Abstract: DMRT-ML is a physically-based numerical model designed to compute the thermal microwave emission of a given snowpack. Its main application is the simulation of brightness temperatures at frequencies in the range 1-200 GHz similar to those acquired routinely by space-based microwave radiometers. The model is based on the Dense Media Radiative Transfer (DMRT) theory for the computation of the snow scattering and extinction coefficients and on the Discrete Ordinate Method (DISORT) to numerically solve the radiative transfer equation. The snowpack is modeled as a stack of multiple horizontal snow layers and an optional underlying interface representing the soil or the bottom ice. The model handles both dry and wet snow conditions. Such a general design allows the user to account for a wide range of snow conditions. Hitherto, the model has been used to simulate the thermal emission of the deep firn on ice sheets, shallow snowpacks overlying soil in Arctic and Alpine regions, and overlying ice on the large ice-sheet margins and glaciers. DMRT-ML has thus been validated in three very different conditions: Antarctica, Barnes Ice Cap (Canada) and Canadian tundra. It has been recently used in conjunction with inverse methods to retrieve snow grain size from remote sensing data. The model is written in Fortran90 and available to the snow remote sensing community as an open-source software.

Abstract: Abstract. The New 3.6 Version Of The Louvain-la-neuve Sea Ice Model (Lim) Is Presented, As Integrated In The Most Recent Stable Release Of Nucleus For European Modelling Of The Ocean (Nemo) (3.6). The Release Will Be Used For The Next Climate Model Inter-comparison Project (Cmip6). Developments Focussed Around Three Axes: Improvements Of Robustness, Versatility And Sophistication Of The Code, Which Involved Numerous Changes. Robustness Was Improved By Enforcing Exact Conservation Through The Inspection Of The Different Processes Driving The Air–ice–ocean Exchanges Of Heat, Mass And Salt. Versatility Was Enhanced By Implementing Lateral Boundary Conditions For Sea Ice And More Flexible Ice Thickness Categories. The Latter Includes A More Practical Computation Of Category Boundaries, Parameterizations To Use Lim3.6 With A Single Ice Category And A Flux Redistributor For Coupling With Atmospheric Models That Cannot Handle Multiple Sub-grid Fluxes. Sophistication Was Upgraded By Including The Effect Of Ice And Snow Weight On The Sea Surface. We Illustrate Some Of The New Capabilities Of The Code In Two Standard Simulations. One Is An Orca2-lim3 Global Simulation At A Nominal 2° Resolution, Forced By Reference Atmospheric Climatologies. The Other One Is A Regional Simulation At 2 Km Resolution Around The Svalbard Archipelago In The Arctic Ocean, With Open Boundaries And Tides. We Show That The Lim3.6 Forms A Solid And Flexible Base For Future Scientific Studies And Model Developments.

Abstract: We discuss the spatial and temporal resolution of monthly carbon flux estimates for the period 1983–2002 using a fixed-lag Kalman Smoother technique with a global chemical transport model, and the GLOBALVIEW data product. The observational network has expanded substantially over this period, and the flux estimates are better constrained provided by observations for the 1990's in comparison to the 1980's. The estimated uncertainties also decrease as observational coverage expands. In this study, we use the Globalview data product for a network that changes every 5 yr, rather than using a small number of continually-operating sites (fewer observational constraints) or a large number of sites, some of which may consist almost entirely of extrapolated data. We show that the discontinuities resulting from network changes reflect uncertainty due to a sparse and variable network. This uncertainty effectively limits the resolution of trends in carbon fluxes, and is a potentially significant source of noise in assimilation systems that allow changes in observation distribution between assimilation time steps.
The ability of the inversion to distinguish, or resolve, carbon fluxes at various spatial scales is examined using a diagnostic known as the resolution kernel. We find that the global partition between land and ocean fluxes is well-resolved even for the very sparse network of the 1980's, although prior information makes a significant contribution to the resolution. The ability to distinguish zonal average fluxes has improved significantly since the 1980's, especially for the tropics, where the zonal ocean and land biosphere fluxes can be distinguished. Care must be taken when interpreting zonal average fluxes, however, since the lack of air samples for some regions in a zone may result in a large influence from prior flux estimates for these regions. We show that many of the TransCom 3 source regions are distinguishable throughout the period over which estimates are produced. Examples are Boreal and Temperate North America. The resolution of fluxes from Europe and Australia has greatly improved since the 1990's. Other regions, notably Tropical South America and the Equatorial Atlantic remain practically unresolved.
Comparisons of the average seasonal cycle of the estimated carbon fluxes with the seasonal cycle of the prior flux estimates reveals a large adjustment of the summertime uptake of carbon for Boreal Eurasia, and an earlier onset of springtime uptake for Temperate North America. In addition, significantly larger seasonal cycles are obtained for some ocean regions, such as the Northern Ocean, North Pacific, North Atlantic and Western Equatorial Pacific, regions that appear to be well-resolved by the inversion.

Abstract: On 6 January 1998 an interplanetary shock hit the magnetosphere around 14:15 UT and caused a reconfiguration of the northern high-latitude ionospheric convection. We use SuperDARN, spacecraft and ground magnetometer data to study such reconfiguration. We find that the shock front was tilted towards the morning flank of the magnetosphere, while the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) was By-dominated, with By<0, IMF Bz>0 and |By|>>Bz. As expected, the magnetospheric compression started at the first impact point of the shock on the magnetopause causing an increase of the Chapman-Ferraro current from dawn to dusk and yielding an increase of the geomagnetic field at the geostationary orbit and on the ground. Moreover, the high-latitude magnetometer data show vortical structures clearly related to the interaction of the shock with the magnetosphere-ionosphere system. In this context, the SuperDARN convection maps show that at very high latitudes above the northern Cusp and in the morning sector, intense sunward convection fluxes appear, well correlated in time with the SI arrival, having a signature typical for Bz>0 dominated lobe reconnection. We suggest that in this case the dynamic pressure increase associated to the shock plays a role in favouring the setting up of a new lobe merging line albeit |By|>>Bz≥0.