scholarly journals An Integrated Method for Determining the Oceanic Bottom Mixed Layer Thickness Based on WOCE Potential Temperature Profiles

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (11) ◽  
pp. 2289-2301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng-Qi Huang ◽  
Xian-Rong Cen ◽  
Yuan-Zheng Lu ◽  
Shuang-Xi Guo ◽  
Sheng-Qi Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Visual Inspection ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Temperature Profiles ◽  
Integrated Method ◽  
Relative Variance ◽  
Maximum Angle ◽  
Northern Atlantic ◽  
Quality Indexes ◽  
Better Than

AbstractIn this study we examined the applicability of the threshold, curvature, maximum angle, and relative variance methods for identifying the oceanic bottom mixed layer (BML) thickness . Using full-depth temperature profiles along 17 WOCE sections covering the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, we found that the BML thicknesses determined based on the threshold, curvature, and maximum angle methods had wider 95% confidence intervals and much lower quality indexes compared with those based on the visual inspection (). The relative variance method appeared to perform better than the other methods because the 95% confidence interval and (0.60) values were closer to those determined based on the visual inspection, although differences were still present. We then proposed an integrated method by optimizing the possible values obtained from the four methods. The BML thicknesses determined using the integrated method were closest to those based on the visual inspection according to the higher (0.64) and more stations (71%) with . Compared with the results in previous studies, the integrated method determined the consistent BML thicknesses in most regions (e.g., the northern Atlantic), and it also effectively identified the BML thicknesses in some regions where the BML was considered to be not readily detectable (e.g., the Madeira Abyssal Plain).

scholarly journals An Objective Method for Determining Ocean Mixed Layer Depth with Applications to WOCE Data

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng-Qi Huang ◽  
Yuan-Zheng Lu ◽  
Sheng-Qi Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Mixed Layer Depth ◽  
Random Noise ◽  
World Ocean ◽  
New Method ◽  
Layer Depth ◽  
Density Profiles ◽  
Relative Variance ◽  
Maximum Angle

AbstractA new method is developed to identify the mixed layer depth (MLD) from individual temperature or density profiles. A relative variance profile is obtained that is the ratio between the standard deviation and the maximum variation of the temperature (density) from the sea surface, and the depth of the minimum relative variance is defined as the MLD. The new method is robust in finding the MLD under the influence of random noise (noise level ≤ 5%). A comparison with other available methods, which include the threshold (difference, difference interpolation, gradient, and hybrid methods) and objective (curvature and maximum angle methods) methods, is carried out using the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) data. It is found that for a variety of depth sampling resolutions ranging from 0.04 to 25 dbar, the new method and the difference-interpolation method predict MLD values that are closer to the visually inspected ones than those by other methods. Moreover, the quality index (QI) of the MLD that is determined by the new method is the highest when compared with those of the available methods. Also, the application of the new method on the WOCE global dataset yields 94% of MLD values with , substantially higher than those (≤86%) of other methods. Ultimately, it is found that the new method determines very similar MLD values when applied to temperature or density profiles globally because it identifies the base of the mixed layer rather than the uppermost depth of the thermocline. This unique advantage makes the new method applicable in many cases, especially when the density profile is unavailable.

Detection of early occlusal caries of the first permanent molar using different techniques (An in vivo study)

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Samah F. Al-Qazzaz ◽  
Abeer M. Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Sensitivity And Specificity ◽  
Visual Inspection ◽  
Caries Detection ◽  
Occlusal Caries ◽  
Clinical Sensitivity ◽  
Permanent Molar ◽  
Permanent Molars ◽  
Early Caries ◽  
First Permanent Molars ◽  
Better Than

