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Browsing by study line "Meteorologia"

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  • Rasi, Riku Johannes (2019)
    Tämä työ tarkastelee kylmää jaksoa Pohjois-Euroopassa ja erityisesti Lapissa 1.1.2017 – 6.1.2017. Tarkastelujaksolla Sodankylässä mitattiin yli neljäkymmentä astetta pakkasta, jonka Euroopan keskipitkien ennusteiden keskuksen säämalli IFS ennusti pintalämpötilan yli kymmenen astetta liian korkeaksi. Kylmä jakso ylettyi aina Bulgariaan ja Kreikaan asti antaen viitteitä laajemmasta säähäiriöstä. Näistä lähtökohdista lähdin tutkimaan, mikäli lämpötilan yliennustuksen syy olisi laajemman synoptisen skaalan häiriön epätarkka ennustaminen. Työssä visualisoin IFS:n paine ja lämpötilakenttiä Euroopan keskuksen metview alustalla ja vertaan niitä synoptiseen analyysiin sekä pinta- ja luotaushavaintoihin Sodankylästä. Käytän pohjana Euroopan keskuksen omaa raporttia poikkeuksellisesta sääilmiöistä, joka kuitenkin keskittyy enemmän Kaakkois-Euroopan poikkeukselliseen kylmyyteen ja voimakkaisiin lumisateisiin. Työssä havaitaan, että IFS ennusti synoptisen skaalan matalapainejärjestelmien ja muiden säähäiriöiden synnyn ja liikkeet tarkastelujaksolla varsin hyvin. Syy pintalämpötilan yliennustamiseen ei arvioni mukaan johdu virtaustilanteen väärästä ennustamisesta, vaan mallin tavasta käsitellä pintalämpötilaa. Erittäin stabiileissa olosuhteissa oletukset, joiden perusteella mallin pintalämpötila lasketaan, eivät tuota järkevää tulosta. Luotauksista havaitaan, että Sodankylässä vallitsi voimakas pintainversio, jota malli ei kykene täysin mallintamaan johtuen tavasta, jolla se käsittelee pinnan ja alimman mallitason välistä kerrosta. Ennustettu lämpötila poikkeaa toteutuneesta kuitenkin niin voimakkaasti, että inversion mallintamiseen liittyvät ongelmat eivät välttämättä ole ainoa virhelähde. Lopuksi tarkastelen lyhyesti raportteja mallin ongelmista ennustaa pintalämpötilaa Suomen talviolosuhteisssa, sekä miten Euroopan keskipitkien säähavaintojen keskus on itse käsitellyt ongelmaa. Globaalimallina IFS on kalibroitu tuottamaan keskimäärin osuvin ennuste koko planeetalla, ja on tärkeä tietää ne rajatapaukset, joissa sen oletukset eivät ole päteviä.
  • Poutanen, Pyry (2019)
    The Arctic is warming faster than any other region on Earth due to climate change. The characteristics of the air masses overlying the Arctic play a key role when assessing the magnitude and implications of global warming in the region, but comprehensive studies of Arctic air mass properties covering long time series of measurements are scarce. The aim of this study is to use such a data set to quantify the key characteristics of Arctic air masses prior to transport to the human-habited Eurasian continent, and the typical conditions leading to Arctic events in Värriö. HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) model was employed to calculate backward atmospheric trajectories arriving at SMEAR I (Station for Measuring Ecosystem-Atmosphere Relations) in Värriö for every hour in 1998-2017. An air mass was classified as Arctic if the backward trajectory arriving at Värriö was located north of 78 °N 72 hours before the arrival time. Data from SMEAR I, including meteorological variables and trace gas and aerosol concentrations, were then gathered in order to compare Arctic and non-Arctic air masses. Of all the hours that were analysed, 15.0 % were classified as associated with an Arctic air mass. The typically cyclonic curvature of the trajectories and the median duration of 10 hours per individual Arctic event were hypothesised to be due to Arctic air mass events being linked to passing low pressure systems. Arctic air masses were found to be colder and have lower moisture content in summer, when the difference at surface level was 5.6 °C and 1.7 g m-3 respectively, compared to non-Arctic air masses. In other seasons the differences were less pronounced, but average particle and trace gas concentrations were found to be notably lower for Arctic air masses than for non-Arctic air masses. An exception to this was ozone, which had 24.6 % higher average concentration in Arctic air masses in months between November and February, compared to non-Arctic air masses. The annual median aerosol particle concentration in Arctic air masses was found to be 308 cm-3 and only 129 cm-3 between November and March, on average. During a median year, the value of condensation sink (CS) was on average 65 % smaller in Arctic air masses than in the non-Arctic. The Kola Peninsula industry was observed to increase concentrations of SO2 and aerosol particles, particularly Aitken mode (25-90 nm) particles, of affected air masses. Overall, Arctic air masses were found to have several unique characteristics compared to other air masses arriving at SMEAR I, Värriö. As expected, Arctic air masses are colder and drier than non-Arctic air masses, but the difference is pronounced only in summer months. Other air mass characteristics, especially aerosol particle and trace gas concentration were generally found to be lower, unless the air mass was influenced by the industrial sites in the Kola Peninsula.
