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At least 73 records · Page 4

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NASA NTRS2007

Evidence for Interannual to Decadal Variations in Hadley and Walker Circulations and Links to Water and Energy Fluxes

Mass and energy transports associated with the Hadley and Walker circulations are important components of the earth s climate system and are strongly linked to hydrologic processes. Interannual to decadal variation in these flows likely signify a combination of natural climate noise as well as a response to anthropgenic forcing. There remains considerable uncertainty in quantifying variations in these flows. Evidence in the surface pressure record supports a weakening of the Walker circulation over the Pacific in recent decades. Conversely the NCEP / NCAR and ERA 40 reanalyses indicate that the Hadley circulation has increased in strength over the last two decades, though these analyses depict significantly different mass circulation changes. Interestingly, the NCEP - II / DOE reanalysis contains essentially no Hadley circulation changes. Most climate model integrations anticipate a weakening of both tropical circulations associated with stronger static stability. Clearly there is much uncertainty not only with the mass transports, but also how they are linked to water and energy balance of the planet through variations in turbulent heat and radiative fluxes and horizontal exports / imports of energy. Here we examine heat and water budget variations from a number of reanalysis products and focus on the linear and nonlinear response of ENSO warm and cold events as opportunities to study budget variations over the past 15-20 years. Our analysis addresses such questions as To what extent do Hadley and Walker Cell variations compensate each other on mass and energy transport? Do static stability adjustments appear to constrain fractional precipitation response vs. fractional water vapor response? We appeal to constraints offered by GPCP precipitation, SSWI ocean evaporation estimates, and ISCCP-FD radiative fluxes, and other satellite data sets to interpret and confirm reanalysis-based diagnostics. Using our findings we also attempt to place in context the recent findings that tropical ocean evaporation increased by order 5% or more during the 1990s, reconciling this with GPCP precipitation variations.

Robertson, Franklin↗

NASA NTRS2013

The Response of the South Asian Summer Monsoon Circulation to Intensified Irrigation in Global Climate Model Simulations

Agricultural intensification in South Asia has resulted in the expansion and intensification of surface irrigation over the twentieth century. The resulting changes to the surface energy balance could affect the temperature contrasts between the South Asian land surface and the equatorial Indian Ocean, potentially altering the South Asian Summer Monsoon (SASM) circulation. Prior studies have noted apparent declines in the monsoon intensity over the twentieth century and have focused on how altered surface energy balances impact the SASM rainfall distribution. Here, we use the coupled Goddard Institute for Space Studies ModelE-R general circulation model to investigate the impact of intensifying irrigation on the large-scale SASM circulation over the twentieth century, including how the effect of irrigation compares to the impact of increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing. We force our simulations with time-varying, historical estimates of irrigation, both alone and with twentieth century GHGs and other forcings. In the irrigation only experiment, irrigation rates correlate strongly with lower and upper level temperature contrasts between the Indian sub-continent and the Indian Ocean (Pearson's r = -0.66 and r = -0.46, respectively), important quantities that control the strength of the SASM circulation. When GHG forcing is included, these correlations strengthen: r = -0.72 and r = -0.47 for lower and upper level temperature contrasts, respectively. Under irrigated conditions, the mean SASM intensity in the model decreases only slightly and insignificantly. However, in the simulation with irrigation and GHG forcing, inter-annual variability of the SASM circulation decreases by *40 %, consistent with trends in the reanalysis products. This suggests that the inclusion of irrigation may be necessary to accurately simulate the historical trends and variability of the SASM system over the last 50 years. These findings suggest that intensifying irrigation, in concert with increased GHG forcing, is capable of reducing the variability of the simulated SASM circulation and altering the regional moisture transport by limiting the surface warming and reducing land-sea temperature gradients.

amplification↗

NASA NTRS2023

Historical Changes in Wind-Driven Ocean Circulation Can Accelerate Global Warming

Mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change depend on accurate climate projections for the coming decades. While changes in radiative heat fluxes are known to contribute to surface warming, changes to ocean circulation can also impact the rate of surface warming. Previous studies suggest that projected changes to ocean circulation reduce the rate of global warming. However, these studies consider large greenhouse gas forcing scenarios, which induce a significant buoyancy-driven decline of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Here, we use a climate model to quantify the previously unknown impact of changes to wind-driven ocean circulation on global surface warming. Wind-driven ocean circulation changes amplify the externally forced warming rate by 17% from 1979 to 2014. Accurately simulating changes to the atmospheric circulation is key to improving near-term climate projections.

