A further assessment of vegetation feedback on decadal Sahel rainfall variability

The effect of vegetation feedback on decadal-scale Sahel rainfall variability is analyzed using an ensemble of climate model simulations in which the atmospheric general circulation model ICTPAGCM (“SPEEDY”) is coupled to the dynamic vegetation model VEGAS to represent feedbacks from surface albedo change and evapotranspiration, forced externally by observed sea surface temperature (SST) changes. In the control experiment, where the full vegetation feedback is included, the ensemble is consistent with the observed decadal rainfall variability, with a forced component 60 % of the observed variability. In a sensitivity experiment where climatological vegetation cover and albedo are prescribed from the control experiment, the ensemble of simulations is not consistent with the observations because of strongly reduced amplitude of decadal rainfall variability, and the forced component drops to 35 % of the observed variability. The decadal rainfall variability is driven by SST forcing, but significantly enhanced by land-surface feedbacks. Both, local evaporation and moisture flux convergence changes are important for the total rainfall response. Also the internal decadal variability across the ensemble members (not SST-forced) is much stronger in the control experiment compared with the one where vegetation cover and albedo are prescribed. It is further shown that this positive vegetation feedback is physically related to the albedo feedback, supporting the Charney hypothesis.     

Role of dynamic vegetation in regional climate predictions over western Africa

This study examines the role of vegetation dynamics in regional predictions of future climate change in western Africa using a dynamic vegetation model asynchronously coupled to a regional climate model. Two experiments, one for present day and one for future, are conducted with the linked regional climate-vegetation model, and the third with the regional climate model standing alone that predicts future climate based on present-day vegetation. These simulations are so designed in order to tease out the impact of structural vegetation feedback on simulated climate and hydrological processes. According to future predictions by the regional climate-vegetation model, increase in LAI is widespread, with significant shift in vegetation type. Over the Guinean Coast in 2084–2093, evergreen tree coverage decreases by 49% compared to 1984–1993, while drought deciduous tree coverage increases by 56%. Over the Sahel region in the same period, grass cover increases by 31%. Such vegetation changes are accompanied by a decrease of JJA rainfall by 2% over the Guinean Coast and an increase by 23% over the Sahel. This rather small decrease or large increase of precipitation is largely attributable to the role of vegetation feedback. Without the feedback effect from vegetation, the regional climate model would have predicted a 5% decrease of JJA rainfall in both the Guinean Coast and the Sahel as a result of the radiative and physiological effects of higher atmospheric CO₂ concentration. These results demonstrate that climate- and CO₂-induced changes in vegetation structure modify hydrological processes and climate at magnitudes comparable to or even higher than the radiative and physiological effects, thus evincing the importance of including vegetation feedback in future climate predictions.     

Natural variability of summer rainfall over China in HadCM3

Summer rainfall over China has shown decadal variability in the past half century, which has resulted in major north–south shifts in rainfall with important implications for flooding and water resource management. This study has demonstrated how multi-century climate model simulations can be used to explore interdecadal natural variability in the climate system in order to address important questions around recent changes in Chinese summer rainfall, and whether or not anthropogenic climate change is playing a role. Using a 1,000-year simulation of HadCM3 with constant pre-industrial external forcing, the dominant modes of total and interdecadal natural variability in Chinese summer rainfall have been analysed. It has been shown that these modes are comparable in magnitude and in temporal and spatial characteristics to those observed in the latter part of the twentieth century. However, despite 1,000 years of model simulation it has not been possible to demonstrate that these modes are related to similar variations in the global circulation and surface temperature forcing occurring during the latter half of the twentieth century. This may be in part due to model biases. Consequently, recent changes in the spatial distribution of Chinese summer rainfall cannot be attributed solely to natural variability, nor has it been possible to eliminate the likelihood that anthropogenic climate change has been the driving factor. It is more likely that both play a role.     

