First insights on Lake General Carrera/Buenos Aires/Chelenko water balance

Lago General Carrera (Chile) also called Lago Buenos Aires (Argentina) or originally Chelenko by the native habitants of the region is located in Patagonia on the Chilean-Argentinean border. It is the largest lake in Chile with a surface area of 1850 km<sup>2</sup>. The lake is of glacial/tectonic origin and surrounded by the Andes mountain range. The lake drains primarily to the Pacific Ocean to the west, through the Baker River (one of Chile's largest rivers), and intermittently eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. We report ongoing results from an investigation of the seasonal hydrological cycle of the lake basin. The contribution by river input through snowmelt from the Andes is of primary importance, though the lack of water input by ungaged rivers is also critical. We present the main variables involved in the water balance of Lake General Carrera/Buenos Aires/Chelenko, such as influent and effluent river flows, precipitation, and evaporation, all this based mostly in in-situ information

The influence of global warming in Earth rotation speed

The tendency of the atmospheric angular momentum (AAM) is investigated using a 49-year set of monthly AAM data for the period January 1949-December 1997. This data set is constructed with zonal wind values from the reanalyses of NCEP/NCAR, used in conjunction with a variety of operationally produced AAM time series with different independent sources and lengths over 1976-1997. In all the analyzed AAM series the linear trend is found to be positive. Since the angular momentum of the atmosphere-earth system is conserved this corresponds to a net loss of angular momentum by the solid earth, therefore decreasing the Earth rotation speed and increasing the length of day (LOD). The AAM rise is significant to the budget of angular momentum of the global atmosphere-earth system; its value in milliseconds/century (ms/cy) is +0.56 ms/cy, corresponding to one-third of the estimated increase in LOD (+1.7 ms/cy). The major contribution to this secular trend in AAM comes from the equatorial Tropopause. This is consistent with results from a previous study using a simplified aqua-planet model to investigate the AAM variations due to near equatorial warming conditions. During the same time interval, 1949-1997, the global marine + land-surface temperature increases by about 0.79 °C/cy, showing a linear correspondence between surface temperature increase and global AAM of about 0.07 ms per 0.1 °C. These results imply that atmospheric angular momentum may be used as an independent index of the global atmosphere's dynamical response to the greenhouse forcing, and as such, the length of day may be used as an indirect indicator of global warming.Key words. Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics (general circulation) · Geodes

Rotation of the Earth, solar activity and cosmic ray intensity

International audienceWe analyse phase lags between the 11-year variations of three records: the semi-annual oscillation of the length of day (LOD), the solar activity (SA) and the cosmic ray intensity (CRI). The analysis was done for solar cycles 20-23. Observed relationships between LOD, CRI and SA are discussed separately for even and odd solar cycles. Phase lags were calculated using different methods (comparison of maximal points of cycles, maximal correlation coefficient, line of synchronization of cross-recurrence plots). We have found different phase lags between SA and CRI for even and odd solar cycles, confirming previous studies. The evolution of phase lags between SA and LOD as well as between CRI and LOD shows a positive trend with additional variations of phase lag values. For solar cycle 20, phase lags between SA and CRI, between SA and LOD, and between CRI and LOD were found to be negative. Overall, our study suggests that, if anything, the length of day could be influenced by solar irradiance rather than by cosmic rays

Lagrangian study of the Panama Bight and surrounding regions - art. no. C09013

Near-surface circulation of the Panama Bight and surrounding regions [0 - 9 degrees N; 73 degrees W - 90 degrees W] was studied using satellite-tracked drifter trajectories from 1979 - 2004. This region encompasses three major currents showing typical velocities of similar to 30 cm s(-1): ( 1) the eastward North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC), ( 2) the near-circular Panama Bight Cyclonic Gyre (PBCG), and ( 3) the westward South Equatorial Current ( SEC). We do not observe significant modification of the mean surface circulation during El Nino Southern Oscillation events, even if the SEC is slightly reinforced during relatively warm El Nino periods. At seasonal scales, the circulation is strongly controlled by the activity of the Panama wind-jet: in boreal winter, the currents are stronger and an anticyclonic cell is present west of the PBCG. This dipole leads to a strong similar to 200 km wide southward current which then disappears during the rest of the year. In summer, the three major currents have reduced intensity by 30% - 40%. Large-scale current vorticity shows that the upwelling associated with the PBCG is also 3 - 4 times stronger in winter than during summer months. The kinetic energy is largely dominated by eddy activity and its intensity is double in winter than during summer. Ageostrophic motions and eddy activity appear to have a substantial impact on the energy spatial distribution. In the NECC and SEC regions, Lagrangian scales are anisotropic and zonally enhanced in the direction of the mean currents. The typical integral time and length scales of these regions are 2.5 days and 50 - 60 km in the zonal direction and 1.5 days and 25 - 30 km in the meridional direction. Lateral eddy diffusivity coefficients are on the order of 11 - 14 10(7) cm(2) s(-1) zonally and 5 - 6 10(7) cm(2) s(-1) meridionally. In contrast, in the PBCG region, the Lagrangian characteristics are isotropic with typical timescales of 1.7 days, space scales of 30 km and eddy diffusivity coefficients of 6 10(7) cm(2) s(-1) in both directions

Interdecadal oscillations in Atmospheric Angular Momentum variations

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