Lu Daren

Statistics of gravity waves in the lower stratosphere over Beijing based on high vertical resolution radiosonde

The seasonal variation of inertia gravity-wave activity in the lower stratosphere (17―24 km) over Beijing is studied based on the high vertical resolution radionsonde observations (from December 2001 to February 2003) of Beijing Observatory (116―28―∄E, 39∄48∄∄N). Some of the important gravity-wave parameters, such as intrinsic frequency, and propagation direction, are estimated according to the polarized relation among gravity-wave wind components and temperature. Time series of wave energy show that the largest wave amplitudes occur during the winter and the least during the summer, and the average of the KE:PE ratios is about 2.6. Zonal and meridional wind perturbations have almost the same roots of mean variances, which shows that the wave energy in the lower stratosphere is isotropic horizontally. The motion and temperature fields are dominated by waves with vertical wavelengths of 1.5―3 km, which occupy above 80% samples, with a mean value of about 2.3 km. The horizontal wavelengths are mainly distributed between 100―800 km, averaging 445 km. The ratio of the mean horizontal to vertical wavelength is about 200:1, which indicates that the wave propagates nearly horizontally, with a very small vertical angle. The intrinsic frequency is estimated by fitting a polarized ellipse to the wind perturbations after band-filtering waves with a wavelength of 1.5―3 km, and the results show that the intrinsic frequency is dominated by 1f―3.5f, with an averaging value of 2f, corresponding to an intrinsic time period of 9 hours. Wave energy is found to propagate mainly upward, and in the horizontal direction, there is clear azimuthal anisotropy, with predominate northwest propagation against the prevailing wind.

Calibration and Validation of an All-Sky Imager

Abstract The automatic all—sky imager developed by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, provides all—sky visible images in the red, green, and blue channels. This paper presents three major calibration experiments of the all—sky imager, geometric angular calibration, optical calibration, and radiometric calibration, and then infers an algorithm to retrieve relative radiance from the all—sky images. Field experiments show that the related coefficient between retrieved radiance and measured radiance is about 0.91. It is feasible to use the algorithm to retrieve radiance from images. The paper sets up a relationship between radiance and the image, which is useful for using the all—sky image in numerical-simulations that predict more meteorological parameters.

Advances in studies of the middle and upper atmosphere and their coupling with the lower atmosphere

Recent advances in studies of the middle and upper atmosphere and their coupling with the lower atmosphere in China are briefly reviewed. This review emphasizes four aspects: (1) Development of instrumentation for middle and upper atmosphere observation; (2) Analyses and observation of middle and upper atmosphere; (3) Theoretical and modeling studies of planetary wave and gravity wave activities in the middle atmosphere and their relation to lower atmospheric processes; (4) Study on the coupling between the stratosphere and the troposphere.

Global Structures and Multi-Temporal Variabilities of MLT Migrating Diurnal Tide

Migrating diurnal tide in the MLT region is examined by the application of Hough mode decomposition with the tide delineated from the SABER/TIMED temperatures over 2002-2006. The decomposition results show that in the height range 60-100 km, the (1, 1) mode is the most predominant among eight leading Hough modes including four propagating and four trapped modes. It exhibits a sustained maximum at 97 km and significant semi-annual oscillation. Additionally, a novel feature of inter-annual variation with period of about two years is clearly seen in the (1, 1) mode, e.g., repeated maxima are seen at the March equinox of 2002, 2004 and 2006, respectively. This feature is further manifested by the tidal amplitudes in the height range 70-100 km in the height-time cross-section at the equator. It is likely of the QBO as the height range just coincides to where the zonal mean zonal winds derived by using the UARS data exhibiting the QBO. The other results show that the (1, 2) mode is important at < 80km exhibiting comparable amplitude to that of the (1, 1) mode, and in particular the nearly anti-correlation with the (1, 1) mode. The tide at about 85 km is suggested of rather complex as the four trapped modes exhibit maximum at these heights, which indicates the presence of local excitations or sources at below.

Retrieval of water vapor profiles with radio occultation measurements using an artificial neural network

A new method applying an artificial neural network (ANN) to retrieve water vapor profiles in the troposphere is presented. In this paper, a fully-connected, three-layer network based on the back-propagation algorithm is constructed. Month, latitude, altitude and bending angle are chosen as the input vectors and water vapor pressure as the output vector. There are 130 groups of occultation measurements from June to November 2002 in the dataset. Seventy pairs of bending angles and water vapor pressure profiles are used to train the ANN, and the sixty remaining pairs of profiles are applied to the validation of the retrieval. By comparing the retrieved profiles with the corresponding ones from the Information System and Data Center of the Challenging Mini-Satellite Payload for Geoscientific Research and Application (CHAMP-ISDC), it can be concluded that the ANN is relatively convenient and accurate. Its results can be provided as the first guess for the iterative methods or the non-linear optimal estimation inverse method.

