scholarly journals Effects of clouds on surface melting of Laohugou glacier No. 12, western Qilian Mountains, China

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (243) ◽  
pp. 89-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
JIZU CHEN ◽  
XIANG QIN ◽  
SHICHANG KANG ◽  
WENTAO DU ◽  
WEIJUN SUN ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTWe analyzed a 2-year time series of meteorological data (January 2011–December 2012) from three automatic weather stations on Laohugou glacier No. 12, western Qilian Mountains, China. Air temperature, humidity and incoming radiation were significantly correlated between the three sites, while wind speed and direction were not. In this work, we focus on the effects of clouds on other meteorological parameters and on glacier melt. On an average, ~18% of top-of-atmosphere shortwave radiation was attenuated by the clear-sky atmosphere, and clouds attenuated a further 12%. Most of the time the monthly average increases in net longwave radiation caused by clouds were larger than decreases in net shortwave radiation but there was a tendency to lose energy during the daytime when melting was most intense. Air temperature and wind speed related to turbulent heat flux were found to suppress glacier melt during cloudy periods, while increased water vapor pressure during cloudy days could enhance glacier melt by reducing energy loss by latent heat. From these results, we have increased the physical understanding of the significance of cloud effects on continental glaciers.

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Sedlar ◽  
R. Hock

Abstract. Energy balance based glacier melt models require accurate estimates of incoming longwave radiation but direct measurements are often not available. Multi-year near-surface meteorological data from Storglaciären, Northern Sweden, were used to evaluate commonly used longwave radiation parameterizations in a glacier environment under clear-sky and all-sky conditions. Parameterizations depending solely on air temperature performed worse than those which include water vapor pressure. All models tended to overestimate incoming longwave radiation during periods of low longwave radiation, while incoming longwave was underestimated when radiation was high. Under all-sky conditions root mean square error (RMSE) and mean bias error (MBE) were 17 to 20 W m−2 and −5 to 1 W m−2, respectively. Two attempts were made to circumvent the need of cloud cover data. First cloud fraction was parameterized as a function of the ratio, τ, of measured incoming shortwave radiation and calculated top of atmosphere radiation. Second, τ was related directly to the cloud factor (i.e. the increase in sky emissivity due to clouds). Despite large scatter between τ and both cloud fraction and the cloud factor, resulting calculations of hourly incoming longwave radiation for both approaches were only slightly more variable with RMSE roughly 3 W m−2 larger compared to using cloud observations as input. This is promising for longwave radiation modeling in areas where shortwave radiation data are available but cloud observations are not.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hemant Kulkarni ◽  
Harshwardhan Vinod Khandait ◽  
Uday Wasudeorao Narlawar ◽  
Pragati G Rathod ◽  
Manju Mamtani

Whether weather plays a part in the transmissibility of the novel COronaVIrus Disease-19 (COVID-19) is still not established. We tested the hypothesis that meteorological factors (air temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind speed and rainfall) are independently associated with transmissibility of COVID-19 quantified using the basic reproduction rate (R0). We used publicly available datasets on daily COVID-19 case counts (total n = 108,308), three-hourly meteorological data and community mobility data over a three-month period. Estimated R0 varied between 1.15-1.28. Mean daily air temperature (inversely) and wind speed (positively) were significantly associated with time dependent R0, but the contribution of countrywide lockdown to variability in R0 was over three times stronger as compared to that of temperature and wind speed combined. Thus, abating temperatures and easing lockdown may concur with increased transmissibility of COVID-19.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwang-Yul Kim ◽  
Benjamin D. Hamlington ◽  
Hanna Na ◽  
Jinju Kim

Abstract. Sea ice melting is proposed as a primary reason for the Artic amplification, although physical mechanism of the Arctic amplification and its connection with sea ice melting is still in debate. In the present study, monthly ERA-interim reanalysis data are analyzed via cyclostationary empirical orthogonal function analysis to understand the seasonal mechanism of sea ice melting in the Arctic Ocean and the Arctic amplification. While sea ice melting is widespread over much of the perimeter of the Arctic Ocean in summer, sea ice remains to be thin in winter only in the Barents-Kara Seas. Excessive turbulent heat flux through the sea surface exposed to air due to sea ice melting warms the atmospheric column. Warmer air increases the downward longwave radiation and subsequently surface air temperature, which facilitates sea surface remains to be ice free. A 1 % reduction in sea ice concentration in winter leads to ~ 0.76 W m−2 increase in upward heat flux, ~ 0.07 K increase in 850 hPa air temperature, ~ 0.97 W m−2 increase in downward longwave radiation, and ~ 0.26 K increase in surface air temperature. This positive feedback mechanism is not clearly observed in the Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas, since sea ice refreezes in late fall (November) before excessive turbulent heat flux is available for warming the atmospheric column in winter. A detailed seasonal heat budget is presented in order to understand specific differences between the Barents-Kara Seas and Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas.


