Internal variability in a regional climate model over West Africa     

Emilie Vanvyve  Nicholas Hall  Christophe Messager  Stéphanie Leroux  Jean-Pascal van Ypersele 《Climate Dynamics》2008,30(2-3):191-202

Sensitivity studies with regional climate models are often performed on the basis of a few simulations for which the difference is analysed and the statistical significance is often taken for granted. In this study we present some simple measures of the confidence limits for these types of experiments by analysing the internal variability of a regional climate model run over West Africa. Two 1-year long simulations, differing only in their initial conditions, are compared. The difference between the two runs gives a measure of the internal variability of the model and an indication of which timescales are reliable for analysis. The results are analysed for a range of timescales and spatial scales, and quantitative measures of the confidence limits for regional model simulations are diagnosed for a selection of study areas for rainfall, low level temperature and wind. As the averaging period or spatial scale is increased, the signal due to internal variability gets smaller and confidence in the simulations increases. This occurs more rapidly for variations in precipitation, which appear essentially random, than for dynamical variables, which show some organisation on larger scales.  相似文献   

Constraints on mantle plumes on Venus: Implications for volatile history     

Suzanne E. Smrekar  Christophe Sotin 《Icarus》2012,217(2):510-523

The analysis of Venus’ gravity field and topography suggests the presence of a small number of deep mantle plumes (～9). This study predicts the number of plumes formed at the core–mantle boundary, their characteristics, and the production of partial melt from adiabatic decompression. Numerical simulations are performed using a 3D spherical code that includes large viscosity variations and internal heating. This study investigates the effect of several parameters including the core–mantle boundary temperature, the amount of internal heating, and the mantle viscosity. The smallest number of plumes is achieved when no internal heating is present. However, scaling Earth’s radiogenic heating to Venus suggests a value of ～16 TW. Cases with internal heating produce more realistic lid thickness and partial melting, but produce either too many plumes or no plumes if a high mantle temperature precludes the formation of a hot thermal boundary layer. Mantle viscosity must be reduced to at least 10²⁰ Pa s in order to include significant internal heating and still produce hot plumes. In all cases that predict melting, melting occurs throughout the upper mantle. Only cases with high core temperature (>1700 K) produce dry melting. Over time the upper mantle may have lost significant volatiles. Depending on the water content of the lower mantle, deep plumes may contribute to present-day atmospheric water via volcanic outgassing. Assuming 50 ppm water in mantle, 10 plumes with a buoyancy flux of 500 kg/s continuously erupting for 4 myr will outgas an amount of water on the order of that in the lower atmosphere. A higher level of internal heating than achieved to date, as well as relatively low mantle viscosity, may be required to achieve simulations with ～10 plumes and a thinner lid. Alternatively, if the mantle is heating up due to the stagnant lid, the effect is equivalent to having lower rates of internal heating. A temperature increase of 110 K/byr is equivalent to ?13 TW. This value along with the internal heating of 3 TW used in this study may represent the approximate heat budget of Venus’ mantle.  相似文献   

GETEMME—a mission to explore the Martian satellites and the fundamentals of solar system physics     

Jürgen Oberst  Valéry Lainey  Christophe Le Poncin-Lafitte  Veronique Dehant  Pascal Rosenblatt  Stephan Ulamec  Jens Biele  J?rn Spurmann  Ralph Kahle  Volker Klein  Ulrich Schreiber  Anja Schlicht  Nicolas Rambaux  Philippe Laurent  Beno?t Noyelles  Bernard Foulon  Alexander Zakharov  Leonid Gurvits  Denis Uchaev  Scott Murchie  Cheryl Reed  Slava G. Turyshev  Jesus Gil  Mariella Graziano  Konrad Willner  Kai Wickhusen  Andreas Pasewaldt  Marita W?hlisch  Harald Hoffmann 《Experimental Astronomy》2012,34(2):243-271

GETEMME (Gravity, Einstein??s Theory, and Exploration of the Martian Moons?? Environment), a mission which is being proposed in ESA??s Cosmic Vision program, shall be launched for Mars on a Soyuz Fregat in 2020. The spacecraft will initially rendezvous with Phobos and Deimos in order to carry out a comprehensive mapping and characterization of the two satellites and to deploy passive Laser retro-reflectors on their surfaces. In the second stage of the mission, the spacecraft will be transferred into a lower 1500-km Mars orbit, to carry out routine Laser range measurements to the reflectors on Phobos and Deimos. Also, asynchronous two-way Laser ranging measurements between the spacecraft and stations of the ILRS (International Laser Ranging Service) on Earth are foreseen. An onboard accelerometer will ensure a high accuracy for the spacecraft orbit determination. The inversion of all range and accelerometer data will allow us to determine or improve dramatically on a host of dynamic parameters of the Martian satellite system. From the complex motion and rotation of Phobos and Deimos we will obtain clues on internal structures and the origins of the satellites. Also, crucial data on the time-varying gravity field of Mars related to climate variation and internal structure will be obtained. Ranging measurements will also be essential to improve on several parameters in fundamental physics, such as the Post-Newtonian parameter ?? as well as time-rate changes of the gravitational constant and the Lense-Thirring effect. Measurements by GETEMME will firmly embed Mars and its satellites into the Solar System reference frame.  相似文献   

