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Copyright of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper provides a review of paleoclimate modeling activities in China. Rather than attempt to cover all topics, we have chosen a few climatic intervals and events judged to be particularly informative to the international community. In historical climate simulations, changes in solar radiation and volcanic activity explain most parts of reconstructions over the last millennium prior to the industrial era, while atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations play the most important role in the 20th century warming over China. There is a considerable model-data mismatch in the annual and boreal winter temperature change over China during the mid-Holocene [6000 years before present (ka BP)], while coupled models with an interactive ocean generally perform better than atmospheric models. For the Last Glacial Maximum (21 ka BP), climate models successfully reproduce the surface cooling trend over China but fail to reproduce its magnitude, with a better performance for coupled models. At that time, reconstructed vegetation and western Pacific sea surface temperatures could have significantly affected the East Asian climate, and environmental conditions on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau were most likely very different to the present day. During the late Marine Isotope Stage 3 (30-40 ka BP), orbital forcing and Northern Hemisphere glaciation, as well as vegetation change in China, were likely responsible for East Asian climate change. On the tectonic scale, the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau uplift, the Tethys Sea retreat, and the South China Sea expansion played important roles in the formation of the East Asian monsoon-dominant environment pattern during the late Cenozoic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of atmospheric electricity research has been increasingly recognized in recent decades. Research on atmospheric electricity has been actively conducted since the 1980s in China. Lightning physics and its effects, as important branches of atmospheric electricity, have received more attention because of their significance both in scientific research and lightning protection applications. This paper reviews atmospheric electricity research based primarily on ground-based field experiments at different regions in China in the last decade. The results described in this review include physics and effects of lightning, rocket-triggered lightning and its physical processes of discharge, thunderstorm electricity on the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding areas, lightning activity associated with severe convective storms, the effect and response of lightning to climate change, numerical simulation of thunderstorm electrification and lightning discharge, lightning detection and location techniques, and transient luminous events above thunderstorms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel approach for assessing the precision of the wet refractivity field using BDS (BeiDou navigation satellite system) simulations only, GPS, and BDS+GPS for the Shenzhen and Hongkong GNSS network. The simulations are carried out by adding artificial noise to a real observation dataset. Instead of using the d and s parameters computed from slant wet delay, as in previous studies, we employ the Bias and RMS parameters, computed from the tomography results of total voxels, in order to obtain a more direct and comprehensive evaluation of the precision of the refractivity field determination. The results show that: (1) the precision of tropospheric wet refractivity estimated using BDS alone (only 9 satellites used) is basically comparable to that of GPS; (2) BDS+GPS (as of current operation) may not be able to significantly improve the data's spatial density for the application of refractivity tomography; and (3) any slight increase in the precision of refractivity tomography, particularly in the lower atmosphere, bears great significance for any applications dependent on the Chinese operational meteorological service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Variations in the high-frequency oscillations of tropical cyclones (TCs) over the western North Pacific (WNP) are studied in numerical model simulations. Power spectrum analysis of maximum wind speeds at 10 m (MWS10) from an ensemble of 15 simulated TCs shows that oscillations are significant for all TCs. The magnitudes of oscillations in MWS10 are similar in the WNP and South China Sea (SCS); however, the mean of the averaged significant periods in the SCS (1.93 h) is shorter than that in the open water of the WNP (2.83 h). The shorter period in the SCS is examined through an ensemble of simulations, and a case simulation as well as a sensitivity experiment in which the continent is replaced by ocean for Typhoon Hagupit (2008). The analysis of the convergence efficiency within the boundary layer suggests that the shorter periods in the SCS are possibly due to the stronger terrain effect, which intensifies convergence through greater friction. The enhanced convergence strengthens the disturbance of the gradient and thermal wind balances, and then contributes to the shorter oscillation periods in the SCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Accurate forecasting of the intensity changes of hurricanes is an important yet challenging problem in numerical weather prediction. The rapid intensification of Hurricane Katrina (2005) before its landfall in the southern US is studied with the Advanced Research version of the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model. The sensitivity of numerical simulations to two popular planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes, the