Three-dimensional model studies of the effect of NOxemissions from aircraft on ozone in the upper troposphere over Europe and the North Atlantic

1996 ◽  
Vol 101 (D1) ◽  
pp. 1401-1422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frode Flatøy ◽  
Øystein Hov

Renewal rates of the waters of the thermocline in the eastern North Atlantic are estimated by combining linear quasi-geostrophic dynamics with steady and transient tracers into a unified eclectic, reservoir model. The two-dimensional model first employed is finally rejected when it is found that it generates oxygen-utilization rates (OUR) that are, by conventional biological wisdom, too high. The three-dimensional model that replaces the two-dimensional one shows that the our is indeterminate, with possible ranges from zero to unacceptably high values. The region is flushed primarily from the north and east. The problem of using transient tracers is mathematically equivalent to that of distributed-system boundary-control theory, the open-ocean boundary conditions playing the role of the unknown control variables. The missing time histories of this new set of unknowns means that tritium and helium-3 distributions are only comparatively weak constraints on the flow field, but do set upper bounds on the vertical exchange with surface waters. Surface Ekman pumping is adequate to explain the interior distributions without additional buoyancy ventilation, although this latter process is possible. Some speculation is made about conditions under which transient tracers might play a more definitive role.


2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 793-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Gavrikov ◽  
Sergey K. Gulev ◽  
Margarita Markina ◽  
Natalia Tilinina ◽  
Polina Verezemskaya ◽  
...  

AbstractWe present in this paper the results of the Russian Academy of Sciences North Atlantic Atmospheric Downscaling (RAS-NAAD) project, which provides a 40-yr 3D hindcast of the North Atlantic (10°–80°N) atmosphere at 14-km spatial resolution with 50 levels in the vertical direction (up to 50 hPa), performed with a regional setting of the WRF-ARW 3.8.1 model for the period 1979–2018 and forced by ERA-Interim as a lateral boundary condition. The dataset provides a variety of surface and free-atmosphere parameters at sigma model levels and meets many demands of meteorologists, climate scientists, and oceanographers working in both research and operational domains. Three-dimensional model output at 3-hourly time resolution is freely available to the users. Our evaluation demonstrates a realistic representation of most characteristics in both datasets and also identifies biases mostly in the ice-covered regions. High-resolution and nonhydrostatic model settings in NAAD resolve mesoscale dynamics first of all in the subpolar latitudes. NAAD also provides a new view of the North Atlantic extratropical cyclone activity with a much larger number of cyclones as compared with most reanalyses. It also effectively captures highly localized mechanisms of atmospheric moisture transports. Applications of NAAD to ocean circulation and wave modeling are demonstrated.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 6621-6636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thorsten Kaluza ◽  
Daniel Kunkel ◽  
Peter Hoor

Abstract. The evolution of the tropopause inversion layer (TIL) during cyclogenesis in the North Atlantic storm track is investigated using operational meteorological analysis data (Integrated Forecast System from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). For this a total of 130 cyclones have been analysed during the months August through October between 2010 and 2014 over the North Atlantic. Their paths of migration along with associated flow features in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) have been tracked based on the mean sea level pressure field. Subsets of the 130 cyclones have been used for composite analysis using minimum sea level pressure to filter the cyclones based on their strength. The composite structure of the TIL strength distribution in connection with the overall UTLS flow strongly resembles the structure of the individual cyclones. Key results are that a strong dipole in TIL strength forms in regions of cyclonic wrap-up of UTLS air masses of different origin and isentropic potential vorticity. These air masses are associated with the cyclonic rotation of the underlying cyclones. The maximum values of enhanced static stability above the tropopause occur north and northeast of the cyclone centre, vertically aligned with outflow regions of strong updraft and cloud formation up to the tropopause, which are situated in anticyclonic flow patterns in the upper troposphere. These regions are co-located with a maximum of vertical shear of the horizontal wind. The strong wind shear within the TIL results in a local minimum of Richardson numbers, representing the possibility for turbulent instability and potential mixing (or air mass exchange) within regions of enhanced static stability in the lowermost stratosphere.


1992 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 106-106
Author(s):  
Shaoping Fu ◽  
Friedrich Werner

General environmental correlation, established for trace fossils, is hard to apply to modern sediment cores, for which environmental factors can be measured directly - at least with regard to the top layers. Reasons for this difficulty are obvious: (1) Outcrop volume is limited by the core diameter. (2) Biogenic structures are hard to see, because they have not yet been “developed” by diagenetic processes. (3) Cores are traditionally studied in vertical cuts, in which search patterns parallel to bedding plane - typical for deep-sea environment - are poorly expressed. Therefore cores from the North Atlantic were studied not only by traditional X-ray radiography (both vertical and horizontal cuts), but by computer tomography (CT), which renders series of sections parallel to the bedding plane, as well as a three-dimensional picture, without destroying the valuable core.On the Iceland-Faeroe Ridge, the distribution of ichnocoenoses appears to be largely controlled by microenvironments in connection with local channel systems and their lateral migration. In a local, ridge-parallel channel system at the southern slope, a core from the NE flank shows a vertical alternation of Zoophycos, Trichichnus, and Planolites communities correlating with fluctuations of CaCO3 and the fraction >63μm. In contrast to this, on the opposite slope, sediments are uniform and dominated by Scolicia. On the colder N slope of the ridge, topography is more uniform and the water motion is sluggish. The characteristic and dominant ichnogenus is Chondrites. On top of the ridge the sediment cover becomes very thin, contains large amounts of dropstones, but still Chondrites is dominant.


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