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84 records · Page 5

Synoptic Traveling Weather Systems on Mars: Effects of Radiatively-Active Water Ice Clouds

Atmospheric aerosols on Mars are critical in determining the nature of its thermal structure, its large-scale circulation, and hence the overall climate of the planet. We conduct multi-annual simulations with the latest version of the NASA Ames Mars global climate model (GCM), gcm2.3+, that includes a modernized radiative-transfer package and complex water-ice cloud microphysics package which permit radiative effects and interactions of suspended atmospheric aerosols (e.g., water ice clouds, water vapor, dust, and mutual interactions) to influence the net diabatic heating. Results indicate that radiatively active water ice clouds profoundly affect the seasonal and annual mean climate. The mean thermal structure and balanced circulation patterns are strongly modified near the surface and aloft. Warming of the subtropical atmosphere at altitude and cooling of the high latitude atmosphere at low levels takes place, which increases the mean pole-to-equator temperature contrast (i.e., "baroclinicity"). With radiatively active water ice clouds (RAC) compared to radiatively inert water ice clouds (nonRAC), significant changes in the intensity of the mean state and forced stationary Rossby modes occur, both of which affect the vigor and intensity of traveling, synoptic period weather systems.Such weather systems not only act as key agents in the transport of heat and momentum beyond the extent of the Hadley circulation, but also the transport of trace species such as water vapor, water ice-clouds, dust and others. The northern hemisphere (NH) forced Rossby waves and resultant wave train are augmented in the RAC case: the modes are more intense and the wave train is shifted equatorward. Significant changes also occur within the subtropics and tropics. The Rossby wave train sets up, combined with the traveling synoptic period weather systems (i.e., cyclones and anticyclones), the geographic extent of storm zones (or storm tracks) within the NH. A variety of circulation features will be presented which indicate contrasts between the RAC and nonRAC cases, and which highlight key effects radiatively-active clouds have on physical and dynamical processes active in the current climate of Mars.

GCM-global climate model↗

Synoptic Traveling Weather Systems on Mars: Effects of Radiatively-Active Water Ice Clouds

Atmospheric aerosols on Mars are critical in determining the nature of its thermal structure, its large-scale circulation, and hence the overall climate of the planet. We conduct multi-annual simulations with the latest version of the NASA Ames Mars global climate model (GCM), gcm2.3+, that includes a modernized radiative-transfer package and complex water-ice cloud microphysics package which permit radiative effects and interactions of suspended atmospheric aerosols (e.g., water ice clouds, water vapor, dust, and mutual interactions) to influence the net diabatic heating. Results indicate that radiatively active water ice clouds profoundly affect the seasonal and annual mean climate. The mean thermal structure and balanced circulation patterns are strongly modified near the surface and aloft. Warming of the subtropical atmosphere at altitude and cooling of the high latitude atmosphere at low levels takes place, which increases the mean pole-to-equator temperature contrast (i.e., "baroclinicity"). With radiatively active water ice clouds (RAC) compared to radiatively inert water ice clouds (nonRAC), significant changes in the intensity of the mean state and forced stationary Rossby modes occur, both of which affect the vigor and intensity of traveling, synoptic period weather systems. Such weather systems not only act as key agents in the transport of heat and momentum beyond the extent of the Hadley circulation, but also the transport of trace species such as water vapor, water ice-clouds, dust and others. The northern hemisphere (NH) forced Rossby waves and resultant wave train are augmented in the RAC case: the modes are more intense and the wave train is shifted equatorward. Significant changes also occur within the subtropics and tropics. The Rossby wave train sets up, combined with the traveling synoptic-period weather systems (i.e., cyclones and anticyclones), the geographic extent of storm zones (or storm tracks) within the NH. A variety of circulation features will be presented which indicate contrasts between the RAC and nonRAC cases, and which highlight key effects radiatively-active clouds have on physical and dynamical processes active in the current climate of Mars.

