Localized climate change scenarios of mean temperature and precipitation over Switzerland

There is a growing need of the climate change impact modeling and adaptation community to have more localized climate change scenario information available over complex topography such as in Switzerland. A gridded dataset of expected future climate change signals for seasonal averages of daily mean temperature and precipitation in Switzerland is presented. The basic scenarios are taken from the CH2011 initiative. In CH2011, a Bayesian framework was applied to obtain probabilistic scenarios for three regions within Switzerland. Here, the results for two additional Alpine sub-regions are presented. The regional estimates have then been downscaled onto a regular latitude-longitude grid with a resolution of 0.02° or roughly 2 km. The downscaling procedure is based on the spatial structure of the climate change signals as simulated by the underlying regional climate models and relies on a Kriging with external drift using height as auxiliary predictor. The considered emission scenarios are A1B, A2 and the mitigation scenario RCP3PD. The new dataset shows an expected warming of about 1 to 6 °C until the end of the 21st century, strongly depending on the scenario and the lead time. Owing to a large vertical gradient, the warming is about 1 °C stronger in the Alps than in the Swiss lowlands. In case of precipitation, the projection uncertainty is large and in most seasons precipitation can increase or decrease. In summer a distinct decrease of precipitation can be found, again strongly depending on the emission scenario.     

Climate change in the 21st century simulated by HadGEM2-AO under representative concentration pathways

We present climate responses of Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) using the coupled climate model HadGEM2-AO for the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5). The RCPs are selected as standard scenarios for the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report and these scenarios include time paths for emissions and concentrations of greenhouse gas and aerosols and land-use/land cover. The global average warming and precipitation increases for the last 20 years of the 21st century relative to the period 1986-2005 are +1.1°C/+2.1% for RCP2.6, +2.4°C/+4.0% for RCP4.5, +2.5°C/+3.3% for RCP6.0 and +4.1°C/+4.6% for RCP8.5, respectively. The climate response on RCP 2.6 scenario meets the UN Copenhagen Accord to limit global warming within two degrees at the end of 21st century, the mitigation effect is about 3°C between RCP2.6 and RCP8.5. The projected precipitation changes over the 21st century are expected to increase in tropical regions and at high latitudes, and decrease in subtropical regions associated with projected poleward expansions of the Hadley cell. Total soil moisture change is projected to decrease in northern hemisphere high latitudes and increase in central Africa and Asia whereas near-surface soil moisture tends to decrease in most areas according to the warming and evaporation increase. The trend and magnitude of future climate extremes are also projected to increase in proportion to radiative forcing of RCPs. For RCP 8.5, at the end of the summer season the Arctic is projected to be free of sea ice.     

RegCM4对华北区域21世纪气候变化预估研究

利用国家气候中心完成的RegCM4区域气候模式在RCP4.5和RCP8.5两种排放路径下的气候变化动力降尺度试验结果,在检验模式对基准期(1986—2005年)气温和降水模拟能力基础上,进行华北区域21世纪气候变化预估分析。结果表明：RegCM4对华北区域基准期气温和降水的模拟能力较好。未来21世纪,两种情景下华北区域气温、降水、持续干期(consecutive dry days, CDD)和强降水量(R95p)变化逐渐增大,但变化幅度在高排放的RCP8.5情景下更为显著,其中近期(2021—2035年)、中期(2046—2065年)、远期(2080—2098年)RCP8.5情景下年平均气温分别升高1.77、3.44、5.82℃,年平均降水分别增加8.1%、14%、19.3%,CDD分别减少3、3、12 d, R95p分别增加30.8%、41.9%、69.8%。空间上,未来21世纪华北区域内年、冬季、夏季平均气温将一致升高,夏季升温幅度最大;年、冬季、夏季平均降水整体以增加为主,冬季降水增加幅度最大;CDD以减少为主,但近期和中期在山西和京津冀有所增加,而R95p以增加为主,表明21世...     

Impact of climate changes over the extratropical land on permafrost dynamics under RCP scenarios in the 21st century as simulated by the IAP RAS climate model

Estimates of possible climate changes and cryolithozone dynamics in the 21st century over the Northern Hemisphere land are obtained using the IAP RAS global climate model under the RCP scenarios. Annual mean warming over the northern extratropical land during the 21st century amounts to 1.2–5.3°C depending on the scenario. The area of the snow cover in February amounting currently to 46 million km² decreases to 33–42 million km² in the late 21st century. According to model estimates, the near-surface permafrost in the late 21st century persists in northern regions of West Siberia, in Transbaikalia, and Tibet even under the most aggressive RCP 8.5 scenario; under more moderate scenarios (RCP 6.0, RCP 4.5, and RCP 2.6), it remains in East Siberia and in some high-latitude regions of North America. The total near-surface permafrost area in the Northern Hemisphere in the current century decreases by 5.3–12.8 million km² depending on the scenario. The soil subsidence due to permafrost thawing in Central Siberia, Cisbaikalia, and North America can reach 0.5–0.8 m by the late 21st century.     