Background: Molars and premolars are considered as the most vulnerable teeth of caries attack, which is related to the morphology of their occlusal surfaces along with the difficulty of plaque removal. different methods were used for early caries detection that provide sensitive, accurate preoperative diagnosis of caries depths to establish adequate preventive measures and avoid premature tooth treatment by restoration. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical sensitivity and specificity rates of DIAGNOdent and visual inspection as opposed to the ICDAS for the detection of initial occlusal caries in noncavitated first permanent molars. Materials and Methods: This study examined 139 occlusal surface of the first permanent molar pooled from fifty patients aged 8-9 years by three methods. The selected criteria include one occlusal site per tooth (first permanent molars) with carious lesions range from 0 to 3 according to ICDASII (gold standard) visual criteria then the clinical sensitivity and specificity of visual inspection according to Ekstrand et al.in 1997 and DIAGNOdent were performed. . Results: the highest correlation was found between the ICDASII and DIAGNOdent. The sensitivity of the DIAGNOdent for the enamel caries detection (D1) was better than that of visual inspection. The sensitivity and the specificity for the DIAGNOdent at D3 threshold were better than the D1 threshold and the visual inspection method. Conclusion: DIAGNOden pen can be used as a tool for early caries detection in cases of difficult diagnosis that provide good additional sensitivity to the visual inspection.

scholarly journals Reexamining the Gradient and Countergradient Representation of the Local and Nonlocal Heat Fluxes in the Convective Boundary Layer

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (7) ◽  
pp. 2317-2336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bowen Zhou ◽  
Shiwei Sun ◽  
Kai Yao ◽  
Kefeng Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Temperature Gradient ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Convective Boundary Layer ◽  
Correction Term ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Gradient Term ◽  
Convective Boundary ◽  
Upper Mixed Layer

Abstract Turbulent mixing in the daytime convective boundary layer (CBL) is carried out by organized nonlocal updrafts and smaller local eddies. In the upper mixed layer of the CBL, heat fluxes associated with nonlocal updrafts are directed up the local potential temperature gradient. To reproduce such countergradient behavior in parameterizations, a class of planetary boundary layer schemes adopts a countergradient correction term in addition to the classic downgradient eddy-diffusion term. Such schemes are popular because of their simple formulation and effective performance. This study reexamines those schemes to investigate the physical representations of the gradient and countergradient (GCG) terms, and to rebut the often-implied association of the GCG terms with heat fluxes due to local and nonlocal (LNL) eddies. To do so, large-eddy simulations (LESs) of six idealized CBL cases are performed. The GCG fluxes are computed a priori with horizontally averaged LES data, while the LNL fluxes are diagnosed through conditional sampling and Fourier decomposition of the LES flow field. It is found that in the upper mixed layer, the gradient term predicts downward fluxes in the presence of positive mean potential temperature gradient but is compensated by the upward countergradient correction flux, which is larger than the total heat flux. However, neither downward local fluxes nor larger-than-total nonlocal fluxes are diagnosed from LES. The difference reflects reduced turbulence efficiency for GCG fluxes and, in terms of physics, conceptual deficiencies in the GCG representation of CBL heat fluxes.

scholarly journals Estimate of Ocean Mixed Layer Deepening after a Typhoon Passage over the South China Sea by Using Satellite Data

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 498-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiayi Pan ◽  
Yujuan Sun
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
South China ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
Temperature Profiles ◽  
The South ◽  
Translation Speed ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Sst Cooling

Abstract The ocean responses to Typhoon Cimaron, which influenced the South China Sea (SCS) from 1 to 8 November 2006, are analyzed. Based on satellite-observed sea surface temperature (SST) and climatological temperature profiles in the SCS, mixed layer deepening, an important parameter characterizing turbulent mixing and upwelling driven by strong typhoon winds, is derived. Corresponding to the SST drop of 4.4°C on 3 November 2006, the mixed layer deepened by 104.5 m relative to the undisturbed depth of 43.2 m, which is consistent with a simulation result from a mixed layer model. Furthermore, baroclinic geostrophic velocity and vorticity are calculated from the surface temperature gradient caused by the typhoon. The negative vorticity, associated with the typhoon cooling, indicated an anticyclonic baroclinic circulation strongest at the base of the mixed layer and at the depth of 50 m, the geostrophic speed reached as high as 0.2 m s−1. Typhoon Cimaron proceeded slowly (1.7 m s−1) when it was making a southwestward turn on 3 November 2006, resulting in a subcritical condition with a Froude number (the ratio of typhoon translation speed to first baroclinic mode speed) of 0.6 around the maximum SST drop location and facilitating high SST cooling and mixed layer deepening because of the absence of inertial-gravity waves in the wake of the typhoon. Comparison of Argo buoy data with the climatological temperature suggests that the average uncertainty in the mixed layer deepening estimation caused by the difference between Argo and climatological temperature profiles is less than 10 m.

