Quanan Zheng

Bio: Quanan Zheng is an academic researcher from University of Maryland, College Park. The author has contributed to research in topics: Sea surface temperature & Internal wave. The author has an hindex of 34, co-authored 163 publications receiving 20319 citations. Previous affiliations of Quanan Zheng include National Science Foundation & University of Delaware.

Transient modulation of Kuroshio upper layer flow by directly impinging typhoon Morakot in east of Taiwan in 2009

Abstract: This study deals with the modulation of the Kuroshio upper layer flow (KULF) in response to the passage of Typhoon Morakot in 2009, using Regional Oceanic Modeling System (ROMS) and in situ measurements from Argos drifters and Argo floats. The analysis of the simulated current fields near the typhoon track revealed an intermittency phenomenon of the KULF, which was almost shut down for at least 6 hours. The process begun 2 days prior to the approach of typhoon center due to blockage of the KULF by the steadily northerly winds, and lasted for more than 2 days, simultaneously shifting the Kuroshio main stream (KMS) path. When the Morakot gradually moved closely to the Kuroshio, the KMS shifted vertically from the surface layer to deeper layer of 50 – 100 m depth, and the maximum current speed in the KMS decreased from more than 1.3 m s−1 to less than 1.1 m s−1. When the Morakot center approached about 100 km to the original position of the Kuroshio, the KULF spread eastward for 1.5 degrees at 24°N. When the Morakot center moved to the original position of the KMS, the Kuroshio abruptly rushed with a maximum speed near 1.4 m s−1. Meanwhile, an offshore cool jet originating from southeastern tip of Taiwan was generated and extended northward along the Kuroshio. In the cool jet, the lowest temperature reached about 5°C lower than the ambient waters. Modeled current variations and the cool jet during the Morakot passage were validated by in situ measurements.

A Numerical Simulation of Wind Stress and Topographic Effects on the Kuroshio Current Path near Taiwan

Abstract: A semispectral primitive equation model is used to study the effects of wind stress and bottom topography on the meandering of a jet over the continental margin. The jet is specified initially as a geostrophic current (similar to the Kuroshio Current) supported by the temperature field. The intrusion of water from the meandering jet over the continental margin is not only dominated by topographic effects but also enhanced by northerly winds. The latter induces an onshore Ekman transport, which causes surface water in the meandering jet to intrude onto the continental margin. Lighter water is then carried downward to the deeper ocean through the hydrostatic and topographic boundary layers. Some subsurface water in the meandering jet also intrudes onto the continental slope and shelf and then rejoins the main stream. Under the influence of southerly wind, surface water in the meandering jet migrates offshore toward the deeper ocean in the Ekman layer, while subsurface water in the meandering jet in...

A solitary wave packet in the atmosphere observed from space

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.

Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and spiral vortex

Abstract: Drilling rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, leased by BP PLC from Transocean Ltd., exploded and caught on fire on April 20, 2010. The drilling location is at some 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the coast of Louisiana, USA. The rig sank on April 22. Since then, oil has been pouring into the Gulf from the blown-out undersea well. As reported by US Today and Calgary Herald on July 3, an estimated 35 000 to 60 000 barrels of oil per day has been gushing out of the ruptured well into the Gulf. That means amounts to a total of 1.9 to 3.6 million barrels of oil so far have gushed into the Gulf. Using the high end of that estimate, the spill has now surpassed the 1979 Ixtoc blowout, which took nine months to cap and dumped estimated 3.3 million barrels (140 000 million gallons) into the Gulf of Mexico. It is topped only by the deliberate release of six to eight million barrels of crude oil by Iraqi troops who destroyed tankers and oil terminals and set wells ablaze in Kuwait during the 1991 Gulf War.

