Prognostic criteria for Polar Lows

Author(s):  
Natalia Vazaeva ◽  
Otto Chkhetiani ◽  
Michael Kurgansky

<p>Polar lows (PLs) are important mesoscale (horizontal diameter up to 1000 km) maritime weather systems at high latitudes, forming pole ward from the polar front. We consider the possible prognostic criteria of PLs, in particular, the kinematic helicity as a quadratic characteristic related to the integral vortex formations and the kinematic vorticity number (KVN). To calculate such characteristics we use reanalysis data and the results of numerical simulation with the WRF-ARW model (Version 4.1.) for the PLs over the Nordic (Norwegian and Barents) seas. For comparison, experimental data are used.</p><p>Our estimate of helicity is based on the connection of an integral helicity (IH) in the Ekman layer with the geostrophic wind velocity, due to the good correlation between IH and half the sum of the wind velocity squared. We have chosen IH averaged over preselected area covering the locality of PLs genesis. This area was moving along with the centre of PL during the numerical simulation.</p><p>The genesis of PLs can be divided into three stages: (i) an initial development stage, in which a number of small vortices appear in a shear zone; (ii) a late development stage, characterized by the merger of vortices; (iii) a mature stage, in which only a single PL is present. Approximately one day before PL formation, a significant increase in helicity was observed. The average helicity bulk density of large-scale motions has values of 0.3 – 0.4 ms<sup>-2</sup>. The local changes in helicity are adjacent to the front side of the PLs. The IH criterion described facilitates the identification of the PLs genesis area. For a more detailed analysis of the PL genesis, it is recommended to apply KVN, which is the additional indicator of PL size and intensity. At the moment of maximum intensity of PLs KVN can reach values of 12 – 14 units. The advantage of using KVN is also in its clear change directly in the centre of the emerging PLs, which allows to precisely indicates the limits of the most intense part of PLs.</p><p>The main challenge is to make the operational forecast of PLs possible through the selection of the prognostic integral characteristics of PLs, sufficient for PLs identification and for analysis of their size and intensity in a convenient, usable and understandable way. The criteria associated with vorticity and helicity are reflected in the PLs genesis and development quite clearly. At this time, such a claim is only a hypothesis, which must be tested using a larger set of cases. Future work will need to extend these analyses to other active PL basins. Also, it would be interesting to compare the representation of PLs by using any other criteria. It is intended to use our combined criteria as a precursor to machine learning-based PLs identification procedure where satellite image analysis and capture of particular cloud patterns are currently applied in most of the cases. It would eliminate the time consuming first stage of collecting data sets.</p><p>This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 19-17-00248).</p>

Mathematics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeng-Shyang Pan ◽  
Pei-Cheng Song ◽  
Shu-Chuan Chu ◽  
Yan-Jun Peng

Drone logistics can play an important role in logistics at the end of the supply chain and special environmental logistics. At present, drone logistics is in the initial development stage, and the location of drone logistics hubs is an important issue in the optimization of logistics systems. This paper implements a compact cuckoo search algorithm with mixed uniform sampling technology, and, for the problem of weak search ability of the algorithm, this paper combines the method of recording the key positions of the search process and increasing the number of generated solutions to achieve further improvements, as well as implements the improved compact cuckoo search algorithm. Then, this paper uses 28 test functions to verify the algorithm. Aiming at the problem of the location of drone logistics hubs in remote areas or rural areas, this paper establishes a simple model that considers the traffic around the village, the size of the village, and other factors. It is suitable for selecting the location of the logistics hub in advance, reducing the cost of drone logistics, and accelerating the large-scale application of drone logistics. This paper uses the proposed algorithm for testing, and the test results indicate that the proposed algorithm has strong competitiveness in the proposed model.


