Effects of wind guide plates on wind velocity acceleration and dune leveling： a case study in Ulan Buh Desert, China

The areas used to be covered by shifting sand dunes have been reclaimed rapidly in recent years. However, it is a challenge to reclaim high sand dunes because it is rather costly to level the high dunes to gentle arable lands. In this study, a wind guide plate was used to change the characteristics of natural wind to level the sand dunes. The use of wind energy could significantly increase the efficiency of dune leveling and decrease the cost. Low wind velocity is a typical characteristic in Ulan Buh Desert of China where the average wind speed is much lower than the threshold velocity for sand movement. The experiment of this study was conducted to accelerate the wind velocity by a wind guide plate to level a sand dune. Results show that the threshold velocity for sand movement is 3.32 m/s at 10 cm above the sand surface in Ulan Buh Desert. A wind guide plate set at an angle less than 50° could significantly increase the wind velocity. The wind velocity could be accelerated up to the threshold velocity for sand movement behind a plate when the plate is at the angles of 20°, 25°, 35° and 40°. The most significant acceleration of wind velocity appears at 1.5 and 3.0 m behind the plate with an angle of 25°. An obvious wind velocity acceleration zone exists behind the wind guide plate when the angles are at 25°, 35°, 40° and 45°, with the most obvious zone under the angle of 45°. The results also show that the total amount of sand transferred over the experimental period increased by 6.1% under the effects of wind guide plates compared to the sand moved without wind guide plates. The results of the study will provide theoretical and practical supports for desert management in sand dune areas.

Nocturnal Low-levelWinds and Their Impacts on Particulate Matter over the Beijing Area

Three-month wind profiles, 260 m PM_1 concentrations [i.e., particulate matter(PM) with an aerodynamic diameter ≤1μm], and carrier-to-noise ratio data at two Beijing sites 55 km apart(urban and suburban) were collected to analyze the characteristics of low-level nocturnal wind and PM in autumn and winter. Three mountain-plain wind events with wind shear were selected for analysis. The measurements indicated that the maximum wind speeds of the northerly weak low-level jet(LLJ) below 320 m at the suburban site were weaker than those at the urban site, and the LLJ heights and depths at the suburban site were lower than those at the urban site. The nocturnal 140 m mean vertical velocities and the variations in vertical velocity at the urban site were larger than those at the suburban site. A nocturnal breeze with a weak LLJ of ～3 m s^(-1) noticeably offset nocturnal PM transport due to southerly flow and convergence within the northern urban area of Beijing. Characteristics of the nocturnal LLJ, such as start-up time, structure, intensity, and duration, were important factors in determining the decrease in the nocturnal horizontal range and site-based low-level variations in PM.

On the Variability of Charleston South Carolina Winds, Atmospheric Temperatures, Water Levels, Waves and Precipitation

Atmospheric winds, air temperatures, water levels, precipitation and oceanic waves in the Charleston South Carolina (SC) coastal zone are evaluated for their intrinsic, internal variability over temporal scales ranging from hours to multi-decades. The purpose of this study was to bring together a plethora of atmospheric and coastal ocean state variable data in a specific locale, to assess temporal variabilities and possible relationships between variables. The questions addressed relate to the concepts of weather and climate. Data comprise the basis of this study. The overall distributions of atmospheric and coastal oceanic state variable variability, including wind speed, direction and kinematic distributions and state variable amplitudes over a variety of time scales are assessed. Annual variability is shown to be highly variable from year to year, making arithmetic means mathematically tractable but physically meaningless. Employing empirical and statistical methodologies, data analyses indicate the same number of intrinsic, internal modes of temporal variability in atmospheric temperatures, coastal wind and coastal water level time series, ranging from hours to days to weeks to seasons, sub-seasons, annual, multi-year, decades, and centennial time scales. This finding demonstrates that the atmosphere and coastal ocean in a southeastern U.S. coastal city are characterized by a set of similar frequency and amplitude modulated phenomena. Kinematic hodograph descriptors of atmospheric winds reveal coherent rotating and rectilinear particle motions. A mathematical statistics-based wind to wave-to-wave algorithm is developed and applied to offshore marine buoy data to create an hour-by-hour forecast capability from 1 to 24 hours;with confidence levels put forward. This affects a different approach to the conventional deterministic model forecasting of waves.

