Surface Temperature In Regions Research Articles

Eye region surface temperature reflects both energy reserves and circulating glucocorticoids in a wild bird

Body temperature of endotherms shows substantial within- and between-individual variation, but the sources of this variation are not fully understood in wild animals. Variation in body temperature can indicate how individuals cope with their environment via metabolic or stress-induced effects, both of which may relate to depletion of energy reserves. Body condition can reflect heat production through changes to metabolic rate made to protect energy reserves. Additionally, changes in metabolic processes may be mediated by stress-related glucocorticoid secretion, which is associated with altered blood-flow patterns that affect regional body temperatures. Accordingly, both body condition and glucocorticoid secretion should relate to body temperature. We used thermal imaging, a novel non-invasive method of temperature measurement, to investigate relationships between body condition, glucocorticoid secretion and body surface temperature in wild blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). Individuals with lower body condition had lower eye-region surface temperature in both non-breeding and breeding seasons. Eye-region surface temperature was also negatively correlated with baseline circulating glucocorticoid levels in non-breeding birds. Our results demonstrate that body surface temperature can integrate multiple aspects of physiological state. Consequently, remotely-measured body surface temperature could be used to assess such aspects of physiological state non-invasively in free-living animals at multiple life history stages.

Role of Soil Thermal Inertia in Surface Temperature and Soil Moisture‐Temperature Feedback

AbstractA conceptual model based on the surface energy budget is developed to compute the sensitivity of the climatological mean diurnal amplitude and mean daily surface temperature to the soil thermal inertia. It uses the diurnal amplitude of the net surface radiation, the sensitivity of the turbulent fluxes to the surface temperature and the soil thermal inertia. Its performance is evaluated globally with numerical simulations using the atmospheric and the land surface modules of a state‐of‐the‐art climate model. The only regions where the thermal inertia has a limited impact are the moist regions. In dry areas, together with the stability of the boundary layer it plays a major role. It also has a significant impact at high and midlatitudes especially in winter when the turbulent fluxes are weak. In semiarid regions, the soil moisture exhibits a high day‐to‐day variability strongly correlated to the evaporation and the day‐to‐day variability of the surface temperature is generally explained by the soil moisture via its control on the evaporation. However, the soil moisture via its control on the thermal inertia reduces the impact of the day‐time evaporative cooling by reducing the nocturnal cooling. This newly identified moisture‐related negative feedback can reduce the variability of the surface temperature in semiarid regions by up to a factor of 2. The model also provides a simple framework to understand the role of the thermal properties in the frequent cold bias identified in stratified stable atmospheric situations in the northern midlatitudes.

Influences of sea surface temperature in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans on tropical cyclone genesis over the western North Pacific in May

This study investigated the effects of sea surface temperature (SST) in different tropical regions on tropical cyclone (TC) genesis over the western North Pacific (WNP) in May. The results revealed that positive SST anomalies over the tropical Pacific (Indian) Ocean in March may lead to increased (decreased) numbers of TCs over the WNP in May by affecting the atmospheric circulation anomalies over the WNP. Warmer SSTs over the tropical Pacific Ocean (TPO) may lead to stronger low-level southwesterly winds and enhanced convection. However, warmer SSTs over the tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) may enhance the western part of the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) and suppress convection. Further analysis suggests that changes in the atmospheric circulation anomalies over the WNP are related to changes in environmental factors. Concomitantly with the positive SST anomalies over the TPO, a favorable environment for TC genesis in May is present, with stronger low-level relative vorticity and upper-level divergence, smaller vertical wind shear and abundant water vapor. In contrast, the positive SST anomalies over the TIO might lead to an unfavorable environment for TC genesis over the WNP. This study also investigated the joint contributions of the TPO and TIO, and the results indicate that positive SST anomalies over the TPO and negative SST anomalies over the TIO may lead to an increased number of TC geneses. The analysis of the energy budget suggests that the joint activity of the TPO and TIO influences the barotropic eddy kinetic energy conversions and is mainly attributed to the contributions from the meridional shear of the mean zonal winds and the zonal wind convergence.

Downscaling Land Surface Temperature in Complex Regions by Using Multiple Scale Factors with Adaptive Thresholds.

