Articles | Volume 30, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-30-31-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-30-31-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Brief communication: Climate science as a social process – history, climatic determinism, Mertonian norms and post-normality
Institute of Coastal Systems, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Geesthacht, Germany
Related authors
Roberta Benincasa, Giovanni Liguori, Nadia Pinardi, and Hans von Storch
Ocean Sci., 20, 1003–1012, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-1003-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-1003-2024, 2024
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Ocean dynamics result from the interplay of internal processes and external inputs, primarily from the atmosphere. It is crucial to discern between these factors to gauge the ocean's intrinsic predictability and to be able to attribute a signal under study to either external factors or internal variability. Employing a simple analysis, we successfully characterized this variability in the Mediterranean Sea and compared it with the oceanic response induced by atmospheric conditions.
Lin Lin, Hans von Storch, and Yang Ding
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1332, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1332, 2024
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The Qingdao cold water mass significantly influences aquaculture in China since it is situated near the Chinese coastline. Based on 3-dimensional numerical simulation results, we find a clockwise current structure that exists around the Qingdao cold water mass; furthermore, we analyze the relationship between the clockwise current with the Qingdao cold water temperature and salinity.
Hans von Storch
Hist. Geo Space. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hgss-2023-6, https://doi.org/10.5194/hgss-2023-6, 2023
Revised manuscript under review for HGSS
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Climate science underwent a rapid expansion in the last decades, associated with ever growing significance for climate policy. On the other hand, climate science is, as all sciences, also a social process. Confronted with these developments, several different series of oral interviews with climate scholars, of different seniority, were done and archived. The present article gives an overview of these interviews, and tries to briefly describe the social context of climate science.
Yan Li, Hans von Storch, Qingyuan Wang, Qingliang Zhou, and Shengquan Tang
Ocean Sci., 15, 1455–1467, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-15-1455-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-15-1455-2019, 2019
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The main goals are to study the performance of gridded SST datasets in coastal waters by comparing to homogenized in situ SST records. In recognizing that local data may reflect local effects, we focus on the dominant EOFs of the in situ SSTs and localized gridded datasets, examining patterns, variabilities, and trends. We conclude that gridded datasets need improvement in the pre-satellite era by reexamining in detail archives of local SST records in many data-sparse regions.
Yan Li, Birger Tinz, Hans von Storch, Qingyuan Wang, Qingliang Zhou, and Yani Zhu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 643–652, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-643-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-643-2018, 2018
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In order to construct a long-term homogeneous surface air temperature (SAT) series (more than 100 years), based on quality control, interpolation and homogeneity methods, we objectively establish a set of homogenized monthly SAT series in Qingdao, China from 1899 to 2014. Then long-term climate change trends can be described. The SAT in Qingdao has a notable warming of 0.11 °C per decade during 1899–2014. The coldest period occurred in 1909–1918 and the warmest period occurred in 1999–2008.
Roberta Benincasa, Giovanni Liguori, Nadia Pinardi, and Hans von Storch
Ocean Sci., 20, 1003–1012, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-1003-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-1003-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Ocean dynamics result from the interplay of internal processes and external inputs, primarily from the atmosphere. It is crucial to discern between these factors to gauge the ocean's intrinsic predictability and to be able to attribute a signal under study to either external factors or internal variability. Employing a simple analysis, we successfully characterized this variability in the Mediterranean Sea and compared it with the oceanic response induced by atmospheric conditions.
Lin Lin, Hans von Storch, and Yang Ding
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1332, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1332, 2024
Short summary
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The Qingdao cold water mass significantly influences aquaculture in China since it is situated near the Chinese coastline. Based on 3-dimensional numerical simulation results, we find a clockwise current structure that exists around the Qingdao cold water mass; furthermore, we analyze the relationship between the clockwise current with the Qingdao cold water temperature and salinity.
Hans von Storch
Hist. Geo Space. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hgss-2023-6, https://doi.org/10.5194/hgss-2023-6, 2023
Revised manuscript under review for HGSS
Short summary
Short summary
Climate science underwent a rapid expansion in the last decades, associated with ever growing significance for climate policy. On the other hand, climate science is, as all sciences, also a social process. Confronted with these developments, several different series of oral interviews with climate scholars, of different seniority, were done and archived. The present article gives an overview of these interviews, and tries to briefly describe the social context of climate science.
