Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Meteorological Society
Résumé : Global positioning system (GPS) data from a dense network have been used for the analysis of the diurnal cycle of water vapor over Marseille, France, during the second intensive observation period (IOP2; 21–26 June 2001) of the Expérience sur Sites pour Contraindre les Modèles de Pollution Atmosphérique et de Transport d'Emission (ESCOMPTE) field experiment. Both tomographic analyses and integrated water vapor (IWV) contents from GPS have been used, in addition to wind profiler data and surface observations. Tomographic analysis of data from the dense GPS network and radiosondes provided the continuous temporal evolution of the vertical distribution of water vapor over the city of Marseille. The city is located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in southeastern France and is often under the influence of sea-breeze effects. Two different layers of breeze circulation are identified: a shallow sea breeze, blowing perpendicular to the local coastline, and a deep sea breeze, induced by the regional temperature gradient between sea and land. The origin of water vapor is shown to be mainly due to the advection of marine moist air by these sea-breeze circulations. However, the diurnal cycle of water vapor over Marseille is strongly influenced by the synoptic situation, which changes during the IOP2 (between a northerly mistral in the early stage of the IOP and an easterly wind at the end). It is shown that vertical profiles from tomographic analyses (combined with wind profiler data) allow for a proper interpretation of the diurnal cycle observed in IWV. Two-dimensional maps of IWV are also shown to complement the description of the horizontal advection of moisture by the different circulation regimes.
ISSN: 1558-8424

hal-00273624
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00273624
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00273624/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00273624/file/drJAM_cycle_diurne_GPS_rev1.pdf
DOI : 10.1175/JAM2450.1

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Berlin: A. Asher & Co.
Résumé : International audience
In this work, we compare IASI-retrieved vertical water vapour profiles and related precipitable water over a complex region, namely the Rhine Valley area, during the pre-operational period of IASI exploitation (June?August 2007). Both IASI water vapour mixing ratio profiles and integrated water vapour content are retrieved from L1C radiances spectra using two techniques and compared with water vapour related observations acquired during the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS) field campaign that took place in this area at that time (i.e. lidars, radiosoundings and a global positioning system - GPS - station network). This work addresses the issue of IASI vertical spatial resolution and its capability to detect two-layer water vapour structures such as those observed in a mountainous area and which play an important role in convective initiation or inhibition. We found that this capability mostly relies on the type of a-priori background vector (climatology or space-time colocated ECMWF analysis), which is used within the retrieval scheme. Systematic comparison of water vapour products derived from 71 IASI spectra confirms that IASI can retrieve water vapour amounts in 2 km width layers, in the lower troposphere, with an accuracy of approximately 10%.
ISSN: 0369-1845

hal-00923710
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00923710
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00923710/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00923710/file/masiello.pdf
DOI : 10.1127/0941-2948/2013/0430

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Physical Society
Résumé : We study the equilibrium properties of a liquid phase condensed at the nanoscale between the surfaces of a sharp crack in fused silica in a moist controlled atmosphere. The extension of the condensed phase along the fracture is measured by in situ atomic force microscopy phase imaging and it is shown to be determined by a critical distance between the opposite crack surfaces, which is an increasing function of humidity. The present technique is very promising for measuring the properties of confined liquids at the nanoscale as well as for modeling the physics and chemistry of slow crack propagation in glasses.
ISSN: 0031-9007

hal-00411946
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411946
DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.165505

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : International audience
High spatial and temporal variability of mesoscale moisture fields is still a challenge for quantitative precipitation forecast within numerical weather prediction (NWP) models especially over ocean regions where observations are lacking. This study presents the comparison between integrated water vapor over the Mediterranean Sea determined from shipborne GPS, the NWP ALADIN/Météo-France model and MODIS retrieval during a 4-month campaign (autumn 2008). While moisture prediction of the NWP remains accurate during most of the observation period, there are significant periods with offsets between GPS data and model predictions. We analyze such events and discuss the associated meteorological situation. Copyright © 2012 Royal Meteorological Society
ISSN: 1530-261X

hal-00757776
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00757776
DOI : 10.1002/asl.391

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : Water molecules play a fundamental role in the physics of slow crack propagation in glasses. It is commonly understood that, during stress-corrosion, water molecules that move in the crack cavity effectively reduce the bond strength at the strained crack tip and, thus, support crack propagation. Yet the details of the environmental condition at the crack tip in moist air are not well determined. In a previous work, we reported direct evidence of the presence of a 100 nm long liquid condensate at the crack tip in fused silica glass during very slow crack propagation (10(-9)-10(-10) m/s). These observations are based on in situ AFM phase imaging techniques applied on DCDC glass specimens in controlled atmosphere. Here, we discuss the physical origin of the AFM phase contrast between the liquid condensate and the glass surface in relation to tip-sample adhesion induced by capillary bridges. We then report new experimental data on the water condensation length increase with relative humidity in the atmosphere. The measured condensation lengths were much larger than what predicted using the Kelvin equation and expected geometry of the crack tip.
ISSN: 0022-3093

hal-00412153
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412153
DOI : 10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2007.06.090

