Technical note: a simple procedure for removing temporal discontinuities in ERA-Interim upper stratospheric temperatures for use in nudged chemistry-climate model simulations

This note describes a simple procedure for removing unphysical temporal discontinuities in ERA-Interim upper stratospheric global mean temperatures in March 1985 and August 1998 that have arisen due to changes in satellite radiance data used in the assimilation. The derived temperature adjustments (offsets) are suitable for use in stratosphere-resolving chemistry-climate models that are nudged (relaxed) to ERA-Interim winds and temperatures. Simulations using a nudged version of the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (CMAM) show that the inclusion of the temperature adjustments produces temperature time series that are devoid of the large jumps in 1985 and 1998. Due to its strong temperature dependence, the simulated upper stratospheric ozone is also shown to vary smoothly in time, unlike in a nudged simulation without the adjustments where abrupt changes in ozone occur at the times of the temperature jumps. While the adjustments to the ERA-Interim temperatures remove significant artefacts in the nudged CMAM simulation, spurious transient effects that arise due to water vapour and persist for about 5 yr after the 1979 switch to ERA-Interim data are identified, underlining the need for caution when analysing trends in runs nudged to reanalyses

Contributions to twentieth century total column ozone change from halocarbons, tropospheric ozone precursors, and climate change

We investigate ozone changes from preindustrial times to the present using a chemistry-climate model. The influence of changes in physical climate, ozone-depleting substances, N2O, and tropospheric ozone precursors is estimated using equilibrium simulations with these different factors set at either preindustrial or present-day values. When these effects are combined, the entire decrease in total column ozone from preindustrial to present day is very small (–1.8 DU) in the global annual average, though with significant decreases in total column ozone over large parts of the Southern Hemisphere during austral spring and widespread increases in column ozone over the Northern Hemisphere during boreal summer. A significant contribution to the total ozone column change is the increase in lower stratospheric ozone associated with the increase in ozone precursors (5.9 DU). Also noteworthy is the near cancellation of the global average climate change effect on ozone (3.5 DU) by the increase in N2O (–3.9 DU)

Roche Lobe Overflow from Dwarf Stellar Systems

We use both analytical analyses and numerical simulations to examine the evolution of residual gas within tidally-limited dwarf galaxies and globular clusters. If the gas sound speed exceeds about 10% of the central velocity dispersion, as is the case for ionized gas within small stellar systems, the gas shall have significant density at the tidal radius, and the gas may be lost on timescales as short as a few times the sound crossing time of the system. In colder systems, the density at the tidal radius is much lower, greatly reducing the mass loss rate, and the system may retain its gas for a Hubble time. The tidally removed gas shall follow an orbit close to that of the original host system, forming an extended stream of ionized, gaseous debris. Tidal mass loss severely limits the ability of dwarf systems to continuously form stars. The ordinary gas content in many dwarf galaxies is fully ionized during high red-shift epochs, possibly preventing star formation in some systems, leading to the formation of starless, dark-matter concentrations. In either the field or in the center of galaxy clusters, ionized gas may be retained by dwarf galaxies, even though its sound speed may be comparable to or even exceed the velocity dispersion. These processes may help to explain some observed differences among dwarf galaxy types, as well as observations of the haloes of massive galaxies.Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX, AASTex macro

A Phase-Space Approach to Collisionless Stellar Systems Using a Particle Method

A particle method for reproducing the phase space of collisionless stellar systems is described. The key idea originates in Liouville's theorem which states that the distribution function (DF) at time t can be derived from tracing necessary orbits back to t=0. To make this procedure feasible, a self-consistent field (SCF) method for solving Poisson's equation is adopted to compute the orbits of arbitrary stars. As an example, for the violent relaxation of a uniform-density sphere, the phase-space evolution which the current method generates is compared to that obtained with a phase-space method for integrating the collisionless Boltzmann equation, on the assumption of spherical symmetry. Then, excellent agreement is found between the two methods if an optimal basis set for the SCF technique is chosen. Since this reproduction method requires only the functional form of initial DFs but needs no assumptions about symmetry of the system, the success in reproducing the phase-space evolution implies that there would be no need of directly solving the collisionless Boltzmann equation in order to access phase space even for systems without any special symmetries. The effects of basis sets used in SCF simulations on the reproduced phase space are also discussed.Comment: 16 pages w/4 embedded PS figures. Uses aaspp4.sty (AASLaTeX v4.0). To be published in ApJ, Oct. 1, 1997. This preprint is also available at http://www.sue.shiga-u.ac.jp/WWW/prof/hozumi/papers.htm

Surface Phase Transitions Induced by Electron Mediated Adatom-Adatom Interaction

We propose that the indirect adatom-adatom interaction mediated by the conduction electrons of a metallic surface is responsible for the $\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}\Leftrightarrow 3\times 3$ structural phase transitions observed in Sn/Ge (111) and Pb/Ge (111). When the indirect interaction overwhelms the local stress field imposed by the substrate registry, the system suffers a phonon instability, resulting in a structural phase transition in the adlayer. Our theory is capable of explaining all the salient features of the $\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}\Leftrightarrow 3\times 3$ transitions observed in Sn/Ge (111) and Pb/Ge (111), and is in principle applicable to a wide class of systems whose surfaces are metallic before the transition.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Interplay Between Chaotic and Regular Motion in a Time-Dependent Barred Galaxy Model

