• Issue

    Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres: Volume 121, Issue 21

    12,579-13,203
    16 November 2016

Issue Information

Free Access

Issue Information

  • Pages: 12,579-12,580
  • First Published: 01 December 2016

Research Articles

Climate and Dynamics

Free Access
Highlight

Potential predictability sources of the 2012 U.S. drought in observations and a regional model ensemble

  • Pages: 12,581-12,592
  • First Published: 21 September 2016
Key Points

  • Soil moisture exhibits stronger persistence than precipitation
  • The relationship between snowmelt and soil moisture is stronger than that between precipitation and soil moisture
  • Potential predictability of the 2012 drought beyond 1 and 2 month lead-times resides in the land surface conditions

Free Access

Anomalous diurnal variation of atmospheric potential gradient and air-Earth current density observed at Maitri, Antarctica

  • Pages: 12,593-12,611
  • First Published: 06 October 2016
Key Points

  • The electricity parameters have discrepancy with the expected global diurnal pattern
  • There are three dominant diurnal patterns during the fair-weather days
  • The katabatic winds influence the of fair-weather electrical parameters

Free Access

Modeling the global bomb tritium transient signal with the AGCM LMDZ-iso: A method to evaluate aspects of the hydrological cycle

  • Pages: 12,612-12,629
  • First Published: 14 October 2016
Key Points

  • The anthropogenic tritium injected by each of the atmospheric nuclear tests has been estimated and implemented in the AGCM LMDZ-iso
  • LMDZ-iso correctly reproduces the general shape of the temporal evolution of tritium in precipitation between 1950 and 2008
  • Tritium model-data comparisons provide an additional tool to test the stratospheric residence time in the models

Open Access

ATMS- and AMSU-A-derived hurricane warm core structures using a modified retrieval algorithm

  • Pages: 12,630-12,646
  • First Published: 19 October 2016
Key Points

  • The three-dimensional global distributions of atmospheric temperatures can be retrieved from ATMS observations using a revised algorithm
  • The warm core structures of Sandy obtained by using the revised retrieval algorithm have realistic features and no scan-dependent biases
  • Sandy's warm core was confined to upper troposphere while intensifying in tropics and extended to entire troposphere when in midlatitudes

Free Access

A numerical investigation of the convective systems in the vicinity of southern Taiwan associated with Typhoon Fanapi (2010): Formation mechanism of double rainfall peaks

  • Pages: 12,647-12,676
  • First Published: 19 October 2016
Key Points

  • The latent heating of the near-coastal rainfall greatly contributes to potential vorticity with enhanced stretching near the convex eyewall
  • The longitudinal differential heating dominates other processes in the PV generation inside the eyewall further offshore
  • The formation of double rainfall peaks cannot occur without a precise departing track associated with the slowdown of the vortex core

Free Access

HF radar observations of a quasi-biennial oscillation in midlatitude mesospheric winds

  • Pages: 12,677-12,689
  • First Published: 24 October 2016
Key Points

  • A significant mesospheric QBO signature is observed at Saskatoon using midlatitude SuperDARN HF radar during late winter
  • Saskatoon MQBO signature is significantly correlated with equatorial QBO
  • Filtering of gravity waves through Saskatoon stratospheric winds and opposite momentum deposition in the mesosphere leads to MQBO

Free Access

Prediction and predictability of land and atmosphere initialized CCSM4 climate forecasts over North America

  • Pages: 12,690-12,701
  • First Published: 15 October 2016
Key Points

  • Observed land and atmosphere initial states increase skill of both precipitation and 2 m temperature in CCSM4 hindcasts
  • Perfect model predictability indicates skill to be gained should model errors, initial errors, or land-atmosphere coupling strength improve

Free Access

Spatially continuous mapping of daily global ozone distribution (2004–2014) with the Aura OMI sensor

  • Pages: 12,702-12,722
  • First Published: 19 October 2016
Key Points

  • Present a spatiotemporal technique termed TFFSRC
  • Produce a spatially continuous and daily global total ozone product of about 10 years

