Operational Climate Prediction in the Era of Big Data in China:Reviews and Prospects

Big data has emerged as the next technological revolution in IT industry after cloud computing and the Internet of Things.With the development of climate observing systems,particularly satellite meteorological observation and high-resolution climate models,and the rapid growth in the volume of climate data,climate prediction is now entering the era of big data.The application of big data will provide new ideas and methods for the continuous development of climate prediction.The rapid integration,cloud storage,cloud computing,and full-sample analysis of massive climate data makes it possible to understand climate states and their evolution more objectively,thus predicting the future climate more accurately.This paper describes the application status of big data in operational climate prediction in China;it analyzes the key big data technologies,discusses the future development of climate prediction operations from the perspective of big data,speculates on the prospects for applying climatic big data in cloud computing and data assimilation,and puts forward the notion of big data-based super-ensemble climate prediction methods and computerbased deep learning climate prediction methods.     

Progress and future prospects of decadal prediction and data assimilation:A review

年代际预测,也称为“近期气候预测”,旨在预测未来1-10年内的气候变化,是气候预测和气候变化研究领域的一个新关注点.它位于季节至年际预测和长期气候变化预测之间,结合了初值问题和外部强迫问题的两个方面.年代际预测的核心技术在于用于模式初始化的同化方法的准确性和效率,其目标是为模式提供准确的初始条件,其中包含观测到的气候系统内部变率.年代际预测的初始化通常涉及在耦合框架内同化海洋观测,其中观测到的信号通过耦合过程传递到其他分量,如大气和海冰.然而,最近的研究越来越关注在海洋-大气耦合模式中探索耦合数据同化(CDA),有人认为CDA有潜力显著提高年代际预测技巧.本文综合评述了该领域的三个方面的研究现状:初始化方法,年代际气候预测的可预测性和预测技巧,以及年代际预测的未来发展和挑战.     

全球气温趋势和近期中国气候灾害的成因分析和展望

全球气温演变趋势和近期中国气候灾害有一定的联系;分析表明:1998年以来全球气温基本稳定仅有小幅波动,并未呈现如IPCC(2007)所预言的那样快速升温,而2005年以来太阳活动的异常状况可能标志它今后的长期减弱趋势;因此本文首先归纳太阳活动影响气候研究的最新进展,发现其对气候的影响绝非限于大气顶上太阳总幅照(TSI)的微小变化,而会通过平流层臭氧对更大变幅的紫外辐射的的吸收,加热作用触发平流层-对流层的大气环流变化,结合热带-副热带海洋混合层对太阳输入能量的积累,TSI 0.1%的变化会在地球气候系统中产生放大效应,这突出表现在东太平洋热带-副热带海域海-气作用的响应,ENSO位相相应变化及北极/北大西洋涛动指数的响应,大量的观测研究结果支持上述论点;近年来太阳活动低值期北半球冬季中高纬和中国均遭受异常冷害侵袭即是明证,初步揭示出以夏季东太平洋副高强度指数首先反映的地球气候系统对太阳活动响应的一系列气候过程;对今后10 a全球气温趋势也作了初步展望。     

近年来我国短期气候预测中动力相似预测方法研究与应用进展

鉴于当前短期气候预测中,纯粹使用动力学方法尚不能完全满足气候预测业务的需要,因此有必要在策略上采取动力和统计相结合的办法.在具体实现手段上,简要介绍了从历史资料中提炼预测信息,发展了一种基于历史相似误差订正的相似—动力短期气候预测新方法.分别在月、季节以及ENSO等短期气候预测领域相继开展了试验和应用,取得了—些令人鼓舞的初步结果,为下一步深入开展有关短期气候预测科学的研究提供了些许借鉴.     

中国气候预测研究与业务发展的回顾

天气预报是指一周内至两周时间尺度的气象预报,而月季及以上时间尺度的预报则属于气候预测范畴。中国的气候预测起步很早,无论在研究工作中还是在业务应用上都取得了显著成就。文中扼要回顾了这些研究和业务发展成就,重点包括:对于季风和梅雨、寒潮的早期认知和后期研究发现、早期气候预测业务发展概况、动力气候预测的早期探索、动力-统计气候预测方法的研制和应用、气候预测模式的发展以及初始化和多模式集合预测、东亚气候系统变异的全方位探索、气候预测范畴的不断拓展和气候预测研究的不断创新。也对未来气候预测研究和业务发展提出了几个重大挑战性课题,涉及不同时间尺度气候变异过程之间的相互作用、季节内至年代际气候预测、气候系统模式及初始化、动力-统计相结合的气候预测方法等方面。     

