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At least 199 records · Page 11

Rain-Induced Stratification of the Equatorial Indian Ocean and Its Potential Feedback to the Atmosphere

Surface freshening through precipitation can act to stably stratify the upper ocean, forming a rain layer (RL). RLs inhibit subsurface vertical mixing, isolating deeper ocean layers from the atmosphere. This process has been studied using observations and idealized simulations. The present ocean modeling study builds upon this body of work by incorporating spatially resolved and realistic atmospheric forcing. Fine-scale observations of the upper ocean collected during the Dynamics of the Madden-Julian Oscillation field campaign are used to verify the General Ocean Turbulence Model (GOTM). Spatiotemporal characteristics of equatorial Indian Ocean RLs are then investigated by forcing a 2D array of GOTM columns with realistic and well-resolved output from an existing regional atmospheric simulation. RL influence on the ocean-atmosphere system is evaluated through analysis of RL-induced modification to surface fluxes and sea surface temperature (SST). This analysis demonstrates that RLs cool the ocean surface on time scales longer than the associated precipitation event. A second simulation with identical atmospheric forcing to that in the first, but with rainfall set to zero, is performed to investigate the role of rain temperature and salinity stratification in maintaining cold SST anomalies within RLs. Approximately one third, or 0.1°C, of the SST reduction within RLs can be attributed to rain effects, while the remainder is attributed to changes in atmospheric temperature and humidity. The prolonged RL-induced SST anomalies enhance SST gradients that have been shown to favor the initiation of atmospheric convection. These findings encourage continued research of RL feedbacks to the atmosphere.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Abrupt Changes at the Permian/Triassic Boundary: Tempo of Events from High-Resolution Cyclostratigraphy

The Permian/Triassic (P/Tr) boundary (251.4 +/- 3 Myr) is marked by the most severe mass extinction in the geologic record. Recently, precise absolute dating has bracketed the marine extinctions and associated carbon-isotope anomaly within less than 1 Myr. We improve this resolution through high-resolution stratigraphy across the P/Tr boundary in the 331-m Gartnerkofel-1 core and nearby Reppwand outcrop section (Carnic Alps, Austria) utilizing FFT and wavelet timeseries analyses of cyclic components in down-hole core logs of density and natural gamma-ray intensity, and carbon-isotopic ratios of bulk samples. The wavelet analysis indicates continuity of deposition across the P/Tr boundary interval, and the timeseries analyses show evidence for persistent cycles in the ratio of approximately 40: 10: 4.7: 2.3 meters, correlated with Milankovitch-band orbital cycles of approximately 412: 100: 40: 20 kyr (eccentricity 1 and 2, obliquity, and precession), and giving a consistent average sedimentation rate of approximately 10 cm/1,000 yr. Milankovitch periods in delta C-13 and density in these shallow-water carbonates were most likely the result of climatically induced oscillations of sea level and climate, coupled with changes in ocean circulation and productivity, that affected sedimentation. Fluctuations in gamma radiation reflect varying input of clay minerals and the presence of shaly interbeds. Throughout the P/Tr boundary interval in the core, the 100,000-year eccentricity cycle seems to be dominant. Weaker obliquity and precession cycles are in line with the location of the Austrian section in the latest Permian, close to the Equator in the western bight of the Tethys, where obliquity and precessional effects on seasonal contrast might be subdued. Using the improved resolution provided by cycle analysis in the GK-1 core, we find that the dramatic change in the faunal record that marks the P/Tr boundary takes place over less than 6m, or less than 60,000 years. In the nearby Reppwand outcrop section, the same faunal changes occurs over only 0.8 m or about 8,000 years, close to the limit of time-resolution induced by bioturbation and reworking in these sediments. The sharp negative global carbon-isotope shift took place within less than or equal to 40,000 yr, and the isotope excursions persisted for approximately 480,000 yr into the Early Triassic. The results indicate that the severe marine faunal event that marks the P/Tr boundary was very sudden, perhaps less than the resolution window in the GK-1 core, and suggest a catastrophic cause. The wavelet-analysis approach to high-resolution cyclostratigraphy can be applied to other P/Tr boundary sections, and when combined with precise absolute dating and magnetostratigraphic methods promises a significant increase in resolution in determining the correlation and tempo of the end-Permian extinctions and related events worldwide.

