Thin cirrus clouds play an important radiative role in the earth's atmosphere and climate system, yet are one of the least understood components of the climate system. With the use of data from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO), thin cirrus and thick cloud distributions in the tropics are analyzed at 121, 100, and 82 hPa. Observations obtained between December 2006 and November 2007 show that thin cirrus between 30°N and 30°S occur in close proximity to regions of intense convection and are positively correlated with low values of outgoing longwave radiation (OLR). In conjunction with the CALIPSO data, water vapor data from the Earth Observing System (EOS) Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), OLR data provided by the NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSD, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their Web site at http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/, and linearly interpolated NCEP reanalysis temperature data were used. These data were used to examine how thick and thin cirrus cloud fractions at 121-hPa and 100-hPa are related to relative humidity with respect to ice (RHI), temperature, and OLR. Our observations show that both RHI and convection play important roles in the development and maintenance of thick and thin cirrus clouds at the pressure levels of interest. The highest fractions of clouds are almost always seen within OLR values representative of convection and at relatively high values of RHI. However, when peaks in cloud fraction are found above the convective threshold, higher RHI values are needed than are needed when convection is responsible for the formation and maintenance of these clouds.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-20T14:25:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao_guilherme_reinke.pdf: 5244899 bytes, checksum: 883a2f12008ef21f2da3eb9001e720b6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-03-13 / The main objective of the study was to obtain the relation between Pacific and Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies and Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) anomalies in South America (SA) and, moreover, evaluate the relationship of rainfall in Brazil to SST. Data from reanalysis of SST and OLR of the NCEP/NCAR were used, between the months of October and March of the period from 1982 to 2007, which was applied the statistical technique of Principal Components (PC), allowing the study of the correlation between the two variables. Data of precipitation of 691 stations in Brazil, obtained from the Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET), Agência Nacional de Águas (ANA) and Fundação Estadual de Pesquisa Agropecuária (FEPAGRO), were correlated with the scores of the SST and were used to prepare the rainfall climatology in the country, which enabled the understanding of the rainfall regime in spring and summer. Finally, a model was developed to forecast of the rainfall in Brazil with two months for advance, between December and March, using as predictors the first five scores of the SST. The correlations between the PC1 of the SST and the PC1 of the OLR shown to be significants at 1%, where the PC1 of SST is related with the ENSO pattern, showing in October: desintensification or intensification of convection in central and southern of Argentina; November: opposite pattern of OLR anomalies between south of Brazil and the area of activity of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ); January: reduction or increase of convection in the northwestern of SA; December, February and March: intensification or desintensification of convection associated with the Bolivian High, and also in north of the North and Northeast Regions of Brazil. Moreover, in all months of the study, the PC2 of the SST showed the indication of a dipole pattern between the Central and Equatorial Atlantic adjacent to the northeastern coast of Brazil, and South Atlantic, in middle latitudes. In October, November and March, OLR anomalies areas associated with a pattern of more oceanic SACZ seem to be directly related to a strong gradient of SST anomalies, with positive anomalies in the northeast coast of Brazil and negative anomalies on the south-southeast coast of the country. When it was of the SST with the rainfall in Brazil, it was found in the months of November, December and January, similar patterns seen in the correlations between the SST and OLR. In the four months in which the model was applied to predict the rainfall, it was noted that South and Northeast regions of Brazil have the best potential for forecasting. / O principal objetivo do estudo foi obter a relação entre anomalias de Temperatura da Superfície do Mar (TSM) dos Oceanos Pacífico e Atlântico e anomalias de Radiação de Onda Longa (ROL) na América do Sul (AS) e, além disso, avaliar a relação da TSM com a precipitação no Brasil. Foram utilizados dados de reanálises de TSM e ROL do NCEP/NCAR, entre os meses de outubro a março do período de 1982 até 2007, aos quais foi aplicada a técnica