Introducing atmospheric angular momentum into prediction of length of day change by generalized regression neural network model

The general regression neural network(GRNN) model was proposed to model and predict the length of day(LOD) change, which has very complicated time-varying characteristics. Meanwhile, considering that the axial atmospheric angular momentum(AAM) function is tightly correlated with the LOD changes, it was introduced into the GRNN prediction model to further improve the accuracy of prediction. Experiments with the observational data of LOD changes show that the prediction accuracy of the GRNN model is 6.1% higher than that of BP network, and after introducing AAM function, the improvement of prediction accuracy further increases to 14.7%. The results show that the GRNN with AAM function is an effective prediction method for LOD changes.

The Investigation of Atmospheric Angular Momentum as a Contributor to Polar Wobble and Length of Day Change with AMIP II GCM Data

The atmospheric angular momentum (AAM) functions in terms of contribution to polar wobble and length of day change, are calculated from the output data of GSM9603 global circulation model (GCM) of Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), from the reanalysis data of the National Centers for the Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and from the operational objective analysis data of JMA, respectively. The comparison shows that during the period from 1985 to 1995, the values of the pressure terms in the equatorial components of AAM functions calculated from three data sets agree with each other better along 90°E longitude than along Greenwich meridian direction. The axial component of relative AAM function estimated from GSM 9603 agrees well with those from the other two data sets in terms of seasonal variations with the moderate amplitudes, but not so well with the composite axial component of relative AAM functions estimated from 23 GCM models anticipating in the first phase of AMIP. In addition, its interannual variation from 1979 to 1996 shows the main characteristics of ENSO evolution, just as does the axial component of relative AAM function estimated from NCEP reanalysis data except for the period of anomalous ENSO from 1991 to 1993.

Multichannel singular spectrum analysis of the axial atmospheric angular momentum

Earth＇s variable rotation is mainly produced by the variability of the AAM（atmospheric angular momentum）. In particular, the axial AAM component X_3, which undergoes especially strong variations,induces changes in the Earth＇s rotation rate. In this study we analysed maps of regional input into the effective axial AAM from 1948 through 2011 from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis. Global zonal circulation patterns related to the LOD（length of day） were described. We applied MSSA（Multichannel Singular Spectrum Analysis） jointly to the mass and motion components of AAM, which allowed us to extract annual, semiannual, 4-mo nth, quasi-biennial, 5-year, and low-frequency oscillations. PCs（Principal components） strongly related to ENSO（El Nino southern oscillation） were released. They can be used to study ENSO-induced changes in pressure and wind fields and their coupling to LOD. The PCs describing the trends have captured slow atmospheric circulation changes possibly related to climate variability.

Spatial and Temporal Variations of Atmospheric Angular Momentum and Its Relation to the Earth Length of Day

The characteristics of atmospheric-angular-momentum （AAM） and length-of-day （LOD） on different timescales are investigated in this paper, on the basis of the NECP/NCAR reanalysis data and an LOD dataset for 1962-2010. The variation and overall trend of the AAM anomaly （AAMA） at different latitudes are presented, and the relationship between AAMA and LOD is discussed. The AAMAs in different latitude regions exhibit different patterns of variation, and the AAMA in the tropics makes a dominant contribution to the global AAMA. In the tropics, the AAMA propagates poleward to the extratropical regions. It is confirmed that a downward propagation of the AAMA occurs in the lower stratosphere. Correlation analysis shows that the relationship between AAMA and LOD varies significantly on different timescales. Specifically, the tropical AAMA is positively correlated with LOD on short timescales, but they are not obviously correlated on long timescales. This indicates that the interaction between AAM and the earth＇s angular momentum follows the conservative restriction on short timescales, but the influence of the earth angular momentum on that of the atmosphere depends on the interaction process on long timescales.

Interannual variations in length of day and atmospheric angular momentum, and their seasonal associations with El Ni^o/Southern Oscillation-like sea surface temperature patterns

This study examines the seasonal connections between the interannual variations in LOD （length of day）/ AAMglobe （the relative atmospheric angular momentum for the whole globe） and the ENSO-like SST （El Nifio/ Southern Oscillation-like sea surface temperature） pattern and corresponding zonal and vertical circulations. Consistent with previous studies, the ENSO-like SST impact the following season LOD/AAMglobe, with the strongest correlations in DJF （December, January, and February）, when it is likely to be the peak E1 Nino/La Nifia period. Lag correlations between the interannual variations in LOD/AAMglobe and surface temperature, and the interannual variations in LOD and both zonal circulation and vertical airflow around the equator, consistently indicate that the LOD/AAMglobe reflect the potential impacts of variations in the Earth＇s rotation rate on the following season＇s sea surface temperatures （SST） over the tropical central and eastern pattern is located）. Pacific （where the ENSO-like SST Moreover, the centers of strongest variation in the AAMcolumn （the relative atmospheric angular momentum for an air column and the unit mass over a square meter） are located over the mid-latitudinal North Pacific in DJF and MAM （March, April, and May）, and over the mid-latitudinal South Pacific in JJA （June, July, and August） and SON （September, October, and November）. This suggests that the AAMcolumn over the mid-latitudinal Pacific around 30°N （30~S） dominate the modulation of Earth＇s rotation rate, and then impact the variations in LOD during DJF and MAM （JJA and SON）.

