Variability and trends of sub-continental scale surface climate in the twentieth century. Part I: observations

An analysis is presented of observed temperature and precipitation variability and trends throughout the twentieth century over 22 land regions of sub-continental scale. Summer, winter and annual data are examined using a range of variability measures. Statistically significant warming trends are found over the majority of regions. The trends have a magnitude of up to 2 K per century and are maximum over cold climate regions. Only a few precipitation trends are statistically significant. Regional temperature and precipitation show pronounced variability at scales from interannual to multidecadal, with maximum over cold climate regions. The interannual variability shows significant variations and trends throughout the century, the latter being mostly negative for precipitation and both positive and negative for temperature. Temperature and precipitation anomalies show a chaotic-type behavior in which the regional conditions oscillate around the long term mean trend and occasionally fall into long-lasting (up to 10 years or more) anomaly regimes. A generally modest temporal correlation is found between anomalies of different regions and between temperature and precipitation anomalies for the same region. This correlation is mostly positive for temperature in cases of adjacent regions or regions in the same latitude belts. Several cases of negative inter-regional precipitation anomaly correlation are found. The ENSO significantly affects the anomaly variability patterns over a number of regions, primarily in tropical areas, while the NAO significantly affects the variability over northern mid- and high-latitude regions of Europe and Asia.     

Variability and trends of local/regional scale surface climate in northern Africa during the twentieth century

Four regions are detected in northern Africa (20° W–40° E, 0–30° N) by applying the cluster analysis method on the annual rainfall anomalies of the period 1901–2000. The first region (R1), an arid land, covers essentially the north of 17.75° N from west to east of the study zone. The second region (R2), a semiarid land with a Sahelian climate, less warm than the dry climate of R1, is centred on Chad, with almost regular extension to the west towards Mauritania, and to the east, including the north of the Central African Republic and the Sudan. The region 3 (R3), a wet land, is centred on the Ivory Coast and covers totally Liberia, the south part of Ghana, Togo, Benin and the southwest of Nigeria. The fourth region (R4), corresponding to the wet equatorial forest, covers a part of Senegal, the Central Africa, the south of Sudan and a part of Ethiopia. An analysis of observed temperature and precipitation variability and trends throughout the twentieth century over these regions is presented. Summer, winter and annual data are examined using a range of variability measures. Statistically, significant warming trends are found over the majority of regions. The trends have a magnitude of up to 1.5 K per century. Only a few precipitation trends are statistically significant. Regional temperature and precipitation show pronounced variability at scales from interannual to multi-decadal. The interannual variability shows significant variations and trends throughout the century, the latter being mostly negative for precipitation and both positive and negative for temperature. Temperature and precipitation anomalies show a chaotic-type behaviour in which the regional conditions oscillate around the long-term mean trend and occasionally fall into long-lasting (up to 10 years or more) anomaly regimes. A generally modest temporal correlation is found between anomalies of different regions and between temperature and precipitation anomalies for the same region. This correlation is mostly positive for temperature in cases of adjacent regions. Several cases of negative interregional precipitation anomaly correlation are found. The El Niño Southern Oscillation significantly affects the anomaly variability patterns over a number of regions, mainly regions 3 (R3) and 4 (R4), while the North Atlantic Oscillation significantly affects the variability over arid and semiarid regions, R1 and R2.     

A PRELIMINARY VALIDATION STUDY OF THE SEASONAL FORECAST OF CCCMA MODEL OVER CHINA

In this study we validate the raw ensemble mean forecasts of the CCCma's GCM2 modelagainst surface temperature and precipitation data obtained from 160 Chinese stations.It is foundthat despite the lagre biases,the model was able to produce seasonal anomalies that haveproperties that are reasonably close to those that are observed.This anomaly is the quantity ofinterest when forecasting seasonal climatic conditions.The root mean squared difference(RMSD)between the forecast and observed anomaly leads us to be modestly optimistic about the prospectsfor using dynamical models to forecast the interannual variability of some meteorological elements.The correlation analysis of the forecast and observation also supports the result given by theRMSD analysis and provides a tool for identify the forecast confidence level in various regions,     

