scholarly journals Die spätglazialen sowie die frühpostglazialen Klimaverhältnisse im Bereiche der Alpen : Sauerstoffisotopenkurven kalkhaltiger Sedimente

1987 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Eicher
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
North Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Stratigraphic Correlation ◽  
Deep Sea Sediment ◽  
Temperature Changes ◽  
The North ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Isotope Analyses

Abstract. 180/160 isotope analyses on carbonate lake Sediments from Central Europe exhibit abrupt, characteristic variations reflecting temperature changes. Between 13,000 and 11,000 years before present, a more or less continuous warm period (Bölling-Alleröd) existed separated from the Postglacial by the Younger Dryas cold phase. Results from 25 Sites in Central Europe, especially the forelands ot the Alps indicate, with the exception of 3 Sites south of the Alps, a synchronous large-scale climatic development. Indirect dating and stratigraphic correlation of the different records was mostly performed by means of pollen analysis. Our results correlate very well with 180/160 measurements on Greenland ice cores, and they agree well with results from deep sea sediment studies in the North Atlantic Ocean covering the Glacial-Postglacial transition.

scholarly journals Past megadroughts in central Europe were longer, more severe and less warm than modern droughts

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ionita ◽  
M. Dima ◽  
V. Nagavciuc ◽  
P. Scholz ◽  
G. Lohmann
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
North Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Explosive Volcanism ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
The North ◽  
European Climate ◽  
Blocking Activity ◽  
Meteorological Observations ◽  
Dalton Minimum

AbstractMegadroughts are notable manifestations of the American Southwest, but not so much of the European climate. By using long-term hydrological and meteorological observations, as well as paleoclimate reconstructions, here we show that central Europe has experienced much longer and severe droughts during the Spörer Minimum (~AD 1400–1480) and Dalton Minimum (~AD 1770–1840), than the ones observed during the 21st century. These two megadroughts appear to be linked with a cold state of the North Atlantic Ocean and enhanced winter atmospheric blocking activity over the British Isles and western part of Europe, concurrent with reduced solar forcing and explosive volcanism. Moreover, we show that the recent drought events (e.g., 2003, 2015, and 2018), are within the range of natural variability and they are not unprecedented over the last millennium.

scholarly journals A 5 km Resolution Regional Climate Simulation for Central Europe: Performance in High Mountain Areas and Seasonal, Regional and Elevation-Dependent Variations

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Warscher ◽  
Sven Wagner ◽  
Thomas Marke ◽  
Patrick Laux ◽  
Gerhard Smiatek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Climate Simulation ◽  
Wave Radiation ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Regional Climate Simulation ◽  
The Alps

Mountain regions with complex orography are a particular challenge for regional climate simulations. High spatial resolution is required to account for the high spatial variability in meteorological conditions. This study presents a very high-resolution regional climate simulation (5 km) using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) for the central part of Europe including the Alps. Global boundaries are dynamically downscaled for the historical period 1980–2009 (ERA-Interim and MPI-ESM), and for the near future period 2020–2049 (MPI-ESM, scenario RCP4.5). Model results are compared to gridded observation datasets and to data from a dense meteorological station network in the Berchtesgaden Alps (Germany). Averaged for the Alps, the mean bias in temperature is about −0.3 °C, whereas precipitation is overestimated by +14% to +19%. R 2 values for hourly, daily and monthly temperature range between 0.71 and 0.99. Temporal precipitation dynamics are well reproduced at daily and monthly scales (R 2 between 0.36 and 0.85), but are not well captured at hourly scale. The spatial patterns, seasonal distributions, and elevation-dependencies of the climate change signals are investigated. Mean warming in Central Europe exhibits a temperature increase between 0.44 °C and 1.59 °C and is strongest in winter and spring. An elevation-dependent warming is found for different specific regions and seasons, but is absent in others. Annual precipitation changes between −4% and +25% in Central Europe. The change signals for humidity, wind speed, and incoming short-wave radiation are small, but they show distinct spatial and elevation-dependent patterns. On large-scale spatial and temporal averages, the presented 5 km RCM setup has in general similar biases as EURO-CORDEX simulations, but it shows very good model performance at the regional and local scale for daily meteorology, and, apart from wind-speed and precipitation, even for hourly values.

Predictability of North Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Activity on Intraseasonal Time Scales

2010 ◽  
Vol 138 (12) ◽  
pp. 4362-4374 ◽  
Author(s):  
James I. Belanger ◽  
Judith A. Curry ◽  
Peter J. Webster
Keyword(s):  
Time Scales ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
North Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Relative Vorticity ◽  
Vertical Shear ◽  
Forecast System ◽  
Ensemble Forecasts ◽  
Easterly Waves ◽  
The North

