Changes in annual temperature extremes in the Carpathians since AD 1961

The Carpathian Mountains region cover areas from seven countries of central and southeastern Europe, the mountain chain having major regional influences on the temperate climate, specific to latitudes between 43°N and 49°N. In order to identify changes in the annual temperature extremes, the Mann–Kendall nonparametric trend test has been applied to several thermal indices, recommended by the expert team on climate change detection and indices. The indices were computed from gridded daily datasets of minimum and maximum temperature at 0.1° resolution (~10 km), available online within the framework of the project CarpatClim (climate of the Carpathian region) for the period 1961–2010. The results show decreasing trends in cold-related indices, especially in the number of frost days, and increasing trends in warm-related ones. The trend patterns are consistent over the region, i.e., there are no mixed trends for a given index. Regional differences in climate extreme trends within the Carpathian region are related to altitude, rather than latitude. The number of summer days is increasing over the entire area, while the number of tropical nights presents upward trends mainly at lower elevations. The Warm Spell Duration Index presents upward trends over 60 % of the region. The (annual) East Atlantic pattern shows strong correlations with the warm-related indices. Our results are in agreement with previous temperature-related studies in the region.     

近40年中国平均气候与极值气候变化的概述

随着中国气象局对近50年来逐日气象观测资料的释放,人们从不同的角度对中国平均气候和极端气候的分布特征有了更多的了解.从目前研究的结果来看,这些认识需要有一个集成,即需要有一个总体的归纳和解释.通过中国近40年来的温度极值和降水极值事件的分析认识到全球增暖和区域环流异常决定着气候极值事件的分布格局.与全球增暖相联系的是:我国微量降水在空间上表现为一致的减少趋势,我国北方寒潮事件显著减少,冷夜和冷日的减少与暖夜和暖日的增多并存,以及极端强降水有增多的趋势.与东亚季风气流和西风带气流异常对应的我国有效降水在区域分布上发生了显著变化,东部季风区中的"北涝南旱"从1970年代末转型为"南涝北旱",与华南的偏干一起形成了东部季风区降水从华南、长江到华北的"-、 、-"异常分布型,但华南在1991年出现了转湿的突变;东北和西北先后从1983年和1987年前后转为暖湿气候.极端温度和极端降水趋势的空间分布与平均温度和平均降水趋势的空间分布一致.     

1971-2012年珠穆朗玛峰地区极端降水事件变化研究

利用西藏珠穆朗玛峰地区5个气象站点1971-2012年逐日降水量资料,采用滑动平均、线性回归、Mann-Kendall非参数检验和Morlet小波分析等方法,分析了珠穆朗玛峰地区极端降水事件的时空变化特征. 结果表明：1971-2012年42 a来,珠穆朗玛峰地区大部分极端降水指数呈现出自东向西逐渐增大的空间分布格局, 连续干旱日数、连续湿日和降水强度表现为增加趋势,其他极端降水指数趋于减少. 其中,强降水量、极强降水量和年降水总量减幅较大,分别为-5.74 mm·（10a）^-1、-1.20 mm·（10a）^-1和-5.32 mm·（10a）^-1,在喜马拉雅山南坡的聂拉木站表现的最为明显. 大部分极端降水指数在21世纪最初的10 a减幅最大,在30 a际尺度上也表现为减少趋势. 除连续干旱日数外,极端降水与年降水总量关系密切. 各项极端降水指数都存在3～4 a显著周期,也存在10 a、12 a和15 a的周期. 在时间转折上,各项极端降水指数均未发生气候突变.     