NASA Ames Mars global climate model (GCM)↗

Analyzing Martian winds and tracer concentrations using Mars Observer data

During the courses of a day, the Mars Observer spacecraft will acquire globally distributed profiles of the martian atmosphere. It is highly desirable that this data be assembled into synoptic weather maps (complete specifications of the atmospheric pressure, temperature, and winds at a given time), which can in turn be used as starting points in the study of many meteorological phenomena. Unfortunately, the special nature of the Mars Observer data presents several challenges above and beyond the usual difficult problem of data initialization. Mars Observer atmospheric data will consist almost exclusively of asynoptic vertical profiles of temperatures (or radiances) and pressures, whereas winds are generally in balance with horizontal gradients of these quantities (which will not be observed). It will therefore be necessary to resort to dynamical models to analyze the wind fields. As a rule, data assimilation into atmospheric models can result in the generation of spurious gravity waves, so special steps must be taken to suppress these. In addition, the asynoptic nature of the data will require a four-dimensional (space and time) data assimilation scheme. The problem is to find a full set of meteorological fields (winds and temperatures) such that, when marched forward in time in the model, they achieve a best fit (in the weighted least-squares sense) to the data. The proposed solution is to develop a model especially for the Mars Observer data assimilation problem. Gravity waves are filtered from the model by eliminating all divergence terms from the prognostic divergence equation. This leaves a diagnostic gradient wind relation between the rotational wind and the temperature field. The divergent wind is diagnosed as the wind required to maintain the gradient wind balance in the presence of the diabatic heating. The primitive equations of atmospheric dynamics (with three principal dependent variables) are thus reduced to a simpler system with a single prognostic equation for temperature - the variable that will be best observed. (This balance system was apparently first derived by Charney as a first-order Rossby number expansion of the equations of motion). Experience with a full primitive equation model of the martian atmosphere indicates that a further simplification is possible: at least for short-term integrations, the model can be linearized about the zonally symmetric basic state.

Houben, Howard C.↗

A Practical Approach to Wave Function Propagation, Hopping Probabilities, and Time Steps in Surface Hopping Calculations

We compare several established approaches for propagating wave functions and calculating hopping probabilities within the fewest switches surface hopping (FSSH) algorithm for difficult cases with many electronic states and many trivial crossings. If only a single time step (Δt c ) is employed, we find that no published approach can accurately capture the dynamics correctly unless Δt c → 0 (which is not computationally feasible). If multiple time steps are employed, for a fixed classical time step (Δt c ), a robust scheme can be found for dynamically choosing quantum time steps (δt q1 and δt q2 ) and calculating hopping probabilities so that one can systematically reduce all errors and achieve maximally efficient accuracy; scattering calculations confirm that one can choose a fairly large classical time step. Furthermore, the robust scheme presented here uses both the “local diabatic” and adiabatic interpolation and thus borrows elements from both the Granucci/Persico and Meek/Levine algorithms. Our findings should be broadly applicable in the future.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

String-Breaking Dynamics in Quantum Adiabatic and Diabatic Processes

Confinement prohibits isolation of color charges, e.g., quarks, in nature via a process called string breaking : the separation of two charges results in an increase in the energy of a color flux, visualized as a string, connecting those charges. Eventually, creating additional charges is energetically favored, hence breaking the string. Such a phenomenon can be probed in simpler models, including quantum spin chains, enabling enhanced understanding of string-breaking dynamics. A challenging task is to understand how string breaking occurs as time elapses, in an out-of-equilibrium setting. This work establishes the phenomenology of dynamical string breaking induced by a gradual increase of string tension over time. It, thus, goes beyond instantaneous quench processes and enables tracking the real-time evolution of strings in a more controlled setting. We focus on domain-wall confinement in a family of quantum Ising chains. Our results indicate that, for sufficiently short strings and slow evolution, string breaking can be described by the transition dynamics of a two-state quantum system akin to a Landau-Zener process. For longer strings, a more intricate spatiotemporal pattern emerges: the string breaks by forming a superposition of bubbles (domains of flipped spins of varying sizes), which involve highly excited states. We finally demonstrate that string breaking driven only by quantum fluctuations can be realized in the presence of sufficiently long-ranged interactions. This work holds immediate relevance for studying string breaking in quantum-simulation experiments.

