Changes in Climate Extremes Over the Australian Region and New Zealand During the Twentieth Century

Analyses of high quality data show that there have been some interesting recent changes in the incidence of some climate extremes in the Australian region and New Zealand.     

Extremes of Daily Rainfall in West Central Florida

Annual maxima of daily rainfall data dating from 1901 to 2003 are modeled for fourteen locations in West Central Florida. The generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution is fitted to data from each location. The location parameter of the GEV is formulated as a function of time to adequately describe the extremes of rainfall and to predict their future behavior. We find evidence of non-stationarity in the form of trends for eight of the fourteen locations considered. We quantify the change in extreme rainfall for each location and provide return levels for the years 2010, 2020, 2050 and 2100. We also derive estimates of return levels for daily rainfall and provide a classification of the fourteen locations based on the degree of severity of these estimates. This paper provides the first application of extreme value distributions to rainfall data specifically from Florida.     

Progress in the Study of Climatic Extremes in Northern and Central Europe

A study of the long-term changes of various climatic extremes was made jointly by a number of European countries. It was found that the changes in maximum and minimum temperatures follow, in broad terms, the corresponding well-documented mean temperature changes. Minimum temperatures, however, have increased slightly more than maximum temperatures, although both have increased. As a result, the study confirms that the diurnal temperature range has mostly decreased during the present century in Northern and Central Europe. Frost has become less frequent. Two extreme-related precipitation characteristics, the annual maximum daily precipitation and the number of days with precipitation 10 mm, show no major trends or changes in their interannual variability. An analysis of return periods indicated that in the Nordic countries there were high frequencies of extraordinary 1-day rainfalls both in the 1930s and since the 1980s. There have been no long-term changes in the number of high wind speeds in the German Bight. Occurrences of thunderstorms and hails show a decreasing tendency in the Czech Republic during the last 50 years. Finally, using proxy data sources, a 500-year temperature and precipitation event graph for the Swiss Mittelland is presented. It shows large interdecadal variations as well as the exceptionality of the latest decade 1986-1995.     

Observed Changes in One-in-20 Year Extremes of Canadian Surface Air Temperatures

Weather and climate extremes are often associated with substantial adverse impacts on society and the environment. Assessment of changes in extremes is of great and broad interest. This study first homogenizes daily minimum and maximum surface air temperatures recorded at 146 stations in Canada. In order to assess changes in one-in-20 year extremes (i.e., extremes with a 20-year return period) in temperature, annual maxima and minima of both daily minimum temperatures and daily maximum temperatures are derived from the homogenized daily temperature series and analyzed with a recently developed extreme value analysis approach based on a tree of generalized extreme value distributions (including stationary and non-stationary cases). The procedure is applied to estimate the changes over the period 1911 to 2010 at 115 stations, located mainly in southern Canada, and over the period 1961 to 2010 at 146 stations across Canada (including 37 stations in the North). The results show that warming is strongest for extreme low temperature and weakest for extreme high temperature and is much stronger in the Canadian Arctic than in southern Canada. Warming is stronger in winter than in summer and stronger during nighttime than daytime of the same season.     

Changing Trends of Daily Temperature Extremes with Different Intensities in China

By comparing two sets of quality-controlled daily temperature observation data with and without the inhomogeneity test and adjustment from 654 stations in China during 1956-2004 and 1956-2010, impacts of inhomogeneity on changing trends of four percentile temperature extreme indices, including occurrences of cold days, cold nights, warm days, and warm nights with varying intensities, were discussed. It is found that the inhomogeneity affected the long-term trends averaged over extensive regions limitedly. In order to minimize the inhomogeneity impact, the 83 stations identified with obvious inhomogeneity impacts were removed, and an updated analysis of changing trends of the four temperature extreme indices with varying intensities during 1956-2010 was conducted. The results show that annual occurrences of both cold nights and cold days decreased greatly while those of warm nights and warm days increased significantly during the recent 20 years. The more extreme the event is, the greater the magnitude of changing trends for the temperature extreme index is. An obvious increasing trend was observed in annual occurrences of cold days and cold nights in the recent four years. The magnitude of changing trends of warm extreme indices was greater than that of cold extreme indices, and it was greater in northern China than in southern China. Trends for summer occurrence of cold days were not significant. Decreasing trends of occurrences of both cold nights and cold days were the greatest in December, January, and February (DJF) but the least in June, July, and August (JJA), while increasing trends of warm nights were the greatest in JJA. Cold nights significantly decreased from 1956 to 1990, and then the decreasing trend considerably weakened. The decreasing trend also showed an obvious slowdown in recent years for occurrence of cold days. However, increasing trends of warm nights and warm days both have been accelerated continuously since the recent decades. Further analysis presents that the evolution of the trends for occurrences of the four temperature extreme indices was dominated by the changes in northern China.     