气候变化对澜湄流域气象水文干旱时空特性的影响

受全球气候变化影响,澜沧江-湄公河流域气象水文干旱发生了较大变化,预测未来流域干旱的时空变化与传播特征是应对气候变化、开展澜湄水资源合作的基础。利用SWAT模型通过气陆耦合方式模拟了澜沧江-湄公河流域历史（1960—2005年）和未来时期（2022—2050年,2051—2080年）的水文过程,采用标准化降水指数和标准化径流指数预估并分析了流域未来气象水文干旱时空变化趋势。结果表明:①澜沧江-湄公河流域未来降水呈增长趋势,气象干旱将有所缓解,但降水年内分配不均与流域蒸发的增加,将导致水文干旱更为严峻,干旱从气象到水文的传播过程加剧;②水文干旱具有明显的空间异质性,允景洪和清盛站的水文干旱最为严重,琅勃拉邦、穆达汉和巴色站次之,万象站最弱;③未来流域水文干旱事件发生频次略有减少,但其中重旱、特旱事件占比增加,极端干旱将趋多趋强,且空间变化更加显著。     

1961-2012年辽宁省极端气温事件气候变化特征

利用辽宁省52个气象台站逐日平均气温、 最高气温和最低气温数据, 使用国际通用的10种极端气候指数, 研究了1961-2012年辽宁省极端气温事件的气候变化特征. 结果表明: 年平均极端气温事件空间分布存在明显的地区差异. 时间尺度上, 1961-2012年辽宁省年及四季极端暖事件(暖昼日数、 暖夜日数、 夏季日数、 热带夜数和热浪持续指数)呈增加趋势, 极端冷事件(冷昼日数、 冷夜日数、 结冰日数、 霜冻日数和寒潮持续指数)呈减少趋势; 极端暖事件在20世纪90年代中期开始明显增加, 极端冷事件在20世纪80年代末期开始显著减少; 极端暖事件的变化速率要小于极端冷事件. 辽宁省气温日较差有增大的趋势, 极端暖(冷)事件的增加(减少)在秋季(冬季)最为显著. 空间变化上, 极端气温事件在全省基本都呈一致的增加或减少的分布. 多数极端气温事件均存在8 a左右的周期, 检测到的突变的时间大致在20世纪80年代中期到90年代末期. 20世纪80年代末期辽宁省气候变暖后, 极端暖事件和冷事件均有明显的增加和减少.     

Regional changes of climate extremes and its effect on rice yield in Jiangsu province,southeast China

In this study, the regional variations of climate extremes and its possible impact on rice yield in Jiangsu province, southeast China were investigated. A total of 18 climate extremes indices (CEI) of rice-growing period (May–October) based on the daily climate records and rice yield data at 52 stations during 1961–2012 were calculated and analyzed. The main findings were as follows: (1) due to the remarked regional differences of climate extremes, Jiangsu could be divided into six climatic subregions: westernmost, northwest, north, southwest, south, and southeast corner; (2) trends of 18 indices in the six subregions using Mann–Kendall test indicated that Jiangsu was dominated by an obvious wetting and warming tendency, especially in the southern area; (3) correlation analysis between rice yield and CEI using first-difference and climate-induced yield method showed that the negative influences of precipitation extremes were more notable compared to temperature extremes; (4) P95 [precipitation due to very wet days (> 95th percentile)] should be selected as a key meteorological disasters indicator affecting rice yield in the northwest, north, southwest, and south Jiangsu; (5) the increase of P95 since 1990s was detected in most of Jiangsu, which would bring huge risks to rice growing.     

Analysis of indices of extreme temperature events at Apizaco,Tlaxcala, Mexico: 1952-2003

In recent years in Mexico and around the world, the scientific community has shown great interest in acquiring knowledge regarding the behavior of extreme climate events due to their increasing number and intensity. The objective of this research was to analyze variations in extreme temperature events using extreme climate indices. We conducted a case study for the municipality of Apizaco, Tlaxcala, Mexico, using data sets of the daily maximum and minimum temperatures for the period from 1952 to 2003. Six indices related to maximum and minimum temperatures were calculated: frost days, summer days, warm days, cool days, warm nights and cool nights. All of the index results were evaluated annually and only four of the indices were analyzed according to the seasons. A trend based on a linear least squares regression model was fit to the indices to determine their behavior. The index results showed that extreme events related to maximum temperatures corresponded to greater changes and an increased number of summer days and decreased cool days. Additionally, there was an increase of frost days, associated with a greater number of days with minimum temperatures below 0 °C. In general, the results indicated that warmer and colder extreme temperatures are occurring. The detection of those trends in the extreme events can be seen as a first step in any study of the attribution of those observed changes (e.g., land use change, regional climate change, etc.). This attribution aspect will not be discussed in the present study.     