The effects of mean sea level rise and strengthened winds on extreme sea levels in the Baltic Sea

Mean sea level rise and climatological wind speed changes occur as part of the ongoing climate change and future projections of both variables are still highly uncertain. Here the Baltic Sea’s response in extreme sea levels to perturbations in mean sea level and wind speeds is investigated in a series of simulations with a newly developed storm surge model based on the nucleus for European modeling of the ocean(NEMO)-Nordic. A simple linear model with only two tunable parameters is found to capture the changes in the return levels extremely well. The response to mean sea level rise is linear and nearly spatially uniform, meaning that a mean sea level rise of 1 m increases the return levels by a equal amount everywhere. The response to wind speed perturbations is more complicated and return levels are found to increase more where they are already high. This behaviour is alarming as it suggests that already flooding prone regions like the Gulf of Finland will be disproportionally adversely affected in a future windier climate.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF LOW-LEVEL JET STREAMS IN NANJING AREA BASED ON WIND PROFILER DATA

In order to understand the activity characteristics of low-level jets in the Nanjing area,statistical analysis and comparative study are carried out on their monthly and diurnal variations,characteristics of their cores and accompanying weather conditions using wind profile data in 2005-2008 collected by two wind profilers.The results show that low-level jets have significant monthly and diurnal variations.They occur more frequently in spring and summer than in autumn and winter and are more active in early morning and at night,with the maximum wind speed usually occurring at midnight.The central part of the low-level jet occurs mainly at the height of less than 1400 meters,and the enhancement of central speed is beneficial to the appearance of precipitation.Meanwhile,when the low-level jet appears in summer,it helps cause heavy rain.The statistical results of the boundary wind profiler are well consistent with those of the tropospheric wind profiler.Two kinds of wind profilers also have the capability of continuously detecting the development of low-level jets.

Numerical modelling of the sea level under the actions of the tide and strong wind in the Bohai Sea

In this paper, the numerical modelling of the tidal level and current in the Bohai Sea was carried out with ADI method, by taking the sum of four main tidal components M2,S2K2,O1 as the open boundary condition. The calculated values were consistent with the predicted ones (the observed values in the case of calm) in the Tidal Table. On the basis of the modelling of the tide, the sea level and current fields under the effects of strong wind were simulated. The calculated results were also quite satisfactory.

Preliminary Study on the Differences between Automatic-observed and Manual-observed Wind Speed and Its Correction

Comparing and analyzing the difference between automatic-observed and manual-observed wind speed based on the wind speed parallel observations in two methods, we find that many elements can influence the difference between automatic-observed and manual-observed wind speed, including the levels of speed wind, observation instruments and different regions. According to these elements, correction has been conducted, and find that the correction according to the level of wind speed has the best correction effect.

基于World Wind的鄱阳湖水位动态变化仿真系统研究

World Wind是由美国宇航局(NASA)开发的三维地理信息系统,也是一款可提供丰富数据的数字地球平台,如何将多源数据实现紧密型二三维耦合是基于World Wind开发专业系统需要解决的重要问题。在.NET开发环境下,以World Wind为仿真内核,开发了水位仿真系统,研究了二三维数据耦合技术,实现了环鄱阳湖生态经济开发区的湖区与航道淹没分析和三维漫游。结果表明,仿真系统流畅地实现了任意点地形高程、水位、水深和航道级别等信息的实时查询,仿真了不同控制水位条件下的鄱阳湖区淹没范围,仿真结果能够服务于鄱阳湖水利枢纽的水位调控决策;该仿真系统在湖泊干旱特征水位等确定中也具有重要的应用价值。

Changes in Wind Speed and Extremes in Beijing during 1960–2008 Based on Homogenized Observations

