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Showing papers by "Quanan Zheng published in 1998"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a new method for analysing nonlinear and nonstationary data has been developed, which is the key part of the method is the empirical mode decomposition method with which any complicated data set can be decoded.
Abstract: A new method for analysing nonlinear and non-stationary data has been developed. The key part of the method is the empirical mode decomposition method with which any complicated data set can be dec...

18,956 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors recognized the sea surface signature of a coastal lee wave using ERS-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of the west side of the Taiwan Strait taken on December 8, 1994.
Abstract: Alternative dark-bright patterns on ERS-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of the west side of the Taiwan Strait taken on December 8, 1994, were recognized to be the sea surface signature of a coastal lee wave. Such waves are called coastal lee waves because they occur along the lee side of the coast. The coastal lee waves appeared in the form of a wave packet distributed within an offshore band 20–40 km wide. The first packet, which occurred in the northern portion of the observed area, contained six waves with variable wavelengths (defined as the spatial separation between two waves) from 1.7 to 2.7 km. The second packet, in the middle, contained 10 waves with a relatively uniform wavelength of 4.2 km. The third packet, in the southern portion, contained 17 waves with an average wavelength of 2.0 km. The crest lengths were from 20 to 80 km. Local meteorologic parameters observed simultaneously at Fuzhou, China, close to the imaged area, showed an offshore wind of 1.5–3.5 m/s and a land surface air temperature of 19°C, which was 4°C lower than the sea surface temperature (SST). Thus the lower atmospheric boundary conditions at imaging time were very favorable both for generating the land breeze circulation and small wind waves on the sea surface, which are in the Bragg-scattering wavelength band of the C band ERS-1 SAR. A physical model of a three-layer atmosphere was developed in order to explain how the land breeze circulation can generate the coastal lee waves. The results showed that the vertical velocity disturbance caused by the wind convergence at the land breeze frontal zone is of vital importance for the generation of coastal lee waves, and the model gave very good estimates of the processes observed. The SAR imaging mechanisms of the waves were analyzed in detail. The differences between coastal lee waves and ocean internal waves, which appear as similar alternative dark-bright patterns on SAR images, were also discussed.

45 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the mean of the sea level deviation data derived from the TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter in the equatorial Pacific, between 10°S and 10°N, and between 120°E and 78°W, from cycles 2 to 136 (3 October 1992-2 June 1996), are extracted using a maximum-minimum average method.
Abstract: The mean of the sea level deviation data derived from the TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter in the equatorial Pacific, between 10°S and 10°N, and between 120°E and 78°W, from cycles 2 to 136 (3 October 1992–2 June 1996), are extracted using a maximum–minimum average method. Then, two-dimensional (2D) sea level deviation time series are developed to visualize the dynamics of equatorial waves. The complex singular value decomposition (CSVD) method is applied to decompose these 2D time series into empirical orthogonal modes. Using this method, zonal and meridional structures, propagation directions, periods, and propagation speeds of these empirical modes are obtained. The first empirical mode is propagating westward, and its structure is asymmetric to the equator. It has an average phase speed c = −0.6 m s−1 within 4°–6°N and c = −0.4 m s−1 within 6°–8°S, respectively, and a period of 15 months, which is associated with an interannual Rossby wave. The second empirical mode is propagating eastward along the ...

41 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a group of parallel cloud lines was identified in seven successive space shuttle photographs taken over the Pakistani offshore zone in the northern Arabian Sea on April 29, 1993, and the lines are generated by an atmospheric solitary wave packet characterized by decreases in amplitudes and wavelengths from the front to the rear.
Abstract: A group of parallel cloud lines was identified in seven successive space shuttle photographs taken over the Pakistani offshore zone in the northern Arabian Sea on April 29, 1993. There are a total of 19 lines aligned with the length of the leading line longer than 250 km and an average separation distance (wavelength) of 1 km. We suggest that the lines are generated by an atmospheric solitary wave packet characterized by decreases in amplitudes and wavelengths from the front to the rear. These features are comparable with the dnoidal soliton solution to the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation. The land breeze and katabatic flow are proposed as a possible generation mechanism.

15 citations


30 Sep 1998
TL;DR: The long-term goal is to set up a database of ocean internal waves observed from US space shuttles, where each case includes photographs, interpretation maps, quantitative data and information extracted from images, and boundary conditions collected by in situ measurements.
Abstract: : Our long-term goal is to set up a database of ocean internal waves observed from US space shuttles. Each case includes photographs, interpretation maps, quantitative data and information extracted from images, and boundary conditions collected by in situ measurements. The database will be publicly accessible. Users, who are interested in ocean internal waves, may search for the information they need through the network. The objectives that pertain to 1998 are: to develop or adopt methods for setting up the database specifically suited for space shuttle photography, to design a home page for the data base and a standard format for an individual case to be stored in the data base, and to collect data and interpretation results, which will be used as basic material for the data base.