Rampino, M. R.↗

First measurement of electron neutrino scattering cross section on argon

We report the first electron neutrino cross section measurements on argon, based on data collected by the ArgoNeuT experiment running in the GeV-scale NuMI beamline at Fermilab. A flux-averaged $\nu_e + \overline{\nu}_e$ total and a lepton angle differential cross section are extracted using 13 $\nu_e$ and $\overline{\nu}_e$ events identified with fully-automated selection and reconstruction. We employ electromagnetic-induced shower characterization and analysis tools developed to identify $\nu_e/\overline{\nu}_e$-like events among complex interaction topologies present in ArgoNeuT data ($\langle E_{\bar{\nu}_e} \rangle = 4.3$ GeV and $\langle E_{\nu_e} \rangle = 10.5$ GeV). The techniques are widely applicable to searches for electron-flavor appearance at short- and long-baseline using liquid argon time projection chamber technology. Notably, the data-driven studies of GeV-scale $\nu_e/\overline{\nu}_e$ interactions presented in this Letter probe an energy regime relevant for future DUNE oscillation physics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for Accelerator-Produced Sub-GeV Dark Matter with the NOvA Near Detector

The NuMI facility at Fermilab produces a high-intensity beam of muon neutrinos and antineutrinos, designed to study neutrino oscillations. This beam may also be a source of dark matter particles produced through a light mediator. We search for dark matter particles with masses between 1 and 200 MeV that interact with Standard Model particles via a vector portal, producing forward-scattered single-electron events in the NOvA near detector. We set limits on the dark-visible coupling based on an exposure of 2.55x10^21 protons of 120 GeV energy on the NuMI target. For the dark matter mass range 10-20 MeV, this analysis sets the tightest constraints on the coupling to date.

Abubakar, S. [Erciyes U.] (ORCID:0000000315112219)↗

Assessment of Precipitation Anomalies in California Using TRMM and MERRA Data

After more than a decade of moderate seasonal deviations from the expected climate, it is easy to forget that California is actually prone to instabilities in precipitation patterns that occur on various scales. Using modern satellite and reanalysis data we reassess certain aspects of the precipitation climate in California from the past three decades. California has a well-pronounced rain season that peaks in December-February. However, the 95% confidence interval around the climatological precipitation during these months imply that deviations on the order of 60% of the expected amounts are very likely during the most important period of the rain season. While these positive and negative anomalies alternate almost every year and tend to cancel each other, severe multi-year declines of precipitation in California seem to appear on decadal scales. The 1986-1994 decline of precipitation was similar to the current one that started in 2011, and is apparent in the reanalysis data. In terms of accumulated deficits of precipitation, that episode was no less severe than the current one. While El Niño (the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation, ENSO) is frequently cited as the natural forcing expected to bring a relief, our assessment is that ENSO has been driving at best only 6% of precipitation variability in California in the past three decades. It means El Niño needs to be stronger and longer, in order to have a higher likelihood of a positive impact, and the current one does not match these criteria. Using fractional risk analysis of precipitation populations during normal and dry periods, we show that the likelihood of losing the most intensive precipitation events drastically increases during the multi-year drying events. Since storms delivering up to 50% of precipitation in California are driven by atmospheric rivers making landfall, thus the importance of their suppression and blockage by persistent ridges of atmospheric pressure in the northeast Pacific.

Savtchenko, Andrey K.↗

Expanding NSI searches at NOvA

NOvA is an accelerator-based long-baseline neutrino experiment with two functionally equivalent detectors, designed to study neutrino oscillations. NOvA has also been able to look for signals of new physics like non-standard interactions with matter, setting constraints on the parameters governing that beyond-standard neutrino-physics phenomenon. With data collection progressing, and an upgraded analysis including new data samples and improved understanding of the systematics, we are able to further advance our quest of constraining new physics. Here we will present an update on the analysis status of NOvA on the NSI parameters when the addition of more data and a set of low-energy electron neutrino events not considered in our previous analysis.

Acero Ortega, Mario Andres [U. Atlantico, Barranqu↗

A Search for Sterile-Neutrino-Based Muon Neutrino Disappearance Using the MicroBooNe Deep Learning Analysis

We describe a search for νµ disappearance using the MicroBooNE Deep Learning analysis 1µ1p selection. Presently, the unexplained MiniBooNE and LSND anomalies could be explained by a sterile neutrino impacting neutrino oscillations. Our analysis searches for the allowed parameter space that could describe such a sterile neutrino. We determine the allowed and excluded region of a 3+1 sterile-based muon neutrino disappearance model in MicroBooNE at 90% confidence. Our allowed region includes both the null model, and current global best fit model. Context for the underlying Deep Learning analysis is provided and several validation studies surrounding both the disappearance search, and originating 1µ1p selection are performed to strengthen confidence in the result. In addition, a next-generation deep learning tool for cosmic-ray-muon event discrimination is proposed and evaluated, demonstrating a removal of 70% of the remaining event background when added to current methods, under the cut criteria used.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A Search for Sterile-Neutrino-Based Muon Neutrino Disappearance Using the MicroBooNe Deep Learning Analysis