Many downscaling algorithms have been proposed to address the issue of coarse-resolution land surface temperature (LST) derived from available satellite-borne sensors. However, few studies have focused on improving LST downscaling in urban areas with several mixed surface types. In this study, LST was downscaled by a multiple linear regression model between LST and multiple scale factors in mixed areas with three or four surface types. The correlation coefficients (CCs) between LST and the scale factors were used to assess the importance of the scale factors within a moving window. CC thresholds determined which factors participated in the fitting of the regression equation. The proposed downscaling approach, which involves an adaptive selection of the scale factors, was evaluated using the LST derived from four Landsat 8 thermal imageries of Nanjing City in different seasons. Results of the visual and quantitative analyses show that the proposed approach achieves relatively satisfactory downscaling results on 11 August, with coefficient of determination and root-mean-square error of 0.87 and 1.13 °C, respectively. Relative to other approaches, our approach shows the similar accuracy and the availability in all seasons. The best (worst) availability occurred in the region of vegetation (water). Thus, the approach is an efficient and reliable LST downscaling method. Future tasks include reliable LST downscaling in challenging regions and the application of our model in middle and low spatial resolutions.

2014 Warmest Year in Modern Record: Climate Monitoring and Its Possible Cause

Global warming and increasing extreme weather events are two important facts under climate change. In 2014, the global average surface temperature surged to a new high, ranking as the Earth’s warmest year since 1850. Using the observational datasets of land surface temperature, sea-surface temperature (SST), ocean heat content, precipitation, sea ice extent, etc. from 1850 to 2014, this paper, from the perspective of climate change, examines the observational evidence in the warmest year by comprehensively analyzing the changing characteristics of the global surface temperature, ocean heat content as well as the surface temperature in key regions. Meanwhile, this paper analyzes the possible cause of the warmest year from the factors of human activities and the ocean forcing. Finally, based on these analyses, the authors point out some possible damage caused by climate warming and further present some necessary approaches to combating climate warming.

Two centuries temperature variations over subtropical southeast China inferred from Pinus taiwanensis Hayata tree-ring width

High-resolution long-term temperature reconstructions in subtropical southeast China (SSC) are very scarce, yet indispensable for the comprehensive understanding of climate change in China, even in East Asia. We reconstructed the first previous growth-season temperature in the Sanqingshan Mountains (SQS), southeast China since 1806 based on tree-ring width data. The reconstruction accounts for 56.4 % of the total variance in the instrumental record over 1954–2009. Unlike the Northern Hemispheric warming during recent two centuries, the reconstruction captured a slowly cooling trend from 1806 to 1980, followed by a rapid warming afterward. 2003–2009 was the warmest period in the reconstruction. 1970–2000 was colder than the last stage of the Little Ice Age (LIA). Most of the warm and cold periods in this reconstruction could be found in the tree-ring based temperature reconstructions of vicinity area, indicating that the temperature variations in SSC were almost synchronous at least at decadal scale. This regional coherence of temperature variation was further confirmed by the spatial correlation patterns with the CRU TS3.22 grid dataset. A strong positive relationship between the temperature over SQS region and sea surface temperature (SST) over the North Pacific Ocean (NP) has been noted, suggesting that SST variations over NP and the related Pacific Decadal Oscillation significantly influenced the temperature variability over SSC. To better understand the climate variability during the LIA and the regional differences in temperature variations over SQS and northern Hemisphere, long data sets from more diverse areas of southern China are needed.

Climatic variability of river outflow in the Pantanal region and the influence of sea surface temperature

This paper investigates possible linear relationships between climate, hydrology, and oceanic surface variability in the Pantanal region (in South America’s central area), over interannual and interdecadal time ranges. In order to verify the mentioned relations, lagged correlation analysis and linear adjustment between river discharge at the Pantanal region and sea surface temperature were used. Composite analysis for atmospheric fields, air humidity flux divergence, and atmospheric circulation at low and high levels, for the period between 1970 and 2003, was analyzed. Results suggest that the river discharge in the Pantanal region is linearly associated with interdecadal and interannual oscillations in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, making them good predictors to continental hydrological variables. Considering oceanic areas, 51 % of the annual discharge in the Pantanal region can be linearly explained by mean sea surface temperature (SST) in the Subtropical North Pacific, Tropical North Pacific, Extratropical South Pacific, and Extratropical North Atlantic over the period. Considering a forecast approach in seasonal scale, 66 % of the monthly discharge variance in Pantanal, 3 months ahead of SST, is explained by the oceanic variables, providing accuracy around 65 %. Annual discharge values in the Pantanal region are strongly related to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) variability (with 52 % of linear correlation), making it possible to consider an interdecadal variability and a consequent subdivision of the whole period in three parts: 1st (1970–1977), 2nd (1978–1996), and 3rd (1997–2003) subperiods. The three subperiods coincide with distinct PDO phases: negative, positive, and negative, respectively. Convergence of humidity flux at low levels and the circulation pattern at high levels help to explain the drier and wetter subperiods. During the wetter 2nd subperiod, the air humidity convergence at low levels is much more evident than during the other two drier subperiods, which mostly show air humidity divergence. While the drier periods are particularly characterized by the strengthening of northerly wind over the center of South America, including the Pantanal region, the wetter period is characterized by its weakening. The circulation pattern at 850 hPa levels during the drier subperiods shows anticyclonic anomalies centered over east central South America. Also, the drier subperiods (1st and 3rd) are characterized by negative stream function anomalies over southeastern South America and adjacent South Atlantic, and the wetter subperiod is characterized by positive stream function anomalies. In the three subperiods, one can see mean atmospheric patterns associated with Rossby wave propagation coming from the South Pacific basin—similar to the Pacific South America pattern, but with reverse signals between the wetter and the drier periods. This result suggests a possible relationship between climatic patterns over southeastern South America regions and the Pacific conditions in a decadal scale.

