Cold Pole Research Articles

Contributions of Indian Ocean Sea Surface Temperatures to Enhanced East African Rainfall

AbstractLinks between extreme wet conditions over East Africa and Indian Ocean sea surface temperatures (SST) are investigated during the core of the so-called short rain season in October–November. During periods of enhanced East African rainfall, Indian Ocean SST anomalies reminiscent of a tropical Indian Ocean dipole (IOD) event are observed. Ensemble simulations with an atmospheric general circulation model are used to understand the relative effect of local and large-scale Indian Ocean SST anomalies on above-average East African precipitation. The importance of the various tropical and subtropical IOD SST poles, both individually and in combination, is quantified. In the simulations, enhanced East African “short rains” are predominantly driven by the local warm SST anomalies in the western equatorial Indian Ocean, while the eastern cold pole of the tropical IOD is of lesser importance. The changed East African rainfall distribution can be explained by a reorganization of the atmospheric circulation induced by the SST anomalies. A reduction in sea level pressure over the western half of the Indian Ocean and converging wind anomalies over East Africa lead to moisture convergence and increased convective activity over the region. The pattern of large-scale circulation changes over the tropical Indian Ocean and adjacent landmasses is consistent with an anomalous strengthening of the Walker cell. The seasonal cycle of various indices related to the SST and the atmospheric circulation in the equatorial Indian Ocean are examined to assess their potential usefulness for seasonal forecasting.

Cryospheric observations in the mountainous regions of eastern Siberia, the pole of cold,for 2004-2007

Cryospheric observations in the mountainous regions of eastern Siberia, the pole of cold,for 2004-2007

Preliminary evidence indicating Dome A (Antarctica) satisfying preconditions for drilling the oldest ice core

Lowest temperature and snow accumulation rate are preconditions for retrieving the oldest ice core from the polar ice sheets. The 10-m depth firn temperature at Dome A, the summit of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, recorded by an automatic weather station (AWS) was −58.3°C in 2005 and −58.2°C in 2006, respectively. The 10-m firn temperature is an approximation of the annual mean air temperature (AMAT), and this is the lowest AMAT that has been recorded on the surface of the Earth. The stable isotopic ratios (δ 18O and δD) of surface snow at Dome A are also lower than at other ice sheet domes along the East Antarctic Ice Divide such as Dome C, Dome F, Dome B and Vostok. These facts indicate that Dome A is the “pole of cold” on the Earth. The total amount of snow accumulation rate in 2005 and 2006 was only 0.16 cm, equaling 0.016 m water equivalent per year, the lowest precipitation ever recorded from Antarctica. Preliminary evidences indicate that Dome A is a candidate site for recovering the oldest ice core.

Lagrangian transport of water vapor and cloud water in the ECHAM4 GCM and its impact on the cold bias

The Lagrangian advection scheme ATTILA has been applied for the transport of water vapor and cloud water in the general circulation model (GCM) ECHAM4.L39(DLR) (E39) instead of the operational semi-Lagrangian transport scheme (SLT). ATTILA is a purely Lagrangian scheme that is numerically non-diffusive, while the operational semi-Lagrangian scheme exhibits a considerable numerical diffusion in the presence of sharp gradients. The model version E39/SLT significantly overestimates the water vapor mixing ratio in the extratropical lowermost stratosphere (wet bias) by a factor of 3–5 compared to HALOE observations. Compared to E39/SLT, E39/ATTILA shows substantially reduced water vapor mixing ratios in the extratropical lowermost stratosphere up to 70%, and a steeper meridional water vapor gradient in the subtropics which is in better agreement with observations. Furthermore, the temperature distribution as simulated with E39/SLT is characterized by a pronounced cold temperature bias in the extratropical lowermost stratosphere (cold bias) and in the polar stratosphere above 50 hPa in winter (cold pole). The improvements concerning the water vapor distribution in E39/ATTILA lead to a substantial reduction of the simulated cold bias by approximately 5–7 K which also results in a better representation of the modeled tropopause, especially in the extratropics. Sensitivity studies indicate that the warming of the extratropical lowermost stratosphere in E39/ATTILA is directly related to the reduced wet bias resulting in a less infrared radiative cooling. Additionally, the cold pole problem is also slightly reduced in E39/ATTILA by approximately 2–5 K.

