Impact of Topography on Atmospheric Flow: Implications for weather, climate and human health

我的研究计划的目的是提高我们对地形对天气、气候和人类健康的影响的理解，特别是在极地地区。人们对山脉感兴趣的原因有很多：它们是大气流动的屏障，可影响其附近和下游的天气和气候；落在山坡上的降水是宝贵的水源；其冰川是过去气候变化的重要档案；土著居民和来这些地区的游客经历了许多生理压力，包括因气象因素而加剧的体温过低和缺氧。此外，极地和山区都是偏远地区，数据收集是一项挑战，我们对大气过程的了解也是有限的。也有证据表明，这些地区正在经历加速的气候变化。因此，我的研究的一个重要而独特的组成部分涉及到山区和极地地区的数据收集。我的团队将这些数据与其他仪器和古气候数据集以及数值天气预报模型一起使用，以提高我们对气候系统的运作及其对人类健康的影响的知识。 1)山地气象学 过去，我在这一领域的研究重点一直是从育空地区的洛根山和喜马拉雅地区的西沙邦马山对高海拔冰芯中的气候信号进行解释。我还参加了三个野外季节，这些季节产生了关于珠穆朗玛峰高海拔地区的天气状况以及通过臭氧水平升高到达该地区的大气路径的独特信息。我建议继续这项工作，以提高我们对这些冰芯中气候信号的了解。此外，还将在珠穆朗玛峰地区开展实地工作，这项工作建立在一项试点研究的基础上，该研究表明，经历过急性高原病的登山者的血液中有暴露于平流层臭氧的生物标志物。 2)海-气相互作用和地形强迫急流 我已经将我在这方面的研究从格陵兰岛的重点扩展到白令海和巴伦支海以及马达加斯加等地区，在这些地区已经发现了新的地形强迫喷气式飞机。在即将到来的赠款周期中，我提议利用新的北极再分析的非常高的空间分辨率，以增进我们对白令海和巴伦支海急流在北冰洋这些具有气候重要性的边缘海的海气相互作用和海洋环流中所起作用的理解。我还建议使用新的高分辨率全球再分析来研究马达加斯加气流扭曲在调节水汽输送到东非方面所起的作用。我还在确定格陵兰上空新的低空急流方面发挥了领导作用，这些低空急流是冰盖寒冷和高表面产生的局部化经向温度梯度的结果。我建议探索这些喷流在将水分输送到格陵兰冰核地点方面所起的作用。此外，我还将参加一个新的大气-海洋领域项目，即冰岛海项目。非常成功的格陵兰水流扭曲实验的国际科学领导，包括我作为加拿大代表，参与了该项目的规划，该项目定于2016年冬季进行。这项运动将侧重于了解大气过程在促成丹麦海峡溢流水和大西洋子午线翻转环流下端的新海洋路径方面所起的作用。

The objective of my research program is to improve our understanding of the influence that topography has on weather, climate and human health; especially in polar regions. Mountains are of interest for a variety of reasons: they act as barriers to atmospheric flow that can impact the weather and climate in their immediate vicinity as well as downstream; the precipitation that falls on their slopes serves as a valuable source of water; their glaciers serve as important archives of past climate variability; indigenous persons and visitors to these regions experience a number of physiological stresses including hypothermia and hypoxia that are exacerbated by meteorological factors. In addition, polar and mountainous regions are both remote regions where data collection is a challenge and where our knowledge of atmospheric processes is limited. There is also evidence that these regions are experiencing accelerated climate change. A crucial and unique component of my research therefore involves data collection in mountainous and polar regions. My group uses this data along with other instrumental and paleoclimate datasets as well as numerical weather prediction models to improve our knowledge of the workings of the climate system and its impact on human health. 1) Mountain Meteorology In the past, my research focus in this area has been on the interpretation of climate signals in high elevation ice cores from Mount Logan in the Yukon and from Mount Shishapangma in the Himalaya. I have also participated in 3 field seasons that have yielded unique information on the weather conditions at high elevations on Mount Everest as well as on the atmospheric pathways through elevated levels of ozone reach the region. I propose to continue this work that will improve our knowledge of the climate signals in these ice cores. In addition, field work will be undertaken in the Mount Everest region that builds upon a pilot study that shows that climbers who experience Acute Mountain Sickness have biomarkers in their bloodstream for exposure to ozone that is of stratospheric origin. 2) Air-Sea Interaction and Topographically Forced Jets I have expanded my research in this area from a focus on Greenland into regions such as the Bering and Barents Seas as well as Madagascar where new topographically forced jets have been identified. In the upcoming grant cycle, I propose to exploit the very high spatial resolution of new Arctic reanalyses to improve our understanding of the role that the Bering and Barents Sea jets play in air-sea interaction and oceanographic circulations in these climatologically important marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean. I also propose to use the new high resolution global reanalyses to investigate the role that Madagascar flow distortion plays in modulating moisture transport into East Africa. I have also played a lead role in the identification of new low-level jets over Greenland that are the result of localized meridional thermal gradients arising from the cold and high surface of the ice sheet. I propose to explore the role that these jets play in transporting moisture to Greenland ice core sites. In addition, I will participate in a new atmospheric-oceanographic field project known as the Iceland Sea Project. The international scientific leadership of the very successful Greenland Flow Distortion Experiment, including myself as the Canadian representative, is involved in the planning of the project that is scheduled to take place during the winter of 2016. The campaign will focus on understanding the role that atmospheric processes play in forcing a new oceanographic pathway that contributes to the Denmark Strait Overflow Water and the lower limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.