scholarly journals Atmospheric Moisture Transport to the Arctic: Assessment of Reanalyses and Analysis of Transport Components

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (14) ◽  
pp. 5061-5081 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ambroise Dufour ◽  
Olga Zolina ◽  
Sergey K. Gulev

Abstract The atmospheric water cycle of the Arctic is evaluated via seven global reanalyses and in radiosonde observations covering the 1979–2013 period. In the regional moisture budget, evaporation and precipitation are the least consistent terms among different datasets. Despite the assimilation of radiosoundings, the reanalyses present a tendency to overestimate the moisture transport. Aside from this overestimation, the reanalyses exhibit a remarkable agreement with the radiosondes in terms of spatial and temporal patterns. The northern North Atlantic, subpolar North Pacific, and Labrador Sea stand out as the main gateways for moisture to the Arctic in all reanalyses. Because these regions correspond to the end of the storm tracks, the link between moisture transports and extratropical cyclones is further investigated by decomposing the moisture fluxes in the mean flow and transient eddy parts. In all reanalyses, the former term tends to cancel out when averaged over a latitude circle, leaving the latter to provide the bulk of the midlatitude moisture imports (89%–94% at 70°N). Although the Arctic warms faster than the rest of the world, the impact of these changes on its water cycle remains ambiguous. In most datasets, evaporation, precipitation, and precipitable water increase in line with what is expected from a warming signal. At the same time, the moisture transports have decreased in all the reanalyses but not in the radiosonde observations, though none of these trends is statistically significant. The fluxes do not scale with the Clausius–Clapeyron relation because the increasing humidity is not correlated with the meridional wind, particularly near the surface.

2016 ◽  
Vol 97 (11) ◽  
pp. 2103-2115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yolande L. Serra ◽  
David K. Adams ◽  
Carlos Minjarez-Sosa ◽  
James M. Moker ◽  
Avelino F. Arellano ◽  
...  

Abstract Northwestern Mexico experiences large variations in water vapor on seasonal time scales in association with the North American monsoon, as well as during the monsoon associated with upper-tropospheric troughs, mesoscale convective systems, tropical easterly waves, and tropical cyclones. Together these events provide more than half of the annual rainfall to the region. A sufficient density of meteorological observations is required to properly observe, understand, and forecast the important processes contributing to the development of organized convection over northwestern Mexico. The stability of observations over long time periods is also of interest to monitor seasonal and longer-time-scale variability in the water cycle. For more than a decade, the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) has been used to obtain tropospheric precipitable water vapor (PWV) for applications in the atmospheric sciences. There is particular interest in establishing these systems where conventional operational meteorological networks are not possible due to the lack of financial or human resources to support the network. Here, we provide an overview of the North American Monsoon GPS Transect Experiment 2013 in northwestern Mexico for the study of mesoscale processes and the impact of PWV observations on high-resolution model forecasts of organized convective events during the 2013 monsoon. Some highlights are presented, as well as a look forward at GPS networks with surface meteorology (GPS-Met) planned for the region that will be capable of capturing a wider range of water vapor variability in both space and time across Mexico and into the southwestern United States.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaozhuo Sang ◽  
Xiu-Qun Yang ◽  
Lingfeng Tao ◽  
Jiabei Fang ◽  
Xuguang Sun