21世纪中国极端降水事件预估

摘 要：全球变暖背景下极端降水事件的变化一直受到广泛关注,本文从观测、理论及模拟预估等方面对近十多年来国内外极端降水气候事件的研究作一综述,并给出IPCC第四次评估报告对我国21世纪极端降水指数变化的预估结果。     

An evaluation of the statistical homogeneity of the Twentieth Century Reanalysis

The Twentieth Century Reanalysis (20CR) holds the distinction of having the longest record length (140-year; 1871–2010) of any existing global atmospheric reanalysis. If the record can be shown to be homogenous, then it would be the first reanalysis suitable for long-term trend assessments, including those of the regional hydrologic cycle. On the other hand, if discontinuities exist, then their detection and attribution—either to artificial observational shocks or climate change—is critical to their proper treatment. Previous research suggested that the quintupling of 20CR’s assimilated observation counts over the central United States was the primary cause of inhomogeneities for that region. The same work also revealed that, depending on the season, the complete record could be considered homogenous. In this study, we apply the Bai-Perron structural change point test to extend these analyses globally. A rigorous evaluation of 20CR’s (in)homogeneity is performed, composed of detailed quantitative analyses on regional, seasonal, inter-variable, and intra-ensemble bases. The 20CR record is shown to be homogenous (natural) for 69 (89) years at 50 % of land grids, based on analysis of the July 2 m air temperature. On average 54 % (41 %) of the grids between 60°S and 60°N are free from artificial inhomogenetites in their February (July) time series. Of the more than 853,376 abrupt shifts detected in 26 variable fields over two monthly time series, approximately 72 % are non-climate in origin; 25 % exceed 1.8 standard deviations of the preceding time series. The knock-on effect of inhomogeneities in 20CR’s boundary forcing and surface pressure data inputs to its surface analysis fields is implicated. In the future, reassessing these inhomogeneities will be imperative to achieving a more definitive attribution of 20CR’s abrupt shifts.     

Using the Twentieth Century Reanalysis to assess climate variability for the European wind industry

We characterise the long-term variability of European near-surface wind speeds using 142 years of data from the Twentieth Century Reanalysis (20CR), and consider the potential of such long-baseline climate data sets for wind energy applications. The low resolution of the 20CR would severely restrict its use on its own for wind farm site-screening. We therefore perform a simple statistical calibration to link it to the higher-resolution ERA-Interim data set (ERAI), such that the adjusted 20CR data has the same wind speed distribution at each location as ERAI during their common period. Using this corrected 20CR data set, wind speeds and variability are characterised in terms of the long-term mean, standard deviation and corresponding trends. Many regions of interest show extremely weak trends on century timescales, but contain large multidecadal variability. Since reanalyses such as ERAI are often used to provide the background climatology for wind farm site assessments, but contain only a few decades of data, our results can be used as a way of incorporating decadal-scale wind climate variability into such studies, allowing investment risks for wind farms to be reduced.     

20世纪后期青藏高原积雪和冻土变化及其与气候变化的关系

利用1981—1999年青海和西藏72个气象台站的常规观测资料。分析了青藏高原冬春积雪日数和冻结日数的变化及其与气候变化的关系。结果表明：高原冬春积雪日数在20世纪80年代是增加的，在20世纪90年代则是减少的；而此20年间高原季节性冻土冻结日数呈递减趋势；多年平均的高原冬春积雪日数由南向北是减小的，多年平均的冻结日数由高原中部向四周是递减的。高原冬春积累日数、冻结日数均以2～6年周期变化，气温以准3年周期变化，西藏降水以准8年、准3年周期变化。而青海降水以3～5年周期变化。高原冬春积雪日数、冻结日数和冬春气温振荡变化从20世纪80年代到90年代都呈现加快趋势。冬春积累日数的变化与冬春气温的变化呈负相关。与冬春降水的变化呈正相关；冻结日数的变化与冬春气温和冬春降水的变化均呈负相关。     