An albedo based model for the calculation of pavement surface temperatures in permafrost regions

High albedo road surfaces can be used to reduce the amount of heat absorbed by a pavement in order to limit the degradation of the permafrost under paved embankments. A model based on a simplified energy balance at the surface of a pavement is proposed to calculate the temperature of high albedo surfaces in order to assess their effectiveness. The model is validated using data from a test section built on the Alaska Highway near Beaver Creek, Yukon, Canada. The temperatures of four surfaces with different albedo were monitored for a year at the test section. The input data required for the model are the albedo of the surface, the incoming solar radiation, the air temperature and the wind speed. A set of design charts based on the radiation index and supported by the model are presented.

The role of thermal inertia in the representation of mean and diurnal range of surface temperature in semiarid and arid regions

AbstractIn this article we show the possible role of thermal inertia in the large spread of the simulated surface temperature over arid and semiarid regions among climate models. The surface‐atmosphere interactions are investigated based on single‐column simulations of the DIurnal land‐atmosphere Coupling Experiment and on global simulations. Low values of the surface thermal inertia increase the diurnal temperature range (DTR) and the daytime turbulent heat fluxes. The diurnal response of surface temperature to the thermal inertia is asymmetric between daytime and nighttime, inducing a change in the daily mean surface temperature that can reach several degrees over large areas. This asymmetrical response to thermal inertia is shown to be due to the diurnal contrast of the stability state of the atmospheric boundary layer. Thermal inertia in dry regions plays a critical role on both DTR and surface mean temperature and needs to be carefully represented in land surface models.

Sea Surface Temperature Influence on Terrestrial Gross Primary Production along the Southern California Current.

Some land and ocean processes are related through connections (and synoptic-scale teleconnections) to the atmosphere. Synoptic-scale atmospheric (El Niño/Southern Oscillation [ENSO], Pacific Decadal Oscillation [PDO], and North Atlantic Oscillation [NAO]) decadal cycles are known to influence the global terrestrial carbon cycle. Potentially, smaller scale land-ocean connections influenced by coastal upwelling (changes in sea surface temperature) may be important for local-to-regional water-limited ecosystems where plants may benefit from air moisture transported from the ocean to terrestrial ecosystems. Here we use satellite-derived observations to test potential connections between changes in sea surface temperature (SST) in regions with strong coastal upwelling and terrestrial gross primary production (GPP) across the Baja California Peninsula. This region is characterized by an arid/semiarid climate along the southern California Current. We found that SST was correlated with the fraction of photosynthetic active radiation (fPAR; as a proxy for GPP) with lags ranging from 0 to 5 months. In contrast ENSO was not as strongly related with fPAR as SST in these coastal ecosystems. Our results show the importance of local-scale changes in SST during upwelling events, to explain the variability in GPP in coastal, water-limited ecosystems. The response of GPP to SST was spatially-dependent: colder SST in the northern areas increased GPP (likely by influencing fog formation), while warmer SST at the southern areas was associated to higher GPP (as SST is in phase with precipitation patterns). Interannual trends in fPAR are also spatially variable along the Baja California Peninsula with increasing secular trends in subtropical regions, decreasing trends in the most arid region, and no trend in the semi-arid regions. These findings suggest that studies and ecosystem process based models should consider the lateral influence of local-scale ocean processes that could influence coastal ecosystem productivity.