Daily observations of wind speed at 12 stations in the Greater Beijing Area during 1960–2008 were homogenized using the Multiple Analysis of Series for Homogenization method. The linear trends in the regional mean annual and seasonal （winter, spring, summer and autumn） wind speed series were-0.26,-0.39,-0.30,-0.12 and-0.22 m s-1 （10 yr）-1 , respectively. Winter showed the greatest magnitude in declining wind speed, followed by spring, autumn and summer. The annual and seasonal frequencies of wind speed extremes （days） also decreased, more prominently for winter than for the other seasons. The declining trends in wind speed and extremes were formed mainly by some rapid declines during the 1970s and 1980s. The maximum declining trend in wind speed occurred at Chaoyang （CY）, a station within the central business district （CBD） of Beijing with the highest level of urbanization. The declining trends were in general smaller in magnitude away from the city center, except for the winter case in which the maximum declining trend shifted northeastward to rural Miyun （MY）. The influence of urbanization on the annual wind speed was estimated to be about-0.05 m s-1 （10 yr）-1 during 1960–2008, accounting for around one fifth of the regional mean declining trend. The annual and seasonal geostrophic wind speeds around Beijing, based on daily mean sea level pressure （MSLP） from the ERA-40 reanalysis dataset, also exhibited decreasing trends, coincident with the results from site observations. A comparative analysis of the MSLP fields between 1966–1975 and 1992–2001 suggested that the influences of both the winter and summer monsoons on Beijing were weaker in the more recent of the two decades. It is suggested that the bulk of wind in Beijing is influenced considerably by urbanization, while changes in strong winds or wind speed extremes are prone to large-scale climate change in the region.

Causes of seasonal sea level anomalies in the coastal region of the East China Sea

Based on the analysis of sea level, air temperature, sea surface temperature（SST）, air pressure and wind data during 1980-2013, the causes of seasonal sea level anomalies in the coastal region of the East China Sea（ECS） are investigated. The research results show：（1） sea level along the coastal region of the ECS takes on strong seasonal variation. The annual range is 30-45 cm, larger in the north than in the south. From north to south, the phase of sea level changes from 140° to 231°, with a difference of nearly 3 months.（2） Monthly mean sea level（MSL）anomalies often occur from August to next February along the coast region of the ECS. The number of sea level anomalies is at most from January to February and from August to October, showing a growing trend in recent years.（3） Anomalous wind field is an important factor to affect the sea level variation in the coastal region of the ECS. Monthly MSL anomaly is closely related to wind field anomaly and air pressure field anomaly. Wind-driven current is essentially consistent with sea surface height. In August 2012, the sea surface heights at the coastal stations driven by wind field have contributed 50%-80% of MSL anomalies.（4） The annual variations for sea level,SST and air temperature along the coastal region of the ECS are mainly caused by solar radiation with a period of12 months. But the correlation coefficients of sea level anomalies with SST anomalies and air temperature anomalies are all less than 0.1.（5） Seasonal sea level variations contain the long-term trends and all kinds of periodic changes. Sea level oscillations vary in different seasons in the coastal region of the ECS. In winter and spring, the oscillation of 4-7 a related to El Ni？o is stronger and its amplitude exceeds 2 cm. In summer and autumn, the oscillations of 2-3 a and quasi 9 a are most significant, and their amplitudes also exceed 2 cm. The height of sea level is lifted up when the different oscillations superposed. On the other hand, the height of sea level is fallen down.

