Search results for "climatology"
showing 10 items of 1164 documents
Computation of anthropogenic sulphate aerosol forcing using radiative perturbation theory
1994
The radiative forcing of the climate by anthropogenic aerosols has been a matter of some concern for many years now, especially in the northern hemisphere. Recently in these pages, Charlson et al. attempted to quantify this forcing. However, that calculation involved relatively crude optical and radiative transfer models. In this paper, we use a far more detailed sulphate optical model, and employ radiative perturbation theory (a technique ideally suited to answering questions of this sort) to repeat this radiation calculation. We obtain results which are similar to Charlson et al., provided that proper allowance is made for the effects of humidity. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0889.1994.00003.x
In situ observations of new particle formation in the tropical upper troposphere: the role of clouds and the nucleation mechanism
2011
New particle formation (NPF), which generates nucleation mode aerosol, was observed in the tropical Upper Troposphere (UT) and Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL) by in situ airborne measurements over South America (January–March 2005), Australia (November–December 2005), West Africa (August 2006) and Central America (2004–2007). Particularly intense NPF was found at the bottom of the TTL. Measurements with a set of condensation particle counters (CPCs) with different <i>d</i><sub>p50</sub> (50% lower size detection efficiency diameter or "cut-off diameter") were conducted on board the M-55 <i>Geophysica</i> in the altitude range of 12.0–20.5 km and on board …
Relationship between weather regimes and atmospheric rivers in East Antarctica.
2021
25 pages; International audience; Here, we define weather regimes in the East Antarctica—Southern Ocean sector based on daily anomalies of 700 hPa geopotential height derived from ERA5 reanalysis during 1979–2018. Most regimes and their preferred transitions depict synoptic-scale disturbances propagating eastwards off the Antarctic coastline. While regime sequences are generally short, their interannual variability is strongly driven by the polarity of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM). Regime occurrences are then intersected with atmospheric rivers (ARs) detected over the same region and period. ARs are equiprobable throughout the year, but clearly concentrate during regimes associated with …
The onset of the rainy season and farmers’ sowing strategy for pearl millet cultivation in Southwest Niger
2011
A multi-year (2004-2009) field survey of on-farm sowing practices in 10 villages located in south-west Niger close to Niamey, is analysed to investigate the relationships (i) between rainfall and the sowing date of pearl millet and the risk of sowing failure, (ii) between sowing and meteorological/agro-climatic onset dates, (iii) between sowing/onset dates, and simulated and observed yield/biomass at the end of the season. Even if some villages sow without any synchronous or anterior rainfall, most parcels (73% out of the 1551 available cases) are sown during and just after a 2-day wet spell receiving at least 10 mm. In fact, there is a strong correlation (r = 0.82-0.95 depending on onset d…
An original way to evaluate daily rainfall variability simulated by a regional climate model: the case of South African austral summer rainfall
2014
We discuss the value of a clustering approach as a tool for evaluating daily rainfall output from climate models. Ascendant hierarchical clustering is used to evaluate how well South African recurrent daily rainfall patterns are simulated during the austral summer (December to February 1970–1971 to 1998–1999). A set of 35-km regional climate simulations, run with the WRF model and driven by the ERA40 reanalysis, is chosen as a case study. Six recurrent patterns are identified and compared to the observed clusters obtained by applying the same methodology to 5352 daily rain gauge records. Two of the WRF clusters describe either a persistent and widespread dryness (65% of the days) or pattern…
Detection and elimination of UHI effects in long temperature records from villages – A case study from Tivissa, Spain
2019
Abstract Since villages are usually regarded as part of the rural area, associated temperature records are assumed to be free of urban influences and might be used as unbiased reference data for city records. However, based on two years of data from a high temporal and spatial resolution sensor network, this study proves the development of a substantial UHI in the Spanish village Tivissa with intensities of >1.5 K in summer Tmin and Tmax compared to a rural reference. Hosting a meteorological station that has been relocated several times within Tivissa during its >100-year history, we here detail a method to remove UHI biases at past measurement sites to create a more reliable rural tempera…
The future of paleoclimate
2021
Our understanding of natural climate variability rapidly declines over the Common Era (CE) as the pre-instrumental temperature amplitude differs substantially among large-scale reconstructions. Highlighting such differences and emphasizing paleoclimatic findings is crucial for placing anthropogenic climate change in a long-term context. We argue that more proxy records are needed to accurately reconstruct first millennium CE temperature variability and value regional studies producing such data.
Recent changes in air temperature, heat waves occurrences, and atmospheric circulation in Northern Africa
2013
This study documents the time evolution of air temperature and heat waves occurrences over Northern Africa for the period 1979-2011. A significant warming (1°-3°C), appearing by the mid-1960s over Sahara and Sahel, is associated with higher/lesser frequency of warm/cold temperatures, as with longer duration and higher occurrences of heat waves. Heat waves episodes of at least 4 day duration have been examined after removing the long-term evolution. These episodes are associated with specific anomalies: (i) in spring, positive low-level temperature anomalies over the Sahel and Sahara; low and midlevel cyclonic rotation over Morocco associated with a Rossby wave pattern, lessening the Harmatt…
A new technique for observationally derived boundary conditions for space weather
2018
This research has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 647214). D.H.M. would like to thank STFC and the Leverhulme Trust for their financial support. ARY was supported by STFC consortium grant ST/N000781/1 to the universities of Dundee and Durham. Context. In recent years, space weather research has focused on developing modelling techniques to predict the arrival time and properties of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) at the Earth. The aim of this paper is to propose a new modelling technique suitable for the next generation of Space Weather predictive tools that is both efficie…
Assessing the suitability of American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) agro-climatology archive to predict daily meteorological v…
2017
Abstract For decades, the importance of evapotranspiration processes has been recognized in many disciplines, including hydrologic and drainage studies, irrigation systems design and management. In this research, the suitability of the Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resource database published by the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (POWER-NASA), to estimate daily meteorological variables and ET 0 was assessed in Sicily, Italy, for the period 2006–2014, based on ground data measured by a network of climate stations belonging to the regional Agro-meteorological Information Service (SIAS). After comparing the climate data (minimum, T min , maximum, T max , and average, T…