Projection of Extreme Temperatures in Hong Kong in the 21st Century

The possible changes in the frequency of extreme temperature events in Hong Kong in the 21st century were investigated by statistically downscaling 26 sets of the daily global climate model projections (a combination of 11 models and 3 greenhouse gas emission scenarios, namely A2, A1B, and B1) of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The models’ performance in simulating the past climate during 1971–2000 has also been verified and discussed. The verification revealed that the models in general have an acceptable skill in reproducing past statistics of extreme temperature events. Moreover, the models are more skillful in simulating the past climate of the hot nights and cold days than that of the very hot days. The projection results suggested that, in the 21st century, the frequency of occurrence of extremely high temperature events in Hong Kong would increase significantly while that of the extremely low temperature events is expected to drop significantly. Based on the multi-model scenario ensemble mean, the average annual numbers of very hot days and hot nights in Hong Kong are expected to increase significantly from 9 days and 16 nights in 1980–1999 to 89 days and 137 nights respectively in 2090–2099. On the other hand, the average annual number of cold days will drop from 17 days in 1980–1999 to about 1 day in 2090–2099. About 65 percent of the model-scenario combinations indicate that there will be on average less than one cold day in 2090–2099. While all the model-emission scenarios in general have projected consistent trends in the change of temperature extremes in the 21st century, there is a large divergence in the projections between difierent model/emission scenarios. This reflects that there are still large uncertainties in the model simulation of the future climate of extreme temperature events.     

Twentieth Century Climate in the New York Hudson Highlands and the Potential Impacts on Eco-Hydrological Processes

During the 20th century the northeastern U.S.A. has undergone an annual temperature increase of 1 °C, the combined effect of winter warming and an increase in daily summer minimum temperatures. A significant cooling of spring through autumn in maximum air temperatures is also evident since 1950. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to document these climate trends and variability over the last century. A secondary objective is to provide a preliminary analysis of how these changes may have impacted hydrologic and ecosystem processes. Specifically, with respect to ecosystem processes, we examine how the cooling of daytime maximum temperatures may have impacted plant respiration and biomass accumulation. The study site is the Black Rock Forest, an experimental forest located in Hudson Highlands of New York that has been maintained as a conservation area over the last 100 years. For the region centered about the forest, there exists a climate/weather record and an extensively maintained biomass record that extends continuously from the early part of the 20th century through present. With such an extensive physical and biological record to draw from, this forest provides a microcosm for studying how changes in 20th century local and regional climate may have impacted ecosystem processes such as species adaptation, biomass growth, and 20th century carbon sequestration. In a subsequent paper we will more extensively explore the relationship between this record of changing climate and eco-hydrological processes.     

The Use of Indices to Identify Changes in Climatic Extremes

Changes in the frequencies of extremes are investigated by a variety of methods using daily temperature data from the British Isles, and monthly 5° latitude × 5° longitude grid-box temperatures over the land and marine regions of the world. The 225 year long daily Central England Temperature record shows no significant increase in very warm days in recent years but there is a marked decrease in the frequency of very cold days. Thus the rise in temperature in the last two decades is principally associated with a reduction in very cold days. Temperatures on days with particular wind circulation or pressure pattern types over the British Isles show multidecadal variations. Analyses using monthly gridded temperature data around the world since 1951 indicate that the recent rise in global surface temperatures is accompanied both by reductions in the areas affected by extremely cool temperatures and by increases in the areas with extremely warm temperatures.     

Evaluation of Surface Air Temperature Change over China and the Globe during the Twentieth Century in IAP AGCM4.0

Based on time series and linear trend analysis, the authors evaluated the performance of the fourth generation atmospheric general circulation model developed at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IAP AGCM4.0), in simulating surface air temperature (SAT) during the twentieth century over China and the globe. The numerical experiment is conducted by driving the model with the observed sea surface temperature and sea ice. It is shown that IAP AGCM4.0 can simulate the warming trend of the global SAT, with the major warming regions in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere and the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. While the simulated trend over the whole globe is close to the observation, the model under-estimates the observed trend over the continents. More-over, the model simulates the spatial distribution of SAT in China, with a bias of approximately-2°C in eastern China, but with a more serious bias in western China. Compared with the global mean, however, the correlation coefficient between the simulation and observation in China is significantly lower, indicating that there is large uncertainty in simulating regional climate change.     