African climate variability in the satellite era

Interannual fluctuations in rainfall and ocean-atmosphere fields over and around Africa were studied in the satellite era of 1979–2007 using singular value decomposition. The leading modes of rainfall variability in GPCP satellite-gauge merged fields include a leading mode over central Africa, two modes of marine origin in the Gulf of Guinea and Eastern Africa, and two sub-tropical modes over the Sahel and Southern Africa. This differs from earlier gauge-based studies that tend to isolate three leading modes over western, eastern, and southern Africa. In the sea-surface temperature, sea-level pressure and upper wind fields, ENSO signals dominate the leading modes. However, for the low-level wind field, a trough circulation over the southeast Atlantic – Kalahari is the leading mode. It demonstrates predictive potential when cross-correlated with rainfall at 6- to 12-month lead time. Based on continuous filtered data, the value of various indices and the predictability of different zones are examined. The Sahel achieves the highest rank followed by the Congo and southern zones in the next tier. The Guinea and East African rains, which peak in the March-to-May season, appear least predictable. The seasonal rainfall is shown to modulate economic growth rate, and multi-variate predictive algorithms are tested at 6-month lead time.     

Numerical Weather Prediction in China in the New Century ——Progress, Problems and Prospects

This paper summarizes the recent progress of numerical weather prediction(NWP)research since the last review was published.The new generation NWP system named GRAPES(the Global and Regional Assimila- tion and Prediction System),which consists of variational or sequential data assimilation and nonhydrostatic prediction model with options of configuration for either global or regional domains,is briefly introduced, with stress on their scientific design and preliminary results during pre-operational implementation.In ad- dition to the development of GRAPES,the achievements in new methodologies of data assimilation,new improvements of model physics such as parameterization of clouds and planetary boundary layer,mesoscale ensemble prediction system and numerical prediction of air quality are presented.The scientific issues which should be emphasized for the future are discussed finally.     

基于CMIP5模式的中国气候变化敏感性预估与分析

以CMIP5提供的26个全球气候系统模式的温度和降水数据为基础,采用区域气候变化指数(Regional Climate Change Index,RCCI)分析中国的不同区域对21世纪气候变化响应的敏感性。结果表明,三种排放情景(RCP 2.6、RCP 4.5、RCP 8.5)下,21世纪全期,气候变化最敏感的区域分布在西藏地区,其次为我国西北地区以及东北地区,气候变化敏感性最低的区域分布在我国内蒙古中东部、华北地区以及长江中下游一带,且高排放情景对应更高的气候变化敏感性。对RCCI指数贡献因子分析结果表明,对中国气候变化敏感性贡献的大小依次为Δσ_TΔσ_pΔRRWAF。冬夏两季温度变化的大值区与RCCI指数的大致区分布一致,RCCI大小的分布很大程度上由温度变化的敏感性决定。而夏季降水变化的大值区主要出现在西藏地区、华南地区和东北地区,冬季降水变化的大值区则主要出现在黄河以南长江以北的中原地区以及东北地区。     

初始场的同化对短期气候预测的影响

基于已建立的三维变分资料同化系统(3D-VAR),利用大气环流模式(IAP9L2°×2.5°-AGCM),对同化和未同化2种初始场分别进行了17a(1988—2004年)的集合回报试验,并对试验结果进行了相关分析.结果表明:在热带地区,2组初始场下的集合回报结果差别很小,除热带外的中高纬地区差别较大,尤其是东亚地区;另外,大部分物理量场的17a异常空间相关系数的均值在同化后的初始场下也得到了提高,可能是因为同化的初始场包含了一段时间的大气信息,动力模式更加协调.     

Climate prediction: Progress,problems, and prospects

“Hundred year forecasts are made with the same models, which cannot predict the weather even several days ahead...”     

副热带高压气候动力学研究回顾

基于早期副热带高压气候动力学的研究,本文重点介绍了近10 a在南亚高压和西太平洋副热带高压形成和变异机理方面的动力学研究,包括南亚高压的建立和维持机理、副热带高压的季节变化、年际—年代际变化和未来预估,最后讨论了需要进一步深入研究的方面。     

Interdecadal change in the Northern Hemisphere seasonal climate prediction skill: part II. predictability and prediction skill

The interdecadal change in seasonal predictability and numerical models’ seasonal forecast skill in the Northern Hemisphere are examined using both observations and the seasonal hindcast from six coupled atmosphere-ocean climate models from the 21 period of 1960–1980 (P1) to that of 1981–2001 (P2). It is shown that the one-month lead seasonal forecast skill of the six models’ multi-model ensemble is significantly increased from P1 to P2 for all four seasons. We identify four possible reasons accounting for the interdecadal change of the seasonal forecast skill. Firstly, the numerical model’s ability to simulate the mean state, the time variability and the spatial structures of the sea surface temperature and precipitation over the tropical Pacific is improved in P2 compared to P1. Secondly, an examination of the potential predictability of the atmosphere, estimated by the ratio of the total variance to the variance due to the internal dynamics of the model atmosphere, reveals that the atmospheric potential predictability is significantly increased after 1980s which is mainly due to an increased influence of El Niño-Southern Oscillation signal over the North Pacific and North American regions. Thirdly, the long-term climate trends in the atmosphere are found to contribute, to some extent, to the increased seasonal forecast skill especially over the Eurasian regions. Finally, the improved ocean observations in P2 may provide better initial conditions for the coupled models’ seasonal forecast.     