2001 ◽  
Vol 47 (159) ◽  
pp. 665-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Arck ◽  
Dieter Scherer

AbstractDuring the snowmelt period in 1998, air-temperature data were acquired at 1 min intervals using different measurement systems as part of a field campaign in the Kärkevagge, Swedish Lapland. A comparison reveals that temperatures from naturally ventilated sensors exceed temperatures from aspirated sensors by as much as 6.2 K. Errors in temperature are closely connected to high values of upwelling shortwave radiation and are larger in periods of low wind speed. Measurement errors result from the instantaneous radiation conditions and propagate over the next measurements due to slow response time of the naturally ventilated sensor. A physically based method is developed for correcting temperature data influenced by radiation errors, which requires additional measurements of wind speed and upwelling shortwave radiation. Coefficients of the correction formula are automatically determined from the erroneous temperature data, so the method is independent of accurate air-temperature measurements. The high quality of the correction method could be validated by accurate psychrometer measurements. One of the most important applications is the computation of sensible-heat fluxes from snow-covered surfaces during the snowmelt period using the bulk-aerodynamic method, which is greatly improved by the new correction method.


2000 ◽  
Vol 46 (154) ◽  
pp. 445-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Denby ◽  
W. Greuell

AbstractA one-dimensional second-order closure model and in situ observations on a melting glacier surface are used to investigate the suitability of bulk and profile methods for determining turbulent fluxes in the presence of the katabatic wind-speed maximum associated with glacier winds. The results show that profile methods severely underestimate turbulent fluxes when a wind-speed maximum is present. The bulk method, on the other hand, only slightly overestimates the turbulent heat flux in the entire region below the wind-speed maximum and is thus much more appropriate for use on sloping glacier surfaces where katabatic winds dominate and wind-speed maxima are just a few meters above the surface.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Mauren Lucila Marques de Morais Micalichen ◽  
Nelson Luís da Costa Dias

The use of alternative sources of meteorological data has become increasingly common, making it possible to evaluate areas with no long or continuous series of meteorological data. In this context, the main objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of data series from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction / National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) for the state of Minas Gerais and verify the possible use of them in the absence of data observations of air temperature and wind speed. The analyzes were performed by comparing observation data from 17 meteorological stations and reanalysis data of the CFSR and CFSV2 models. From the results of the statistical analysis, it is observed that the air temperature reanalysis data presented a good performance in the region of study. However, wind speed data show a weak correlation. These results show that the air temperature data from these reanalyses have the potential to be used as an alternative source of data. Further studies are suggested regarding the use of wind speed data from these reanalyses.


2022 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 014040
Author(s):  
Francesco De Rovere ◽  
Davide Zanchettin ◽  
Michael J McPhaden ◽  
Angelo Rubino

Abstract We assess the radiative heating error affecting marine air temperature (MAT) measurements in the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean array. The error in historical observations is found to be ubiquitous across the array, spatially variable and approximately stationary in time. The error induces spurious warming during daytime hours, but does not affect night-time temperatures. The range encompassing the real, unknown daily- and monthly-mean values is determined using daytime and night-time mean temperatures as upper and lower limits. The uncertainty in MAT is less than or equal to 0.5 °C and 0.2 °C for 95% of daily and monthly estimates, respectively. Uncertainties impact surface turbulent heat flux estimates, with potentially significant influences on the quantification of coupled ocean-atmosphere processes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yohannes Yihdego ◽  
John A. Webb

Abstract Much attention has been paid to establish accurately open water evaporation since the lake itself is the largest consumer of water. The aim of this study is to assess the discrepancy in the measured (pan evaporation) and estimated (Penman) evaporation rate, seasonally, based on the results from a 37-year energy budget analysis of Lake Burrumbeet, Australia. The detailed analysis of meteorological data showed that evaporation is fully radiation driven and that the effect of wind is minimal. Sensitivity analysis shows that evaporation estimation is more sensitive to shortwave radiation followed by relative humidity. An increase or decrease of estimated shortwave radiation by 10% could result in an increase or decrease of estimated evaporation up to 18%. The Penman combination method is relatively the least sensitive to wind speed but could bring a significant effect on the lake level fluctuation since a 10% increase of wind speed increases the estimated evaporation by 2.3%. The current analysis highlights the relative roles of radiation, temperature, humidity, and wind speed in modulating the rate of evaporation from the lake surface, by employing an inter-monthly seasonal adjustment factor to the estimated evaporation in the lake water budget analysis, with implications for the inter-monthly variability and short-term trends assessment of water resource through various meteorological parameters.


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