Bunmei Taguchi

Bio: Bunmei Taguchi is an academic researcher from University of Toyama. The author has contributed to research in topics: Sea surface temperature & Ocean general circulation model. The author has an hindex of 25, co-authored 67 publications receiving 2377 citations. Previous affiliations of Bunmei Taguchi include University of Hawaii at Manoa & University of Tokyo.

Decadal Variability of the Kuroshio Extension: Observations and an Eddy-Resolving Model Hindcast*

Abstract: Low-frequency variability of the Kuroshio Extension (KE) is studied using observations and a multidecadal (1950–2003) hindcast by a high-resolution (0.1°), eddy-resolving, global ocean general circulation model for the Earth Simulator (OFES). In both the OFES hindcast and satellite altimeter observations, low-frequency sea surface height (SSH) variability in the North Pacific is high near the KE front. An empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis indicates that much of the SSH variability in the western North Pacific east of Japan is explained by two modes with meridional structures tightly trapped along the KE front. The first mode represents a southward shift and to a lesser degree, an acceleration of the KE jet associated with the 1976/77 shift in basin-scale winds. The second mode reflects quasi-decadal variations in the intensity of the KE jet. Both the spatial structure and time series of these modes derived from the hindcast are in close agreement with observations. A linear Rossby wave...

Decadal Variability of the Kuroshio Extension: Observations and an Eddy-Resolving Model Hindcast

Abstract: Low-frequency variability of the Kuroshio Extension (KE) is studied using observations and a multidecadal (1950–2003) hindcast by a high-resolution (0.1°), eddy-resolving, global ocean general circulation model for the Earth Simulator (OFES). In both the OFES hindcast and satellite altimeter observations, low-frequency sea surface height (SSH) variability in the North Pacific is high near the KE front. An empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis indicates that much of the SSH variability in the western North Pacific east of Japan is explained by two modes with meridional structures tightly trapped along the KE front. The first mode represents a southward shift and to a lesser degree, an acceleration of the KE jet associated with the 1976/77 shift in basin-scale winds. The second mode reflects quasi-decadal variations in the intensity of the KE jet. Both the spatial structure and time series of these modes derived from the hindcast are in close agreement with observations. A linear Rossby wave...

Influences of the Kuroshio/Oyashio Extensions on Air-Sea Heat Exchanges and Storm-Track Activity as Revealed in Regional Atmospheric Model Simulations for the 2003/04 Cold Season*

Abstract: Influences of oceanic fronts in the Kuroshio and Oyashio Extension (KOE) region on the overlying atmosphere are investigated by comparing a pair of atmospheric regional model hindcast experiments for the 2003/04 cold season, one with the observed finescale frontal structures in sea surface temperature (SST) prescribed at the model lower boundary and the other with an artificially smoothed SST distribution. The comparison reveals the locally enhanced meridional gradient of turbulent fluxes of heat and moisture and surface air temperature (SAT) across the oceanic frontal zone, which favors the storm-track development both in winter and spring. Distinct seasonal dependency is found, however, in how dominantly the storm-track activity influences the time-mean distribution of the heat and moisture supply from the ocean. In spring the mean surface sensible heat flux (SHF) is upward (downward) on the warmer (cooler) side of the subarctic SST front. This sharp cross-frontal contrast is a manifestation of...

A Coupled Decadal Prediction of the Dynamic State of the Kuroshio Extension System

Abstract: Being the extension of a wind-driven western boundary current, the Kuroshio Extension (KE) has long been recognized as a turbulent current system rich in large-amplitude meanders and energetic pinched-off eddies. An important feature emerging from recent satellite altimeter measurements and eddy-resolving ocean model simulations is that the KE system exhibits well-defined decadal modulations between a stable and an unstable dynamic state. Here the authors show that the decadally modulating KE dynamic state can be effectively defined by the sea surface height (SSH) anomalies in the 31°–36°N, 140°–165°E region. By utilizing the SSH-based KE index from 1977 to 2012, they demonstrate that the time-varying KE dynamic state can be predicted at lead times of up to ~6 yr. This long-term predictability rests on two dynamic processes: 1) the oceanic adjustment is via baroclinic Rossby waves that carry interior wind-forced anomalies westward into the KE region and 2) the low-frequency KE variability influenc...

North Pacific Gyre Oscillation Synchronizes Climate Fluctuations in the Eastern and Western Boundary Systems

Abstract: Recent studies have identified the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO) as a mode of climate variability that is linked to previously unexplained fluctuations of salinity, nutrient, and chlorophyll in the northeast Pacific. The NPGO reflects changes in strength of the central and eastern branches of the subtropical gyre and is driven by the atmosphere through the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO), the second dominant mode of sea level pressure variability in the North Pacific. It is shown that Rossby wave dynamics excited by the NPO propagate the NPGO signature in the sea surface height (SSH) field from the central North Pacific into the Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension (KOE), and trigger changes in the strength of the KOE with a lag of 2–3 yr. This suggests that the NPGO index can be used to track changes in the entire northern branch of the North Pacific subtropical gyre. These results also provide a physical mechanism to explain coherent decadal climate variations and ecosystem changes between the No...