An assessment of global and regional climate change based on the EH5OM climate model ensemble

An analysis of climate change for global domain and for the European/Mediterranean region between the two periods, 1961–1990 (representing the twentieth century or “present” climate) and 2041–2070 (representing future climate), from the three-member ensemble of the EH5OM climate model under the IPCC A2 scenario was performed. Ensemble averages for winter and summer seasons were considered, but also intra-ensemble variations and the change of interannual variability between the two periods. First, model systematic errors are assessed because they could be closely related to uncertainties in climate change. A strengthening of westerlies (zonalization) over the northern Europe is associated with an erroneous increase in MSLP over the southern Europe. This increase in MSLP is related to a (partial) suppression of summer convective precipitation. Global warming in future climate is relatively uniform in the upper troposphere and it is associated with a 10% wind increase in the subtropical jet cores. However, spatial irregularities in the low-level temperature signal single out some regions as particularly sensitive to climate change. For Europe, the largest near-surface temperature increase in winter is found over its north-eastern part (more than 3°C), and the largest summer warming (over 3.5°C) is over south Europe. For south Europe, the increase in temperature averages is almost an order of magnitude larger than the increase in interannual variability. The magnitude of the warming is larger than the model systematic error, and the spread among the three model realisations is much smaller than the magnitude of climate change. This further supports the significance of estimated future temperature change. However, this is not the case for precipitation, implying therefore larger uncertainties for precipitation than for temperature in future climate projections.     

Present and historical climate variability in South West England

West Cornwall is the most south westerly part of mainland United Kingdom with a strong maritime climate. This paper analyses the earliest archived instrumental meteorological records collected in West Cornwall (SW England). Observations were obtained from the Met Office archive (Camborne 1957–2010; Culdrose 1985–2011), Trengwainton Garden (1940–2010), and from the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, (data for Falmouth (1880–1952) and Helston (1843–1888)). Homogeneity tests were used (Levene and Brown-Forsythe tests) to exclude any trends not related to climate variability. The data exhibit trends in annual mean and maximum temperatures over the timescales analysed, and show a general temperature increase in the 20th and 21st century. Annual and seasonal temperature change was found to vary locally with strongly positive trends in autumn, spring and summer seasons. Trends in precipitation are positive only for the 19th century and only for one station. Correlation with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index gives negative results for precipitation data. However correlation with the NAO index is positive with temperature, especially in the winter season. Return period analysis shows a decrease in intensity and frequency of extreme precipitation events in the post-1975 period (Camborne and Trengwainton Garden stations). Climate change in the 20th century and future continued warming is likely to have major implications on biodiversity in this region.     

Climate of Russia in the 21st century. Part 3. Future climate changes calculated with an ensemble of coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation CMIP3 models

Probable climate changes in Russia in the 21st century are considered based on the results of global climate simulations with an ensemble of coupled atmosphere-ocean CMIP3 models. The future changes in the surface air temperature, atmospheric pressure, cloud amount, atmospheric precipitation, snow cover, soil water content, and annual runoff in Russia and some of its regions in the early, middle, and late 21st century are analyzed using the A2 scenario of the greenhouse gas and aerosol emission. Future changes in the yearly highest and lowest surface air temperatures and in summer precipitation of high intensity are estimated for Russia. Possible oscillations of the Caspian Sea level associated with the expected global climate warming are estimated. In addition to the estimates of the ensemble mean changes in climatic characteristics, the information about standard deviations and statistical significance of the corresponding climate changes is given.     