A new method of calculating the orbital angular momentum spectra of Laguerre-Gaussian beams in channels with atmospheric turbulence

Studying orbital angular momentum（OAM） spectra is important for analyzing crosstalk in free-space optical（FSO）communication systems. This work offers a new method of simplifying the expressions for the OAM spectra of Laguerre-Gaussian（LG） beams under both weak/medium and strong atmospheric turbulences. We propose fixing the radius to the extreme point of the intensity distribution, review the expression for the OAM spectrum under weak/medium turbulence,derive the OAM spectrum expression for an LG beam under strong turbulence, and simplify both of them to concise forms.Then, we investigate the accuracy of the simplified expressions through simulations. We find that the simplified expressions permit accurate calculation of the OAM spectrum for large transmitted OAM numbers under any type of turbulence. Finally,we use the simplified expressions to analytically address the broadening of the OAM spectrum caused by atmospheric turbulence. This work should contribute to the concise theoretical derivation of analytical expressions for OAM channel matrices for FSO-OAM communications and the analytical study of the laws governing OAM spectra.

Atmospheric and Oceanic Excitations to LOD Change on Quasi-biennial Tune Scales

We use wavelet transform to study the time series of the Earth＇s rotation rate （length-of-day, LOD）, the axial components of atmospheric angular momentum （AAM） and oceanic angular momentum （OAM） in the period 1962-2005, and discuss the quasi-biennial oscillations （QBO） of LOD change. The results show that the QBO of LOD change varies remarkably in amplitude and phase. It was weak before 1978, then became much stronger and reached maximum values during the strong El Nino events in around 1983 and 1997. Results from analyzing the axial AAM indicate that the QBO signals in axial AAM are extremely consistent with the QBOs of LOD change. During 1963-2003, the QBO variance in the axial AAM can explain about 99.0% of that of the LOD, in other words, all QBO signals of LOD change are almost excited by the axial AAM, while the weak QBO signals of the axial OAM are quite different from those of the LOD and the axial AAM in both time-dependent characteristics and magnitudes. The combined effects of the axial AAM and OAM can explain about 99.1% of the variance of QBO in LOD change during this period.

Excitation of Annual Polar Motion by the Pacific,Atlantic and Indian Oceans

The global oceans play important roles in exciting the annual polar motion besides the atmosphere. However, it is still unclear about how large the regional oceans contribute to the annual polar motion. We investigate systemically the contributions of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans to the excitation of the annual polar motion, based on the output data of ocean current velocity field and ocean bottom pressure field from ＂Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean （ECCO）＂ ocean circulation model over the period 1993-2005. The result shows that due to its particular location and shape, the Atlantic Ocean makes a less significant contribution to the x-component of the annual polar motion excitation than the Pacific and Indian Oceans, while all these three oceans contribute to the y-component of the annual polar motion excitation to some extent.

Spatial and Temporal Variations of Global Frictional Torque during the Period 1948–2011

Frictional torque is an important mean for momentum exchange between the atmosphere and earth, and significantly influences the variation in atmospheric angular momentum. Using NCEP-NCAR reanalysis data for the period 1948-2011, we examined the spatial and temporal patterns of frictional torque. It was found that the globally integrated frictional torque turned from positive to negative in 1972, suggesting that angular momentum was transferred from the earth to the atmosphere before 1972, but from the atmosphere to the earth thereafter. The global frictional torque steadily declined from 1948 to 1994, but has been increasing since 1995. It was also found that the global frictional torque is mainly determined by the wind systems in the mid and low latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere （SH）, where large changes in frictional torque occurred during the study period. Westerly wind increased continuously in the midlatitudes after 1948, while easterly wind decreased in the tropics of the SH after the 1980s.

Interannual variations in the length of day and ENSO events in 1982-1983 and 1997-1998

The length of day series during the period of 1962.0-2000.0, the atmospheric angular momentum and the Southern Oscillation Index are adopted to analyze the relationships among the EN-SO events that have occurred since 1960, the changes in the length of day and the atmospheric angular momentum. Attention is particularly given to the different effects of the 1982-1983 and 1997-1998 ENSO events on the variations of Earth rotation. The synthetic excitation effects of multi-scale atmospheric oscillations on the anomalous variations of the interannual rates of Earth rotation are revealed by means of the time-frequency spectrum of the wavelet transform.