Fast parallel algorithms for short-range molecular dynamics

Abstract: Three parallel algorithms for classical molecular dynamics are presented. The first assigns each processor a fixed subset of atoms; the second assigns each a fixed subset of inter-atomic forces to compute; the third assigns each a fixed spatial region. The algorithms are suitable for molecular dynamics models which can be difficult to parallelize efficiently—those with short-range forces where the neighbors of each atom change rapidly. They can be implemented on any distributed-memory parallel machine which allows for message-passing of data between independently executing processors. The algorithms are tested on a standard Lennard-Jones benchmark problem for system sizes ranging from 500 to 100,000,000 atoms on several parallel supercomputers--the nCUBE 2, Intel iPSC/860 and Paragon, and Cray T3D. Comparing the results to the fastest reported vectorized Cray Y-MP and C90 algorithm shows that the current generation of parallel machines is competitive with conventional vector supercomputers even for small problems. For large problems, the spatial algorithm achieves parallel efficiencies of 90% and a 1840-node Intel Paragon performs up to 165 faster than a single Cray C9O processor. Trade-offs between the three algorithms and guidelines for adapting them to more complex molecular dynamics simulations are also discussed.

The Ensemble Kalman Filter: Theoretical formulation and practical implementation

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive presentation and interpretation of the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) and its numerical implementation. The EnKF has a large user group, and numerous publications have discussed applications and theoretical aspects of it. This paper reviews the important results from these studies and also presents new ideas and alternative interpretations which further explain the success of the EnKF. In addition to providing the theoretical framework needed for using the EnKF, there is also a focus on the algorithmic formulation and optimal numerical implementation. A program listing is given for some of the key subroutines. The paper also touches upon specific issues such as the use of nonlinear measurements, in situ profiles of temperature and salinity, and data which are available with high frequency in time. An ensemble based optimal interpolation (EnOI) scheme is presented as a cost-effective approach which may serve as an alternative to the EnKF in some applications. A fairly extensive discussion is devoted to the use of time correlated model errors and the estimation of model bias.

This is How the Discussion Started

Abstract: A copy of Guangbo jiemu bao [Broadcast Program Report] was being passed from hand to hand among a group of young people eager to be the first to read the article introducing the program "What Is Revolutionary Love?" It said: "… Young friends, you are certainly very concerned about this problem'. So, we would like you to meet the young women workers Meng Xiaoyu and Meng Yamei and the older cadre Miss Feng. They are the three leading characters in the short story ‘The Place of Love.’ Through the description of the love lives of these three, the story induces us to think deeply about two questions that merit further examination.

More Evidence Linking Arctic Amplification to Extreme Weather in Mid-Latitudes

Abstract: [1] Arctic amplification (AA) – the observed enhanced warming in high northern latitudes relative to the northern hemisphere – is evident in lower-tropospheric temperatures and in 1000-to-500 hPa thicknesses. Daily fields of 500 hPa heights from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Reanalysis are analyzed over N. America and the N. Atlantic to assess changes in north-south (Rossby) wave characteristics associated with AA and the relaxation of poleward thickness gradients. Two effects are identified that each contribute to a slower eastward progression of Rossby waves in the upper-level flow: 1) weakened zonal winds, and 2) increased wave amplitude. These effects are particularly evident in autumn and winter consistent with sea-ice loss, but are also apparent in summer, possibly related to earlier snow melt on high-latitude land. Slower progression of upper-level waves would cause associated weather patterns in mid-latitudes to be more persistent, which may lead to an increased probability of extreme weather events that result from prolonged conditions, such as drought, flooding, cold spells, and heat waves.

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Revisited

Abstract: The Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), the dominant year-round pattern of monthly North Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) variability, is an important target of ongoing research within the meteorological and climate dynamics communities and is central to the work of many geologists, ecologists, natural resource managers, and social scientists. Research over the last 15 years has led to an emerging consensus: the PDO is not a single phenomenon, but is instead the result of a combination of different physical processes, including both remote tropical forcing and local North Pacific atmosphere–ocean interactions, which operate on different time scales to drive similar PDO-like SST anomaly patterns. How these processes combine to generate the observed PDO evolution, including apparent regime shifts, is shown using simple autoregressive models of increasing spatial complexity. Simulations of recent climate in coupled GCMs are able to capture many aspects of the PDO, but do so based on a balance of ...