Optimizing computations in weather and climate prediction models

Summary To meet the challenge of developing a comprehensive weather and climate prediction model which can give realistic scenarios for many time scales, more computer power than is currently available will be needed. One possibility for alleviating this shortcoming is to increase the integration timestep. We propose and test several methods which may prove useful. One procedure is an expansion of the model dependent variables in a Taylor series. Application of this method to simple models indicates acceptable increases in timestep by a factor of five. A multi-level approach which is less complex to apply gives comparable results and is more successful when high accuracy is desired. To bypass the limiting constraint of the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) condition on gravity waves, an approach is suggested in which the prediction model is represented in its normal modes and the high frequency modes are balanced while the low frequency modes are predicted. Experiments with this procedure are described and in combination with the multi-level integration technique show substantial increases in integration timestep for acceptable integration results, both on the forecast and climate scale. Experiments are now underway applying this process to the NCAR/CCM3, a state-of-the-art model.With 10 Figures     

Impact of in-consistency between the climate model and its initial conditions on climate prediction

We investigated the influence of dynamical in-consistency of initial conditions on the predictive skill of decadal climate predictions. The investigation builds on the fully coupled global model “Coupled GCM for Earth Simulator” (CFES). In two separate experiments, the ocean component of the coupled model is full-field initialized with two different initial fields from either the same coupled model CFES or the GECCO2 Ocean Synthesis while the atmosphere is initialized from CFES in both cases. Differences between both experiments show that higher SST forecast skill is obtained when initializing with coupled data assimilation initial conditions (CIH) instead of those from GECCO2 (GIH), with the most significant difference in skill obtained over the tropical Pacific at lead year one. High predictive skill of SST over the tropical Pacific seen in CIH reflects the good reproduction of El Niño events at lead year one. In contrast, GIH produces additional erroneous El Niño events. The tropical Pacific skill differences between both runs can be rationalized in terms of the zonal momentum balance between the wind stress and pressure gradient force, which characterizes the upper equatorial Pacific. In GIH, the differences between the oceanic and atmospheric state at initial time leads to imbalance between the zonal wind stress and pressure gradient force over the equatorial Pacific, which leads to the additional pseudo El Niño events and explains reduced predictive skill. The balance can be reestablished if anomaly initialization strategy is applied with GECCO2 initial conditions and improved predictive skill in the tropical Pacific is observed at lead year one. However, initializing the coupled model with self-consistent initial conditions leads to the highest skill of climate prediction in the tropical Pacific by preserving the momentum balance between zonal wind stress and pressure gradient force along the equatorial Pacific.

     

中国气候变化预估数据在河北地区的检验分析

应用观测资料对中国地区预估数据集进行检验分析。结果表明:1)7月降水量,区域模式在张家口南部桑洋河盆地和北部坝上地区的模拟值偏大,而在北京东边兴隆高山区和东南沿海地区的模拟值明显偏小。2)7月最高气温,在北京东边兴隆高山区和东部平原的模拟值明显偏高,而在张家口南部桑洋河盆地和太行山东侧的模拟值偏低。3)1月最低气温,在北京东边兴隆高山区、太行山北段高山区和东部平原地区的模拟值偏高,而在张家口南部桑洋河盆地和太行山东侧的模拟值偏低。4)无论是对降水还是气温,由于全球模式的空间分辨率偏低、很难描述河北地区的地形特征,所以模拟结果很差。由于区域气候模式的分辨率提高、对河北地区地形特征的描述有了改进,所以模拟效果有明显改善;但受分辨率所限,它对局部地形如兴隆高山、桑洋河盆地、太行山北部高山等地形特征的描述不是很好,造成模拟结果在这些地区出现系统性偏差,因此应用这些数据时需加以订正。     

Ethiopia's growth prospects in a changing climate: A stochastic general equilibrium approach

This study develops a stochastic economy-wide framework for analyzing economic impacts from climate change and potential adaptation policies. For the stochastic analysis, particular attention is paid to the development of a prior subjective distribution of future climate outcomes. The approach is applied to Ethiopia. The results highlight the importance of cumulative processes and rates of growth. In particular, if climate change affects the rate of technical change and the rate of accumulation of capital, the implications become significant over time. Furthermore, analysis of the variability of the components of GDP indicates that aggregate consumption always has a higher coefficient of variation than the other macro aggregates. The burden of adjustment appears to fall more heavily on consumers. Poor consumers are likely to experience increased vulnerability.     

基于关系数据库的短期气候预测业务系统

介绍了四川省气象台短期气候预测业务系统的设计思路及构成该系统的各模块的功能和程序实现。