Abstract The Arctic warming, especially during winter, has been almost twice as large as the global average since the late 1990s, which is known as the Arctic amplification. Yet linkage between the amplified Arctic warming and the midlatitude change is still under debate. This study examines the decadal changes of wintertime poleward heat and moisture transports between two 18-yr epochs (1999–2016 and 1981–1998) with five atmospheric reanalyses. It is found that the wintertime Arctic warming induces an amplification of the high latitude stationary wave component of zonal wavenumber one but a weakening of the wavenumber two. These stationary wave changes enhance poleward heat and moisture transports, which are conducive to further Arctic warming and moistening, acting as a positive feedback onto the Arctic warming. Meanwhile, the Arctic warming reduces atmospheric baroclinicity and thus weakens synoptic eddy activities in the high latitudes. The decreased transient eddy activities reduce poleward heat and moisture transports, which decrease the Arctic temperature and moisture, acting as a negative feedback onto the Arctic warming. The total poleward heat transport contributes little to the Arctic warming, since the increased poleward heat transport by stationary waves is nearly canceled by the decreased transport by transient eddies. However, the total poleward moisture transport increases over most areas of the high latitudes that is dominated by the increased transport by stationary waves, which provides a significant net positive feedback onto the Arctic warming and moistening. Such a poleward moisture transport feedback may be particularly crucial to the amplified Arctic warming during winter when the ice-albedo feedback vanishes.


MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
SURYAK DUTTA ◽  
V.S. PRASAD ◽  
D. RAJAN

The Global Positioning System – Integrated Precipitable Water (IPW) data from Indian stations namely Chennai, Guwahati, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi have been assimilated in the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting’s (NCMRWF) Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS). Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) Scheme of GDAS analysis is experimented with the global model T254L64. The analyses and forecasts are carried out at triangular truncation of wave number 254 and with 64 levels in vertical. Global analyses are carried four times (0000 UTC, 0600 UTC, 1200 UTC and 1800 UTC) daily with intermittent time scheme. Model integrations are carried up to 168 hours. The present study examines the impact that integrated precipitable water has over various meteorological parameters. The study reveals that the assimilation of IPW data influences the analyses and corresponding forecasts of the weather model T254L64. This is an attempt of assimilation of IPW data of the aforesaid five Indian stations in the global model and examination of corresponding impact on various meteorological parameters over Indian region. It is seen that for the layers above 750 hPa the zonal and meridional wind components for IPW analyses have less biases. Forecasts from IPW simulations are found to have consistently by lower 850 hPa wind vector root mean square error (RMSE) where as at 250 hPa, improvement in IPW runs are seen only for day-1 and day-4 forecasts. For temperature at 850 hPa, IPW forecasts valid for day-4 & day-5 are better. At 250 hPa, temperature RMSE for IPW runs is lower for day-1 forecasts. Mean error of IPW forecasts at 250 hPa is lower for all the days of forecasts. Also, geo-potential RMSE for the IPW runs at 250 hPa is lower for all the days of forecasts. Forecasts vs analyses study shows positive impact of IPW assimilation on the anomaly and pattern correlations.


2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 3301-3333 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Bisselink ◽  
A. J. Dolman

Abstract. Evaporation is a key parameter in the regional atmospheric water cycle. Precipitation recycling is defined as the contribution of local evaporation in a region to the precipitation in the same region. In this work, we apply a dynamic precipitation recycling mode, which includes the moisture storage term, to calculate the warm season variability of the precipitation recycling over central Europe at a daily scale for 2003 (dry) and 2006 (wet). For the central part of Europe advection is the most important contributor to precipitation. In dry spells in both years 2003 and 2006, when moisture of advective origin diminishes, the local evaporation becomes an important contributor to precipitation (negative feedback). In two periods (June 2003 and July 2006) where there is enough moisture storage in the soil to continue the evaporation the recycling is enhanced. In August 2003 the evaporation is affecting the recycling due the lack of water availability caused by the dryness of the preceding spring and summer season. According to a multi variance analyses the evaporation in 2003 is the most important factor to explain the variance in the recycling ratio. In 2006, the precipitable water and the moisture fluxes are more dominant and the evaporation becomes less important, except for the dry period in July. Not only evaporation is important for recycling, but also a mechanism to trigger precipitation. In case studies we follow the path of an air column of days with one of the highest recycling. At the 2 days with enough moisture availability (28 May 2003 and 5 July 2006) we see long path length due to weak winds. Following the paths, the air is transported over land for a very long distance before it precipitates and has a lot of time to traverse the region and capture moisture of evaporative origin. However, we hypothesize that the precipitation falling at those days originates (partly) from oceanic sources, but the triggering of precipitation may itself be a result of enhanced instability induced by soils, which still have enough moisture storage. In this way, the evaporation is an important driver in the recycling ratio variability. For the case study of 10 August 2003, the atmosphere is too dry to generate precipitation with exception of the mountainous regions due orographical lifting. However, the impact of land-use change in future climate will have the most impact on the evaporation in dry spells dominated by persistent blocking systems.