  • Rannisto, Henri (2022)
    Suomen lentosäähavainnot käyvät läpi murrosta kohti automaatiota. Automaattisiin havaintoihin liittyy laatuongelmia, joten syntyi idea tehdä aiheesta laajempi tutkimus. Tutkimusaineistona käytettiin Rovaniemen lentoaseman havainnontekijöiden vuodesta 2011 lähtien täyttämää verifiointitaulukkoa, jossa ideana on kirjata manuaalisen havainnon tekohetkellä ylös automaattijärjestelmän tarjoamat arvot eri sääsuureille. Vertailtavat parametrit ovat näkyvyys, pilven alaraja ja vallitseva sää. Parametrien automaatin ja ihmisen määrittämät arvot ristiintaulukoitiin jokaiselle kolmelle parametrille erikseen. Tulokset eivät antaneet kovin hyvää kuvaa automaattihavaintojen nykyisestä laadusta, sillä kaikkien kolmen parametrin osalta havainnoista löytyi merkittäviä puutteita arvojen tarkkuudessa ja ajantasaisuudessa. Erot tarkaksi oletettuihin ihmishavaintoihin olivat niin suuria, että esiin nousi kysymyksiä lentoturvallisuuteen ja automaattihavaintojen käytön järkevyyteen liittyen. Tulosten pohjalta esitetään ratkaisuksi merkittäviä parannuksia havaintojärjestelmään sekä havaintojen tilapäistä manualisointia parannusprosessin ajaksi. Tutkielmassa käydään varsinaisen tutkimusosion lisäksi läpi Suomen lentosäähavaintojen teoriaa. Tekstissä pureudutaan syvemmin manuaalisen ja automaattisen havaintomenetelmän perusperiaatteisiin sekä esitellään Suomen lentosäähavaintojen historiaa pääpiirteittäin.
  • Laasonen, Asta (2021)
    Carbon monoxide (CO) is a chemically reactive trace gas in the atmosphere, indirectly affecting radiative balance. The oxidation of CO with hydroxyl radical (OH) is the large sink of atmospheric CO. The reactions of CO and OH decrease the atmospheric capacity to oxidize atmospheric methane (CH4), hence indirectly extends the lifetime of CH4 in the atmosphere. In addition, CO oxidation increases the abundance of tropospheric ozone (O3). CH4 and O3 are both very strong greenhouse gases, and it has been estimated that the cumulative indirect radiative forcing of CO can be even more significant than the third most powerful greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide. This study studied CO fluxes in four different ecosystems: a boreal forest, a boreal fen, a cropland in the boreal region, and a sisal plantation in the semi-arid tropical zone. All the ecosystems were CO sources during the growing season from May to August, and ecosystems showed strong seasonal variation. Fluxes had a regular diurnal cycle, peaking at noon and zero flux or small uptake at night. The main drivers for the CO emissions were radiation and air temperature. The strong correlation between radiation and CO flux proved that photodegradation was an important process in biogenic CO emissions. Radiation and air temperature were used in a simple linear regression model to estimate the biogenic CO emissions in the study sites. The model was trained for Hyytiälä data in 2016, tested for the rest of the data from Hyytiälä in 2015 and 2017 and other sites. The chamber measurements showed that soils were CO sinks and CO emissions were mainly from vegetation. Generally, in many upscaling models of CO, soil consumption is considered significantly larger than photodegradation. This study showed that many terrestrial ecosystems can be sources of CO, even though there are generally considered as a sink of CO. There is a need for ecosystem-scale flux measurements in other ecosystems and latitudes to understand better the global CO budget.
  • Sorsa, Jani (2022)
    Ilmatieteen laitoksella on otettu käyttöön eri säämallien ennusteita yhdistelevä, niin sanotun konsensusennusteperiaatteen mukainen jälkikäsittelymenetelmä, joka tunnetaan nimellä Blend. Tämä tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää Blend-menetelmällä tuotetun tuuliennusteen toimivuutta Suomen merialueilla käyttämällä muutamaa yleiseen käyttöön vakiintunutta sääennusteiden verifiointimenetelmää. Verifiointi on toteutettu vertaamalla Blend-ennusteen tuulennopeusarvoja niin ikään jälkikäsittelyllä tuotettuihin potentiaalituuliarvoihin 25:llä Suomen merialueilla sijaitsevalla havaintoasemalla. Potentiaalituulta on päätetty käyttää alkuperäisten tuulihavaintojen sijasta, koska se parantaa eri sääasemilta tulevien mittaustulosten keskinäistä vertailukelpoisuutta ja näin ollen tekee verifiointituloksista paremmin koko alueelle yleistettäviä. Tulokset osoittavat odotetusti, että merkittävimmät Blend-tuuliennusteen toimivuuteen vaikuttavat tekijät ovat tuulennopeus ja ennustepituus – ennustevirhe kasvaa yleisesti suuremmilla tuulennopeuksilla ja pidemmillä ennustepituuksilla. Myös muilla muuttujilla, kuten vuorokauden- ja vuodenajalla sekä tuulen suunnalla, havaittiin olevan jonkin verran vaikutusta ennustevirheeseen. Useimmissa säätilanteissa Blend-ennusteen voidaan todeta olevan toimivuudeltaan varsin hyvä ja tasalaatuinen. Blend-ennusteen merkittävin ongelma on etenkin suurilla tuulennopeuksilla huomattavan suuri negatiivinen harha (bias), eli ennustetut tuulennopeudet ovat havaintoihin nähden selvästi liian heikkoja. Tästä johtuen Blend ei useimmissa tapauksessa kykene ennustamaan kovimpia tuulia, jotka ovat harvinaisuudestaan huolimatta operatiivisen sääennustamisen kannalta kaikista tärkeimpiä mm. merialueille annettavien tuulivaroitusten vuoksi. Menetelmä on kuitenkin kehityskelpoinen, ja jos ennusteharha pystytään jatkossa minimoimaan laskennassa paremmin, se saattaa kyetä tuottamaan jopa varsinaisia säämalleja parempia tuuliennusteita.
