In The Intertropical Convergence Zone Research Articles

Synchronous Tropical Andean Hydroclimate Variability During the Last Millennium

AbstractThe impact of latitudinal variations in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) on northern Andean hydroclimate during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA; 950–1,150 CE) and Little Ice Age (LIA; 1,300–1,850 CE) is uncertain. Synthesis of two new lacustrine paleoclimate records from the Eastern Colombian Andes with existing circum‐Andean records shows that effective moisture anomalies were synchronous and in phase across the tropical Andes during the last millennium. During the MCA, when the ITCZ was shifted northward, topographically controlled responses in the northern Andes to vigorous atmospheric convection resulted in low precipitation and high evaporation, while precipitation was also reduced in the southern tropical Andes. During the LIA, precipitation decreased in the northern Andes as the ITCZ migrated southward but was offset by cooling that lowered evaporation, establishing high effective moisture. In the southern tropical Andes, the southward ITCZ position simultaneously strengthened precipitation, increasing effective moisture. MCA‐like responses to continued warming trends could similarly reduce northern Andean precipitation while increasing evaporation, thereby lowering effective moisture and possibly reducing water resource availability.

Tropospheric and Stratospheric Boreal Winter Jet Response to Eddying Ocean in a Seasonal Forecast System

AbstractUnderstanding the impacts of high‐resolution ocean model provides valuable insights for future research. However, the outcomes of sea surface state changes in both the tropics and mid‐latitudes remain unclear, and initialized seasonal forecasts have not been studied extensively. This study investigates the impact of ocean model resolution with the first long‐term hindcast experiment of an eddy‐resolving (0.1°) ocean model used for global seasonal forecasting. We show that using the high‐resolution ocean model significantly changes boreal winter jet streams in the atmosphere, based on the comparison of 30‐year hindcasts with ocean resolutions ranging from 1° to 0.1° for the Japan Meteorological Agency/Meteorological Research Institute Coupled Prediction System version 3. In boreal winters, the cold sea surface bias in the equatorial Pacific is significantly reduced, leading to an equatorward shift in the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and enhanced convective activity in the western equatorial Pacific. The subtropical jet shifts equatorward due to the ITCZ shift and the weakening of equatorward propagation of mid‐latitude atmospheric eddies. The enhanced convective activity in the tropics has a remote influence in the mid‐latitudes, significantly reducing the upward eddy propagation of zonal wavenumber 1. Sea surface warm‐up in the mid‐latitudes partially cancels the reduction impact by enhancing the zonal wavenumber 2. Overall, the polar night jet accelerates due to the reduced supply of eddy forcing.

Significant terrigenous dilution affected biogenic deposits in the Bay of Bengal during the last deglaciation to glaciation

The coupling relationship between biogenic deposits and productivity may vary across different stages or regions. To explore the responses of biogenic deposits to productivity since the last glacial period, we analyzed multiproxy biogenic deposit data from Core YDY09 in the Bay of Bengal (BoB) spanning the past 30 ka. We first observed that the trends of biogenic depositional records (radiolarians, BSi, and CaCO3) were in antiphase to that of the productivity of siliceous organisms in the overlying waters during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1) and late deglacial period (LdGp; 15–10 ka) in the northeastern Indian Ocean. We suggest that productivity variations were influenced mainly by the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) during the last deglaciation to glaciation. The decoupling between high productivity and low biogenic deposition during the LGM and LdGp was attributable to significant dilution by large-scale terrigenous inputs. Unlike the substantial inputs of terrestrial materials caused by low sea levels during the LGM period, the sea level rose rapidly during the LdGp period, suggesting that the intense ISM may have played a crucial role at that time. Conversely, the high amount of biogenic deposition during HS1 could be attributed to weak terrigenous dilution resulting from diminished rainfall in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The strong terrigenous dilution observed during the LGM and weak terrigenous dilution during the HS1 in the BoB were consistent with findings in the northern South China Sea (SCS), except the unique LdGp period. Our findings will enhance the understanding of the decoupling mechanisms between biogenic deposits and productivity in global marginal seas.