Dynamical Downscaling of the Twentieth Century Reanalysis for China:Climatic Means during 1981–2010

This study presents a dynamically downscaled climatology over East Asia using the non-hydrostatic Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF) model, forced by the Twentieth Century Reanalysis(20CR-v2). The whole experiment is a 111-year(1900–2010) continuous run at 50 km horizontal resolution. Comparisons of climatic means and seasonal cycles among observations, 20CR-v2, and WRF results during the last 30 years(1981–2010) in China are presented, with a focus on surface air temperature and precipitation in both summer and winter. The WRF results reproduce the main features of surface air temperature in the two seasons in China, and outperform 20CR-v2 in regional details due to topographic forcing. Summer surface air temperature biases are reduced by as much as 1°C–2°C. For precipitation, the simulation results reproduce the decreasing pattern from Southeast to Northwest China in winter. For summer rainfall, the WRF simulation results reproduce the correct magnitude and position of heavy rainfall around the southeastern coastal area, and are better than 20CR-v2. One of the significant improvements is that an unrealistic center of summer precipitation in Southeast China present in 20CR-v2 is eliminated. However, the simulated results underestimate winter surface air temperature in northern China and winter rainfall in some regions in southeastern China. The mean seasonal cycles of surface air temperature and precipitation are captured well over most of sub-regions by the WRF model.     

Reconstruction of Nineteenth Century Summer Temperatures in Norway by Proxy Data from Farmers'Diaries

Proxy data from five farmers; diaries in the Møre, Dovre and Trøndelag regions in central Norway were used for climatic reconstruction purposes. The method chosen was "simple linear regression analysis" with the start of the grain harvest (barley or oats) as predictor and summer temperature (May – August) as predictand. Overlapping periods with modern instrumental observations (starting 1858 or later) were used for calibration of the model. The model was tested on independent data by establishing the regression on one half of the overlapping period and applying the regression on the other half. The standard deviation in the residuals varied from 0.3°C to 0.7°C and the biases of the mean values from –0.3°C to +0.3°C. Climatic reconstructions were established for the early- and mid-nineteenth century summer temperature, i.e. during the last part of what has come to be regarded as the "Little Ice Age", in this article considered to end around 1880.By use of the proxy data model, huge inhomogeneities of the "classical" Trondheim series were detected, the early nineteenth century part of the series evidently being too warm. The inhomogeneity was removed by use of adjustment terms. The adjusted series indicates that in the Trondheim region the summer temperature during the last part of the "Little Ice Age" phase was about 1°C lower than the latest 60 years. This is in serious contradiction to the classical Trondheim series.     

Variations in Regional Mean Daily Precipitation Extremes and Related Circulation Anomalies over Central China During Boreal Summer

The variations of regional mean daily precipitation extreme （RMDPE） events in central China and associated circulation anomalies during June, July, and August （JJA） of 1961-2010 are investigated by using daily in-situ precipitation observations and the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. The precipitation data were collected at 239 state-level stations distributed throughout the provinces of Henan, Hubei, and Hunan. During 1961-2010, the 99th percentile threshold for RMDPE is 23.585 mm day-1. The number of RMDPE events varies on both interannual and interdecadal timescales, and increases significantly after the mid 1980s. The RMDPE events happen most frequently between late June and mid July, and are generally associated with anomalous baroclinic tropospheric circulations. The supply of moisture to the southern part of central China comes in a stepping way from the outer-region of an abnormal anticyclone over the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea. Fluxes of wave activity generated over the northeastern Tibetan Plateau converge over central China, which favors the genesis and maintenance of wave disturbances over the region. RMDPE events typically occur in tandem with a strong heating gradient formed by net heating in central China and the large-scale net cooling in the surrounding area. The occurrence of RMDPE events over central China is tied to anomalous local cyclonic circulations, topographic forcing over the northeast Tibetan Plateau, and anomalous gradients of diabatic heating between central China and the surrounding areas.     

极值统计理论的进展及其在气候变化研究中的应用

着重论述极值统计分布在极端天气气候事件和重大工程设计中的重要意义,综述该领域国内外研究进展。例如,基于超门限峰值法（POT）的广义帕累托分布（GPD)和基于单元极大值法（BM）的广义极值分布（GEV）及其参数间的理论关系;采用极值分布模型与多状态一阶Markov链相结合构建降尺度模型模拟局地极端降水事件,推算一定重现期的极端降水量的分位数;探讨极值分布模型分位数估计误差问题,多维极值分布理论及其应用等问题。     

An Amplified Signal of Climatic Change in Soil Temperatures during the Last Century at Irkutsk, Russia