scholarly journals The water vapour distribution in the Arctic lowermost stratosphere during the LAUTLOS campaign and related transport processes including stratosphere-troposphere exchange

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Karpechko ◽  
A. Lukyanov ◽  
E. Kyrö ◽  
S. Khaikin ◽  
L. Korshunov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapour ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Thick Layer ◽  
Transport Processes ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Air Turbulence ◽  
Cross Correlation Analysis ◽  
Northern Atlantic ◽  
Strong Winds

Abstract. Balloon-borne water vapour measurements during January and February 2004, which were obtained as part of the LAUTLOS campaign at Sodankylä, Finland, 67° N, were used to analyse the water vapour distribution in the wintertime Arctic lowermost stratosphere. A 2.5 km thick layer (or 30 K in the potential temperature scale) above the tropopause is characterized by a significant water vapour variability on a synoptic timescale with values between stratospheric and tropospheric, which is in good agreement with previously reported measurements. A cross-correlation analysis of ozone and water vapour confirms that this layer contains a mixture of stratospheric and tropospheric air masses. Some of the flights sampled laminae of enhanced water vapour above the tropopause. Meteorological analyses and backward trajectory calculations show that these features were related to filaments that had developed along the flanks of cut-off anticyclones, which had been active at this time over the Northern Atlantic. The role of the filaments was however not to transport water vapour from the troposphere to the stratosphere but rather to transport it within the stratosphere away from regions where intensive two-way stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) was identified. Intensive STE occurred around cut-off anticyclones in regions of strong winds, where calculations suggest the presence of clear-air turbulence (CAT). Evidences that CAT contributes to the troposphere-to-stratosphere transport (TST) are presented. However, statistically, relation between TST and CAT during the studied period is weak.

Study on Four Different Vegetation Types Treating the Sanitary Sewage

2011 ◽  
Vol 105-107 ◽  
pp. 1985-1990
Author(s):  
Ming Tao Zhou ◽  
Ping Yang
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Festuca Arundinacea ◽  
Cynodon Dactylon ◽  
Vegetation Type ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Total Removal ◽  
Artificial Surface ◽  
Quality Indexes ◽  
Better Than

The sanitary sewage is treated with four different vegetation types by means of artificial surface runoff. Results show soil+ Cynodon dactylon L. + Festuca arundinacea Schreb is the best vegetation type in treating the sanitary sewage, and the total removal of it is 80.24% TN, 62.99% TP, 74.85% BOD5, 39.73% COD and 58.64% TOC respectively in the course of trial, which indicates that the mixed vegetation type made up of plants and soil is better than the pure soil vegetation type, and the complementary collocation of complex plants is better than the single plant.Five water-quality indexes of the sanitary sewage removed by the single vegetation type are also studied, and it shows that there are some differences among them from high to low as follows: TN>BOD5>TP>TOC>COD.

scholarly journals Why is the Tropical Cyclone Boundary Layer Not “Well Mixed”?

2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 957-973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey D. Kepert ◽  
Juliane Schwendike ◽  
Hamish Ramsay
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Tropical Cyclone ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Vertical Gradient ◽  
Static Stability ◽  
Layer Depth ◽  
Turbulent Dissipation ◽  
Unstable Layer ◽  
Tropical Cyclone Boundary Layer

Abstract Plausible diagnostics for the top of the tropical cyclone boundary layer include (i) the top of the layer of strong frictional inflow and (ii) the top of the “well mixed” layer, that is, the layer over which potential temperature θ is approximately constant. Observations show that these two candidate definitions give markedly different results in practice, with the inflow layer being roughly twice the depth of the layer of nearly constant θ. Here, the authors will present an analysis of the thermodynamics of the tropical cyclone boundary layer derived from an axisymmetric model. The authors show that the marked dry static stability in the upper part of the inflow layer is due largely to diabatic effects. The radial wind varies strongly with height and, therefore, so does radial advection of θ. This process also stabilizes the boundary layer but to a lesser degree than diabatic effects. The authors also show that this differential radial advection contributes to the observed superadiabatic layer adjacent to the ocean surface, where the vertical gradient of the radial wind is reversed, but that the main cause of this unstable layer is heating from turbulent dissipation. The top of the well-mixed layer is thus distinct from the top of the boundary layer in tropical cyclones. The top of the inflow layer is a better proxy for the top of the boundary layer but is not without limitations. These results may have implications for boundary layer parameterizations that diagnose the boundary layer depth from thermodynamic, or partly thermodynamic, criteria.

