#### Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Options

# Laplacian of surface temperature

2013 surface temperatures:

2013 surface temps

Blue is 0, so it seems the Laplacian of surface temperature is near 0 over the oceans, very active in the poles!?

• Options
1.

I need to build a BAT-SIGNAL for John, so when there is trouble in Gotham I could ask his help.

Comment Source:I need to build a BAT-SIGNAL for John, so when there is trouble in Gotham I could ask his help.
• Options
2.

The Laplacian is the divergence which is essentially showing continuity of flow within a region. If the net flow is other than zero, something is obviously leaking.

One of the strange dynamics in climatology are the so-called Sudden Stratospheric Warming events http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_stratospheric_warming

In a SSW event, a heated mass of air essentially rises quickly into the stratosphere. This is a localized sink of temperature.
As I recall they have a larger impact on polar regions.

In 2013, a SSW event originated in the Himalayas. http://theweathercentre.blogspot.com/2013/02/himalayas-provoking-upper-stratospheric.html

It is possible you are picking up something around that region based on the video.

SSW have some connection to the Quasi-Biennial Oscillations (QBO) -- which are cycles in stratospheric winds -- and of course with ENSO.
A group of scientists in Germany is very interested in the connection, which may be instigated by a resonance condition among the oscillations and also with topography, which explains the Himalaya connection. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2011JD015757/full

Dara, you keep digging and you may uncover something really amazing.

Comment Source:The Laplacian is the divergence which is essentially showing continuity of flow within a region. If the net flow is other than zero, something is obviously leaking. One of the strange dynamics in climatology are the so-called Sudden Stratospheric Warming events <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_stratospheric_warming> In a SSW event, a heated mass of air essentially rises quickly into the stratosphere. This is a localized sink of temperature. As I recall they have a larger impact on polar regions. In 2013, a SSW event originated in the Himalayas. <http://theweathercentre.blogspot.com/2013/02/himalayas-provoking-upper-stratospheric.html> It is possible you are picking up something around that region based on the video. SSW have some connection to the Quasi-Biennial Oscillations (QBO) -- which are cycles in stratospheric winds -- and of course with ENSO. A group of scientists in Germany is very interested in the connection, which may be instigated by a resonance condition among the oscillations and also with topography, which explains the Himalaya connection. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2011JD015757/full> Dara, you keep digging and you may uncover something really amazing.
• Options
3.

I will do the other years for comparison, get back to you, and thank you for the ideas and papers you posted.

In a bit

Dara

Comment Source:I will do the other years for comparison, get back to you, and thank you for the ideas and papers you posted. In a bit Dara
• Options
4.

Paul you were correct, in 2013 the first and second derivative with respect to time clearly shows the Himalayas have higher values than corresponding derivatives in 2010.

The second derivative in time again shows standing pattern like the one's Mahler had found.

Comment Source:Paul you were correct, in 2013 the first and second derivative with respect to time clearly shows the Himalayas have higher values than corresponding derivatives in 2010. The second derivative in time again shows standing pattern like the one's Mahler had found.
• Options
5.

Dara, it might be worth looking at the Laplacian divided by dT/dt. This should help highlight external forces, since it is normalizing for the effect of the heat equation. This will probably be noisy when dT/dt is very small. Maybe the bettter would be to first estimate the a linear model of the Laplacian vs dT/dt and then visualize the residual error.

Comment Source:Dara, it might be worth looking at the Laplacian divided by dT/dt. This should help highlight external forces, since it is normalizing for the effect of the heat equation. This will probably be noisy when dT/dt is very small. Maybe the bettter would be to first estimate the a linear model of the Laplacian vs dT/dt and then visualize the residual error.