Abstract Recent work suggests that there may exist skill in forecasting tropical cyclones (TC) using dynamically based ensemble products, such as those obtained from the ECMWF Monthly Forecast System (ECMFS). The ECMFS features an ensemble of 51 coupled ocean–atmosphere simulations integrated to 32 days once per week. Predicted levels of TC activity in the North Atlantic Ocean with these monthly ensemble forecasts is compared with the observed variability during the months of June–October during 2008 and 2009. Results indicate that the forecast system can capture large-scale regions that have a higher or lower risk of TC activity and that it has skill above climatology for the Gulf of Mexico and the “Main Development Region” on intraseasonal time scales. Regional forecast skill is traced to the model’s ability to capture the large-scale evolution of deep-layer vertical shear, the frequency of easterly waves, and the variance in 850-hPa relative vorticity. The predictability of TC activity, along with the forecast utility of the ECMFS, is shown to be sensitive to the phase and intensity of the Madden–Julian oscillation at the time of model initialization.

scholarly journals Multi-day hail clusters and isolated hail days in Switzerland – large-scale flow conditions and precursors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hélène Barras ◽  
Olivia Martius ◽  
Luca Nisi ◽  
Katharina Schroeer ◽  
Alessandro Hering ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Convective Available Potential Energy ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Daily Maximum ◽  
Flow Conditions ◽  
Atmospheric Flow ◽  
The North ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Large Scale Flow ◽  
North And South

Abstract. In Switzerland, hail regularly occurs in multi-day hail clusters. The atmospheric conditions prior to and during multi-day hail clusters are described and contrasted to the conditions prior to and during isolated hail days. The analysis focuses on hail days that occurred between April and September 2002–2019 within 140 km of the Swiss radar network. Hail days north and south of the Alps are defined using a minimum area threshold of a radar-based hail product. Multi-day clusters are defined as 5-day windows containing 4 or 5 hail days and isolated hail days as 5-day windows containing a single hail day. The reanalysis ERA-5 is used to study the large-scale flow in combination with objectively identified cold fronts, atmospheric blocking events, and a weather type classification. Both north and south of the Alps, isolated hail days have frequency maxima in May and August-September whereas clustered hail days occur mostly in July and August. Composites of atmospheric variables indicate a more stationary and meridionally amplified atmospheric flow both north and south of the Alps during multi-day hail clusters. On clustered hail days north of the Alps, blocks are more frequent over the North Sea, and surface fronts are located farther from Switzerland than on isolated hail days. Clustered hail days north of the Alps are also characterized by significantly higher convective available potential energy (CAPE) values, warmer daily maximum surface temperatures, and higher atmospheric moisture content than isolated hail days. Hence, both stationary flow conditions and anomalous amounts of moisture are necessary for multi-day hail clusters on the north side. In contrast, differences in CAPE on the south side between clustered hail days and isolated hail days are small. The mean sea level pressure south of the Alps is significantly deeper, the maximum temperature is colder, and local moisture is significantly lower on isolated hail days. Both north and south of the Alps, the upper-level atmospheric flow over the eastern Atlantic is meridionally more amplified three days prior to clustered hail days than prior to isolated days. Moreover, Moreover blocking occurs prior to more than 10 % of clustered hail days over Scandinavia, but no blocks occur prior to isolated hail days. Half of the clustered hail days south of the Alps are also clustered north of the Alps. On hail days clustering only south of the Alps, fronts are more frequently located on the Alpine ridge, and local low- level winds are stronger. The temporal clustering of hail days is coupled to specific synoptic- and local- scale flow conditions, this information may be exploited for short to medium-range forecasts of hail in Switzerland.

scholarly journals Impurities in Snow: Effects on Albedo and Snowmelt (Review)

1984 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 177-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen G. Warren
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Surface Energy Budget ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
West Antarctica ◽  
Snow Albedo ◽  
The North ◽  
Long Term Effect

Very small (ppm) amounts of soil dust in snow can significantly reduce snow albedo and thereby affect the snow-surface energy budget. Ice cores from Greenland show enhanced dust concentrations in ice from the last glacial maximum, in amounts capable of causing measurable effects on snow albedo. This enhanced dust is probably due in part to the expanded desert areas at that time.Volcanic ash layers visible in the Byrd station core reduced the snow albedo in West Antarctica when they were on the surface. The ash is unlikely to have had a long-term effect on albedo because of the episodic nature of volcanic eruptions.Very large amounts of dust on snow can inhibit snow-melt by insulating the snow. A debris cover probably slowed the melting of parts of the North American ice sheet during its most recent decay phase.Snow in the Arctic Ocean is presently suffering large-scale contamination by carbon soot from anthropogenic sources. Preliminary estimates indicate that soot concentrations in Arctic snow are sufficient to reduce snow albedo measurably.

scholarly journals Climatology of Vb-cyclones, physical mechanisms and their impact on extreme precipitation over Central Europe

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 907-941
Author(s):  
M. Messmer ◽  
J. J. Gómez-Navarro ◽  
C. C. Raible
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Extreme Precipitation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Physical Mechanisms ◽  
Detection And Tracking ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Precipitation Events ◽  
Thermodynamic Processes

