Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
On the potential of linked-basin tidal power plants: an operational and coastal modelling assessment
Published: 2020-02-02
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computational Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Single-basin tidal range power plants have the advantage of predictable energy outputs, but feature non-generation periods in every tidal cycle. Linked-basin tidal power systems can reduce this variability and consistently generate power. However, as a concept the latter are under-studied with limited information on their performance relative to single-basin designs. In addressing this, we [...]
A Shallow Water Model for Convective Self-Aggregation
Published: 2020-02-02
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Convective self-aggregation is proposed to be fundamental to the development of tropical cyclones and the Madden-Julian Oscillation, both of which are long-term mysteries in tropical meteorology. Therefore, understanding self-aggregation is key to deciphering how convection works in the tropical atmosphere. Here we present a 1D shallow water model that simulates the dynamics of the planetary [...]
Spatially distributed chaos and turbulence in clouds
Published: 2020-01-22
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Spatially distributed chaos (turbulence) in the cumulus, stratocumulus, stratiform, cirrus and cirrus mammatus clouds have been studied using results of direct numerical simulations and measurements in the cloudy atmosphere. It is shown that in the considered cases the second order moment of helicity distribution (the Levich-Tsinober invariant) dominates the kinetic energy spectra.
Enhanced iceberg discharge in the western North Atlantic during all Heinrich events of the last glaciation
Published: 2020-01-12
Subjects: Climate, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A series of catastrophic iceberg discharges to the North Atlantic, termed Heinrich events, punctuated the last ice age. During Heinrich events, coarse terrigenous debris released from the drifting icebergs was preserved in deep-sea sediments, serving as an indicator of iceberg passage. Quantifying the vertical flux of ice-rafted debris (IRD) in open-ocean settings can resolve questions regarding [...]
Abyssal Circulation Driven By Near-Boundary Mixing: Water Mass Transformations and Interior Stratification
Published: 2020-01-12
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The emerging view of the abyssal circulation is that it is associated with bottom enhanced mixing, which results in downwelling in the stratified ocean interior and upwelling in a bottom boundary layer along the insulating and sloping seafloor. In the limit of slowly-varying vertical stratification and topography, however, boundary layer theory predicts that these up- and down-slope flows largely [...]
Risk Assessment for Scientific Data
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Library and Information Science, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
This is a preprint draft of the paper that was officially published in the Data Science Journal. Please quote from the published version: http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-010. Abstract: Ongoing stewardship is required to keep data collections and archives in existence. Scientific data collections may face a range of risk factors that could hinder, constrain, or limit current or future data use. [...]
Uncertainty in the response of sudden stratospheric warmings and stratosphere-troposphere coupling to quadrupled CO2 concentrations in CMIP6 models
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Major sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs), vortex formation and final breakdown dates are key highlight points of the stratospheric polar vortex. These phenomena are relevant for stratosphere-troposphere coupling, which explains the interest in understanding their future changes. However, up to now, there is not a clear consensus on which projected changes to the polar vortex are robust, [...]
Feedback between drought and deforestation in the Amazon
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sustainability
Deforestation and drought are among the greatest environmental pressures on the Amazon rainforest, possibly destabilizing the forest-climate system. Deforestation in the Amazon reduces rainfall regionally, while this deforestation itself has been reported to be facilitated by droughts. Here we quantify the interactions between drought and deforestation spatially across the Amazon during the early [...]
Detection Uncertainty Matters for Understanding Atmospheric Rivers
Published: 2020-01-02
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The 3rd ARTMIP Workshop What: Over 30 participants from multiple universities and research insititutions met to discuss new results from the Atmospheric River Tracking Method Intercomparison Project. Where: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Berkeley, CA, USA When: 16-18 October 2019
Using a consistency factor for detection and attribution of anthropogenic impacts on phenological phases in Germany
Published: 2020-01-01
Subjects: Climate, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
An important consequence of climate change is the impact on the seasonal cycle of vegetation flora and fauna. Although it is generally understood that anthropogenic mechanisms play a major role in the warming trend of the climate and that the timing of such phases, especially spring timing events, depends largely on the temperature, the link has yet to be quantitatively shown for different kind [...]
Glacial cooling and climate sensitivity revisited
Published: 2019-12-25
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), one of the best-studied paleoclimatic intervals, offers a prime opportunity to investigate how the climate system responds to changes in greenhouse gases (GHGs) and the cryosphere. Previous work has sought to constrain the magnitude and pattern of glacial cooling from paleothermometers, but the uneven distribution of the proxies, as well as their uncertainties, has [...]
Marked upwelling and SST drop after the arrival of cyclone Dorian to the Atlantic Canadian coast
Published: 2019-12-08
Subjects: Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In intertidal environments, temperature fluctuations at hourly temporal scales are ecologically relevant because of the physiological stress that organisms must endure as a result. Tides constitute the main source of such changes, as low tides periodically expose intertidal habitats to aerial conditions, which can exhibit unusually high and low temperatures in summer and winter, respectively. The [...]
Stronger Atlantic hurricanes: Validating Elsner et al. (2008)
Published: 2019-12-04
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Using satellite derived wind speed estimates from tropical cyclones over the 25-year period 1981--2006, Elsner et al. (2008) showed the strongest tropical cyclones getting stronger. They related the increasing intensity to rising ocean temperatures consistent with theory. Oceans continued to warm since that paper was published so the intensity of the strongest cyclones should have continued [...]
Estimation of surface and deep flows from sparse SSH observations of geostrophic ocean turbulence using Deep Learning
Published: 2019-12-04
Subjects: Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Satellite altimeters provide global observations of sea surface height (SSH) and present a unique dataset for advancing our theoretical understanding of upper ocean dynamics and monitoring its variability. Considering that mesoscale SSH patterns of 50--300 km in size can evolve on timescales comparable to or shorter than satellite return periods, it is challenging to accurately reconstruct the [...]
An interpreted language implementation of the Vaganov-Shashkin tree-ring proxy system model
Published: 2019-12-04
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
We describe the implementation of the Vaganov-Shashkin tree-ring growth model (VSM) in MATLAB. VSM, originally written in Fortran, mimics subdaily and daily resolution processes of cambial growth as a function of soil moisture, air temperature, and insolation, with environmental forcing modeled as the principle of limiting factors. The re-implementation in a high level interpreted language, [...]