Spectroscopy, morphometry, and photoclinometry of Titan's dunefields from Cassini/VIMS     

Jason W. Barnes  Robert H. Brown  Christophe Sotin  Sebastien Rodriguez  Ross A. Beyer  Karly Pitman  Roger Clark 《Icarus》2008,195(1):400-414

Fine-resolution (500 m/pixel) Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) T20 observations of Titan resolve that moon's sand dunes. The spectral variability in some dune regions shows that there are sand-free interdune areas, wherein VIMS spectra reveal the exposed dune substrate. The interdunes from T20 are, variously, materials that correspond to the equatorial bright, 5-μm-bright, and dark blue spectral units. Our observations show that an enigmatic “dark red” spectral unit seen in T5 in fact represents a macroscopic mixture with 5-μm-bright material and dunes as its spectral endmembers. Looking more broadly, similar mixtures of varying amounts of dune and interdune units of varying composition can explain the spectral and albedo variability within the dark brown dune global spectral unit that is associated with dunes. The presence of interdunes indicates that Titan's dunefields are both mature and recently active. The spectrum of the dune endmember reveals the sand to be composed of less water ice than the rest of Titan; various organics are consistent with the dunes' measured reflectivity. We measure a mean dune spacing of 2.1 km, and find that the dunes are oriented on the average in an east-west direction, but angling up to 10° from parallel to the equator in specific cases. Where no interdunes are present, we determine the height of one set of dunes photoclinometrically to be between 30 and 70 m. These results pave the way for future exploration and interpretation of Titan's sand dunes.  相似文献   

The lacustrine microbial carbonate factory of the successive Lake Bonneville and Great Salt Lake,Utah, USA     

Emmanuelle Vennin  Anthony Bouton  Raphaël Bourillot  Aurlie Pace  Adeline Roche  Arnaud Brayard  Christophe Thomazo  Aurelien Virgone  Eric C. Gaucher  Guy Desaubliaux  Pieter T. Visscher 《Sedimentology》2019,66(1):165-204

The Bonneville Basin is a continental lacustrine system accommodating extensive microbial carbonate deposits corresponding to two distinct phases: the deep Lake Bonneville (30 000 to 11 500 ¹⁴C bp ) and the shallow Great Salt Lake (since 11 500 ¹⁴C bp ). A characterization of these microbial deposits and their associated sediments provides insights into their spatio‐temporal distribution patterns. The Bonneville phase preferentially displays vertical distribution of the microbial deposits resulting from high‐amplitude lake level variations. Due to the basin physiography, the microbial deposits were restricted to a narrow shoreline belt following Bonneville lake level variations. Carbonate production was more efficient during intervals of relative lake level stability as recorded by the formation of successive terraces. In contrast, the Great Salt Lake microbial deposits showed a great lateral distribution, linked to the modern flat bottom configuration. A low vertical distribution of the microbial deposits was the result of the shallow water depth combined with a low amplitude of lake level fluctuations. These younger microbial deposits display a higher diversity of fabrics and sizes. They are distributed along an extensive ‘shore to lake’ transect on a flat platform in relation to local and progressive accommodation space changes. Microbial deposits are temporally discontinuous throughout the lake history showing longer hiatuses during the Bonneville phase. The main parameters controlling the rate of carbonate production are related to the interaction between physical (kinetics of the mineral precipitation, lake water temperature and runoff), chemical (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and HCO₃^? concentrations, Mg/Ca ratio, dilution and depletion) and/or biological (trophic) factors. The contrast in evolution of Lake Bonneville and Great Salt Lake microbial deposits during their lacustrine history leads to discussions on major chemical and climatic changes during this interval as well as the role of physiography. Furthermore, it provides novel insights into the composition, structure and formation of microbialite‐rich carbonate deposits under freshwater and hypersaline conditions.  相似文献   

