Accounting for the solar radiation in thermal regime prediction for railway subgrade in cold regions

This paper presents a comparative analysis of simulation processes of seasonal freezing-thawing of railway subgrade and permafrost degradation, with and without accounting for solar radiation. Also, the effect of sun screens to reduce the degradation of subgrade permafrost under different climatic conditions is numerically substantiated. And finally, the temperature criterion of the origination of permafrost is illustrated.

Contrasting Trend of Wintertime Wind Speed Between Near-surface and Upper Air in China During 1979-2021

The long-term height-resolved wind trend in China under global warming still needs to be discovered.To fill this gap,in this paper we examined the climatology and long-term(1979-2021)trends of the wintertime wind speed at the near-surface and upper atmosphere in China based on long-term radiosonde measurements.At 700,500,and 400 hPa,much higher wind speed was found over eastern China,compared with western China.At 300,200,and 100 hPa,maximum wind speed was observed in the latitude zone of around 25-35°N.Furthermore,westerly winds dominated most parts of China between 20°N and 50°N at altitudes from 700 hPa to 100 hPa.A stilling was revealed for the near-surface wind from 1979-2003.From 2004 onward,the near-surface wind speed reversed from decreasing to increasing.This could be largely due to the joint impact of reduced surface roughness length,aerosol optical depth(AOD),and increased sensible heat flux in the ground surface.The decrease of AOD tended to reduce aerosol radiative forcing,thereby destabilizing the planetary boundary layer(PBL).By comparison,the wintertime wind in the upper atmosphere exhibited a significant monotonic upward trend,albeit with varying magnitude for different altitudes.In the upper troposphere,the wintertime maximum wind was observed along a westerly jet stream,with a pronounced upward trend within the zone approximately bounded by latitudes of 25-50°N,particularly above 500 hPa.This accelerating wind observed in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere could be closely associated with the large planetary-scale meridional temperature trend gradient.Besides,the direction for the wind at the near-surface and lower troposphere(925 and 850 hPa)exhibited a larger variance over the period 1979-2021,which could be associated with the strong turbulence of PBL caused by the heterogeneous land surface.For those pressure levels higher than 850 hPa,large wind directional variance was merely found to the south of 25°N.The findings from long-term radiosonde measurements in winter over China shed light on the changes in wind speed on the ground and upper atmosphere under global warming from an observational perspective.

The Roles of Different Mechanisms Related to the Tide-induced Fronts in the Yellow Sea in Summer

In summer, the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass （YSCWM） is a stable water mass of low temperature lying at the bottom of the central Yellow Sea （YS）. It is fringed by some typical tidal fronts, which separate deep, stratified water on the offshore side from the well-mixed, shallow water on the inshore side. Three striking fronts--Subei Bank Front （SBF）, Shandong Peninsula Front （SPF）, and Mokpo Front （MKF; a front off the southwestern tip of the Korean Peninsula）--have been iden- tified by various studies from both satellite observations and model results. Tide plays an important role in the formation and maintenance of these fronts. However, it is still a matter of debate as to the roles these two kinds of mechanisms of upwelling and tidal mixing play, and how importance they are in the maintenance processes of the above three fronts. Basing a nested high-resolution model HYCOM （the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model）, this study focuses on the different mechanisms of tidal effects on the thermal fronts in the YS in summertime. Through comparative experiments with and without tidal forcing, the results indicate that the MKF is mainly driven by tide-induced upwelling. For the SPF, tidal mixing is the dominant factor, when lower cold water is stirred upwards along the sloping topography of the western YS. Meanwhile, the combined effect of upwelling and tidal mixing is the main cause of the formation of the SBF. Diagnostic analysis of thermal balance shows that horizontal nonlinear advection induced by strong tidal currents also contributes to the thermal balance of frontal areas.

Anomalous changes of temperature and ozone QBOs in 2015−2017 from radiosonde observation and MERRA-2 reanalysis

Anomalous changes of zonal wind quasi-biennial oscillation(QBO)in winter 2015−2016 have received close attention.Combining radiosonde and satellite observations and reanalysis data,we investigate anomalous changes in temperature and ozone QBOs from the lower to middle stratosphere.As wind shear direction is reversed due to unexpected changes of zonal wind QBO at about 24−30 km,the shortest cold phase at 21−27 km appears in temperature QBO.This is different from the completely interrupted westward phase in zonal wind QBO,while the longest cold phase above almost 27 km lasts for 2−3 years from 2015 to 2017,owing to the absence of corresponding warm phase.Meridional scale reduction of temperature QBO causes a small temperature anomaly,thus the thermal wind relationship looks seemingly different from that in the other regular QBO cycles.QBO in the ozone mixing ratio anomaly shows a double-peak with inverse phase,and its phase below(above)30 km is in agreement with(opposite to)the phase of temperature QBO because of different control mechanisms of ozone.Following temperature QBO variation,QBO in the ozone mixing ratio anomaly exhibits a less positive phase at 20−30 km in 2016−2017,and a very long positive phase above 30 km from 2015 to 2017.QBO in total column ozone shows a small peak in winter 2016−2017 since ozone is mainly concentrated at 20 to 30 km.Anomalous changes of temperature and ozone QBOs due to unexpected QBO zonal wind variation can be well-explained according to thermal wind balance and thermodynamic balance.