Meteorological observations on the northern Chilean coast during VOCALS-REx

Surface coastal observations from two automatic weather stations at Paposo (~25° S) and radiosonde observations at Paposo and Iquique (~20° S) were carried out during VOCALS-REx (VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment). Within the coastal marine boundary layer (MBL), sea–land breezes are superimposed on the prevailing southerlies, resulting in light northeasterly winds from midnight to early morning and strong southwesterlies in the afternoon. The prevailing northerlies above the MBL and below the top of the Andes are modulated by the onshore-offshore (zonal) flow forced by the diurnal cycle of surface heating/cooling along the western slope of the Andes. The daytime phase of this diurnal cycle is consistent with an enhanced afternoon coastal subsidence manifested in afternoon warming near the top of the subsidence inversion (~1.8 K at 800 hPa), lowering (~130 m) of its base (top of the MBL), and clearing of coastal Sc (stratocumulus) clouds. Results from a numerical simulation of the atmospheric circulation in a mean zonal cross section over the study area capture the afternoon zonal wind divergence and resulting subsidence of about 2 cm s−1 along a narrow (~10 km) coastal strip maximizing at around 800 hPa. Day-to-day variability in the MBL depth during VOCALS-REx shows sub-synoptic oscillations, aside from two major disruptions in connection with a deep trough and a cutoff low, as described elsewhere. These oscillations are phase-locked to those in sea-level pressure and afternoon alongshore southerlies, as found in connection with coastal lows farther south. From 24-h forward trajectories issued from significant points at the coast and inland at the extremes of the diurnal cycle, it can be concluded that the strong mean daytime Andean pumping prevents any possibility of continental sulfur sources from reaching the free troposphere above the Sc cloud deck in at least a one-day timescale, under mean conditions. Conversely, coastal sources could contribute with sulfur aerosols preferentially in the morning, provided that the weak daytime inland flow becomes partially blocked by the coastal terrain

Aeolian particles in marine cores as a tool for quantitative high-resolution reconstruction of upwelling favorable winds along coastal Atacama Desert, Northern Chile

Upwelling areas play a major role in ocean biogeochemical cycles and ultimately in global climate, especially in higly productive regions as the South Eastern Pacific. This work is based on the analysis of the aeolian lithic particles accumulated in laminated sediments off Mejillones (23 degrees S) in the eastern boundary Humboldt Current System. It proposes a high-resolution quantitative reconstruction of the upwelling-favorable southerly wind strength in the past similar to 250 years, comparing its variability with changes in organic carbon export/preserved changes to the sea bottom. The increase of the intensity and variability in fluxes of particles larger than 35 mu m and 100 mu m since the second half of the 19th century and during the 20th century confirms a general strengthening of southerly winds in the region. Spectral analysis on the complete time-series of yearly depositional fluxes indicates that sedimentary variability can be explained by a combination of interannual (ENSO) to decadal (PDO) oscillations similar to the ones yielded by the analysis of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation index. However, when applied separately to the lithic fluxes of the first and last centuries of the time-series, the method shows that relative to the one of the interannual mode of variability, the influence of the decadal mode has increased in the recent period. Based on the presence/absence of particles with sizes larger than 35/100 mu m, each year of the time series is classified as a 'Low wind' (12 m/s) year. From the AD 1754-1820 period to the AD 1878-1998 one, the proportion of Low and Intermediate wind years decreased from 12% and 74% to 3% and 68%, respectively, whereas the proportion of strong wind years increased from 14% to 29%. For these periods the mean organic carbon also increased 22%, stating the strong relation between export/preservation productivity rate and southerly wind intensity. In the recent period (from AD 1950 on) for which the Oceanic Nino Index is available, the strong wind years (AD 1982, 1983, 1994, and 1997) correspond to large values of this index, suggesting that constructive interferences that result from the interplay between interannual and decadal oscillations modes might explain in part the reinforcement of the winds along the North Chilean coast