  • Suhonen, Elli (2021)
    International shipping is globally a major source of atmospheric nitrogen oxides (NOx). It has been widely recognized that these emissions have negative effects on maritime air quality and human health. For a long time, shipping was the least regulated NOx emission source, but now first regulations for ship exhaust NOx emissions started as of January 2021. Shipping emissions must be monitored so the obedience of these regulations can be followed. Different measurement techniques are developed to address the problems related to shipping emission monitoring. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate how tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentration measurements by TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard Copernicus Sentinel 5 Precursor (S5P) satellite can be used to characterize signatures of shipping emissions. The capability of TROPOMI to detect busy shipping lanes and port areas was first tested with a large study area of the whole Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Analysis was supported with shipping emission data inventory from the Ship Traffic Assessment Model (STEAM). Results showed elevated NO2 concentrations close to major port areas, especially if the dominant wind direction on the water area was from the continent. These elevated concentrations were most likely a result of both transported urban emissions and shipping emissions. STEAM and TROPOMI grid cell comparison was done over the busiest shipping lane area over the open sea, and the results showed that if the monthly summed shipping emission amount was either small or very large, the signal of shipping emissions was affected by background concentrations. More detailed shipping emission study was done at port Piraeus and the surrounding sea area. There, satellite measurement analysis was done by selecting three smaller study areas for comparison, one over the city of Athens, the second one close to the port Piraeus and the third one over the open sea. Relation between the satellite observations of NO2 and modelled shipping emissions of NOx was obtained in the study area that was over the open sea, the center of the area being 35 km from the coast. The signal of shipping emissions was not detected close to the port, most likely because of the influence of other emission sources. Lastly, spring and summer 2020 were analysed separately in more detail, as they were included in the overall study period of this thesis but the air pollution patterns at that time were affected by the extraordinary COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The results showed unusually small average NO2 concentrations over the city of Athens during spring 2020. Meteorological observations from that time period did not show anything that could fully explain the decrease. Observations over the sea close to Piraeus showed no clear difference between 2019 and 2020 average concentrations, so the pandemic possibly had only a minor impact on the shipping emissions in the port area.
  • Tuomola, Laura (2021)
    Cumulonimbus (Cb) clouds form a serious threat to aviation as they can produce severe weather hazards. Therefore, it is important to detect Cb clouds as well as possible. Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) provides aeronautical meteorological services in Finland, including METeorological Aerodrome Report (METAR). METAR describes weather at the aerodrome and its vicinity. Significant weather is reported in METARs, and therefore Cb clouds must be included in it. At Helsinki-Vantaa METARs are done manually by human observer. Sometimes Cb detection can be more difficult, for example, when it is dark, and it is also expensive to have human observers working around the clock all year round. Therefore, automation of Cb detection is a topical matter. FMI is applying an algorithm that uses weather radar observations to detect Cb clouds. This thesis studies how well the algorithm can detect Cb clouds compared to manual observations. The dataset used in this thesis contains summer months (June, July and August) from 2016 to 2020. Various verification scores can be calculated to analyse the results. In addition, daytime and night-time differences are calculated as well as different years and months are compared together. The results show that the algorithm is not adequate to replace human observers at Helsinki-Vantaa. However, the algorithm could be improved, for instance, by adding satellite observations to improve detection accuracy.