Cold hardiness of insects distributed in the area of Siberian Cold Pole

Cold hardiness of insects distributed in the area of Siberian Cold Pole

Preface to special section: Validation of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Observations

The papers described below demonstrate that the AIRS calibrated radiances and retrieved geophysical products generally meet or exceed the prelaunch specifications. The retrieved quantities show little variation in uncertainty as a function of cloud amount. However, AIRS retrieval yield is a rapidly decreasing function of cloud amount; at about 80% cloudiness essentially no infrared radiances are used in the retrieval processes. Also, AIRS performance has not been demonstrated for all conditions and products. Calibrated and forward calculated radiances meet performance specifications for conditions varying from the cold poles to warm tropics. The retrieval system performs well over extrapolar land in the free troposphere (~2-15 km above the surface) and over extrapolar oceans at all tropospheric altitudes. The AIRS retrieval algorithms have not been optimized for polar winter conditions, so no such results are presented in these papers.

Thermocapillary Vortices Induced by a Light Beam near a Bubble Surface in a Hele-Shaw Cell

This paper studies thermocapillary vortices induced by local heating of a bubble surface in a Hele-Shaw cell by a light beam. It is found that the vortex rotation frequency and its depth depend on the distance from the light-beam projection onto the layer to the bubble boundary. The surface velocity of the thermocapillary flow is calculated using the balance of the near-surface and return flows of the thermocapillary vortex and the equality of capillary and dynamic pressures. It is shown that a decrease in the surface velocity and the vortex rotation frequency with increase in the distance from the light beam to the bubble surface is due to a decrease in the temperature gradient between the illuminated and cold poles of the bubble.

Uncertainties and assessments of chemistry-climate models of the stratosphere

Abstract. In recent years a number of chemistry-climate models have been developed with an emphasis on the stratosphere. Such models cover a wide range of time scales of integration and vary considerably in complexity. The results of specific diagnostics are here analysed to examine the differences amongst individual models and observations, to assess the consistency of model predictions, with a particular focus on polar ozone. For example, many models indicate a significant cold bias in high latitudes, the "cold pole problem", particularly in the southern hemisphere during winter and spring. This is related to wave propagation from the troposphere which can be improved by improving model horizontal resolution and with the use of non-orographic gravity wave drag. As a result of the widely differing modelled polar temperatures, different amounts of polar stratospheric clouds are simulated which in turn result in varying ozone values in the models. The results are also compared to determine the possible future behaviour of ozone, with an emphasis on the polar regions and mid-latitudes. All models predict eventual ozone recovery, but give a range of results concerning its timing and extent. Differences in the simulation of gravity waves and planetary waves as well as model resolution are likely major sources of uncertainty for this issue. In the Antarctic, the ozone hole has probably reached almost its deepest although the vertical and horizontal extent of depletion may increase slightly further over the next few years. According to the model results, Antarctic ozone recovery could begin any year within the range 2001 to 2008. The limited number of models which have been integrated sufficiently far indicate that full recovery of ozone to 1980 levels may not occur in the Antarctic until about the year 2050. For the Arctic, most models indicate that small ozone losses may continue for a few more years and that recovery could begin any year within the range 2004 to 2019. The start of ozone recovery in the Arctic is therefore expected to appear later than in the Antarctic. Further, interannual variability will tend to mask the signal for longer than in the Antarctic, delaying still further the date at which ozone recovery may be said to have started. Because of this inherent variability of the system, the decadal evolution of Arctic ozone will not necessarily be a direct response to external forcing.

A 420,000 year deuterium excess record from East Antarctica: Information on past changes in the origin of precipitation at Vostok

Here we present and analyze the complete Vostok ice cores deuterium excess record which spans the last four climatic cycles, back to ∼420,000 years B.P. To extract paleoclimate information from this record, we use isotopic modeling showing that changes in deuterium excess (d = δD‐8δ18O) of Vostok precipitation reflect changes in the average temperature of oceanic moisture sources. Over the last 250,000 years the deuterium excess is strongly anticorrelated with changes in Earth's obliquity. This reflects changes in the relative contribution of low and high latitudes to the Vostok precipitation, resulting from changes in the latitudinal annual mean insolation gradient governed by the obliquity. However, this modulation by obliquity is not observed prior to 250,000 years B.P. We attribute this difference to the ice flow, the deeper ice under Vostok station having accumulated in a location upstream Vostok, receiving precipitation from different oceanic origins. Despite this difference between the earlier and the later portions of the record, the deuterium excess changes during all the glacial inceptions are similar in amplitude and timing relative to the deuterium decrease. The glacial inceptions are characterized by high deuterium excess, indicating the significant role of the tropics in supplying moisture to the already cold poles.