Mellor-Yamada-Janjic (MYJ) and the Yonsei University (YSU) schemes, is investigated. It is found that, compared with the YSU simulation, the simulation with the MYJ scheme produces better track and intensity evolution, better vortex structure, and more accurate landfall time and location. Large discrepancies (e.g., over 10 hPa in simulated minimum sea level pressure) are found between the two simulations during the rapid intensification period. Further diagnosis indicates that stronger surface fluxes and vertical mixing in the PBL from the simulation with the MYJ scheme lead to enhanced air-sea interaction, which helps generate more realistic simulations of the rapid intensification process. Overall, the results from this study suggest that improved representation of surface fluxes and vertical mixing in the PBL is essential for accurate prediction of hurricane intensity changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of the upper-level South Asian high (SAH) over the Indo-China Peninsula (ICP) during late boreal spring and its possible causes are investigated using long-term NCEP-NCAR and ERA-40 reanalysis and satellite-observed OLR data. Results show that, from early March to mid-April, deep convection stays south of ~6°N over the northern Sumatran islands. As the maximum solar radiation moves over the latitudes of the ICP (10°-20°N) in late April, the air over the ICP becomes unstable. It ascends over the ICP and descends over the adjacent waters to the east and west. This triggers deep convection over the ICP that induces large latent heating and strong updrafts and upper-level divergence, leading to the formation of an upper-level anticyclonic circulation and the SAH over the ICP. During early to mid-May, deep convection over the ICP intensifies and extends northwards to the adjacent waters. Strong latent heating from deep convection enhances and maintains the strong updrafts and upper-level divergence, and the SAH is fully established by mid-May. Thus, the seasonal maximum solar heating and the land-sea contrast around the ICP provide the basic conditions for deep convection to occur preferentially over the ICP, which leads to the formation of the SAH over the ICP from late April to mid-May. Simulations using RegCM4 also indicate that the diabatic heating over the ICP is conducive to the generation and development of upperlevel anticyclonic circulation, which leads to an earlier establishment of the SAH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on idealized numerical simulations, the impacts of the diurnal cycle of solar radiation on the diurnal variation of outer rainbands in a tropical cyclone are examined. It is found that cold pools associated with precipitation-driven downdrafts are essential for the growth and propagation of spiral rainbands. The downdrafts result in surface outflows, which act as a lifting mechanism to trigger the convection cell along the leading edge of the cold pools. The diurnal cycle of solar radiation may modulate the diurnal behavior of the spiral rainbands. In the daytime, shortwave radiation will suppress the outer convection and thus weaken the cold pools. Meanwhile, the limited cold pool activity leads to a strong modification of the moisture field, which in turn inhibits further convection development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reduce the uncertainty of offline land surface model (LSM) simulations of land evapotranspiration (ET), we used ensemble simulations based on three meteorological forcing datasets [Princeton, ITPCAS (Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Qian] and four LSMs (BATS, VIC, CLM3.0 and CLM3.5), to explore the trends and spatiotemporal characteristics of ET, as well as the spatiotemporal pattern of ET in response to climate factors over mainland China during 1982-2007. The results showed that various simulations of each member and their arithmetic mean (Ens Mean) could capture the spatial distribution and seasonal pattern of ET sufficiently well, where they exhibited more significant spatial and seasonal variation in the ET compared with observation-based ET estimates (Obs MTE). For the mean annual ET, we found that the BATS forced by Princeton forcing overestimated the annual mean ET compared with Obs MTE for most of the basins in China, whereas the VIC forced by Princeton forcing showed underestimations. By contrast, the Ens Mean was closer to Obs MTE, although the results were underestimated over Southeast China. Furthermore, both the Obs MTE and Ens Mean exhibited a significant increasing trend during 1982-98; whereas after 1998, when the last big EI Ni˜no event occurred, the Ens Mean tended to decrease significantly between 1999 and 2007, although the change was not significant for Obs MTE. Changes in air temperature and shortwave radiation played key roles in the long-term variation in ET over the humid area of China, but precipitation mainly controlled the long-term variation in ET in arid and semi-arid areas of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous work showed that some tropical cyclones (TCs) in the western Pacific Ocean undergo sudden track reversal, and the onset, maintenance and decay of blocking highs (BHs) coexisted with 19 of the studied TCs with sudden track reversal. In these cases, the phase relations between the BH, the continental high (CH), the subtropical high (SH) and the suddenly reversed TCs could be classified into types A, B, C and D. Types C and D were the focal point of this follow-up study, in which Typhoon Pabuk (2007) and Lupit (2009) were employed to conduct numerical simulations. The results showed that the reversed tracks of Pabuk (2007) and Lupit (2009) could have been affected by the BH, particularly in terms of the turning location and the trend of movement after turning. Specifically, the