We describe a search for νµ disappearance using the MicroBooNE Deep Learning analysis 1µ1p selection. Presently, the unexplained MiniBooNE and LSND anomalies could be explained by a sterile neutrino impacting neutrino oscillations. Our analysis searches for the allowed parameter space that could describe such a sterile neutrino. We determine the allowed and excluded region of a 3+1 sterile-based muon neutrino disappearance model in MicroBooNE at 90% confidence. Our allowed region includes both the null model, and current global best fit model. Context for the underlying Deep Learning analysis is provided and several validation studies surrounding both the disappearance search, and originating 1µ1p selection are performed to strengthen confidence in the result. In addition, a next-generation deep learning tool for cosmic-ray-muon event discrimination is proposed and evaluated, demonstrating a removal of 70% of the remaining event background when added to current methods, under the cut criteria used.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Large-Scale Influences on Atmospheric River–Induced Extreme Precipitation Events Along the Coast of Washington State

Transient, narrow plumes of strong water vapor transport, referred to as Atmospheric Rivers (ARs) are responsible for much of the precipitation along the west coast of the United States. Along the coast of Oregon and Washington, the most intense cool season precipitation events are almost always induced by an AR and can result in detrimental impacts on society due to mudslides and flooding. It is therefore important to understand the large scale influence on extreme AR events so that they can be accurately predicted on timescales ranging from numerical weather prediction to seasonal forecasts. Here, characteristics of ARs that result in observed extreme precipitation events are compared to typical ARs on the coast of Washington State using data from the Modern Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2. In addition to more intense water vapor transport, notable differences in the synoptic scale forcing are present during extreme precipitation events that are not present during typical AR events. In particular, an anomalously deep low pressure system is stationed to the west in the Gulf of Alaska, alongside a jet streak overhead. Attention will also be given to subseasonal and seasonal teleconnection patterns that are known to influence the weather in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. While little influence can be seen from the phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and Pacific North American Pattern, the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) can play a role in determining the strength of precipitation associated with in AR on the Washington Coast. Lastly, interactions between the MJO and other teleconnection patterns will be explored to determine key features that should be investigated when making subseasonal predictions for AR activity and the associated precipitation in the Pacific Northwest.

Collow, Allison↗

Warm and Saline Events Embedded in the Meridional Circulation of the Northern North Atlantic

Ocean state estimates from 1958 to 2005 from the Simple Ocean Assimilation System (SODA) system are analyzed to understand circulation between subtropical and subpolar Atlantic and their connection with atmospheric forcing. This analysis shows three periods (1960s, around 1980, and 2000s) with enhanced warm, saline waters reaching high latitudes, alternating with freshwater events originating at high latitudes. It complements surface drifter and altimetry data showing the subtropical -subpolar exchange leading to a significant temperature and salinity increase in the northeast Atlantic after 2001. The warm water limb of the Atlantic meridional overturning cell represented by SODA expanded in density/salinity space during these warm events. Tracer simulations using SODA velocities also show decadal variation of the Gulf Stream waters reaching the subpolar gyre and Nordic seas. The negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation index, usually invoked in such variability, fails to predict the warming and salinization in the early 2000s, with salinities not seen since the 1960s. Wind stress curl variability provided a linkage to this subtropical/subpolar gyre exchange as illustrated using an idealized two ]layer circulation model. The ocean response to the modulation of the climatological wind stress curl pattern was found to be such that the northward penetration of subtropical tracers is enhanced when amplitude of the wind stress curl is weaker than normal. In this case both the subtropical and subpolar gyres weaken and the subpolar density surfaces relax; hence, the polar front moves westward, opening an enhanced northward access of the subtropical waters in the eastern boundary current.