Prediction of the calcium carbonate budget in a sedimentary basin: A “source-to-sink” approach applied to Great Salt Lake,Utah, USA     

Anthony Bouton  Emmanuelle Vennin  Philippe Amiotte-Suchet  Christophe Thomazo  Jean-Pierre Sizun  Aurélien Virgone  Eric C. Gaucher  Pieter T. Visscher 《Basin Research》2020,32(5):1005-1034

Most source-to-sink studies typically focus on the dynamics of clastic sediments and consider erosion, transport and deposition of sediment particles as the sole contributors. Although often neglected, dissolved solids produced by weathering processes contribute significantly in the sedimentary dynamics of basins, supporting chemical and/or biological precipitation. Calcium ions are usually a major dissolved constituent of water drained through the watershed and may facilitate the precipitation of calcium carbonate when supersaturating conditions are reached. The high mobility of Ca²⁺ ions may cause outflow from an open system and consequently loss. In contrast, in closed basins, all dissolved (i.e. non-volatile) inputs converge at the lowest point of the basin. The endoreic Great Salt Lake basin constitutes an excellent natural laboratory to study the dynamics of calcium on a basin scale, from the erosion and transport through the watershed to the sink, including sedimentation in lake's waterbody. The current investigation focused on the Holocene epoch. Despite successive lake level fluctuations (amplitude around 10 m), the average water level seems to have not been affected by any significant long-term change (i.e. no increasing or decreasing trend, but fairly stable across the Holocene). Weathering of calcium-rich minerals in the watershed mobilizes Ca²⁺ ions that are transported by surface streams and subsurface flow to the Great Salt Lake (GSL). Monitoring data of these flows was corrected for recent anthropogenic activity (river management) and combined with direct precipitation (i.e. rain and snow) and atmospheric dust income into the lake, allowing estimating the amount of calcium delivered to the GSL. These values were then extrapolated through the Holocene period and compared to the estimated amount of calcium stored in GSL water column, porewater and sediments (using hydrochemical, mapping, coring and petrophysical estimates). The similar estimate of calcium delivered (4.88 Gt) and calcium stored (3.94 Gt) is consistent with the premise of the source-to-sink approach: a mass balance between eroded and transported compounds and the sinks. The amount of calcium deposited in the basin can therefore be predicted indirectly from the different inputs, which can be assessed with more confidence. When monitoring is unavailable (e.g. in the fossil record), the geodynamic context, the average lithology of the watershed and the bioclimatic classification of an endoreic basin are alternative properties that may be used to estimate the inputs. We show that this approach is sufficiently accurate to predict the amount of calcium captured in a basin and can be extended to the whole fossil record and inform on the storage of calcium.  相似文献   

The information system of the French Peatland Observation Service: Service National d'Observation Tourbières – A valuable tool to assess the impact of global changes on the hydrology and biogeochemistry of temperate peatlands through long term monitoring     

Sébastien Gogo  Jean-Baptiste Paroissien  Fatima Laggoun-Défarge  Jean-Marc Antoine  Léonard Bernard-Jannin  Guillaume Bertrand  Philippe Binet  Stéphane Binet  Guillaume Bouger  Yohann Brossard  Thierry Camboulive  Jean-Pierre Caudal  Stéphane Chevrier  Geneviève Chiapiuso  Benoît D'Angelo  Pilar Durantez  Chris Flechard  André-Jean Francez  Didier Galop  Laure Gandois  Daniel Gilbert  Christophe Guimbaud  Louis Hinault  Adrien Jacotot  Franck Le Moing  Emilie Lerigoleur  Gaël Le Roux  Fabien Leroy  Alexandre Lhosmot  Qian Li  Elodie Machado Da Silva  Jean-Sébastien Moquet  Juanita Mora-Gomez  Laurent Perdereau  Thomas Rosset  Marie-Laure Toussaint 《水文研究》2021,35(6):e14244

