Study and case simulation of a regional dust model coupled with a nonhydrostatic dynamics model

A new regional dust model suitable for simulation and forecasting of dust storms over northern China was described. The dust model was developed by coupling the mesoscale dynamics model MM5 (the Fifth-Generation NCAR/Penn State Mesoscale Model) with a set of mass conservation equations for the particles. The model includes all the atmospheric physical processes of dust storms including occurrence, lifting, transport, and dry and wet deposition. It considers the parameterization of dry and wet deposition, the dust size distribution and microphysical processes in detail. The dust flux from the surface is parameterized based on the friction velocity, which is provided by the mesoscale nonhydrostatic dynamics model, which takes account of the vegetation coverage, land use, soil category, and soil moisture. This new dust model is used to simulate the dust storm that occurred on 19--21 March, 2002 in North China. The results show that there is high dust concentration and its movement is consistent with the surface weather record and satellite monitoring images of the observed dust storm. The simulated dust concentration coincides with the observation data of the particulate concentration of PM10 (dust particles smallerthan 10 μm in diameter). The new numerical model also successfully simulates the formation and migration of the dust storm of 6-8 April, 2002 in North China.     

Some evidence of drying trend over northern China from 1951 to 2004

The surface wetness index, Palmer drought sererity index and the retrieval of soil moisture over China were calculated using monthly precipitation and monthly mean surface air temperature. Based on the contrast analysis of the variation of the above three indices and precipitation, the dry/wet spatio-temporal pattern of northern China in the last 54 years was revealed, and the evidence of drying trend over northern China was analyzed, especially. The results show the following four facts: (1) The drying trend is the main characteristic of the eastern part of Northwest China and the central part of North China since the 1980s and it was enhanced in the last 15 years mainly due to the precipitation decrease and the temperature increase; (2) During the last 54 years, there was only one dry/wet shift at the interdecadal scale occurring in the eastern part of Northwest China and the central part of North China in the late 1970s, which was related to 1977/1978 global abrupt change, whereas there were three shifts in Northeast China, one was in the mid 1990s and the other two were in 1965 and 1983, respectively; (3) Unlike the variation trend of other subregions of northern China, the western part of Northwest China is currently located in a relatively wetting period, which is weak-ened due to the temperature increase; (4) The extreme drought frequency is obviously increasing in the eastern part of Northwest China, the central part of North China and Northeast China since the 1980s, which is closely related to the precipitation decrease and temperature increase in these subregions.     

Seasonal variations of dust record in the Muztagata ice cores

Based on the oxygen isotope ratio and microparticle record in ice cores recovered at Mt. Muztagata, Eastern Pamirs, the seasonal variations of atmospheric dust have been reconstructed for the past four decades. High dust concentrations and coarser particle grains have the similar trend with oxygen isotope value. Our statistical results indicate that 50%--60% high dust concentration samples occur during the season with high oxygen isotope values （summer）, while low dust storm frequency during spring and winter. Back-trajectory analysis shows that the air mass hitting Muztagata predominately came from West Asia （such as Iran-Afghanistan Plateau） and Central Asia, which are the main dust source area for Muztagata. Dust storms in those source areas most frequently occur during summer （from May to August）, while frequent dust storm events in northern China mainly occur during spring （March to May）. Regions in the path of Asian dust transport, such as in Japan, the North Pacific, and Greenland, also show high dust concentrations during spring （from March to May）. Our results indicate that dust storms have different seasonality in different regions within Asia.     

Dust storms and loess accumulation on the Tibetan Plateau：A case study of dust event on 4 March 2003 in Lhasa

Whether the Tibetan Plateau is a significant dust source area is of great importance, because this is related to the understanding of sources, accumulation and environmental effects of dusts on the Tibetan Plateau and inthe Far East-Pacific Ocean regions as well as to the evointion of coupling of the Tibetan Plateau and atmaspbere-oeean-continent exchange. Synoptic dynamics and remote sensing tracing of a dust storm on 3 to 5 March, 2003 in Lhasa onSouth Tibet demonstrate that the Tibetan Plateau possessesall factors and conditions of generating dust storms. Accompanied with this dust storm is a strong ascending stream onthe Plateau which has raised various sizes of durst particlesinto different levels. The lifted coarse particles were largelyfallen down and accumulated as loess on the eastern TibetanPlateau, and the fine particles were translated by the westerly jet and subsided in the northern Pacific Ocean. The spa-tial-temporal distribution of dust-storms between years 1961and 2000 ou the Plateau shows that duststorms mainly occurin winter and early spring with high frequency, and tile pathof dust storm moves gradually from south to north, which isclosely coupled with the northward moving of the westerlyjet from winter to spring over the Tibetan Plateau. Com-pared with other twelve dust source areas in China. the Ti-betan Plateau is one of the key dust souree areas for thelong-distance transport because its high occurring frequencyand elevation cause fine particles easily to be lifted into thezone of the westerly jet.     