Ising model↗

Modeling, Simulation, and Forecasting of Subseasonal Variability

A planning workshop on "Modeling, Simulation and Forecasting of Subseasonal Variability" was held in June 2003. This workshop was the first of a number of meetings planned to follow the NASA-sponsored workshop entitled "Prospects For Improved Forecasts Of Weather And Short-Term Climate Variability On Sub-Seasonal Time Scales" that was held April 2002. The 2002 workshop highlighted a number of key sources of unrealized predictability on subseasonal time scales including tropical heating, soil wetness, the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) [a.k.a Intraseasonal Oscillation (ISO)], the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and the Pacific/North American (PNA) pattern. The overarching objective of the 2003 follow-up workshop was to proceed with a number of recommendations made from the 2002 workshop, as well as to set an agenda and collate efforts in the areas of modeling, simulation and forecasting intraseasonal and short-term climate variability. More specifically, the aims of the 2003 workshop were to: 1) develop a baseline of the "state of the art" in subseasonal prediction capabilities, 2) implement a program to carry out experimental subseasonal forecasts, and 3) develop strategies for tapping the above sources of predictability by focusing research, model development, and the development/acquisition of new observations on the subseasonal problem. The workshop was held over two days and was attended by over 80 scientists, modelers, forecasters and agency personnel. The agenda of the workshop focused on issues related to the MJO and tropicalextratropical interactions as they relate to the subseasonal simulation and prediction problem. This included the development of plans for a coordinated set of GCM hindcast experiments to assess current model subseasonal prediction capabilities and shortcomings, an emphasis on developing a strategy to rectify shortcomings associated with tropical intraseasonal variability, namely diabatic processes, and continuing the implementation of an experimental forecast and model development program that focuses on one of the key sources of untapped predictability, namely the MJO. The tangible outcomes of the meeting included: 1) the development of a recommended framework for a set of multi-year ensembles of 45-day hindcasts to be carried out by a number of GCMs so that they can be analyzed in regards to their representations of subseasonal variability, predictability and forecast skill, 2) an assessment of the present status of GCM representations of the MJO and recommendations for future steps to take in order to remedy the remaining shortcomings in these representations, and 3) a final implementation plan for a multi-institute/multi-nation Experimental MJO Prediction Program.

Waliser, Duane↗

GCSS Idealized Cirrus Model Comparison Project

The GCSS Working Group on Cirrus Cloud Systems (WG2) is conducting a systematic comparison and evaluation of cirrus cloud models. This fundamental activity seeks to support the improvement of models used for climate simulation and numerical weather prediction through assessment and improvement of the "process" models underlying parametric treatments of cirrus cloud processes in large-scale models. The WG2 Idealized Cirrus Model Comparison Project is an initial comparison of cirrus cloud simulations by a variety of cloud models for a series of idealized situations with relatively simple initial conditions and forcing. The models (16) represent the state-of-the-art and include 3-dimensional large eddy simulation (LES) models, two-dimensional cloud resolving models (CRMs), and single column model (SCM) versions of GCMs. The model microphysical components are similarly varied, ranging from single-moment bulk (relative humidity) schemes to fully size-resolved (bin) treatments where ice crystal growth is explicitly calculated. Radiative processes are included in the physics package of each model. The baseline simulations include "warm" and "cold" cirrus cases where cloud top initially occurs at about -47C and -66C, respectively. All simulations are for nighttime conditions (no solar radiation) where the cloud is generated in an ice supersaturated layer, about 1 km in depth, with an ice pseudoadiabatic thermal stratification (neutral). Continuing cloud formation is forced via an imposed diabatic cooling representing a 3 cm/s uplift over a 4-hour time span followed by a 2-hour dissipation stage with no cooling. Variations of these baseline cases include no-radiation and stable-thermal-stratification cases. Preliminary results indicated the great importance of ice crystal fallout in determining even the gross cloud characteristics, such as average vertically-integrated ice water path (IWP). Significant inter-model differences were found. Ice water fall speed is directly related to the shape of the particle size distribution and the habits of the ice crystal population, whether assumed or explicitly calculated. In order to isolate the fall speed effect from that of the associated ice crystal population, simulations were also performed where ice water fall speed was set to the same constant value everywhere in each model. Values of 20 and 60 cm/s were assumed. Current results of the project will be described and implications will be drawn. In particular, this exercise is found to strongly focus the definition of issues resulting in observed inter-model differences and to suggest possible strategies for observational validation of the models. The next step in this project is to perform similar comparisons for well observed case studies with sufficient high quality data to adequately define model initiation and forcing specifications and to support quantitative validation of the results.

