Heat Flow Data And Thermal Structure In North East Japan

New heat flow data corrected for climate change over the entire northeastern region of Japan were obtained using the temperature profile of the borehole of NIED High Sensitivity Seismograph Network (Hi-net). In addition, the crustal temperature structure was obtained by using a crustal structure model that takes into account the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity and the difference in heat generation due to lithology, using a crustal structure model that takes into account sedimentary layers rather than a uniform structure model with exposed bedrock at the surface. The results show that the crustal temperature structure in areas with thick sedimentary layers is improved compared to the previous model.

Heat Flow and Thermal Source of the Xi’an Depression, Weihe Basin, Central China

The Xi’an Depression of the Weihe Basin, located in the transition zone where the North China, Qinling and Yangtze plates collide with each other, is an important area of geothermal energy utilization in China. Studies of heat flow and thermal sources are of great significance to the exploration and development of geothermal resources in this area. In this paper, six temperature logs boreholes, and 14 thermal conductivity samples have been used to study the geothermal gradient and terrestrial heat flow in the area. The results show that the geothermal gradients of Xi’an Depression range from 20.8 C/km to 49.1 C/km, with an average of 31.7 ± 5.0 C/km. The calculated heat flow is 59.4–88.6 mW/m2, and the average value is 71.0 ± 6.3 mW/m2, which indicates a high thermal background in the area. The high anomalous zones are near the Lintong-Chang’an Fault zone in the southeast, the Weihe Fault in the north, and the Fenghe Fault in the central Xi’an Depression. These deep and large faults not only control the formation of the Xi’an Depression but also provide an important channel for the circulation of groundwater and affect the characteristics of the shallow geothermal distribution. The temperature of the Moho in the Xi’an Depression ranges from 600 to 700°C, and the thermal lithosphere thickness is about 90–100 km. The characteristics of lithospheric thermal structure in Xi’an Depression indicate that the higher thermal background in the study area is related to lithospheric extension and thinning and asthenosphere thermal material upwelling.

Millennial-scale migration of the frozen/melted basal boundary, western Greenland ice sheet

The geometry and thermal structure of western Greenland ice sheet are known to have undergone relatively substantial change over the Holocene. Evolution of the frozen and melted fractions of the bed associated with the ice-sheet retreat over this time frame remains unclear. We address this question using a thermo-mechanically coupled flowline model to simulate a 11 ka period of ice-sheet retreat in west central Greenland. Results indicate an episode of ~100 km of terminus retreat corresponded to ~16 km of upstream frozen/melted basal boundary migration. The majority of migration of the frozen area is associated with the enhancement of the frictional and strain heating fields, which are accentuated toward the retreating ice margin. The thermally active bedrock layer acts as a heat sink, tending to slow contraction of frozen-bed conditions. Since the bedrock heat flux in our region is relatively low compared to other regions of the ice sheet, the frozen region is relatively greater and therefore more susceptible to marginward changes in the frictional and strain heating fields. Migration of melted regions thus depends on both geometric changes and the antecedent thermal state of the bedrock and ice, both of which vary considerably around the ice sheet.

A framework for ensemble modelling of climate change impacts on lakes worldwide: the ISIMIP Lake Sector

Empirical evidence demonstrates that lakes and reservoirs are warming across the globe. Consequently, there is an increased need to project future changes in lake thermal structure and resulting changes in lake biogeochemistry in order to plan for the likely impacts. Previous studies of the impacts of climate change on lakes have often relied on a single model forced with limited scenario-driven projections of future climate for a relatively small number of lakes. As a result, our understanding of the effects of climate change on lakes is fragmentary, based on scattered studies using different data sources and modelling protocols, and mainly focused on individual lakes or lake regions. This has precluded identification of the main impacts of climate change on lakes at global and regional scales and has likely contributed to the lack of lake water quality considerations in policy-relevant documents, such as the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Here, we describe a simulation protocol developed by the Lake Sector of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP) for simulating climate change impacts on lakes using an ensemble of lake models and climate change scenarios. The protocol prescribes lake simulations driven by climate forcing from gridded observations and different Earth system models under various Representative Greenhouse Gas Concentration Pathways, all consistently bias-corrected on a 0.5° × 0.5° global grid. In ISIMIP phase 2, 11 lake models were forced with these data to project the thermal structure of 62 well-studied lakes where data were available for calibration under historical conditions, and for nearly 17,500 lakes using uncalibrated models and forcing data from the global grid where lakes are present. In ISIMIP phase 3, this approach was expanded to consider more lakes, more models, and more processes. The ISIMIP Lake Sector is the largest international effort to project future water temperature, thermal structure, and ice phenology of lakes at local and global scales and paves the way for future simulations of the impacts of climate change on water quality and biogeochemistry in lakes.