We study the distinction and quantification of chaotic and regular motion in a time-dependent Hamiltonian barred galaxy model. Recently, a strong correlation was found between the strength of the bar and the presence of chaotic motion in this system, as models with relatively strong bars were shown to exhibit stronger chaotic behavior compared to those having a weaker bar component. Here, we attempt to further explore this connection by studying the interplay between chaotic and regular behavior of star orbits when the parameters of the model evolve in time. This happens for example when one introduces linear time dependence in the mass parameters of the model to mimic, in some general sense, the effect of self-consistent interactions of the actual N-body problem. We thus observe, in this simple time-dependent model also, that the increase of the bar's mass leads to an increase of the system's chaoticity. We propose a new way of using the Generalized Alignment Index (GALI) method as a reliable criterion to estimate the relative fraction of chaotic vs. regular orbits in such time-dependent potentials, which proves to be much more efficient than the computation of Lyapunov exponents. In particular, GALI is able to capture subtle changes in the nature of an orbit (or ensemble of orbits) even for relatively small time intervals, which makes it ideal for detecting dynamical transitions in time-dependent systems.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures (minor typos fixed) to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Theo

Capturing Hiproofs in HOL Light

Hierarchical proof trees (hiproofs for short) add structure to ordinary proof trees, by allowing portions of trees to be hierarchically nested. The additional structure can be used to abstract away from details, or to label particular portions to explain their purpose. In this paper we present two complementary methods for capturing hiproofs in HOL Light, along with a tool to produce web-based visualisations. The first method uses tactic recording, by modifying tactics to record their arguments and construct a hierarchical tree; this allows a tactic proof script to be modified. The second method uses proof recording, which extends the HOL Light kernel to record hierachical proof trees alongside theorems. This method is less invasive, but requires care to manage the size of the recorded objects. We have implemented both methods, resulting in two systems: Tactician and HipCam

Quantifying the contributions to stratospheric ozone changes from ozone depleting substances and greenhouse gases

A state-of-the-art chemistry climate model coupled to a three-dimensional ocean model is used to produce three experiments, all seamlessly covering the period 1950–2100, forced by different combinations of long-lived Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) and Ozone Depleting Substances (ODSs). The experiments are designed to quantify the separate effects of GHGs and ODSs on the evolution of ozone, as well as the extent to which these effects are independent of each other, by alternately holding one set of these two forcings constant in combination with a third experiment where both ODSs and GHGs vary. We estimate that up to the year 2000 the net decrease in the column amount of ozone above 20 hPa is approximately 75% of the decrease that can be attributed to ODSs due to the offsetting effects of cooling by increased CO2. Over the 21st century, as ODSs decrease, continued cooling from CO2 is projected to account for more than 50% of the projected increase in ozone above 20 hPa. Changes in ozone below 20 hPa show a redistribution of ozone from tropical to extra-tropical latitudes with an increase in the Brewer-Dobson circulation. In addition to a latitudinal redistribution of ozone, we find that the globally averaged column amount of ozone below 20 hPa decreases over the 21st century, which significantly mitigates the effect of upper stratospheric cooling on total column ozone. Analysis by linear regression shows that the recovery of ozone from the effects of ODSs generally follows the decline in reactive chlorine and bromine levels, with the exception of the lower polar stratosphere where recovery of ozone in the second half of the 21st century is slower than would be indicated by the decline in reactive chlorine and bromine concentrations. These results also reveal the degree to which GHGrelated effects mute the chemical effects of N2O on ozone in the standard future scenario used for the WMO Ozone Assessment. Increases in the residual circulation of the atmosphere and chemical effects from CO2 cooling more than halve the increase in reactive nitrogen in the mid to upper stratosphere that results from the specified increase in N2O between 1950 and 2100

A 2000-year annual record of snow accumulation rates for Law Dome, East Antarctica

Accurate high-resolution records of snow accumulation rates in Antarctica are crucial for estimating ice sheet mass balance and subsequent sea level change. Snowfall rates at Law Dome, East Antarctica, have been linked with regional atmospheric circulation to the mid-latitudes as well as regional Antarctic snowfall. Here, we extend the length of the Law Dome accumulation record from 750 years to 2035 years, using recent annual layer dating that extends to 22 BCE. Accumulation rates were calculated as the ratio of measured to modelled layer thicknesses, multiplied by the long-term mean accumulation rate. The modelled layer thicknesses were based on a power-law vertical strain rate profile fitted to observed annual layer thickness. The periods 380–442, 727–783 and 1970–2009 CE have above-average snow accumulation rates, while 663–704, 933–975 and 1429–1468 CE were below average, and decadal-scale snow accumulation anomalies were found to be relatively common (74 events in the 2035-year record). The calculated snow accumulation rates show good correlation with atmospheric reanalysis estimates, and significant spatial correlation over a wide expanse of East Antarctica, demonstrating that the Law Dome record captures larger-scale variability across a large region of East Antarctica well beyond the immediate vicinity of the Law Dome summit. Spectral analysis reveals periodicities in the snow accumulation record which may be related to El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) frequencies