Characteristics and possible causes of the seasonal sea level anomaly along the South China Sea coast

Based on sea level, air temperature, sea surface temperature（SST）, air pressure and wind data during 1980–2014,this paper uses Morlet wavelet transform, Estuarine Coastal Ocean Model（ECOM） and so on to investigate the characteristics and possible causes of seasonal sea level anomalies along the South China Sea（SCS） coast. The research results show that：（1） Seasonal sea level anomalies often occur from January to February and from June to October. The frequency of sea level anomalies is the most in August, showing a growing trend in recent years. In addition, the occurring frequency of negative sea level anomaly accounts for 50% of the total abnormal number.（2） The seasonal sea level anomalies are closely related to ENSO events. The negative anomalies always occurred during the El Ni？o events, while the positive anomalies occurred during the La Ni？a（late El Ni？o） events. In addition, the seasonal sea level oscillation periods of 4–7 a associated with ENSO are the strongest in winter, with the amplitude over 2 cm.（3） Abnormal wind is an important factor to affect the seasonal sea level anomalies in the coastal region of the SCS. Wind-driven sea level height（SSH） is basically consistent with the seasonal sea level anomalies. Moreover, the influence of the tropical cyclone in the coastal region of the SCS is concentrated in summer and autumn, contributing to the seasonal sea level anomalies.（4） Seasonal variations of sea level, SST and air temperature are basically consistent along the coast of the SCS, but the seasonal sea level anomalies have no much correlation with the SST and air temperature.

Sequential Filtering for Surface Wind Speed Estimation from Ambient Noise Measurement

Many research results show that ocean ambient noise and wind speed are highly relevant, and the surface wind speed can be effectively inverted using ocean noise data. In most deep-sea cases, the ambient noise of medium frequency is mainly determined by the surface wind, and there is a conventional relationship between them. This paper gives an equation which shows this relationship firstly, and then a surface-wind inversion method is proposed. An efficient particle filter is used to estimate the speed distribution, and the results exhibit more focused close to the actual wind speed. The method is verified by the measured noise data, and analysis results showed that this approach can accurately give the trend of sea surface wind speed.

Change of Low-level Jet in a Heavy Rainstorm Process of Xiangtan in July 2016

Based on the previous research on the model of rainstorm weather with low-level jet in Xiangtan,using the classification result of radar echo characteristics,the wind profile data provided by new generation of weather radar in Changsha and hourly rainfall data,a thorough study of the heavy rainfall from 2 to 5 July 2016 in Xiangtan was conducted. It was concluded that heavy precipitation had the characteristics of the WPSH pattern of rainstorm with low-level jet at early stage,and then it converted to cold shear jet pattern in latter stage. When low-level southwest jet began to have momentum download,that is to say,there was more than 12 m/s of southwest jet below 1 km,and it rapidly strengthened and expanded downward,it was conducive to the occurrence of short-term rainstorm. The low-level jet would not immediately cause a strong precipitation when it reached the station,with a certain lag. A positive correlation existed between the increase of low-level jet index and precipitation intensity,and low-level jet index could predict the occurrence of heavy rainfall and rain intensity.

STUDY ON SENSITIVITY OF WIND FIELD VARIATION TO STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF CONVECTIVE STORMS

In order to study the impacts of wind field variations in the middle and lower troposphere on the development and structure of storms,we carried out numerical experiments on cases of severe convection in the Jianghuai area under the background of cold vortex on April 28,2015.The results show that the structure and development of convective storms are highly sensitive to the changes of wind fields,and the adjustment of wind fields in the middle or lower troposphere will lead to significant changes in the development and structure of storms.When the wind field in the middle or lower troposphere is weakened,the development of convective storms attenuates to some extent compared with that in the control experiment,and the ways of attenuation in the two experiments are different.In the attenuation test of wind field at the middle level,convective storms obviously weaken at all stages in its development,while for the wind field at the low level,the convective storms weaken only in the initial stage of storm.On the contrary,the enhancement of the wind field in the middle or lower troposphere is conducive to the development of convection,especially the enhancement in the middle troposphere.In contrast,the convective storms develop rapidly in this test,as the most intensive one.The wind field variations have significant impacts on the structure and organization of the storm.The enhancement of wind field in the middle troposphere facilitates the intension of the middle-level rotation in convective storm,the reduction of the storm scale,and the organized evolution of convective storms.The strengthening of the wind field in the lower troposphere is conducive to the development of the low-level secondary circulation of the storm and the cyclonic vorticity at the middle and low levels on the inflowing side of the storms.