The 1983 drought in the West Sahel: a case study

Some drought years over sub-Saharan west Africa (1972, 1977, 1984) have been previously related to a cross-equatorial Atlantic gradient pattern with anomalously warm sea surface temperatures (SSTs) south of 10°N and anomalously cold SSTs north of 10°N. This SST dipole-like pattern was not characteristic of 1983, the third driest summer of the twentieth century in the Sahel. This study presents evidence that the dry conditions that persisted over the west Sahel in 1983 were mainly forced by high Indian Ocean SSTs that were probably remanent from the strong 1982/1983 El Ni?o event. The synchronous Pacific impact of the 1982/1983 El Ni?o event on west African rainfall was however, quite weak. Prior studies have mainly suggested that the Indian Ocean SSTs impact the decadal-scale rainfall variability over the west Sahel. This study demonstrates that the Indian Ocean also significantly affects inter-annual rainfall variability over the west Sahel and that it was the main forcing for the drought over the west Sahel in 1983.     

Sahel rainfall and decadal to multi-decadal sea surface temperature variability

Decadal Sahelian rainfall variability was mainly driven by sea surface temperatures (SSTs) during the twentieth century. At the same time SSTs showed a marked long-term global warming (GW) trend. Superimposed on this long-term trend decadal and multi-decadal variability patterns are observed like the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the inter-decadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO). Using an atmospheric general circulation model we investigate the relative contribution of each component to the Sahelian precipitation variability. To take into account the uncertainty related to the use of different SST data sets, we perform the experiments using HadISST1 and ERSSTv3 reconstructed sets. The simulations show that all three SST signals have a significant impact over West Africa: the positive phases of the GW and the IPO lead to drought over the Sahel, while a positive AMO enhances Sahel rainfall. The tropical SST warming is the main cause for the GW impact on Sahel rainfall. Regarding the AMO, the pattern of anomalous precipitation is established by the SSTs in the Atlantic and Mediterranean basins. In turn, the tropical SST anomalies control the impact of the IPO component on West Africa. Our results suggest that the low-frequency evolution of Sahel rainfall can be interpreted as the competition of three factors: the effect of the GW, the AMO and the IPO. Following this interpretation, our results show that 50% of the SST-driven Sahel drought in the 1980s is explained by the change to a negative phase of the AMO, and that the GW contribution was 10%. In addition, the partial recovery of Sahel rainfall in recent years was mainly driven by the AMO.     

Twentieth century Sahel rainfall variability as simulated by the ARPEGE AGCM, and future changes

The ability of the ARPEGE AGCM in reproducing the twentieth century Sahelian drought when only forced by observed SST time evolution has been characterized. Atmospheric internal variability is shown to have a strong contribution in driving the simulated precipitation variability over the Sahel at decadal to multi-decadal time scales. The simulated drought is associated with a southward shift of the continental rainbelt over central and eastern Sahel, associated with an inter-hemispheric SST mode (the southern hemisphere oceans warming faster than the northern ones after 1970). The analysis of idealized experiments further highlights the importance of the Pacific basin. The related increase of the tropospheric temperature (TT) over the tropics is then suggested to dry the margin of convection zones over Africa, in agreement with the so-called “upped-ante” mechanism. A simple metric is then defined to determine the ability of the CMIP3 coupled models in reproducing both the observed Sahel drying and these mechanisms, in order to determine the reliability of the twenty-first century scenarios. Only one model reproduces both the observed drought over the Sahel and consistent SST/TT relationships over the second half of the twentieth century. This model predicts enhanced dry conditions over the Sahel at the end of the twenty-first century. However, as the mechanisms highlighted here for the recent period are not stationary during the twenty-first century when considering the trends, similarities between observed and simulated features of the West African monsoon for the twentieth century are a necessary but insufficient condition for a trustworthy prediction of the future.     

Climate variability and projected change in the western United States: regional downscaling and drought statistics