Reliability of reanalyses products in simulating precipitation and temperature characteristics over India

Various reanalyses have been utilized in numerous climate related researches around the globe, however, there exists considerable biasedness in these products, especially in precipitation and temperature data. The ability of these reanalysis products to simulate the precipitation and temperature patterns is observed to be satisfactory at global scale, while it differs significantly at regional scale, especially over regions of high spatio-temporal heterogeneity such as India. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate the applicability and robustness of reanalyses in climate related research. The annual and seasonal variability in spatio-temporal patterns and trends of precipitation and temperature data, with respect to the IMD gridded data over 34 yrs, are evaluated for six global reanalyses namely, NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis (NCEP R1), NCEP-DOE AMIP-2 Reanalysis (NCEP R2), Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), ECMWF Interim Reanalysis (ERA-Interim), Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application Land only model (MERRA-Land) and JMA 55-year Reanalysis (JRA-55). The ability of the reanalyses was tested based on several factors such as statistical and categorical indices, spells and trends, for annual and seasonal daily values. Several regional and seasonal differences were observed, particularly over high rainfall regions such as Western Ghats and northeastern India. MERRA-Land is found to give the best results for precipitation over India, which is attributed to the updated forcing data using gauge-based precipitation observations. Similarly, ERA-Interim and JRA-55 exhibit better performance for temperature than other datasets. All reanalyses failed to correctly reproduce the trends in IMD data, for both precipitation and temperature. These observations will provide a better perception on the reliability and applicability of reanalyses for climate and hydrological studies over India.     

Assessing vegetation dynamics and their relationships with climatic variability in Heilongjiang province, northeast China

In this study, the vegetation dynamics in Heilongjiang province and their relationships with climate variability were assessed using normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and meteorological datasets from 1981 to 2003. The conclusions from our results are as follows: (1) After 1981, vegetation cover, as indicated by the NDVI, exhibited an insignificant increasing tendency. However, the inter-annual variations of the NDVI showed apparent spatial differentiations. (2) The inter-annual changes of the NDVI were different from season to season. The spring and autumn NDVI values increased, while the summer and winter NDVI decreased. (3) The annual NDVI was significantly correlated with precipitation. Thus, as compared to temperature, precipitation was the dominant climatic factor affecting the vegetation dynamics in Heilongjiang province. (4) The trend in the NDVI showed a marked homogeneity corresponding to regional and seasonal variations in climate. Additionally, land use changes also play an important role in influencing the NDVI trends over some regions. All of these findings will enrich our knowledge of the natural forces that impact the stability of boreal ecosystems and provide a scientific basis for the environmental management in Heilongjiang province in response to climate change and human activities.     

华北平原气候时空演变特征

地下水是华北平原主要的供水水源,大气降水入渗补给又是该区地下水的主要补给,因此研究气候时空演变特征对于深入剖析气候变化对其地下水资源的影响具有重要意义。依据中国18个地面气候站1951-2011年逐日气候观测资料,剖析华北平原气候时空演变特征。结果表明:华北平原近60年最低气温显著升高,最高气温基本稳定,平均气温明显升高;空间上呈由西南向东北逐渐降低、由沿海向内陆增高的趋势。降水量总体呈逐渐减少趋势,空间上由山前向滨海逐渐减弱后增强;对比分析典型极端丰枯水年的降水分布特征,不同降水年空间分布差异显著。水面蒸发量整体呈下降趋势,空间上南、北部大于中部。华北平原气候总体向暖干化方向发展,两次突变主要发生在20世纪60年代中期和70年代初。气候变化和人类活动是影响地下水资源的两个重要因素,极端气候则加强了对地下水的影响。因此,定量区分气候变化与人类活动对地下水的影响是有待进一步深入探讨的问题。     

