Influence of direct sulfate-aerosol radiative forcing on the results of numerical experiments with a climate model of intermediate complexity

The climate model of intermediate complexity developed at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS CM) is extended by a block for the direct anthropogenic sulfate-aerosol (SA) radiative forcing. Numerical experiments have been performed with prescribed scenarios of the greenhouse and anthropogenic sulfate radiative forcings from observational estimates for the 19th and 20th centuries and from SRES scenarios A1B, A2, and B1 for the 21st century. The globally averaged direct anthropogenic SA radiative forcing F _ASA by the end of the 20th century relative to the preindustrial state is ?0.34 W/m², lying within the uncertainty range of the corresponding present-day estimates. The absolute value of F _ASA is the largest in Europe, North America, and southeastern Asia. A general increase in direct radiative forcing in the numerical experiments that have been performed continues until the mid-21st century. With both the greenhouse and the sulfate loadings included, the global climate warming in the model is 1.5–2.8 K by the end of the 21st century relative to the late 20th century, depending on the scenario, and 2.1–3.4 K relative to the preindustrial period. The sulfate aerosol reduces global warming by 0.1–0.4 K in different periods depending on the scenario. The largest slowdown (>1.5 K) occurs over land at middle and high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere in the mid-21st century for scenario A2. The IAP RAS CM response to the greenhouse and the aerosol forcing is not additive.     

Interaction of the methane cycle and processes in wetland ecosystems in a climate model of intermediate complexity

The climate model of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS CM) has been supplemented with a module of soil thermal physics and the methane cycle, which takes into account the response of methane emissions from wetland ecosystems to climate changes. Methane emissions are allowed only from unfrozen top layers of the soil, with an additional constraint in the depth of the simulated layer. All wetland ecosystems are assumed to be water-saturated. The molar amount of the methane oxidized in the atmosphere is added to the simulated atmospheric concentration of CO₂. A control preindustrial experiment and a series of numerical experiments for the 17th–21st centuries were conducted with the model forced by greenhouse gases and tropospheric sulfate aerosols. It is shown that the IAP RAS CM generally reproduces preindustrial and current characteristics of both seasonal thawing/freezing of the soil and the methane cycle. During global warming in the 21st century, the permafrost area is reduced by four million square kilometers. By the end of the 21st century, methane emissions from wetland ecosystems amount to 130–140 Mt CH₄/year for the preindustrial and current period increase to 170–200 MtCH₄/year. In the aggressive anthropogenic forcing scenario A2, the atmospheric methane concentration grows steadily to ≈3900 ppb. In more moderate scenarios A1B and B1, the methane concentration increases until the mid-21st century, reaching ≈2100–2400 ppb, and then decreases. Methane oxidation in air results in a slight additional growth of the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide. Allowance for the interaction between processes in wetland ecosystems and the methane cycle in the IAP RAS CM leads to an additional atmospheric methane increase of 10–20% depending on the anthropogenic forcing scenario and the time. The causes of this additional increase are the temperature dependence of integral methane production and the longer duration of a warm period in the soil. However, the resulting enhancement of the instantaneous greenhouse radiative forcing of atmospheric methane and an increase in the mean surface air temperature are small (globally < 0.1 W/m² and 0.05 K, respectively).     

Estimating climate changes in the northern hemisphere in the 21st century under alternative scenarios of anthropogenic forcing