Mitigating and adapting to global changes requires a better understanding of the response of the Biosphere to these environmental variations. Human disturbances and their effects act in the long term (decades to centuries) and consequently, a similar time frame is needed to fully understand the hydrological and biogeochemical functioning of a natural system. To this end, the ‘Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique’ (CNRS) promotes and certifies long-term monitoring tools called national observation services or ‘Service National d'Observation’ (SNO) in a large range of hydrological and biogeochemical systems (e.g., cryosphere, catchments, aquifers). The SNO investigating peatlands, the SNO ‘Tourbières’, was certified in 2011 ( https://www.sno-tourbieres.cnrs.fr/ ). Peatlands are mostly found in the high latitudes of the northern hemisphere and French peatlands are located in the southern part of this area. Thus, they are located in environmental conditions that will occur in northern peatlands in coming decades or centuries and can be considered as sentinels. The SNO Tourbières is composed of four peatlands: La Guette (lowland central France), Landemarais (lowland oceanic western France), Frasne (upland continental eastern France) and Bernadouze (upland southern France). Thirty target variables are monitored to study the hydrological and biogeochemical functioning of the sites. They are grouped into four datasets: hydrology, fluvial export of organic matter, greenhouse gas fluxes and meteorology/soil physics. The data from all sites follow a common processing chain from the sensors to the public repository. The raw data are stored on an FTP server. After operator or automatic processing, data are stored in a database, from which a web application extracts the data to make them available ( https://data-snot.cnrs.fr/data-access/ ). Each year at least, an archive of each dataset is stored in Zenodo, with a digital object identifier (DOI) attribution ( https://zenodo.org/communities/sno_tourbieres_data/ ).  相似文献   

Access routes to high mountain huts facing climate-induced environmental changes and adaptive strategies in the Western Alps since the 1990s     

Jacques Mourey  Ludovic Ravanel  Christophe Lambiel  Joël Strecker  Mattia Piccardi 《Norsk geografisk tidsskrift. Norwegian journal of geography》2019,73(4):215-228

ABSTRACT

In the European Alps, high mountain environments are subject to major impacts resulting from climate change, which strongly affect human activities such as mountaineering. The purpose of the study was to examine changes in access routes to 30 high mountain huts in the Western Alps since the 1990s. Data were derived from the use of two different methods, geo-historical studies and a questionnaire, and were used to identify both the climate-related processes affecting the climbing routes and the strategies implemented by public entities, Alpine clubs, guide companies, and hut keepers to maintain acceptable safety and technical conditions. The case studies revealed issues affecting three access routes and the results from the questionnaire showed that the main processes affecting access routes were loss of ice thickness and retreat from the front of the glaciated areas. Commonly, in situ equipment was installed to facilitate access for mountaineers and/or a part of a route was relocated to a safer area. The authors conclude that in most cases, the measures were effective but they were limited by financial, ethical and legal issues, especially in protected or classified areas that could jeopardise their durability and effectiveness.  相似文献   

The 1‐million‐year‐old quartz assemblage from Pont‐de‐Lavaud (Centre,France) in the European context          下载免费PDF全文

Jackie Despriée  Marie‐Hélène Moncel  Marta Arzarello  Gilles Courcimault  Pierre Voinchet  Jean‐Jacques Bahain  Christophe Falguères 《第四纪科学杂志》2018,33(6):639-661

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Momentum- and Heat-Flux Parametrization at Dome C,Antarctica: A Sensitivity Study     

Etienne Vignon  Christophe Genthon  Hélène Barral  Charles Amory  Ghislain Picard  Hubert Gallée  Giampietro Casasanta  Stefania Argentini 《Boundary-Layer Meteorology》2017,162(2):341-367

An extensive meteorological observational dataset at Dome C, East Antarctic Plateau, enabled estimation of the sensitivity of surface momentum and sensible heat fluxes to aerodynamic roughness length and atmospheric stability in this region. Our study reveals that (1) because of the preferential orientation of snow micro-reliefs (sastrugi), the aerodynamic roughness length \(z_{0}\) varies by more than two orders of magnitude depending on the wind direction; consequently, estimating the turbulent fluxes with a realistic but constant \(z_{0}\) of 1 mm leads to a mean friction velocity bias of \(24\,\%\) in near-neutral conditions; (2) the dependence of the ratio of the roughness length for heat \(z_{0t}\) to \(z_{0}\) on the roughness Reynolds number is shown to be in reasonable agreement with previous models; (3) the wide range of atmospheric stability at Dome C makes the flux very sensitive to the choice of the stability functions; stability function models presumed to be suitable for stable conditions were evaluated and shown to generally underestimate the dimensionless vertical temperature gradient; as these models differ increasingly with increases in the stability parameter z / L, heat flux and friction velocity relative differences reached \(100\,\%\) when \(z/L > 1\); (4) the shallowness of the stable boundary layer is responsible for significant sensitivity to the height of the observed temperature and wind data used to estimate the fluxes. Consistent flux results were obtained with atmospheric measurements at heights up to 2 m. Our sensitivity study revealed the need to include a dynamical parametrization of roughness length over Antarctica in climate models and to develop new parametrizations of the surface fluxes in very stable conditions, accounting, for instance, for the divergence in both radiative and turbulent fluxes in the first few metres of the boundary layer.  相似文献