Reconstruction of winter monsoon strength by elemental ratio of sediments in the East China Sea

The East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) transports cold air from the high northern latitudes to the mid- and low-latitudes. Thus investigations on its variation pattern and mechanism are essential for acquiring further knowledge on the interplay across the high and low latitudes. Proxies such as grain size and foraminiferal δ18O in marine sediments and elemental ratios in the Chinese loess have been used for the reconstruction of EAWM strength. However, more high-resolution reconstructions for EAWM are required for further understanding the mechanism of climate systems and predicting climate change. In this study, we present a high-resolution time-series of the late Holocene EAWM strength reconstructed by element method. Comparisons of element concentrations, elemental ratios and mean grain size (MGS) of environment-sensitive components in a sediment core from the shelf of the East China Sea indicate that K/Ti ratio is an appropriate proxy for the reconstruction of the EAWM strength. K/Ti ratio exhibits similar trends with proxies of sea surface temperature and EAWM strength in different regions influenced by the EAWM. Warm and cold periods such as the Roman Warm Period, Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age are identified in the reconstructed results. Total solar irradiance anomaly (ΔTSI) and K/Ti ratios exhibit comparable tendencies in the last two millennia and frequency spectrum analysis exhibits similar periodicities in the time series of ΔTSI and K/Ti, which confirm that solar irradiance has a significant impact on the EASM on centennial time scale.

Interannually varying salinity effects on ENSO in the tropical pacific: a diagnostic analysis from Argo

In this paper, three-dimensional temperature and salinity fields from Argo profiles are used to diagnose the interannual variations of some related upper oceanic fields in the tropical Pacific, with a focus on interannually varying salinity effects on the El Nio-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. It is clearly demonstrated that the salinity field plays a significantly large role in modulating the density and mixed layer (ML) over the western-central tropical Pacific. In particular, the contribution of interannually varying salinity to the interannual variations in density, ML, and stratification is surprisingly larger than that of interannually varying temperature. Over the entire region west of the dateline, the salinity effects are not limited to the surface but are clearly seen below the ML as represented in density and stratification fields. Furthermore, the mechanism for how the anomalous salinity field is modulating the ENSO cycle is investigated and explained through the El Nio (2009-2010) and La Nia (2010-2011) cases. Evidently, salinity field is shown to exert a significant influence on interannual variability as it directly affects the vertical mixing and entrainment at the base of the ML, the processes important to sea surface temperature (SST) in the equatorial regions.

Sensitivity of Modeled Precipitation to Sea Surface Temperature in Regions with Complex Topography and Coastlines: A Case Study for the Mediterranean

Abstract An analysis of the effects of SST representation on precipitation in long-term continuous simulations was carried out for the Mediterranean peninsula of Calabria, Italy, which is characterized by complex coastlines and orography. A parameterization analysis was performed to find an optimal model configuration, using a method where SST fields are directly ingested from NCEP datasets into the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model lower boundary condition files. The results of the optimal configuration were used for a comparison with recorded precipitation patterns for a very wet period (from November 2008 to January 2009), adopting several interpolation options available in the WRF Preprocessing System. An additional comparison was made against a uniform variation of the original SST fields by ε = ±0.5 K. It was found that the interpolation options mainly affect near-coastline SSTs, where methods requiring fewer source data points have several advantages. Effects of SST representation on precipitation, accumulated over the whole 3-month period, are generally lower than ±2%, but a specific class of events (synoptic situations) with strong differences in precipitation patterns was identified. These events are connected to pressure systems moving from the African coast to the north and approaching the Sicilian and Calabrian coastlines. Two of these events, which occurred on 27–29 December 2008 and 9 January 2009, were analyzed in detail, highlighting that small variations of SST values induce slight shifts in the paths of the weather fronts. These slight shifts are important enough to determine whether or not wet air masses can reach the mountain ranges close to the coast, where rainfall intensity is enhanced by orographic effects.