西北干旱区近50年气候变化特征与趋势

20世纪后期全球增暖趋势越来越明显，受全球增暖的影响，西北地区的气候也将受到不同程度的影响。选取了西北干旱区1951-2000年的21个代表站点气温、降水量资料，采用趋势系数法对西北干旱区近50年气温和降水变化进行分析，找出各分区的变化趋势。结果表明：近50年西北干旱区气温呈上升趋势（0．22℃／10a），1986年后气温明显升高；柴达木盆地和新疆北部升温较大；各季都有增温趋势，贡献最大的是秋冬两季。降水变化有增加的趋势（3．2mm／10a），年降水量贡献最大的是夏季；各区降水都有增加，其中新疆北部降水增加最多。西北干旱区近50年气温升高趋势是南北高，中间低；降水量增加趋势从东南向西北呈现递增的格局。     

Expected impacts of climate change on extreme climate events

An overview of the expected change of climate extremes during this century due to greenhouse gases and aerosol anthropogenic emissions is presented. The most commonly used methodologies rely on the dynamical or statistical downscaling of climate projections, performed with coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation models. Either of dynamical or of statistical type, downscaling methods present strengths and weaknesses, but neither their validation on present climate conditions, nor their potential ability to project the impact of climate change on extreme event statistics allows one to give a specific advantage to one of the two types. The results synthesized in the last IPCC report and more recent studies underline a convergence for a very likely increase in heat wave episodes over land surfaces, linked to the mean warming and the increase in temperature variability. In addition, the number of days of frost should decrease and the growing season length should increase. The projected increase in heavy precipitation events appears also as very likely over most areas and also seems linked to a change in the shape of the precipitation intensity distribution. The global trends for drought duration are less consistent between models and downscaling methodologies, due to their regional variability. The change of wind-related extremes is also regionally dependent, and associated to a poleward displacement of the midlatitude storm tracks. The specific study of extreme events over France reveals the high sensitivity of some statistics of climate extremes at the decadal time scale as a consequence of regional climate internal variability.     

Trends and extreme value analysis of rainfall pattern over homogeneous monsoon regions of India

Trends of pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon rainfall pattern were studied on decadal basis over different homogeneous monsoon regions in India for the period 1871–2008. It is attempted to understand the relation of monsoon rainfall with the global teleconnections of El Niño and La Niña, for which the correlation analysis has been carried out with Darwin pressure and Niño 3.4 sea surface temperature (Niño 3.4 SST). The correlation analysis inferred that the significant correlations were observed when monsoon rainfall is related to ENSO indices on decadal scale than on annual ones. The study also found that the north-west region is more affected by the moderate El Niño years compared to strong El Niño years. The regions Central North-East and North-East could not make any difference among weak, moderate and strong La Niña events. The authors also have carried out the extreme value analysis over different homogeneous monsoon regions of India as well as for whole India. The results show that the return values of rainfall are increasing with the return periods for the forthcoming 10, 20, 50 and 100 years. The heterogeneity in number of threshold years that were recorded for the extreme rainfall over north-east (humid climatic type) and north-west (arid climatic type) described the climate variability. The results of the present study may be useful for the policy makers in understanding the rainfall exceedance in different return periods for planning the risk management strategies.     

Temporal Change Characteristics of Climatic and Its Relationships with Atmospheric Circulation Patterns in Qinghai Lake Basin