Dynamical climatology of the NASA Langley Research Center Interactive Modeling Project for Atmospheric Chemistry and Transport (IMPACT) model

A comparison of the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) Interactive Modeling Project for Atmospheric Chemistry and Transport (IMPACT) model's dynamical characteristics with assimilated data sets and observations is presented to demonstrate the ability of the model to represent the dynamical characteristics of Earth's troposphere and stratosphere. The LaRC IMPACT model is a coupled chemical/dynamical general circulation model (GCM) of the Earth's atmosphere extending from the surface to the lower mesosphere. It has been developed as a tool for assessing the effects of chemical, dynamical, and radiative coupling in the stratosphere on the Earth's climate. The LaRC IMPACT model winds and temperatures are found to be in fairly good agreement with Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite (UARS) United Kingdom Meteorological Office (UKMO) assimilated winds and temperatures in the lower stratosphere. The model upper stratospheric zonal mean temperatures are also in good agreement with the UARS‐UKMO climatology except for a cold winter pole which results from the upward extension of the cold vortex temperatures and an elevated winter stratopause in the model. The cold pole bias is consistent with the overprediction of the winter stratospheric jet strength, and is characteristic of stratospheric GCMs in general. The model northern and southern hemisphere stratospheric eddy heat and momentum fluxes are within the expected interannual variability of the UARS‐UKMO climatology. The combined effects of water vapor transport, radiative, convective, and planetary boundary layer parameterizations are shown to produce tropospheric winds and circulation statistics that are in good agreement with the UARS‐UKMO climatology, although the model tropopause and upper tropospheric temperatures are generally cold relative to the UARS‐UKMO temperatures. Comparisons between the model and UARS‐UKMO climatology indicate that the model does a reasonable job in reproducing the frequency of observed synoptic‐scale storms during the northern and southern hemisphere winters. Generally good agreement is found between the model and observations in the distribution of outgoing longwave radiation and precipitable water. However, the model precipitation and cloud distributions are influenced by spectral truncation errors which indicate that the T32 spectral resolution of the model is probably not adequate to accurately represent coupling between localized convection and large‐scale water vapor transport. The agreement between the observed and model stratospheric circulation and temperatures, reasonableness of the model stratospheric wave driving, and stability of the model climatology provides confidence that the LaRC IMPACT model is appropriate for multiyear coupled radiation/chemistry/dynamics studies of the stratosphere.

Middle Atmosphere Simulated with High Vertical and Horizontal Resolution Versions of a GCM: Improvements in the Cold Pole Bias and Generation of a QBO-like Oscillation in the Tropics

Abstract The large-scale circulation in the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory “SKYHI” troposphere–stratosphere–mesosphere finite-difference general circulation model is examined as a function of vertical and horizontal resolution. The experiments examined include one with horizontal grid spacing of ∼35 km and another with ∼100 km horizontal grid spacing but very high vertical resolution (160 levels between the ground and about 85 km). The simulation of the middle-atmospheric zonal-mean winds and temperatures in the extratropics is found to be very sensitive to horizontal resolution. For example, in the early Southern Hemisphere winter the South Pole near 1 mb in the model is colder than observed, but the bias is reduced with improved horizontal resolution (from ∼70°C in a version with ∼300 km grid spacing to less than 10°C in the ∼35 km version). The extratropical simulation is found to be only slightly affected by enhancements of the vertical resolution. By contrast, the tropical middle-atmospheric s...

Design of structure and quench-stability of sector magnets for RIKEN superconducting ring cyclotron

Design, especially about the structure and quench stability, of the superconducting sector magnets for the RIKEN superconducting ring cyclotron is described. Special features of the sector magnets are the triangular shape superconducting coil, cold pole arrangement for supporting of the huge magnetic forces and the cryogenic stable coils. A full-scale superconducting model is now under construction as a prototype sector magnet.

Middle Atmosphere Climatologies from the Troposphere–Stratosphere Configuration of the UKMO’s Unified Model

Abstract A climatology of the middle atmosphere is determined from 11-yr integrations of the U.K. Meteorological Office Unified Model and compared with 18 years of satellite observations and 5 years of data assimilation fields. The model has an upper boundary at 0.1 mb, and above 20 mb uses Rayleigh friction as a substitute for gravity wave drag. Many of the results are, however, found to be relatively insensitive to enhancing the damping above 0.3 mb. As with most general circulation models, the polar night jet in both hemispheres is too strong and does not have the observed equatorward slope with height. The model suffers from the common “cold pole” problem and, apart from a local warm pool centered just below 100 mb in northern high latitudes in January, and another at about 30 mb at 70°S in July, has a cold bias throughout the stratosphere. At the level where polar stratospheric clouds occur, the temperature bias is about −4 K in the Northern Hemisphere and up to +6 K in the Southern Hemisphere. For t...