  • Paakkanen, Elias (2022)
    Tässä työssä on tutkittu Euroopan ja Pohjois-Atlantin talvi-ilmaston muuttumista 30-vuotisjaksojen 1961–1990 ja 1991–2020 välillä. Aineistona on käytetty Euroopan keskipitkien sääennusteiden keskuksen (ECMWF) kehittämää ERA5-uusanalyysidataa, jossa on assimiloitu havaintoja sääennustusmallin tuottamaan alkuarvauskenttään. Karttakuvat on piirretty niin ikään ECMWF:n kehittämällä ohjelmistolla, Metviewillä. Lämpötilan muutoksen pystyleikkauskuvan piirtämiseen on puolestaan käytetty Pythonin numpy- ja matplotlib.pyplot -kirjastoja. Työssä on tarkasteltu ilmanpaineessa, suihkuvirtauksessa, lämpötilassa, pystyliikkeissä, kosteudessa ja sademäärässä tapahtuneita muutoksia. Ennen varsinaisia tuloksia tutkielmassa on selitetty meteorologisiin suureisiin liittyvää fysikaalista teoriaa: miten paine, lämpötila ja tiheys ovat riippuvaisia toisistaan, kuinka geostrofinen tuuli syntyy sekä mitkä tekijät vaikuttavat sateen syntyyn. Kaikissa tarkasteltavissa suureissa on havaittu muutoksia. Lämpötilat ovat nousseet lähes koko Euroopan ja Pohjois-Atlantin alueella: eniten Pohjois-Euroopassa ja Pohjoisella jäämerellä sekä vähemmän Etelä-Euroopassa. Ilmanpaine on noussut Pohjois-Euroopassa ja Pohjois-Atlantin pohjoisosassa sekä laskenut Etelä-Euroopassa ja Pohjois-Atlantin eteläosassa. 250 hPa:n painepinnan Pohjois-Atlantin keskimääräinen suihkuvirtausmaksimi on voimistunut ja liikahtanut hieman pohjoisemmaksi. Sademäärät ja ilman sisältämän vesihöyryn määrä ovat kasvaneet Pohjois-Euroopassa ja pienentyneet Etelä-Euroopassa. Nousu- ja laskuliikkeet ovat monin paikoin voimistuneet. Muutosten tilastollisen merkitsevyyden tutkimiseen on käytetty Studentin kaksisuuntaista t-testiä. Alatroposfäärin lämpötilan muutos on eniten tilastollisesti merkitsevä, mutta muidenkin suureiden muutoksissa tilastollista merkitsevyyttä havaittiin laajalti. Tämä on loogista, sillä lämpötilan muutokset ovat kytköksissä myös muiden suureiden muutoksiin. Aiheesta on tehty myös aiemmin tutkimuksia, joiden tulokset ovat pääosin yhteensopivia tämän työn tulosten kanssa. Ainoastaan 500 hPa:n painepinnan geopotentiaalikorkeuden trendissä oli pientä eroavaisuutta. Tässä tutkielmassa muutosten tilastollinen merkitsevyys oli suurempaa kuin aiemmissa tutkimuksissa.
  • Lee, Hei Shing (2021)
    In atmospheric sciences, measurements provided by remote-sensing instruments are crucial in observing the state of atmosphere. The associated uncertainties are important in nearly all data analyses. Random uncertainties reported by satellite instruments are typically estimated by inversion algorithms (ex-ante). They can be incomplete due to simplified or incomplete modelling of atmospheric processes used in the retrievals, and thus validating random uncertainties is important. However, such validation of uncertainties (or their estimates from statistical analysis afterwards, i.e. ex-post) is not a trivial task, because atmospheric measurements are obtained from the ever-changing atmosphere. This Thesis aims to explore the structure function method – an important approach in spatial statistics – and apply it to total ozone column measurements provided by the nadir-viewing satellite instrument TROPOMI. This method allows us to simultaneously perform validation of reported ex-ante random uncertainties and to explore of local-scale natural variability of atmospheric parameters. Two-dimensional structure functions of total ozone column have been evaluated based on spatial separations in latitudinal and longitudinal directions over selected months and latitude bands. Our results have indicated that the ex-post random uncertainties estimated agree considerably well with the reported ex-ante random uncertainties, which are within 1-2 DU. Discrepancies between them are very small in general. The morphology of ozone natural variability has also been illustrated: ozone variability is minimal in the tropics throughout the year, whereas in middle latitudes and polar regions they attain maxima in local spring and winter. In every scenario, the ozone structure functions are anisotropic with a stronger variability in the latitudinal direction, except at specific seasons in polar regions where isotropic behaviour is observed. Our analysis has demonstrated that the structure function method is a remarkable and promising tool for validating random uncertainties and exploring natural variability. It has a high potential for applications in other remote sensing measurements and atmospheric model data.
  • Karvinen, Mikael (2022)
    Tässä tutkielmassa tarkastellaan horisontaalisten gravitaatiovaihteluiden vaikutusta ilmakehän perusyhtälöihin sekä yksinkertaisen ilmakehämallin tuloksiin erilaisissa simulaatioissa. Työn motivointina oli tutkia putoamiskiihtyvyyden vaikutusta mallinnustarkkuuteen, koska se on yksi monista säänennustus- ja ilmastosimulaatioihin liittyvistä epätarkkuustekijöistä. Ilmakehän perusyhtälöt johdettiin aluksi uudelleen huomioimalla gravitaation vaihtelu vaakasuunnassa. Tämän jälkeen vastaavat yhtälömuutokset tehtiin SPEEDY-mallin lähdekoodiin, ja mallin avulla tehtiin simulaatioita gravitaatiovaihteluiden vaikutusten selvittämiseksi. Jotta tulosten analysointi olisi mahdollisimman helppoa, käytettiin simulaatioissa paljon yksinkertaistuksia. Näistä merkittävin oli mallimaapallon korvaaminen vesiplaneetalla. Yhtälömuutosten oikeellisuus mallissa verifioitiin yhden aika-askeleen kokeilla, minkä jälkeen muokatuille perusyhtälöille tehtiin suuruusluokka-analyysi. Analyysin perusteella gravitaatiovaihteluista aiheutuvat lisätermit olivat pääosin yhdestä kahteen kertaluokkaa yhtälöiden muita termejä pienempiä. Lopuksi tehtiin kymmenen vuoden simulaatioita, joissa tarkasteltiin niin sanotun normaaligravitaatiojakauman vaikutuksia mallin tuloksiin. Näissä kokeissa havaittiin, että meteorologisten suureiden anomaliat olivat pääosin maltillisia, mutta eivät merkityksettömän pieniä. Esimerkiksi tuulikentässä havaitut muutokset olivat suurimmillaan noin 2 m/s, kun taas lämpötila-anomaliat jäivät globaalisti alle puoleen asteeseen. Meridionaalisen kiertoliikkeen anomaliassa havaittiin puolestaan selkeä antisymmetria pallonpuoliskojen välillä: intertrooppinen konvergenssivyöhyke siirtyi päiväntasaajalta leveyspiirin 10°S tienoille, kun taas leveyspiirillä 5°N nousuliike heikkeni. Lisäksi länsituulet hidastuivat pohjoisen pallonpuoliskon keskileveysasteilla, mutta voimistuivat eteläisellä pallonpuoliskolla. Tulosten perusteella aiheen tutkimista kannattaa jatkaa myös tulevaisuudessa.
