The variation of visibility at Great Wall Station （GWS） was analyzed using manual observational data for the period of 1986 to 2012. Results show that the frequencies of occurrence of high （≥ 10 km） and low visibility （0-1 km） are 61.0% and 8.0%, respectively. Visibility at GWS shows an evident seasonal variation： The highest visibility between November and March, and the lowest visibility from June to October. Sea fog and precipitation are the main factors for low visibility during summer, whereas frequent adverse weather, such as falling snow, blowing snow, or blizzards, are responsible for low visibility in winter. The frequency of occurrence of low visibility has decreased significantly from 1986 to 2012. Conversely, the frequency of occurrence of high visibility has shown a significant increasing trend, especially during winter. The decreasing tendencies of fog, blowing snow, and snowfall have contributed to the increasing trend of high visibility during winter. Visibility at GWS exhibits significant synoptic-scale （2.1 to 8.3 d）, annual, and inter-annual periods （2 a, 4.1 a, and 6.9 a to 8.2 a）, among which the most significant period is 4.1 a. The visibility observed during 2012 indicates that instrumental observation can be applied in the continuous monitoring of visibility at GWS.
YANG QinghuaYU LejiangWEI LixinZHANG BenzhengMENG Shang
In this study, the trends in latent and sensible heat fluxes (LHF and SHF) over the Southern Ocean (oceans south of 35?S) and the contributions of the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), the Pacific-South America teleconnection patterns (PSA1 and PSA2) and The El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) to these heat fluxes were investigated using the Objectively Analyzed Air-Sea Fluxes (OAFlux) dataset from 1979 to 2008. Significant positive annual trends in LHF occur over the Agulhas Current, the Brazil Current, the oceans in the vicinity of New Zealand and southern Australia, and the eastern Pacific Ocean near between 35?S and 40?S. Significant negative seasonal trends occur in LHF which differ among the four seasons. The spatial pattern and seasonal variation of the trends in SHF over the Southern Ocean are similar to those of LHF. The spatial patterns of the trends in LHF and SHF caused by the AAO, PSA1, PSA2 and Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) indices show a wave-like feature, varying with different seasons, that can be explained by the anomalous meridional wind associated with the four indices. The above four indices account for a small portion of the trend in LHF and SHF. The residual trends in LHF over the Southern Ocean may be explained by a climate shift in the late 1990s for the four seasons. But the residual trends in SHF over the Southern Ocean are not associated with the climate shift.