Yan Li, Hans von Storch, Qingyuan Wang, Qingliang Zhou, and Shengquan Tang
Ocean Sci., 15, 1455–1467, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-15-1455-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-15-1455-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The main goals are to study the performance of gridded SST datasets in coastal waters by comparing to homogenized in situ SST records. In recognizing that local data may reflect local effects, we focus on the dominant EOFs of the in situ SSTs and localized gridded datasets, examining patterns, variabilities, and trends. We conclude that gridded datasets need improvement in the pre-satellite era by reexamining in detail archives of local SST records in many data-sparse regions.
Yan Li, Birger Tinz, Hans von Storch, Qingyuan Wang, Qingliang Zhou, and Yani Zhu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 643–652, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-643-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-643-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
In order to construct a long-term homogeneous surface air temperature (SAT) series (more than 100 years), based on quality control, interpolation and homogeneity methods, we objectively establish a set of homogenized monthly SAT series in Qingdao, China from 1899 to 2014. Then long-term climate change trends can be described. The SAT in Qingdao has a notable warming of 0.11 °C per decade during 1899–2014. The coldest period occurred in 1909–1918 and the warmest period occurred in 1999–2008.
Related subject area
Subject: Scaling, multifractals, turbulence, complex systems, self-organized criticality | Topic: Climate, atmosphere, ocean, hydrology, cryosphere, biosphere | Techniques: Theory
Multifractal analysis of wind turbine power and rainfall from an operational wind farm – Part 1: Wind turbine power and the associated biases
Multifractal analysis of wind turbine power and rainfall from an operational wind farm – Part 2: Joint analysis of available wind power and rain intensity
A global analysis of the fractal properties of clouds revealing anisotropy of turbulence across scales
Multifractality of Climate Networks
Assessing Lagrangian Coherence in Atmospheric Blocking
Stieltjes functions and spectral analysis in the physics of sea ice
Review article: Scaling, dynamical regimes, and stratification. How long does weather last? How big is a cloud?
Characteristics of intrinsic non-stationarity and its effect on eddy-covariance measurements of CO2 fluxes
How many modes are needed to predict climate bifurcations? Lessons from an experiment
Non-linear hydrologic organization
The impact of entrained air on ocean waves
Approximate multifractal correlation and products of universal multifractal fields, with application to rainfall data
Jerry Jose, Auguste Gires, Yelva Roustan, Ernani Schnorenberger, Ioulia Tchiguirinskaia, and Daniel Schertzer
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 31, 587–602, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-31-587-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-31-587-2024, 2024
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Wind energy exhibits extreme variability in space and time. However, it also shows scaling properties (properties that remain similar across different times and spaces of measurement). This can be quantified using appropriate statistical tools. In this way, the scaling properties of power from a wind farm are analysed here. Since every turbine is manufactured by design for a rated power, this acts as an upper limit on the data. This bias is identified here using data and numerical simulations.
Jerry Jose, Auguste Gires, Ernani Schnorenberger, Yelva Roustan, Daniel Schertzer, and Ioulia Tchiguirinskaia
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 31, 603–624, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-31-603-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-31-603-2024, 2024
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To understand the influence of rainfall on wind power production, turbine power and rainfall were measured simultaneously on an operational wind farm and analysed. The correlation between wind, wind power, air density, and other fields was obtained on various temporal scales under rainy and dry conditions. An increase in the correlation was observed with an increase in the rain; rain also influenced the correspondence between actual and expected values of power at various velocities.
Karlie N. Rees, Timothy J. Garrett, Thomas D. DeWitt, Corey Bois, Steven K. Krueger, and Jérôme C. Riedi
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 31, 497–513, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-31-497-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-31-497-2024, 2024
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The shapes of clouds viewed from space reflect vertical and horizontal motions in the atmosphere. We theorize that, globally, cloud perimeter complexity is related to the dimension of turbulence also governed by horizontal and vertical motions. We find agreement between theory and observations from various satellites and a numerical model and, remarkably, that the theory applies globally using only basic planetary physical parameters from the smallest scales of turbulence to the planetary scale.
Adarsh Jojo Thomas, Jürgen Kurths, and Daniel Schertzer
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2793, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2793, 2024
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We have developed a systematic approach to study the climate system at multiple scales using climate networks, which have been previously used to study correlations between time series in space at only a single scale. This new approach is used here to upscale precipitation climate networks to study the Indian Monsoon and analyse strong dependencies between spatial regions, which change with changing scale.