  • Köhler, Daniel (2023)
    Numerical weather prediction models are the backbone of modern weather forecasting. They discretise and approximate the continuous multi-scale atmosphere into computable chunks. Thus, small-scale and complex processes must be parametrised rather than explicitly calculated. This introduces parameters estimated by empirical methods best fit the observed nature. However, the changes to the parameters are changing the properties of the model itself. This work quantifies the impact parameter optimisation has on ensemble forecasts. OpenEPS allows running automated ensemble forecasts in a scientific setting. Here, it uses the OpenIFS model at T255L91 resolution with a 20 min timestep to create 10-day forecasts, which are initialised every week in the period from 1.12.2016 to 30.11.2017. Four different experiments are devised to study the impact on the forecast. The experiments only differ in the parameter values supplied to OpenIFS, all other boundary conditions are held constant. The parameters for the experiments are obtained using the EPPES optimisation tool with different goals. The first experiment minimises the cost function by supplying knowledge regarding the ensemble initial perturbation. The second experiment takes a set of parameters with a worse cost function value. Experiments three and four replicate experiments one and two with the difference that the ensemble initial perturbations are not provided to EPPES. The quality of an ensemble forecast is quantified with a series of metrics. Root mean squared error, spread, and continuous ranked probability score are used with ERA5 reanalysis data as the reference, while the filter likelihood score is providing a direct comparison with observations. The results are summarised in comprehensive scorecards. This work shows that optimising parameters decreases the root mean square error and continuous ranked probability score of the ensemble forecast. However, if the initial perturbations are included in the optimisation the spread of the ensemble is strongly limited. It also could be shown that this effect is reversed if the parameters are tuned with a worse cost function. Nonetheless, when excluding the initial perturbations from the optimisation process, then a better model can be achieved without sacrificing the ensemble spread.
  • Leino, Henrik (2022)
    Low-level wind shear is a significant aviation hazard. A sudden reduction in the headwind along an aircraft flight path can induce a loss of lift, from which an aircraft may not be able to recover when it is close to the ground. Airports therefore use low-level wind shear alert systems to monitor wind velocities within the airport terminal area and alert of any detected hazardous wind shear. There exist three ground-based sensor systems capable of independently observing low-level wind shear: a Doppler weather radar-based, a Doppler wind lidar-based, and an anemometer-based system. However, as no single sensor system is capable of all-weather wind shear observations, multiple alert systems are used simultaneously, and observations from each system are integrated to produce one set of integrated wind shear alerts. Algorithms for integrating Doppler weather radar and anemometer wind shear observations were originally developed in the early 1990s. However, the addition of the Doppler wind lidar-based alert system in more recent years warrants updates to the existing radar/anemometer integration algorithms. This thesis presents four different replacement candidates for the original radar/anemometer integration algorithms. A grid-based integration approach, where observations from different sensor systems are mapped onto a common grid and integrated, is found to best accommodate central integration considerations, and is recommended as the replacement to the original radar/anemometer algorithms in operational use. The grid-based approach is discussed in further detail, and a first possible implementation of the algorithm is presented. In addition, ways of validating the algorithm and adopting it for operational use are outlined.
  • Aldana, Miguel Francisco (2021)
    Accuracy and general performance of weather radar measurements are of great importance to society due to their use in quantitative precipitation estimation and its role on flood hazard risks prevention, agriculture or urban planning, among others. However, radars normally suffer from systematic errors such as attenuation, misscalibration in Z field or bias in Zdr field, or random errors such as clutter, beam blockage, noise, non-meteorological echoes or non-uniform beam filling, which affect directly the rain rate estimates or any other relevant product to meteorologists. Impact of random errors is reduced by exploiding the polarimetric properties of polarimetric radars by identifying and classifying measurements according to their signature and a classification scheme based on the available polarimetric variables, but systematic errors are more difficult to address as they require a ’’true’’ or reference value in order to be corrected. The reference value can either be absolute or obtained from another radar variable. In reality, an absolute reference value is not feasible because we normally do not know what we are observing with the radar. Therefore, a way of assesing this issue is by elaborating theoretical relations between radar variables based on their consistency when measuring a volume with hydrometeors of known characteristics such as size and concentration. This procedure is known as self-consistency theory and it is a powerful tool for checking radar measurements quality and correcting offsets causing bias, misscalibration or attenuation. The theoretical radar variables themselves can be simulated using available T-Matrix scattering algorithms, that estimate the scattered phase and amplitude for a given distribution of drops of a given size. Information of distribution of drops of a given size, commonly referred as drop size distributions, can be obtained, for instance, from gauge or disdrometer measurements. Once the theoretical relations among radar variables are established, it is possible to check the consistency of, for instance, measured differential reflectivity with respect to differential reflectivity calculated as function of measured reflectivity, assuming the latter has been filtered properly, and any discrepancy between the observed and theoretical differential reflectivity can be thus attributed to offsets in the radar. This work thus presents a methodology for the revision of radar measurements filtering and quality for their improvement by correcting bias and calibration, using theoretical relations between radar variables through self-consistency theory. Furthermore, as the aforementioned issues are easier to track and resolve in the liquid rain regime of precipitation, this work presents a detailed description of methodologies to exclude ice-phased hydrometeors such as the melting layer detection algorithm and its operational implementation along with other complementary filters suggested in the literature. Examples of the melting layer detection and filtering as well as self-consistency curves for radar measurement performance evaluation are also provided.