Case analysis of water exchange between the Bohai and Yellow Seas in response to high winds in winter

Based on the data from a special project titled China's Offshore Marine Integrated Investigation and Evaluation as well as Regional Ocean Modeling Systems(ROMS)diagnostic numerical model,we studied the influence of high wind processes on the circulation and water exchange between the Bohai and Yellow Seas(BYS)in winter.The results show that the vertical structure of the Yellow Sea Warm Current(YSWC)is relatively uniform under condition of high winds,showing obvious barotropic features.However,this flow is not a stable mean flow,showing strong paroxysmal and reciprocating characteristics.A comparison of the changes in sea level suggests that the intensity of the northwards upwind flow is consistent with the abnormal fluctuations in the sea level.It indicates that the upwind flow is closely related to the water exchange between the BYS.The impact of high wind processes on the water exchange between the BYS is enormous.It can make the flux through the Bohai Strait,as well as that through the mouth of each constituent bay(i.e.,Liaodong Bay,Bohai Bay,and Laizhou Bay)far greater than usual,resulting in a significant increase in the water exchange rate.The exchange capacity,which is about 8%of the total volume of the Bohai Sea,can be completed in a few days.Therefore,the water exchange of the Bohai Sea may be completed by only a few occasional high wind processes in winter.

Characteristics and possible causes of sea level anomalies in the Xisha sea area

Based on the analysis of wind,ocean currents,sea surface temperature（SST） and remote sensing satellite altimeter data,the characteristics and possible causes of sea level anomalies in the Xisha sea area are investigated.The main results are shown as follows：（1） Since 1993,the sea level in the Xisha sea area was obviously higher than normal in 1998,2001,2008,2010 and 2013.Especially,the sea level in 1998 and 2010 was abnormally high,and the sea level in 2010 was 13.2 cm higher than the muti-year mean,which was the highest in the history.In 2010,the sea level in the Xisha sea area had risen 43 cm from June to August,with the strength twice the annual variation range.（2） The sea level in the Xisha sea area was not only affected by the tidal force of the celestial bodies,but also closely related to the quasi 2 a periodic oscillation of tropical western Pacific monsoon and ENSO events.（3）There was a significant negative correlation between sea level in the Xisha sea area and ENSO events.The high sea level anomaly all happened during the developing phase of La Ni-a.They also show significant negative correlations with Ni-o 4 and Ni-o 3.4 indices,and the lag correlation coefficients for 2 months and 3 months are–0.46 and –0.45,respectively.（4） During the early La Ni-a event form June to November in 2010,the anomalous wind field was cyclonic.A strong clockwise vortex was formed for the current in 25 m layer in the Xisha sea area,and the velocity of the current is close to the speed of the Kuroshio near the Luzon Strait.In normal years,there is a “cool eddy”.While in 2010,from July to August,the SST in the area was 2–3°C higher than that of the same period in the history.

大跨度公铁双层斜拉桥主梁涡激共振机理与控制

以拟建的某主跨808 m公铁双层斜拉桥为工程依托,采用节段模型风洞试验研究不同攻角下双层桁架梁断面的涡振性能及5种气动控制措施的抑振效果,结合计算流体动力学(CFD)静态绕流模拟,对比分析双层桁架梁断面的涡振机理及控制方法.研究表明:主梁断面原设计方案在+3°和0°风攻角下存在明显的竖向和扭转涡振现象,且振幅超过规范允许值;间隔封闭上层桥面栏杆或增设抑流板可有效抑制主梁扭转涡振,但竖向涡振振幅仍不满足规范要求;上弦杆外侧增设风嘴可有效抑制主梁竖向和扭转涡振,而下弦杆外侧增设风嘴对主梁涡振抑振效果有限.气流经主梁原设计断面上层桥面分离后,在其上下表面形成周期性脱落的大尺度旋涡,并在上层桥面后部再附,这是主梁发生竖向涡振的主要诱因;上弦杆外侧增设风嘴可引导气流平稳通过上层桥面,消除了周期性的旋涡脱落,并在其上表面形成一段狭长“回流区”,从而有效抑制了涡振的发生.