Control of the Dust Vertical Distribution over Western Africa by Convection and Scavenging

Saharan dust represents more than 50% of the total desert dust emitted around the globe and its radiative effect significantly affects the atmospheric circulation at a continental scale. Previous studies on dust vertical distribution and the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) showed some shortcomings that could be attributed to imperfect representation of the effects of deep convection and scavenging. The authors investigate here the role of deep convective transport and scavenging on the vertical distribution of mineral dust over Western Africa. Using multi-year (2006–2010) simulations performed with the variable-resolution (zoomed) version of the LMDZ climate model. Simulations are compared with aerosol amounts recorded by the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) and with vertical profiles of the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) measurements. LMDZ allows a thorough examination of the respective roles of deep convective transport, convective and stratiform scavenging, boundary layer transport, and advection processes on the vertical mineral dust distribution over Western Africa. The comparison of simulated dust Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and distribution with measurements suggest that scavenging in deep convection and subsequent re-evaporation of dusty rainfall in the lower troposphere are critical processes for explaining the vertical distribution of desert dust. These processes play a key role in maintaining a well-defined dust layer with a sharp transition at the top of the SAL and in establishing the seasonal cycle of dust distribution. This vertical distribution is further reshaped offshore in the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) over the Atlantic Ocean by marine boundary layer turbulent and convective transport and wet deposition at the surface.

Reconstruction of temperature and monsoon precipitation in southwestern China since the last deglaciation

Monsoon precipitation and temperature are the crucial components of the Indian monsoon climate, yet their spatial-temporal relationship remains unclear. In this study, we reconstruct the changes in monsoon precipitation and mean annual temperature simultaneously over the past 16,000 years using multiple proxies, including isoprenoid glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (isoGDGTs) and n-alkanes, from an alpine lake in southwestern China. On the one hand, the reconstructed monsoon precipitation shows a long-term increasing trend during the last deglaciation and a gradual decrease during the Holocene, with the highest-humidity period occurring in the early Holocene. Our result displays good consistency with the changes in regional mean annual precipitation, summer precipitation, and monsoon intensity during the last deglaciation and the Holocene. On the other hand, the reconstructed mean annual temperature inferred from the n-alkane proxy shows a long-term warm trend since the last deglaciation. Our result is consistent with the regional reconstruction of both mean annual and summer temperatures during the last deglaciation, while evident seasonal differences were observed for Holocene records with a cooling trend of summer temperature and a warm trend of mean annual temperature. Comprehensive comparison reveals that monsoon precipitation in the Indian monsoon region is mainly related to changes in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and land-sea thermal contrast controlled by boreal summer insolation. In addition, the increase in temperature during deglaciation is primarily attributed to the escalation of greenhouse gases (GHGs), while the divergent trend of seasonal temperature during the Holocene is mainly attributed to the changes in local seasonal insolation. Our research emphasizes that monsoon precipitation is a summer signature in the Indian monsoon region, which is consistent with the changes in summer temperature, while contrasting with the changes in mean annual temperature. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the seasonal difference in temperature changes when investigating the hydrothermal combination in Indian monsoon regions.

