Effectiveness of surface monitoring stations in representing regional CO2 emissions over India

The study assesses the usefulness of 2 currently operating CO2 monitoring stations over India using multi-particle back-trajectory analysis derived from the FLEXPART Lagrangian particle dispersion model. The 2 receptors are located at Hanle (HLE) and Cape Rama (CRI); the former is located at the foothills of the Himalayas and the latter is a coastal site near Goa. The particle back-trajectories reaching HLE indicated that probable source regions for CO2 are primarily from northern Africa, the southwestern Eurasia and the south Asian subcontinent. The back-trajectories further indicated a descending pattern from the upper troposphere. Irrespective of the differential flow patterns during summer (June to September) and winter (December to February), the indicated source regions in HLE are nearly similar throughout the year. On the other hand, the source regions in CRI respond to the differential flow pattern, and are primarily from the northeastern part of India during winter and from the southern tropical Indian Ocean during summer. The dispersion in the back-trajectories reaching CRI is relatively smaller than at HLE. This study indicates that the location of CRI (HLE) is appropriate for capturing the regional emissions of CO2 and their short- (long-)range transport from the lower (upper) troposphere. The receptor at CRI was more representative of boundary layer fluxes, while the receptor at HLE was representative of both the boundary layer fluxes and background concentrations from the upper tropospher

The role of unbalanced mesoscale circulations in dust storms

In this study, two dust storms in northwestern Nevada (February 2002 and April 2004) are investigated through the use of Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulations. The focus of the study is twofold: (1) Examination of dynamic processes on the meso-β scale for both cases, and (2) analysis of extreme upper-air cooling prior to storm formation and the development of a nearly discontinuous gust front in the 2002 case that could not be validated in an earlier synoptic-scale study. Results of the simulations suggest that the driving mechanism for dust storm dynamics derives from the breakdown and subsequent balance between the advection of geostrophic wind and total wind in the exit region of the polar jet. In this process, the deviation from quasi-geostrophic (Q-G) balance creates a plume of ascent along and to the right of the jet's exit region. The cold pool generation in the mid-lower troposphere in consequence of this adjustment sets up the kinetic energy in the planetary boundary layer and creates a forward leaning (slope from north to south) cold front under the jet exit region. Surface heating is coupled with this frontal structure, and rapid surface pressure falls (rises) occur initially (later) in response to diabatic (adiabatic) processes. The adjustments occur at fast time scales, scales that are radically different from those in studies that followed the Q-G tenets of the Danielsen paradigm. The results of this study indicate that meso-β scale features associated with subgeostrophy in the exit region of the curved jet aloft and associated thermal wind imbalance (700-500 hPa) lead to significant velocity divergence aloft. Mass/momentum adjustments and the associated cooling strengthen the baroclinic zone aloft. The restoration to thermal wind balance accompanying this cooling resulted in a narrow zone of surface pressure rise and strong low-level isallobaric winds. The turbulent momentum for dust ablation comes from this sequence of processes

Monsoon-extratropical circulation interactions in Himalayan extreme rainfall

Extreme precipitation and flood episodes in the Himalayas are oftentimes traced to synoptic situations involving connections between equatorward advancing upper level extratropical circulations and moisture-laden tropical monsoon circulation. While previous studies have documented precipitation characteristics in the Himalayan region during severe storm cases, a comprehensive understanding of circulation dynamics of extreme precipitation mechanisms is still warranted. In this study, a detailed analysis is performed using rainfall observations and reanalysis circulation products to understand the evolution of monsoon-extratropical circulation features and their interactions based on 34 extreme precipitation events which occurred in the Western Himalayas (WEH) during the period 1979–2013. Our results provide evidence for a common large-scale circulation pattern connecting the extratropics and the South Asian monsoon region, which is favorable for extreme precipitation occurrences in the WEH region. This background upper level large-scale circulation pattern consists of a deep southward penetrating midlatitude westerly trough, a blocking high over western Eurasia and an intensifying Tibetan anticyclone. It is further seen from our analysis that the key elements of monsoon-midlatitude interactions, responsible for extreme precipitation events over the WEH region, are: (1) midlatitude Rossby wave breaking, (2) west-northwest propagation of monsoon low-pressure system from the Bay of Bengal across the Indian subcontinent, (3) eddy shedding of the Tibetan anticyclone, (4) ageostrophic motions and transverse circulation across the Himalayas, and (5) strong moist convection over the Himalayan foothills. Furthermore, high-resolution numerical simulations indicate that diabatic heating and mesoscale ageostrophic effects can additionally amplify the convective motions and precipitation in the WEH region

Re-examination of the i-5 dust storm

The infamous dust storm over the thanksgiving holiday of 1991 that led to loss of life from numerous automobile accidents on Interstate 5 (I-5) has been re-examined. Pauley et al. (1996) conducted an earlier investigation of this dust storm following the tenets of Danielsen's paradigm-a paradigm that links the tropopause fold phenomenon and a balanced thermally indirect circulation about the upper level jet stream. However, a cursory examination of mesoscale structures in the storm from the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) indicated evidence of a low-level unbalanced thermally direct circulation that demanded further investigation using a high-resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulation. Principal results from the present study follow: (1) Although the model simulation showed evidence of a weak indirect circulation in the upper troposphere in support of the Danielsen's paradigm, the dynamic control of the storm stemmed from the lower tropospheric mesoscale response to geostrophic imbalance. (2) A lower tropospheric direct circulation led to mass/temperature adjustments that were confirmed by upper air observations at locations in proximity to the accident site, and (3) boundary layer deepening and destabilization due to these mesoscale processes pinpointed the timing and location of the dust storm. Although the present study does not underestimate the value of analyses that focus on the larger/synoptic scales of motion, it does bring to light the value of investigation that makes use of the mesoscale resources in order to clarify synoptic-mesoscale interactions