estatística de Componentes Principais (CP), possibilitando o estudo da correlação entre as duas variáveis. Dados de precipitação de 691 estações no Brasil, obtidos junto ao Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET), Agência Nacional de Águas (ANA) e Fundação Estadual de Pesquisa Agropecuária (FEPAGRO), foram correlacionados com os escores da TSM e usados na elaboração da climatologia da precipitação no país, que permitiu um entendimento do regime de chuvas nos períodos de primavera e verão. Por fim, foi desenvolvido um modelo de previsão da precipitação no Brasil com dois meses de antecedência, entre dezembro e março, usando como preditores os cinco primeiros escores da TSM. As correlações entre a CP1 da TSM e a CP1 da ROL mostraram ser significativas a 1%, em que a CP1 da TSM está relacionada com o padrão ENOS, apresentando em outubro: intensificação ou desintensificação da convecção no centro e sul da Argentina; novembro: padrão oposto de anomalias de ROL entre o Sul do Brasil e a área de atuação da Zona de Convergência do Atlântico Sul (ZCAS); janeiro: redução ou aumento da convecção no noroeste da AS; dezembro, fevereiro e março: intensificação ou desintensificação da convecção associada à Alta da Bolívia e, também, no norte das Regiões Norte e Nordeste do Brasil. Além disso, em todos os meses do estudo, a CP2 da TSM mostrou no Oceano Atlântico a indicação de um padrão de dipolo entre o Atlântico Equatorial e Central adjacente à costa Nordeste do Brasil, e o Atlântico Sul, em latitudes médias. Em outubro, novembro e março, áreas de anomalias de ROL associadas com um padrão de ZCAS mais oceânica parecem estar diretamente relacionadas com um forte gradiente de anomalias de TSM, com anomalias positivas na costa nordeste do Brasil e negativas na costa Sul-Sudeste do país. Ao relacionar a TSM com a precipitação no Brasil foram encontrados nos meses de novembro, dezembro e janeiro, padrões semelhantes aos vistos nas correlações entre a TSM e ROL. Nos quatro meses em que foi aplicado o modelo de previsão da precipitação, pôde-se notar que as Regiões Sul e Nordeste do Brasil apresentam os melhores potenciais para a previsão.

This thesis deals with tropical intraseasonal variation (TISV) having time scales in 20-80 day range. Variations on this time scale have been observed to have profound influence on the weather and climate of the entire globe, and hence its study forms an important area of current research. A large number of studies have been carried out on this topic since the pioneering work of Madden and Julian in 1971. However, the observational studies are biased towards using the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) as the variable of interest, and other variables, pressure in particular, have received less attention. The present thesis explores features of intraseasonal variations in sea level pressure (SLP) with the following main objectives. 1. Compare and contrast wavenumber – frequency spectra of OLR, zonal winds and SLP. 2. Quantify temporal and spatial variations of different tropical modes observed in the above variables. 3. Investigate intraseasonal variations in sea level pressure in the tropics and its meridional connections. 4. Document the movement of cloud bands during the periods of high and low TISV activity during different seasons. 5. Explore the relations between intraseasonal variations in SLP and monsoon rainfall over India. The study considered global data for a time period of 25 years from 1979 to 2003. Spectral analysis and correlations are the main tools of analysis. A combined FFT-wavelet spectral method, which uses FFT in longitude and wavelet transform in time, was developed for this purpose. This method provided an effective way of obtaining wavenumber - frequency spectra as well as in quantifying temporal variations of different modes. The transform gives spectral intensity as a function of wavenumber, frequency and time. The analysis is applied to OLR, zonal wind and SLP to understand spectral characteristics of different modes and their temporal variations. The thesis shows that the nature of spectra for OLR, SLP and wind is different although these variables are physically connected. OLR spectrum shows many of the equatorial modes observed from the previous studies for an equivalent depth of 40 m. Spectra of zonal winds at three vertical levels (850 mb, 500 mb and 200 mb) shows peaks corresponding to MJO, Kelvin modes at an equivalent depth of 75 m and Rossby Haurwitz modes. SLP spectrum is different from others. It has peaks at wavenumber zero and at MJO and Rossby Haurwitz modes. Another important new result of the thesis is the spatial and temporal behavior of SLP on intraseasonal time scales. It is shown that the the global atmosphere exhibits quasi-periodic oscillations in SLP with variations in the tropics and high latitudes strongly correlated but in opposite phases. Importantly, the strength of TISV is correlated with sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. This may have some predictive value for predicting the active and weak TISV activity.