Climate change in the twenty-first century, projected by a large ensemble average of global coupled models forced by a mid-range (A1B) radiative forcing scenario, is downscaled to Climate Divisions across the western United States. A simple empirical downscaling technique is employed, involving model-projected linear trends in temperature or precipitation superimposed onto a repetition of observed twentieth century interannual variability. This procedure allows the projected trends to be assessed in terms of historical climate variability. The linear trend assumption provides a very close approximation to the time evolution of the ensemble-average climate change, while the imposition of repeated interannual variability is probably conservative. These assumptions are very transparent, so the scenario is simple to understand and can provide a useful baseline assumption for other scenarios that may incorporate more sophisticated empirical or dynamical downscaling techniques. Projected temperature trends in some areas of the western US extend beyond the twentieth century historical range of variability (HRV) of seasonal averages, especially in summer, whereas precipitation trends are relatively much smaller, remaining within the HRV. Temperature and precipitation scenarios are used to generate Division-scale projections of the monthly palmer drought severity index (PDSI) across the western US through the twenty-first century, using the twentieth century as a baseline. The PDSI is a commonly used metric designed to describe drought in terms of the local surface water balance. Consistent with previous studies, the PDSI trends imply that the higher evaporation rates associated with positive temperature trends exacerbate the severity and extent of drought in the semi-arid West. Comparison of twentieth century historical droughts with projected twenty-first century droughts (based on the prescribed repetition of twentieth century interannual variability) shows that the projected trend toward warmer temperatures inhibits recovery from droughts caused by decade-scale precipitation deficits.     

Ethiopian decadal climate variability

Ethiopian decadal climate variability is characterized by application of singular value decomposition to gridded rainfall data over the period 1901–2007. Two distinct modes are revealed with different annual cycles and opposing responses to regional and global forcing. The northern zone that impacts the Nile River and underlies the tropical easterly jet has a unimodal rainy season that is enhanced by Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation warm phase. This rainfall mode is linked with the Atlantic zonal overturning circulation and exhibits 10–12-year cycles through much of the twentieth century. The southern zone has a bimodal rainy season that is enhanced by Pacific Decadal Oscillation cool phase and the southern meridional overturning circulation. Multiyear wet and dry spells are characterized by sympathetic responses in the near-equatorial trough extending from Central America across the African Sahel to Southeast Asia. The interaction of Walker and Hadley cells over Africa appears to be a key feature that modulates Ethiopian climate at decadal frequency through anomalous north–south displacement of the near-equatorial trough.     

The CLIVAR C20C project: selected twentieth century climate events

We use a simple methodology to test whether a set of atmospheric climate models with prescribed radiative forcings and ocean surface conditions can reproduce twentieth century climate variability. Globally, rapid land surface warming since the 1970s is reproduced by some models but others warm too slowly. In the tropics, air-sea coupling allows models to reproduce the Southern Oscillation but its strength varies between models. We find a strong relationship between the Southern Oscillation in global temperature and the rate of global warming, which could in principle be used to identify models with realistic climate sensitivity. This relationship and a weak response to ENSO suggests weak sensitivity to changes in sea surface temperature in some of the models used here. In the tropics, most models reproduce part of the observed Sahel drought. In the extratropics, models do not reproduce the observed increase in the North Atlantic Oscillation in response to forcings, through internal variability, or as a combination of both.     

Response of the mean global vegetation distribution to interannual climate variability

The impact of interannual variability in temperature and precipitation on global terrestrial ecosystems is investigated using a dynamic global vegetation model driven by gridded climate observations for the twentieth century. Contrasting simulations are driven either by repeated mean climatology or raw climate data with interannual variability included. Interannual climate variability reduces net global vegetation cover, particularly over semi-arid regions, and favors the expansion of grass cover at the expense of tree cover, due to differences in growth rates, fire impacts, and interception. The area burnt by global fires is substantially enhanced by interannual precipitation variability. The current position of the central United States’ ecotone, with forests to the east and grasslands to the west, is largely attributed to climate variability. Among woody vegetation, climate variability supports expanded deciduous forest growth and diminished evergreen forest growth, due to difference in bioclimatic limits, leaf longevity, interception rates, and rooting depth. These results offer insight into future ecosystem distributions since climate models generally predict an increase in climate variability and extremes. CCR Contribution # 941     