The effects of gravity waves on ozone over the Tibetan Plateau

The ozone valley over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) has an important effect on global weather and climate. As a significant source of atmospheric gravity waves (GWs), TP is also a key area of global stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE), yet the exploration of the causes of low ozone values over the TP has been scarce from the perspective of GW. In this paper, we used the hyperspectral Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) data to extract GWs and deep convection over the TP and analyzed the statistical characteristics of ozone for corresponding events. The results show that: (1) The GWs observed by AIRS mainly occur in the mid-latitude region, with a maximum frequency of >10%, and their intensity varies with longitude. Three large-value regions have been identified on the coast of Southeast Asia, Central America, and Central Africa. (2) Most deep convection occurs in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), with three large value centers in the East Asian monsoon region, Central America and Central Africa. Among them, the Indian monsoon region, the Northwest Pacific region to the east of the Philippines, and the western side of the South China Sea (SCS) are the large-value areas within the East Asian monsoon region, with the maximum occurrence frequency exceeding 15%. (3) TP is a region with a large frequency of convective gravity waves. In most areas of the southern foothills of the TP, the frequency of GWs related to convection is 30%–50%. Almost all deep convection over the TP and its adjacent areas are accompanied by GWs, with a frequency of 60–90%. (4) The composite analysis results show that the occurrence of GWs or deep convection is accompanied by negative anomalies of ozone in most areas of the southern foothills of the TP, indicating a decrease in the integrated column amount of ozone. (5) By analyzing the anomaly distribution of meteorological elements such as cloud fraction, cloud top height, tropopause height, and outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), the results show a dual effect in the presence of GWs or deep convection. The effect involves not only an increased generation of clouds, conducive to convection but also elevated cloud top height, promoting the formation of high clouds, some even beyond the tropopause. In addition, the occurrence of GW or deep convection can also affect the tropopause height, strengthen convective activity, and facilitate the upward transfer of low-concentration ozone from the lower layer to the upper layer, thereby causing a decrease in the integrated column amount of ozone.

Characterizing the tropospheric water vapor spatial variation and trend using 2007–2018 COSMIC radio occultation and ECMWF reanalysis data

Abstract. Atmospheric water vapor plays a crucial role in the global energy balance, hydrological cycle, and climate system. High-quality and consistent water vapor data from different sources are vital for weather prediction and climate research. This study assesses the consistency between the Formosa Satellite Mission 3–Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC) radio occultation (RO) and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Reanalysis Model 5 (ERA5) water vapor datasets. Comparisons are made across different atmospheric pressure levels (300, 500, and 850 hPa) from 2007 to 2018. Generally, the two datasets show good spatial and temporal agreement. COSMIC's global water vapor retrieval is slightly lower than ERA5's at 500 and 850 hPa, with distinct latitudinal differences between hemispheres. COSMIC exhibits global water vapor increasing trends of 3.47 ± 1.77 % per decade, 3.25 ± 1.25 % per decade, and 2.03 ± 0.65 % per decade at 300, 500, and 850 hPa, respectively. Significant regional variability in water vapor trends, encompassing notable increasing and decreasing patterns, is observable in tropical and subtropical regions. At 500 and 850 hPa, strong water vapor increasing trends are noted in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and the Laccadive Sea, while decreasing trends are evident in the Indo-Pacific Ocean region and the Arabian Sea. Over land, substantial increasing trends at 850 hPa are observed in the southern United States, contrasting with decreasing trends in southern Africa and Australia. The differences between the water vapor trends of COSMIC and ERA5 are primarily negative in the tropical regions at 850 hPa. However, the water vapor increasing trends at 850 hPa estimated from COSMIC are significantly higher than the ones derived from ERA5 data for two low-height stratocumulus-cloud-rich ocean regions west of Africa and South America. These regions with notable water vapor trend differences are located in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) area with frequent occurrences of convection, such as deep clouds. The difference in characterizing water vapor distribution between RO and ERA5 in deep cloud regions may cause such trend differences. The assessment of spatiotemporal variability in RO-derived water vapor and reanalysis of atmospheric water vapor data helps ensure the quality of these datasets for climate studies.

Zonal Indian Ocean Variability Drives Millennial‐Scale Precipitation Changes in Northern Madagascar