Climatic changes at the Earth's surface propagate slowly downward into theground and modify the ambient ground thermal regime. However, causes of soiltemperature changes in the upper few meters are not well documented. One majorobstacle to understanding the linkage between the soil thermal regime andclimatic change is the lack of long-term observations of soil temperatures andrelated climatic variables. Such measurements were made throughout the formerSoviet Union with some records beginning at the end of the 19th century. Inthis paper, we use records from Irkutsk, Russia, to demonstrate how the soiltemperature responded to climatic changes over the last century. Both airtemperature and precipitation at Irkutsk increased from the late 1890s to the1990s. Changes in air temperature mainly occurred in winter, while changes inprecipitation happened mainly during summer. There was an anti-correlationbetween mean annual air temperature and annual total precipitation, i.e., more(less) precipitation during cold (warm) years. There were no significanttrends of changes in the first day of snow on the ground in autumn, but snowsteadily disappeared earlier in spring, resulting in a reduction of the snowcover duration. A grass-covered soil experiences seasonal freezing for morethan nine months each year and the long-term average maximum depth ofseasonally frozen soils was about 177 cm with a range from 91 cm to 260 cm.The relatively lower soil temperature at shallow depths appears to representthe so-called `thermal offset' in seasonally frozen soils. Changes in meanannual air temperature and soil temperature at 40 cm depth were about the samemagnitude (2.0 °C to 2.5 °C) over the common period of record, but thepatterns of change were substantially different. Mean annual air temperatureincreased slightly until the 1960s, while mean annual soil temperatureincreased steadily throughout the entire period. This leads to the conclusionthat changes in air temperature alone cannot explain the changes in soiltemperatures at this station. Soil temperature actually decreased duringsummer months by up to 4 °C, while air temperature increased slightly.This cooling in the soil may be explained by changes in rainfall and hencesoil moisture during summer due to the effect of a soil moisture feedbackmechanism. While air temperature increased about 4 °C to 6 °C duringwinter, soil temperature increased by up to 9 °C. An increase in snowfallduring early winter (October and November) and early snowmelt in spring mayplay a major role in the increase of soil temperatures through the effects ofinsulation and albedo changes. Due to its relatively higher thermalconductivity compared to unfrozen soils, seasonally frozen ground may enhancethe soil cooling, especially in autumn and winter when thermal gradient isnegative.     

长江流域极端降水时空分布和趋势

1986年以来，长江流域的极端强降水出现了显著增加的趋势，突出表现在中下游地区。长江中下游地区极端降水量的增加，既是极端降水强度增强，也是极端降水事件显著增加的结果。长江流域极端降水变化主要发生在东南部和西南部。趋势分析表明，自20世纪80年代中期以来，长江流域上游极端降水事件峰值提前到6月份出现，与长江中下游极端降水峰值出现的时间几乎同步，这必将加大遭遇性洪水发生的机率。20世纪90年代以来长江洪水的频繁发生，与长江流域极端降水时空分布的变化密切相关。     

Reconstruction of Summer Temperatures in Interior Alaska from Tree-Ring Proxies: Evidence for Changing Synoptic Climate Regimes

Maximum latewood density and δ ¹³C discrimination of Interior Alaska white spruce were used to reconstruct summer (May through August) temperature at Fairbanks for the period 1800–1996, one of the first high-resolution reconstructions for this region. This combination of latewood density and δ ¹³C discrimination explains 59.9% of the variance in summer temperature during the period of record 1906–1996. The 200-yr. reconstruction is characterized by 7 decadal-scale regimes. Regime changes are indicated at 1816, 1834, 1879, 1916, 1937, and 1974, are abrupt, and appear to be the result of synoptic scale climate changes. The mean of summer temperature for the period of reconstruction (1800–1996) was 13.49 °C. During the period of instrument record (1903–1996) the mean of summer temperature was 13.31 °C for both the reconstruction and the recorded data. The coldest interval was 1916–1937 (12.62 ° C) and the warmest was 1974–1996 (14.23 °C) for the recorded data. The reconstruction differs from records of northern hemisphere temperatures over this period, especially because of Interior Alaska warm periods reconstructed from 1834 to 1851 (14.24 °C) and from 1862 to 1879 (14.19 °C) and because of the cool period in the early part of the 20th century (1917–1974). We show additional tree ring data that support our reconstruction of these warm periods. Alternate hypotheses involving autogenic effect of tree growth on the site, altered tree sensitivity, or novel combinations of temperature and precipitation were explored and while they cannot be ruled out as contributors to the anomalously warm 19th century reconstruction, they were not supported by available data. White spruce radial growth is highly correlated with reconstructed summer temperature, and temperature appears to be a reliable index of carbon uptake in this system.