Free Access

Gravity wave momentum flux in the mesosphere measured by VHF radar at Davis, Antarctica

  • Pages: 12,723-12.736
  • First Published: 24 October 2016
Key Points

  • Isotropic gravity wave momentum flux spectrum is observed at the summer mesopause at Davis, Antarctica
  • Directionally resolved mean momentum flux is an order of magnitude smaller than absolute momentum flux
  • Atmospheric tides enhance gravity wave intermittency in the mesosphere-lower thermosphere

Free Access

Observation and modeling of gravity wave propagation through reflection and critical layers above Andes Lidar Observatory at Cerro Pachón, Chile

  • Pages: 12,737-12,750
  • First Published: 24 October 2016
Key Points

  • A gravity wave event with large vertical wind oscillations was observed by a lidar and an airglow imager
  • A numerical simulation was able to reproduce and help to interpret the key features of the wave events
  • Observation and modeling show that the event undergoes partial reflection, transmission, and critical layer filtering

Free Access

Modulation of atmospheric rivers near Alaska and the U.S. West Coast by northeast Pacific height anomalies

  • Pages: 12,751-12,765
  • First Published: 31 October 2016
Key Points

  • Atmospheric rivers occur near Alaska and the U.S. West Coast with similar frequency, but with different seasonality
  • Northeast Pacific height anomalies modulate atmospheric river activity over a range of time scales
  • Rossby wave breaking links height anomalies and atmospheric river activity with broader North Pacific dynamics

Free Access

Investigating event-specific drought attribution using self-organizing maps

  • Pages: 12,766-12,780
  • First Published: 18 October 2016
Key Points

  • Evaluating human influence on specific drought events is challenging with present generation of climate models
  • Method of event-specific drought attribution is proposed by using self-organizing maps
  • Robust anthropogenic increase found in observing daily circulation features consistent with the 2013 NZ drought

Free Access

A diagnostic study on heavy rainfall induced by Typhoon Utor (2013) in South China: 1. Rainfall asymmetry at landfall

  • Pages: 12,781-12,802
  • First Published: 05 October 2016
Key Points

  • Vertical wind shear triggered the rainfall asymmetry in landfalling Typhoon Utor (2013)
  • Dry air intrusion promoted downdrafts and thus surface cool pool
  • Surface cold pool played an important role in enhancing rainfall asymmetry

Free Access

A diagnostic study on heavy rainfall induced by landfalling Typhoon Utor (2013) in South China: 2. Postlandfall rainfall

  • Pages: 12,803-12,819
  • First Published: 06 October 2016
Key Points

  • ISOs played important roles in reviving Typhoon Utor inland
  • Monsoonal surges contribute to initiation of MCSs
  • Positive feedback between rainfall and TC circulation

Free Access

The paleoclimate context and future trajectory of extreme summer hydroclimate in eastern Australia

  • Pages: 12,820-12,838
  • First Published: 31 October 2016
Key Points

  • Recent extremes (the Millennium Drought and 2011 pluvial) are compared to a 500-year soil moisture reconstruction
  • 2011 was likely the wettest year in the record for Coastal Queensland
  • Climate projections indicate substantially increased risk of droughts ≥ the magnitude of the Millennium Drought

Free Access

Testing reanalysis data sets in Antarctica: Trends, persistence properties, and trend significance

  • Pages: 12,839-12,855
  • First Published: 04 November 2016
Key Points

  • The observational warming/cooling trends in East and West Antarctica are not reproduced well by all reanalysis data sets
  • In the peninsula where the stationdensity is quite high, the performance of the reanalysis data is considerably better
  • All reanalysis data sets and the observational data show that in the considered time period the warming in the Peninsula is not significant

Free Access

Scale interactions in sustaining persistent torrential rainfall events during the Mei-yu season