气候系统模式FGOALS模拟的南亚夏季风：偏差和原因分析

本文通过与观测和再分析资料的对比,评估了LASG/IAP发展的气候系统模式FGOALS的两个版本FGOALS-g2和FGOALS-s2对南亚夏季风的气候态和年际变率的模拟能力,并使用水汽收支方程诊断,研究了造成降水模拟偏差的原因。结果表明,两个模式夏季气候态降水均在陆地季风槽内偏少,印度半岛附近海域偏多,在降水年循环中表现为夏季北侧辐合带北推范围不足。FGOALS-g2中赤道印度洋"东西型"海温偏差导致模拟的东赤道印度洋海上辐合带偏弱,而FGOALS-s2中印度洋"南北型"海温偏差导致模拟的海上辐合带偏向西南。水汽收支分析表明,两个模式中气候态夏季风降水的模拟偏差主要来自于整层积分的水汽通量,尤其是垂直动力平流项的模拟偏差。一方面,夏季阿拉伯海和孟加拉湾的海温偏冷而赤道西印度洋海温偏暖,造成向印度半岛的水汽输送偏少;另一方面,对流层温度偏冷,冷中心位于印度半岛北部对流层上层,同时季风槽内总云量偏少,云长波辐射效应偏弱,对流层经向温度梯度偏弱以及大气湿静力稳定度偏强引起的下沉异常造成陆地季风槽内降水偏少。在年际变率上,观测中南亚夏季风环流和降水指数与Ni?o3.4指数存在负相关关系,但FGOALS两个版本模式均存在较大偏差。两个模式中与ENSO暖事件相关的沃克环流异常下沉支和对应的负降水异常西移至赤道以南的热带中西印度洋,沿赤道非对称的加热异常令两个模式中越赤道环流季风增强,导致印度半岛南部产生正降水异常。ENSO相关的沃克环流异常下沉支及其对应的负降水异常偏西与两个模式对热带南印度洋气候态降水的模拟偏差有关。研究结果表明,若要提高FGOALS两个版本模式对南亚夏季风气候态模拟技巧,需减小耦合模式对印度洋海温、对流层温度及云的模拟偏差;若要提高南亚夏季风和ENSO相关性模拟技巧需要提高模式对热带印度洋气候态降水以及与ENSO相关的环流异常的模拟能力。     

Decadal predictability and prediction skill of sea surface temperatures in the South Pacific region

The South Pacific Ocean is a key driver of climate variability within the Southern Hemisphere at different time scales. Previous studies have characterized the main mode of interannual sea surface temperature (SST) variability in that region as a dipolar pattern of SST anomalies that cover subtropical and extratropical latitudes (the South Pacific Ocean Dipole, or SPOD), which is related to precipitation and temperature anomalies over several regions throughout the Southern Hemisphere. Using that relationship and the reported low predictive skill of precipitation anomalies over the Southern Hemisphere, this work explores the predictability and prediction skill of the SPOD in near-term climate hindcasts using a set of state-of-the-art forecast systems. Results show that predictability greatly benefits from initializing the hindcasts beyond the prescribed radiative forcing, and is modulated by known modes of climate variability, namely El Niño-Southern Oscillation and the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation. Furthermore, the models are capable of simulating the spatial pattern of the observed SPOD even without initialization, which suggests that the key dynamical processes are properly represented. However, the hindcast of the actual phase of the mode is only achieved when the forecast systems are initialized, pointing at SPOD variability to not be radiatively forced but probably internally generated. The comparison with the performance of an empirical prediction based on persistence suggests that initialization may provide skillful information for SST anomalies, outperforming damping processes, up to 2–3 years into the future.     