wind stress↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Disruption of the 2022-2023 stratospheric circulation by the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano

In January 2022 the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) volcano erupted, injecting an unprecedented amount of water vapor into the stratosphere that increased the total stratospheric water burden by ~10%. As the initial plume of water vapor spread throughout the stratosphere, radiative heating and cooling anomalies affected the stratospheric circulation altering the climatological mean residual circulation. Here we compare the 1980-2021 MERRA-2 (Modern Era Reanalysis for Research and Applications, Version 2) mean residual circulation climatology to the years 2022-2023 to identify stratospheric circulation changes associated with the anomalous water vapor. The HTHH water vapor is explicitly tracked using the M2-SCREAM (MERRA-2 Stratospheric Composition Reanalysis of Aura Microwave Limb Sounder) water vapor analysis. Anomalies in temperature, jet location, polar vortex strength and ozone advection in response to the HTHH water vapor anomaly are also documented. These results reveal details of the evolution of the HTHH induced stratospheric circulation anomalies with special emphasis on how these circulation anomalies affected the 2023 ozone hole.

Lawrence Coy↗

NASA NTRS2022

The Lower Thermospheric Winter-To-Summer Meridional Circulation: 1: Driving Mechanism

In this study, the mechanism driving the narrow lower-thermospheric winter-to-summer meridional circulation is thoroughly investigated for the first time using the Specified Dynamics configuration runs of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model eXtended (SD-WACCMX) simulations and the TIMED Doppler Interferometer (TIDI) observations. The mean meridional circulation in the SD-WACCMX is qualitatively consistent with the TIDI measurements, though the magnitude in the SD-WACCMX is about 50% weaker. The lower-thermospheric winter-to-summer circulation is mainly driven by the resolved wave forcing, including the tides and internally generated inertia gravity waves (GWs). The momentum forcing from the parameterized sub-grid scale GWs is not as significant as the resolved wave forcing in driving the lower-thermospheric meridional circulation. The GW parameterization scheme in the SD-WACCMX only includes GWs with phase velocities in the range of ±45 m/s, which might result in most of the parameterized sub-grid GWs dissipating and breaking in the mesosphere and hardly impacting the lower thermosphere. Only including slow GWs in the SD-WACCMX parameterization could potentially lead to the underestimation of the meridional wind in the model. Analysis also indicates the lower-thermospheric meridional circulation is stronger in the summer hemisphere, which is attributed to the hemispheric asymmetry in the resolved wave momentum forcing. This study underlines the importance of the whole atmosphere coupling through wave propagation and dissipation. This understanding can guide the model development with an accurate representation of underlying physical processes in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere which drives the lower-thermospheric circulation as well as the overall dynamics of this region.

Jack C. Wang↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Disruption of the 2022-2023 Stratospheric Circulation By the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Volcano

Lawrence Coy↗

DOE OSTI2021

The influence of variability in meridional over turning on global ocean circulation

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning circulation (AMOC) is an important global scale circulation and changes in AMOC can induce significant regional and global climate impacts. In this work, we study the stability of AMOC and its influence on global ocean circulation and the surface climate though analyzing a set of sensitivity experiments using the Community Climate System Model version 1 (CESM1). Results show that a collapsed AMOC can induce changes in global ocean circulation, such as reduced (or reversed) Bering Strait transport, weakened Indonesia throughflow and Agulhas current, but strengthened Drake Passage transport. It also changes the global wind pattern and surface temperature, such as a seesaw-like surface temperature change between Northern and Southern Hemispheres, a weakening of Indian-Australia summer monsoon, a southward shift of the Southern ocean westerlies, etc. We also found that AMOC and the Pacific deep meridional overturning circulation (or PMOC) do not form a natural seesaw under modern day climate and geography. A collapsed AMOC (active PMOC) is not stable under modern conditions if there is no additional freshwater (salt) input in the subpolar North Atlantic (Pacific), suggesting that the modern mean state of AMOC (PMOC) does not depend on local haline forcing although its variability and changes do.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

Time-dependent thermal degradation of lost circulation materials in geothermal systems

