0000000000149641
AUTHOR
Axel Thomas
Atmospheric radiative effects of an in-situ measured Saharan dust plume and the role of large particles
This work will present aerosol size distributions measured in a Saharan dust plume between 0.9 and 12 km altitude during the ACE-2 campaign 1997. The distributions contain a significant fraction of large particles of diameters from 4 to 30 μm. Radiative transfer calculations have been performed using these data as input. Shortwave, longwave as well as total atmospheric radiative effects (AREs) of the dust plume are investigated over ocean and desert within the scope of sensitivity studies considering varied input parameters like solar zenith angle, scaled total dust optical depth, tropospheric standard aerosol profiles and particle complex refractive index. The results indicate that the lar…
Spatial and temporal temperature trends on the Yunnan Plateau (Southwest China) during 1961-2004
Monthly mean (TEM), maximum (Tmax) and minimum (Tmin) surface air temperatures at 119 meteorological stations on the Yunnan Plateau (YP, Southwest China) were analysed for temporal trends and spatial variation patterns during the period 1961–2004. Linear trend analyses revealed that annual temperature over the YP increased at a rate of 0.3 °C/decade during the period 1961–2004, while warming trend of 0.33 °C/decade and 0.26 °C/decade was observed for winter and summer temperatures, respectively. Warming trends of nighttime minimum temperature are more pronounced than those of daytime maximum temperature, especially during winter season. Consequently, a decreasing trend of diurnal temperatur…
Late Holocene Asian summer monsoon variability reflected byδ18O in tree-rings from Tibetan junipers
[1] Recent warming in High Asia might have a strong impact on Asian summer monsoon variability with consequences for the hydrological cycle. Based on correlations between climate data, the tree-ring δ18O of high-elevation junipers is an indicator of August precipitation. Thus, our 800-year long annually resolved oxygen isotope series reflects long-term variations in summer monsoon activity on the southern Tibetan plateau. Summer precipitation was reduced during 13th–15th centuries and since the 19th century, whereas the Little Ice Age period (15th–19th century) was rather moist. The late 20th century was among the driest periods during the past 800 years, showing a tendency to slightly wett…
Climatic changes in yield index and soil water deficit trends in China
Long-term trends of the combined effects of evapotranspiration and precipitation effect surface hydrology and soil water and consequently natural and agricultural ecosystems. This paper analyses yield index and soil water deficit time series derived from water balance calculations for multiple cropping systems with FAO methodology. The analysis shows that yield index values have increased and soil water deficits have consequently decreased over much of China during 1954‐1993. The likely parameters contributing to this trend are precipitation changes north of 35 N and maximum evapotranspiration as well as available soil water trends south of this line. Increasing the assumed maximum soil wat…
Global review and synthesis of trends in observed terrestrial near-surface wind speeds: Implications for evaporation
Summary In a globally warming climate, observed rates of atmospheric evaporative demand have declined over recent decades. Several recent studies have shown that declining rates of evaporative demand are primarily governed by trends in the aerodynamic component (primarily being the combination of the effects of wind speed (u) and atmospheric humidity) and secondarily by changes in the radiative component. A number of these studies also show that declining rates of observed near-surface u (termed ‘stilling’) is the primary factor contributing to declining rates of evaporative demand. One objective of this paper was to review and synthesise the literature to assess whether stilling is a globa…
REGEOTOP: New climatic data fields for East Asia based on localized relief information and geostatistical methods
Climate data fields represent essential tools for climate, biogeographical and agricultural research to run models and to provide observational data for the verification of global climate models (GCM). Climate data fields are generated through interpolation of observations taken at meteorological stations. Most current interpolation procedures try to describe the influence of topography on spatial climatic variations by relating them directly to absolute elevation or by introducing simple relief variables such as exposure. In both cases this may not properly describe spatial climatic variations, particularly not those of precipitation. This paper describes a regionalization procedure (REGEO…
Dehydration potential of ultrathin clouds at the tropical tropopause
[1] We report on the first simultaneous in situ and remote measurements of subvisible cirrus in the uppermost tropical troposphere. The observed cirrus, called UTTCs ( ultrathin tropical tropopause clouds), are the geometrically (200-300 m) and optically (t approximate to 10(-4)) thinnest large-scale clouds ever sampled (approximate to10(5) km(2)). UTTCs consist of only a few ice particles per liter with mean radius approximate to5 mum, containing only 1-5 % of the total water. Yet, brief adiabatic cooling events only 1-2 K below mean ambient temperature destabilize UTTCs, leading to large sedimenting particles (r approximate to 25 mm). Due to their extreme altitude above 17 km and low part…
Spatial and temporal characteristics of potential evapotranspiration trends over China
This paper analyses the time series (1954–1993) of Penman–Monteith evapotranspiration estimates for 65 stations in mainland China and Tibet, for the country as a whole and for individual stations. The analysis shows that for China as a whole, the potential evapotranspiration (PET) has decreased in all seasons. On a regional basis, northeast and southwest China have experienced moderate evapotranspiration increases, while in northwest and southeast China evapotranspiration has decreased to a much higher extent. South of 35°N, sunshine appears to be most strongly associated with evapotranspiration changes while wind, relative humidity and maximum temperature are the primary factors in northwe…
The onset of the rainy season in Yunnan province, PR China and its significance for agricultural operations
Data of 134 stations located in Yunnan province, PR China were analysed in order to study the temporal and spatial characteristics of the onset of the rainy season and to investigate the consequences for farming operations. Using a precipitation threshold value, a time span of 12 weeks was found for the complete onset of the rainy season, while the range of onset dates varied from 37 days to 155 days. The onset occurred at different places across the province and showed active and break phases due to the interaction of four different branches of the atmospheric circulation. The onset of the growing season, determined by summing up decade precipitation totals, showed the same general pattern…