Vegetation and climate variability: a GCM modelling study

Vegetation is known to interact with the other components of the climate system over a wide range of timescales. Some of these interactions are now being taken into account in models for climate prediction. This study is an attempt to describe and quantify the climate–vegetation coupling at the interannual timescale, simulated with a General Circulation Model (HadSM3) coupled to a dynamic global vegetation model (TRIFFID). Vegetation variability is generally strongest in semi-arid areas, where it is driven by precipitation variability. The impact of vegetation variability on climate is analysed by using multivariate regressions of boundary layer fluxes and properties, with respect to soil moisture and vegetation fraction. Dynamic vegetation is found to significantly increase the variance in the surface sensible and latent heat fluxes. Vegetation growth always causes evapotranspiration to increase, but its impact on sensible heat is less straightforward. The feedback of vegetation on sensible heat is positive in Australia, but negative in the Sahel and in India. The sign of the feedback depends on the competing influences, at the gridpoint scale, of the turbulent heat exchange coefficient and the surface (stomatal) water conductance, which both increase with vegetation growth. The impact of vegetation variability on boundary layer potential temperature and relative humidity are shown to be small, implying that precipitation persistence is not strongly modified by vegetation dynamics in this model. We discuss how these model results may improve our knowledge of vegetation–atmosphere interactions and help us to target future model developments.     

Recent trends in vegetation dynamics in the African Sahel and their relationship to climate

Contrary to assertions of widespread irreversible desertification in the African Sahel, a recent increase in seasonal greenness over large areas of the Sahel has been observed, which has been interpreted as a recovery from the great Sahelian droughts. This research investigates temporal and spatial patterns of vegetation greenness and rainfall variability in the African Sahel and their interrelationships based on analyses of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series for the period 1982–2003 and gridded satellite rainfall estimates. While rainfall emerges as the dominant causative factor for the increase in vegetation greenness, there is evidence of another causative factor, hypothetically a human-induced change superimposed on the climate trend.     

Interannual variability of rainfall over the Sahel based on multiple regional climate models simulations

We analyse the interannual variability of the averaged summer monsoon rainfall over the Sahel from multiple regional climate models driven by the ERA-interim reanalysis and seek to provide effective information for future modelling work. We find that the majority of the models are able to reproduce the rainfall variability with correlation coefficient exceeding 0.5 compared with observations. This is due to a good representation of the dynamics of the main monsoon features of the West African climate such as the monsoon flux, African Easterly Jet (AEJ) and Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ). Among the models, only HIRHAM fails to reproduce the rainfall variability exhibiting hence a correlation coefficient of ?0.2. This deficiency originates from the fact that HIRHAM does not properly capture the variability of monsoon flow and the relationship between rainfall and the AEJ dynamic. We conclude that a good performance of a regional climate model in simulating the monsoon dynamical features variability is of primary importance for a better representation of the interannual variability of rainfall over the Sahel.     

Atmosphere-land surface interactions and their influence on extreme rainfall and potential abrupt climate change over southern Africa

In a changing climate, changes in rainfall variability and, in particular, extreme rainfall events are likely to be highly significant for environmentally vulnerable regions such as southern Africa. It is generally accepted that sea-surface temperatures play an important role in modulating rainfall variability, thus the majority work to date has focused on these mechanisms. However past research suggests that land surface processes are also critical for rainfall variability. In particular, work has suggested that the atmosphere-land surface feedback has been important for past abrupt climate changes, such as those which occurred over the Sahara during the mid-Holocene or, more recently, the prolonged Sahelian drought. Therefore the primary aim of this work is to undertake idealised experiments using both a regional and global climate model, to test the sensitivity of rainfall variability to land surface changes over a location where such abrupt climate changes are projected to occur in the future, namely southern Africa. In one experiment, the desert conditions currently observed over southwestern Africa were extended to cover the entire subcontinent. This is based on past research which suggests a remobilisation of sand dune activity and spatial extent under various scenarios of future anthropogenic global warming. In the second experiment, savanna conditions were imposed over all of southern Africa, representing an increase in vegetation for most areas except the equatorial regions. The results suggest that a decrease in rainfall occurs in the desert run, up to 27% of total rainfall in the regional model (relative to the control), due to a reduction in available moisture, less evaporation, less vertical uplift and therefore higher near surface pressure. This result is consistent across both the regional and global model experiments. Conversely an increase in rainfall occurs in the savanna run, because of an increase in available moisture giving an increase in latent heat and therefore surface temperature, increasing vertical uplift and lowering near surface pressure. These experiments, however, are only preliminary, and form the first stage of a wider study into how the atmosphere-land surface feedback influences rainfall extremes over southern Africa in the past (when surface i.e. vegetation conditions were very different) and in the future under various scenarios of future climate change. Future work will examine how other climate models simulate the atmosphere-land surface feedback, using more realistic vegetation types based on past and future surface conditions.     