AbstractThe low latitude Indian Ocean is warming faster than other tropical basins, and its interannual climate variability is projected to become more extreme under future emissions scenarios with substantial impacts on developing Indian Ocean rim countries. Therefore, it has become increasingly important to understand the drivers of regional precipitation in a changing climate. Here we present a new speleothem record from Anjohibe, a cave in northwest (NW) Madagascar well situated to record past changes in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). U‐Th ages date speleothem growth from 27 to 14 ka. δ18O, δ13C, and trace metal proxies reconstruct drier conditions during Heinrich Stadials 1 and 2, and wetter conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum and Bølling–Allerød. This is surprising considering hypotheses arguing for southward (northward) ITCZ shifts during North Atlantic cooling (warming) events, which would be expected to result in wetter (drier) conditions at Anjohibe in the Southern Hemisphere tropics. The reconstructed Indian Ocean zonal (west‐east) sea surface temperature (SST) gradient is in close agreement with hydroclimate proxies in NW Madagascar, with periods of increased precipitation correlating with relatively warmer conditions in the western Indian Ocean and cooler conditions in the eastern Indian Ocean. Such gradients could drive long‐term shifts in the strength of the Walker circulation with widespread effects on hydroclimate across East Africa. These results suggest that during abrupt millennial‐scale climate changes, it is not meridional ITCZ shifts, but the tropical Indian Ocean SST gradient and Walker circulation driving East African hydroclimate variability.

Freshwater input variability in a west coastal area of Korea and its links to the global monsoon and ITCZ shifts during the period 8500–7800 cal yr BP

In East Asia, freshwater inputs in coastal areas are mainly controlled by rainfall occurring during the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM), which is linked to seasonal latitudinal shifts in the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). To investigate the centennial-time-scale relationship between those inputs and the seasonal shifts in the ITCZ, we examined the behaviors of terrestrial input proxies in coastal sediments of western Korea, including grain size, elemental ratios from XRF core scanning (e.g., Zr/Ti and Si/Al), and C/N ratios. Correlation tests linked these proxies to past freshwater input variability, suggesting that elemental ratios can serve as a proxy for past EASM changes. During the period 8500–7800 cal yr BP, the stronger EASMs described by high-resolution peaks of Zr/Ti ratios corresponded to periods of intensified Indian summer monsoons (ISMs) and weakened South American summer monsoon (SASMs), supporting the existence of synchronous global monsoon (GM) events induced by a northward ITCZ shift. This study also shows that the 8.2-ka cooling event recorded in Greenland ice cores synchronously influenced the GM through a southward shift in the ITCZ, resulting in a weakened EASM and ISM in the Northern Hemisphere and an intensified SASM in the Southern Hemisphere. Our study thus demonstrates that the elemental ratios in coastal sediments measured using an XRF core scanner can be utilized to trace high-resolution (at least centennial-time-scale) variability in the EASM in terms of GM-ITCZ coupling.

Last Glacial Maximum ITCZ Changes From PMIP3/4 Simulations

AbstractWe investigate global and regional changes in the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) position, width, and intensity during the last glacial maximum (LGM) relative to the preindustrial period using multiple simulations from Phases 3 and 4 of the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP3/4). On annual scale, most models show that LGM tropical precipitation decreases, and the deficit in the Northern Hemisphere is larger than that in the Southern Hemisphere, resulting in the southward shift, narrowing, and weakening of the ITCZ at the global scale. The arithmetic mean of 13 models shows that the global zonal mean ITCZ shifts southward by 0.85° (1σ = 0.86°), narrows by 1.05° (1σ = 1.33°), and weakens by 7% (1σ = 4%) during the LGM. Regionally, position and intensity changes are larger in the central and eastern Pacific, while width changes are most obvious in the Indian Ocean–western Pacific. Precipitation changes in the central and eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans are dominated by the dynamic term. In the Indian Ocean–western Pacific, the thermodynamic term is the main cause for precipitation changes within 10°S–10°N, while the dynamic term plays a leading role at other tropical latitudes. Seasonally, the September–October–November and June–July–August mainly contribute to the annual ITCZ position, width, and intensity changes globally and in most regions. The convergence factor dominates both the dynamic and thermodynamic terms annually and seasonally. The model results are compatible with the existing site reconstructions on the southward shift of the LGM ITCZ.

