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José P. Peixoto

Bio: José P. Peixoto is an academic researcher from University of Lisbon. The author has contributed to research in topics: Northern Hemisphere & Water vapor. The author has an hindex of 18, co-authored 33 publications receiving 5663 citations.

Papers
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Book
01 Feb 1992
TL;DR: A review of the present understanding of the global climate system, consisting of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere and biosphere, and their complex interactions and feedbacks is given from the point of view of a physicist as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A review of our present understanding of the global climate system, consisting of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere, and their complex interactions and feedbacks is given from the point of view of a physicist. This understanding is based both on real observations and on the results from numerical simulations. The main emphasis in this review is on the atmosphere and oceans. First, balance equations describing the large-scale climate and its evolution in time are derived from the basic thermohydrodynamic laws of classical physics. The observed atmosphere-ocean system is then described by showing how the balances of radiation, mass, angular momentum, water, and energy are maintained during present climatic conditions. Next, a hierarchy of mathematical models that successfully simulate various aspects of the climate is discussed, and examples are given of how three-dimensional general circulation models are being used to increase our understanding of the global climate "machine." Finally, the possible impact of human activities on climate is discussed, with main emphasis on likely future heating due to the release of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

2,358 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Physics of Climate as mentioned in this paper is a suitable text for at least part of a general circulation course and the quantity and quality of information in this book are such that anyone involved in the study of the atmosphere or climate will wish to have it handy.
Abstract: Physics of Climate is a suitable text for at least part of a general circulation course. The quantity and quality of information in this book are such that anyone involved in the study of the atmosphere or climate will wish to have it handy. In particular, anyone working with a general circulation model will want to see how his model compares with the observed world. Eight chapters are the core of the text. They cover: data description; observed states of the atmosphere, ocean, and cryosphere; exchanges between the atmosphere and the surface; and the budgets of water, angular momentum, and energy.

2,030 citations

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: In this article, daily observations from about 1000 raw-insonde stations, tables and global distributions of the various water vapour fields are presented for mean annual, winter and summer conditions covering the 10-year period, May 1963 through April 1973.
Abstract: Based on daily observations from about 1000 rawinsonde stations, tables and global distributions of the various water vapour fields are presented for mean annual, winter and summer conditions covering the 10-year period, May 1963 through April 1973. The fields include horizontal maps of precipitable water, of total zonal, meridional and vertical transports by eddy and mean circulations, as well as meridional profiles and zonal mean cross-sections of these quantities.

228 citations

Book ChapterDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an overview of global angular momentum and energy balance requirements deduced through observations is presented, including the structure of the basic circulation, the temperature, humidity, and kinetic energy fields, both regarding their long-term mean values and their day-to-day and seasonal variability characteristics.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter presents an overview of global angular momentum and energy balance requirements deduced through observations. The structure of the basic circulation, the temperature, humidity, and kinetic energy fields, both regarding their long-term mean values and their day-to-day and seasonal variability characteristics, are discussed. Following this, the three-dimensional structure of the transports by the transient eddy, stationary eddy, and mean meridional circulations are explained. The chapter describes how the source regions of incoming solar radiation and the sink regions of outgoing terrestrial radiation are distributed over the globe, and how the atmosphere and oceans respond to these forcing factors. It also explores what happens to the solar energy once it has entered the atmosphere. The storage and transport of energy in the atmosphere is analyzed, followed by a discussion on the amount of energy that flows into the underlying surface. The storage and transport of energy in the oceans is also discussed..