  • Pages: 12,856-12,876
  • First Published: 18 October 2016
Key Points

  • New physics significance of an energy budget method has been shown
  • Scale interactions in terms of energy that sustained persistent torrential rainfall events during the Mei-yu season have been shown
  • Physical images of upscaled and downscaled energy cascade processes have been shown

Free Access

Bias and variance correction of sea surface temperatures used for dynamical downscaling

  • Pages: 12,877-12,890
  • First Published: 18 October 2016
Key Points

  • Bias and variance correction of GCM-SSTs
  • Downscaling with conformal-cubic atmospheric model (CCAM)
  • Improvement of downscaled rainfall with corrected GCM-SST

Free Access

Convective cloud vertical velocity and mass-flux characteristics from radar wind profiler observations during GoAmazon2014/5

  • Pages: 12,891-12,913
  • First Published: 21 October 2016
Key Points

  • Characterization of vertical velocity, area fraction, and mass flux profiles for Amazon convection
  • Profiles aligned to be statistically representative of ensemble and aggregate convective properties to GCM domain scales
  • Convective profiles indicate significant sensitivity to environmental forcing, wet and dry season regime controls

Aerosol and Clouds

Free Access

Multiangle photopolarimetric aerosol retrievals in the vicinity of clouds: Synthetic study based on a large eddy simulation

  • Pages: 12,914-12,935
  • First Published: 24 September 2016
Key Points

  • Simultaneously fitting cloud and aerosol allows for aerosol retrievals closer to clouds
  • Three-dimensional effects need to be taken into account to improve aerosol retrievals near clouds

Free Access

Global observations of cloud-sensitive aerosol loadings in low-level marine clouds

  • Pages: 12,936-12,946
  • First Published: 08 October 2016
Key Points

  • The sensitivity of cloud properties to changes in aerosol loading changes with the magnitude of the aerosol loading
  • Generally, the sensitivity is highest at comparatively low loadings, with regional and seasonal differences
  • Environmental conditions, in particular, humidity, lead to marked shifts in the most effective aerosol loading

Free Access

Oceanic single-layer warm clouds missed by the Cloud Profiling Radar as inferred from MODIS and CALIOP measurements

  • Pages: 12,947-12,965
  • First Published: 15 October 2016
Key Points

  • Biases in sampling and statistics of cloud properties induced by CPR detection failures are evaluated for oceanic single-layer warm clouds
  • The detection failures of CPR on warm clouds are different among cloud types, mainly attributed to their distinct microphysical properties
  • Miss rate has a strong negative correlation with CWP, decreasing below 0.1 for CWP > 200 g m−2, which leads to a global overestimation of 44.3%

Free Access

Vertical overlap of probability density functions of cloud and precipitation hydrometeors

  • Pages: 12,966-12,984
  • First Published: 19 October 2016
Key Points

  • Vertical correlations between microphysics variables are studied in CLUBB SILHS and CRM
  • Rank correlations vary greatly between various hydrometeor types in CRM-predicted fields
  • PDFs of faster falling hydrometeors exhibit greater vertical coherence

Free Access

Implications of RCP emissions on future PM2.5 air quality and direct radiative forcing over China

  • Pages: 12,985-13,008
  • First Published: 11 September 2016
Key Points

  • Two decades will be needed for PM2.5 in key polluted regions to drop below 35 µg m−3 under all RCPs
  • Concentrations of PM2.5 fall by 38-58% in 2050 relative 2000 over the four polluted areas under RCP2.6 and RCP4.5
  • Averaged over east China, changes in aerosols lead to positive DRF of 1.22 (1.88) W m−2 in 2050 relative 2000 under RCP2.6 (RCP4.5)

Free Access

An automated satellite cloud classification scheme using self-organizing maps: Alternative ISCCP weather states

  • Pages: 13,009-13,030
  • First Published: 25 October 2016
Key Points

  • SOM analysis of ISCCP data produces a subset of the regimes derived in previous studies using k-means clustering with finer detail in areas
  • ISCCP flux data and ERA-Interim vertical velocity and lower tropospheric stability demonstrate that the clusters are physically meaningful
  • The objective organization of the SOM allows a quantitative analysis of cloud regimes daily transition frequency and persistence