Based on monthly meteorological data from 11 stations(1959-2015)in Qinghai Basin(QHB) and its surrounding area, we analyzed monthly average temperature(Tmean), average maximum(TXam), minimum temperature(TNam) and precipitation variation characteristics as well as the influence of atmospheric oscillation on these parameters using Mann-Kendall trend analysis, mutation analysis, continuous Morlet wavelet transform, Pearson correlation analysis and R/S analysis method. In addition, the future trend of climate change in the regional scale was also discussed. We found that the temperature and precipitation increment were obvious in the region, especially the Tmean in autumn, winter, TXam and TNam in summer and winter precipitation showing significant increase. Temperature and precipitation experienced abrupt changes around 1986 and 2002, respectively. The period of oscillation of each temperature indices was similar featuring 2~3 years,8~10 years short- cycle and 30~32 years middle- cycle, while that for the precipitation featured 3~4 years,6~7 years short- cycle and 30~32 years middle- cycle. The East Asian Summer Monsoon Index(EASMI) anomaly is an important factor for the anomaly of autumn temperature and summer precipitation in QHB, while the Indian Summer Monsoon Index(ISMI) mainly affects the spring temperature and precipitation in the research area. The effects of Arctic Oscillation Index (AO) were relatively strong on temperature variation, especially in autumn and winter, and AO had significant effect on the precipitation in spring, summer and winter, too. The North Atlantic Oscillation Index (NAO) and ENSO have weak influence on the study area, NAO mainly affects summer and winter precipitation, while ENSO mainly affects autumn precipitation. The Hurst index of Tmean and annual precipitation in QHB are higher than 0.5, indicating that the temperature and precipitation in the study area will continue to be the positive trend in the future period.     

新疆气候水文变化趋势及面临问题思考

新疆是亚洲中部干旱区的重要组成部分, 对全球变化响应异常敏感, 水资源问题突出, 研究变暖背景下新疆的气候水文变化及面临的问题, 对应对和适应未来气候变化及水资源安全具有重要意义。基于最新的气候水文观测资料和相关成果, 研究了新疆水文气候要素变化趋势与演变特征, 探讨了目前面临的主要问题及对策建议。结果表明： 1961—2018年新疆升温幅度高于全球平均水平, 冬季升温贡献最大; 降水量和降水日数均明显增加, 夏季降水增加最显著; 21世纪以来气温和降水均在高位波动, 但增加幅度减缓, 气候有从暖湿化向暖干化转折的迹象, 干旱化趋势加剧。21世纪以来, 极端最高气温、 极端最低气温和高温日数显著增加, 高温初日提前, 高温终日推迟, 极端降水事件、 暴雨雪强度和频次明显增加。受气候变化和人类活动共同影响, 塔里木河流域源流区径流量明显增加, 干流径流量微弱减少; 博斯腾湖水位阶段性变化明显, 2013年以来逐渐扩张; 艾比湖总体萎缩, 而山区湖泊赛里木湖面积稳定扩张。新疆气候水文变化面临主要问题包括： 对新疆气候变化趋势和物理过程认识不明、 水文气象灾害风险加剧难以把控、 气候变化影响不确定性加剧, 水安全问题迫在眉睫。建议趋利避害, 抓住气候机遇, 加快生态环境建设; 开展气候水文综合科学考察, 加强机理研究, 构建综合观测协同网络, 提高水文气象灾害风险调控能力; 将有效应对、 有序适应气候变化提升到战略的高度, 为建设美丽新疆和高质量发展服务。     

CMIP5模式对长江和黄河流域极端气温指标的模拟与预估

为研究长江和黄河流域极端气温的变化特征,对耦合模式比较计划第5阶段22个大气环流模式数据进行精度评估、Delta降尺度并计算16个极端气温指标,采用可靠性集合平均方法对两流域历史和未来的极端气温进行预估.结果表明:除四川盆地外,两流域的观测值与REA(ensemble reliability average)值在空间上具有较好一致性;未来三个时期(2020s、2050s、2080s),典型浓度路径(Representative Concentration Pathways,RCP)4.5情景下指标变化趋势依次递减,RCP8.5情景下变化趋势逐渐递增;RCP4.5和RCP8.5情景下指标年际变化在21世纪40年代之前是相似的,但之后变化趋势差异增加;两流域的大多数指标呈现上升趋势,冬季趋势相较于其他季节更显著;两流域之间冷极端指标的差异大于暖极端指标.总的来说,两流域的暖极端事件将更加严重.      

