Assessment of value added for surface marine wind speed obtained from two regional climate models

Hindcasts with reanalysis-driven regional climate models (RCMs) are a common tool to assess weather statistics (i.e., climate) and recent changes and trends. The capability of different state-of-the-art RCMs (with and without spectral nudging applied) to add value for surface marine wind speed in comparison to the reanalysis wind speed forcing is assessed by the comparison with observations in the eastern North Atlantic in 1998. Added value is elaborated on instantaneous wind speeds and their frequency distribution. The observations are discriminated into groups according to their proximity to land and assimilation status, meaning whether they are assimilated into the reanalysis or not. For instantaneous wind speeds RCMs do not show added value both in ‘‘open ocean’’ areas and the German Bight. However, in the English Channel, where local topography and associated local wind regimes become important, the regional models show an added value for instantaneous wind speeds. Concerning the wind speed distribution there is a clear indication for an added value of the RCMs in coastal regions, especially for higher wind speed percentiles, while in open-ocean areas no added value is found. In comparison to the unnudged simulation, the spectrally nudged simulations better represent both instantaneous wind speeds and their frequency distribution. These results hold independently of the measurements’ assimilation status. Strictly the findings of this study only hold for hindcast studies, the results may differ for other areas and years

Nanoscale quantum dot infrared sensors with photonic crystal cavity

We report high performance infrared sensors that are based on intersubband transitions in nanoscale self-assembled quantum dots combined with a microcavity resonator made with a high-index-contrast two-dimensional photonic crystal. The addition of the photonic crystal cavity increases the photocurrent, conversion efficiency, and the signal to noise ratio (represented by the specific detectivity D*) by more than an order of magnitude. The conversion efficiency of the detector at Vb=–2.6 V increased from 7.5% for the control sample to 95% in the PhC detector. In principle, these photonic crystal resonators are technology agnostic and can be directly integrated into the manufacturing of present day infrared sensors using existing lithographic tools in the fabrication facility

Exploring high-end climate change scenarios for flood protection of the Netherlands

This international scientific assessment has been carried out at the request of the Dutch Delta Committee. The "Deltacommissie" requested that the assessment explore the high-end climate change scenarios for flood protection of the Netherlands. It is a state-of–the art scientific assessment of the upper bound values and longer term projections (for sea level rise up to 2200) of climate induced sea level rise, changing storm surge conditions and peak discharge of river Rhine. It comprises a review of recent studies, model projections and expert opinions of more than 20 leading climate scientists from different countries around the North Sea, Australia and the US

Wave climate in the Arkona Basin, the Baltic Sea

The basic features of the wave climate in the Southwestern Baltic Sea (such as the average and typical wave conditions, frequency of occurrence of different wave parameters, variations in wave heights from weekly to decadal scales) are established based on waverider measurements at the Darss Sill in 1991–2010. The measured climate is compared with two numerical simulations with the WAM wave model driven by downscaled reanalysis of wind fields for 1958–2002 and by adjusted geostrophic winds for 1970–2007. The wave climate in this region is typical for semi-enclosed basins of the Baltic Sea. The maximum wave heights are about half of those in the Baltic Proper. The maximum recorded significant wave height <i>H</i><sub>S</sub> =4.46 m occurred on 3 November 1995. The wave height exhibits no long-term trend but reveals modest interannual (about 12 % of the long-term mean of 0.76 m) and substantial seasonal variation. The wave periods are mostly concentrated in a narrow range of 2.6–4 s. Their distribution is almost constant over decades. The role of remote swell is very small

Contribution of solitons to enhanced rogue wave occurrence in shallow depths: a case study in the southern North Sea

The shallow waters off the coast of Norderney in the southern North Sea are characterised by a higher frequency of rogue wave occurrences than expected. Here, rogue waves refer to waves exceeding twice the significant wave height. The role of nonlinear processes in the generation of rogue waves at this location is currently unclear. Within the framework of the Korteweg–de Vries (KdV) equation, we investigated the discrete soliton spectra of measured time series at Norderney to determine differences between time series with and without rogue waves. For this purpose, we applied a nonlinear Fourier transform (NLFT) based on the Korteweg–de Vries equation with vanishing boundary conditions (vKdV-NLFT). At measurement sites where the propagation of waves can be described by the KdV equation, the solitons in the discrete nonlinear vKdV-NLFT spectrum correspond to physical solitons. We do not know whether this is the case at the considered measurement site. In this paper, we use the nonlinear spectrum to classify rogue wave and non-rogue wave time series. More specifically, we investigate if the discrete nonlinear spectra of measured time series with visible rogue waves differ from those without rogue waves. Whether or not the discrete part of the nonlinear spectrum corresponds to solitons with respect to the conditions at the measurement site is not relevant in this case, as we are not concerned with how these spectra change during propagation. For each time series containing a rogue wave, we were able to identify at least one soliton in the nonlinear spectrum that contributed to the occurrence of the rogue wave in that time series. The amplitudes of these solitons were found to be smaller than the crest height of the corresponding rogue wave, and interaction with the continuous wave spectrum is needed to fully explain the observed rogue wave. Time series with and without rogue waves showed different characteristic soliton spectra. In most of the spectra calculated from rogue wave time series, most of the solitons clustered around similar heights, but the largest soliton was outstanding, with an amplitude significantly larger than all other solitons. The presence of a clearly outstanding soliton in the spectrum was found to be an indicator pointing towards the enhanced probability of the occurrence of a rogue wave in the time series. Similarly, when the discrete spectrum appears as a cluster of solitons without the presence of a clearly outstanding soliton, the presence of a rogue wave in the observed time series is unlikely. These results suggest that soliton-like and nonlinear processes substantially contribute to the enhanced occurrence of rogue waves off Norderney.</p