Decrease trend of dust event frequency over the past 200 years recorded in the Malan ice core from the northern Tibetan Plateau

By analyses of the dust layers in the Malan ice core from the northern Tibetan Plateau, it was found that dirty ratio in this core might be a good proxy for dust event frequency. The variations in the dirty ratio displayed a decrease trend over the past 200 years, which implies that dust events became less frequent during the study period. The decrease trend in the variations in dust event frequency might be caused mostly by the natural processes, including increasing precipitation and weakening westerly which might be related with global warming. Furthermore, significant negative correlation was found between the dirty ratio and δ^18O in the Malan ice core. This is highly important for studying the effect of atmospheric dust on climate change.     

Dense fog events in the Yangtze Delta and their climatic characteristics

Based on daily observation records of fog and atmospheric visibility from 24 meteorological stations in the Yangtze Delta in the period from 1954 to 2005,the identification standard of dense fog events(DFE)has been proposed in this paper,a quite complete time series of DFEs for the delta constructed,and the climate characteristics of these events analyzed sequentially.Preliminary results showed that there were 564 typical DFEs in the delta from 1954 to 2005.The most frequent season for DFEs was from October to next April,when the number of the events accounted for 89.9% of the annual total,while the least frequent season was summer,when the number only accounted for 1.6% of the total due to higher temperature and more convective weather in the season.In the Yangtze Delta, DFEs occurred less and were weaker in the 1960s,but turned to increase from the end of the 1970s to the beginning of the 1980s,with an abrupt change in 1978.Afterwards,DFEs occurred more frequently,intensively,and indeterministically,and in particular,most fre- quently in the 1980s and intensively in the 1990s.However both the frequency and intensity of DFEs decline apparently in the period of 2000—2005 in the delta.     

Dense fog events in the Yangtze Delta and their climatic characteristics

Based on daily observation records of fog and atmospheric visibility from 24 meteorological stations in the Yangtze Delta in the period from 1954 to 2005, the identification standard of dense fog events (DFE) has been proposed in this paper, a quite complete time series of DFEs for the delta constructed, and the climate characteristics of these events analyzed sequentially. Preliminary results showed that there were 564 typical DFEs in the delta from 1954 to 2005. The most frequent season for DFEs was from October to next April, when the number of the events accounted for 89.9% of the annual total, while the least frequent season was summer, when the number only accounted for 1.6% of the total due to higher temperature and more convective weather in the season. In the Yangtze Delta, DFEs occurred less and were weaker in the 1960s, but turned to increase from the end of the 1970s to the beginning of the 1980s, with an abrupt change in 1978. Afterwards, DFEs occurred more frequently, intensively, and indeterministically, and in particular, most frequently in the 1980s and intensively in the 1990s. However both the frequency and intensity of DFEs decline apparently in the period of 2000—2005 in the delta.     

Compound-specific carbon isotope compositions of individual long-chain n-alkanes in severe Asian dust episodes in the North China coast in 2002

Asian dust storms originating from the arid regions of central and eastern Asia and from the Loess Plateau in China frequently occur in spring [1,2]. Driven by the East Asian monsoon, Asian dust can be transported to northern Pacific Ocean[2―8]. Asian du…     

Internal solitons in the northern South China Sea from insitu observations

In this paper, we demonstrate the characteristics of strong internal solitons at the southern edge of Dongsha Islands in the northern South China Sea （SCS） during May-June 1998, using in situ time series data from the conductivity temperature depth （CTD）, acoustic Doppler current profiler （ADCP） and thermistor chain. Our measurements indicated that the strongest internal solitons were larger than 90 m in wave amplitude, and propagated approximately westward in traveling direction, with the maximum current speed of about 2 m/s and the period of 10-20 min. The strongest internal solitons occurred noticeably during May 14- 16, 1998, which is consistent with the occurrence period of the diurnal-dominated spring internal tides.     