The influence of tropical sea surface temperatures and precipitation on north Pacific atmospheric blocking

Blocking is a major component of the extratropical climate and any changes in it would be a very important aspect of climate change there. Previous studies have shown that mid-latitude variability such as blocking is sensitive to tropical sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies and to variations in tropical precipitation. Climate models exhibit a wide range of skill in representing blocking, with all models having deficiencies in certain respects. In addition, coupled climate models often exhibit significant biases in both tropical precipitation and tropical and extratropical SSTs. This suggests that tropical systematic biases in coupled climate models may influence the representation of blocking and its sensitivity to climate change. We examine the relationship between winter north Pacific blocking and tropical precipitation and tropical SSTs through the use of idealised SST anomaly experiments. We find that interannual variations in convection over the Maritime Continent and eastern equatorial Pacific regions both influence the central and eastern Pacific winter blocking frequency. In addition, systematic underestimation of tropical rainfall over the Maritime Continent region in climate models can lead to underestimation of time-mean winter Pacific blocking. Finally, the sign, magnitude and variability of tropical SST biases in a coupled model, and their associated effects on tropical precipitation, could influence its representation of northern hemisphere blocking, and thus affect its ability to represent this mode of remotely-forced mid-latitude variability. These results have important implications for model development.     

A comparison of full-field and anomaly initialization for seasonal to decadal climate prediction

There are two main approaches for dealing with model biases in forecasts made with initialized climate models. In full-field initialization, model biases are removed during the assimilation process by constraining the model to be close to observations. Forecasts drift back towards the model’s preferred state, thereby re-establishing biases which are then removed with an a posterior lead-time dependent correction diagnosed from a set of historical tests (hindcasts). In anomaly initialization, the model is constrained by observed anomalies and deviates from its preferred climatology only by the observed variability. In theory, the forecasts do not drift, and biases may be removed based on the difference between observations and independent model simulations of a given period. Both approaches are currently in use, but their relative merits are unclear. Here we compare the skill of each approach in comprehensive decadal hindcasts starting each year from 1960 to 2009, made using the Met Office decadal prediction system. Both approaches are more skilful than climatology in most regions for temperature and some regions for precipitation. On seasonal timescales, full-field initialized hindcasts of regional temperature and precipitation are significantly more skilful on average than anomaly initialized hindcasts. Teleconnections associated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation are stronger with the full-field approach, providing a physical basis for the improved precipitation skill. Differences in skill on multi-year timescales are generally not significant. However, anomaly initialization provides a better estimate of forecast skill from a limited hindcast set.     

Statistical Downscaling for Multi-Model Ensemble Prediction of Summer Monsoon Rainfall in the Asia-Pacific Region Using Geopotential Height Field

The 21-yr ensemble predictions of model precipitation and circulation in the East Asian and western North Pacific （Asia-Pacific） summer monsoon region （0°-50°N, 100° 150°E） were evaluated in nine different AGCM, used in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Climate Center （APCC） multi-model ensemble seasonal prediction system. The analysis indicates that the precipitation anomaly patterns of model ensemble predictions are substantially different from the observed counterparts in this region, but the summer monsoon circulations are reasonably predicted. For example, all models can well produce the interannual variability of the western North Pacific monsoon index （WNPMI） defined by 850 hPa winds, but they failed to predict the relationship between WNPMI and precipitation anomalies. The interannual variability of the 500 hPa geopotential height （GPH） can be well predicted by the models in contrast to precipitation anomalies. On the basis of such model performances and the relationship between the interannual variations of 500 hPa GPH and precipitation anomalies, we developed a statistical scheme used to downscale the summer monsoon precipitation anomaly on the basis of EOF and singular value decomposition （SVD）. In this scheme, the three leading EOF modes of 500 hPa GPH anomaly fields predicted by the models are firstly corrected by the linear regression between the principal components in each model and observation, respectively. Then, the corrected model GPH is chosen as the predictor to downscale the precipitation anomaly field, which is assembled by the forecasted expansion coefficients of model 500 hPa GPH and the three leading SVD modes of observed precipitation anomaly corresponding to the prediction of model 500 hPa GPH during a 19-year training period. The cross-validated forecasts suggest that this downscaling scheme may have a potential to improve the forecast skill of the precipitation anomaly in the South China Sea, western North Pacific and the East Asia Pacific regions, wh     