Variability of sea surface temperature and warm pool area in the South China Sea and its relationship to the western Pacific warm pool

Abstract: Sea surface temperature (SST) data derived from satellite and in situ measurements are used to study the thermal variability in the South China Sea (SCS). Time–frequency–energy distributions, periods of variability, and trends are computed by the Hilbert–Huang transform method. The SST trend from 1982 to 2005 is 0.276°C per decade in the SCS which is higher than 0.144°C per decade in the western Pacific warm pool (WPWP). The warm pool (SST ≥ 28°C) area in the SCS has increased by 0.20 × 106 km2 per decade. The SST and area of the warm pool in the SCS are strongly correlated, respectively, with the SST and area of the WPWP with a time lag of 1 month, suggestive of a strong connection between these two warm pools. Once the annual cycle is eliminated, decadal oscillations dominate the variability of SST and warm pool area in the SCS.

The empirical mode decomposition and the Hilbert spectrum for nonlinear and non-stationary time series analysis

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...

Ensemble empirical mode decomposition: a noise-assisted data analysis method

Abstract: A new Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) is presented. This new approach consists of sifting an ensemble of white noise-added signal (data) and treats the mean as the final true result. Finite, not infinitesimal, amplitude white noise is necessary to force the ensemble to exhaust all possible solutions in the sifting process, thus making the different scale signals to collate in the proper intrinsic mode functions (IMF) dictated by the dyadic filter banks. As EEMD is a time–space analysis method, the added white noise is averaged out with sufficient number of trials; the only persistent part that survives the averaging process is the component of the signal (original data), which is then treated as the true and more physical meaningful answer. The effect of the added white noise is to provide a uniform reference frame in the time–frequency space; therefore, the added noise collates the portion of the signal of comparable scale in one IMF. With this ensemble mean, one can separate scales naturall...

Variational Mode Decomposition

Abstract: During the late 1990s, Huang introduced the algorithm called Empirical Mode Decomposition, which is widely used today to recursively decompose a signal into different modes of unknown but separate spectral bands. EMD is known for limitations like sensitivity to noise and sampling. These limitations could only partially be addressed by more mathematical attempts to this decomposition problem, like synchrosqueezing, empirical wavelets or recursive variational decomposition. Here, we propose an entirely non-recursive variational mode decomposition model, where the modes are extracted concurrently. The model looks for an ensemble of modes and their respective center frequencies, such that the modes collectively reproduce the input signal, while each being smooth after demodulation into baseband. In Fourier domain, this corresponds to a narrow-band prior. We show important relations to Wiener filter denoising. Indeed, the proposed method is a generalization of the classic Wiener filter into multiple, adaptive bands. Our model provides a solution to the decomposition problem that is theoretically well founded and still easy to understand. The variational model is efficiently optimized using an alternating direction method of multipliers approach. Preliminary results show attractive performance with respect to existing mode decomposition models. In particular, our proposed model is much more robust to sampling and noise. Finally, we show promising practical decomposition results on a series of artificial and real data.

Accumulation and fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments.

Abstract: One of the most ubiquitous and long-lasting recent changes to the surface of our planet is the accumulation and fragmentation of plastics. Within just a few decades since mass production of plastic...

Numerical study of convection observed during the Winter Monsoon Experiment using a mesoscale two-dimensional model [presentation]

Abstract: Abstract A two-dimensional version of the Pennsylvania State University mesoscale model has been applied to Winter Monsoon Experiment data in order to simulate the diurnally occurring convection observed over the South China Sea. The domain includes a representation of part of Borneo as well as the sea so that the model can simulate the initiation of convection. Also included in the model are parameterizations of mesoscale ice phase and moisture processes and longwave and shortwave radiation with a diurnal cycle. This allows use of the model to test the relative importance of various heating mechanisms to the stratiform cloud deck, which typically occupies several hundred kilometers of the domain. Frank and Cohen's cumulus parameterization scheme is employed to represent vital unresolved vertical transports in the convective area. The major conclusions are: Ice phase processes are important in determining the level of maximum large-scale heating and vertical motion because there is a strong anvil componen...