for a reference period under current climate conditions shows that USEB and FAO's ETP estimations differ, especially in arid areas. However, they produce similar values when the FAO's assumption of neutral stability conditions is relaxed, by replacing FAO's aerodynamic resistance by that of the model's. Furthermore, if the vapour pressure deficit (VPD) estimated for the FAO's equation, is substituted by ORCHIDEE's VPD or its humidity gradient, the agreement between the daily mean estimates of ETP is further improved. In a second step, ETP's sensitivity to climate change is assessed by comparing trends in these formulations for the 21st century. It is found that the USEB method shows a higher sensitivity than the FAO's. Both VPD and the model's humidity gradient, as well as the aerodynamic resistance have been identified as key parameters in governing ETP trends. Finally, the sensitivity study is extended to two empirical approximations based on net radiation and mass transfer (Priestley–Taylor and Rohwer, respectively). The sensitivity of these ETP estimates is compared to the one provided by USEB to test if simplified equations are able to reproduce the impact of climate change on ETP.

scholarly journals The Impact of Föhn Winds on Surface Energy Balance During the 2010-2011 Melt Season Over Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica

2017 ◽  
Vol 122 (22) ◽  
pp. 12,062-12,076 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. King ◽  
A. Kirchgaessner ◽  
S. Bevan ◽  
A. D. Elvidge ◽  
P. Kuipers Munneke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
The Impact

Surface energy balance algorithm for land-based consumption water use of different land use-cover types in arid-semiarid regions

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1497-1513
Author(s):  
Shereif H. Mahmoud ◽  
A. A. Alazba
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Eastern Province ◽  
Very High ◽  
Coastal Lowlands

Spatiotemporal distributions of water consumption for various land use-cover types over the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia were estimated using Surface Energy Balance Algorithm. Water consumption of various land use and cover classes shows similar seasonal dynamic trends. The spatial distribution of annual actual evapotranspiration (AET) shows low values in the Empty Quarter (231–438 mm/yr), and moderate values in the Eastern Province borders (439–731 mm/yr). Very high AET values were observed in irrigated croplands in the Northern plains, Hafar Al-Batin, the central coastal lowlands, and the southern coastal lowlands, where annual AET ranged from 732 to 1,790 mm/yr, representing the majority of the study area agricultural land. Evaporative behavior of land use-cover types indicated that irrigated cropland, which occupies 0.37% of the study area, has an average daily AET ranging from 9.2 mm/day in January to a maximum value in April (30 mm/day). Average annual water use by irrigated cropland is relatively very high and it is roughly 1,786.9 mm/yr, while water bodies, which cover 0.023% (121.2 km2) of the study area, also had relatively high mean AET (660.8 mm/yr). Overall, AET rates for irrigated cropland are much higher than for other land uses.

scholarly journals Influences of tidal energy advection on the surface energy balance in a mangrove forest

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 11739-11765 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. G. Barr ◽  
J. D. Fuentes ◽  
M. S. DeLonge ◽  
T. L. O'Halloran ◽  
D. Barr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Mangrove Forest ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Energy Transport ◽  
Tidal Energy ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Energy Output ◽  
Tidal Flows ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Mangrove forests are ecosystems susceptible to changing water levels and temperatures due to climate change as well as perturbations resulting from tropical storms. Numerical models can be used to project mangrove forest responses to regional and global environmental changes, and the reliability of these models depends on surface energy balance closure. However, for tidal ecosystems, the surface energy balance is complex because the energy transport associated with tidal activity remains poorly understood. This study aimed to quantify impacts of tidal flows on energy dynamics within a mangrove ecosystem. To address the research objective, an intensive study was conducted in a mangrove forest located along the Shark River in the Everglades National Park, FL. Forest-atmosphere energy exchanges were quantified with an eddy covariance system deployed on a flux tower. The lateral energy transport associated with tidal activity was calculated based on a coupled mass and energy balance approach. The mass balance included tidal flows and accumulation of water on the forest floor. The energy balance included temporal changes in enthalpy, resulting from tidal flows and temperature changes in the water column. By serving as a net sink or a source of available energy, tidal flows reduced the impact of high radiational loads on the mangrove forest. Including tidal energy advection in the surface energy balance improved the 30-min daytime energy closure from 73% to 82% over the study period. Also, the cumulative sum of energy output improved from 79% to 91% of energy input during the study period. Results indicated that tidal inundation provides an important mechanism for heat removal and that tidal exchange should be considered in surface energy budgets of coastal ecosystems. Results also demonstrated the importance of including tidal energy advection in mangrove biophysical models that are used for predicting ecosystem response to changing climate and regional freshwater management practices.

scholarly journals The influence of föhn winds on annual and seasonal surface melt on the Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 4165-4180
Author(s):  
Jenny V. Turton ◽  
Amélie Kirchgaessner ◽  
Andrew N. Ross ◽  
John C. King ◽  
Peter Kuipers Munneke
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Ice Shelves ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Surface Melt ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Warm, dry föhn winds are observed over the Larsen C Ice Shelf year-round and are thought to contribute to the continuing weakening and collapse of ice shelves on the eastern Antarctic Peninsula (AP). We use a surface energy balance (SEB) model, driven by observations from two locations on the Larsen C Ice Shelf and one on the remnants of Larsen B, in combination with output from the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS), to investigate the year-round impact of föhn winds on the SEB and melt from 2009 to 2012. Föhn winds have an impact on the individual components of the surface energy balance in all seasons and lead to an increase in surface melt in spring, summer and autumn up to 100 km away from the foot of the AP. When föhn winds occur in spring they increase surface melt, extend the melt season and increase the number of melt days within a year. Whilst AMPS is able to simulate the percentage of melt days associated with föhn with high skill, it overestimates the total amount of melting during föhn events and non-föhn events. This study extends previous attempts to quantify the impact of föhn on the Larsen C Ice Shelf by including a 4-year study period and a wider area of interest and provides evidence for föhn-related melting on both the Larsen C and Larsen B ice shelves.

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