Local and remote climate impacts of future African aerosol emissions

Abstract. The potential future trend in African aerosol emissions is uncertain, with a large range found in future scenarios used to drive climate projections. The future climate impact of these emissions is therefore uncertain. Using the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios, transient future experiments were performed with the UK Earth System Model (UKESM1) to investigate the effect of African emissions following the high emission SSP370 scenario as the rest of the world follows the more sustainable SSP119, relative to a global SSP119 control. This isolates the effect of Africa following a relatively more polluted future emissions pathway. Compared to SSP119, SSP370 projects higher non-biomass-burning (non-BB) aerosol emissions, but lower biomass burning emissions, over Africa. Increased shortwave (SW) absorption by black carbon aerosol leads to a global warming, but the reduction in the local incident surface radiation close to the emissions is larger, causing a local cooling effect. The local cooling persists even when including the higher African CO2 emissions under SSP370 than SSP119. The global warming is significantly higher by 0.07 K when including the non-BB aerosol increases and higher still (0.22 K) when including all aerosols and CO2. Precipitation also exhibits complex changes. Northward shifts in the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) occur under relatively warm Northern Hemisphere land, and local rainfall is enhanced due to mid-tropospheric instability from black carbon absorption. These results highlight the importance of future African aerosol emissions for regional and global climate and the spatial complexity of this climate influence.

Hydroclimatic conditions and sediment provenance in the northeastern Arabian Sea since the late Miocene: insights from geochemical and environmental magnetic records at IODP Site U1457 of the Laxmi Basin

AbstractPalaeo-monsoon and palaeoclimate conditions over Southeast Asia are a matter of debate despite notable studies on the continental and oceanic sedimentary record. The present study investigates the environmental magnetic and geochemical records preserved in the deep marine sediments of the northeastern (NE) Arabian Sea to elucidate the erosion history of the western Himalayas and its link with the prevailing hydroclimatic conditions since the late Miocene. For this, the sediment core retrieved during International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 355 at Site U1457 in the NE Arabian Sea has been explored. The results reveal that the hydroclimatic conditions were predominantly arid during the late Miocene, except for humid intervals from 6.1 Ma to 5.6 Ma. Humid climate conditions in the Indus River Basin returned during the mid-Pliocene and continued to the Pleistocene with an intense chemical weathering regime from 1.9 Ma to 1.2 Ma. The dominant sediment source to the NE Arabian Sea at Site U1457 during the late Miocene and the Pliocene was the Indus River, while during the Pleistocene, mixed sediments brought by the Indus River and the Peninsular Indian rivers were observed. The sediment contribution from a chemically less altered mafic source (the Deccan basalts) increased between 1.2 Ma and 0.2 Ma, possibly linked to a weak Indian Summer Monsoon. The summer monsoon wind strength and associated shift in the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) influenced the dominant sediment provenance at Site U1457 of the Laxmi Basin.

Case study on the influence of synoptic-scale processes on the paired H2O–O3 distribution in the UTLS across a North Atlantic jet stream

Abstract. During a research flight of the Wave-driven ISentropic Exchange (WISE) campaign, which was conducted over the eastern North Atlantic on 1 October 2017, the composition of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) across the North Atlantic jet stream was observed by airborne, range-resolved differential absorption lidar (DIAL) profiles. We investigate how the high variability in the paired H2O and O3 distribution along the two-dimensional lidar cross section is affected by synoptic-scale weather systems, as revealed by the Lagrangian history of the observed air masses. To this aim, the lidar observations are combined with 10 d backward trajectories along which meteorological parameters and derived turbulence diagnostics are traced. The transport and mixing characteristics are then projected to the vertical cross sections of the lidar measurements and to the H2O–O3 phase space to explore linkages with the evolution of synoptic-scale weather systems and their interaction. Tropical, midlatitude, and arctic weather systems in the region of the jet stream and the related transport and mixing explain the complex H2O and O3 distribution to a large extent: O3-rich stratospheric air from the high Arctic interacts with midlatitude air from the North Pacific in a northward-deflected jet stream associated with an anticyclone over the US and forms a filament extending into the tropopause fold beneath the jet stream. In the troposphere, lifting related to convection in the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and two tropical cyclones that continuously injected H2O into dry descending air from the tropical Atlantic and Pacific form filamentary H2O structures. One tropical cyclone that transitioned into a midlatitude cyclone lifted moist boundary layer air, explaining the highest tropospheric H2O values. During the two days before the observations, the air with mixed tropospheric and stratospheric characteristics experienced frequent turbulence along the North Atlantic jet stream, indicating a strong influence of turbulence on the formation of the extratropical transition layer (ExTL). This investigation highlights the complexity of stirring and mixing processes and their close connection to interacting tropospheric weather systems from the tropics to the polar regions, which strongly influenced the observed fine-scale H2O and O3 distributions. The identified non-local character of mixing should be kept in mind when interpreting mixing lines in tracer–tracer phase space diagrams.