Possible changes in the climate characteristics of the Northern Hemisphere in the 21st century are estimated using a climate model (developed at the Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics (OIAP), Russian Academy of Sciences) under different scenarios of variations in the atmospheric contents of greenhouse gases and aerosols, including those formed at the OIAP on the basis of SRES emission scenarios (group I) and scenarios (group II) developed at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MPEI). Over the 21st century, the global annual mean warming at the surface amounts to 1.2?C2.6°C under scenarios I and 0.9?C1.2°C under scenarios II. For all scenarios II, starting from the 2060s, a decrease is observed in the rate of increase in the global mean annual near-surface air temperature. The spatial structures of variations in the mean annual near-surface air temperature in the 21st century, which have been obtained for both groups of scenarios (with smaller absolute values for scenarios II), are similar. Under scenarios I, within the extratropical latitudes, the mean annual surface air temperature increases by 3?C7°C in North America and by 3?C5°C in Eurasia in the 21st century. Under scenarios II, the near-surface air temperature increases by 2?C4°C in North America and by 2?C3°C in Eurasia. An increase in the total amount of precipitation by the end of the 21st century is noted for both groups of scenarios; the most significant increase in the precipitation rate is noted for the land of the Northern Hemisphere. By the late 21st century, the total area of the near-surface permafrost soils of the land of the Northern Hemisphere decreases to 3.9?C9.5 10⁶ km² for scenarios I and 9.7?C11.0 × 10⁶ km² for scenarios II. The decrease in the area of near-surface permafrost soils by 2091?C2100 (as compared to 2001?C2010) amounts to approximately 65% for scenarios I and 40% for scenarios II. By the end of the 21st century, in regions of eastern Siberia, in which near-surface permafrost soils are preserved, the characteristic depths of seasonal thawing amount to 0.5?C2.5 m for scenarios I and 1?C2 m for scenarios II. In western Siberia, the depth of seasonal thawing amounts to 1?C2 m under both scenarios I and II.     

Estimation of the uncertainty of future changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and its radiative forcing

An ensemble experiment with the IAP RAS CM was performed to estimate future changes in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, its radiative forcing, and characteristics of the climate-carbon cycle feedback. Different ensemble members were obtained by varying the governing parameters of the terrestrial carbon cycle of the model. For 1860–2100, anthropogenic CO₂ emissions due to fossil-fuel burning and land use were prescribed from observational estimates for the 19th and 20th centuries. For the 21st century, emissions were taken from the SRES A2 scenario. The ensemble of numerical experiments was analyzed via Bayesian statistics, which made the uncertainty range of estimates much narrower. To distinguish between realistic and unrealistic ensemble members, the observational characteristics of the carbon cycle for the 20th century were used as a criterion. For the given emission scenario, the carbon dioxide concentration expected by the end of the 21st century falls into the range 818 ± 46 ppm (an average plus or minus standard deviation). The corresponding global instantaneous radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere (relative to the preindustrial state) lies in the uncertainty range 6.8 ± 0.4 W m^?2. The uncertainty range of the strength of the climate-carbon cycle feedback by the end of the 21st century reaches 59 ± 98 ppm in terms of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and 0.4 ± 0.7 W m^?2 in terms of the radiative forcing.     

Estimation of changes in characteristics of the climate and carbon cycle in the 21st century accounting for the uncertainty of terrestrial biota parameter values

ensemble simulations with the A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS) climate model (CM) for the 21st century are analyzed taking into account anthropogenic forcings in accordance with the Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) A2, A1B, and B1, whereas agricultural land areas were assumed to change in accordance with the Land Use Harmonization project scenarios. Different realizations within these ensemble experiments were constructed by varying two governing parameters of the terrestrial carbon cycle. The ensemble simulations were analyzed with the use of Bayesian statistics, which makes it possible to suppress the influence of unrealistic members of these experiments on their results. It is established that, for global values of the main characteristics of the terrestrial carbon cycle, the SRES scenarios used do not differ statistically from each other, so within the framework of the model, the primary productivity of terrestrial vegetation will increase in the 21st century from 74 ± 1 to 102 ± 13 PgC yr⁻¹ and the carbon storage in terrestrial vegetation will increase from 511 ± 8 to 611 ± 8 PgC (here and below, we indicate the mean ± standard deviations). The mutual compensation of changes in the soil carbon stock in different regions will make global changes in the soil carbon storage in the 21st century statistically insignificant. The global CO₂ uptake by terrestrial ecosystems will increase in the first half of the 21st century, whereupon it will decrease. The uncertainty interval of this variable in the middle (end) of the 21st century will be from 1.3 to 3.4 PgC yr⁻¹ (from 0.3 to 3.1 PgC yr⁻¹). In most regions, an increase in the net productivity of terrestrial vegetation (especially outside the tropics), the accumulation of carbon in this vegetation, and changes in the amount of soil carbon stock (with the total carbon accumulation in soils of the tropics and subtropics and the regions of both accumulation and loss of soil carbon at higher latitudes) will be robust within the ensemble in the 21st century, as will the CO₂ uptake from the atmosphere only by terrestrial ecosystems located at extratropical latitudes of Eurasia, first and foremost by the Siberian taiga. However, substantial differences in anthropogenic emissions between the SRES scenarios in the 21st century lead to statistically significant differences between these scenarios in the carbon dioxide uptake by the ocean, the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere, and changes in the surface air temperature. In particular, according to the SRES A2 (A1B, B1) scenario, in 2071–2100 the carbon flux from the atmosphere to the ocean will be 10.6 ± 0.6 PgC yr⁻¹ (8.3 ± 0.5, 5.6 ± 0.3 PgC yr⁻¹), and the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere will reach 773 ± 28 ppmv (662 ± 24, 534 ± 16 ppmv) by 2100. The annual mean warming in 2071–2100 relatively to 1961–1990 will be 3.19 ± 0.09 K (2.52 ± 0.08, 1.84 ± 0.06 K).     