two main features for Pabuk (2007) in the BH perturbations were the deflection of its turning point and a distinct anticlockwise rotation. Lupit (2009) deviated to the southwest and finally made landfall in the Philippines, or experienced further eastward movement, in the perturbed BH. The impact mechanisms can be attributed to the change in the vorticity field transported from the BH, leading to an intensity variation of midlatitude systems. BHs may have a positive feedback effect on the strength of the westerly trough (TR), as indicated by a weakened and strengthened TR corresponding to negative and positive BH perturbations, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the dependence of tropical cyclone (TC) development on the inner-core structure of the parent vortex is examined using a pair of idealized numerical simulations. It is found that the radial profile of inner-core relative vorticity may have a great impact on its subsequent development. For a system with a larger inner-core relative vorticity/inertial stability, the conversion ratio of the diabatic heating to kinetic energy is greater. Furthermore, the behavior of the convective vorticity eddies is likely modulated by the system-scale circulation. For a parent vortex with a relatively higher inner-core vorticity and larger negative radial vorticity gradient, convective eddy formation and radially inward propagation is promoted through vorticity segregation. This provides a greater potential for these small-scale convective cells to self-organize into a mesoscale inner-core structure in the TC. In turn, convectively induced diabatic heating that is close to the center, along with higher inertial stability, efficiently enhances system-scale secondary circulation. This study provides a solid basis for further research into how the initial structure of a TC influences storm dynamics and thermodynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes of air-sea coupling in the North Atlantic Ocean over the 20th century are investigated using reanalysis data, climate model simulations, and observational data. It is found that the ocean-to-atmosphere feedback over the North Atlantic is significantly intensified in the second half of the 20th century. This coupled feedback is characterized by the association between the summer North Atlantic Horseshoe (NAH) SST anomalies and the following winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The intensification is likely associated with the enhancement of the North Atlantic storm tracks as well as the NAH SST anomalies. Our study also reveals that most IPCC AR4 climate models fail to capture the observed NAO/NAH coupled feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-resolution numerical simulation data of a rainstorm triggering debris flow in Sichuan Province of China simulated by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model were used to study the dominant cloud microphysical processes of the torrential rainfall. The results showed that: (1) In the strong precipitation period, particle sizes of all hydrometeors increased, and mean-mass diameters of graupel increased the most significantly, as compared with those in the weak precipitation period; (2) The terminal velocity of raindrops was the strongest among all hydrometeors, followed by graupel's, which was much smaller than that of raindrops. Differences between various hydrometeors' terminal velocities in the strong precipitation period were larger than those in the weak precipitation period, which favored relative motion, collection interaction and transformation between the particles. Absolute terminal velocity values of raindrops and graupel were significantly greater than those of air upward velocity, and the stronger the precipitation was, the greater the differences between them were; (3) The orders of magnitudes of the various hydrometeors' sources and sinks in the strong precipitation period were larger than those in the weak precipitation period, causing a difference in the intensity of precipitation. Water vapor, cloud water, raindrops, graupel and their exchange processes played a major role in the production of the torrential rainfall, and there were two main processes via which raindrops were generated: abundant water vapor condensed into cloud water and, on the one hand, accretion of cloud water by rain water formed rain water, while on the other hand, accretion of cloud water by graupel formed graupel, and then the melting of graupel formed rain water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observed hiatus or accelerated warming phenomena are compared with numerical simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) archives, and the associated physical mechanisms are explored based on the CMIP5 models. Decadal trends in total ocean heat content (OHC) are strongly constrained by net top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiation. During hiatus decades, most CMIP5 models exhibit a significant decrease in the SST and upper OHC and a significant increase of heat penetrating into the subsurface or deep ocean, opposite to the accelerated warming decades. The shallow meridional overturning of the Pacific subtropical cell experiences a significant strengthening (slowdown) for the hiatus (accelerated warming) decades associated with the strengthened (weakened) trade winds over the tropical Pacific. Both surface heating and ocean dynamics contribute to the decadal changes in SST over the Indian Ocean, and the Indonesian Throughflow has a close relationship with the changes of subsurface temperature in the Indian Ocean. The Atlantic Meridional Overturing Circulation (Antarctic Bottom Water) tends to weaken (strengthen) during hiatus decades, opposite to the accelerated warming decades. In short, the results highlight the important