Henry Schoeller, Robin Chemnitz, Péter Koltai, Maximilian Engel, and Stephan Pfahl
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2173, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2173, 2024
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We identify spatially coherent air streams into atmospheric blockings, which are important weather phenomena. By adapting mathematical methods to the atmosphere, we confirm previous findings. Our work shows that spatially coherent air streams featuring cloud formation correlate with strengthening of the blocking. The developed framework also allows statements about the spatial behavior of the air parcels as a whole and indicates that blockings reduce the dispersion air parcels.
Kenneth M. Golden, N. Benjamin Murphy, Daniel Hallman, and Elena Cherkaev
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 30, 527–552, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-30-527-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-30-527-2023, 2023
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Our paper tours powerful methods of finding the effective behavior of complex systems, which can be applied well beyond the initial setting of sea ice. Applications include transport properties of porous and polycrystalline media, such as rocks and glacial ice, and advection diffusion processes that arise throughout geophysics. Connections to random matrix theory establish unexpected parallels of these geophysical problems with semiconductor physics and Anderson localization phenomena.
Shaun Lovejoy
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 30, 311–374, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-30-311-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-30-311-2023, 2023
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How big is a cloud?and
How long does the weather last?require scaling to answer. We review the advances in scaling that have occurred over the last 4 decades: (a) intermittency (multifractality) and (b) stratified and rotating scaling notions (generalized scale invariance). Although scaling theory and the data are now voluminous, atmospheric phenomena are too often viewed through an outdated scalebound lens, and turbulence remains confined to isotropic theories of little relevance.
Lei Liu, Yu Shi, and Fei Hu
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 29, 123–131, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-123-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-123-2022, 2022
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We find a new kind of non-stationarity. This new kind of non-stationarity is caused by the intrinsic randomness. Results show that the new kind of non-stationarity is widespread in small-scale variations of CO2 turbulent fluxes. This finding reminds us that we need to handle the short-term averaged turbulent fluxes carefully, and we also need to re-screen the existing non-stationarity diagnosis methods because they could make a wrong diagnosis due to this new kind of non-stationarity.
Bérengère Dubrulle, François Daviaud, Davide Faranda, Louis Marié, and Brice Saint-Michel
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 29, 17–35, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-17-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-17-2022, 2022
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Present climate models discuss climate change but show no sign of bifurcation in the future. Is this because there is none or because they are in essence too simplified to be able to capture them? To get elements of an answer, we ran a laboratory experiment and discovered that the answer is not so simple.
Allen Hunt, Boris Faybishenko, and Behzad Ghanbarian
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 28, 599–614, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-599-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-599-2021, 2021
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The same power law we previously used to quantify growth of tree roots in time describes equally the assemblage of river networks in time. Even the basic length scale of both networks is the same. The one difference is that the basic time scale is ca. 10 times shorter for drainage networks than for tree roots, since the relevant flow rate is 10 times faster. This result overturns the understanding of drainage networks and forms a basis to organize thoughts about surface and subsurface hydrology.
Juan M. Restrepo, Alex Ayet, and Luigi Cavaleri
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 28, 285–293, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-285-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-285-2021, 2021
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A homogenization of Navier–Stokes to wave scales allows us to determine that air bubbles suspended near the ocean surface modify the momentum equation, specifically enhancing the vorticity in the flow. A model was derived that relates the rain rate to the production of air bubbles near the ocean surface. At wave scales, the air bubbles enhance the wave dissipation for small gravity or capillary waves.
Auguste Gires, Ioulia Tchiguirinskaia, and Daniel Schertzer
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 27, 133–145, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-27-133-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-27-133-2020, 2020
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This paper aims to analyse and simulate correlations between two fields in a scale-invariant framework. It starts by theoretically assessing and numerically confirming the behaviour of renormalized multiplicative power law combinations of two fields with known scale-invariant properties. Then a new indicator of correlation is suggested and tested on rainfall data to study the correlation between the common rain rate and drop size distribution features.
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Short summary
Climate science is, as all sciences, a social process and as such conditioned by the zeitgeist of the time. It has an old history and has attained different political significances. Today, it is the challenge of anthropogenic climate change – and societies want answers about how to deal with it. In earlier times, it was mostly the ideology of climate determinism which led people to construct superiority and eventually colonialism.
Climate science is, as all sciences, a social process and as such conditioned by the zeitgeist...