Hakkinen, Sirpa↗

Simulations of Cloud-Radiation Interaction Using Large-Scale Forcing Derived from the CINDY/DYNAMO Northern Sounding Array

The recently completed CINDY/DYNAMO field campaign observed two Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) events in the equatorial Indian Ocean from October to December 2011. Prior work has indicated that the moist static energy anomalies in these events grew and were sustained to a significant extent by radiative feedbacks. We present here a study of radiative fluxes and clouds in a set of cloud-resolving simulations of these MJO events. The simulations are driven by the large-scale forcing data set derived from the DYNAMO northern sounding array observations, and carried out in a doubly periodic domain using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Simulated cloud properties and radiative fluxes are compared to those derived from the S-PolKa radar and satellite observations. To accommodate the uncertainty in simulated cloud microphysics, a number of single-moment (1M) and double-moment (2M) microphysical schemes in the WRF model are tested. The 1M schemes tend to underestimate radiative flux anomalies in the active phases of the MJO events, while the 2M schemes perform better, but can overestimate radiative flux anomalies. All the tested microphysics schemes exhibit biases in the shapes of the histograms of radiative fluxes and radar reflectivity. Histograms of radiative fluxes and brightness temperature indicate that radiative biases are not evenly distributed; the most significant bias occurs in rainy areas with OLR less than 150 W/ cu sq in the 2M schemes. Analysis of simulated radar reflectivities indicates that this radiative flux uncertainty is closely related to the simulated stratiform cloud coverage. Single-moment schemes underestimate stratiform cloudiness by a factor of 2, whereas 2M schemes simulate much more stratiform cloud.

Indian Ocean↗

Role of Diurnal Cycle of Insolation on the MJO Propagation in the Maritime Continent

The diurnal cycle of convection in the Maritime Continent (MC) has been hypothesized to act as a barrier to the eastward propagation of the Madden‐Julian oscillation (MJO). To test this hypothesis, we use a regional model with realistic MJO to simulate an event from the boreal spring of 2013 that weakened and stalled over the MC. Two simulations are conducted: one that includes the diurnal cycle of insolation (CTL), and another without it (NO_DC). The MJO in the simulations was identified and tracked using a large‐scale precipitation tracking method that distinguishes propagation and non‐propagation unlike the usual Real‐time Multivariate MJO method. In the NO_DC simulation, the absence of diurnal heating reduces land precipitation, allowing more continuous eastward MJO propagation. An analysis of moist static energy budget reveals that MJO maintenance in NO_DC is due to increased longwave heating and reduced advection, whereas the persistent MJO propagation in NO_DC is due to increased advection and reduced longwave heating and surface latent heat flux. These processes, however, may vary across different parts of the MC, emphasizing the complexity of MJO propagation across the MC.

Zhou, Xin [National Center for Atmospheric Researc↗

Progress toward differential cross-section measurements of coherent charged-pion production in charged-current muon neutrino interactions on argon with SBND

Coherent charged pion production in charged-current muon neutrino–nucleus interactions provides a clean experimental signature and enables an excellent estimate of the neutrino energy, making it particularly valuable for neutrino flux constraints and oscillation analyses in future long-baseline experiments. Despite its importance, theoretical modeling of this process remains challenging, especially in the low-energy region below 1 GeV and its dependence on the nuclear target. The Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND) offers a unique opportunity to study coherent charged pion production using neutrinos in the few-hundred-MeV energy range from the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) interacting with an argon target (A = 40), with unprecedented statistics expected to yield approximately three thousand signal events in SBND’s BNB data with 3.5 x 10^20 protons on target. This analysis aims to achieve the first differential cross-section measurement of charged-current coherent charged pion production on argon, as well as the first measurement of this process using BNB neutrinos.

Oh, Sungbin [Fermilab]↗

Sources of Subseasonal-To-Seasonal Predictability of Atmospheric Rivers and Precipitation in the Western United States

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) account for a large portion of winter precipitation in the western US. To evaluate the sources of AR and precipitation predictability at subseasonal-to-seasonal timescales, we examine the relationships between two climate modes, the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO), and winter hydroclimate in the western US. Our analysis uses a large ensemble of the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model simulations from 1981 to 2017, facilitating the assessment of uncertainty in climate mode-AR relationship due to climate variability and short length of observations. Over the North Pacific basin, we find ENSO-related latitudinal shifts of ARs, but ENSO has little effect on basin-wide averaged AR frequency. Over the western US, there is some uncertainty in the ENSO-AR connection due to the impacts of ENSO indices and datasets. However, extreme El Niño events defined by the ENSO longitude index are consistently linked to increased landfalling AR activity. The MJO can lead to significantly enhanced or suppressed landfalling AR activity in the large-ensembles, depending on the phase of MJO and time lag, while observations are too short in length to robustly show this signal. ENSO substantially modulates the MJO-AR relationship, triggering variegated responses of landfalling ARs and AR precipitation in La Niña and El Niño years. Our findings highlight the need to evaluate concurrent effects of different climate modes on ARs and precipitation, and may shed light on a path toward more accurate subseasonal-to-seasonal prediction of ARs and precipitation over the western US.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Interannual Variability in Soil Trace Gas (CO2, N2O, NO) Fluxes and Analysis of Controllers