Spatial Heterogeneity of Vegetation in China

The spatial heterogeneity and ecological characteristics of 74 vegetation types and the lack of vegetation type within the 9.6 million km2 of Chinese territory were studied using data from the China vege- tation map. The analysis used 877 large quadrats 10 mm×10 mm (actual size 100 km×100 km), which cov- ered about 8.77 million km2. Each large-quadrat was divided into four small 5 mm×5 mm quadrats (actual size 50 km×50 km). The frequency of occurrence of all vegetation types was recorded in each small quadrat. The survey using the Shiyomi method of vegetation analysis based on the beta-binomial distribution was adopted to describe the frequency of occurrence and spatial heterogeneity for each kind of vegetation. The weighted average heterogeneity of all the vegetation types in the landscape provides a measure of the landscape level heterogeneity which describes the spatial intricacy of the existing vegetation composition. The maximum spatial vegetation heterogeneity was 0.8620 in the frigid-temperate coniferous forest of Larix (V1), which dominates cold moist northeast China. The minimum spatial heterogeneity with a low occurrence was the Caragana tibetica in the gravel desert in the western Yellow River Hetao area. The minimum occur- rence with a low spatial heterogeneity was the Monsoon rainforest on rock in Guangxi and Yunnan Provinces. The vegetation types on the Qing-Zang Plateau were found to be representative of Chinese vegeta- tion because of the very high occurrence and spatial heterogeneity of these vegetation types. The weighted average of the heterogeneity was 0.677, while the vegetation diversity index was 3.29.     

Characteristics of distribution and seasonal variation of aerosol optical depth in eastern China with MODIS products

The accuracy of MODIS aerosol products from the NASA Terra Satellite is validated in comparison with the results of sun-photometer observations in Beijing and Hong Kong. By analyzing the MODIS aerosol products within the period of August 2000 to April 2003, it is believed that human activities are the main source of aerosols in the eastern part of China. This is based on the facts that all areas with relatively high values are consistent with regions of dense population and fast economic development, such as the North China Plain, the Sichuan Basin and the Pearl River Delta. It is also supported by the distribution of 舗gstr鰉 exponents showing that most aerosols in the eastern part of China are closely related to human activities, excepting the strong sandstorm episodes occurring in spring, fall and winter. In contrast to developed countries, the 舗gstr鰉 exponent of urban area in China is lower than its surroundings, indicating that the contribution of local floating dust and soot attributed to human activities is significant. Results presented in this paper provide important data for further research on climatic change and environmental study.     

Statistic characteristics and weather significance of infrared TBB during May―August in Beijing and its vicinity

In order to meet the demand of nowcasting convective storms in Beijing, the climatological characteristics of convective storms in Beijing and its vicinity were analyzed based on the infrared (IR) temperature of black body (TBB) data during May―August of 1997―2004. The climatological probabilities, the diurnal cycle and the spatial distribution of convective storms are given respectively in this paper. The results show that the climatological characteristics of convective storms denoted by TBB≤-52℃ are consistent with those statistic studies based on the surface and lightning observations. Furthermore, the climatological characteristics of May and June are very different from those of July and August, showing that there are two types of convective storms in this region. One occurs in the transient polar air mass on the midlatitude continent during the late spring and early summer. This type of convection arises with thunder, strong wind gust and hail over the mountainous area in the northern part of this region from afternoon to nightfall, the other occurs with heavy rainfall in the warm and moist air mass over the North China Plain and vicinity of Bohai Sea. This study also shows that the long-term data of IR TBB observed by geostationary satellite can complement the temporal and spatial limitation of the weather radar and surface observations.     