roles of air-sea interactions and ocean circulations for modulation of surface and subsurface temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the vegetation feedback during warm periods of the past can lead to better understanding of those in the future. In this study, we conducted several simulations to analyze vegetation feedback during the mid-Pliocene warm period. The results indicate that the main features of vegetation change in the mid-Pliocene were a northward shift of needleleaf tree, an expansion of broadleaf tree and shrub, and a northward expansion of grass, as compared to the pre-industrial period. The global annual mean warming ratio caused by vegetation feedback was 12.1%, and this warming ratio was much larger in northern middle and high latitudes. The warming caused by vegetation change was directly related to the surface albedo change and was further amplified by snow/sea ice-albedo feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the impacts of the diurnal cycle on tropical cyclones (TCs), a set of idealized simulations were conducted by specifying different radiation (i.e., nighttime-only, daytime-only, full diurnal cycle). It was found that, for an initially weak storm, it developed faster during nighttime than daytime. The impacts of radiation were not only on TC intensification, but also on TC structure and size. The nighttime storm tended to have a larger size than its daytime counterparts. During nighttime, the radiative cooling steepened the lapse rate and thus reduced the static stability in cloudy regions, enhancing convection. Diabatic heating associated with outer convection induced boundary layer inflows, which led to outward expansion of tangential winds and thus increased the storm size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two parallel sets of numerical experiments (an ozone-hole simulation and a non-ozone-hole simulation) were performed to investigate the effect of ozone depletion on surface temperature change using the second spectral version of the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model (FGOALS-s2), focusing on the eastern Antarctica (EA) continent in austral summer. First, we evaluated the ability of the model to simulate the EA surface cooling, and found the model can successfully reproduce the cooling trend of the EA surface, as well as the circulation change circling the South Pole in the past 30 years. Second, we compared the two experiments and discovered that the ozone depletion causes the cooling trend and strengthens the circumpolar westerly flow. We further investigated the causes of the EA surface cooling associated with the ozone hole and found two major contributors. The first is the ozone-hole direct radiation effect (DRE) upon the surface that happens because the decrease of the downward longwave (LW) radiation overcomes the increase of the downward shortwave (SW) radiation under clear sky. The second is the cloud radiation effect (CRE) induced by ozone depletion, which happens because the decreased downward SW radiation overcomes the increased downward LW radiation in the case of increased cloud. Although the CRE is theoretically opposite to the DRE, their final net effect makes comparable contributions to the EA surface cooling. Compared with the surface radiation budget, the surface heat flux budgets have a much smaller contribution. We additionally note that the CRE is basically ascribed to the circulation change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using numerical simulation data of the forward differential propagation shift (ϕ) of polarimetric radar, the principle and performing steps of noise reduction by wavelet analysis are introduced in detail. Profiting from the multiscale analysis, various types of noises can be identified according to their characteristics in different scales, and suppressed in different resolutions by a penalty threshold strategy through which a fixed threshold value is applied, a default threshold strategy through which the threshold value is determined by the noise intensity, or a ϕ penalty threshold strategy through which a special value is designed for ϕ de-noising. Then, a hard-or soft-threshold function, depending on the de-noising purpose, is selected to reconstruct the signal. Combining the three noise suppression strategies and the two signal reconstruction functions, and without loss of generality, two schemes are presented to verify the de-noising effect by dbN wavelets: (1) the penalty threshold strategy with the soft threshold function scheme (PSS); (2) the ϕ penalty threshold strategy with the soft threshold function scheme (PPSS). Furthermore, the wavelet de-noising is compared with the mean, median, Kalman, and finite impulse response (FIR) methods with simulation data and two actual cases. The results suggest that both of the two schemes perform well, especially when ϕ data are simultaneously polluted by various scales and types of noises. A slight difference is that the PSS method can retain more detail, and the PPSS can smooth the signal more successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanisms involved in the variability of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) are studied using a 2000-yr control simulation of the coupled Fast Ocean-Atmosphere Model (FOAM). This study identifies a coupled mode between SST and surface heat flux in the North Atlantic at the decadal timescale, as well as a forcing mode of surface heat flux at the interannual timescale. The coupled mode is regulated by AMOC through meridional heat transport. The increase in surface heating in the North Atlantic weakens the AMOC approximately 10 yr later, and the weakened AMOC in turn decreases SST and sea surface salinity. The decreased SST results in an increase in surface heating in the North