Comparative assessment of Japan's long-term carbon budget under different effort-sharing principles

This article assesses Japan's carbon budgets up to 2100 in the global efforts to achieve the 2?°C target under different effort-sharing approaches based on long-term GHG mitigation scenarios published in 13 studies. The article also presents exemplary emission trajectories for Japan to stay within the calculated budget.

The literature data allow for an in-depth analysis of four effort-sharing categories. For a 450?ppm CO₂e stabilization level, the remaining carbon budgets for 2014–2100 were negative for the effort-sharing category that emphasizes historical responsibility and capability. For the other three, including the reference ‘Cost-effectiveness’ category, which showed the highest budget range among all categories, the calculated remaining budgets (20th and 80th percentile ranges) would run out in 21–29 years if the current emission levels were to continue. A 550?ppm CO₂e stabilization level increases the budgets by 6–17 years-equivalent of the current emissions, depending on the effort-sharing category. Exemplary emissions trajectories staying within the calculated budgets were also analysed for ‘Equality’, ‘Staged’ and ‘Cost-effectiveness’ categories. For a 450?ppm CO₂e stabilization level, Japan's GHG emissions would need to phase out sometime between 2045 and 2080, and the emission reductions in 2030 would be at least 16–29% below 1990 levels even for the most lenient ‘Cost-effectiveness’ category, and 29–36% for the ‘Equality’ category. The start year for accelerated emissions reductions and the emissions convergence level in the long term have major impact on the emissions reduction rates that need to be achieved, particularly in the case of smaller budgets.

Policy relevance

In previous climate mitigation target formulation processes for 2020 and 2030 in Japan, neither equity principles nor long-term management of cumulative GHG emissions was at the centre of discussion. This article quantitatively assesses how much more GHGs Japan can emit by 2100 to achieve the 2?°C target in light of different effort-sharing approaches, and how Japan's GHG emissions can be managed up to 2100. The long-term implications of recent energy policy developments following the Fukushima nuclear disaster for the calculated carbon budgets are also discussed.     

Review of Earth Critical Zone Research

Since the Earth Critical Zone put forward by National Research Council of America in 2001, it has got a lot of attention and some significant progresses have been made. This paper summarized those Earth Critical Zone projects and related research plans organized and implemented by the United States of America, Germany, Australia, France, China and the European Union, as well as main scientific problems and future development direction in the study of Earth Critical Zone. According to research status of China, the four main research contents should be strengthened including structure, formation and evolution mechanism of Earth Critical Zone, the coulpling interaction mechanism between migration and transformation of material and multi-processes, sevice function and evolution features of Earth Critical Zone and its support and effect on sustainable development, model simulation of process and system of Earth Critical Zone. In addition, our country should actively conduct cooperation and communication with the advanced countries, and enhance our involvement in international key research plans.     

Comparative Study of the Carbon Emission Situation and Goals between China and India

As the two large developing and populous countries, China and India face the dual challenges of economic development and climate change. Both of them are active in carbon emissions reduction, while India also bears the pressure of being “benchmarked” against China. With taking China and India as the sample of a comparative analysis, and the statistical value of a long sequence as the basic analysis data, based on the detailed analysis and comparison of carbon emissions history, the carbon emissions situation of the two countries from various dimensions including economic development, energy reserves and consumption, etc. were comparatively analyzed. The carbon intensity and energy structure after achieving the objectives were measured and compared by focusing on the carbon emissions reduction targets in China and India. The comparative results show that: China’s total carbon emissions are greater than India’s, but the growth rate of emissions, per capita emissions are significantly lower than India’s, while the carbon intensity decreases significantly faster than that of India. China has taken more efforts to make commitments to carbon reduction than India. With India’s energy structure adjustment, the situation will be gradually better than that in China.     

Comparative Analysis of International Energy Consumption Characteristics and China's Countermeasures

With the rise of low carbon economy and the deterioration of the international energy situation, most countries in the world pay more attention to energy issues. In this paper, based on a comparison with several countries of large energy consumption, we used long sequence statistics to analyze the energy consumption characteristics from the world and the history, including energy consumption, energy consumption structure and energy efficiency, and then summed up the characteristics of energy consumption in developed countries, analyzed China's energy consumption process and the current stage, and found out the main problems of energy consumption in China. At last, countermeasures for the healthy development of China's energy were proposed, including actively promoting scientific and technological progress, upgrading energy structure, developing low carbon economy, rationalizing energy prices, improving the proportion of clean energy consumption and emphasizing synergistic effect on environment protection.     