Climate variability attributable to terrestrial and oceanic forcing in the NCAR CAM3-CLM3 Models

Based on numerical experiments using the NCAR CAM3-CLM3 models, this paper examines the impact of soil moisture, vegetation, and sea surface temperature (SST) on the inter-annual variability of climate over land. For each element, two experiments are carried out, with the inter-annual variability preserved in one experiment and eliminated in the other. Differences in the standard deviation of the precipitation and air temperature at the inter-annual time scale are used to quantify the impacts from soil moisture dynamics, vegetation dynamics, and oceanic forcing. The impact of oceanic forcing is mainly limited to the Tropics, with the strongest signal in the equatorial zone, and moisture convergence is the key linkage between SST forcing and tropical precipitation. Soil moisture plays a significant role in climate variability during the rainy seasons of all semi-arid regions (which is consistent with many previous studies), and during the dry seasons of the humid Amazon. Evapotranspiration is identified as the main mechanism linking precipitation variability to soil moisture. Amazon is the only region where vegetation dynamics has a significant influence on precipitation variability. However, the impact of vegetation dynamics on temperature is strong over the US Great Plains in all four seasons and in the Amazon region during the dry and dry-to-wet transition seasons.     

Simple indices of global climate variability and change Part II: attribution of climate change during the twentieth century

Five simple indices of surface temperature are used to investigate the influence of anthropogenic and natural (solar irradiance and volcanic aerosol) forcing on observed climate change during the twentieth century. These indices are based on spatial fingerprints of climate change and include the global-mean surface temperature, the land-ocean temperature contrast, the magnitude of the annual cycle in surface temperature over land, the Northern Hemisphere meridional temperature gradient and the hemispheric temperature contrast. The indices contain information independent of variations in global-mean temperature for unforced climate variations and hence, considered collectively, they are more useful in an attribution study than global mean surface temperature alone. Observed linear trends over 1950–1999 in all the indices except the hemispheric temperature contrast are significantly larger than simulated changes due to internal variability or natural (solar and volcanic aerosol) forcings and are consistent with simulated changes due to anthropogenic (greenhouse gas and sulfate aerosol) forcing. The combined, relative influence of these different forcings on observed trends during the twentieth century is investigated using linear regression of the observed and simulated responses of the indices. It is found that anthropogenic forcing accounts for almost all of the observed changes in surface temperature during 1946–1995. We found that early twentieth century changes (1896–1945) in global mean temperature can be explained by a combination of anthropogenic and natural forcing, as well as internal climate variability. Estimates of scaling factors that weight the amplitude of model simulated signals to corresponding observed changes using a combined normalized index are similar to those calculated using more complex, optimal fingerprint techniques.     

Assessment of regional seasonal rainfall predictability using the CPTEC/COLA atmospheric GCM

This is a study of the annual and interannual variability of regional rainfall produced by the Center for Weather Forecasts and Climate Studies/Center for Ocean, Land and Atmospheric Studies (CPTEC/COLA) atmospheric global climate model. An evaluation is made of a 9-member ensemble run of the model forced by observed global sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies for the 10-year period 1982–1991. The Brier skill score and, Relative Operating Characteristics (ROC) are used to assess the predictability of rainfall and to validate rainfall simulations, in several regions world wide. In general, the annual cycle of precipitation is well simulated by the model for several continental and oceanic regions in the tropics and mid latitudes. Interannual variability of rainfall during the peak rainy season is realistically simulated in Northeast Brazil, Amazonia, central Chile, and southern Argentina–Uruguay, Eastern Africa, and tropical Pacific regions, where the model shows good skill. Some regions, such as northwest Peru–Ecuador, and southern Brazil exhibit a realistic simulation of rainfall anomalies associated with extreme El Niño warming conditions, while in years with neutral or La Niña conditions, the agreement between observed and simulated rainfall anomalies is not always present. In the monsoon regions of the world and in southern Africa, even though the model reproduces the annual cycle of rainfall, the skill of the model is low for the simulation of the interannual variability. This is indicative of mechanisms other than the external SST forcing, such as the effect of land–surface moisture and snow feedbacks or the representation of sub-grid scale processes, indicating the important role of factors other than external boundary forcing. The model captures the well-known signatures of rainfall anomalies of El Niño in 1982–83 and 1986–87, indicating its sensitivity to strong external forcing. In normal years, internal climate variability can affect the predictability of climate in some regions, especially in monsoon areas of the world.     