A Very High Resolution General Circulation Model Simulation of the Global Circulation in Austral Winter

This paper discusses a simulation obtained with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory “SKYHI” troposphere–stratosphere–mesosphere general circulation model run at very high horizontal resolution (∼60-km grid spacing) and without any parameterization of subgrid-scale gravity wave drag. The results are for a period around the austral winter solstice, and the emphasis is on the simulated Southern Hemisphere (SH) winter circulation. Comparisons are made with results obtained from lower horizontal resolution versions of the same model. The focus in this paper is on two particularly striking features of the high-resolution simulation: the extratropical surface winds and the winter polar middle atmospheric vortex. In the extratropical SH, the simulated surface westerlies and meridional surface pressure gradients in the high-resolution model are considerably stronger than observed and are stronger than those simulated at lower horizontal resolution. In the middle atmosphere, the high-resolution model produces a simulation of the zonal mean winter polar vortex that is considerably improved over that found with lower resolution models (although it is still significantly affected by the usual cold pole bias). Neither the improvement of the middle atmospheric polar vortex simulation nor the deterioration of the simulation of surface winds with increased model resolution shows a clear convergence, even at the ∼60-km grid spacing employed here.

Developmental asynchrony caused by steep temperature gradients does not impair pattern formation in the wasp, Pimpla turionellae L.

Generating developmental gradients by temperature gradients established within a developing organism is an easy, non-invasive technique to study physiological interdependencies between locally separated subsystems. A linear temperature gradient of about 10° C/mm was maintained up to 5 h in either direction along the long axis of a long-germ-type hymenopteran egg, which was simultaneously filmed by the 16 mm timelapse technique. The result was a dramatic desynchronization of development, which between the egg poles could reach up to 9.3 h relative to normal development. Within the same egg, up to seven mitotic waves (i.e. eight different nuclear generations) were observed at the same time, and the subsequent cellularization process was extremely asynchronous. The "initial regions" of the mitotic waves, the "fountain flow" of the ooplasm, and the gastrulation process were shifted towards the egg pole kept at higher temperatures. Developmental processes occurring successively in normal development now took place simultaneously, with either direction of the temperature gradient. For instance, while gastrulation had started in the warm region, midblastula transition and cellularization were in progress in the middle of the egg, and intravitelline nuclear multiplication occurred at the cold pole, by rapid and still biphasic cell cycles. In some respects, development resembled that of a short-germ-type insect egg. Nevertheless, the developmental processes were resynchronized after the temperature gradient was switched off. Surprisingly, the extreme desynchronization during early development did not affect the segment pattern of the resulting embryos. The technique of inducing well-defined developmental asynchronies might be applied in Drosophila to analyse the subtle interplay between maternal and zygotic gene activities described in this species.

Comprehensive simulation of the middle atmospheric climate: some recent results

This study discusses the results of comprehensive time-dependent, three-dimensional numerical modelling of the circulation in the middle atmosphere obtained with the GFDL “SKYHI” troposphere-stratosphere-mesosphere general circulation model (GCM). The climate in a long control simulation with an intermediate resolution version (≈3° in horizontal) is briefly reviewed. While many aspects of the simulation are quite realistic, the focus in this study is on remaining first-order problems with the modelled middle atmospheric general circulation, notably the very cold high latitude temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) winter/spring, and the virtual absence of a quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) in the tropical stratosphere. These problems are shared by other extant GCMs. It was noted that the SH cold pole problem is somewhat ameliorated with increasing horizontal resolution in the model. This suggests that improved resolution increases the vertical momentum fluxes from the explicitly resolved gravity waves in the model, a point confirmed by detailed analysis of the spectrum of vertical eddy momentum flux in the winter SH extratropics. This result inspired a series of experiments with the 3° SKYHI model modified by adding a prescribed zonally-symmetric zonal drag on the SH winter westerlies. The form of the imposed momentum source was based on the simple assumption that the mean flow drag produced by unresolved waves has a spatial distribution similar to that of the Eliassen-Palm flux divergence associated with explicitly resolved gravity waves. It was found that an appropriately-chosen drag confined to the top six model levels (above 0.35 mb) can lead to quite realistic simulations of the SH winter flow (including even the stationary wave fields) through August, but that problems still remain in the late-winter/springtime simulation. While the imposed momentum source was largely confined to the extratropics, it produced considerable improvement in the simulation of the equatorial semiannual oscillation, with both the easterly and westerly phases being somewhat more intense than in the control simulation. A separate experiment was conducted in which the SKYHI model was simplified so that it had no topography and so that the seasonal cycle was frozen in perpetual equinox conditions. These changes result in a model that has much reduced interhemispheric asymmetry. This model spontaneously produces a long period mean flow oscillation of considerable amplitude in the tropical upper stratopause. The implication of this result for the general issue of obtaining a QBO in comprehensive GCMs is discussed.