Aerosols Direct Radiative Effects Combined Ground-Based Lidar and Sun-Photometer Observations: Cases Comparison between Haze and Dust Events in Beijing

Aerosols can affect vertical thermal structure during heavily polluted episodes (HPEs). Here, we selected four typical HPEs in 2018, which were further subdivided into dust and haze events. The vertical distribution of aerosols extinction coefficient (EC) and variations in columnar optical properties were investigated based on sun-photometer and Lidar observation at an urban site in Beijing. The vertical characteristics in shortwave radiative heating rate (HR) of aerosols were studied using NASA/Goddard radiative transfer model along with observational data. In the haze episode, EC layer is less than 1.5 km and shows strong scattering, with single-scattering albedo (SSA440nm) of ~0.97. The heating effects are observed at the middle and upper atmosphere, and slight heating effects are found at the lower layer. The mean HR within 1.5 km can be up to 16.3 K day−1 with EC of 1.27 km−1, whereas the HR within 0.5 km is only 1.3 K day−1. In the dust episode, dust aerosols present the absorption with SSA440nm of ~0.88, which would heat the lower atmosphere to promote vertical turbulence, and the height of EC layer can be up to 2.0–3.5 km. In addition, the strong heating effects of dust layer produced cooling effects near the surface. Therefore, the accurate measurement of aerosols optical properties in HPEs is of great significance for modeling aerosols direct radiative effects.

Subsurface warm biases in the tropical Atlantic and their attributions to the role of wind forcing and ocean vertical mixing

Realistic ocean subsurface simulations of thermal structure and variation are critically important to the success in climate prediction and projection; currently, substantial systematic subsurface biases still exist in the state-of-the-art ocean and climate models. In this paper, subsurface biases in the tropical Atlantic (TA) are investigated by analyzing simulations from OMIP and conducting POP2-based ocean-only experiments. The subsurface biases are prominent in almost all OMIP simulations, characterized by two warm bias patches off the equator. By conducting two groups of POP2-based ocean-only experiments, two potential origins of the biases are explored, including uncertainties in wind forcing and vertical mixing parameterization, respectively. It is illustrated that the warm bias near 10° N can be slightly reduced by modulating prescribed wind field, and the warm biases over the entire basin are significantly reduced by reducing background diffusivity in the ocean interior in ways to match observations. By conducting heat budget analysis, it is found that the improved subsurface simulations are attributed to the enhanced cooling effect by constraining the vertical mixing diffusivity in terms of the observational estimate, implying that the overestimation of vertical mixing is primarily responsible for the subsurface warm biases in the TA. Since the climate simulation is very sensitive to the vertical mixing parameterization, more accurate representations of ocean vertical mixing are clearly needed in ocean and climate models.

SNOWMELT PROCESSES AND APPLICATIONS

Snow u a dyn :lmic material which chanee, iu texure and properties almost continuously. BesidesIhis cha Uen,ina aspect. we are also conce rned with itt role in water supply, recreation. maintenance of environmentalstandard. modifyina atmospheric:circulation and also in destructive forces like avalanche and s1ides~ Presentpaper dw. witb rollowina l '1p«1J or this subject :(i) Presentation of specific data and infonnation ilIustratina: pro perti es of snow related phenomena. Theseinformatimu hIve been collected (rom various literatu re and olhe r materials Including field observation!col lected by the author,(ii) Prucntalion of ~odolOlY and results of the following studies :(a) . deduction or thermal structure of mowpad usine equation of heat trans fer.(b) den.tty variationJ in time and space. and .(c) .nowmelt proce sses.(iil) Identification of sorne problems and outlinine the proposal for furth er studies.