Atlantic, thus forming a positive feedback loop. Meanwhile, the weakened AMOC weakens northward heat transport and therefore lowers subsurface temperature approximately 19 yr later, which prevents the AMOC from weakening. In the forcing mode, the surface heat flux leads AMOC by approximately 4 yr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to investigate whether adaptive observations can improve tropical cyclone (TC) intensity forecasts, observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) were conducted for 20 TC cases originating in the western North Pacific during the 2010 season according to the conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation (CNOP) sensitivity, using the fifth version of the PSU/NCAR mesoscale model (MM5) and its 3DVAR assimilation system. A new intensity index was defined as the sum of the number of grid points within an allocated square centered at the corresponding forecast TC central position, that satisfy constraints associated with the Sea Level Pressure (SLP), near-surface horizontal wind speed, and accumulated convective precipitation. The higher the index value is, the more intense the TC is. The impacts of the CNOP sensitivity on the intensity forecast were then estimated. The OSSE results showed that for 15 of the 20 cases there were improvements, with reductions of forecast errors in the range of 0.12%-8.59%, which were much less than in track forecasts. The indication, therefore, is that the CNOP sensitivity has a generally positive effect on TC intensity forecasts, but only to a certain degree. We conclude that factors such as the use of a coupled model, or better initialization of the TC vortex, are more important for an accurate TC intensity forecast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monsoon gyres have been identified as one of the important large-scale circulation patterns associated with tropical cyclone (TC) formation in the western North Pacific. A recent observational analysis indicated that most TCs form near the center of monsoon gyres or at the northeast end of the enhanced low-level southwesterly flows on the southeast-east periphery of monsoon gyres. In the present reported study, idealized numerical experiments were conducted to examine the tropical cyclogenesis associated with Rossby wave energy dispersion with an initial idealized monsoon gyre. The numerical simulations showed that the development of the low-level enhanced southwesterly flows on the southeast-east periphery of monsoon gyres can be induced by Rossby wave energy dispersion. Mesoscale convective systems emerged from the northeast end of the enhanced southwesterly flows with mid-level maximum relative vorticity. The simulated TC formed in the northeast of the monsoon gyre and moved westward towards the center of the monsoon gyre. The numerical experiment with a relatively smaller sized initial monsoon gyre showed the TC forming near the center of the initial monsoon gyre. The results of the present study suggest that Rossby wave energy dispersion can play an important role in TC formation in the presence of monsoon gyres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trends and fluctuations of observed and CMIP5-simulated yearly mean surface air temperature over China were analyzed. In general, the historical simulations replicate the observed increase of temperature, but the multi-model ensemble (MME) mean does not accurately reproduce the drastic interannual fluctuations. The correlation coefficient of the MME mean with the observations over all runs and all models was 0.77, which was larger than the largest value (0.65) from any single model ensemble. The results showed that winter temperatures are increasing at a higher rate than summer temperatures, and that winter temperatures exhibit stronger interannual variations. It was also found that the models underestimate the differences between winter and summer rates. The ensemble empirical mode decomposition technique was used to obtain six intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) for the modeled temperature and observations. The periods of the first two IMFs of the MME mean were 3.2 and 7.2, which represented the cycle of 2-7-yr oscillations. The periods of the third and fourth IMFs were 14.7 and 35.2, which reflected a multi-decadal oscillation of climate change. The corresponding periods of the first four IMFs were 2.69, 7.24, 16.15 and 52.5 in the observed data. The models overestimate the period of low frequency oscillation of temperature, but underestimate the period of high frequency variation. The warming rates from different representative concentration pathways (RCPs) were calculated, and the results showed that the temperature will increase by approximately 0.9°C, 2.4°C, 3.2°C and 6.1°C in the next century under the RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0 and RCP8.5 scenarios, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Joint Warning Typhoon Center (JTWC) best track data during the period 1948-2010, decadal and interdecadal changes of annual category 4 and 5 tropical cyclone (TC) frequency in the western North Pacific basin were examined. By allowing all of the observed TCs in the JTWC dataset to move along the observed TC tracks in a TC intensity model, the annual category 4 and 5 TC frequency was simulated. The results agreed well with observations when the TC intensity prior to 1973 was adjusted based on time-dependent biases due to changes in measurement and reporting practices. The simulated and adjusted time series showed significant decadal (12-18 years) variability, while the interdecadal (18-32 years) variability was found to be statistically insignificant. Numerical simulations indicated that changes in TC tracks are the most important factor for the decadal variability in the category 