Starr, David OC.↗

The Precipitation Response Over the Continental United States to Cold Tropical Pacific Sea Surface Temperatures

The dominant pattern of annual mean SST variability in the Pacific (in its cold phase) produces pronounced precipitation deficits over the continental United States (U.S.) throughout the annual cycle. This study investigates the physical and dynamical processes through which the cold Pacific pattern affects the U.S. precipitation, particularly the causes for the peak dry impacts in fall, as well as the nature of the differences between the summer and fall responses. Results, based on observations and reanalyses, show that the peak precipitation deficit over the U.S. during fall is primarily due to reduced atmospheric moisture transport from the Gulf of Mexico into the central and eastern U.S., and secondarily due to a reduction in local evaporation from land-atmosphere feedback. The former is associated with a strong and systematic low-level northeasterly flow anomaly over the southeastern U.S. that counteracts the northwest branch of the climatological flow associated with the north Atlantic subtropical high. The above northeasterly anomaly is maintained by both diabatic heating anomalies in the nearby Intra-American Seas and diabatic cooling anomalies in the tropical Pacific. In contrast, the modest summertime precipitation deficit over the U.S. is mainly the result of local land-atmosphere feedback; the rather weak and disorganized atmospheric circulation anomalies over and to the south of the U.S. make little contribution. An evaluation of NSIPP-1 AGCM simulations shows it to be deficient in simulating the warm season tropical convection responses over the Intra-American Seas to the cold Pacific pattern and thereby the precipitation responses over the U.S., a problem that appears to be common to many AGCMs.

SST↗

Role of Stratospheric Air in a Severe Weather Event: Analysis of Potential Vorticity and Total Ozone

The role of dry stratospheric air descending to low and middle tropospheric levels in a severe weather outbreak in the midwestern United States is examined using ACCEPT Eta model output, Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) analyses, and Earth probe Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (EP/TOMS) total ozone data. While stratospheric air was not found to play a direct role in the convection, backward trajectories show stratospheric air descended to 800 hPa just west of the convection. Damaging surface winds not associated with thunderstorms also occurred in the region of greatest stratospheric descent. Small-scale features in the high-resolution total ozone data compare favorably with geopotential heights and potential vorticity fields, supporting the notion that stratospheric air descended to near the surface. A detailed vertical structure in the potential vorticity appears to be captured by small-scale total ozone variations. The capability of the total ozone to identify mesoscale features assists model verification. The total ozone data suggest biases in the RUC analysis and Eta forecast of this event. The total ozone is also useful in determining whether potential vorticity is of stratospheric origin or is diabatically generated in the troposphere.

Goering, Melissa A.↗

The role of large-scale eddies in the climate equilibrium. Part 2: Variable static stability

Lorenz's two-level model on a sphere is used to investigate how the results of Part 1 are modified when the interaction of the vertical eddy heat flux and static stability is included. In general, the climate state does not depend very much on whether or not this interaction is included, because the poleward eddy heat transport dominates the eddy forcing of mean temperature and wind fields. However, the climatic sensitivity is significantly affected. Compared to two-level model results with fixed static stability, the poleward eddy heat flux is less sensitive to the meridional temperature gradient and the gradient is more sensitive to the forcing. For example, the logarithmic derivative of the eddy flux with respect to the gradient has a slope that is reduced from approximately 15 on a beta-plane with fixed static stability and approximately 6 on a sphere with fixed static stability, to approximately 3 to 4 in the present model. This last result is more in line with analyses from observations. The present model also has a stronger baroclinic adjustment than that in Part 1, more like that in two-level beta-plane models with fixed static stability, that is, the midlatitude isentropic slope is very insensitive to the forcing, the diabatic heating, and the friction, unless the forcing is very weak.