Global and regional variability in a coupled AOGCM

 The variability of near surface temperature on global and regional spatial scales and interannual time scales from a 1000 year control integration of the Hadley Centre coupled model (HADCM2-CTL) are compared with the observational record of surface temperature. The model succeeds in reproducing the observed patterns of natural variability, with high variability over the northern continents and low variability over much of the tropics. The model global mean variability has similar strength to observed global mean variability on time scales less than 20 years. The warming seen in the historical record is outside the range of natural variability as simulated in HADCM2-CTL. The model has El-Ni?o/Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-like behaviour with a central Pacific, peak to peak, strength of approximately 3 K. Changes in near surface temperature in the central Pacific are strongly correlated with changes in near surface temperature over most of the tropics, large regions of the extra-tropics and changes in tropical ocean upper 250 m heat content. Tropospheric temperature changes and tropical surface pressure changes are also strongly correlated with changes in the central Pacific surface temperature. Oceanic regions show significant departures from an AR1 or first order Markov behaviour in the Northwest Atlantic, Northwest Pacific and Arctic oceans. The Northwest Atlantic region has large amounts of variability over periods greater than 50 years. This variability is associated with a jump in the strength of North Atlantic meridional stream function. The spectra of the Western European and Continental US land regions are not significantly different from an AR1 process. The flow through the Drake Passage has an interannual standard deviation of approximately 2.5 Sv with significant departures from an AR1 process at time scales greater than 40 years. Winter northern hemispheric 500 hPa geopotential height shows some evidence of multiple regimes but no year to year persistence of these regimes. Received: 31 January 1996/Accepted: 22 July 1996     

The hydrological cycle in the ECMWF short range forecasts

Precipitation and latent heat flux forecasts by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model have been compared with other estimates of these quantities. In the Northern Hemisphere extra-tropics the latent heat flux over oceans and the precipitation over continents in the short range forecasts are probably good estimates of the truth. The day-to-day as well as the interannual variability in these latitudes seem to be realistic.In the Southern Hemisphere extra-tropics there is a strong spin-up in the precipitation forecasts probably with too low precipitation amounts in the short range forecasts. It is speculated that inconsistent use of satellite data leads to a weakening of large-scale rising motions between 40 and 60°S. Also the latent heat flux in these latitudes is probably too low due to a too moist 1000 mb humidity analysis.Over subtropical deserts the precipitation amounts in the forecasts agree with climatological estimates. Contrary to climatological estimates this precipitation is not evaporated but runs off.In the tropics, especially over mountainous areas, the short range forecasts (average for the first 24 h) with the present model tend to overpredict precipitation amounts, but still with reasonable distributions. Averages between days 1 and 2 probably give a good estimate of the truth except over the eastern Pacific where there is an overestimation, also in the medium range forecasts. Strong underestimation of latent heat fluxes over tropical oceans in the short range forecasts have been considerably reduced with a recent model change. There are still areas, e.g. the Southern Hemisphere subtropical Pacific, with too low evaporation due to too moist 1000 mb analyses probably in connection with an inconsistent use of satellite observations.The interannual variability of monthly mean evaporation and precipitation in the short range forecasts reflects partly atmospheric anomalies, but especially in the tropics, and also larger amplitude variations due to changes in the analysis/forecasting scheme.     

Comparison of climatic trends and variability among glacierized environments in the Western Himalayas

The climate and hydrology of the Western Himalayas is complex and a function of snow and glacier melt, land use, topography, and Indian summer and winter monsoon dynamics. Improving our knowledge about these processes is important from societal and agricultural points of view. In this study, an observational analysis is carried out to assess the changing climatic trends and the associated interannual variability in winter temperature and precipitation at three glacierized regions of Western Himalayas having distinctly different sub-regional characteristics. In situ observations of 23 years (1985–2007) are used. These observations are passed through rigorous statistical quality control checks. Results show higher interannual variability with increasing temperature trends in the glacierized regions of the Siachen (Karakoram Range) and Chotasigri (Great Himalayan Range). Karakoram Range has higher warming trends than the Great Himalayan Range. In case of precipitation, an overall decrease in precipitation is observed with contrasting trends in the last decade. Nino3.4 index is positively correlated with winter precipitation with similar interannual variability. In addition, at Siachen temperature and precipitation show strong negative correlation, and precipitation to spell length correlation is opposite at Siachen and Chotasigri.     