scholarly journals A Semiautomated Approach for Quality Controlling Large Historical Ocean Temperature Archives

2008 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 990-1003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Gronell ◽  
Susan E. Wijffels
Keyword(s):  
Visual Inspection ◽  
Temperature Profiles ◽  
Ocean Temperature ◽  
Ocean Sciences ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
Statistical Screening ◽  
Bad Data ◽  
Complete Process

Abstract This paper describes a method consisting of both automated statistical screening and manual quality control through expert visual inspection, which produces a historical ocean temperature archive of high quality—that is, nearly all profiles are unique (duplicate elimination) and 95% of bad data is eliminated. The complete process involves comprehensive duplicate elimination, an unreasonable gradient check, and statistical screening to distill out suspect profiles, which are then only eliminated (or partially so) during an expert manual visual inspection step. Statistical screening was optimized using an archive of known quality. Two iterations of statistical screening were required to identify the bulk of the bad data. Of an archive of about 121 000 profiles, the authors found they had to manually inspect 35% of profiles to remove 95% of the bad data. While costly, they argue such an effort is worthwhile so that the historical ocean temperature archives, which have cost the global community millions of dollars to obtain, are made more immediately useful for climate and ocean sciences. An archive of upper ocean temperature profiles from the Indian Ocean is near completion and extensions into the Pacific Ocean have begun.

scholarly journals Atmospheric boundary layer dynamics from balloon soundings worldwide: CLASS4GL v1.0

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 2139-2153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik Wouters ◽  
Irina Y. Petrova ◽  
Chiel C. van Heerwaarden ◽  
Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano ◽  
Adriaan J. Teuling ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Specific Humidity ◽  
Weather Extremes ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
Layer Height ◽  
Mixed Layer Height

Abstract. The coupling between soil, vegetation and atmosphere is thought to be crucial in the development and intensification of weather extremes, especially meteorological droughts, heat waves and severe storms. Therefore, understanding the evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) and the role of land–atmosphere feedbacks is necessary for earlier warnings, better climate projection and timely societal adaptation. However, this understanding is hampered by the difficulties of attributing cause–effect relationships from complex coupled models and the irregular space–time distribution of in situ observations of the land–atmosphere system. As such, there is a need for simple deterministic appraisals that systematically discriminate land–atmosphere interactions from observed weather phenomena over large domains and climatological time spans. Here, we present a new interactive data platform to study the behavior of the ABL and land–atmosphere interactions based on worldwide weather balloon soundings and an ABL model. This software tool – referred to as CLASS4GL (http://class4gl.eu, last access: 27 May 2018) – is developed with the objectives of (a) mining appropriate global observational data from ∼15 million weather balloon soundings since 1981 and combining them with satellite and reanalysis data and (b) constraining and initializing a numerical model of the daytime evolution of the ABL that serves as a tool to interpret these observations mechanistically and deterministically. As a result, it fully automizes extensive global model experiments to assess the effects of land and atmospheric conditions on the ABL evolution as observed in different climate regions around the world. The suitability of the set of observations, model formulations and global parameters employed by CLASS4GL is extensively validated. In most cases, the framework is able to realistically reproduce the observed daytime response of the mixed-layer height, potential temperature and specific humidity from the balloon soundings. In this extensive global validation exercise, a bias of 10.1 m h−1, −0.036 K h−1 and 0.06 g kg−1 h−1 is found for the morning-to-afternoon evolution of the mixed-layer height, potential temperature and specific humidity. The virtual tool is in continuous development and aims to foster a better process understanding of the drivers of the ABL evolution and their global distribution, particularly during the onset and amplification of weather extremes. Finally, it can also be used to scrutinize the representation of land–atmosphere feedbacks and ABL dynamics in Earth system models, numerical weather prediction models, atmospheric reanalysis and satellite retrievals, with the ultimate goal of improving local climate projections, providing earlier warning of extreme weather and fostering a more effective development of climate adaptation strategies. The tool can be easily downloaded via http://class4gl.eu (last access: 27 May 2018) and is open source.

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