Regional Sea Level Variation on Interannual Timescale in the East China Sea

Interannual sea level variation is investigated with the oceanic and atmospheric datasets in the East China Sea (ECS). Two modes are distinct on the interannual timescale, illustrated as the basin mode and the dipole mode. They account for 20% and 18% to the total interannual sea level variance respectively. The basin mode corresponds to the variability of the Kuroshio transport which is modulated by the PDO while the dipole mode is likely related to the local oceanic and atmospheric adjustment. Large-scale atmospheric circulation effect is dominant in influencing the interannual sea level in the ECS. ECS sea level responds barotropically to the basin-wide wind field, which illustrates negative correlation to the zonal-mean wind stress curl in the Pacific Ocean. Sea level variation exhibits the negative correlation at 8 years lag with the basin mean wind stress curl anomalies on the interannual timescale. The lagging years are consistent with the timescale that the baroclinic Rossby waves propagate westward in the North Pacific Ocean. Wind stress curl anomalies could also change the strength of the Kuroshio transport, and thus affect the local sea level through sea surface height adjustment. Local oceanic and atmospheric effect illustrates as another influence process. Steric effect contributes more than 20% to the interannual sea level gradually in a belt from the Fujian and Zhejiang coasts to the Korea/Tsushima strait. Especially in the northeast part, its contribution could be up to 60%. While for the local atmospheric process, zonal wind acts as a more important role on sea level than meridional component.

Prediction of Short-Term Distributions of Load Extremes of Offshore Wind Turbines

This paper proposes a new methodology to select an optimal threshold level to be used in the peak over threshold （POT） method for the prediction of short-term distributions of load extremes of offshore wind turbines. Such an optimal threshold level is found based on the estimation of the variance-to-mean ratio for the occurrence of peak values, which characterizes the Poisson assumption. A generalized Pareto distribution is then fitted to the extracted peaks over the optimal threshold level and the distribution parameters are estimated by the method of the maximum spacing estimation. This methodology is applied to estimate the short-term distributions of load extremes of the blade bending moment and the tower base bending moment at the mudline of a monopile-supported 5MW offshore wind turbine as an example. The accuracy of the POT method using the optimal threshold level is shown to be better, in terms of the distribution fitting, than that of the POT methods using empirical threshold levels. The comparisons among the short-term extreme response values predicted by using the POT method with the optimal threshold levels and with the empirical threshold levels and by using direct simulation results further substantiate the validity of the proposed new methodology.

考虑多重性能水准的特高压双柱悬索拉线塔风灾易损性分析

特高压双柱悬索拉线塔为典型的风敏感结构,其在不同强度风荷载作用下易遭受不同程度的损伤及破坏,针对此类结构的风致损伤评估研究亟待开展。该文提出一种考虑多重性能水准的特高压双柱悬索拉线塔风灾易损性分析方法。首先,开展结构立柱刚性模型的风洞试验,获取立柱的气动三分力系数并模拟得到相应风荷载;进而,定性划分双柱悬索拉线塔的性能水准,并基于Pushover分析给出各性能水准所对应的量化模型;最后,在求得双柱悬索拉线塔概率风灾需求模型的基础上,对其进行风灾易损性分析,并研究风向角对易损性曲线的影响。结果表明:结构主体立柱的气动升力系数CL和气动力矩系数CM在不同工况下均接近于0,气动阻力系数CD则均大于2,且从0°到45°呈递增趋势;基于立柱顶点位移可建立双柱悬索拉线塔的多重性能水准,而由风灾易损性分析可知,双柱悬索拉线塔在正常使用条件下发生各级风致损伤及破坏的概率很小,结构具有良好的抗风性能;风向角对双柱悬索拉线塔风灾易损性影响显著,结构的最不利和最有利风向角分别为90°和0°。