scholarly journals Variability of Warm-Season Cloud Episodes over East Asia Based on GMS Infrared Brightness Temperature Observations

2005 ◽  
Vol 133 (6) ◽  
pp. 1478-1500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chung-Chieh Wang ◽  
George Tai-Jen Chen ◽  
Richard E. Carbone

Abstract The present study has used the Geostationary Meteorological Satellite (GMS) IR brightness temperature observations to investigate the regional and intraseasonal variability of east Asian warm-season cloud/precipitation episodes (in distance–time space) due to land–sea contrast and latitudinal effects. The data period was May–August 1998–2001, and harmonic analysis was employed as the major tool for analysis. The full domain of study (20°–40°N, 95°–145°E) was divided into northern and southern zones, and into eastern and western sectors, and statistics of episodes in each subregion were derived and compared. For latitudinal effects, episodes were found to be significantly larger in span and duration in northern (30°–40°N) than in southern (20°–30°N) zones. In the northern zone, the propagation characteristics were also stronger and remain evident even in midsummer, while episodes south of 30°N reversed in direction and traveled westward in July and August. For land–sea contrast, the May–August transition over land (western sector, 95°–120°E) was mainly characterized by an increase in diurnal activities, while that over ocean (eastern sector, 120°–145°E) was characterized by decreased overall activities instead. Over the land itself, significant regional variability also existed, with strongest diurnal signals over the eastern Tibetan Plateau near 100°E, and increased diurnal activities over mountain areas in southeastern China since June. Between the two bands, near 107°E, semidiurnal signals were relatively strong and became dominant in June. This double-peaked structure in the diurnal cycle resulted from overlying signals of convection propagating eastward off the plateau with those induced locally in late afternoon, and the phenomenon was more evident in May–June. Over the ocean, on the other hand, both diurnal and semidiurnal waves had small amplitudes, and the regional variability was much weaker. For intraseasonal transition, the number of large episodes was reduced from May through July, as was mean propagation speed. In August, however, some larger events started to reappear over east Asia.

2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (12) ◽  
pp. 3264-3270 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Tuttle ◽  
Richard E. Carbone ◽  
Phillip A. Arkin

Abstract Studies in the past several years have documented the climatology of warm-season precipitation-episode statistics (propagation speed, span, and duration) over the United States using a national composited radar dataset. These climatological studies have recently been extended to other continents, including Asia, Africa, and Australia. However, continental regions outside the United States have insufficient radar coverage, and the newer studies have had to rely on geostationary satellite data at infrared (IR) frequencies as a proxy for rainfall. It is well known that the use of IR brightness temperatures to infer rainfall is subject to large errors. In this study, the statistics of warm-season precipitation episodes derived from radar and satellite IR measurements over the United States are compared and biases introduced by the satellite data are evaluated. It is found that the satellite span and duration statistics are highly dependent upon the brightness temperature threshold used but with the appropriate choices of thresholds can be brought into good agreement with those based upon radar data. The propagation-speed statistics of satellite events are on average ∼4 m s−1 faster than radar events and are relatively insensitive to the brightness temperature threshold. A simple correction procedure based upon the difference between the steering winds for the precipitation core and the winds at the level of maximum anvil outflow is developed.


Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoë L. Fleming ◽  
Ruth M. Doherty ◽  
Erika von Schneidemesser ◽  
Christopher S. Malley ◽  
Owen R. Cooper ◽  
...  