2014 ◽  
Vol 142 (6) ◽  
pp. 2248-2270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shun-ichi I. Watanabe ◽  
Hiroshi Niino

Abstract A polar mesocyclone (PMC) observed over the Japan Sea on 30 December 2010 was studied using a nonhydrostatic mesoscale numerical model with a horizontal resolution of 2 km. The numerical simulation successfully reproduced the observed life cycle of the PMC. The results of the numerical simulation suggest that the life cycle of the PMC may be divided into three stages: an early development stage, in which a number of small vortices appear in a shear zone; a late development stage, which is characterized by the merger of vortices and the formation of a few larger vortices; and a mature stage, in which only a single PMC is present. During the early development stage, vortices are generated in the shear zones of strong updrafts in discrete cumulus convection cells. In contrast, during the late development stage, the vortices develop as a result of barotropic instability in the shear zone. A cloud-free eye and spiral cloud bands accompany the mature stage of a simulated PMC. A warm core structure also forms at the center of the PMC on account of adiabatic warming associated with downdrafts. The structures in the PMC during the mature stage resemble those of a tropical cyclone. Sensitivity experiments, in which sensible and latent heat fluxes from the sea surface and condensational heating were switched on/off, demonstrate that condensational heating is critical to the development of the PMC at all stages, and that sensible and latent heat fluxes play secondary roles.


2006 ◽  
Vol 134 (4) ◽  
pp. 1174-1193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan E. Martin

Abstract The total quasigeostrophic (QG) vertical motion field is partitioned into transverse and shearwise couplets oriented parallel to, and along, the geostrophic vertical shear, respectively. The physical role played by each of these components of vertical motion in the midlatitude cyclone life cycle is then illustrated by examination of the life cycles of two recently observed cyclones. The analysis suggests that the origin and subsequent intensification of the lower-tropospheric cyclone responds predominantly to column stretching associated with the updraft portion of the shearwise QG vertical motion, which displays a single, dominant, middle-tropospheric couplet at all stages of the cyclone life cycle. The transverse QG omega, associated with the cyclones’ frontal zones, appears only after those frontal zones have been established. The absence of transverse ascent maxima and associated column stretching in the vicinity of the surface cyclone center suggests that the transverse ω plays little role in the initial development stage of the storms examined here. Near the end of the mature stage of the life cycle, however, in what appears to be a characteristic distribution, a transverse ascent maximum along the western edge of the warm frontal zone becomes superimposed with the shearwise ascent maximum that fuels continued cyclogenesis. It is suggested that use of the shearwise/transverse diagnostic approach may provide new and/or supporting insight regarding a number of synoptic processes including the development of upper-level jet/front systems and the nature of the physical distinction between type A and type B cyclogenesis events.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 3062
Author(s):  
Guo Zhang ◽  
Boyang Jiang ◽  
Taoyang Wang ◽  
Yuanxin Ye ◽  
Xin Li

To ensure the accuracy of large-scale optical stereo image bundle block adjustment, it is necessary to provide well-distributed ground control points (GCPs) with high accuracy. However, it is difficult to acquire control points through field measurements outside the country. Considering the high planimetric accuracy of spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and the high elevation accuracy of satellite-based laser altimetry data, this paper proposes an adjustment method that combines both as control sources, which can be independent from GCPs. Firstly, the SAR digital orthophoto map (DOM)-based planar control points (PCPs) acquisition is realized by multimodal matching, then the laser altimetry data are filtered to obtain laser altimetry points (LAPs), and finally the optical stereo images’ combined adjustment is conducted. The experimental results of Ziyuan-3 (ZY-3) images prove that this method can achieve an accuracy of 7 m in plane and 3 m in elevation after adjustment without relying on GCPs, which lays the technical foundation for a global-scale satellite image process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 2551
Author(s):  
Hyobum Lee ◽  
Hangseok Choi ◽  
Soon-Wook Choi ◽  
Soo-Ho Chang ◽  
Tae-Ho Kang ◽  
...  

This study demonstrates a three-dimensional numerical simulation of earth pressure balance (EPB) shield tunnelling using a coupled discrete element method (DEM) and a finite difference method (FDM). The analysis adopted the actual size of a spoke-type EPB shield tunnel boring machine (TBM) consisting of a cutter head with cutting tools, working chamber, screw conveyor, and shield. For the coupled model to reproduce the in situ ground condition, the ground formation was generated partially using the DEM (for the limited domain influenced by excavation), with the rest of the domain being composed of FDM grids. In the DEM domain, contact parameters of particles were calibrated via a series of large-scale triaxial test analyses. The model simulated tunnelling as the TBM operational conditions were controlled. The penetration rate and the rotational speed of the screw conveyor were automatically adjusted as the TBM advanced to prevent the generation of excessive or insufficient torque, thrust force, or chamber pressure. Accordingly, these parameters were maintained consistently around their set operational ranges during excavation. The simulation results show that the proposed numerical model based on DEM–FDM coupling could reasonably simulate EPB driving while considering the TBM operational conditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Yang Yang ◽  
Ling Zhou ◽  
Hongtao Zhou ◽  
Wanning Lv ◽  
Jian Wang ◽  
...  