Analysis of extreme low-temperature events during the warm season in Northeast China

The trends of global warming are increasingly significant, especially in the middle and high latitude regions of the northern hemisphere, where the impact of climate change on extreme events is becoming more noticeable. Northeast China is located in a high latitude region and is sensitive to climate change. Extreme minimum temperatures causing cold damage during the warm season is a major type of agro-meteorological disaster in Northeast China, which causes serious reductions in crop yield. In this paper, we analyzed the temporal and spatial trends in the frequency of extreme minimum temperatures during the warm season (from May to September) during 1956–2005 in Northeast China. Abrupt climatic changes were identified using the Mann–Kendall test. The results show that the frequency of extreme minimum temperature days during the warm season in Northeast China decreases significantly from 1956 to 2005 with a background of climate warming. The highest number of extreme minimum temperature days occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, and there was an abrupt climatic change in 1993. The spatial analysis identified that the north and southeast of the region experienced a larger decrease in the number of extreme low temperature days than the west and south of the region. Rice, sorghum, corn, and soybeans are most vulnerable to cold damage. In severe low temperature years, the average crop yield was reduced by 15.2% in Northeast China.     

Modelling the regional effects of climate change on air quality

The life cycle of pollutants is affected by chemical as well as meteorological factors, such as wind, temperature, precipitation, solar radiation. Therefore, climatic changes induced by anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases may be expected to have significant effects on air quality. Because of the spatial variability of the pollutant emissions and climate-change signals, these effects are particularly relevant at the regional to local scales. This paper first briefly reviews modelling tools and methodologies used to study regional climate-change impacts on air quality. Patterns of regional precipitation, temperature, and sea-level changes emerging from the latest set of general circulation model projections are then discussed. Finally, the specific case of climate-change effects on summer ozone concentrations over Europe is presented to illustrate the potential impacts of climate change on pollutant amounts. It is concluded that climate change is an important factor that needs to be taken into account when designing future pollution-reduction policies.     

Climate changing characteristics of Zhangye City in Heihe River basin during 1968–2005

At present, researches on climate change of the Heihe River basin mainly focus on the relationship between basin climate change and regional water resources, regional desertification and dynamic climatic seasons of sandstorm, but less on climate change of oasis region, where there are more intense and frequent human activities. Based on data of precipitation, temperature, strong wind and dust events frequencies obtained from the six meteorological stations of Zhangye region in Heihe River basin, the features of climate change during 1968–2005 were carefully studied. Results show that the regional temperature rise rate exceeded the average level of China. The annual precipitation changed a little, but the precipitation had a slowly increasing trend in spring and winter. Frequencies of strong wind and sandstorm days show obviously descending trends, which had a close correlation with the regional temperature rise and the precipitation increase in spring and winter. Meanwhile, further human economic activities and exploitations to the oasis in the inland valley of arid regions also affected the climate change of this region, which has a sensitive and fragile eco-environment. __________ Translated from Journal of Desert Research, 2007, 27(6): 1048–1054 [译自: 中国沙漠]     

Adaptation of climate variability/extreme in arid environment of the Arabian peninsula by rainwater harvesting and management

Water management in Saudi Arabia is facing major challenges due to the limited water resources and increasing uncertainties caused by climate change. The rainfall and temperature records of the Saudi meteorological data for more than three decades were analyzed for policy suggestions in water sectors based on the changing rainfall patterns. The trends in the annual aridity and rain indices were also examined to define the changing climate conditions and for determining the dry months in different cities of the Kingdom. An increased annual and maximum rainfall was observed for six cities while a decreasing trend in both annual and maximum rainfall was observed for the same number of cities highlighting the variability of rainfall in the whole region. An increasing maximum rainfall with decreasing annual rainfall was observed for the rest of the cities signifying the more extreme rainfall evens and resulting floods of short durations. The changing rainfall trends were also observed for different months during 31 years of the recorded period in addition to the varying climate pattern for different cities within the same district. Finally, these preliminary assessments of any systematic changes in view of the increased rain intensities and extreme climate events are viewed to demonstrate the value rainwater harvesting and management as a local adaptation to the climate variability and extreme in the Kingdom.