Zonal asymmetries in middle atmospheric ozone and water vapour derived from Odin satellite data 2001–2010

Stationary wave patterns in middle atmospheric ozone (O<sub>3</sub>) and water vapour (H<sub>2</sub>O) are an important factor in the atmospheric circulation, but there is a strong gap in diagnosing and understanding their configuration and origin. Based on Odin satellite data from 2001 to 2010 we investigate the stationary wave patterns in O<sub>3</sub> and H<sub>2</sub>O as indicated by the seasonal long-term means of the zonally asymmetric components O<sub>3</sub>* = O<sub>3</sub>-[O<sub>3</sub>] and H<sub>2</sub>O* = H<sub>2</sub>O-[H<sub>2</sub>O] ([O<sub>3</sub>], [H<sub>2</sub>O]: zonal means). At mid- and polar latitudes we find a pronounced wave one pattern in both constituents. In the Northern Hemisphere, the wave patterns increase during autumn, maintain their strength during winter and decay during spring, with maximum amplitudes of about 10–20 % of the zonal mean values. During winter, the wave one in O<sub>3</sub>* shows a maximum over the North Pacific/Aleutians and a minimum over the North Atlantic/Northern Europe and a double-peak structure with enhanced amplitude in the lower and in the upper stratosphere. The wave one in H<sub>2</sub>O* extends from the lower stratosphere to the upper mesosphere with a westward shift in phase with increasing height including a jump in phase at upper stratosphere altitudes. In the Southern Hemisphere, similar wave patterns occur mainly during southern spring. By comparing the observed wave patterns in O<sub>3</sub>* and H<sub>2</sub>O* with a linear solution of a steady-state transport equation for a zonally asymmetric tracer component we find that these wave patterns are primarily due to zonally asymmetric transport by geostrophically balanced winds, which are derived from observed temperature profiles. In addition temperature-dependent photochemistry contributes substantially to the spatial structure of the wave pattern in O<sub>3</sub>* . Further influences, e.g., zonal asymmetries in eddy mixing processes, are discussed

ESA's wind Lidar mission ADM-AEOLUS; on-going scientific activities related to calibration, retrieval and instrument operation

The Earth Explorer Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM-Aeolus) of ESA will be the first-ever satellite to provide global observations of wind profiles from space. Its single payload, namely the Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument (ALADIN) is a directdetection high spectral resolution Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL), operating at 355 nm, with a fringe-imaging receiver (analysing aerosol and cloud backscatter) and a double-edge receiver (analysing molecular backscatter). In order to meet the stringent mission requirements on wind retrieval, ESA is conducting various science support activities for the consolidation of the on-ground data processing, calibration and sampling strategies. Results from a recent laboratory experiment to study Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering and improve the characterisation of the molecular lidar backscatter signal detected by the ALADIN double-edge Fabry- Perot receiver will be presented in this paper. The experiment produced the most accurate ever-measured Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering profiles for a range of temperature, pressure and gases, representative of Earth’s atmosphere. The measurements were used to validate the Tenti S6 model, which is implemented in the ADM-Aeolus ground processor. First results from the on-going Vertical Aeolus Measurement Positioning (VAMP) study will be also reported. This second study aims at the optimisation of the ADM-Aeolus vertical sampling in order to maximise the information content of the retrieved winds, taking into account the atmospheric dynamical and optical heterogeneity. The impact of the Aeolus wind profiles on Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) and stratospheric circulation modelling for the different vertical sampling strategies is also being estimated

Servicios urbanos integrados para las ciudades europeas: el ejemplo de Estocolmo

El concepto de servicio hidrometeorológico, climático y medioambiental urbano integrado ha sido propuesto por la OMM para satisfacer las necesidades futuras de sus Miembros, especialmente para lograr los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible de las Naciones Unidas. UrbanSIS en Estocolmo es una excelente demostración de una iniciativa de integración de diversas disciplinas científicas de una forma holística e innovadora. Los modelos meteorológicos, de calidad del aire e hidrológicos se usan para proporcionar datos de alta resolución espacial (1 km) y temporal (15 minutos a 1 hora) para el diseño y la planificación urbanas de manera vanguardista y ecocéntrica. La iniciativa de la OMM se emprendió cooperativamente y en colaboración con otras ciudades –Bolonia y Rotterdam– para desarrollar y generalizar eficientemente su capacidad. La OMM está siguiendo la Guía para los servicios hidrometeorológicos, climáticos y medioambientales urbanos integrados, Parte 1: Concepto y Metodología con ejemplos adicionales de ciudades de muestra con la mayor diversidad económica, geográfica y de riesgos