This study quantifies the present-day global and regional distributions (2010–2014) and trends (2000–2014) for five ozone metrics relevant for short-term and long-term human exposure. These metrics, calculated by the Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report, are: 4th highest daily maximum 8-hour ozone (4MDA8); number of days with MDA8 > 70 ppb (NDGT70), SOMO35 (annual Sum of Ozone Means Over 35 ppb) and two seasonally averaged metrics (3MMDA1; AVGMDA8). These metrics were explored at ozone monitoring sites worldwide, which were classified as urban or non-urban based on population and nighttime lights data. Present-day distributions of 4MDA8 and NDGT70, determined predominantly by peak values, are similar with highest levels in western North America, southern Europe and East Asia. For the other three metrics, distributions are similar with North–South gradients more prominent across Europe and Japan. Between 2000 and 2014, significant negative trends in 4MDA8 and NDGT70 occur at most US and some European sites. In contrast, significant positive trends are found at many sites in South Korea and Hong Kong, with mixed trends across Japan. The other three metrics have similar, negative trends for many non-urban North American and some European and Japanese sites, and positive trends across much of East Asia. Globally, metrics at many sites exhibit non-significant trends. At 59% of all sites there is a common direction and significance in the trend across all five metrics, whilst 4MDA8 and NDGT70 have a common trend at ~80% of all sites. Sensitivity analysis shows AVGMDA8 trends differ with averaging period (warm season or annual). Trends are unchanged at many sites when a 1995–2014 period is used; although fewer sites exhibit non-significant trends. Over the longer period 1970–2014, most Japanese sites exhibit positive 4MDA8/SOMO35 trends. Insufficient data exist to characterize ozone trends for the rest of Asia and other world regions.


2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 1238-1260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroki Ichikawa ◽  
Tetsuzo Yasunari

Abstract Five years of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR) data were used to investigate the time and space characteristics of the diurnal cycle of rainfall over and around Borneo, an island in the Maritime Continent. The diurnal cycle shows a systematic modulation that is associated with intraseasonal variability in the large-scale circulation pattern, with regimes associated with low-level easterlies or westerlies over the island. The lower-tropospheric westerly (easterly) components correspond to periods of active (inactive) convection over the island that are associated with the passage of intraseasonal atmospheric disturbances related to the Madden–Julian oscillation. A striking feature is that rainfall activity propagates to the leeward side of the island between midnight and morning. The inferred phase speed of the propagation is about 3 m s−1 in the easterly regime and 7 m s−1 in the westerly regime. Propagation occurs over the entire island, causing a leeward enhancement of rainfall. The vertical structure of the developed convection/rainfall system differs remarkably between the two regimes. In the easterly regime, stratiform rains are widespread over the island at midnight, whereas in the westerly regime, local convective rainfall dominates. Over offshore regions, convective rainfall initially dominates then gradually decreases in both regimes, while the storms develop into deeper convective systems in the easterly regime. Aside from leeward rainfall propagation, shallow storms develop over the South China Sea region during the westerly regime, resulting in heavy precipitation from midnight through morning.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongjoo Choi ◽  
Yugo Kanaya ◽  
Seung-Myung Park ◽  
Atsushi Matsuki ◽  
Yasuhiro Sadanaga ◽  
...  

Abstract. The BC/CO emission ratios were estimated and compiled from long-term, harmonized observations of the ΔBC/ΔCO ratios under conditions unaffected by wet deposition at four sites in East Asia, including two sites in Korea (Baengnyeong and Gosan) and two sites in Japan (Noto and Fukuoka). Extended spatio-temporal coverage enabled estimation of full seasonality and elucidation of the emission ratio in North Korea, for the first time. The estimated ratios were used to validate the Regional Emission inventory in Asia (REAS) version 2.1 based on six study domains (East China, North China, Northeast China, South Korea, North Korea, and Japan). We found that the ΔBC/ΔCO ratios from four sites converged into a narrow range (6.2–7.9 ng m−3 ppb−1), suggesting consistency in the results from independent observations and similarity in source profiles over the regions. The BC/CO ratios from the REAS emission inventory (7.7 ng m−3 ppb−1 for East China – 23.2 ng m−3 ppb−1 for South Korea) were overestimated by factors of 1.1 for East China to 3.0 for South Korea, whereas the ratio for North Korea (3.7 ng m−3 ppb−1 from REAS) was underestimated by a factor of 2.0, most likely due to inaccurate emissions from the road transportation sector. Seasonal variation in the BC/CO ratio from REAS was found to be the highest in winter (China and North Korea) or summer (South Korea and Japan), whereas the measured ΔBC/ΔCO ratio was highest in spring in all source regions, indicating the need for further characterization of seasonality when creating a bottom-up emission inventory. At levels of administrative districts, overestimation in Seoul, the southwest regions of South Korea, and Northeast China was noticeable, and underestimation was mainly observed in the western regions in North Korea, including Pyongyang. These diagnoses are useful for identifying the regions where revisions in the inventory are necessary, providing guidance for refinement of BC and CO emission rate estimates over East Asia.