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : For operational forecasts anticipate convective inhibition processes is as important than convective initiation processes. Based on the 15th July 2007 case study this work shows how the morning shallow convection over the Vosges is inhibited while it develops over the Black Forest. This case occurs during IOP 8b of the Convective and Orographically-Induced Precipitation Study (COPS). This international field campaign took place during the summer of 2007 over the Vosges, the Rhine Valley and the Black-Forest. The aim of this intensive observation campaign was to study various phases of convection and convective environment and improve quantitative precipitation forecasts. Thanks to GPS tomography data the study show the differences of low-level water-vapor variability between Vosges and Black-Forest. The analysis of ground based and airborne lidar data suggests the importance of dry air layers advected from the south and the influence of the mountains and diurnal cycle of mountain breeze which interfere strongly with these layers preventing the dry air to reach the eastern side of the mountain and the Black Forest. This dynamics is confirmed by models, wind profiler and radiosounding data. So we show how the inhibition of the convection over the Vosges during this case study can be explained with the water vapor variability due to advection and local boundary layer processes.
31st ICAM (International Conference on Alpine Meteorology)
Aviemore, United Kingdom

hal-00668829
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00668829

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
Claystone caprocks are often the ultimate seal for CO2 underground storage when residual CO2 gas reaches the reservoir top due to buoyancy. Permeability changes of a fractured claystone due to seepage of CO2-enriched brine and water vapor-saturated CO2 gas are investigated. Results show that brine flow induces a large porosity increase (up to 50%) in the vicinity of the fracture due to dissolution of calcite and quartz, while permeability remains unchanged. Conversely, cyclic flows of CO2-brine and CO2-gas increase the fracture aperture abruptly after each gas flow period, producing a progressive decrease of the caprock seal capacity. Aperture increase is controlled by decohesion of the clay framework within a micrometer-scale-thick layer induced by CO2-gas acidification. Results show that hydraulic aperture increases linearly with duration of the preceding CO2-brine flow period, emphasizing the kinetic control of the quartz grains dissolution during the brine flow periods.
ISSN: 0094-8276

hal-00412332
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412332
DOI : 10.1029/2008GL034467

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : The intensification of the hydrological cycle, with an observed and modeled increase in drought incidence and severity, underscores the need to quantify drought effects on carbon cycling and the terrestrial sink. FLUXNET, a global network of eddy covariance towers, provides dense data streams of meteorological data, and through flux partitioning and gap filling algorithms, estimates of net ecosystem productivity (FNEP), gross ecosystem productivity (P), and ecosystem respiration (R). We analyzed the functional relationship of these three carbon fluxes relative to evaporative fraction (EF), an index of drought and site water status, using monthly data records from 238 micrometeorological tower sites distributed globally across 11 biomes. The analysis was based on relative anomalies of both EF and carbon fluxes and focused on drought episodes by biome and climatic season. Globally P was ≈50% more sensitive to a drought event than R. Network-wide drought-induced decreases in carbon flux averaged −16.6 and −9.3 g C m−2 month−1 for P and R, i.e., drought events induced a net decline in the terrestrial sink. However, in evergreen forests and wetlands drought was coincident with an increase in P or R during parts of the growing season. The most robust relationships between carbon flux and EF occurred during climatic spring for FNEP and in climatic summer for P and R. Upscaling flux sensitivities to a global map showed that spatial patterns for all three carbon fluxes were linked to the distribution of croplands. Agricultural areas exhibited the highest sensitivity whereas the tropical region had minimal sensitivity to drought. Combining gridded flux sensitivities with their uncertainties and the spatial grid of FLUXNET revealed that a more robust quantification of carbon flux response to drought requires additional towers in all biomes of Africa and Asia as well as in the cropland, shrubland, savannah, and wetland biomes globally.
ISSN: 1354-1013

hal-01032076
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01032076
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.01991.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
Estimations of zenith total delays (ZTD) were obtained during postprocessing of a high-resolution (2.4 km) nonhydrostatic atmospheric model (Méso-NH). These estimations were used to determine their sensitivity with respect to formulations of atmospheric refractivity, the approximation of zenith hydrostatic delays (ZHD) deduced from ground pressure, and the contributions of hydrometeors. The factor k for the conversion of zenith wet delay (ZWD) to integrated water vapor (IWV) was examined. Méso-NH is applied here to the extreme flash flood event of 8–9 September 2002 in southeastern France. The use of the hydrostatic formulation (to infer ZHD) leads to an overestimation of up to 18 mm with respect to the vertical integration of refractivity. Delay contributions of hydrometeors simulated by the high-resolution model reached more than 70 mm (%11 kg/m 2 IWV) in the heart of the convective cells in the case of the extreme flood event. The mean variations of IWV due to the use of different conversion factors (k used to transform ZWD to IWV) are evaluated to be less than 0.3 kg/m 2. This is less than the mean underestimation of IWV by 0.6 kg/m 2 relative to the GPS-like evaluation of IWV using the hydrostatic formulation and the ground temperature. In this study we also use GPS ZTD observations to validate three different numerical simulations of this extreme flood event. The simulation with the best fit to the GPS observations is also in best agreement with the surface rainfall measurements.
ISSN: 2169-897X

hal-01417608
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01417608
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01417608/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01417608/file/Brenot_JGR_2006.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/2004JD005726