Composition and Chemistry

Free Access

Estimating methane emissions in California's urban and rural regions using multitower observations

  • Pages: 13,031-13,049
  • First Published: 01 October 2016
Key Points

  • Multisite observations constrain both urban and rural CH4 emissions
  • California total emissions are likely 1.2‒1.8 times state inventory
  • More efforts are needed to constrain emissions by both sector and region

Free Access

Increase in winter haze over eastern China in recent decades: Roles of variations in meteorological parameters and anthropogenic emissions

  • Pages: 13,050-13,065
  • First Published: 08 October 2016
Key Points

  • Anthropogenic emissions dominated the increase in winter haze days
  • Meteorological parameters explained 17% of the increase
  • Winds contributed the most to the decadal increase among the meteorological parameters

Free Access

Comparison between the Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (LETKF) and 4D-Var in atmospheric CO2 flux inversion with the Goddard Earth Observing System-Chem model and the observation impact diagnostics from the LETKF

  • Pages: 13,066-13,087
  • First Published: 14 October 2016
Key Points

  • The inversion results are less dependent on inversion methods with the increase of observations
  • The observations from much broader region influence flux estimation in 4D-Var than the LETKF over data sparse region
  • The posterior flux changes in 2011 relative to 2010 are more consistent between these two methods than the absolute estimates

Free Access

Formaldehyde column density measurements as a suitable pathway to estimate near-surface ozone tendencies from space

  • Pages: 13,088-13,112
  • First Published: 15 October 2016
Key Points

  • A correlation between column CH2O and near-surface O3 measurements was observed and could be useful for monitoring air quality from space
  • The strength of the correlation between column CH2O and near-surface O3 is highest when there is temporal variability in CH2O
  • The O3-CH2O relationship appears to be strongest in regions where emissions of biogenic VOCs dominate the local hydrocarbon mix

Free Access

Radiation and atmospheric circulation controls on carbonyl sulfide concentrations in the marine boundary layer

  • Pages: 13,113-13,128
  • First Published: 24 October 2016
Key Points

  • Continuous carbonyl sulfide measurements are presented for the North Atlantic marine boundary layer during fall and winter of 2014 and 2015
  • Variations in carbonyl sulfide concentrations are shown to be directly proportionate to an air mass' solar radiation history
  • Changes in the latitude of jet stream can affect the aqueous to atmosphere concentration gradient and the direction of the marine flux

Free Access

An advanced retrieval algorithm for greenhouse gases using polarization information measured by GOSAT TANSO-FTS SWIR I: Simulation study

  • Pages: 13,129-13,157
  • First Published: 24 October 2016
Key Points

  • Simulated retrievals of column amounts of CO2 and CH4 are presented
  • We used two linear polarizations measured by GOSAT TANSO-FTS SWIR
  • Polarization information can reduce the retrieval error in dense aerosol cases

Free Access

Version 1.3 AIM SOFIE measured methane (CH4): Validation and seasonal climatology

  • Pages: 13,158-13,179
  • First Published: 20 October 2016
Key Points

  • SOFIE CH4 agrees qualitatively well with ACE and MIPAS CH4 in vertical distribution and variability
  • SOFIE CH4 is biased high by ~20% in the lower stratosphere below ~25 km and is biased low by a similar percentage above ~65 km
  • SOFIE CH4 and MLS H2O provide details on the 2CH4 + H2O balance in the polar stratosphere throughout a year

Free Access

Accurate laboratory determination of the near-infrared water vapor self-continuum: A test of the MT_CKD model

  • Pages: 13,180-13,203
  • First Published: 22 October 2016
Key Points

  • First accurate water self-continuum absorption cross sections derived in three transparency windows
  • Critical test of the MT_CKD model of water vapor absorption continuum used in atmospheric radiative transfer codes
  • Conflict between recent FTS measurements and the MT_CKD model is solved