2019 ◽  
Vol 487 (4) ◽  
pp. 4819-4826
Author(s):  
Nithin Mohan ◽  
Suresh Raju Chellappan Pillai ◽  
Govind Swarup ◽  
Divya Oberoi

2020 ◽  
Vol 148 (8) ◽  
pp. 3203-3224
Author(s):  
Man-Yau Chan ◽  
Fuqing Zhang ◽  
Xingchao Chen ◽  
L. Ruby Leung

Abstract Geostationary infrared satellite observations are spatially dense [>1/(20 km)2] and temporally frequent (>1 h−1). These suggest the possibility of using these observations to constrain subsynoptic features over data-sparse regions, such as tropical oceans. In this study, the potential impacts of assimilating water vapor channel brightness temperature (WV-BT) observations from the geostationary Meteorological Satellite 7 (Meteosat-7) on tropical convection analysis and prediction were systematically examined through a series of ensemble data assimilation experiments. WV-BT observations were assimilated hourly into convection-permitting ensembles using Penn State’s ensemble square root filter (EnSRF). Comparisons against the independently observed Meteosat-7 window channel brightness temperature (Window-BT) show that the assimilation of WV-BT generally improved the intensities and locations of large-scale cloud patterns at spatial scales larger than 100 km. However, comparisons against independent soundings indicate that the EnSRF analysis produced a much stronger dry bias than the no data assimilation experiment. This strong dry bias is associated with the use of the simulated WV-BT from the prior mean during the EnSRF analysis step. A stochastic variant of the ensemble Kalman filter (NoMeanSF) is proposed. The NoMeanSF algorithm was able to assimilate the WV-BT without causing such a strong dry bias and the quality of the analyses’ horizontal cloud pattern is similar to EnSRF’s analyses. Finally, deterministic forecasts initiated from the NoMeanSF analyses possess better horizontal cloud patterns above 500 km than those of the EnSRF. These results suggest that it might be better to assimilate all-sky WV-BT through the NoMeanSF algorithm than the EnSRF algorithm.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 4171
Author(s):  
Xinlu Xia ◽  
Xiaolei Zou

The Hyperspectral Infrared Atmospheric Sounder (HIRAS) onboard the Feng Yun-3D (FY-3D) satellite is the first Chinese hyperspectral infrared instrument. In this study, an improved cloud detection scheme using brightness temperature observations from paired HIRAS long-wave infrared (LWIR) and short-wave infrared (SWIR) channels at CO2 absorption bands (15-μm and 4.3-μm) is developed. The weighting function broadness and a set of height-dependent thresholds of cloud-sensitive-level differences are incorporated into pairing LWIR and SWIR channels. HIRAS brightness temperature observations made under clear-sky conditions during a training period are used to develop a set of linear regression equations between paired LWIR and SWIR channels. Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud mask data are used for selecting HIRAS clear-sky observations. Cloud Emission and Scattering Indices (CESIs) are defined as the differences in SWIR channels between HIRAS observations and regression simulations from LWIR observations. The cloud retrieval products of ice cloud optical depth and cloud-top pressure from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) are used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed cloud detection scheme for FY-3D HIRAS observations. Results show that the distributions of modified CESIs at different altitudes can capture features in the distributions of AIRS-retrieved ice cloud optical depth and cloud-top pressure better than the CESIs obtained by the original method.


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