Precipitable water vapour retrieval from GPS precise point positioning and NCEP CFSv2 dataset during typhoon events

Radiosonde is extensively used for understanding meteorological parameters in the vertical direction. Four typhoon events, including three landfalls (MERANTI, NEPARTAK, and MEGI) and one non-landfall (MALAKAS), were chosen in analysing the precipitable water vapour (PWV) characteristics in this study. The spatial distribution of the three radiosonde stations in Zhejiang province does not meet the requirement in analysing changes in PWV during typhoon event. Global position system (GPS) observations are an alternative method for deriving the PWV. This enables improvements in the temporal⁻spatial resolution of PWV computed by the radiosonde measurements. The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) re-analysed data were employed for interpolating temperature and atmosphere pressure at the GPS antennas height. The PWV computed from GPS observations and NCEP re-analysed data were then compared with the true PWV. The maximum difference of radiosonde and GPS PWV was not more than 30 mm at Taiz station. The Root-Mean-Square (RMS) of PWV differences between radiosonde and GPS was not more than 5 mm in January, February, March, November, and December. It was slightly greater than 5 mm in April. High RMS in May, June, July, August, September, and October implies that differences in GPS and radiosonde PWVs are evident in these months. Correlation coefficients of GPS and radiosonde PWVs were more than 0.9, indicating that the changes in GPS and radiosonde PWVs are similar. Radiosonde calculated PWVs were used for GPS PWV calibration for understanding the PWV changes during the period of a typhoon event. The results from three landfall typhoons show that the average PWV over Zhejiang province is increasing and approaching China mainland. In contrast, MALAKAS did not make landfall and shows a decreasing PWV trend, although it was heading to China mainland. Generally, the PWV change can be used to predict whether the typhoon will make landfall in these cases. PWV spatial distribution of MERANTI shows that PWV peaks change along the typhoon epicenter over Zhejiang province

Analysis of the anomalous environmental response to the 2022 Tonga volcanic eruption based on GNSS

On 15 January 2022, a violent eruption and tsunami of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH) volcano in Tonga, South Pacific, caused widespread international concern. In order to detect the anomalous environmental response caused by the HTHH volcanic eruption based on GNSS ionospheric data, GNSS tropospheric data and GNSS coordinate time series, a new method combining the zenith non-hydrostatic delay difference method and the extreme-point symmetric mode decomposition (ESMD) method, was proposed to detect tropospheric anomalies. The moving interquartile range method and the ESMD method were introduced to detect ionospheric anomalous and coordinate time series anomalies, respectively. The results showed that 9–10 h before the eruption of the Tonga volcano and 11–12 h after the eruption of the Tonga volcano, obvious total electron content (TEC) anomalies occurred in the volcanic eruption center and its northeast and southeast, with the maximum abnormal value of 15 TECU. Significant tropospheric anomalies were observed on the day of the HTHH volcano eruption as well as 1–3 days and 16–17 days after the eruption, and the abnormal intensity was more than 10 times that of normal. The coordinate time series in direction E showed very significant anomalies at approximately 2:45 p.m. on 14 January, at approximately 4:30 a.m.–5:40 a.m. on 15 January, and at approximately 3:45 a.m. on 16 January, with anomalies reaching a maximum of 7–8 times daily. The abnormality in the direction north (N) is not obvious. Very prominent anomalies can be observed in the direction up (U) at approximately 4:30 a.m.–5:40 a.m., with the intensity of the anomalies exceeding the normal by more than 10 times. In this study, GNSS was successfully used to detect the anomalous environmental response during this HTHH volcano erupti

Remote Sensing of Precipitation: Part II

Precipitation is a well-recognized pillar in the global water and energy balances. The accurate and timely understanding of its characteristics at the global, regional and local scales is indispensable for a clearer insight on the mechanisms underlying the Earth’s atmosphere-ocean complex system. Precipitation is one of the elements that is documented to be greatly affected by climate change. In its various forms, precipitation comprises the primary source of freshwater, which is vital for the sustainability of almost all human activities. Its socio-economic significance is fundamental in managing this natural resource effectively, in applications ranging from irrigation to industrial and household usage. Remote sensing of precipitation is pursued through a broad spectrum of continuously enriched and upgraded instrumentation, embracing sensors which can be ground-based (e.g., weather radars), satellite-borne (e.g., passive or active space-borne sensors), underwater (e.g., hydrophones), aerial, or ship-borne. This volume hosts original research contributions on several aspects of remote sensing of precipitation, including applications which embrace the use of remote sensing in tackling issues such as precipitation estimation, seasonal characteristics of precipitation and frequency analysis, assessment of satellite precipitation products, storm prediction, rain microphysics and microstructure, and the comparison of satellite and numerical weather prediction precipitation products

The WWRP Polar Prediction Project (PPP)

Mission statement: “Promote cooperative international research enabling development of improved weather and environmental prediction services for the polar regions, on time scales from hours to seasonal”. Increased economic, transportation and research activities in polar regions are leading to more demands for sustained and improved availability of predictive weather and climate information to support decision-making. However, partly as a result of a strong emphasis of previous international efforts on lower and middle latitudes, many gaps in weather, sub-seasonal and seasonal forecasting in polar regions hamper reliable decision making in the Arctic, Antarctic and possibly the middle latitudes as well. In order to advance polar prediction capabilities, the WWRP Polar Prediction Project (PPP) has been established as one of three THORPEX (THe Observing System Research and Predictability EXperiment) legacy activities. The aim of PPP, a ten year endeavour (2013-2022), is to promote cooperative international research enabling development of improved weather and environmental prediction services for the polar regions, on hourly to seasonal time scales. In order to achieve its goals, PPP will enhance international and interdisciplinary collaboration through the development of strong linkages with related initiatives; strengthen linkages between academia, research institutions and operational forecasting centres; promote interactions and communication between research and stakeholders; and foster education and outreach. Flagship research activities of PPP include sea ice prediction, polar-lower latitude linkages and the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP) - an intensive observational, coupled modelling, service-oriented research and educational effort in the period mid-2017 to mid-2019

Climate change 2013: the physical science basis

This report argues that it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. This is an an unedited version of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u27s Working Group I contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report following the release of its Summary for Policymakers on 27 September 2013.  The full Report is posted in the version distributed to governments on 7 June 2013 and accepted by Working Group I and the Panel on 27 September 2013. It includes the Technical Summary, 14 chapters and an Atlas of Global and Regional Climate Projections. Following copy-editing, layout, final checks for errors and adjustments for changes in the Summary for Policymakers, the full Report will be published online in January 2014 and in book form by Cambridge University Press a few months later