Compositional diapirism as the origin of the low‐albedo terrain and vaporization at midlatitude on Ceres

AbstractRecent observations of Ceres, made using the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared on board the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, have shown that water vapor is emanated from the low‐albedo midlatitude regions. Based on the supposition that some dark spots on Europa may be caused by diapirism, we explored whether Ceres' environment also can induce compositional diapirism, and whether an upwelling diapir could explain the origin and distribution of the dark spots and vaporization of Ceres. If the density of the rock that constitutes Ceres is around 2700 kg m−3, the undifferentiated crust is stable over geological time periods at less than 180 K. At a surface temperature of 170 K, a diapir can reach the surface if the crust is a few tens of kilometers thick. Alternatively, if the surface temperature is 150 K, a large contrast in viscosity would prevent diapirs from reaching the surface. The relatively moderate surface temperature in the midlatitude regions of Ceres may be the reason for the formation of dark terrains occurring only in such areas. Our finite difference calculations do not show that diapirism melts the surface ice because the temperature gradient changes very little. However, if the observed vapor emission is caused by the sublimation of fresh ice, compositional diapirism could be the mechanism that transports the fresh ice to the surface. In addition to other mechanisms such as cryovolcanism, diapirism is a valid hypothesis for explaining the dark terrain and vapor emissions of Ceres.

Identifying and removing structural biases in climate models with history matching

We describe the method of history matching, a method currently used to help quantify parametric uncertainty in climate models, and argue for its use in identifying and removing structural biases in climate models at the model development stage. We illustrate the method using an investigation of the potential to improve upon known ocean circulation biases in a coupled non-flux-adjusted climate model (the third Hadley Centre Climate Model; HadCM3). In particular, we use history matching to investigate whether or not the behaviour of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), which is known to be too strong in HadCM3, represents a structural bias that could be corrected using the model parameters. We find that it is possible to improve the ACC strength using the parameters and observe that doing this leads to more realistic representations of the sub-polar and sub-tropical gyres, sea surface salinities (both globally and in the North Atlantic), sea surface temperatures in the sinking regions in the North Atlantic and in the Southern Ocean, North Atlantic Deep Water flows, global precipitation, wind fields and sea level pressure. We then use history matching to locate a region of parameter space predicted not to contain structural biases for ACC and SSTs that is around 1 % of the original parameter space. We explore qualitative features of this space and show that certain key ocean and atmosphere parameters must be tuned carefully together in order to locate climates that satisfy our chosen metrics. Our study shows that attempts to tune climate model parameters that vary only a handful of parameters relevant to a given process at a time will not be as successful or as efficient as history matching.

Numerical experiments on the impact of spring north pacific SSTA on NPO and unusually cool summers in Northeast China

A set of numerical experiments designed to analyze the oceanic forcing in spring show that the combined forcing of cold (warm) El Nino (La Nina) phases in the Nino4 region and sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) in the westerly drifts region would result in abnormally enhanced NorthEast Cold Vortex (NECV) activities in early summer. In spring, the central equatorial Pacific El Nino phase and westerly drift SSTA forcing would lead to the retreat of non-adiabatic waves, inducing elliptic low-frequency anomalies of tropical air flows. This would enhance the anomalous cyclone-anticyclone-cyclone-anticyclone low-frequency wave train that propagates from the tropics to the extratropics and further to the mid-high latitudes, constituting a major physical mechanism that contributes to the early summer circulation anomalies in the subtropics and in the North Pacific mid-high latitudes. The central equatorial Pacific La Nina forcing in the spring would, on the one hand, induce teleconnection anomalies of high pressure from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Sea of Japan in early summer, and on the other hand indirectly trigger a positive low-frequency East Asia-Pacific teleconnection (EAP) wave train in the lower troposphere.

Transient climate changes in a perturbed parameter ensemble of emissions-driven earth system model simulations

We describe results from a 57-member ensemble of transient climate change simulations, featuring simultaneous perturbations to 54 parameters in the atmosphere, ocean, sulphur cycle and terrestrial ecosystem components of an earth system model (ESM). These emissions-driven simulations are compared against the CMIP3 multi-model ensemble of physical climate system models, used extensively to inform previous assessments of regional climate change, and also against emissions-driven simulations from ESMs contributed to the CMIP5 archive. Members of our earth system perturbed parameter ensemble (ESPPE) are competitive with CMIP3 and CMIP5 models in their simulations of historical climate. In particular, they perform reasonably well in comparison with HadGEM2-ES, a more sophisticated and expensive earth system model contributed to CMIP5. The ESPPE therefore provides a computationally cost-effective tool to explore interactions between earth system processes. In response to a non-intervention emissions scenario, the ESPPE simulates distributions of future regional temperature change characterised by wide ranges, and warm shifts, compared to those of CMIP3 models. These differences partly reflect the uncertain influence of global carbon cycle feedbacks in the ESPPE. In addition, the regional effects of interactions between different earth system feedbacks, particularly involving physical and ecosystem processes, shift and widen the ESPPE spread in normalised patterns of surface temperature and precipitation change in many regions. Significant differences from CMIP3 also arise from the use of parametric perturbations (rather than a multimodel ensemble) to represent model uncertainties, and this is also the case when ESPPE results are compared against parallel emissions-driven simulations from CMIP5 ESMs. When driven by an aggressive mitigation scenario, the ESPPE and HadGEM2-ES reveal significant but uncertain impacts in limiting temperature increases during the second half of the twenty-first century. Emissions-driven simulations create scope for development of errors in properties that were previously prescribed in coupled ocean–atmosphere models, such as historical CO2 concentrations and vegetation distributions. In this context, historical intra-ensemble variations in the airborne fraction of CO2 emissions, and in summer soil moisture in northern hemisphere continental regions, are shown to be potentially useful constraints, subject to uncertainties in the relevant observations. Our results suggest that future climate-related risks can be assessed more comprehensively by updating projection methodologies to support formal combination of emissions-driven perturbed parameter and multi-model earth system model simulations with suitable observational constraints. This would provide scenarios underpinned by a more complete representation of the chain of uncertainties from anthropogenic emissions to future climate outcomes.