Climate and carbon cycle variations in the 20th and 21st centuries in a model of intermediate complexity

The climate model of intermediate complexity developed at the Oboukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS CM), has been supplemented by a zero-dimensional carbon cycle model. With the carbon dioxide emissions prescribed for the second half of the 19th century and for the 20th century, the model satisfactorily reproduces characteristics of the carbon cycle over this period. However, with continued anthropogenic CO₂ emissions (SRES scenarios A1B, A2, B1, and B2), the climate-carbon cycle feedback in the model leads to an additional atmospheric CO₂ increase (in comparison with the case where the influence of climate changes on the carbon exchange between the atmosphere and the underlying surface is disregarded). This additional increase is varied in the range 67–90 ppmv depending on the scenario and is mainly due to the dynamics of soil carbon storage. The climate-carbon cycle feedback parameter varies nonmonotonically with time. Positions of its extremes separate characteristic periods of the change in the intensity of anthropogenic emissions and of climate variations. By the end of the 21st century, depending on the emission scenario, the carbon dioxide concentration is expected to increase to 615–875 ppmv and the global temperature will rise by 2.4–3.4 K relative to the preindustrial value. In the 20th–21st centuries, a general growth of the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and ocean and its reduction in terrestrial ecosystems can be expected. In general, by the end of the 21st century, the more aggressive emission scenarios are characterized by a smaller climate-carbon cycle feedback parameter, a lower sensitivity of climate to a single increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, a larger fraction of anthropogenic emissions stored in the atmosphere and the ocean, and a smaller fraction of emissions in terrestrial ecosystems.     

Effect of including land-use driven radiative forcing of the surface albedo of land on climate response in the 16th–21st centuries

A change in ecosystem types, such as through natural-vegetation-agriculture conversion, alters the surface albedo and triggers attendant shortwave radiative forcing (RF). This paper describes numerical experiments performed using the climate model (CM) of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Russian Academy of Sciences, for the 16th–21st centuries; this model simulated the response to a change in the contents of greenhouse gases (tropospheric and stratospheric), sulfate aerosols, solar constant, as well as the response to change in surface albedo of land due to natural-vegetation-agriculture conversion. These forcing estimates relied on actual data until the late 20th century. In the 21st century, the agricultural area was specified according to scenarios of the Land Use Harmonization project and other anthropogenic impacts were specified using SRES scenarios. The change in the surface vegetation during conversion from natural vegetation to agriculture triggers a cooling RF in most regions except for those of natural semiarid vegetation. The global and annual average RF derived from the IAP RAS CM in late 20th century is ?0.11 W m^?2. Including the land-use driven RF in IAP RAS CM appreciably reconciled the model calculations to observations in this historical period. For instance, in addition to the net climate warming, IAP RAS CM predicted an annually average cooling and reduction in precipitation in the subtropics of Eurasia and North America and in Amazonia and central Africa, as well as a local maximum in annually average and summertime warming in East China. The land-use driven RF alters the sign in the dependence that the amplitude of the annual cycle of the near-surface atmospheric temperature has on the annually averaged temperature. One reason for the decrease in precipitation as a result of a change in albedo due to land use may be the suppression of the convective activity in the atmosphere in the warm period (throughout the year in the tropics) and the corresponding decrease in convective precipitation. In the 21st century, the effect that the land-use driven RF has on the climate response for scenarios of anthropogenic impact is generally small.     