Zhou, Shuntai↗

Various Numerical Applications on Tropical Convective Systems Using a Cloud Resolving Model

In recent years, increasing attention has been given to cloud resolving models (CRMs or cloud ensemble models-CEMs) for their ability to simulate the radiative-convective system, which plays a significant role in determining the regional heat and moisture budgets in the Tropics. The growing popularity of CRM usage can be credited to its inclusion of crucial and physically relatively realistic features such as explicit cloud-scale dynamics, sophisticated microphysical processes, and explicit cloud-radiation interaction. On the other hand, impacts of the environmental conditions (for example, the large-scale wind fields, heat and moisture advections as well as sea surface temperature) on the convective system can also be plausibly investigated using the CRMs with imposed explicit forcing. In this paper, by basically using a Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) model, three different studies on tropical convective systems are briefly presented. Each of these studies serves a different goal as well as uses a different approach. In the first study, which uses more of an idealized approach, the respective impacts of the large-scale horizontal wind shear and surface fluxes on the modeled tropical quasi-equilibrium states of temperature and water vapor are examined. In this 2-D study, the imposed large-scale horizontal wind shear is ideally either nudged (wind shear maintained strong) or mixed (wind shear weakened), while the minimum surface wind speed used for computing surface fluxes varies among various numerical experiments. For the second study, a handful of real tropical episodes (TRMM Kwajalein Experiment - KWAJEX, 1999; TRMM South China Sea Monsoon Experiment - SCSMEX, 1998) have been simulated such that several major atmospheric characteristics such as the rainfall amount and its associated stratiform contribution, the Qlheat and Q2/moisture budgets are investigated. In this study, the observed large-scale heat and moisture advections are continuously applied to the 2-D model. The modeled cloud generated from such an approach is termed continuously forced convection or continuous large-scale forced convection. A third study, which focuses on the respective impact of atmospheric components on upper Ocean heat and salt budgets, will be presented in the end. Unlike the two previous 2-D studies, this study employs the 3-D GCE-simulated diabatic source terms (using TOGA COARE observations) - radiation (longwave and shortwave), surface fluxes (sensible and latent heat, and wind stress), and precipitation as input for the Ocean mixed-layer (OML) model.

Shie, C.-L.↗

Features of a SINDA/FLUINT model of a liquid oxygen supply line

The modeling features used in a steady-state heat transfer problem using SINDA/FLUINT are described. The problem modeled is a 125 feet long, 3 inch diameter pipe, filled with liquid oxygen flow driven by a given pressure gradient. The pipe is fully insulated in five sections. Three sections of 1 inch thick spray-on foam and two sections of vacuum jacket. The model evaluates friction, turns losses and convection heat transfer between the fluid and the pipe wall. There is conduction through the foam insulation with temperature dependent thermal conductivity. The vacuum space is modeled with radiation and gas molecular conduction, if present, in the annular gap. Heat is transferred between the outer surface and surrounding ambient by natural convection and radiation; and, by axial conduction along the pipe and through the vacuum jacket spacers and welded seal flanges. The model makes extensive use of SINDA/FLUINT basic capabilities such as the GEN option for nodes and conductors (to generate groups of nodes or conductors), the SIV option (to generate single, temperature varying conductors), the SIM option (for multiple, temperature varying conductors) and the M HX macros for fluids (to generate strings of lumps, paths, and ties representing a diabatic duct). It calls subroutine CONTRN (returns the relative location in the G-array of a network conductor, given an actual conductor number) enabling an extensive manipulation of conductor (calculates an assignment of their values) with DO loops. Models like this illustrate to the new and even to the old SINDA/FLUINT user, features of the program that are not so obvious or known, and that are extremely handy when trying to take advantage of both, the automation of the DATA headers and make surgical modifications to specific parameters of the thermal or fluid elements in the OPERATIONS portion of the model.

Simmonds, Boris G.↗