Response of Northern Hemispheric Air Temperature to Arctic Sea Ice Decline

Two numerical experiments were performed by using the Community Atmosphere Model version 3 （CAM3） with different sea ice datasets to assess the con- tribution of the decline of Arctic sea ice to warming in the Northern Hemisphere. One observed sea ice cover data; experiment was driven by for the other one, the authors used the sea ice data of the 4xCO2 scenario simulated by the fourth-generation European Centre Hamburg atmos- pheric general circulation Model of Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Italy （1NGV ECHAM4）. The comparison of the two experiments indicates that the de- cline of the Arctic sea ice leads to a dramatic wanning over the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, char- acterized by a maximum warming of more than 26~C over the Arctic region. The significant warming is closely re- lated to the enhanced atmospheric heat source. A 40-60 W m-2 increase in the apparent heat source was simulated in winter due to the decline of Arctic sea ice. In contrast, no significant change was found in the atmospheric ap- parent heat source in summer. As a result, the summer temperature change induced by the decline of Arctic sea ice appears to be weak. This study suggests that accurate sea ice cover data is crucial for future climate projection of air temperature in high latitudes.

Analysis of the Initial Stage Intracloud Lightning Using the Pulse Location Technique Based on the Fast Electric Field Change

Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100029 2 Lanzhou University,Lanzhou 730000 3 Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Lanzhou 730000 4 Nanjing University of Information Science＆Technology,Nanjing 210044 Using both fast and slow electric field change sensors and field mill,multi-station observations on lightning flashes over China inland plateau areas were conducted during the summer of 2004.All of the stations were synchronized by GPS with a time-resolution of±50 ns.Using the different time of arrival（DTOA）and based on the fast electric field change sensor,a lightning radiation location technique was developed.Radiation pulses in the initial stages of five intracloud（IC）lightning discharges which occurred on 20 August were analyzed.The results indicate that the technique developed could effectively locate the lightning radiation sources.Furthermore,the lightning discharges were compared with the Doppler radar data.The results show that the radiation sources were well associated with the storm development.When the storm was at the mature stage with an echo top of about 10.9 km,the radiation sources ranged from 5.2 to 8.3 km above mean sea level;when the storm gradually became weaker,with echo top of about 7.9 km,the radiation sources ranged from 3.0 to 5.9 km.In particular,one of the IC lightning discharges ranged from 3.0 to 4.9 km during the dissipation stage of the storm.The results also indicate that the radiation sources were closely associated with the high reflectivity region（25–50 dBZ）of the storm,which,to some extent,demonstrates the reliability of the location results,thereby showing that multi-station observations of fast electric field change sensors could be a useful tool for monitoring the storm development.Location errors from radiation sources were also compared with the radar data and the results of a simple simulation.It was found that the errors were getting smaller when the radiation sources approached the center of the detection network, and vice versa.Compared with the limited experimental observations,the simulation results were found capable of effectively reflecting the location errors.