Inter-annual variability of southerly winds in a coastal area of the Atacama Desert : implications for the export of aeolian sediments to the adjacent marine environment

The analysis of the aeolian content of marine cores collected off the coast of the Atacama Desert (Mejillones Bay, Chile) suggests that marine sediments can record inter-annual to inter-decadal variations in the regional southerly winds responsible for particle entrainment at the surface of the nearby desert. However, the establishment of a simple and direct correlation between the sediment and wind records is complicated by the difference of time scales between the erosion and accumulation processes. The aim of this work is to: (i) assess the inter-annual variability of the surface winds responsible for the sand movements; and (ii) determine whether the integration over periods of several months completely smoothes the rapid changes in characteristics of the transported and deposited aeolian material. To accomplish this aim, 14 years of 10 m hourly wind speed, measured at the Cerro Moreno (Antofagasta) Airport between 1991 and 2003 and at the Orica Station between 2000 and 2004, were analyzed. For each year, the wind speed statistical distribution can be represented by a combination of two to three Weibull functions. Winds of the lowest Weibull mode are too weak to move the sand grains at the surface of the pampa; this is not the case for the intermediate mode and especially for the highest speed mode which are able to erode the arid surface and transport particles to the bay. In each individual year of the period of study, the highest speed mode only accounted for a limited number of strong erosion events. Quantitative analysis of the distribution of the friction velocities and of their impact on erosion using a saltation model suggests that, although all wind speeds above threshold produce erosion events, values around 0.45 m sec-1 contribute less to the erosion flux. This gap allows separation of the erosion events into low and high saltation modes. The correlation (r = 0.997) between the importance of the third Weibull mode and the extent of higher rate saltation indicates that the inter-annual variability of the erosion at the surface of the pampa, as well as the transport of coarse particles (>100 mu m), are directly related to inter-annual variations in the prevalence of the strongest winds. Finally, a transport and deposition model is used to assess the possible impact of the wind inter-annual variability on the deposition flux of mineral particles in the bay. The results suggest that inter-annual differences in the wind speed distributions have a quantifiable effect on the intensity and size-distribution of this deposition flux. This observation suggests that a detailed analysis of the sediment cores collected from the bay could be used for reconstructing the inter-annual variability of past winds

Aeolian erosion and sand transport over the Mejillones Pampa in the coastal Atacama Desert of northern Chile

The Mejillones Peninsula in the coastal Atacama Desert of northern Chile is a region in which ocean-atmosphere-land interactions are particularly strong, resulting in enhanced alongshore winds that erode the surface and transport sand particles to the sea. Because the aeolian particles in the laminated sediments at the bottom of Mejillones Bay record long-term changes in the intensity of prevailing southerly winds, it is fundamental to understand aeolian processes such as wind erosion and sand transport to improve paleoceanographic reconstructions. The aim of the present study is to characterize the wind erosion process over the flat geomorphology of the northern portion of the Mejillones Peninsula, the Mejillones Pampa, including the influence of wind erosion on the initial particle size distribution and the associated fractionation processes of the mineralogical composition of moving particles, through field measurements. In addition, we test the ability of an existing saltation model (MB95) to reproduce the variability of the erosion process during the field experiment. Soil samples from 17 locations on this flat surface contain significant amounts of highly erodible particles with diameters in the 200-300 mu m and 100-150 mu m size ranges. Aeolian particles collected in BSNE sand traps located at different heights near the surface, exhibit a bimodal size distribution similar to that of the erodible fraction of the soils: the abundance of the fine class increasing with height. Small stones that have a spatially variable distribution can locally reduce the intensity of wind erosion. The mineralogical composition of moving particles is similar to that of the soils, with quartz, feldspar and calcite as the most important minerals, followed by clay minerals, gypsum and amphibole. A value of u(t)* is calculated for each soil particle size class. Subsequently, the elementary contribution of each size class to the horizontal flux is calculated using White (1979)'s equation and the total flux is finally obtained by integration. The saltation model successfully reproduces the variability of the wind erosion process during the field experiment, but over-estimates the vertically integrated mass fluxes measured in situ by two orders of magnitude

