ALBERT

Description: In this study, the impact of oceanic data assimilation on ENSO simulations and predictions is investigated. The authors’ main objective is to compare the impact of the assimilation of sea level observations and three-dimensional temperature measurements relative to each other. Three experiments were performed. In a control run the ocean model was forced with observed winds only, and in two assimilation runs three-dimensional temperatures and sea levels were assimilated one by one. The root-mean-square differences between the model solution and observations were computed and heat content anomalies of the upper 275 m compared to each other. Three ensembles of ENSO forecasts were performed additionally to investigate the impact of data assimilation on ENSO predictions. In a control ensemble a hybrid coupled ocean–atmosphere model was initialized with observed winds only, while either three-dimensional temperatures or sea level data were assimilated during the initialization phase in two additional forecast ensembles. The predicted sea surface temperature anomalies were averaged over the eastern equatorial Pacific and compared to observations. Two different objective skill measures were computed to evaluate the impact of data assimilation on ENSO forecasts. The authors’ experiments indicate that sea level observations contain useful information and that this information can be inserted successfully into an oceanic general circulation model. It is inferred from the forecast ensembles that the benefit of sea level and temperature assimilation is comparable. However, the positive impact of sea level assimilation could be shown more clearly when the forecasted temperature differences rather than the temperature anomalies themselves were compared with observations.

Description: This paper presents trace element and Sm-Nd isotope data on the Mönchalpgneiss in order to compare the geochemistry of the two polymetamorphic igneous suites that comprise over 30% of the Austroalpine Silvretta nappe. The first are the so-called "Younger Orthogneisses" of the "Fliielagranitic Association" and the second are the "Older Orthogneisses" including the Mönchalpgneisswhich are associated with metagabbros, metadiorites, metatonalites and metagranitoids. U-Pb zircon results from the Mönchalpgneiss are indicative of anatectic processes in late Cambrian to Ordovician times. A volcanic-arc (VA) tectonic environment during intrusion explains the direct association of gabbroic and metagranitoid rocks in the Engadine area. This model is in line with the distribution of major, trace and rare earth elements in these anatectic rocks. However, the significance of the geochemical results remains ambiguous, since the average continental crust and paragneisses of the Silvretta also show VA-type signatures in the respective diagrams. Nd model ages on four Mönchalpgneiss whole-rock samples from the type locality are closely grouped around 1.70 Ga, which is a commonly obtained value for European continental crust. This age is interpreted to be the result of a homogeneous mixture of different crustal components

Description: In this paper the performance of the global coupled general circulation model (CGCM) ECHO-2, which was integrated for 10 years without the application of flux correction, is described. Although the integration is rather short, strong and weak points of this CGCM can be clearly identified, especially in view of the model's performance of the annual cycle in the tropical Pacific. The latter is simulated with more success relative to the earlier version, ECHO-I. A better representation of the low-level stratus clouds in the atmosphere model associated with a reduction in the shortwave radiative flux at the air-sea interface improved the coupled model's performance in the southeastern tropical oceans, with a strongly reduced warm bias in these regions. Modifications in the atmospheric convection scheme also eliminated the AGCM's tendency to simulate a double ITCZ, and this behavior is maintained in the CGCM simulation. Finally, a new numerical scheme for active tracer advection in the ocean model strongly reduced the numerical mixing, which seems to enhance considerably the level of interannual variability in the equatorial Pacific. One weak point is an overall cold bias in the Tropics and midlatitudes, which typically amounts to 1°C in open ocean regions. Another weak point is the still too strong equatorial cold tongue, which penetrates too far into the western equatorial Pacific. Although this model deficiency is not as pronounced as in ECHO-1, the too strong cold tongue reduces the level of interannual rainfall variability in the western and central equatorial Pacific. Finally, the interannual fluctuations in equatorial Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are too equatorially trapped, a problem that is also found in ocean-only simulations. Overall, however, the authors believe that the ECHO-2 CGCM has been considerably improved relative to ECHO-1.