Extremely low temperatures in the stratosphore and very low total ozone amount above northern and central Europe during winter 1989

On 1 February 1989, -83.5°C was recorded in 27.8 hPa over Hohenpeisenberg, the lowest temperature in the 22-year series. This was measured together with a very low total ozone amount of 266 DU. This may be compared with nearly twice this amount on 27 February 1989. The situation was very unusual: following an extremely cold winter in the Arctic stratosphere, the stratospheric cold pole was located over southern Scandinavia on 1 February in a very southerly position. The analyzed temperatures of -92 °C in 30 hPa were also unusual. Even though the low ozone amounts over Hohenpeisenberg were probably dynamically caused, an additional very small ozone decrease due to heterogeneous reactions in altitudes from 23–28 km, where the temperatures lie below -80 °C, cannot be ruled out. Extinction measurements by the orbitting SAGE II instrument indeed show polar stratospheric clouds over Europe near 50° N during the period 31 January–2 February. Also, polar stratospheric clouds were previously observed over Kiruna at similarly low temperatures and signs of a corresponding small ozone decrease were noted there.

The pole of cold in the Northern Hemisphere

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Aspects of Winter Temperatures in Interior Alaska

The interior basin between the climatic divides of the Brooks and Alaska Ranges has extremely low winter temperatures in contrast to the milder regime of both southcentral Alaska and the region on the Arctic Slope of the Brooks Range. There is a cold pole centered on the Yukon flats and extending over the Yukon and Tanana valleys. Two local factors in the occurrence of low winter temperatures are the wide expanse of relatively flat and low-lying surface suited to the development of substantial low level temperature inversions in winter when the radiation balance of the surface is strongly negative; and encirclement by a mountain mass which is effective in preventing the weaker low level synoptic scale weather systems from invading the basin. Large-scale circulation factors associated with extreme years are described.

Russians in the Antarctic

During 1966 the Eleventh Antarctic Expedition carried out an extensive complex of scientific research as part of the program of the International Years of the Quiet Sun. The Expedition worked in Mirny and at the scientific stations of Vostok, Molodezhnaya and Novolazarevskaya. Observations were also conducted at the two poles of Antarctica - the southern magnetic pole and the "cold pole". At the Vostok station, meteorologists explored the climate, the state of the ionosphere, northern lights, cosmic rays, the geomagnetic field and the source of radio waves. Deep in the mainland south of the Davis Sea coast, research was conducted to ascertain the thickness of the ice sheet by the radio location method. One of the main tasks of the Expedition was to inform Soviet whaling flotillas of the weather in southern latitudes. Geological and geographical research was carried out in the mountains of Enderby Land, and glaciological and hydrographic research was undertaken in Alaskeyev Bay. The program of the Expedition included medical observations of man's acclimatization to conditions in Antarctica. Oceanographic research was carried out from aboard the Ob in the waters of Antarctica between Pravda Coast and Queen Maud Land. The results of the research and discoveries made by the Twelfth Soviet Antarctic Expedition were summed up at a recent session of the Learned Council of the Leningrad Research Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic, which is the Soviet Union's centre of polar exploration. The scientists pointed out that during the expedition of a tractor-sleigh train to the Pole of Relative Inaccessibility a new method was used for the first time for the measuring by radar of the thickness of the ice cap of Antarctica. ... Soviet glaciologists have covered 260 km. in the area of Mirny observatory, and have measured the thickness of the glacier, from a plane, on a route 1,500 km. long. It has been established as the result of investigations that the central part of the glacial cap within Eastern Antarctica is the world's biggest and almost ideal elevated plain. ... Geologists have made some other remarkable discoveries in the Antarctic. They investigated a large part of the coast of Eastern Antarctica (about 800 km.) and carried out a small-scale geological survey of Queen Maud Land and Enderby Land, and discovered there rich deposits of coal and iron ore. Also discovered were traces of manganese, titanium, molybdenum, lead, zinc, silver and tin. ... At the end of November, 1967, the Ob sailed from Leningrad for Antarctica with the members of the Thirteenth Expedition who will remain there for the whole of 1968.