On the role of cold and warm sectors of synoptic systems in the atmospheric response to Sea Surface Temperature anomalies in aquaplanet simulations

Two sets of novel techniques are developed to study the atmospheric response to an SST anomaly. Firstly, a model surgery method (“Masking Technique”) is developed to be incorporated into a General Circulation Model (GCM), in which an interactive “mask” is used to systematically isolate and study the air-sea interaction over the warm and cold sectors of extratropical cyclones independently to each other. This method is applied to an idealised aquaplanet GCM (AFES) with a 150 km resolution forced with a fixed SST anomaly comparable to a tightening of the SST gradient over a Western Boundary Current. Results show that the atmospheric response via the cold sector (CSA) alone was able to reproduce the response when both cold and warm sectors interact with the SST anomaly. The same experiment with an identical set-up but with increased resolution (50km grid size) was performed. An opposite result was produced where the warm sector response (WSA) was more successful in reproducing the full response, suggesting that Low Resolution (LR) models often used in climate simulations suppress the processes occurring in the warm sector. In both LR and HR experiments, the Pressure Adjustment Mechanism was observed in the CSA case and not in the WSA case. However, in the HR model, response in the WSA showed regions of high baroclinicity and Eddy Kinetic Energy as well as strong upper-level response comparable to the full response, highlighting the role of the warm sector in restoring the baroclinicity in the storm track regions, as well as its ability to perturb the upper troposphere. This is in contrast to the cold sector response in which interaction was largely confined to shallow layers of the atmosphere. Secondly, a new frontal tracking method is developed that identifies atmospheric fronts objectively from gridded datasets. This diagnostic is applied to the aquaplanet simulation previously described to study the interaction between fronts and the SST anomaly. Applying the tracking method on the aquaplanet with the prescribed SST anomaly showed an increase in the frequency of fronts near the centre of the tightened SST gradient and a poleward shift of the trajectory of the fronts. Combining the tracking method and composite analysis showed that, on average, transverse circulation of individual fronts was dampened by crossing the SST anomaly.Open Acces

意識調査からみた日本人の自然観 : 自然観の意識構造と若者の意識

One of the most important issues confronting human beings nowadays is the problem of the environment, including the basic concern regarding what the relationship between man and nature should be. Using the results of several opinion surveys, this paper considers the way Japanese, especially the younger generation, think about nature.Looking at the changes that have occurred in opinions concerning nature, as reflected in the time series nationwide survey, the opinion that man must follow nature has been increasing, while the large number of the people surveyed still have a spiritual feeling for nature. A look at the results for the younger generation reveals that the percentage of people who have a spiritual feeling is smaller, but the percentage of people who think that man must follow nature is larger than in the upper age groups. A pre-test surveyed at Toyo Eiwa University and the Faculty of Agriculture at S. University shows that the percentage of people having spiritual feeling about nature is greater than the percentage of people in their twenties from the nation-wide survey. There were also some differences between the two universities in students\u27responses to a few questions.In order for mankind to coexist with nature, we may need to preserve and develop the spiritual side of the relationship. It is also necessary to consider the necessity of educating people early enough both in a spiritual sense and in a wide informative sense, including knowledge about ecosystems, and practical issues related to the preservation and protection of nature