Study on the Effects of Land Surface Heterogeneities in Temperature and Moisture on Annual Scale Regional Climate Simulation

The ＂combined approach＂, which is suitable to represent subgrid land surface heterogeneity in both interpatch and intra-patch variabilities, is employed in the BiOsphere/Atmosphere Transfer Scheme （BATS） as a land surface component of the regional climate model RegCM3 to consider the heterogeneities in temperature and moisture at the land surface, and then annual-scale simulations for 5 years （1988-1992） were conducted. Results showed that on the annual scale, the model＇s response to the heterogeneities is quite sensitive, and that the effect of the temperature heterogeneity （TH） is more pronounced than the moisture heterogeneity （MH）. On the intraannual scale, TH may lead to more （less） precipitation in warm （cold） seasons, and hence lead to larger intraannual variability in precipitation; the major MH effects may be lagged by about 1 month during the warm, rainy seasons, inducing -6% more precipitation for some sub-regions. Additionally, the modeled climate for the northern sub-regions shows larger sensitivities to the land surface heterogeneities than those for the southern sub-regions. Since state-of-art land surface models seldom account for surface intra-patch variabilities, this study emphasizes the importance of including this kind of variability in the land surface models.

A Three-Dimensional Satellite Retrieval Method for Atmospheric Temperature and Moisture Profiles

A three-dimensional variational method is proposed to simultaneously retrieve the 3-D atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles from satellite radiance measurements. To include both vertical structure and the horizontal patterns of the atmospheric temperature and moisture, an EOF technique is used to decompose the temperature and moisture field in a 3-D space. A number of numerical simulations are conducted and they demonstrate that the 3-D method is less sensitive to the observation errors compared to the 1-D method. When the observation error is more than 2.0 K, to get the best results, the truncation number for the EOF＇s expansion have to be restricted to 2 in the 1-D method, while it can be set as large as 40 in a 3-D method. This results in the truncation error being reduced and the retrieval accuracy being improved in the 3-D method. Compared to the 1-D method, the rms errors of the 3-D method are reduced by 48% and 36% for the temperature and moisture retrievals, respectively. Using the real satellite measured brightness temperatures at 0557 UTC 31 July 2002, the temperature and moisture profiles are retrieved over a region （20°-45°N, 100°- 125°E） and compared with 37 collocated radiosonde observations. The results show that the retrieval accuracy with a 3-D method is significantly higher than those with the 1-D method.

The Dynamic and Thermodynamic Effects of Relative and Absolute Sea Surface Temperature on Tropical Cyclone Intensity

Several numerical experiments were performed to investigate the dynamic and thermodynamic effects of sea surface temperature （SST） on tropical cyclone （TC） intensity. The results reveal that the relative SST within a radius of 2-3 times the radius of maximum wind contributes positively and greatly to TC intensity, while the remote SST far away from the TC center could reduce storm intensity. The change of air sea temperature and moisture differences may be the reason why TC intensity is more sensitive to the relative rather than the absolute SST. As the inflow air moves toward the eyewall, warmer （colder） remote SST can gradually increase （decrease） the underlying surface air temperature and moisture, and thus decrease （increase） the air sea temperature and moisture differences, which lead to less （more） energy fluxes entering the eyewall and then decrease （increase） the TC intensity and make it less sensitive to the absolute SST change. Finally, with all the related dynamic and thermodynamic processes being taken into account, a schematic diagram for the effects of relative SST and absolute SST on TC intensity is proposed.

Photosynthetic characteristics of cotton are enhaneed by altering the timing of mulch film removal

Background:The photosynthetic parameters of cotton plants may be modified by the timing of film removal during their growing period.This study was undertaken during 2015-2017 in Xinjiang,China,to determine to what extent the film mulching removal time,1 and 10 days before the first irrigation and 1 day before the second irrigation after seedling emergence,influenced cotton's photosynthetic characteristics.The control group(CK)was film-mulched throughout the growth stages.Results:The results suggested the following:(1)Removing mulching-film within 50 days since seedling emergence had adverse effects on soil temperature and moisture.(2)Film-removal before the first or second irrigation after emergence improved the net photosynthetic rate in cotton's later flowering stage and its transpiration rate in mid and later flowed ng stages while enhancing the actual electron transport rate(ETR)and maximum electron transfer rate(ETRmax)between cotton photosystems I and II.(3)Film-removal treatment also increased cotton plants'toleranee to high irradiation after emergence,the trend was more pronounced in the early flowering stage in wetter years.(4)Leaf area index(LAI)of cotton was reduced in the film-removal treatment for which the least accumulation of dry matter occurred in a drought year(i.e.,2015).(5)Film removal caused a yield decrease in the dry year(2015),and the earlier the film was removed,the more seriously the yield decreased.Removing mulching film before the second irrigation could increase the yield of XLZ42 in the rainy year(2016)and the normal rainfall year(2017).Early film removal can in crease the yield of XLZ45 in the rainy year(2016).Conclusions:Collectively,our stud/s experimental results indicate that applying mulch film removal at an appropriate,targeted time after seedling emerge nee had no adverse effects on soil moisture and temperature,and improved the photosy nthetic performance of cotton,thus in creased cotton yield and fiber quality,but no significant difference was reached.

Soil Respiration Dynamics and Influencing Factors in Typical Steppe of Inner Mongolia under Long-term Nitrogen Addition

We investigated soil respiration(Rs)dynamics and influencing factors under different nitrogen(N)addition levels(0,2,4,8,16,32 g m^–2 yr^–1)on typical grassland plots in Inner Mongolia.We measured soil respiration,temperature,moisture and nutrients.We found that N addition did not change dynamic characteristics of Rs;daily and seasonal dynamics followed a single peak curve.N addition reduced Rs during the growing season.Rs under N2,N4,N8,N16 and N32 treatments decreased by 24.00%,21.93%,23.49%,30.78%and 28.20%in the growing season,respectively,compared to the N0 treatment.However,Rs in the non-growing season was not different across treatments.Rs was significantly positively correlated with soil temperature and moisture and these two factors accounted for 72%–97% and 74%–82% of variation in Rs,respectively.The soil respiration temperature sensitivity (Q10) was between 2.27 and 4.16 and N addition reduced Q10 except in the N8 treatment.