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Bill Mankin, Mike Coffey, and Jim Hannigan (Atmospheric Chemistry
Division) are shuttling to and from the Arctic this month as part of a
multinational study aimed at ozone depletion in middle and high latitudes. The
Second European Stratospheric Arctic and Midlatitude Experiment (SESAME) is
designed to build on the first such project, held in 1991-92. That study did much
to quantify chemical ozone loss within the stratospheric polar vortex. SESAME
hopes to extend the success beyond the vortex to midlatitudes, where some
ozone loss has been documented in recent years but the causes (mixing of
midlatitude and polar air, local chemical processing, or both) are not yet pinned
down. Chlorine and nitrogen partitioning--the strong gradients between low
and high levels of each--will be under particular scrutiny. SESAME also will
look at the dynamics linking the midlatitude and polar parts of the lower
stratosphere in the Northern Hemisphere. Mike and Bill are based in
Sondrestromfjord (Kangerlussuaq), Greenland, just north of the Arctic Circle, for
two-week stints each. They are measuring the infrared transmission spectrum of
the atmosphere, from which they derive the amounts of a dozen trace gases
involved in stratospheric chemistry.
On the other side of the globe, Bill traveled to New Zealand last month to
attend a meeting of the Steering Committee of the Network for Detection of
Stratospheric Change. He took the opportunity to visit the Airborne Southern
Hemisphere Ozone Experiment, whose attention was focused on the cycle of
ozone depletion now concluding above Antarctica. This austral spring brought
stratospheric ozone lows that didn't quite match last year's all-time record for
lowest ozone. However, the overall amount of depletion--as judged by the
extent, depth, and duration of the "hole"--appears to have been as large as ever,
according to Bill.
Investigators waiting with bated breath for the launch of a new experimental earth observing system will have to wait a while longer. The nominal launch date for the MicroLab-1 satellite, bearing the Global Positioning Satellite meteorological experiment (GPS/MET), has been pushed to 18 January 1995. "Launch dates are fickle critters, subject to many factors," says Mike Exner, program manager for GPS/MET with UCAR's University NAVSTAR Consortium. "The GPS/MET payload and the MicroLab-1 are essentially ready. However, other factors, in this case launch vehicle readiness, also affect schedules. Weather and range scheduling can also affect timing. Thus, it is quite difficult to predict the exact date of a launch." Exner's group is using the delay as an opportunity: some of the data processing software and algorithms that had been planned for development after the expected launch are now being developed in advance. If GPS/MET lives up to expectations, it will be able to provide frequent temperature and/or water vapor profiles throughout the earth's atmosphere.
The annual South Asian summer monsoon, provider of life-sustaining rainfall for
India and nearby regions, is not a uniform phenomenon. It varies substantially
from year to year--running weakest, on average, in summers that follow heavy
winter snowfall in the mountains of Nepal and Tibet. In the 14 October issue
of Science, Jerry Meehl argues that South Asian snowfall and monsoon patterns
are tied to a third party: the tropical biennial oscillation (TBO) that is an
integral part of El Nino and tropical air-sea interaction.
Jerry (Climate and Global Dynamics Division) analyzed a 50-year integration
from a global coarse-grid, coupled ocean-atmosphere climate model developed
at NCAR. The strongest monsoons in the model were preceded by anomalously
high winter temperatures over South Asia, often associated with reduced
snowfall. Actual data for the 1987-88 period, spanning one weak and one strong
monsoon, back up the large-scale model findings with an unusually strong
region of high pressure centered over Asia in the winter of 1988. Air-sea
interaction in the tropics, associated with the TBO, results in sea-surface
temperature variations and anomalous heat release from thunderstorms over the
western Pacific warm pool (an area strongly tied to El Nino). These act in
combination with similar heat releases from thunderstorms over equatorial east
Africa to drive the large-scale circulation. The resulting midlatitude patterns
favor high pressure and low snowfall over Asia the winter before a strong Asian
summer monsoon. Low pressure and high snowfall over Asia the following
winter, associated with fluctuations in tropical sea-surface temperatures and
shifts in thunderstorm activity involved with the TBO, then lead to a weaker
summer monsoon. Thus, the two-year oscillation comes about from a
combination of processes involving air-sea interaction, tropical thunderstorm
activity, large-scale midlatitude circulation, Asian snowfall, and Indian monsoon
rainfall.
Rainfall and its role in the global hydrologic cycle is at the center of a multiyear study which gathered its forces at NCAR's Mesa Lab earlier this month. The UCAR Office of Field Project Support hosted a review session, modeling workshop, and science panel 1-4 November for the GEWEX (Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment) Continental-scale International Project, or GCIP. The modeling workshop was held in tandem with the International Satellite Land-Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) to address the coupling of surface and atmosphere on scales from the single-column to the global. The GCIP science review featured a packed slate of 17 presentations over ten hours; topics included hydrologic modeling algorithms, the prediction of soil moisture and long-range temperature, and moisture budgets. The science panel included reports and posters on GEWEX and related projects. Organizers report that the meetings provided a good overview of ongoing collaborations involving GEWEX and ISLSCP.