Exploring the Role of Deep Moist Convection in the Wavenumber Spectra of Atmospheric Kinetic Energy and Brightness Temperature

Abstract Through a series of global convection-permitting simulations and geostationary satellite observations, this study investigates the role of deep moist convection in atmospheric kinetic energy (KE) and brightness temperature (BT) spectra in a realistic framework. The control simulation was produced on a quasi-uniform 3-km global mesh, which allowed the explicit representation of deep convection. To assess the impact of deep moist convection, a fake-dry simulation was performed with latent heating–cooling feedback in the microphysics removed for comparison. The impacts of deep moist convection on mesoscale KE spectrum are concentrated on energizing the mesoscale at the upper troposphere and the lower stratosphere through buoyancy production. BT spectra for the control simulation have a similar shallow slope in the mesoscale as that for the observations. The greater spectral power of BT for the control simulation compared to the observed is attributed to the dislocation and higher intensity of simulated convection. The observed BT spectra exhibit a large diurnal variability due to the diurnal variation of the intensity of convection. The simulated BT spectrum is dependent on convective systems at different scales. Deep convection in the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and shallow convection in the North Pacific storm-track region play an important role in energizing the convective scale of the BT spectrum. In the mesoscale, the BT spectrum is mainly energized by mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) in the ITCZ. Tropical equatorial waves and baroclinic waves in the southern midlatitudes are critical in producing the shallow slope near −5/3 and providing energy in the BT spectrum at the synoptic scale. Significance Statement We further explore the role of deep moist convection in kinetic energy and brightness temperature spectra through high-resolution radiance observations and convection-permitting simulations. Moist processes can energize the mesoscale of kinetic energy. Brightness temperature spectra show dependence on convective systems at different scales. These results point the way toward a new approach to evaluate the predictability of convective systems, and future development of model dynamics and parameterization.

Correlating Extremes in Wind Divergence with Extremes in Rain over the Tropical Atlantic

Air–sea fluxes are greatly enhanced by the winds and vertical exchanges generated by mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). In contrast to global numerical weather prediction models, space-borne scatterometers are able to resolve the small-scale wind variability in and near MCSs at the ocean surface. Downbursts of heavy rain in MCSs produce strong gusts and large divergence and vorticity in surface winds. In this paper, 12.5 km wind fields from the ASCAT-A and ASCAT-B tandem mission, collocated with short time series of Meteosat Second Generation 3 km rain fields, are used to quantify correlations between wind divergence and rain in the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) of the Atlantic Ocean. We show that when there is extreme rain, there is extreme convergence/divergence in the vicinity. Probability distributions for wind divergence and rain rates were found to be heavy-tailed: exponential tails for wind divergence (P∼e−αδ with slopes that flatten with increasing rain rate), and power-law tails for rain rates (P∼(R*)−β with a slower and approximately equal decay for the extremes of convergence and divergence). Co-occurring points are tabulated in two-by-two contingency tables from which cross-correlations are calculated in terms of the odds and odds ratio for each time lag in the collocation. The odds ratio for extreme convergence and extreme divergence both have a well-defined peak. The divergence time lag is close to zero, while it is 30 min for the convergence peak, implying that extreme rain generally appears after (lags) extreme convergence. The temporal scale of moist convection is thus determined by the slower updraft process, as expected. A structural analysis was carried out that demonstrates consistency with the known structure of MCSs. This work demonstrates that (tandem) ASCAT winds are well suited for air–sea exchange studies in moist convection.

