Search results for "Equator"
showing 9 items of 39 documents
Optimal temporal resolution for detailed studies of cloud-enhanced sunlight (Overirradiance)
2013
Enhancement of sunlight by clouds can lead to irradiance peaks much exceeding the extraterrestrial levels - close to 2 suns near the Equator and at least 1.5 suns at latitudes of about 60°. Some extreme overirradiance events can last many minutes, but durations in the order of 1 second are also possible. The present paper reports the shortest bursts recorded in Southern Norway in the years 2012 and 2013. Our records of 10-millisecond resolution from 2012 show that the optimal instantaneous irradiance sampling interval is less than 0.15 s at the present test site, while the optimal averaging time is less than 0.13 s. We propose simple equations for deriving these times in an arbitrary geogra…
Extreme overirradiance events in Norway: 1.6 suns measured close to 60°N
2015
Abstract We report the most extreme overirradiance event of 1.6 kW/m 2 measured so far in Grimstad, southern Norway (latitude 58°20′), at altitude of only about 60 m a.s.l. Images of the sky conditions taken with a wide-dynamic-range camera suggest that this is not the ultimate value for our location, but that extremes as high as 1.7 kW/m 2 may be possible. The phenomenon was caused by strong forward scattering of sunlight within 3° around the solar disk in thin, broken altocumulus clouds. The normalized spectrum of sunlight during such extreme events is very similar to the normalized clear-sky spectrum measured at Air Mass 1.4 and irradiance of 1.0 kW/m 2 . We suggest that the values excee…
Coralline algal growth-increment widths archive North Atlantic climate variability
2011
Over the past decade coralline algae have increasingly been used as archives of paleoclimate information. Encrusting coralline algae, which deposit annual growth increments in a high Mg-calcite skeleton, are amongst the longest-lived shallow marine organisms. In fact, a live-collected plant has recently been shown to have lived for at least 850 years based on radiometric dating. While a number of investigations have successfully used geochemical information of coralline algal skeletons to reconstruct sea surface temperatures, less attention has been paid to employ growth increment widths as a temperature proxy. Here we explore the relationship between growth and environmental parameters in …
État actuel des réseaux de mesures éco-climatiques en Afrique centrale : les ambitions du projet de recherche international FORGREENE.
2016
This work presents an overview of spatio-temporal quality andspatial density of rainfall networks of Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, CAP and DRC, particularly in the recentperiod (1973-2014) through the GSOD international database. Faced with enormous gaps observed, theseresults will help to select metrological and analytical orientations in FORGREENE project (Tropical forestsgreeness and cloudiness in Central Africa: present conditions and future evolution). A comparison with rainfallsatellite estimates (RFE type) also indicates their great potential, provided they are based on in situ validations.
The Aqua-Planet Experiment (APE): Response to Changed Meridional SST Profile
2013
This paper explores the sensitivity of Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) simulations to changes in the meridional distribution of sea surface temperature (SST). The simulations are for an aqua-planet, a water covered Earth with no land, orography or sea- ice and with specified zonally symmetric SST. Simulations from 14 AGCMs developed for Numerical Weather Prediction and climate applications are compared. Four experiments are performed to study the sensitivity to the meridional SST profile. These profiles range from one in which the SST gradient continues to the equator to one which is flat approaching the equator, all with the same maximum SST at the equator. The zonal mean circ…
Reorganization of the North Atlantic Oscillation during early Holocene deglaciation
2016
Laurentide ice-sheet retreat continued into the mid-Holocene. Speleothem-based precipitation records suggest the cessation of melt led to the establishment of the present precipitation patterns associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation. The North Atlantic Oscillation is the dominant atmospheric pressure mode in the North Atlantic region and affects winter temperature and precipitation in the Mediterranean, northwest Europe, Greenland, and Asia1. The index1 that describes the sea-level pressure difference between Iceland and the Azores is correlated with a dipole precipitation pattern over northwest Europe and northwest Africa. How the North Atlantic Oscillation will develop as the Gree…
The VST Photometric Hα Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+)
2014
The VST Photometric Halpha Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+) is surveying the southern Milky Way in u, g, r, i and Halpha at 1 arcsec angular resolution. Its footprint spans the Galactic latitude range -5 < b < +5 at all longitudes south of the celestial equator. Extensions around the Galactic Centre to Galactic latitudes +/-10 bring in much of the Galactic Bulge. This ESO public survey, begun on 28th December 2011, reaches down to 20th magnitude (10-sigma) and will provide single-epoch digital optical photometry for around 300 million stars. The observing strategy and data pipelining is described, and an appraisal of the segmented narrowband Halpha filter in us…
The Aqua-Planet Experiment (APE): CONTROL SST Simulation
2013
Climate simulations by 16 atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs) are compared on an aqua-planet, a water-covered Earth with prescribed sea surface temperature varying only in latitude. The idealised configuration is designed to expose differences in the circulation simulated by different models. Basic features of the aqua-planet climate are characterised by comparison with Earth. The models display a wide range of behaviour. The balanced component of the tropospheric mean flow, and mid-latitude eddy covariances subject to budget constraints, vary relatively little among the models. In contrast, differences in damping in the dynamical core strongly influence transient eddy amplitudes…
Evolution of Seismicity During a Stalled Episode of Reawakening at Cayambe Volcano, Ecuador
2021
Cayambe Volcano is an ice-capped, 5,790 m high, andesitic-dacitic volcanic complex, located on the equator in the Eastern Cordillera of the Ecuadorian Andes. An eruption at Cayambe would pose considerable hazards to surrounding communities and a nationally significant agricultural industry. Although the only historically documented eruption was in 1785, it remains persistently restless and long-period (LP) seismicity has been consistently observed at the volcano for over 10 years. However, the sparse monitoring network, and complex interactions between the magmatic, hydrothermal, glacial, and tectonic systems, make unrest at Cayambe challenging to interpret. In June 2016 a seismic “crisis” …