Sub-Saharan Northern African climate at the end of the twenty-first century: forcing factors and climate change processes

A regional climate model, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, is forced with increased atmospheric CO₂ and anomalous SSTs and lateral boundary conditions derived from nine coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation models to produce an ensemble set of nine future climate simulations for northern Africa at the end of the twenty-first century. A well validated control simulation, agreement among ensemble members, and a physical understanding of the future climate change enhance confidence in the predictions. The regional model ensembles produce consistent precipitation projections over much of northern tropical Africa. A moisture budget analysis is used to identify the circulation changes that support future precipitation anomalies. The projected midsummer drought over the Guinean Coast region is related partly to weakened monsoon flow. Since the rainfall maximum demonstrates a southward bias in the control simulation in July–August, this may be indicative of future summer drying over the Sahel. Wetter conditions in late summer over the Sahel are associated with enhanced moisture transport by the West African westerly jet, a strengthening of the jet itself, and moisture transport from the Mediterranean. Severe drought in East Africa during August and September is accompanied by a weakened Indian monsoon and Somali jet. Simulations with projected and idealized SST forcing suggest that overall SST warming in part supports this regional model ensemble agreement, although changes in SST gradients are important over West Africa in spring and fall. Simulations which isolate the role of individual climate forcings suggest that the spatial distribution of the rainfall predictions is controlled by the anomalous SST and lateral boundary conditions, while CO₂ forcing within the regional model domain plays an important secondary role and generally produces wetter conditions.     

The dynamics of the Indian Ocean sea surface temperature forcing of Sahel drought

Given the pronounced warming in the Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) during the second half of the twentieth century and the empirical relationship between the Indian Ocean SST and Sahel summer precipitation, we investigate the mechanisms underlying this relationship using the GFDL atmospheric model AM2.0 to simulate the equilibrium and transient response to the warming of the Indian Ocean. Equatorial wave dynamics, in particular the westward propagating equatorial Rossby waves, communicates the signal of tropospheric warming and stabilization from the Indian Ocean to the African continent. The stabilization associated with the Rossby wave front acts to suppress the convection. Feedbacks with local precipitation and depletion of moisture amplify the dynamically induced subsidence. While this stabilization mechanism is expected to operate in climate change response, the future prospects for the Sahelian climate under global warming are complicated by the intricate sensitivities to the SSTs from different ocean basins and to the direct radiative forcing of greenhouse gases.     

Global SST influence on twentieth century NAO variability

Recent studies have suggested that sea surface temperature (SST) is an important source of variability of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Here, we deal with four basic aspects contributing to this issue: (1) we investigate the characteristic time scales of this oceanic influence; (2) quantify the scale-dependent hindcast potential of the NAO during the twentieth century as derived from SST-driven atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) ensembles; (3) the relevant oceanic regions are identified, corresponding SST indices are defined and their relationship to the NAO are evaluated by means of cross spectral analysis and (4) our results are compared with long-term coupled control experiments with different ocean models in order to ensure whether the spectral relationship between the SST regions and the NAO is an intrinsic mode of the coupled climate system, involving the deep ocean circulation, rather than an artefact of the unilateral SST forcing. The observed year-to-year NAO fluctuations are barely influenced by the SST. On the decadal time scales the major swings of the observed NAO are well reproduced by various ensembles from the middle of the twentieth century onward, including the negative state in the 1960s and part of the positive trend afterwards. A six-member ECHAM4-T42 ensemble reveals that the SST boundary condition affects 25% of total decadal-mean and interdecadal-trend NAO variability throughout the twentieth century. The most coherent NAO-related SST feature is the well-known North Atlantic tripole. Additional contributions may arise from the southern Pacific and the low-latitude Indian Ocean. The coupled climate model control runs suggest only the North Atlantic SST-NAO relationship as being a true characteristic of the coupled climate system. The coherence and phase spectra of observations and coupled simulations are in excellent agreement, confirming the robustness of this decadal-scale North Atlantic air–sea coupled mode.