Estimating the efficiency of mitigating and preventing global warming with scenarios of controlled aerosol emissions into the stratosphere

Ensemble numerical experiments with the climate model of intermediate complexity developed at the A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS CM) are conducted to estimate the efficiency of controlled climate forcing (geoengineering) due to stratospheric sulfate aerosol (SSA) emissions in order to compensate for global warming under the SRES A1B anthropogenic emission scenario. Full (or even excessive) compensation for the expected anthropogenic warming in the model is possible with sufficiently intense geoengineering. For ensemble members with values of the governing parameters corresponding to those obtained for the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, global warming is reduced by no more than 0.46 K in the second half of the 21st century, with a residual rise in the global surface temperature T _g comparative to 1961–1990 of 1.0–1.2 K by 2050 and 1.9–2.2 K by 2100. The largest reduction in global warming (with the other parameters of the numerical experiment being equal) is found not for a meridional distribution of SSA concentration peaked at low latitudes (despite the largest (in magnitude) global compensation instantaneous radiative forcing), but for a uniform horizontal aerosol distribution and for a distribution with the SSA concentration maximum in the middle and subpolar latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The efficiency of geoengineering in terms of T _g in the second half of the 21st century between the most efficient and the least efficient meridional distributions of stratospheric aerosols differs by as much as one-third, depending on the values of other governing parameters. For meridional distributions of SSA concentration, which produce the largest deceleration of global warming, such a deceleration is regionally most pronounced over high- and subpolarlatitude land areas and in the Arctic. In particular, this is expressed in the smallest reduction in the sea-ice extent and permafrost area under climate warming in the model. The compensation forcing also decelerates a general increase in global annual precipitation P _g during warming. The relative deceleration in precipitation increase is most pronounced in land regions outside the tropics, where a significant deficit in precipitation is currently observed. After the theoretical completion of geoengineering in the first or second decade, its temperature effect vanishes with an abrupt acceleration of global and regional surface warming. For individual members of the ensemble experiment, the global temperature change in this period is five times as large as that in the experiment without geoengineering and ten times as large regionally (in northeastern Siberia).     

Influence of volcanic activity on climate change in the past several centuries: Assessments with a climate model of intermediate complexity

The climate model of intermediate complexity developed at the A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS CM) is supplemented by a scheme which takes into account the volcanic forcing of climate. With this model, ensemble experiments have been conducted for the 1600s–1900s, in which, along with the volcanic forcing, the anthropogenic forcing due to greenhouse gases and sulfate aerosols and the natural forcing due to variations in solar irradiance were taken into account. The model realistically reproduces the annual mean response of surface air temperature and precipitation to major eruptions both globally and regionally. In particular, the decreases in the annual mean global temperature T _g in the IAP RAS CM after the largest eruptions in the latter half of the 20th century, the Mt. Agung (1963), El Chichon (1982), and Mt. Pinatubo (1991) volcanic eruptions, are 0.28, 0.27, and 0.46 K, respectively, in agreement with estimates from observational data. Moreover, in the IAP RAS CM, the volcanic eruptions result in a general precipitation decrease, especially over land in the middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The seasonal distribution of the response shows good agreement with observations for high-latitude eruptions and worse agreement for tropical and subtropical volcanoes. On interdecadal scales, volcanism leads to variations in T _g on the order of 0.1 K. In numerical experiments with anthropogenic and natural forcings, the model reproduces a general change in surface air temperature over the past several centuries. Taking into account the volcanic forcing, along with that due to variations in solar irradiance, the model has partly reproduced the nonmonotonic global warming for the 20th century.     

Simulation of characteristics of thermal and hydrologic soil regimes in equilibrium numerical experiments with a climate model of intermediate complexity

The IAP RAS CM (Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, climate model) has been extended to include a comprehensive scheme of thermal and hydrologic soil processes. In equilibrium numerical experiments with specified preindustrial and current concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the coupled model successfully reproduces thermal characteristics of soil, including the temperature of its surface, and seasonal thawing and freezing characteristics. On the whole, the model also reproduces soil hydrology, including the winter snow water equivalent and river runoff from large watersheds. Evapotranspiration from the soil surface and soil moisture are simulated somewhat worse. The equilibrium response of the model to a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide shows a considerable warming of the soil surface, a reduction in the extent of permanently frozen soils, and the general growth of evaporation from continents. River runoff increases at high latitudes and decreases in the subtropics. The results are in qualitative agreement with observational data for the 20th century and with climate model simulations for the 21st century.     