4 and 5 TC frequency in the western North Pacific basin, while a combined effect of changes in SST and vertical wind shear also contributes to the decadal variability. Further analysis suggested that the active phase of category 4 and 5 TCs is closely associated with an eastward shift in the TC formation locations, which allows more TCs to follow a longer journey, favoring the development of category 4 and 5 TCs. The active phase corresponds with the SST warming over the tropical central and eastern Pacific and the eastward extension of the monsoon trough, thus leading to the eastward shift in TC formation locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extension of the conditional nonlinear optimal parameter perturbation (CNOP-P) method is applied to the parameter optimization of the Common Land Model (CoLM) for the North China Plain with the differential evolution (DE) method. Using National Meteorological Center (NMC) Reanalysis 6-hourly surface flux data and National Center for Environmental Prediction/Department of Energy (NCEP/DOE) Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project II (AMIP-II) 6-hourly Reanalysis Gaussian Grid data, two experiments (I and II) were designed to investigate the impact of the percentages of sand and clay in the shallow soil in CoLM on its ability to simulate shallow soil moisture. A third experiment (III) was designed to study the shallow soil moisture and latent heat flux simultaneously. In all the three experiments, after the optimization stage, the percentages of sand and clay of the shallow soil were used to predict the shallow soil moisture in the following month. The results show that the optimal parameters can enable CoLM to better simulate shallow soil moisture, with the simulation results of CoLM after the double-parameter optimal experiment being better than the single-parameter optimal experiment in the optimization slot. Furthermore, the optimal parameters were able to significantly improve the prediction results of CoLM at the prediction stage. In addition, whether or not the atmospheric forcing and observational data are accurate can seriously affect the results of optimization, and the more accurate the data are, the more significant the results of optimization may be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capability of the current version of the air-sea coupled climate model, the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model, Spectral Version 2 (FGOALS-s2), in simulating the boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) over the south Asian monsoon (SAM) region is diagnosed, in terms of dominant period, propagation direction, and vertical structure. Results show that the coupled model can reasonably simulate the main features of observed ISO propagation compared to the chosen AGCM. These features include the eastward movement of intraseasonal 850-hPa zonal wind over the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, the vertical structure in active phases, and the realistic phase relationship between ISO and underlying SST. However, the eastward propagation cannot be reproduced in the uncoupled model. This suggests that air-sea interaction is important in generating intraseasonal variability over the SAM region. Nevertheless, some deficiencies remain in the coupled model, which may relate to physical processes depicted by the cumulus parameterization and PBL schemes within its atmospheric component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate drift in preindustrial control (PICTL) simulations can lead to spurious climate trends and large uncertainties in historical and future climate simulations in coupled models. This study examined the longterm behaviors and stabilities of the PICTL simulations in the two versions of FGOALS2 (the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model Version 2), which have been submitted to the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). As verified by examining time series of thermal fields and their linear trends, the PICTL simulations showed stable long-term integration behaviors and no obvious climate drift [the magnitudes of linear trends of SST were both less than 0.04°C (100 yr)] over multiple centuries. The changed SSTs in a century (that corresponded to the linear trends) were less than the standard deviations of annual mean values, which implied the internal variability was not affected. These trend values were less than 10% of those of global averaged SST from observations and historical runs during the periods of slow and rapid warming. Such stable long-term integration behaviors reduced the uncertainty of the estimation of global warming rates in the historical and future climate projections in the two versions of FGOALS2. Compared with the trends in the Northern Hemisphere, larger trends existed in the SST and sea ice extents at the middle to high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere (SH). To estimate the historical and future climate trends in the SH or at some specific regions in FGOALS2, corrections needed to be carried out. The similar long-term behaviors in the two versions of FGOALS2 may be attributed to proper physical processes in the ocean model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 24-h simulation with the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) nonhydrostatic model is performed for the heavy snowfall event of 3-4 February 1998 along the eastern coast of Korean Peninsula; the results are used to understand the snowfall process, including why the precipitation maxima formed along the Yeongdong coastal region rather than over the mountain slope and ridge top during. The numerical simulation with a 4-km horizontal grid spacing and 43 levels reproduces very well the narrow snowband located off the eastern Korean coast, away