Treatment of lost circulation can represent anywhere from 5 to 25 % of the cost in drilling geothermal wells. The cost of the materials used for lost circulation treatment is less important than their effectiveness at reducing fluid losses. In geothermal systems, the high temperatures (>90 °C) are expected to degrade many commonly used lost circulation materials over time. This degradation could compromise different materials ability to mitigate fluid loss, creating more non-productive time as multiple treatments are needed, but may result in recovering desired permeability zones within the reservoir section over time. This research aimed to study how thermal degradation of eight different lost circulation materials affected their properties relevant to sealing loss zones in geothermal wells. Here, mass loss experiments were conducted with each material at temperatures of 90–250 °C for 1–42 days to measure the breakdown of the material at geothermal conditions, collecting gases during several experiments to determine the waste produced during degradation. Compaction experiments were conducted with the degraded materials to show how temperatures reduced the rigidity and increased packing of the materials. Viscosity tests were conducted to show the impact of different materials on drilling fluid rheology. Microscope observations were conducted to characterize the alterations to each material due to thermal degradation. Organic materials tend to degrade more than inorganic materials, with organics like microcellulose, cotton seed hulls and sawdust losing 30–50 % of their mass after 1 day of heating at 200 °C, while inorganics like magma fiber only lose ~5–10 % of its mass after one day of heating at 200 °C. Granular materials are the strongest when compacted despite any mass loss, while fibrous and flaky materials are fairly weak and breakdown easily under stress. The materials do not generally affect fluid rheology unless they have a viscosifying agent as part of the mixture. Microscopic analysis showed that more rigid materials like microcellulose and cedar fiber degrade in brittle manners with splitting and fracturing, while others like cotton seed hulls degrade in more ductile manners forming meshes or clumps of material. The thermal breakdown of lost circulation materials tested suggests that each material should also be classified by its degree of thermal degradability, as at certain temperatures the materials can lose the capability to bridge loss zones around the wellbore.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2025

The Role of Bedrock Circulation Depth and Porosity in Mountain Streamflow Response to Prolonged Drought

Quantitative understanding is lacking on how the depth of active groundwater circulation in bedrock affects mountain streamflow response to a multi-year drought. We use an integrated hydrological model to explore the sensitivity of a variety of streamflow metrics to bedrock circulation depth and porosity under a plausible extreme drought scenario lasting up to 5 years. Endmember depth versus hydraulic conductivity relationships and porosity values for fractured crystalline rock are simulated. With drought, a deeper circulation system with higher drainable porosity more effectively buffers minimum flow and significantly limits perennial stream loss in comparison to a shallow circulation system. Streamflow buffering is accomplished through extensive groundwater storage loss. However, deeper circulation systems experience prolonged recovery from drought in comparison to storage-limited shallow systems. Research highlights the importance of characterizing the deeper bedrock hydrogeology in mountainous watersheds to better understand and predict drought impacts on stream ecosystem health and water resource sustainability.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2021

Connections Between Mean North Pacific Circulation and Western US Precipitation Extremes in a Warming Climate

Abstract Extreme precipitation has widespread impacts over the western US (WUS), which are expected to be exacerbated in the future given thermodynamically driven increases in atmospheric moisture and shifts in atmospheric circulation patterns. However, internal climate variability complicates how these factors affect future projections of precipitation changes. In this study, we investigate late 21st‐century changes in mean‐state responses over the North Pacific Ocean and associated WUS precipitation extremes using the Multi‐Model Large Ensemble Archive, which is a recent and valuable resource to disentangle the effects of model structural differences from internal variability. We found that inter‐model differences in precipitation extremes over the WUS are large: from south to north (here, from California to Washington), models show different levels of increases for both the frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation. In general, the Pacific Northwest sees a more consistent signal than California. We show that wet‐season mean circulation influences extreme precipitation, by using a decomposition of the relative contributions of thermodynamic (atmospheric humidity) and dynamic (large‐scale circulation) driven changes. The thermodynamic contribution dominates, however, the dynamic contribution varies with latitude and differs substantially between model ensembles. Inter‐model differences affect the spread in not only the magnitude, but also the sign of the dynamic contribution. This implies that mean circulation changes contribute to uncertainty in quantifying the regional structure of concentrated moisture flux and future extreme events. This result highlights the need to more accurately constrain projected North Pacific coupled circulation changes to narrow the spread in projections of future precipitation extremes.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