The covariation of Northern Hemisphere summertime CO<sub>2</sub> with surface temperature in boreal regions

Abstract. We observe significant interannual variability in the strength of the seasonal cycle drawdown in northern midlatitudes from measurements of CO2 made by the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) and the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT). This variability correlates with surface temperature in the boreal regions. Using TCCON measurements, we find that the slope of the relationship between the XCO2 seasonal cycle minima and boreal surface temperature is 1.2 ± 0.7 ppm K−1. Assimilations from CarbonTracker 2011 and CO2 simulations using the Simple Biosphere exchange Model (SiB) transported by GEOS-Chem underestimate this covariation. Both atmospheric transport and biospheric activity contribute to the observed covariation.

Evaluation and sensitivity testing of a coupled Landsat-MODIS downscaling method for land surface temperature and vegetation indices in semi-arid regions

The current study investigates a method to provide land surface parameters [i.e., land surface temperature (LST) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)] at a high spatial (∼30 and 60 m) and temporal (daily and 8-day) resolution by combining advantages from Landsat and moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellites. We adopt a previously developed subtraction method that merges the spatial detail of higher-resolution imagery (Landsat) with the temporal change observed in coarser or moderate-resolution imagery (MODIS). Applying the temporal difference between MODIS images observed at two different dates to a higher-resolution Landsat image allows prediction of a combined or fused image ( Landsat+MODIS ) at a future date. Evaluation of the resultant merged products is undertaken within the Southeastern Arizona region where data is available from a range of flux tower sites. The Landsat+ MODIS fused products capture the raw Landsat values and also reflect the MODIS temporal variation. The predicted Landsat +MODIS LST improves mean absolute error around 5°C at the more heterogeneous sites compared to the original satellite products. The fused Landsat+ b>MODIS NDVI product also shows good correlation to ground-based data and is relatively consistent except during the acute (monsoon) growing season. The sensitivity of the fused product relative to temporal gaps in Landsat data appears to be more affected by uncertainty associated with regional precipitation and green-up, than the length of the gap associated with Landsat viewing, suggesting the potential to use a minimal number of original Landsat images during relatively stable land surface and climate conditions. Our extensive validation yields insight on the ability of the proposed method to integrate multiscale platforms and the potential for reducing costs associated with high-resolution satellite systems (e.g., SPOT, QuickBird, IKONOS).

Weakening of hurricanes via marine cloud brightening (MCB)

AbstractThis paper examines the potential to cool ocean surface waters in regions of hurricane genesis and early development. This would be achieved by seeding, with copious quantities of seawater cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), low‐level maritime stratocumulus clouds covering these regions or those at the source of incoming currents. Higher cloud droplet density would increase these clouds' reflectivity to incoming sunlight, and possibly their longevity. This approach is therefore a more localized application of the marine cloud brightening (MCB) geoengineering technique promoting global cooling. By utilizing a climate ocean/atmosphere coupled model, HadGEM1, we demonstrate that—subject to the satisfactory resolution of defined but unresolved issues—judicious seeding of maritime stratocumulus clouds might significantly reduce sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in regions where hurricanes develop. Thus artificial seeding may reduce hurricane intensity; but how well the magnitude of this effect could be controlled is yet to be determined.We also address the important question as to how MCB seeding may influence precipitation. GCM modelling indicates that the influence of seeding on undesirable rainfall reductions depends on its location and magnitude. Much more work on this topic is required. Copyright © 2012 Royal Meteorological Society