196 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present estimates of the various terms in the global mean entropy budget of the atmosphere, using observed energy fluxes and atmospheric temperatures, and the rates of entropy production and destruction by various irreversible processes that occur in the atmosphere are also computed.
Abstract: The balance equations for the entropy in the atmosphere are presented and discussed. Using observed energy fluxes and atmospheric temperatures, we present estimates of the various terms in the global mean entropy budget. The largest boundary fluxes of entropy are associated with the emission of longwave radiation. The fluxes of entropy associated with turbulent and molecular diffusion are found to be much smaller. On the planetary scale the mean outgoing flux of entropy at the top of the atmosphere is found to be about 22 times larger than the mean incoming flux of entropy through solar radiation. The rates of entropy production and destruction by the various irreversible processes that occur in the atmosphere are also computed. The entropy production terms involved in the release of latent heat and the absorption of solar radiation are, by far, the largest sources of entropy for the atmosphere, whereas the production of entropy associated with the absorption of longwave radiation is an order of magnitude smaller. The destruction is mainly accomplished through cooling by outgoing longwave radiation. The contributions of the sensible heat fluxes and friction are relatively small. Regional contributions to the total entropy generation in the atmosphere are studied by considering an equatorial region bounded by two latitudinal walls at 15oN and 15oS and a polar region poleward of 70oN. The rates of entropy generation by the various diabatic processes are highest in the equatorial region; part of the generated entropy is exported to higher latitudes. Most natural phenomena occurring in the climate system are characterized by great irreversibility. For example, the turbulent motion in the planetary boundary layer does not spontaneously develop into the large-scale organized flow of the general circulation; a cloud cannot be reconstituted from the same water it lost previously through precipitation; rivers do not flow backward from the sea to their headwaters; and ocean water does not decompose spontaneously into oxygen and hydrogen. We will analyze the entropy budget of the atmosphere since it is important for the study of the thermodynamical behavior of the climatic system and, in particular, for atmospheric phenomena. The second law for an isolated system,

139 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a thorough description of observed monsoon variability and the physical processes that are thought to be important is presented, and some strategies that may help achieve improvement are discussed.
Abstract: The Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere (TOGA) program sought to determine the predictability of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system. The World Climate Research Programme's (WCRP) Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System (GOALS) program seeks to explore predictability of the global climate system through investigation of the major planetary heat sources and sinks, and interactions between them. The Asian-Australian monsoon system, which undergoes aperiodic and high amplitude variations on intraseasonal, annual, biennial and interannual timescales is a major focus of GOALS. Empirical seasonal forecasts of the monsoon have been made with moderate success for over 100 years. More recent modeling efforts have not been successful. Even simulation of the mean structure of the Asian monsoon has proven elusive and the observed ENSO-monsoon relationships has been difficult to replicate. Divergence in simulation skill occurs between integrations by different models or between members of ensembles of the same model. This degree of spread is surprising given the relative success of empirical forecast techniques. Two possible explanations are presented: difficulty in modeling the monsoon regions and nonlinear error growth due to regional hydrodynamical instabilities. It is argued that the reconciliation of these explanations is imperative for prediction of the monsoon to be improved. To this end, a thorough description of observed monsoon variability and the physical processes that are thought to be important is presented. Prospects of improving prediction and some strategies that may help achieve improvement are discussed.

2,632 citations

Book ChapterDOI
02 Apr 2013
TL;DR: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), has been conducting a world-wide survey of hydrogen (H/'H) and oxygen (O/O) isotope composition of monthly precipitation since 1961.
Abstract: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), has been conducting a world-wide survey of hydrogen (H/'H) and oxygen (O/O) isotope composition of monthly precipitation since 1961 At present, 72 IAEA/WMO network stations are in operation Another 82 stations belonging to national organizations continue to send their results to the IAEA for publication The paper focuses on basic features of spatial and temporal distribution of deuterium and O in global precipitation, as derived from the IAEA/WMO isotope database The internal structure and basic characteristics of this database are discussed in some detail The existing phenomenological relationships between observed stable isotope composition of precipitation and various climate-related parameters such as local surface air temperature and amount of precipitation are reviewed and critically assessed Attempts are presented towards revealing interannual fluctuations in the accumulated isotope records and relating them to changes of precipitation amount and the surface air temperature over the past 30 years

2,229 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The progress report on the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) describes changes made to produce new cloud data products (D data), examines the evidence that these changes are improvements over the previous version (C data), summarizes some results, and discusses plans for the ISCCP through 2005.
Abstract: This progress report on the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) describes changes made to produce new cloud data products (D data), examines the evidence that these changes are improvements over the previous version (C data), summarizes some results, and discusses plans for the ISCCP through 2005. By late 1999 all datasets will be available for the period from July 1983 through December 1997. The most significant changes in the new D-series cloud datasets are 1) revised radiance calibrations to remove spurious changes in the long-term record, 2) increased cirrus detection sensitivity over land, 3) increased low-level cloud detection sensitivity in polar regions, 4) reduced biases in cirrus cloud properties using an ice crystal microphysics model in place of a liquid droplet microphysics model, and 5) increased detail about the variations of cloud properties. The ISCCP calibrations are now the most complete and self-consistent set of calibrations available for all the weather...

2,143 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Using the Levitus climatology, the authors showed that 2.1 TW (terawatts) is required to maintain the global abyssal density distribution against 30 Sverdrups of deep water formation.

1,958 citations