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Title: Studies of dynamical processes affecting global climate

Abstract

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The main objective was, by a combined theoretical and observational approach, to develop improved models of dynamic processes in the oceans and atmosphere and to incorporate them into large climate codes, chiefly in four main areas: numerical physics, chemistry, water vapor, and ocean-atmosphere interactions. Main areas of investigation included studies of: cloud parameterizations for global climate codes, Lidar and the planetary boundary layer, chemistry, climate variability using coupled ocean-atmospheric models, and numerical physical methods. This project employed a unique approach that included participation of a number of University of California faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students who collaborated with Los Alamos research staff on specific tasks, thus greatly enhancing the research output. Overall accomplishments during the sensing of the atmospheric planetary were: (1) first two- and three-dimensional remote sensing of the atmospheric planetary boundary layer using Lidars, (2) modeling of 20-year cycle in both pressure and sea surface temperatures in North Pacific, (3) modeling of low frequency internal variability, (4) addition of aerosols to stratosphere to simulate Pinatubo effect on ozone, (5) development of fast, comprehensive chemistry in themore » troposphere for urban pollution studies, (6) new prognostic cloud parameterization in global atmospheric code remedied problems with North Pacific atmospheric circulation and excessive equatorial precipitation, (7) development of a unique aerosol analysis technique, the aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ATOFMS), which allows real-time analysis of the size and chemical composition of individual aerosol particles, and (8) numerical physics applying Approximate Inertial Manifolds to ocean circulation. 14 refs., 6 figs.« less

Authors:
; ;  [1]
  1. and others
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
560881
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-97-3156
ON: DE98001551; TRN: 98:000301
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-36
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: [1998]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; CLIMATE MODELS; RESEARCH PROGRAMS; LANL; CLIMATIC CHANGE; CLOUDS; OPTICAL RADAR; AIR-WATER INTERACTIONS; VARIATIONS; BOUNDARY LAYERS; ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY

Citation Formats

Keller, C., Cooper, D., and Eichinger, W. Studies of dynamical processes affecting global climate. United States: N. p., 1998. Web. doi:10.2172/560881.
Keller, C., Cooper, D., & Eichinger, W. Studies of dynamical processes affecting global climate. United States. doi:10.2172/560881.
Keller, C., Cooper, D., and Eichinger, W. Thu . "Studies of dynamical processes affecting global climate". United States. doi:10.2172/560881. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/560881.
@article{osti_560881,
title = {Studies of dynamical processes affecting global climate},
author = {Keller, C. and Cooper, D. and Eichinger, W.},
abstractNote = {This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The main objective was, by a combined theoretical and observational approach, to develop improved models of dynamic processes in the oceans and atmosphere and to incorporate them into large climate codes, chiefly in four main areas: numerical physics, chemistry, water vapor, and ocean-atmosphere interactions. Main areas of investigation included studies of: cloud parameterizations for global climate codes, Lidar and the planetary boundary layer, chemistry, climate variability using coupled ocean-atmospheric models, and numerical physical methods. This project employed a unique approach that included participation of a number of University of California faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students who collaborated with Los Alamos research staff on specific tasks, thus greatly enhancing the research output. Overall accomplishments during the sensing of the atmospheric planetary were: (1) first two- and three-dimensional remote sensing of the atmospheric planetary boundary layer using Lidars, (2) modeling of 20-year cycle in both pressure and sea surface temperatures in North Pacific, (3) modeling of low frequency internal variability, (4) addition of aerosols to stratosphere to simulate Pinatubo effect on ozone, (5) development of fast, comprehensive chemistry in the troposphere for urban pollution studies, (6) new prognostic cloud parameterization in global atmospheric code remedied problems with North Pacific atmospheric circulation and excessive equatorial precipitation, (7) development of a unique aerosol analysis technique, the aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ATOFMS), which allows real-time analysis of the size and chemical composition of individual aerosol particles, and (8) numerical physics applying Approximate Inertial Manifolds to ocean circulation. 14 refs., 6 figs.},
doi = {10.2172/560881},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 1998},
month = {Thu Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 1998}
}

Technical Report:

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  • The purpose of the research was to understand large-scale tracer transport processes in the stratosphere. Two approaches were taken. The first is analysis of tracer observations, especially satellite observations of ozone concentration and total column ozone. The second is numerical simulation of tracer transport processes. Topics researched include: quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) and stratospheric ozone; mixing in the polar vortices; polar stratospheric clouds (PSC) properties from Antarctic lidar data; and statistical methods for numerical experiments.
  • The goal of this research was to apply fractional and non-linear analysis techniques in order to develop a more complete characterization of climate change and variability for the oceanic, sea ice and atmospheric components of the Earth System. This research applied two measures of dynamical characteristics of time series, the R/S method of calculating the Hurst exponent and Renyi entropy, to observational and modeled climate data in order to evaluate how well climate models capture the long-term dynamics evident in observations. Fractional diffusion analysis was applied to ARGO ocean buoy data to quantify ocean transport. Self organized maps were appliedmore » to North Pacific sea level pressure and analyzed in ways to improve seasonal predictability for Alaska fire weather. This body of research shows that these methods can be used to evaluate climate models and shed light on climate mechanisms (i.e., understanding why something happens). With further research, these methods show promise for improving seasonal to longer time scale forecasts of climate.« less
  • The objectives of this data report are to provide a commentary on the logistics and methodology of, and also to serve as a documentation of, the experimental and observational data sets obtained during the summer and fall and winter of 1975. Beyond the inclusion of the reduced, i.e., computer processed and filtered, data, no interpretation is provided. It is anticipated that this report will serve as an effective guidebook for future field programs. This report includes data from four cruises (two deployment, two retrieval) of the R/V Advance II during the summer through fall/winter, 1975. Data were collected relevant tomore » the continental shelf processes affecting the oceanography of the South Atlantic Bight. The immediate problems being addressed were those of understanding the processes by which nutrients are transported onto the North Carolina Shelf from offshore and to establish possible transport pathways for effluents discharged into North Carolina coastal waters.« less
  • The general circulation simulated by Version 1 of the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS-1) general circulation model is compared with the five-year reanalysis recently completed using the GEOS-1 data assimilation system. Emphasis is on the comparison of dynamical quantities, such as heat and momentum fluxes. The results indicate that, while many features are well simulated, the model exhibits a number of severe biases. These include: a cold bias at both poles and an associated westerly bias at upper levels, a strong low-level westerly bias during northern hemisphere winter, a dry tropical boundary layer and excessive moisture at all levels outsidemore » the tropics, too much poleward heat and momentum flux by transient eddies, and too little heat flux by stationary eddies. The effects on these biases of increasing resolution and order of accuracy, of including a parameterization of gravity wave drag, and of increasing the vertical extent of the model are also examined. The main impacts of increasing resolution and accuracy are found to be on the transient eddy statistics. The higher-order and higher-resolution experiments are in closer agreement with observations in the southern hemisphere, where the fluxes are primarily determined by the transient flow; however, in the northern hemisphere, where the fluxes due to the stationary flow are important, the more `accurate` simulations are systematically further from the analysis. As in several other studies, gravity wave drag is found to have a beneficial effect on both the time-mean flow and the transient statistics in the northern hemisphere, while little impact is seen in the southern hemisphere. Increasing the vertical extent of the model significantly improves the cold pole and westerly bias in the southern hemisphere.« less
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