Quantitative analysis of the feedback induced by the freshwater flux in the tropical Pacific using CMIP5

Freshwater flux (FWF) directly affects sea surface salinity (SSS) and hence modulates sea surface temperature (SST) in the tropical Pacific. This paper quantifies a positive correlation between FWF and SST using observations and simulations of the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) to analyze the interannual variability in the tropical Pacific. Comparisons among the displacements of FWF, SSS and SST interannual variabilities illustrate that a large FWF variability is located in the west-central equatorial Pacific, covarying with a large SSS variability, whereas a large SST variability is located in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Most CMIP5 models can reproduce the fact that FWF leads to positive feedback to SST through an SSS anomaly as observed. However, the difference in each model's performance results from different simulation capabilities of the CMIP5 models in the magnitudes and positions of the interannual variabilities, including the mixed layer depth and the buoyancy flux in the equatorial Pacific. SSS anomalies simulated from the CMIP5 multi-model are sensitive to FWF interannual anomalies, which can lead to differences in feedback to interannual SST variabilities. The relationships among the FWF, SSS and SST interannual variabilities can be derived using linear quantitative measures from observations and the CMIP5 multi-model simulations. A 1 mm d-1 FWF anomaly corresponds to an SSS anomaly of nearly 0.12 psu in the western tropical Pacific and a 0.11°C SST anomaly in the eastern tropical Pacific.     

Uncertainties in regional climate change prediction: a regional analysis of ensemble simulations with the HADCM2 coupled AOGCM

We analyze ensembles (four realizations) of historical and future climate transient experiments carried out with the coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (AOGCM) of the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, version HADCM2, with four scenarios of greenhouse gas (GHG) and sulfate forcing. The analysis focuses on the regional scale, and in particular on 21 regions covering all land areas in the World (except Antarctica). We examine seasonally averaged surface air temperature and precipitation for the historical period of 1961–1990 and the future climate period of 2046–2075. Compared to previous AOGCM simulations, the HADCM2 model shows a good performance in reproducing observed regional averages of summer and winter temperature and precipitation. The model, however, does not reproduce well observed interannual variability. We find that the uncertainty in regional climate change predictions associated with the spread of different realizations in an ensemble (i.e. the uncertainty related to the internal model variability) is relatively low for all scenarios and regions. In particular, this uncertainty is lower than the uncertainty due to inter-scenario variability and (by comparison with previous regional analyses of AOGCMs) with inter-model variability. The climate biases and sensitivities found for different realizations of the same ensemble were similar to the corresponding ensemble averages and the averages associated with individual realizations of the same ensemble did not differ from each other at the 5% confidence level in the vast majority of cases. These results indicate that a relatively small number of realizations (3 or 4) is sufficient to characterize an AOGCM transient climate change prediction at the regional scale. Received: 12 January 1998 / Accepted: 7 July 1999     

Evaluation of high-resolution simulations of daily-scale temperature and precipitation over the United States

Extreme climate events have been increasing over much of the world, and dynamical models predict further increases in response to enhanced greenhouse forcing. We examine the ability of a high-resolution nested climate model, RegCM3, to capture the statistics of daily-scale temperature and precipitation events over the conterminous United States, using observational and reanalysis data for comparison. Our analyses reveal that RegCM3 captures the pattern of mean, interannual variability, and trend in the tails of the daily temperature and precipitation distributions. However, consistent biases do exist, including wet biases in the topographically-complex regions of the western United States and hot biases in the southern and central United States. The biases in heavy precipitation in the western United States are associated with excessively strong surface and low-level winds. The biases in daily-scale temperature and precipitation in the southcentral United States are at least partially driven by biases in circulation and moisture fields. Further, the areas of agreement and disagreement with the observational data are not intuitive from analyzing the simulated mean seasonal temperature and precipitation fields alone. Our evaluation should enable more informed application and improvement of high-resolution climate models for the study of future changes in socially- and economically-relevant temperature and precipitation events.     