Statistic characteristics and weather significance of infrared TBB during May―August in Beijing and its vicinity

In order to meet the demand of nowcasting convective storms in Beijing, the climatological characteristics of convective storms in Beijing and its vicinity were analyzed based on the infrared （IR） temperature of black body （TBB） data during May--August of 1997--2004. The climatological probabilities, the diurnal cycle and the spatial distribution of convective storms are given respectively in this paper. The results show that the climatological characteristics of convective storms denoted by TBB≤-52℃ are consistent with those statistic studies based on the surface and lightning observations. Furthermore, the climatological characteristics of May and June are very different from those of July and August, showing that there are two types of convective storms in this region. One occurs in the transient polar air mass on the midlatitude continent during the late spring and early summer. This type of convection arises with thunder, strong wind gust and hail over the mountainous area in the northern part of this region from afternoon to nightfall, the other occurs with heavy rainfall in the warm and moist air mass over the North China Plain and vicinity of Bohai Sea. This study also shows that the long-term data of IR TBB observed by geostationary satellite can complement the temporal and spatial limitation of the weather radar and surface observations.     

Spatial and temporal distribution of MODIS and MISR aerosol optical depth over northern China and comparison with AERONET

Aerosol optical depths (AODs) from MODIS and MISR onboard the Terra satellite are assessed by comparison with measurements from four AERONET sites located in northern China for the period 2006-2009. The results show that MISR performs better than MODIS at the SACOL and Beijing sites. For the Xianghe and Xinglong sites, MODIS AOD retrievals are better than those of MISR. Overall, the relative error of the Angstrom exponent from MISR compared with AERONET is about 14%, but the MODIS error can reach 30%. Thus, it may be better to use the MISR Angstrom exponent to derive wavelength-dependent AOD values when calculating the aerosol radiative forcing in a radiative transfer model. Seasonal analysis of AOD over most of China shows two main areas with high aerosol loading: the Taklimakan Desert region and the southern part of North China and northern part of East China. The locations of these two areas of high aerosol loading do not change with season, but the AOD values have significant seasonal variation. The largest AOD value in the Taklimakan appears in spring when the Angstrom exponents are the lowest, which means the particle radii are relatively large. Over North and East China, the highest aerosol loading appears in summer. The aerosol particles are smallest in summer over both high-AOD areas.     

Assessment of wind energy potential in China

China wind atlas was made by numerical simulation and the wind energy potential in China was calculated. The model system for wind energy resource assessment was set up based on Canadian Wind Energy Simulating Toolkit （WEST） and the simulating method was as follows. First, the weather classes were obtained depend on meteorological data of 30 years. Then, driven by the initial meteorological field produced by each weather class, the meso-scale model ran for the distribution of wind energy resources according each weather class condition one by one. Finally, averaging all the modeling output weighted by the occurrence frequency of each weather class, the annual mean distribution of wind energy resources was worked out. Compared the simulated wind energy potential with other results from several activities and studies for wind energy resource assessment, it is found that the simulated wind energy potential in mainland of China is 3 times that from the second and the third investigations for wind energy resources by CMA, and is similar to the wind energy potential obtained by NREL in Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment （SWERA） project. The simulated offshore wind energy potential of China seems smaller than the true value. According to the simulated results of CMA and considering lots of limited factors to wind energy development, the final conclusion can be obtained that the wind energy availability in China is 700 - 1 200 GW, in which 600 - 1 000 GW is in mainland and 100 - 200 GW is on offshore, and wind power will become the important part of energy composition in future.     

Multistage evolution of continental collision orogen: A case study for western Dabie orogen

The foramtion and evolution of collisional orogen is a prominent feature along convergent plate margins, and is generally a complex process. This article presents an integrated study of zircon genesis, U-Pb age and Lu-Hf isotope composition as well as geological characteristics for the western Dabie orogen to constrain its multi-stage evolution history. The results suggest that the formation of oceanic crust in the Huwan area was constrained at ca. 400--430 Ma, which was slightly later than the collision of the northern Qinling with the North China Block. It formed in a marginal basin in the northern margin of the Yangtze Block. The peak metamorphism of eclogite in the Huwan area occurred at ca. 310 Ma, and the timing of the initial exhumation of oceanic eclogite was about 270 Ma. The high to ultrahigh pressure （HP-UHP） metamorphic rocks in the Xinxian and the Hong＇an metamorphic zones have the same ages and natures as those of the HP-UHP metamorphic rocks in the other Dabie-Sulu terrains, and also have experienced multi-stage exhumation, and thus can be taken as a coherent part of the Dabie-Sulu orogen. Therefore, the Qinling-Dabie-Sulu orogen is a typical multi-stage continental collision orogen, with an amalgamation process extending more than 200 Ma.     