The impact of organic pollutants from Indonesian peatland fires on the tropospheric and lower stratospheric composition

Abstract. The particularly strong dry season in Indonesia in 2015, caused by an exceptionally strong El Niño, led to severe peatland fires resulting in high volatile organic compound (VOC) biomass burning emissions. At the same time, the developing Asian monsoon anticyclone (ASMA) and the general upward transport in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) efficiently transported the resulting primary and secondary pollutants to the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). In this study, we assess the importance of these VOC emissions for the composition of the lower troposphere and the UTLS and investigate the effect of in-cloud oxygenated VOC (OVOC) oxidation during such a strong pollution event. This is achieved by performing multiple chemistry simulations using the global atmospheric model ECHAM/MESSy (EMAC). By comparing modelled columns of the biomass burning marker hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and carbon monoxide (CO) to spaceborne measurements from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI), we find that EMAC properly captures the exceptional strength of the Indonesian fires. In the lower troposphere, the increase in VOC levels is higher in Indonesia compared to other biomass burning regions. This has a direct impact on the oxidation capacity, resulting in the largest regional reduction in the hydroxyl radical (OH) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). While an increase in ozone (O3) is predicted close to the peatland fires, simulated O3 decreases in eastern Indonesia due to particularly high phenol concentrations. In the ASMA and the ITCZ, the upward transport leads to elevated VOC concentrations in the lower stratosphere, which results in the reduction of OH and NOx and the increase in the hydroperoxyl radical (HO2). In addition, the degradation of VOC emissions from the Indonesian fires becomes a major source of lower stratospheric nitrate radicals (NO3), which increase by up to 20 %. Enhanced phenol levels in the upper troposphere result in a 20 % increase in the contribution of phenoxy radicals to the chemical destruction of O3, which is predicted to be as large as 40 % of the total chemical O3 loss in the UTLS. In the months following the fires, this loss propagates into the lower stratosphere and potentially contributes to the variability of lower stratospheric O3 observed by satellite retrievals. The Indonesian peatland fires regularly occur during El Niño years, and the largest perturbations of radical concentrations in the lower stratosphere are predicted for particularly strong El Niño years. By activating the detailed in-cloud OVOC oxidation scheme Jülich Aqueous-phase Mechanism of Organic Chemistry (JAMOC), we find that the predicted changes are dampened. Global models that neglect in-cloud OVOC oxidation tend to overestimate the impact of such extreme pollution events on the atmospheric composition.

The NASA‐JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement mission – part II: New frontiers in precipitation science

The <scp>NASA‐JAXA</scp> Global Precipitation Measurement mission – part <scp>II</scp>: New frontiers in precipitation science

Precipitation–Radiation–Circulation Feedback Processes Associated with Structural Changes of the ITCZ in a Warming Climate during 1980–2014: An Observational Portrayal

AbstractIn this study, long-term structural changes in the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and associated precipitation–radiation–circulation feedback processes are examined using multiple sources of reanalysis data for temperature, winds, moisture, and observed precipitation and outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) during 1980–2014. Consistent with CMIP5 climate model projections of the “deep tropical squeeze” under greenhouse warming, this period witnessed a warming and wetting (increased specific humidity) global trend, characterized by a narrowing of the ITCZ core with increased precipitation, coupled to widespread tropospheric drying (deficient relative humidity), increased OLR in the subtropics and midlatitudes, a widening of the descending branches of the Hadley circulation, and a poleward shift of the jet streams in both hemispheres. The widespread tropospheric drying stems from 1) a faster rate of increased saturated water vapor with warming, relative to the increase in ambient moisture due to convective and large-scale transport, and 2) enhanced anomalous subsidence, and low-level moisture divergence in the subtropics and midlatitudes. The long-term trend in enhanced precipitation (latent heating) in the ITCZ core region is strongly coupled to increasing OLR (radiative cooling to space) in the expanding dry zones, particularly over land regions in the subtropics and midlatitudes, arguably as a necessary condition for global thermodynamic energy balance. Analyses of the trend patterns in vertical profiles of p velocity, temperature, and relative humidity with respect to ITCZ precipitation rate and OLR reveal that the contrast between the wet and dry regions in the troposphere has been increasing globally, with the ITCZ core getting wetter and contracting, while the marginal convective and dry zones are getting drier and expanding.