2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 650-662
Author(s):  
Paul A. Dirmeyer ◽  
Timothy DelSole ◽  
Mei Zhao

Abstract Empirical correction is applied to wind, temperature, and soil moisture fields in a climate model to assess its impact on simulation of the water cycle during boreal summer. The empirical correction method is based on the biases in model forecasts only as a function of the time of year. Corrections are applied to the prognostic equations as an extra nudging term. Mean fields of evaporation, precipitation, moisture transport, and recycling ratio are all improved, even though humidity fields were not corrected. Simulation of the patterns of surface evaporation supplying rainfall at locations over land is also improved for most locations. There is also improvement in the simulation of evaporation and possibly rainfall, as measured by anomaly correlation coefficients and root-mean-square errors of the time series of monthly anomalies. However, monthly anomalies of other water cycle fields such as moisture transport and recycling ratio were not improved. Like any statistical adjustment, empirical correction does not address the cause of model errors, but it does provide a net improvement to the simulation of the water cycle. It can, however, be used to diagnose the sources of error in the model. Since corrections are only applied to prognostic variables, shortcomings due to physical parameterizations in the model are not remedied.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (24) ◽  
pp. 8771-8790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiina Nygård ◽  
Rune G. Graversen ◽  
Petteri Uotila ◽  
Tuomas Naakka ◽  
Timo Vihma

Abstract This study gives a comprehensive picture of how atmospheric large-scale circulation is related to moisture transport and to distributions of moisture, clouds, and surface downward longwave radiation in the Arctic in winter. Anomaly distributions of the abovementioned variables are compared in 30 characteristic wintertime atmospheric circulation regimes, which are allocated from 15 years (2003–17) of mean sea level pressure data of ERA-Interim reanalysis applying the self-organizing map method. The characteristic circulation regimes are further related to known climate indices—the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the Arctic Oscillation (AO), and Greenland blocking index—as well as to a frequent high pressure pattern across the Arctic Ocean from Siberia to North America, herein called the Arctic bridge. Effects of large-scale circulation on moisture, cloud, and longwave radiation are to a large extent occurring through the impact of horizontal moisture transport. Evaporation is typically not efficient enough to shape those distributions, and much of the moisture evaporated in the Arctic is transported southward. The positive phase of the NAO and AO increases moisture and clouds in northern Europe and the eastern North Atlantic Ocean, and a strong Greenland blocking typically increases those in the southwest of Greenland. When the Arctic bridge is lacking, the amount of moisture, clouds, and downward longwave radiation is anomalously high near the North Pole. Our results reveal a strong dependence of moisture, clouds, and longwave radiation on atmospheric pressure fields, which also appears to be important from a climate change perspective.


Finisterra ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (73) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Trigo ◽  
Timothy Osborn ◽  
João Corte-Real