Linnéfest och doktorspromotion 23 och 26 maj 2007

Dust storms that develop along the Pisco-Ica desert in Southern Peru, locally known as "Paracas" winds have ecological, health and economic repercussions. Here we identify dust sources through MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) imagery and analyze HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single Particles Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) model trajectories and dispersion patterns, along with concomitant synoptic-scale meteorological conditions from National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis (NCEP/NCAR). Additionally, surface pressure data from the hourly METeorological Aerodrome Report (METAR) at Arica (18.5 degrees S, 70.3 degrees W) and Pisco (13.7 degrees S, 76.2 degrees W) were used to calculate Alongshore (sea-level) Pressure Gradient (APG) anomalies during Paracas dust storms, their duration and associated wind-speeds and wind directions. This study provides a review on the occurrence and strength of the Paracas dust storms as reported in the Pisco airfield for five-year period and their correspondence with MODIS true-color imagery in terms of dust-emission source areas. Our results show that most of the particle fluxes moving into the Ica-Pisco desert area during Paracas wind events originate over the coastal zone, where strong winds forced by steep APGs develop as the axis of a deep mid-troposphere trough sets in along north-central Chile. Direct relationships between Paracas wind intensity, number of active dust-emission sources and APGs are also documented, although the scarcity of simultaneous METAR/MODIS data for clearly observed MODIS dust plumes prevents any significant statistical inference. Synoptic-scale meteorological composites from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data show that Paracas wind events (steep APGs) are mostly associated with the strengthening of anticyclonic conditions in northern Chile, that can be attributed to cold air advection associated with the incoming trough. Compared to the MODIS images, HYSPLIT outputs were able to spatially reproduce trajectories and dust dispersion plumes during the Paracas wind storms. HYSPLIT trajectories revealed that part of the wind-eroded lithological material can be transported downwind several kilometers along the Peruvian coast and also deposited over the nearby coastal ocean, giving support to the presence of an aeolian signal in continental shelf sediments, of great importance for paleoenvironmental studies

Sensitivity of the near-shore oceanic circulation off central Chile to coastal wind profiles characteristics

In Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (EBUS), the upwelling favorable wind speeds decrease toward the coast in the so-called wind drop-off coastal strip, which has been shown to be influential on the coastal upwelling dynamics, particularly in terms of the relative contributions of Ekman drift and Ekman suction to coastal upwelling. Currently, the wind drop-off length scale is not properly resolved by the atmospheric forcing of regional ocean models in EBUS, featuring a smoother cross-shore wind profile that results in stronger near-shore speeds that could partly explain the coastal cold bias often found in those model simulations. Here, as a case study for the upwelling system off Central Chile, the sensitivity of upwelling dynamics to the coastal wind reduction is investigated using a Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). Coastal wind profiles at different resolutions are first generated using a regional atmospheric model, validated from altimeter data, and then used to correct the coarse atmospheric wind forcing used for sensitivity experiments with ROMS. It is shown that the wind drop-off correction induces a reduction in the oceanic coastal jet intensity, a stronger poleward undercurrent and a coherent offshore Ekman drift. It also yields a significant reduction of the cold bias along the coast compared to the simulation with uncorrected winds. Such reduction cannot be solely explained by the reduced Ekman transport only partially compensated by increase in Ekman suction. The analysis of the surface heat budget reveals in fact that an important contributor to the cooling reduction along the coast in the presence of coastal wind drop-off is the heat flux term mediated by the reduction in the mixed-layer depth. Overall, our results illustrate the nonlinear response of the upwelling dynamics to the coastal wind profiles in this region

Surface wind strength and sea surface temperature connections along the south peruvian coast during the last 150 years

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