Interannual variability in flux rates of biogenic trace gases must be quantified in order to understand the differences between short-term trends and actual long-term change in biosphere-atmosphere interactions. We simulated interannual patterns (1983-1988) of global trace gas fluxes from soils using the NASA Ames model version of CASA (Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach) in a transient simulation mode. This ecosystem model has been recalibrated for simulations driven by satellite vegetation index data from the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) over the mid-1980s. The predicted interannual pattern of soil heterotropic CO2 emissions indicates that relatively large increases in global carbon flux from soils occurred about three years following the strong El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event of 1983. Results for the years 1986 and 1987 showed an annual increment of +1 Pg (1015 g) C-CO2 emitted from soils, which tended to dampen the estimated global increase in net ecosystem production with about a two year lag period relative to plant carbon fixation. Zonal discrimination of model results implies that 80-90 percent of the yearly positive increments in soil CO2 emission during 1986-87 were attributable to soil organic matter decomposition in the low-latitudes (between 30 N and 30 S). Soils of the northern middle-latitude zone (between 30 N and 60 N) accounted for the residual of these annual increments. Total annual emissions of nitrogen trace gases (N2O and NO) from soils were estimated to vary from 2-4 percent over the time period modeled, a level of variability which is consistent with predicted interannual fluctuations in global soil CO2 fluxes. Interannual variability of precipitation in tropical and subtropical zones (30 N to 20 S appeared to drive the dynamic inverse relationship between higher annual emissions of NO versus emissions of N2O. Global mean emission rates from natural (heterotrophic) soil sources over the period modeled (1983-1988) were estimated at 57.1 Pg C-CO2yr-1, 9.8Tg (1012 g) N-NO yr-1, and 9.7 Tg N-N2O yr-1. Chemical fertilizer contributions to global soil N gas fluxes were estimated at between 1.3 to 7.3 Tg N-NO yr-1, and 1.2 to 4.0 Tg N-N2O yr-1.

Potter, C.↗

Fluctuations of inverted V electron fluxes

Fluctuations of low-energy electron fluxes during an inverted V event on Nov. 5, 1975 were detected by fixed-energy electrostatic analyzers used in the LEE (low-energy electron) experiment onboard the AE-D satellite. The flux fluctuations were observed at energies of 0.78, 1.38, and 2.62 keV, when these energies were below that of the monoenergetic beam. This suggests that the fluctuations might occur over a wide range of energies. The fluctuations were confined within a pitch angle of 15 degrees, the amplitude increasing with decreasing pitch angle. The oscillation frequencies centered around 1.75 Hz. Fluctuations at two energies were generally correlated. The heating of secondary electrons, deduced from an analysis of the distribution function, is attributed to anomalous heating by electron plasma wave turbulence, whose intensity was modulated by a low-frequency wave. The results are consistent with a model, according to which auroral precipitating electron beams enhance the anomalous resistivity at the topside ionosphere through parametric instabilities.

Lin, C. S.↗

Angular momentum exchange among the solid Earth, atmosphere, and oceans: A case study of the 1982-1983 El Nino event

The 1982-1983 El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event was accompanied by the largest interannual variation in the Earth's rotation rate on record. In this study we demonstrate that atmospheric forcing was the dominant cause for this rotational anomaly, with atmospheric angular momentum (AAM) integrated from 1000 to 1 mbar (troposphere plus stratosphere) accounting for up to 92% of the interannual variance in the length of day (LOD). Winds between 100 and 1 mbar contributed nearly 20% of the variance explained, indicating that the stratosphere can play a significant role in the Earth's angular momentum budget on interannual time scales. Examination of LOD, AAM, and Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) data for a 15-year span surrounding the 1982-1983 event suggests that the strong rotational response resulted from constructive interference between the low-frequency (approximately 4-6 year) and quasi-biennial (approximately 2-3 year) components of the ENSO phenomenon, as well as the stratospheric Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO). Sources of the remaining LOD discrepancy (approximately 55 and 64 microseconds rms residual for the European Centre for Medium-Range Forecasting (EC) and U.S. National Meteorological Center (NMC) analyses) are explored; noise and systematic errors in the AAM data are estimated to contribute 18 and 33 microseconds, respectively, leaving a residual (rms) of 40 (52) microseconds unaccounted for by the EC (NMC) analysis. Oceanic angular momentum contributions (both moment of inertia changes associated with baroclinic waves and motion terms) are shown to be candidates in closing the interannual axial angular momentum budget.

Dickey, J. O.↗