from, instead of over, the Yeongdong coastal mountain range. The general evolution of the snowband agrees quite well with radar observations, while the water-equivalent precipitation amount agrees reasonably well with radar precipitation estimate. The simulation results clearly show that the snow band developed due to the lifting by a coastal front that developed because of the damming of cold air against the eastern slope of the coastal mountain range. The damming was enhanced by the advection of cold air by a low-level mountain-parallel jet from the north, formed due to geostrophic adjustment as the on-shore upslope air was decelerated by the mountain blocking. As the onshore flow weakened later due to synoptic-scale flow pattern change, the cold front propagated off shore and the precipitation dissipated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical simulations using a version of the GFDL/NOAA Modular Ocean Model (MOM 3) are analyzed to demonstrate interdecadal pathway changes from the subtropics to the tropics in the South Pacific Ocean. After the 1976-77 climate shift, the subtropical gyre of the South Pacific underwent significant changes, characterized by a slowing down in its circulation and a southward displacement of its center by about 5°-10° latitude on the western side. The associated circulation altered its flow path in the northwestern part of the subtropical gyre, changing from a direct pathway connecting the subtropics to the tropics before the shift to a more zonal one after. This effectively prevented some subtropical waters from directly entering into the western equatorial Pacific. Since waters transported onto the equator around the subtropical gyre are saline and warm, such changes in the direct pathway and the associated reduction in equatorward exchange from the subtropics to the tropics affected water mass properties downstream in the western equatorial Pacific, causing persisted freshening and cooling of subsurface water as observed after the late 1970s. Previously, changes in gyre strength and advection of temperature anomalies have been invoked as mechanisms for linking the subtropics and tropics on interdecadal time scales. Here we present an additional hypothesis in which geographic shifts in the gyre structure and location (a pathway change) could play a similar role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe the long-term stability and mean climatology of oceanic circulations simulated by version 2 of the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model (FGOALS-s2). Driven by pre-industrial forcing, the integration of FGOALS-s2 was found to have remained stable, with no obvious climate drift over 600 model years. The linear trends of sea SST and sea surface salinity (SSS) were −0.04°C (100 yr) and 0.01 psu (100 yr), respectively. The simulations of oceanic temperatures, wind-driven circulation and thermohaline circulation in FGOALS-s2 were found to be comparable with observations, and have been substantially improved over previous FGOALS-s versions (1.0 and 1.1). However, significant SST biases (exceeding 3°C) were found around strong western boundary currents, in the East China Sea, the Sea of Japan and the Barents Sea. Along the eastern coasts in the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, a warm bias (>3°C) was mainly due to overestimation of net surface shortwave radiation and weak oceanic upwelling. The difference of SST biases in the North Atlantic and Pacific was partly due to the errors of meridional heat transport. For SSS, biases exceeding 1.5 psu were located in the Arctic Ocean and around the Gulf Stream. In the tropics, freshwater biases dominated and were mainly caused by the excess of precipitation. Regarding the vertical dimension, the maximal biases of temperature and salinity were located north of 65°N at depths of greater than 600 m, and their values exceeded 4°C and 2 psu, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A flux-form semi-Lagrangian transport scheme (FFSL) was implemented in a spectral atmospheric GCM developed and used at IAP/LASG. Idealized numerical experiments show that the scheme is good at shape preserving with less dissipation and dispersion, in comparison with other conventional schemes. Importantly, FFSL can automatically maintain the positive definition of the transported tracers, which was an underlying problem in the previous spectral composite method (SCM). To comprehensively investigate the impact of FFSL on GCM results, we conducted sensitive experiments. Three main improvements resulted: first, rainfall simulation in both distribution and intensity was notably improved, which led to an improvement in precipitation frequency. Second, the dry bias in the lower troposphere was significantly reduced compared with SCM simulations. Third, according to the Taylor diagram, the FFSL scheme yields simulations that are superior to those using the SCM: a higher correlation between model output and observation data was achieved with the FFSL scheme, especially for humidity in lower troposphere. However, the moist bias in the middle and upper troposphere was more pronounced with the FFSL scheme. This bias led to an over-simulation of precipitable water in comparison with reanalysis data. Possible explanations, as well as solutions, are discussed herein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aquatic eco-environment is significantly affected by temporal and spatial variation of the mixed layer depth (MLD) in large shallow lakes. In the present study, we simulated the three-dimensional water temperature of Taihu Lake with an unstructured grid with a finite-volume coastal ocean model (FVCOM) using wind speed, wind direction, short-wave radiation and other meteorological data measured during 13-18 August 2008. The simulated