Marine centrifugal pumps are mostly used on board ship, for transferring liquid from one point to another. Based on the combination of orthogonal testing and numerical simulation, this paper optimizes the structure of a drainage trough for a typical low-specific speed centrifugal pump, determines the priority of the various geometric factors of the drainage trough on the pump performance, and obtains the optimal impeller drainage trough scheme. The influence of drainage tank structure on the internal flow of a low-specific speed centrifugal pump is also analyzed. First, based on the experimental validation of the initial model, it is determined that the numerical simulation method used in this paper is highly accurate in predicting the performance of low-specific speed centrifugal pumps. Secondly, based on the three factors and four levels of the impeller drainage trough in the orthogonal test, the orthogonal test plan is determined and the orthogonal test results are analyzed. This work found that slit diameter and slit width have a large impact on the performance of low-specific speed centrifugal pumps, while long and short vane lap lengths have less impact. Finally, we compared the internal flow distribution between the initial model and the optimized model, and found that the slit structure could effectively reduce the pressure difference between the suction side and the pressure side of the blade. By weakening the large-scale vortex in the flow path and reducing the hydraulic losses, the drainage trough impellers obtained based on orthogonal tests can significantly improve the hydraulic efficiency of low-specific speed centrifugal pumps.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 96 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Brinkhoff ◽  
Justin Vardanega ◽  
Andrew J. Robson

Land cover mapping of intensive cropping areas facilitates an enhanced regional response to biosecurity threats and to natural disasters such as drought and flooding. Such maps also provide information for natural resource planning and analysis of the temporal and spatial trends in crop distribution and gross production. In this work, 10 meter resolution land cover maps were generated over a 6200 km2 area of the Riverina region in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, with a focus on locating the most important perennial crops in the region. The maps discriminated between 12 classes, including nine perennial crop classes. A satellite image time series (SITS) of freely available Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and Sentinel-2 multispectral imagery was used. A segmentation technique grouped spectrally similar adjacent pixels together, to enable object-based image analysis (OBIA). K-means unsupervised clustering was used to filter training points and classify some map areas, which improved supervised classification of the remaining areas. The support vector machine (SVM) supervised classifier with radial basis function (RBF) kernel gave the best results among several algorithms trialled. The accuracies of maps generated using several combinations of the multispectral and radar bands were compared to assess the relative value of each combination. An object-based post classification refinement step was developed, enabling optimization of the tradeoff between producers’ accuracy and users’ accuracy. Accuracy was assessed against randomly sampled segments, and the final map achieved an overall count-based accuracy of 84.8% and area-weighted accuracy of 90.9%. Producers’ accuracies for the perennial crop classes ranged from 78 to 100%, and users’ accuracies ranged from 63 to 100%. This work develops methods to generate detailed and large-scale maps that accurately discriminate between many perennial crops and can be updated frequently.


MRS Bulletin ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 389-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph E.H. Sims

AbstractSome forms of renewable energy have long contributed to electricity generation, whereas others are just emerging. For example, large-scale hydropower is a mature technology generating about 16% of global electricity, and many smaller scale systems are also being installed worldwide. Future opportunities to improve the technology are limited but include upgrading of existing plants to gain greater performance efficiencies and reduced maintenance. Geothermal energy, widely used for power generation and direct heat applications, is also mature, but new technologies could improve plant designs, extend their lifetimes, and improve reliability. By contrast, ocean energy is an emerging renewable energy technology. Design, development, and testing of a myriad of devices remain mainly in the research and development stage, with many opportunities for materials science to improve design and performance, reduce costly maintenance procedures, and extend plant operating lifetimes under the harsh marine environment.


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