青藏高原西侧地区冬季降水的年际变率及其影响因子

基于全球降水气候中心（GPCC）和全球降水气候计划（GPCP）的降水数据及ERA-interim再分析资料,分析了1979~2012年冬季青藏高原（简称高原）西侧地区降水的基本特征及影响其年际变率的潜在因子。结果表明高原冬季降水主要发生在其西侧地区且为全区变化一致型,降水所需的水汽主要来自上游地区,从该区域的西边界输入。然而,高原西侧地区冬季降水的年际变率主要由水汽输送的动力过程所决定,表现为高原西侧的西南风异常。此外,高原西侧冬季降水的年际变率与其上游典型的大气内部变率北大西洋涛动和北极涛动相关性不强,而与赤道西印度洋和热带中东太平洋的海温显著相关。热带中东太平洋海温异常通过影响大气环流变化,在印度洋北部激发一个反气旋式的环流异常,使得高原西侧地区出现异常西南风,从而加强了水汽通量输送的动力作用。同时在赤道异常东风的作用下,暖水也向印度洋西部输送堆积。赤道中东太平洋海温的异常可进一步导致西风急流发生南北移动,从而也在一定程度上影响了高原西侧冬季水汽输送以及降水的年际变率。     

热带印度洋偶极子与中国夏季年际气候异常关系的年代际变化

利用中国站点观测逐月降水和月平均气温资料以及NCEP/NCAR再分析资料,揭示了热带印度洋偶极子(IOD)与中国夏季气候异常关系的年代际变化.结果表明:IOD与中国夏季年际气候异常的关系既有稳定的一面,又存在着年代际变化.较为稳定的关系表现为:IOD与同年夏季长江黄河之间的降水变化存在显著负相关,与四川气温变化存在显著正相关;IOD与次年夏季四川降水存在显著正相关.伴随发生在20世纪70年代末的大尺度环流年代际转型,IOD与中国气候年际异常的联系亦发生变化:IOD正位相年的同年夏季降水异常型,由中国大部分地区偏少变为长江以南(北)偏多(少),气温由西南地区东部偏暖变为长江以南(北)偏冷(暖);次年夏季降水由全国大部分地区偏多变为长江以南(北)偏少(多),气温由全国大部分地区相关不显著变为黄河以南大部分地区显著偏暖.在IOD负位相年,中国夏季气候异常的特征与IOD正位相年相反.在20世纪70年代末的大尺度年代际气候转犁前后,与IOD相关的东亚大气环流异常特征明显不同.在IOD发展阶段,在70年代末以前,印度夏季风和南海季风偏强,副热带高压势力偏弱,导致中国华南大部分地区降水偏少,华北西部以及内蒙古中部等地降水偏多;70年代末以后,东亚大陆中纬度为弱的东风距平,导致新疆北部降水偏少,气温偏高,华南降水偏多.在IOD次年夏季,70年代末以前,华南、河套以及四川等地盛行偏南气流,降水偏多;70年代末以后,南亚高压和西太平洋副高偏西偏强,华南、江南降水偏少.     

全球海气系统年际和年代际变化的时空特征分析

本文利用从1950－1998年共计49年的马里兰（Maryland）大学全球海洋同化分析资料和NCEP全球大气再分析资料，分析了全球海气系统年际和年代际变化的主要时空特征，结果表明：1）全球上层海洋年际变化的主要模态是位于热带太平洋的ENSO模态，海洋年代际变化的最显著区域为南半球高纬度及中纬度海洋特别是赤道以外区域的热带东太平洋和大西洋；2）全球大气年际和年代际变化都主要位于中高纬度地区尤其是两极地区，在年际时间尺度上，气温异常和气压异常没有明显的对应关系，但在年代际时间尺度上，气温增暖（变冷）常常伴随着气压的降低（升高）；3）在年际时间尺度上，发生在中高纬度陆地地区的大气年际变化和主要发生热带海洋上层海洋年际变化没有一致性的内在联系，前者主要表现为大气的内部（浑沌）变化，而后者主要为热带海气相互作用产生的ENSO变化；4）在年代际时间尺度上，全球海洋大气系统大约在70年代前后，均一致性地经历了一次跃变，其结果是导致80年代以来，全球大范围地区（尤其是两极和西伯利亚地区）气温明显偏暖，赤道两侧的热带东太平洋、北美和南美西海岸、及非洲西海岸等海域海表面温度偏高，伴随着这种全球大范围背景增暖现象，青藏高原北部和格陵兰岛区域气温具有变冷的趋势，而南半球高纬度海域海表温度也表现为降低。     