Comparison of two types of persistent heavy rainfall events during sixteen warm seasons in the Sichuan Basin

本文筛选出四川盆地西部(盆西型)和盆地东部(盆东型)持续性暴雨个例,深入对比两类持续性暴雨的大气环流特征和直接造成持续性暴雨的西南低涡维持的机理.四川盆地的短波槽和西太平洋副热带高压的配置有利于持续性暴雨的维持,盆东型的降水强度较盆西型个例强,高空急流位置偏南,南亚高压的强度更强,高层辐散更强,对流层中层副热带高压偏东偏南.盆西型的水汽输送主要来自南海,而盆东型的水汽输送主要来自南海和孟加拉湾.合成涡度收支的结果表明散度项是两类持续暴雨中西南涡维持的主要原因,但盆西型中,垂直平流的作用更强.     

Moon-based Earth observation: scientific concept and potential applications

Although Earth’s surface parameters obtained from satellite data have become more and more precise, it is still difficult to guarantee temporal consistency and spatial continuity for large-scale geoscience phenomena. Developing new Earth observation platforms is a feasible way to improve the consistency and continuity of such data. As the planet’s only natural satellite, the Moon has special advantages as a platform for observing Earth, including long lifetime, whole disk view, tectonic stability and unique perspective. After presenting the observation geometry constructed by using the ephemeris, this paper mainly discusses the characteristics of a lunar platform and the proper Moon-based sensors, as well as the scientific objectives of Moon-based Earth observation. Solid Earth dynamics, the energy budget of Earth, Earth’s environmental elements and the Earth-space environment are four potential applications analysed in this paper.     

内蒙古东北部地区一次极端降雪过程的水汽输送特征

利用内蒙古呼伦贝尔市常规观测资料和GDAS、NCEP/NCAR再分析资料,采用欧拉方法分析了2016年春季内蒙古东北部地区一次极端暴雪过程的水汽输送及收支特征,利用HYSPLIT模式和聚类分析模拟计算了此次暴雪天气过程的水汽源地、主要水汽输送通道及其对水汽输送的贡献,并与传统的欧拉方法结果进行对比。结果表明:(1)有3支不同源地的水汽流在内蒙古东北部地区交汇,对呼伦贝尔地区暴雪的发生与维持有重要影响;(2)经向和纬向输送为此次暴雪天气的发生提供了充足的水汽,暴雪区水汽主要源于中高层的南边界和随西风气流的西边界;(3)利用HYSPLIT模式模拟发现,在此次暴雪天气过程中水汽主要来源于新地岛以西洋面、日本海以及巴尔喀什湖,且三者贡献率大致相当。     

一次梅雨暴雨的动能谱特征分析及收支诊断

利用WRF模式和NCEP再分析资料,对一次梅雨暴雨个例进行了数值模拟,基于高分辨率的模拟结果计算了水平动能谱、涡旋动能谱及辐散动能谱,诊断了动能收支谱方程。结果表明:在暴雨发展阶段,各个高度上都有中尺度动能增长,其显著增加始于中尺度低端,这导致了在中尺度波段出现谱转折特征,但在不同高度转折尺度不同;对流层高层涡旋动能大于辐散动能,平流层低层反之;不同降水阶段、不同高度和不同尺度上动能的来源不同,对流层高层,中尺度动能倾向由非线性项和气压项贡献;平流层低层,气压项的作用更为明显。     

Interannual Salinity Variability in the Tropical Pacific in CMIP5 Simulations

Salinity variability and its causes in the tropical Pacific are analyzed using observations, reanalysis products and model simulations. The mixed-layer salinity(MLS) budget analyses from observations and reanalysis products indicate that its interannual evolution is closely related to ENSO and is predominantly governed by surface forcing and surface advection in the western-central equatorial Pacific. It is found that the observed MLS tendency leads Nin?o3.4 by about 12 months due to the effect of negative freshwater flux(evaporation minus precipitation). These observation-based analyses are used to evaluate the corresponding simulation using GFDL-ESM2 M. It is evident that the model can simulate the spatiotemporal variations of MLS with some discrepancies compared to observations. In the warm pool of the equatorial Pacific the MLS tendency in the model is sensitive to ocean dynamics, however model biases cause the tendency to be underestimated. In particular, the freshwater flux is overestimated while the ocean surface zonal current and vertical velocity at the base of the mixed layer are underestimated. Due to model biases in representing the related physics, the effects of surface forcing on the simulated MLS budget are overestimated and those of subsurface and surface advection are relatively weak. Due to weaker surface advection and subsurface forcing than observed, the simulated compensations for surface forcing are suppressed, and the simulated MLS tendency that leads Nin?o3.4 by 8–10 months, which is shorter than the observed lead time. These results are useful for the interpretation of observational analyses and other model simulations in the tropical Pacific.