IPCC气候情景下全球海平面长期趋势变化

利用CCSM3 (Community Climate System Model version 3)气候系统模式模拟20世纪海平面变化,在IPCC SRES A2 (IPCC,2001)情景假设下预测21世纪全球海平面长期趋势变化。模拟显示20世纪海平面上升约4.0 cm,且存在0.004 8 mm/a2的加速度,这个结果仅为热盐比容的贡献。在A2情景假设下,21世纪海平面上升存在很大的区域特征,呈纬向带状分布;总体上北冰洋上升大,南大洋高纬度海区上升小,大西洋上升值比太平洋的大;整个21世纪全球平均比容海平面上升了约30 cm,且呈加速上升的趋势。同时发现,中深层水温度和盐度变化对区域比容海平面变化具有重要贡献。北太平洋增暖主要集中在上层700 m以内,而北大西洋的增暖可达2 500 m的深度,南大洋南极绕极流海区热盐变化则是发生在整个深度。     

On the relation of the number of extratropical cyclones to their sizes

Extratropical cyclones were identified on the basis of sea level pressure NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data for the Northern Hemisphere from 1948 to 2004. Cyclone positions were determined with a time interval of 6 h. Cyclone sizes were obtained with the use of a numerical scheme based on a rotation of the spherical coordinate system such that the pole of the new coordinate system coincided with the cyclone center. Cyclone sizes were determined at each step of the trajectory. The last closed isobar was assumed to be the outer boundary of the cyclone. The pressure deficit in the cyclone center was regarded as a characteristic of the intensity of a synoptic formation. The interrelation between the number of cyclones and their sizes was estimated for all extratropical cyclones of the Northern Hemisphere regardless of the stage of their development. The number of cases being analyzed is 1.5 × 10⁶. Cyclone areas vary from 0.13 × 10⁶ to 6.4 × 10⁶ km², and 80% of extratropical cyclones have an intensity of 1–15 hPa. The distribution of the number of cyclones depending on their intensities is shown to be of an exponential character. The distributions of the number of cyclones were approximated with a very high accuracy, so that the regularities obtained are very stable during the past several decades.     

Comparison of climatic efficiency of the mechanisms of land-surface albedo changes caused by land use

Changes in ecosystem types, including situations when natural vegetation is replaced by agricultural lands, leads to surface albedo changes and the development of the corresponding short-wave radiative forcing (RF). This work analyzes ensemble numerical experiments with the climatic model (CM) of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS) for the 16th–21st centuries. The responses to changes in the contents of greenhouse gases and sulfate aerosols (tropospheric and stratospheric), in the solar constant, and in the land-surface albedo when natural vegetation is replaced by agricultural lands were modeled during these experiments. Different members of these ensemble experiments were obtained by varying the model parameters affecting the RF on the climate during land use: the albedo of agricultural lands was varied within the interval from 0.15 to 0.25 and the parameter controlling the efficiency of snow masking by tree vegetation was varied in the range from the absence of this effect to its maximally possible efficiency. It has been established that changes in surface albedo when natural vegetation is replaced by agricultural lands have the largest influence on the globally averaged annual mean RF at the top of the atmosphere, whereas the influence of snow masking on the RF is substantially less. This phenomenon is caused by the fact that snow masking by tree vegetation can take place only in winter in regions of temperate and high latitudes, when insolation is relatively low. A comparison of the spatial structure of the annual mean response of the surface temperature with the HadCRUT3v and GISS observational data makes it possible to narrow the admissible range of model parameter values. In particular, it can be inferred that the key parameter values which control the influence that land use has on the surface albedo in the IAP RAS CM are close to optimal. In addition, variations in these parameters do not lead to a significant influence of land use on climate change in the 21st century if the Land Use Harmonization (LUH) scenarios of changes in the area of agricultural lands are used: the uncertainty of the model response associated with the uncertainty of values of such controlling parameters in the 21st century does not exceed 0.1 K.     