Mean, interannual variability and trends in a regional climate change experiment over Europe. I. Present-day climate (1961–1990)

We present an analysis of a multidecadal simulation of present-day climate (1961–1990) over Europe with the regional climate model RegCM nested within the global atmospheric model HadAMH. Climatic means, interannual variability and trends are examined, with focus on surface air temperature and precipitation. The RegCM driven by HadAMH fields is able to reproduce the basic features of the observed mean surface climate over Europe, its seasonal evolution and the regional detail due to topographic forcing. Surface air temperature biases are mostly less than 1–2 °C and precipitation biases mostly within 10–20%. The RegCM has more intense vertical transport of temperature and water vapor than HadAMH, which results in lower surface air temperatures and greater precipitation than found in the HadAMH simulation. In some cases this is in the direction of greater agreement with observations, while in others it is in the opposite direction. The simulation shows a tendency to overestimate interannual variability of temperature and precipitation compared to observations, particularly during summer and over the Mediterranean regions. It is shown that in DJF, MAM and SON the RegCM interannual variability is primarily determined by the boundary forcing from HadAMH, while in JJA the internal model physics and resolution effects dominate over many subregions of the domain, and the RegCM has higher interannual variability than HadAMH. The precipitation trends simulated by the nested modeling system for the period 1961–1990 capture some features of the observed trends, in particular the cold season drying over the Mediterranean regions. Ensembles of simulations are, however, needed for a more robust assessment of the models capability to simulate climatic trends. Overall, this simulation is of good quality compared with previous nested RegCM experiments and will constitute the basis for the generation of climate change scenarios over the European region to be reported in future work.     

Precipitation Change: Model Simulations and Paleoreconstructions

Zonal-scale patterns of precipitation change, as reconstructed for the Mid-Pliocene and the two Pleistocene optima, are compared with those generated in standard 2 × CO₂–1 × CO₂ equilibrium experiments by two high-resolution GCMs of equal sensitivities of global precipitation and temperature to CO₂ doubling. We find that the three warm paleoclimates, despite differences in boundary conditions/forcings, exhibit a similarity in zonal-scale patterns of change for precipitation over land in the Northern Hemisphere (NH); the between-epoch pattern correlation is 0.9 on the average. The two models give marked differences in zonal distribution of precipitation anomalies at mid-latitudes; the between-model pattern correlation for changes of precipitation over NH land is 0.4. The response of precipitation over the NH land area to the NH warming is about 10%/°C in the paleodata compared to 3%/°C in the models. The largest model/paleodata descrepancy refers to the present-day desert belt, where a large precipitation anomaly persists in all epochs. North of 50 N, the absolute values of the zonally-averaged precipitation anomalies simulated by both models fall in the range implied by the three warm paleoclimates, but they are systematically lower than the anomalies of the Mid-Pliocene. If our reconsructions are valid and if climate changes in the Mid-Pliocene were driven solely by CO₂ changes, then our results suggest that models are underestimating the magnitude of the precipitation response, especially in the regions of subtropical deserts; the magnitude of the simulated temperature response at high latitudes is also underestimated. At least part of the reported model/paleodata discordance appears to be due to lack of interactive land surface package in the models examined.     

青藏高原近60年来气候变化及其环境影响研究进展

作为全球能量水分循环的关键区域,青藏高原(下称高原)气候变化对高原及周边地区气候与环境变化具有重要影响.本文从高原表面增暖、辐射变化、降水的多尺度变率、表面风速及环境变化方面回顾了高原近60年来气候变化及其环境效应与物理机制的研究进展,并基于再分析和台站观测资料讨论了近10余年来高原表面温度和风速变化的特征及原因.最后...