  • Leino, Joonas (2022)
    Mars-planeetan kaasukehä koostuu enimmäkseen hiilidioksidista, kun taas vesihöyryä on hyvin vähän. Kaasukehän lämpötila vaihtelee noin +10 ja -130 Celsius-asteen välillä ja pintapaine on vain noin sadasosa Maan ilmakehän paineesta. Marsin kaasukehässä on usein paljon hienojakoista pölyä, joka absorboi tehokkaasti auringonsäteilyä ja täten vaikuttaa kaasukehän toimintaan. Marsin pinnan reagoidessa erittäin nopeasti auringonsäteilyn määrän muutoksiin sekä kaasukehässä olevan pölyn vuoksi rajakerroksen mallinnuksessa käytettävissä malleissa säteilyn parametrisaatioiden täytyy olla mahdollisimman hyviä. Helsingin yliopisto ja Ilmatieteen laitos ovat kehittäneet Marsin kaasukehän tutkimukseen tarkoitetun 1-ulotteisen pylväsmallin. Malli on erittäin nopea ja helposti muokattavissa, joten sillä voidaan testata uusia ilmakehäfysiikan lainalaisuuksia ja algoritmeja, joita voidaan mahdollisesti lisätä kolmiulotteisiin Marsin kaasukehän malleihin. Tämä työ tehtiin osana Ilmatieteen laitoksen Marsin tutkimusryhmää ja työssä tutustutaan Marsin kaasukehän rajakerrokseen sekä pylväsmalliin. Lisäksi mallin antamia tuloksia esitellään ja verrataan Curiosity mönkijän (toiselta nimeltään Mars Science Laboratory, MSL) havaintoihin sekä tutkitaan mallin herkkyyttä sen alustusparametreihin. Mallin ennustamia lämpötilan, vesihöyryn tilavuuden sekoitussuhteen ja suhteellisen kosteuden vuorokausisyklejä verrattiin MSL:n havaintoihin eri vuodenaikoina. MSL laskeutui vuonna 2012 lähelle Marsin päiväntasaajaa Gale-kraatterin pohjalle ja se sisältää Ilmatieteen laitoksen suunnittelemat ja rakentamat mittalaitteet paineelle ja suhteelliselle kosteudelle. Mallin ennustamat vuorokausisyklit vastasivat hyvin mönkijän havaintoja ja tuloksista nähtiin myös lämpötilan suuri vuorokausivaihtelu kaasukehän reagoidessa nopeasti auringonsäteilyn muutoksiin. MSL:n paineen mittauksista (yli 3000 Marsin vuorokautta) nähtiin selvästi hiilidioksidin vuodenaikaiskierto etelänavalta pohjoisnavalle ja päinvastoin. Lisäksi vuoden 2018 globaali pölymyrsky näkyi monissa eri mittaustuloksissa. Mallin herkkyyttä tutkittiin muuttamalla neljää eri alustusparametria: pinnan lämpötilaa ja painetta, ilmapylvään vesisisältöä (PWC) sekä pölyn optista paksuutta (tau). Näiden testien perusteella mallin ennustamiin vuorokauden lämpötilaprofiileihin eniten vaikuttivat pinnan lämpötilan ja pölyn optisen paksuuden alustus, kun taas kosteusprofiileihin eniten vaikuttivat PWC:n ja pölyn optisen paksuuden alustus. Näistä parametreista pinnan paineen alustuksella oli vähiten vaikutusta mallin ennustamiin profiileihin.
