Studies on Major Climate Damage Making Progress

Akey national research project on major climate damage has scored important achievements, a spokesman announced at a phased review conference of the project held from October 8 to 13, 2000 in Beijing. Located in the East Asian monsoon area where the interannual variation is great, China suffers a

Climatic Study on the Summer Tropical Easterly Jet at 200 hPa

The low latitude easterlies at 200 hPa in summer (May-October) is analysed climatically during the 13-year period from 1968 to 1980, with a special emphasis on the relationships between the anomalous tropical easterly jet Stream over South Asia and the low latitude atmospheric circulation, and also the summer monsoon precipitation in India. The compositing analysis shows that the tropical easterly jet stream over South Asia has five anomalous patterns at 200 hPa i.e. the western pattern, middle pattern, eastern pattern, two-branch pattern and multi-core pattern. Evidence has shown that the precipitaion in India anomalously increased during the anomalous period of the western pattern and the middle pattern, but reverse case is true in the eastern pattern. Some different anomalies of the precipitation in different area of India were found during the other two anomalous pattern.

THE CLIMATIC STUDY OF CHANGBAI MOUNTAIN BY INTEGRATION OF REMOTE SENSING INFORMATION AND GEO-CODED IMAGES

Ⅰ. INTRODUCTION Changbai Mountain is situated between E127°54′-128°08′, N40°58′-42°06′ about 2700 meters above sea level. It is the typical area of the mountainous climate in the monsoon area of the temperate zone on the globe. The well reserved primeval vertical distribution of natural landscape belts and the Natural Conservation of Changbai Mountains adopted by the UNESCO′s MAB Program cause the worldwide attention of geographers. Beside the complexity of the climatic structure itself, the mechanical effection of the high mountain body also effect the climate in the eastern part of China. In the mountain area where short of meteorological observation data, the climatic study by remote sensing is favorable for discovery and representation of climatic law in large area.

A SIMPLE LAND SURFACE PROCESS MODEL FOR USE IN CLIMATE STUDY

A quantitative description of the processes taking place among the atmosphere, vegetation and soil is needed for studying air-land interaction and interrelation between the geosphere and the biosphere. In this paper, a simple land surface process model is proposed. Through transfers and exchanges of heat and water, the therrnal and moisture states of the atmosphere, vegetation and soil are linked in a coupled system, in which vegetation is considered as a horizontally uniform layer, soil is divided into three layers and the horizontal differences of variables in the system are neglected. The preliminary results of the experiment indicate that the model is capable of predicting the thermal and moisture conditions of the land surface and suitable to climate study.

Impact of Climate Change on Streamflow in the Xitiaoxi Catchment, Taihu Basin

The impact of climate change on streamflow in the Xitiaoxi catchment is assessed by using VIC （variable infiltration capacity） model coupled with PRECIS （providing regional climate for impacts studies）. Results show that the VIC model is adaptable for the study area. Both deterministic coefficient and NashSuttcliffe efficiency coefficient are greater than 0.75, with a good agreement between observed and simulated discharge. The runoff will increase in the future, especially during flood seasons. The magnitude of floods in the future （2021-2050） under A2 and B2 scenarios will be greater than that during the baseline period （1961-1990）, but it may not exceed that during the 1990s.

ON THE ROLE OF SULFATE ION IN THE ATMOSPHERE

Drop freezing experiments with ammonium sulfate water solutions have shown the existence of the temperature maxima that are a function of the salt concentration.The maxima were:-12℃ for 10-4 M solution on filter,-9℃ for 10^(-4) to 10^(-3)M solution in contact with particles of continental origin,and -4℃ for 10^(-4) M solution in contact with particles of marine origin. It was speculated that the presence of ice-forming nuclei active at high temperature (-4℃) should extend the for- mation of ice in clouds toward lower latitudes,increase their albedos,and provide additional cooling during daytime for the earth.The microphysics of clouds must be included in studying climate.

NUMERICAL STUDY OF THE SHORT-TERM CLIMATIC OSCILLATION FORCED BY EL NINO DURING NORTHERN WINTER

Using a nine-layer global spectral model, numerical schemes with two different SST distributions in January (control case and abnormal case) have been tested to study the climatic effect, propagation charateris- tics and the maintenance mechanism of the short-term climatic oscillation caused by El Nino during northern winter. The main results are as follows: (1) During northern winter, there exist two wave trains because of the influence of El Nino. One is similar to PNA pattern, and the other is similar to EUP pattern. (2) The PNA-like wave train caused by the anomalous SST forcing in central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean is due to the response of ultralong wave and long wave components of Rossby mode, and the EUP-like wave train crossing Eurasia is mainly due to the wave component of Rossby mode. (3) During northern winter, the warm water region in central equatorial Pacific Ocean is the source of forced wave trains. (4) In northern winter, the energy source for maintaining the short-term climatic oscillation is from the interaction between eddies, and between eddy and zonal flow.

A NUMERICAL STUDY OF SHORT-RANGE CLIMATIC OSCILLATION WITH VARIOUS TIME SCALES FORCED BY EL NINO DURING THE NORTHERN SUMMER

The normal mode method is adopted to decompose the differences between simulations with SST(sea surface temperature)anomahes over centra-eastern Pacific and normal SST by use of a nine-layer global spec- tral model in order to investigate short-range climatic oscillation with various time scales forced by El Nino during the northern summer.Investigation shows that El Nino may have the following influence on atmosphere on various space-time scales.Extra-long wave components of Rossby mode forced by convective anomaly over equatorial western Pacific resulting from El Nino produce climatic oscillation on monthly(sea- sonal)time scale in middle-high latitudes of Southern and Northern Hemispheres;extra-long wave components of Kelvin mode forced by SST anomalies propagate along the equator,resulting in 30—60 day oscillation of tropical and subtropical atmosphere;and its long waves move eastward with westerly,resulting in quasi-biweek oscillation.