Probability distributions for cyclones and anticyclones from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data and the INM RAS climate model

Analysis of statistical characteristics of cyclones and anticyclones in the latitudinal belt between 20° and 80°N has been performed with the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data and simulations with the general circulation climate model of the Institute of Numerical Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (INM RAS GCCM). The model results have been analyzed for the second half of the 20th century against the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data and for the 21st century with the SRES-A2 anthropogenic scenario. Overall for the 20th century, no statistically significant changes in the number of cyclones and anticyclones are obtained from either the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data [1] or from simulations with the INM RAS GCCM [2]. It is found that the total number of cyclones and anticyclones decreased in the 20th century as compared to the 21st century. It is shown that cumulative distributions of the number of cyclones and anticyclones by their intensities and areas have an exponential form from both the reanalysis data and the model simulations, although the corresponding exponents are different.     

Validating and assessing the sensitivity of the climate model with an ocean general circulation model developed at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics,Russian Academy of Sciences

A new version of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS), climate model (CM) has been developed using an ocean general circulation model instead of the statistical-dynamical ocean model applied in the previous version. The spatial resolution of the new ocean model is 3° in latitude and 5° in longitude, with 25 unevenly spaced vertical levels. In the previous version of the oceanic model, as in the atmospheric model, the horizontal resolution was 4.5° in latitude and 6° in longitude, with four vertical levels (the upper quasi-homogeneous layer, seasonal thermocline, abyssal ocean, and bottom friction layer). There is no correction for the heat and momentum fluxes between the atmosphere and ocean in the new version of the IAP RAS CM. Numerical experiments with the IAP RAS CM have been performed under current initial and boundary conditions, as well as with an increasing concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The main simulated atmospheric and oceanic fields agree quite well with observational data. The new version’s equilibrium temperature sensitivity to atmospheric CO₂ doubling was found to be 2.9 K. This value lies in the mid-range of estimates (2–4.5 K) obtained from simulations with state-of-the-art models of different complexities.     

Simulation of changes in global ozone and atmospheric dynamics in the 21st century with the chemistry-climate model SOCOL

The solar climate ozone links (SOCOL) three-dimensional chemistry-climate model is used to estimate changes in the ozone and atmospheric dynamics over the 21st century. With this model, four numerical time-slice experiments were conducted for 1980, 2000, 2050, and 2100 conditions. Boundary conditions for sea-surface temperatures, sea-ice parameters, and concentrations of greenhouse and ozone-depleting gases were set following the IPCC A1B scenario and the WMO A1 scenario. From the model results, a statistically significant cooling of the model stratosphere was obtained to be 4–5 K for 2000–2050 and 3–5 K for 2050–2100. The temperature of the lower atmosphere increases by 2–3 K over the 21st century. Tropospheric heating significantly enhances the activity of planetary-scale waves at the tropopause. As a result, the Eliassen-Palm flux divergence considerable increases in the middle and upper stratosphere. The intensity of zonal circulation decreases and the meridional residual circulation increases, especially in the winter-spring period of each hemisphere. These dynamic changes, along with a decrease in the concentrations of ozone-depleting gases, result in a faster growth of O₃ outside the tropics. For example, by 2050, the total ozone in the middle and high latitudes approaches its model level of 1980 and the ozone hole in Antarctica fills up. The superrecovery of the model ozone layer in the middle and high latitudes of both hemispheres occurs in 2100. The tropical ozone layer recovers far less slowly, reaching a 1980 level only by 2100.     