results were consistent with the measurements. The temporal and spatial distribution of the MLD and the possible relevant mechanisms were analyzed on the basis of the water temperature profile data of Taihu Lake. The results indicated that diurnal stratification might be established through the combined effect of the hydrodynamic conditions induced by wind and the heat exchange between air and water. Compared with the net heat flux, the changes of the MLD were delayed approximately two hours. Furthermore, there were significant spatial differences of the MLD in Taihu Lake due to the combined impact of thermal and hydrodynamic forces. Briefly, diurnal stratification formed relatively easily in Gonghu Bay, Zhushan Bay, Xukou Bay and East Taihu Bay, and the surface mixed layer was thin. The center of the lake region had the deepest surface mixed layer due to the strong mixing process. In addition, Meiliang Bay showed a medium depth of the surface mixed layer. Our analysis indicated that the spatial difference in the hydrodynamic action was probably the major cause for the spatial variation of the MLD in Taihu Lake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the impact of tuning the length scale of the background error covariance in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) three-dimensional variational assimilation (3DVAR) system. In particular, we studied the effect of this parameter on the assimilation of high-resolution surface data for heavy rainfall forecasts associated with mesoscale convective systems over the Korean Peninsula. In the assimilation of high-resolution surface data, the National Meteorological Center method tended to exaggerate the length scale that determined the shape and extent to which observed information spreads out. In this study, we used the difference between observation and background data to tune the length scale in the assimilation of high-resolution surface data. The resulting assimilation clearly showed that the analysis with the tuned length scale was able to reproduce the small-scale features of the ideal field effectively. We also investigated the effect of a double-iteration method with two different length scales, representing large and small-length scales in the WRF-3DVAR. This method reflected the large and small-scale features of observed information in the model fields. The quantitative accuracy of the precipitation forecast using this double iteration with two different length scales for heavy rainfall was high; results were in good agreement with observations in terms of the maximum rainfall amount and equitable threat scores. The improved forecast in the experiment resulted from the development of well-identified mesoscale convective systems by intensified low-level winds and their consequent convergence near the rainfall area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the impact of atmosphere-wave coupling on typhoon intensity was investigated using numerical simulations of an idealized typhoon in a coupled atmosphere-wave-ocean modeling system. The coupling between atmosphere and sea surface waves considered the effects of wave state and sea sprays on air-sea momentum flux, the atmospheric low-level dissipative heating, and the wave-state-affected seaspray heat flux. Several experiments were conducted to examine the impacts of wave state, sea sprays, and dissipative heating on an idealized typhoon system. Results show that considering the wave state and sea-spray-affected sea-surface roughness reduces typhoon intensity, while including dissipative heating intensifies the typhoon system. Taking into account sea spray heat flux also strengthens the typhoon system with increasing maximum wind speed and significant wave height. The overall impact of atmosphere-wave coupling makes a positive contribution to the intensification of the idealized typhoon system. The minimum central pressure simulated by the coupled atmosphere-wave experiment was 16.4 hPa deeper than that of the control run, and the maximum wind speed and significant wave height increased by 31% and 4%, respectively. Meanwhile, within the area beneath the typhoon center, the average total upward air-sea heat flux increased by 22%, and the averaged latent heat flux increased more significantly by 31% compared to the uncoupled run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyze the mechanism by which water vapor increase leads to cooling in the stratosphere, the effects of water-vapor increases on temperature in the stratosphere were simulated using the two-dimensional, interactive chemical dynamical radiative model (SOCRATES) of NCAR. The results indicate that increases in stratospheric water vapor lead to stratospheric cooling, with the extent of cooling increasing with height, and that cooling in the middle stratosphere is stronger in Arctic regions. Analysis of the radiation process showed that infrared radiative cooling by water vapor is a pivotal factor in middle-lower stratospheric cooling. However, in the upper stratosphere (above 45 km), infrared radiation is not a factor in cooling; there, cooling is caused by the decreased solar radiative heating rate resulting from ozone decrease due to increased stratospheric water vapor. Dynamical cooling is important in the middle-upper stratosphere, and dynamical feedback to temperature change is more distinct in the Northern Hemisphere middle-high latitudes than in other regions and significantly affects temperature and ozone in winter over Arctic regions. Increasing stratospheric water vapor will strengthen ozone depletion through the chemical process. However, ozone will increase in the middle stratosphere. The change in ozone due to increasing water vapor has an important effect on the stratospheric temperature change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]