Extreme Precipitation Over the Southern Slope of the Tibetan Plateau and the Associated Atmospheric Circulation Anomalies

The southern slope of the Tibetan Plateau (SSTP) is one of the rainiest regions in the world where geological hazards caused by extreme precipitation often occur. This study investigates the characteristics and mechanisms of extreme precipitation over SSTP from June to September during 2001–2020 using Global Precipitation Measurement satellite observation. The extreme precipitation days are defined as the days with top 5% of regional-mean daily precipitation over SSTP in this period, which has an average precipitation of 27.2 mm/d. Averaging over the extreme precipitation days, precipitation peaks at an altitude of about 300 m, coinciding with the climatological maximum precipitation, but with a much larger value of 37.2 mm/d than the climatology of 11.9 mm/d. Composite analysis of circulations on extreme days reveals significant circulation anomalies in both the lower and upper troposphere. Specifically, the lower-tropospheric circulations are characterized by significant westerly anomalies over northern India, and the upper-tropospheric circulations are characterized by northerly anomalies over the central Tibetan Plateau, which are statistically independent. The lower-tropospheric westerly anomalies blowing toward SSTP are blocked by the topography, favoring extreme precipitation over SSTP. The upper-tropospheric northerly anomalies, on the other hand, correspond to anomalous northeasterlies north of SSTP in the middle troposphere and southeasterlies to the south in the lower troposphere, and the convergence of these circulation anomalies favors extreme precipitation over SSTP. Lastly, the lower-tropospheric westerly and upper-tropospheric northerly anomalies, respectively, correspond to less precipitation over the South Asian monsoon region and the Tibetan Plateau.

Extreme precipitation, Tibetan Plateau↗

DOE OSTI2020

The Southern hemisphere midlatitude circulation response to rapid adjustments and sea surface temperature driven feedbacks

Rapid adjustments – the response of meteorology to external forcing while sea surface temperatures (SST) and sea ice are held fixed – can affect the midlatitude circulation and contribute to long-term forced circulation responses in climate simulations. This study examines rapid adjustments in the Southern hemisphere (SH) circulation using nine models from the Precipitation Driver and Response Model Intercomparison Project (PDRMIP), which perform fixed SST and coupled ocean experiments for five perturbations: a doubling of carbon dioxide (2xCO2), a tripling of methane (3xCH4), a five-fold increase in sulphate aerosol (5xSO4), a ten-fold increase in black carbon aerosol (10xBC) and a 2% increase in solar constant (2%Sol). In the coupled experiments, the SH eddy-driven jet shifts poleward and strengthens for forcings that produce global warming (and vice versa for 5xSO4), with the strongest response found in austral summer. In austral winter, the responses project more strongly onto a change in jet strength. For 10xBC, which induces strong shortwave absorption, the multi-model mean (MMM) rapid adjustment in DJF jet latitude is ~75% of the change in the coupled simulations. For the other forcings, which induce larger SST changes, the effect of SST-mediated feedbacks on the SH circulation is larger than the rapid adjustment. Nevertheless, for these perturbations the magnitude of the MMM jet shift due to the rapid adjustment is still around 25-33% of that in the coupled experiments. The results demonstrate the need to understand the mechanisms for rapid adjustments in the midlatitude circulation, in addition to the effect of changing SSTs.

Wood, Thomas↗

NASA NTRS1981

Acoustics of rotors utilizing circulation control

The acoustic characteristics of circulation-controlled rotors are examined by comparing data from three full-scale rotors: a conventional rotor, the X-Wing rotor, and the Circulations Control Rotor. Both the X-Wing rotor and Circulation Control Rotor had higher sound levels than the conventional rotor at identical advancing-tip Mach numbers. There is excess noise due to the compressor on the X-Wing rotor and excess broadband noise on the Circulation Control Rotor. The X-Wing rotor had lower sound levels than the conventional rotor at identical forward speeds because of the lower tip speed feasible with the use of circulation control.