Abstract. Cyclones, which develop over the western Mediterranean and move northeastward are a major source of extreme weather and known to be responsible for heavy precipitation over Central Europe and the Alps. As the relevant processes triggering these so-called Vb-events and their impact on extreme precipitation are not yet fully understood, this study focusses on gaining insight into the dynamics of past events. For this, a cyclone detection and tracking tool is applied to the ERA-Interim reanalysis (1979–2013) to identify prominent Vb-situations. Precipitation in the ERA-Interim and the E-OBS datasets is used to evaluate case-to-case precipitation amounts and to assess consistency between the two datasets. Both datasets exhibit high variability in precipitation amounts among different Vb-events. While only 23 % of all Vb-events are associated with extreme precipitation, around 15 % of all extreme precipitation days (99 percentile) over the Alpine region are induced by Vb-events, although Vb-cyclones are rare events (2.3 per year). To obtain a better understanding of the variability within Vb-events, the analysis of the 10 heaviest and lowest precipitation Vb-events reveals noticeable differences in the state of the atmosphere. These differences are most pronounced in the geopotential height and potential vorticity field, indicating a much stronger cyclone for heavy precipitation events. The related differences in wind direction are responsible for the moisture transport around the Alps and the orographical lifting along the Alps. These effects are the main reasons for a disastrous outcome of Vb-events, and consequently are absent in the Vb-events associated with low precipitation. Hence, our results point out that heavy precipitation related to Vb-events is mainly related to large-scale dynamics rather than to thermodynamic processes.

scholarly journals Export of ice sheet meltwater from Upernavik Fjord, West Greenland

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
North Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Atlantic Water ◽  
Water Masses ◽  
Buoyant Plume ◽  
Freshwater Input ◽  
The North ◽  
Freshwater Source ◽  
Lateral Mixing

Abstract Meltwater from Greenland is an important freshwater source for the North Atlantic Ocean, released into the ocean at the head of fjords in the form of runoff, submarine melt and icebergs. The meltwater release gives rise to complex in-fjord transformations that result in its dilution through mixing with other water masses. The transformed waters, which contain the meltwater, are exported from the fjords as a new water mass “Glacially Modified Water” (GMW). Here we use summer hydrographic data collected from 2013 to 2019 in Upernavik, a major glacial fjord in northwest Greenland, to describe the water masses that flow into the fjord from the shelf and the exported GMWs. Using an Optimum Multi-Parameter technique across multiple years we then show that GMW is composed of 57.8 ±8.1% Atlantic Water, 41.0 ±8.3% Polar Water, 1.0 ±0.1% subglacial discharge and 0.2 ±0.2% submarine meltwater. We show that the GMW fractional composition cannot be described by buoyant plume theory alone since it includes lateral mixing within the upper layers of the fjord not accounted for by buoyant plume dynamics. Consistent with its composition, we find that changes in GMW properties reflect changes in the AW and PW source waters. Using the obtained dilution ratios, this study suggests that the exchange across the fjord mouth during summer is on the order of 50 mSv (compared to a freshwater input of 0.5 mSv). This study provides a first order parameterization for the exchange at the mouth of glacial fjords for large-scale ocean models.

scholarly journals A Diagnosis of Thickness Fluxes in an Eddy-Resolving Model

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 727-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Eden ◽  
Richard J. Greatbatch ◽  
Jürgen Willebrand
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
North Atlantic Ocean ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Optimization Technique ◽  
Subtropical Gyre ◽  
Equatorial Atlantic ◽  
The North ◽  
Eddy Fluxes ◽  
The Mean

Abstract Output from an eddy-resolving model of the North Atlantic Ocean is used to estimate values for the thickness diffusivity κ appropriate to the Gent and McWilliams parameterization. The effect of different choices of rotational eddy fluxes on the estimated κ is discussed. Using the raw fluxes (no rotational flux removed), large negative values (exceeding −5000 m2 s−1) of κ are diagnosed locally, particularly in the Gulf Stream region and in the equatorial Atlantic. Removing a rotational flux based either on the suggestion of Marshall and Shutts or the more general theory of Medvedev and Greatbatch leads to a reduction of the negative values, but they are still present. The regions where κ < 0 correspond to regions where eddies are acting to increase, rather than decrease (as in baroclinic instability) the mean available potential energy. In the subtropical gyre, κ ranges between 500 and 2000 m2 s−1, rapidly decreasing to zero below the thermocline in all cases. Rotational fluxes and κ are also estimated using an optimization technique. In this case, |κ| can be reduced or increased by construction, but the regions where κ < 0 are still present and the optimized rotational fluxes also remain similar to a priori values given by the theoretical considerations. A previously neglected component (ν) of the bolus velocity is associated with the horizontal flux of buoyancy along, rather than across, the mean buoyancy contours. The ν component of the bolus velocity is interpreted as a streamfunction for eddy-induced advection, rather than diffusion, of mean isopycnal layer thickness, showing up when the lateral eddy fluxes cannot be described by isotropic diffusion only. All estimates show a similar large-scale pattern for ν, implying westward advection of isopycnal thickness over much of the subtropical gyre. Comparing ν with a mean streamfunction shows that it is about 10% of the mean in midlatitudes and even larger than the mean in the Tropics.

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