  • Kröger, Anni (2019)
    Earth’s energy budget describes the balance between the net incoming and outgoing energy fluxes, and the energy balance approach can be used to better understand the basic physical mechanisms of climate change. Anthropogenic changes in the atmospheric composition, such as increases in greenhouse gases, drive changes in climate system which in turn can cause rising of the global temperatures. Various feedbacks, associated with increase in atmospheric water vapor content, changes in clouds and reduced snow/ice cover, affect the pattern of surface warming by altering the fluxes of energy. By studying the energy balance at the top of the atmosphere and at the surface, we gain useful information about the climate system’s response to changes in the atmospheric composition. In this thesis, data for 23 climate models in the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) was used. The present-day distributions and future projections of the simulated changes (under RCP8.5 emission scenario, Representative Concentration Pathway) for 14 radiative and non-radiative energy budget components, along with the changes in surface temperature and cloud cover were studied, with baseline period of 1981-2010 and a comparison scenario period of 2071-2100. The geographical distributions of the multimodel mean changes and their global averages were analysed. Additionally, the intermodel consistency of the simulated changes was studied with the intermodel standard deviations and the ratio of multimodel mean change to the intermodel standard deviation. Furthermore, the intermodel correlation between the change in surface temperature and each energy budget variable was discussed. A general finding was that the multimodel mean surface temperature increases everywhere, more over land than oceans, and that the warming is amplified over the northern polar regions. The changes were largest for the thermal radiation fluxes, and the dominating contribution to the surface warming was concluded to be the change in clear- sky atmospheric re-radiation component. However, increase in absorbed shortwave radiation, presumably due to reduced ice/snow cover and increase in atmospheric water vapor content, was also found to be substantial, and there was a strong negative correlation between the clear-sky downward shortwave radiation flux and the change in temperature over the low-to-mid latitudes. The comparison of contribution of the changes in longwave and shortwave fluxes to global warming in the near-future and long-term climate model projections could be an interesting subject for future studies. Additionally, the changes in the surface energy fluxes were found to modify the pattern of surface warming.
  • Corner, Joona (2023)
    The aim of this work is to develop and optimise an atmospheric inverse modelling system to estimate local methane (CH4) emissions in peatlands. Peatlands are a major source of CH4 regionally in boreal areas and they have significance on a global scale as a soil carbon storage. Data assimilation in the inverse modelling system is based on an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) which is widely used in global and regional atmospheric inverse models. The EnKF in this study is an implementation of the EnKF used in the global atmospheric inversion model CarbonTracker Europe-CH4 (CTE-CH4) applied to local setting in the peatland. Consistency of the methodology with regional and global models means that it is possible to expand the system in scale. Siikaneva fen in Southern Finland is used as a testbed for the optimisation of the system. Prior natural CH4 fluxes in Siikaneva are acquired from the HelsinkI Model of MEthane buiLd-up and emIssion for peatland (HIMMELI) which simulates exchange of gases in peatlands. In addition to the peatland fluxes, anthropogenic fluxes at the site are estimated as well in the inversion. For the assimilation of atmospheric CH4 concentration observations, the CH4 fluxes are transformed into atmospheric concentration with a simple one-dimensional box model. The optimisation of the system was done by changing parameters in the model which affect the data assimilation. In model optimisation tests it was discovered that the performance of the modelling system is unstable. There was large variability in the produced estimates between consecutive model runs. Model evaluation statistics did not indicate improvement of the estimates after the inversion. No exact reason for the unstability was able to be determined. Posterior estimates of CH4 fluxes for years 2012–2015 did not differ much from prior estimates and they had large uncertainty. However, evaluation against flux measurements showed reasonable agreement and posterior concentration estimates were within the uncertainty range of the observed concentration.
  • Mahó, Sándor István (2021)
    This thesis analyses the alterations of vertically integrated atmospheric meridional energy transport due to polar amplification on an aqua planet. We analyse the energy transport of sensible heat, latent energy, potential energy and kinetic energy. We also cover the energy flux of the mean meridional circulation, transient eddies and stationary eddies. In addition, we also address the response of the zonal mean air temperature, zonal mean zonal wind, zonal mean meridional wind, zonal mean stream function and zonal mean specific humidity. Numerical model experiments were carried out with OpenIFS in its aqua planet configuration. A control (CTRL) and a polar amplification (PA) simulation was set up forced by different SST (sea surface temperature) patterns. We detected tropospheric warming and atmospheric specific humidity increase 15-90° N/S and reduction of the meridional temperature gradient throughout the troposphere. We also found reduced strength of the subtropical jet stream and slowdown of the mean meridional circulation. Important changes were identified in the Hadley cell: the rising branch shifted poleward and caused reduced lifting in equatorial areas. Regarding the total atmospheric vertically integrated meridional energy transport, we found reduction in case of the mean meridional circulation and transient eddies in all latitudes. The largest reduction was shown by the Hadley cell transport (-15%) and by midlatitude transient eddy flux (-23%). Unlike most studies, we did not observe that meridional latent energy transport increases by polar amplification. Therefore, it is stated that the increased moisture content of the atmosphere does not imply increased meridional latent energy transport, and hence there is no compensation for the decrease of meridional dry static energy transport. Lastly, we did not detect stationary eddies in our simulations which is caused by the simplified surface boundary (i.e. the water-covered Earth surface). The main finding of this thesis is that polar amplification causes decreasing poleward energy transport on an aqua planet.