变暖背景下北极海冰减少在冬季北半球高纬大陆降雪增加中的作用

过去的几个冬季中,北美、欧洲、西伯利亚和东亚大部分地区经历了冷冬和强降雪,而这与北极海冰的快速减少有关。尽管北极海冰减少在冷冬和强降雪中的作用仍存在争议,但这种新兴的气候反馈在未来变暖背景下是否会持续仍值得关注。中等排放情境下的气候模式模拟结果揭示,欧洲东北部、亚洲中部北部、北美北部的冬季降雪增加会成为贯穿21世纪的一个稳健的特征。21世纪这些区域冬季降雪增加的主要原因是北极秋季海冰的减少（很大的外部强迫）,而冬季北极涛动的变化（北半球主要的自然变化形态）对降雪增加的作用很小。这一结果不仅体现在多模式平均上,而且每个单独模式的结果依然如此。我们认为海冰-降雪之间的强反馈作用可能已经出现,并且在接下来的几十年中这种强反馈作用可能会增强,北半球高纬地区的强降雪事件也会增加。     

CMIP5气候模式模拟的北极海冰特征及其季节变化

This paper is focused on the seasonality change of Arctic sea ice extent(SIE) from 1979 to 2100 using newly available simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5(CMIP5).A new approach to compare the simulation metric of Arctic SIE between observation and 31 CMIP5 models was established.The approach is based on four factors including the climatological average,linear trend of SIE,span of melting season and annual range of SIE.It is more objective and can be popularized to other comparison of models.Six good models(GFDL-CM3,CESM1-BGC,MPI-ESM-LR,ACCESS-1.0,Had GEM2-CC,and Had GEM2-AO in turn) are found which meet the criterion closely based on above approach.Based on ensemble mean of the six models,we found that the Arctic sea ice will continue declining in each season and firstly drop below 1 million km~2(defined as the ice-free state) in September 2065 under RCP4.5 scenario and in September 2053 under RCP8.5 scenario.We also study the seasonal cycle of the Arctic SIE and find out the duration of Arctic summer(melting season) will increase by about 100 days under RCP4.5 scenario and about 200 days under RCP8.5 scenario relative to current circumstance by the end of the 21 st century.Asymmetry of the Arctic SIE seasonal cycle with later freezing in fall and early melting in spring,would be more apparent in the future when the Arctic climate approaches to "tipping point",or when the ice-free Arctic Ocean appears.Annual range of SIE(seasonal melting ice extent) will increase almost linearly in the near future 30–40 years before the Arctic appears ice-free ocean,indicating the more ice melting in summer,the more ice freezing in winter,which may cause more extreme weather events in both winter and summer in the future years.     

Methane cycle in the INM RAS climate model

The atmosphere-ocean general circulation model with the carbon cycle is coupled to a model of methane evolution, in which methane sources in the soil of wetlands and methane evolution in the atmosphere are calculated. A numerical experiment on the simulation of climate and methane-cycle changes in 1860–2100 has been conducted with the model forced by methane emissions prescribed from scenario A1B. The distribution of the sources of methane from soil agrees with the available estimates and amounts to about 240 Mt/year in the 20th century. The methane flux from soil increases to 340 Mt/year by the end of the 21st century. The model adequately reproduces an increase in the atmospheric methane concentration from 800 ppb in 1860 to about 1800 ppb in 2000, but does not produce the observed stabilization of methane concentration in the early 21st century. By 2060, the methane concentration in the model attains 2700 ppb. The increase in atmospheric methane concentration is due mainly to anthropogenic emissions. A similar numerical experiment with fixed sources of methane from soil at the 1860–1900 level suggests that the maximum methane concentration in the model in this case could amount to 2400 ppb. A temperature increase at the end of the 21st century relative to the 19th century is 3.5° for a simulated change in the methane flux from soil and 0.25° less for a fixed methane flux.     

How soon will climate records of the 20th century be broken according to climate model simulations?

What will happen to local record values of temperature and precipitation in a world with ongoing global warming? Here we first examine how many of the observed local temperature maxima of 1901–2006 occurred in the years 2001–2006 and compare the observations with model simulations. Then we study whether, and how soon, the models simulate the climate records of the 20th century to be broken in the ongoing 21st century.
In 27% of our analysis area, the highest annual mean temperatures of the whole period 1901–2006 were observed in 2001–2006. For the 22 climate models in our study, this fraction varies from 17% to 70%, with a multimodel mean of 40%. In simulations based on the SRES A1B emissions scenario, the highest annual mean temperature of the 20th century is exceeded on average in 99% of the global area by the year 2080. The same number for the highest (lowest) annual precipitation total is 60% (43%). Monthly and seasonal temperature and precipitation records are also analysed, and the geographical distributions of record value occurrence are related to the distributions of time mean climate change and magnitude of interannual variability.