Annual Variation and Global Structures of The DE3 Tide

The SABER/TIMED temperatures taken in 2002–2006 are used to delineate the tidal signals in the middle and upper atmosphere. Then the Hough mode decomposition is applied with the DE3 tide, and the overall features of the seasonal variations and the complete global structures of the tide are observed. Investigation results show that the tide is most prominent at 110 km with the maximal amplitude of > 9K, and exhibits significant seasonal variation with its maximum amplitude always occurring in July every year. Results from the Hough mode decomposition reveal that the tide is composed primarily of two leading propagating Hough modes, i.e., the (−3,3) and the (−3,4) modes, thus is equatorially trapped. Estimation of the mean amplitude of the Hough modes show that the (−3,3) mode and (−3,4) mode exhibit maxima at 110km and 90 km, respectively. The (−3,3) mode plays a predominant role in shaping the global latitude-height structure of the tide, e.g., the vertical scale of > 50km at the equator, and the annual course. Significant influence of the (−3,4) mode is found below 90km, where the tide exhibits anti-symmetric structure about the equator; meanwhile the tide at northern tropical latitudes exhibits smaller vertical wavelength of about 30 km.

The impact of cut-off lows on ozone in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over Changchun from ozonesonde observations

In situ measurements of the vertical structure of ozone were made in Changchun (43.53°N, 125.13°E), China, by the Institute of Atmosphere Physics, in the summers of 2010–13. Analysis of the 89 validated ozone profiles shows the variation of ozone concentration in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) caused by cut-off lows (COLs) over Changchun. During the COL events, an increase of the ozone concentration and a lower height of the tropopause are observed. Backward simulations with a trajectory model show that the ozone-rich airmass brought by the COL is from Siberia. A case study proves that stratosphere–troposphere exchange (STE) occurs in the COL. The ozone-rich air mass transported from the stratosphere to the troposphere first becomes unstable, then loses its high ozone concentration. This process usually happens during the decay stage of COLs. In order to understand the influence of COLs on the ozone in the UTLS, statistical analysis of the ozone profiles within COLs, and other profiles, are employed. The results indicate that the ozone concentrations of the in-COL profiles are significantly higher than those of the other profiles between ±4 km around the tropopause. The COLs induce an increase in UTLS column ozone by 32% on average. Meanwhile, the COLs depress the lapse-rate tropopause (LRT)/dynamical tropopause height by 1.4/1.7 km and cause the atmosphere above the tropopause to be less stable. The influence of COLs is durable because the increased ozone concentration lasts at least one day after the COL has passed over Changchun. Furthermore, the relative coefficient between LRT height and lower stratosphere (LS) column ozone is -0.62, which implies a positive correlation between COL strength and LS ozone concentration.

An Optical Disdrometer for Measuring Present Weather Parameters

Abstract A new present weather identifier (PWI) based on occlusion and scattering techniques is presented in the study. The present weather parameters are detectable by the meteorological optical range (MOR) approximately up to 50 km and by droplets with diameters ranging from 0.125 mm to 22 mm with velocities up to 16 m s−1. The MOR error is less than 8% for the MOR within 10 km and less than 15% for farther distances. Moreover, the size errors derived from various positions of the light sheet by the particles were checked within ± 0.1 mm ± 5%. The comparison shows that the MOR, in a sudden shower event, is surprisingly consistent with those of the sentry visibility sensors (SVS) with a correlation coefficient up to 98%. For the rain amounts derived from the size and velocity of the droplets, the daily sums by the PWI agree within 10% of those by the Total Rain Weighing Sensor (TRwS205) and the rain gauge. Combined with other sensors such as temperature, humidity, and wind, the PWI can serve as a present weather sensor to distinguish several weather types such as fog, haze, mist, rain, hail, and drizzle.

Observation and Simulation of Abnormal Transmittance over Yangbajing, Tibet

Abstract Defining abnormal transmittance as the case where the magnitude of the shortwave flux transmittance is greater than 1.0, the authors used surface solar irradiance and all-sky images obtained at the Yangbajing site in Tibet to analyze the reasons for the occurrence of abnormal shortwave flux transmittance. Based on the International Intercomparision of Three-Dimensional Radiation Code (I3RC) Monte Carlo community model of three-dimensional radiative transfer, the authors also performed simulations at a nonabsorbing wavelength and an absorbing wavelength through a stratocumulus and a cumulus field. The results showed the detection of abnormal transmittance on more than half the days, and the maximum transmittance was 1.34. The probability of the occurrence of abnormal transmittance appeared to be largest in summer, and on a daily basis was mainly at about noon local time. Abnormal transmittance mainly appeared when clear sky and clouds co-existed, especially at the edges of broken clouds and nearby regions with clear-sky conditions. The flux transmittance decreased as the solar zenith angle increased.

On spatiotemporal series analysis and its application to predict the regional short term climate process

Based on the theory of reconstructing state space, a technique for spatiotemporal series prediction is presented. By means of this technique and NCEP/NCAR data of the monthly mean geopotential height anomaly of the 500-hPa isobaric surface in the Northern Hemisphere, a regional prediction experiment is also carried out. If using the correlation coefficientR between the observed field and the prediction field to measure the prediction accuracy, the averagedR given by 48 prediction samples reaches 21%, which corresponds to the current prediction level for the short range climate process.Based on the theory of reconstructing state space, a technique for spatiotemporal series prediction is presented. By means of this technique and NCEP/NCAR data of the monthly mean geopotential height anomaly of the 500-hPa isobaric surface in the Northern Hemisphere, a regional prediction experiment is also carried out. If using the correlation coefficientR between the observed field and the prediction field to measure the prediction accuracy, the averagedR given by 48 prediction samples reaches 21%, which corresponds to the current prediction level for the short range climate process.