  • Mikkola, Johannes (2020)
    Local mountain winds have a diurnal cycle of flowing up the slopes and valleys daytime and down nighttime. It is important to improve the understanding on these thermally driven winds, because they have a major role in pollution transport in mountain areas, which are highly sensitive for air-quality problems. This thesis determines if the slope and valley winds in the Khumbu valley, Himalayas, are driven by the textbook mechanisms. By the textbook mechanisms the slope and valley winds are driven by horizontal temperature differences caused by uneven heating over an area of complex terrain. Slope winds are driven by the horizontal air temperature difference in the slope surface vicinity when the slope surface is heated or cooled. Valley winds are driven by the uneven heating caused by the air volume difference between the valley and above an adjacent plain. If the valley slopes narrow and the floor is elevated towards the head of the valley, both the valley and slope wind mechanisms drive the winds along the valley. The slope and valley winds in the Himalayas are studied using Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF), that is run for 5 days period in December 2014 with 1 kilometer horizontal grid spacing and 61 vertical levels. Earlier studies have shown that WRF is capable of simulating the thermally driven mountain winds on this resolution with the length scales of the Khumbu valley topography. Horizontal gradient of air temperature and slope wind component at the slope surface have a matching daily cycle in the lower and middle parts of the valley. The boundary layer air volume decreases from the mouth of the valley towards the middle parts of the valley indicating the valley wind mechanism. The daytime potential temperature profiles yield that also the slope wind mechanism drives the winds along the valley. The slope winds have a textbook daily cycle in the lower and middle parts of the valley and the analysis yields that they are driven by the slope wind mechanism. In the upper part of the valley the thermally driven slope winds are dominated by synoptic scale channelling and gravity wave developing into the valley. The daytime up-valley winds are driven by both valley wind mechanism and slope wind mechanism due to the valley narrowing and elevation towards the head of the valley, respectively. Nocturnal along-valley winds are weak less than 0.5 meters per second flowing up or down-valley. The wind patterns are similar to what is shown in earlier studies done in Khumbu valley.
  • Keränen, Tuukka (2021)
    A stably stratified layer is often observed to form near the surface during nighttime. If the terrain is not flat, cold air near the surface can start to flow down the slope despite the wind direction above the stable layer being different. This slope flow is called katabatic wind. Katabatic winds are challenging for eddy covariance measurements that are commonly used to calculate the fluxes of gases and energy between the soil and the atmosphere. If the measurement is done above the canopy, the katabatic wind may lead to significant advective transport of gas and energy not detected by the measurement. Therefore eddy covariance measurements might underestimate the fluxes by a significant amount. Therefore it is important to understand the mechanisms of katabatic flow so that the effects of it can be taken into account when eddy covariance measurements are used in sloping terrain. This thesis determines how the katabatic flow within a boreal forest canopy in Hyytiälä, Finland depends on the static stability and depth of the stable layer within the canopy. The measurements are also compared to a simplified theory to find out how well the existing formulations of katabatic flow within canopies describe the observed conditions. Wind measurements done with sonic anemometers and temperature measurements done with distributed temperature sensing system during June-October 2019 are analyzed in this thesis to form understanding of the vertical profiles of temperature and wind within the canopy layer at the measurement site. In addition to the wind and temperature measurements, solar radiation measurements are also used to find the dominant driver for the formation of the stably stratified canopy layer. The measurement site represents typical Finnish Scots pine forest and has sloping terrain with main slope of 2° in the north-south direction. This study found evidence of katabatic northerly flow forming at the measurement site during stable nights. However, this study could not find a relation between the depth of the stable layer and strength of the katabatic flow. The katabatic flow was observed to get stronger in the open trunk space with increasing static stability within the canopy layer. The results of this study suggest, that katabatic flow follows the simplified theory well within the upper part of the canopy, where the majority of the foliage is. At lower levels within the open trunk space, the simplified model greatly underestimates the flow speed.
  • Taurinen, Janina (2021)
    Maapallon keskilämpötila on ollut selkeässä nousussa jo noin sadan vuoden ajan ja nousun odotetaan jatkuvan tulevaisuudessakin. Suurimman osan eri kuukausien keskilämpötiloista on ennustettu nousevan ilmastollisiin vertailuarvoihin suhteutettuna normaalia korkeammiksi. Lämpeneminen vaikuttaa etenkin korkeiden leveysasteiden talviin. Muutos Suomen lämpötiloissa sekä pohjois- ja eteläosien välisessä lämpötilaerossa on huomattavasti suurempi talvisin kuin kesäisin. Talvi 2019-2020 oli Suomessa ennätyksellisen lämmin. Tässä tutkimuksessa pyrin kartoittamaan kuinka poikkeava talvi 2019-2020 oli lämpötilojen suhteen edellisten 30 talven muodostamaan vertailukauteen verrattuna. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan kuutta kuukautta, loka-maaliskuu, ja vertailukauden on valittu olevan tammikuusta 1989 – maaliskuuhun 2019. Lisäksi käsitellään korkeiden lämpötilojen todennäköisimpiä aiheuttajia tarkastelemalla valittuja perusmuuttujia; paine, geopotentiaalikorkeus, ominaiskosteus, ilmapilarin kokonaiskosteus ja yläilmakehän tuulen nopeus ja suunta. Lämpimimmät poikkeamat havaittiin joulu-helmikuussa, kun lounaasta puhaltava suihkuvirtaus toi mukanaan lämpimiä, kosteita ilmamassoja sekä voimakkaita matalapaineita. Tammikuu 2020 rikkoi monilla asemilla lämpöennätyksiä ja Etelä-Keski-Suomessa vertailukauden keskiarvot ylittyivät jopa 7-8 asteella. Helmikuu oli mittaushistorian toiseksi lämpimin. Loka-marraskuu sitä vastoin olivat vertailukautta noin asteen viileämpiä ja maaliskuun puolella poikkeuksellinen lämpimyys tasoittui lähelle vertailukautta. Runsaan matalapainetoiminnan sekä ilman korkean kosteussisällön vuoksi sadetta tuli läpi talven paikoin jopa kaksi-kolminkertaisesti verrattuna keskiarvoihin.