The temporal and spatial distribution of ancient rice in China and its implications

The relics of ancient rice have been regarded as the most important objective evidence of the origina- tion and spread of rice cultivation.Based on the records of 280 rice relics sites and the rice cropping regionalization as well as the distribution map of paddy soils,the current study compiled the temporal and spatial distribution map of ancient rice distribution in China.The map shows that the distribution of ancient rice is spatially extensive and meantime comparatively concentrated,temporarily covering a long and relatively continuous time-span.The rice relics in the Central China double and single rice cropping regions are among the earliest and the most abundant ones,possessing continuity in time sequence.Combined with the discovery of ancient rice and paddy filed relics,soil micromorphology, pollen combination and element geochemistry,it is suggested that Central China was the origin center of rice cultivation in China.Rice had been spread to the rest part of China in three major waves,also to the East Asian part like Korea and Japan.The temporal and spatial distribution of ancient rice reflects the past environmental change,which is also meaningful to the current rice regionalization and plan- ning as well as food security in China.     

Spatiotemporal pattern and regional characteristics of visibility in China during 1976–2010

Degradation in visibility occurs extensively across China,creating the urgent need to better understand visibility patterns and characteristics in China.Using daily observation data from the U.S.National Climatic Data Center(NCDC)during 1976–2010,the spatial distribution and temporal trends of visibility in China,as well as seasonal and regional characteristics,were determined.The distribution of visibility was characterized by a longitudinal gradient between west and east China.The northwest of China generally experienced consistent high visibility of[20 km,while central and eastern China experienced visibility degradation and increase in haziness.The 133stations with significant downward trends in visibility were clustered around central-east China and the average reduction rate was-1.65 km/decade(from 18.5 km).The96 stations with increasing trends of visibility were mostly on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and Xinjiang and were closely related to a reduction in local sand storms.The average visibility in 12 key regions in China varied between9.9–17.8 km(except for 23.9 km in Urumqi),which was lower than the national average of 18.7 km.The Taiyuan–Hohhot,Guanzhong,Yangtze River Delta,Pearl River Delta and Fuzhou–Xiamen areas all encountered significant decreases in visibility,while minor increases were observed in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei and the Cheng-Yu region.At most stations,the worst visibility was measured in winter,but the season with best visibility varied between regions.A comparison of visibility trends with the emission trends of various pollutants revealed that SO2emissions dominated the visibility degradation in eastern Chinawith NOxand volatile organic compounds playing ascending roles during the 2000s.     

Dynamic control on grain-size distribution of terrigenous sediments in the western South China Sea: Implication for East Asian monsoon evolution

High-resolution oxygen isotope stratigraphy of Core MD05-2901, which is located off eastern Vietnam in the western South China Sea （SCS）, was established and indicated that the core spans a time period of the past 450 ka. Based on the bulk density, fractional porosity and lithogenic content of the sediments, terrigenous mass accumulation rate （TMAR） was obtained, which is 4.9-6.0 g cm^-2 ka^-1 on average during interglacial stages, higher than that during glacial stages, i.e. 1.9-5.0 g cm^-2 ka^-1, which is different from northern and southern SCS which show higher TMAR in glacial stages. By principle component analysis of grain size distribution of all the samples, two main control factors （F1 and F2） were obtained, which are responsible for about 80% variance of granularity. The contents of grain size population 1.26-2.66 μm% and 10.8-14.3 μm% which are sensible to F1 show high-frequency fluctuation, and correlate well with the summer insolation at 15^o N. They exhibit a distinct cyclicity with frequencies near 23 ka and 13 ka, in contrast to a strong frequency peak near 100 ka obtained in proxies 4.24-7.42 μm% and 30.1-43.7 μm% controlled mainly by F2. The sedimentary character of this part of the SCS was controlled by variations of input flux from two main source areas, namely the southwest and north SCS, which were transported by different circulations of surface current forced by East Asian summer monsoon and winter monsoon respectively. We believe that the East Asian summer monsoon has fluctuated with high frequency and been forced by changes in solar insolation in low latitude associated with precession and half precession, while ice-volume forcing is probably a primary factor in determining the strength and timing of the East Asian winter monsoon but with less important insolation forcing.