Weather Effects of Aerosols in the Global Forecast Model

The weather effects of aerosol types were investigated using well-posed aerosol climatology through the aerosol sensitivity test of thermodynamic and hydrometeor fields, and the weather forecast performances in July of 2017. The largest aerosol direct radiative forcing (ADRF) in July was due to dust aerosols at the surface and atmosphere, and sulfate at the top of the atmosphere (TOA), respectively. The ADRF of total aerosols had unilateral tendencies in thermodynamic and hydrometeor fields. The contribution of individual aerosols was linearly additive to those of total aerosols in the heat fluxes, heating rates, humidity, and convective precipitation. However, no such linearity existed in temperature, geopotential height, cloud liquid or ice contents, and large-scale precipitation. Dust was the most influential forcing agent in July among five aerosol types due to the largest light-absorption capacity. Such unilateral tendencies of total aerosols and a part of the linearity of individual aerosols were exerted on the weather systems. The verification of medium-range forecasts showed that aerosols alleviated the overestimation of surface shortwave (SW) downward fluxes, the negative biases of temperature and geopotential heights at TOA and surface, and the underestimation in light and moderate precipitation. In contrast, they enhanced warm biases at the mid-atmosphere and underestimation in heavy precipitations, particularly negative biases in the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). Weather forecast scores including current aerosol information were improved in geopotential height (GPH) of the northern hemisphere (NH); however, they got worse in the temperature and the upper atmosphere GPH of the southern hemisphere (SH), which was mostly due to black carbon (BC) aerosols in the tropical regions. The missing mechanisms such as aerosol–cloud interactions, better aerosol spectral optical properties including mixing states and aging, and the near-real-time (NRT) based aerosol loading data are worthwhile to be tried in the near future for fixing the intrinsic underestimation of precipitation in ITCZ and surface radiative fluxes in the desert and biomass burning area.

Paleoclimatic investigations using isotopic signatures of the Late Pleistocene-Holocene groundwater of the stratified aquifers in Kuwait

The study attempts to determine paleo recharge sources for two major aquifer units of Kuwait, namely, Kuwait Group Aquifer (KGA), and Dammam Formation (DFm) were collected and analyzed for major ions and isotopes. The obtained results of 14C ages indicated that the groundwater samples ranged from 31.9 Ky to 3.9 Ky in DFm and 23.3 Ky to 0.8 Ky in KGA. The variations in δ18O signatures with respect to age reflected that there were two major sources of rainwater such as enriched southern Indian Ocean monsoon and the depleted northwesterly (Mediterranean) vapor source. The samples found to show variations during the three marine isotopic stages (MIS 1–3), Heinrich events, Bolling-Allerod, and Dryas time periods in both aquifers. A shift in the Intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) was witnessed in the groundwater of both aquifers from 7.8 Ky to 4.9 Ky. The variation in the Holocene climate is mainly due to the influence of tropospheric easterly jet governed by the swing in ITCZ , as a result of Holocene volcanism. The mean δ18O values of DFm samples (-3.81‰) reflect depletion than KGA samples (-2.31‰), and the d-excess values were −0.95‰ and 2.05‰ respectively. Thus it could be inferred that the DFm was predominantly recharged during Late Pleistocene period and it was in a relatively cooler climate than recharge environment of KGA. The study infers that KGA was recharged between 26oN and 26.8oN latitudes, and that of the DFm was noted to be recharged (south west of Kuwait) in two different patches between 25.8oN and 26.2oN and 26.7oN-27.4oN latitudes during Late Pleistocene. The KGA was concluded to be recharged between 25.5oN and 27.5oN latitudes, south of Kuwait, during Holocene.