Mosher, M.↗

NASA NTRS1981

A Martian general circulation experiment with large topography

A three-layer general circulation model of the Martian atmosphere is described, and the assumptions governing the model are discussed. The simulated, zonally averaged circulation is found to have only limited sensitivity to differences between this model and an earlier general circulation model; this circulation compares reasonably well with observations. It is also found that the meridional mass flow produced by the seasonal condensation of CO2 in the winter polar region has a major influence on the circulation; owing to the weak influence of atmospheric heat transport, however, the mass flow is governed almost entirely by radiation. Quasi-barotropic stationary waves, which are forced kinematically by the topography and which resemble topographically forced terrestrial planetary waves, are generated by the model in the winter hemisphere region of strong eastward flow, while baroclinic stationary waves are thermally forced by topography in the tropics and summer subtropics. It is also concluded that transient baroclinically unstable waves, of somewhat lower dominant wavenumber than those found on the earth, are generated in winter midlatitudes; their amplitudes, wavenumbers, and phase speeds closely agree with what has been deduced from the Viking lander observations.

Pollack, J. B.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Effects of diabatic heating on the ageostrophic circulation of an upper tropospheric jet streak

Interaction between the mass circulation within a mesoscale convective complex (MCC) and a direct mass circulation in the entrance region of an upper tropospheric polar jet streak was examined within the isentropic structure to investigate mechanisms responsible for linking these two scales of motion. The results establish that latent heating in the MCC modifies the direct mass circulation in the jet streak entrance region through the diabatically induced components of ageostrophic motion analyzed within isentropic coordinates. Within the strong mesoscale mass circulation of each MCC, strong horizontal mass flux convergence into the MCC at low levels is balanced by strong horizontal mass flux divergence away from the convergence at upper levels. Locations of large diabatic heating rates correspond well to the MCC position for each case; diabatic heating forces the upward vertical branch for the mesoscale mass circulation.

Keyser, D. A.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Some effects of global dust storms on the atmospheric circulation of Mars

A zonally symmetric primitive equation modelled on a sphere is used to numerically simulate the Martian atmosphere's response to various dust loads, as well as the ability of its meridional circulation to transport dust globally, where the circulation is driven by heating due to the absorption of solar and IR radiation by dust and CO2, in addition to sensible heat exchange with the ground. A preliminary experiment shows the model distribution of winds and temperature to compare favorably with zonally averaged values from a general circulation model. Experiments simulating the evolution of global dust storms show that dust is effectively transported by the zonal mean circulation, which rapidly intensifies as the dust spreads, and that the basic structure of the circulation is relatively insensitive to details, being mostly dependent on the heating of the tropical and subtropical atmosphere.

Haberle, R. M.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Quasi-axisymmetric circulation and superrotation in planetary atmospheres

Atmospheric superrotation is ubiquitous in the solar system, and numerous theoretical models have been proposed to describe the effect. However, no model is fully accepted. Problems are primarily related to an understanding of the angular momentum and the energy budgets. In connection with the present investigation, attention is given to hybrid models, where three-dimensional models may describe eddy processes and two-dimensional symmetric models may describe the global scale circulation in the framework of a viscous medium. It is believed that the concept of an axisymmetric circulation is still useful. It is the main purpose of the current investigation to explore some of the properties of the circulation in planetary atmospheres. It is assumed that the eddy transports are downgradient or diffusive in nature. Energy and momentum are perceived to cascade from the global scale circulation driven by the sun to the smaller scale eddies which in turn determine the diffusive properties. A numerical model of the Venusian circulation is presented, and results are discussed for different conditions of static stability.

Mayr, H. G.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Connection between mesopause temperature, circulation and noctilucent clouds

To investigate the connection between mesopause temperature in summer and the induced circulation upon possible formation of the observed polar mesospheric (noctilucent) cloud layer (PMC), a two-dimensional semiempirical model is used to calculate the zonally averaged diabatic circulation. On the basis of the calculations, one may draw the following conclusions: (1) if the large departures from radiative equilibrium which occur at the summer mesopause at high latitudes should be balanced by adiabatic processes of the mean circulation alone, a vigorous circulation is needed (there is some evidence that such a vigorous circulation has been observed); (2) the vertical velocities of some cm/s at the polar summertime mesopause will support the formation of polar mesospheric clouds, because those large wind speeds support larger ice particles against gravitational sedimentation; and (3) a region of mild subsidence in the summertime midlatitude mesosphere due to the effect of nonlinear temperature advection would tend to limit the occurrence of ice particles to latitudes poleward of about 55 deg.

Gartner, V.↗