• Wind and Structures
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.87-109
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• 2012

A substantial part of South Africa is subject to more than one strong wind source. The effect of that on extreme winds is that higher quantiles are usually estimated with a mixed strong wind climate estimation method, compared to the traditional Gumbel approach based on a single population. The differences in the estimated quantiles between the two methods depend on the values of the Gumbel distribution parameters for the different strong wind mechanisms involved. Cluster analysis of the distribution parameters provides a characterization of the effect of the relative differences in their values, and therefore the dominance of the different strong wind mechanisms. For gusts, cold fronts tend to dominate over the coastal and high-lying areas, while other mechanisms, especially thunderstorms, are dominant over the lower-lying areas in the interior. For the hourly mean wind speeds cold fronts are dominant in the south-west, south and east of the country. On the West Coast the ridging of the Atlantic Ocean high-pressure system dominate in the south, while the presence of a deep trough or coastal low pressure system is the main strong wind mechanism in the north. In the central interior cold fronts tend to share their influence almost equally with other synoptic-scale mechanisms.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.150-158
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• 2007

Data on squid catches, water temperature, and climatic factors collected for the Northwest and subtropical North Pacific were analyzed to examine the influence of oceanic and climatic conditions in spawning grounds on catches of Japanese common squid, Todarodes pacificus, in the East (Japan) Sea. The main spawning ground was divided into four sub-areas: the South Sea of Korea (R1), the southern waters off Jeju, Korea (R2), the southwestern part of Kyushu, Japan (R3), and the northern part of Okinawa, Japan (R4). Interannual and decadal fluctuations in water temperatures correlated well with squid catches in the East/Japan Sea. In particular, water temperatures at a depth of 50 to 100 m in sub-areas R3 and R4 showed higher correlation coefficients (0.54 to 0.59, p<0.01) in relation to squid catches in the East/Japan Sea than for R1 and R2, which had correlation coefficients of 0.40 or less (p>0.05). Air temperature and wind velocity fluctuations in each sub-area are correlated with water temperature fluctuations and were closely connected with variations in the surface mixed layers. Water, air temperatures and wind velocities at the main spawning grounds are linked to the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) with higher signals in the ca. 2-4-year band. Strong changes in a specific band and phase occurred around 1976/77 and 1986/87, coincident with changes in squid catches.

• Atmosphere
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.75-90
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• 2005

This study examines the impacts of land cover changes on the East Asia summer monsoon with the National Center for Atmospheric Research Regional Climate Model (NCAR RegCM2), coupled with Biosphere Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS). To assess the goals, two types of land cover maps were used in the simulation of summer climate. One type was NCAR land cover map (CTL) and the other was current land cover map derived from satellite data (land cover: LCV). Warm and cold surface temperature biases of $1-3^{\circ}C$ occurred over central China and Mongolia in CTL. The model produced excessive precipitation over northern land area but less over southern ocean of the model domain. Changes of biophysical parameters, such as albedo, minimum stomatal resistance and roughness length, due to the land cover changes resulted in the alteration of land-atmosphere interactions. Latent heat flux and wind speed in LCV increased noticeably over central China where deciduous broad leaf trees have been replaced by mixed farm and irrigated crop. As a result, the systematic warm biases over central China were greatly reduced in LCV. Strong cooling of central China decreased pressure gradient between East Asian continent and Pacific Ocean. The decreased pressure gradient suppressed the northward transport of moisture from south China and South China Sea. These changes reduced not only the excessive precipitation over north China and Mongolia but also less precipitation over south China. However, the land cover changes increased the precipitation over the Korean Peninsula and the Japan Islands, especially in July and August.