Positive definite and mass conserving tracer transport in spectral GCMs

A new scheme that solves the advection-diffusion equation for tracers in a spectral General Circulation Model (GCM) is presented. The main ideas are (1) using a monotonic and smooth functional of the tracer as prognostic variable to ensure positive definite concentrations and continuity of all derivatives and (2) defining an adjustable tracer-mass correction as a multiplication of the tracer in grid space, giving rise to an efficient correction in spectral space. Common standard benchmark tests for two-dimensional horizontal advection using deformational wind fields show that the new scheme is accurate and essentially not diffusive. A three-dimensional test is proposed in order to validate vertical transport. Additionally to standard error norms and global tracer mass, the entropy of mixing is introduced as another conservation constraint and utilized to determine the strength of the mass correction which is a free parameter. The transport scheme is applied in a mechanistic spectral GCM from the surface to the lower thermosphere. It is extended such that the mass correction takes the diffusion and other nonconservative effects explicitly into account. By this method we estimate the mean age of air along with its dependence on the turbulent horizontal Schmidt number

Short-range solar radiation forecasts over Sweden

In this article the performance for short-range solar radiation forecasts by the global deterministic and ensemble models from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is compared with an ensemble of the regional mesoscale model HARMONIE-AROME used by the national meteorological services in Sweden, Norway and Finland. Note however that only the control members and the ensemble means are included in the comparison. The models resolution differs considerably with 18 km for the ECMWF ensemble, 9 km for the ECMWF deterministic model, and 2.5 km for the HARMONIE-AROME ensemble.The models share the same radiation code. It turns out that they all underestimate systematically the Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) for clear-sky conditions. Except for this shortcoming, the HARMONIE-AROME ensemble model shows the best agreement with the distribution of observed Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) and DNI values. During mid-day the HARMONIE-AROME ensemble mean performs best. The control member of the HARMONIE-AROME ensemble also scores better than the global deterministic ECMWF model. This is an interesting result since mesoscale models have so far not shown good results when compared to the ECMWF models.Three days with clear, mixed and cloudy skies are used to illustrate the possible added value of a probabilistic forecast. It is shown that in these cases the mesoscale ensemble could provide decision support to a grid operator in terms of forecasts of both the amount of solar power and its probabilities

Corrigendum to "Climate change between the mid and late Holocene in northern high latitudes – Part 1: Survey of temperature and precipitation proxy data" published in Clim. Past, 6, 591–608, 2010

No abstract available

Zonal asymmetries in middle atmospheric ozone and water vapour derived from Odin satellite data 2001-2010

Stationary wave patterns in middle atmospheric ozone (O3) and water vapour (H2O) are an important factor in the atmospheric circulation, but there is a strong gap in diagnosing and understanding their configuration and origin. Based on Odin satellite data from 2001 to 2010 we investigate the stationary wave patterns in O3 and H2O as indicated by the seasonal long-term means of the zonally asymmetric components O3* Combining double low line O3-[O3] and H2O* Combining double low line H2O-[H2O] ([O3], [H2O]: zonal means). At mid-and polar latitudes we find a pronounced wave one pattern in both constituents. In the Northern Hemisphere, the wave patterns increase during autumn, maintain their strength during winter and decay during spring, with maximum amplitudes of about 10-20 % of the zonal mean values. During winter, the wave one in O3* shows a maximum over the North Pacific/Aleutians and a minimum over the North Atlantic/Northern Europe and a double-peak structure with enhanced amplitude in the lower and in the upper stratosphere. The wave one in H2O* extends from the lower stratosphere to the upper mesosphere with a westward shift in phase with increasing height including a jump in phase at upper stratosphere altitudes. In the Southern Hemisphere, similar wave patterns occur mainly during southern spring. By comparing the observed wave patterns in O 3* and H2O3* with a linear solution of a steady-state transport equation for a zonally asymmetric tracer component we find that these wave patterns are primarily due to zonally asymmetric transport by geostrophically balanced winds, which are derived from observed temperature profiles. In addition temperature-dependent photochemistry contributes substantially to the spatial structure of the wave pattern in O 3* . Further influences, e.g., zonal asymmetries in eddy mixing processes, are discussed

The smoother the better? : A comparison of six post-processing methods to improve short-term offshore wind power forecasts in the Baltic Sea

With a rapidly increasing capacity of electricity generation from wind power, the demand for accurate power production forecasts is growing. To date, most wind power installations have been onshore and thus most studies on production forecasts have focused on onshore conditions. However, as offshore wind power is becoming increasingly popular it is also important to assess forecast quality in offshore locations. In this study, forecasts from the high-resolution numerical weather prediction model AROME was used to analyze power production forecast performance for an offshore site in the Baltic Sea. To improve the AROME forecasts, six post-processing methods were investigated and their individual performance analyzed in general as well as for different wind speed ranges, boundary layer stratifications, synoptic situations and in low-level jet conditions. In general, AROME performed well in forecasting the power production, but applying smoothing or using a random forest algorithm increased forecast skill. Smoothing the forecast improved the performance at all wind speeds, all stratifications and for all synoptic weather classes, and the random forest method increased the forecast skill during low-level jets. To achieve the best performance, we recommend selecting which method to use based on the forecasted weather conditions. Combining forecasts from neighboring grid points, combining the recent forecast with the forecast from yesterday or applying linear regression to correct the forecast based on earlier performance were not fruitful methods to increase the overall forecast quality

Bimetallic sesquifulvalene complexes - Compounds with unusually large hyperpolarizability beta

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