THE IMPACT OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC OSCILLATION ON THE EUROPEAN CLIMATE AND RIVER FLOW OF THREE MAJOR IBERIAN RIVERS – The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is the most dominant mode of atmospheric circulation variability over the entire Northern Hemisphere (NH) and has recently been shown to be related to climate over large regions of the NH, in particular, over the European and North American continents. Here, a multivariable analysis of the influence ofthe NAO on the climate of the North Atlantic and European sectors is presented using the 40 year (1958-97) reanalysis data set from National Centres for Environmental Prediction. Using high and low NAO index composites, anomaly fields of climate variables are then interpreted based on physical mechanisms associated with the anomalous mean flow (characterised by the surface wind field) and theanomalous eddy activity (characterised by the surface vorticity and the 500hPa storm track fields). It is shown that NAO-related temperature patterns are mainly controlled by the advection of heat by the anomalous mean flow. However, asymmetries between minimum and maximum temperatures, and more significantly, between positive and negative phases of NAO imply the importance of a different mechanism, namely the modulation of short wave and long wave radiation by cloud cover variations associated with the NAO. Furthermore, NAO influence over two different precipitation-related variables, namely, precipitation rate and precipitable water display different patterns. Precipitable water is shown to be strongly related to the corresponding anomaly fields of temperature while precipitation rate appears to be controlled by the surface vorticity field and associated strength of the tropospheric synoptic activity. Finally, we have assessed the impact of the NAO on winter river flow regimes for several different Portuguese rivers, including the three main international Iberian rivers, the Douro (north), the Tagus (centre) and the Guadiana (south). Results show that the large inter-annual variability of flow of these three rivers is largely modulated by the NAO. Such modulation, associated with the recent positive trend of the NAO index, might implicate a significant decrease of the available flow. This reduction can representan important hazard for the Portuguese economy due to its negative impact in agricultural yield and hydroelectric power production.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 50-59
Author(s):  
O. P. Trubitsina ◽  
V. N. Bashkin

The article is devoted to the consideration of geopolitical challenges for the analysis of geoenvironmental risks (GERs) in the hydrocarbon development of the Arctic territory. Geopolitical risks (GPRs), like GERs, can be transformed into opposite external environment factors of oil and gas industry facilities in the form of additional opportunities or threats, which the authors identify in detail for each type of risk. This is necessary for further development of methodological base of expert methods for GER management in the context of the implementational proposed two-stage model of the GER analysis taking to account GPR for the improvement of effectiveness making decisions to ensure optimal operation of the facility oil and gas industry and minimize the impact on the environment in the geopolitical conditions of the Arctic.The authors declare no conflict of interest


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Vázquez ◽  
Raquel Nieto ◽  
Anita Drumond ◽  
Luis Gimeno

Author(s):  
S. A. Gorbanev ◽  
S. A. Syurin ◽  
N. M. Frolova

Introduction. Due to the impact of adverse working conditions and climate, workers in coal-mining enterprises in the Arctic are at increased risk of occupational diseases (OD).The aim of the study was to study the working conditions, causes, structure and prevalence of occupational diseases in miners of coal mines in the Arctic.Materials and methods. Th e data of social and hygienic monitoring “Working conditions and occupational morbidity” of the population of Vorkuta and Chukotka Autonomous District in 2007–2017 are studied.Results. It was established that in 2007–2017 years, 2,296 ODs were diagnosed for the first time in 1851 coal mines, mainly in the drifters, clearing face miners, repairmen and machinists of mining excavating machines. Most often, the ODs occurred when exposed to the severity of labor, fibrogenic aerosols and hand-arm vibration. The development of professional pathology in 98% of cases was due to design flaws of machines and mechanisms, as well as imperfections of workplaces and technological processes. Diseases of the musculoskeletal system (36.2%), respiratory organs (28.9%) and nervous system (22.5%) prevailed in the structure of professional pathology of miners of coal mines. Among the three most common nosological forms of OD were radiculopathy (32.1%), chronic bronchitis (27.7%) and mono-polyneuropathy (15.4%). In 2017, coal miners in the Arctic had a professional morbidity rate of 2.82 times higher than the national rates for coal mining.Conclusions. To preserve the health of miners of coal mining enterprises, technical measures to improve working conditions and medical interventions aimed at increasing the body’s resistance to the effects of harmful production and climatic factors are necessary.


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