Present climate and climate change over North America as simulated by the fifth-generation Canadian regional climate model

The fifth-generation Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM5) was used to dynamically downscale two Coupled Global Climate Model (CGCM) simulations of the transient climate change for the period 1950–2100, over North America, following the CORDEX protocol. The CRCM5 was driven by data from the CanESM2 and MPI-ESM-LR CGCM simulations, based on the historical (1850–2005) and future (2006–2100) RCP4.5 radiative forcing scenario. The results show that the CRCM5 simulations reproduce relatively well the current-climate North American regional climatic features, such as the temperature and precipitation multiannual means, annual cycles and temporal variability at daily scale. A cold bias was noted during the winter season over western and southern portions of the continent. CRCM5-simulated precipitation accumulations at daily temporal scale are much more realistic when compared with its driving CGCM simulations, especially in summer when small-scale driven convective precipitation has a large contribution over land. The CRCM5 climate projections imply a general warming over the continent in the 21st century, especially over the northern regions in winter. The winter warming is mostly contributed by the lower percentiles of daily temperatures, implying a reduction in the frequency and intensity of cold waves. A precipitation decrease is projected over Central America and an increase over the rest of the continent. For the average precipitation change in summer however there is little consensus between the simulations. Some of these differences can be attributed to the uncertainties in CGCM-projected changes in the position and strength of the Pacific Ocean subtropical high pressure.     

Climate Change Projections for the 21st Century by the NCC/IAP T63 Model with SRES Scenarios

1. IntroductionFor the latest 15 years, the climate change hasbeen paid more attention by the policy-makers, scien-tists, and the public. The global warming of 0.4-0.8°Cfor the 20th century has been measured by the instru-mental observations. The atmospheric concentrationof CO2 increased from 280 ppm for the period 1000-1750 to 368 ppm in the year 2000 with an increase of27%-35%. In the light of new evidence and taking intoaccount the remaining uncertainties, most of the ob-served warming o…     

Projections of high resolution climate changes for South Korea using multiple-regional climate models based on four RCP scenarios. Part 1: surface air temperature

We projected surface air temperature changes over South Korea during the mid (2026-2050) and late (2076-2100) 21st century against the current climate (1981-2005) using the simulation results from five regional climate models (RCMs) driven by Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model, version 2, coupled with the Atmosphere- Ocean (HadGEM2-AO), and two ensemble methods (equal weighted averaging, weighted averaging based on Taylor’s skill score) under four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenarios. In general, the five RCM ensembles captured the spatial and seasonal variations, and probability distribution of temperature over South Korea reasonably compared to observation. They particularly showed a good performance in simulating annual temperature range compared to HadGEM2-AO. In future simulation, the temperature over South Korea will increase significantly for all scenarios and seasons. Stronger warming trends are projected in the late 21st century than in the mid-21st century, in particular under RCP8.5. The five RCM ensembles projected that temperature changes for the mid/late 21st century relative to the current climate are +1.54°C/+1.92°C for RCP2.6, +1.68°C/+2.91°C for RCP4.5, +1.17°C/+3.11°C for RCP6.0, and +1.75°C/+4.73°C for RCP8.5. Compared to the temperature projection of HadGEM2-AO, the five RCM ensembles projected smaller increases in temperature for all RCP scenarios and seasons. The inter-RCM spread is proportional to the simulation period (i.e., larger in the late-21st than mid-21st century) and significantly greater (about four times) in winter than summer for all RCP scenarios. Therefore, the modeled predictions of temperature increases during the late 21st century, particularly for winter temperatures, should be used with caution.     

CSIRO Mk3.6.0模式及其驱动下RegCM4.4模式对中国气候变化的预估

使用区域气候模式RegCM4.4,对全球模式CSIRO-Mk3.6.0在RCP4.5情景下的气候变化试验结果（1950-2100年）在东亚地区进行25 km动力降尺度试验,比较了CSIRO-Mk3.6.0和RegCM4.4预估中国地区的21世纪气候变化。结果表明,两个模式预估未来中国地区气温持续升高,升温幅度具有区域性特征,RegCM4.4预估区域平均升温幅度低于CSIRO-Mk3.6.0,但二者年际波动基本一致。两个模式预估未来降水在中国西部以持续增加为主,东部则表现出较大的不一致性,预估区域平均年降水量变化不大,呈现冬季明显增加,夏季微弱减少的特点。此外,为了解区域气候模式对中国降水预估的不确定性,对本研究和以往RegCM3使用相同分辨率模拟得到的未来降水预估进行了对比,两个区域模式预估中国西部大部分地区未来降水一致性增加,东部存在明显不一致（冬季中、高纬除外）。     

中国地区IPCC A1B情景下21世纪中期气候变化的数值模拟试验

利用MM5V3区域气候模式单向嵌套ECHAM5全球环流模式的结果,对中国地区实际温室气体浓度下当代气候(1981—2000年)及IPCC A1B情景下21世纪中期气候(2041—2060年)分别进行了水平分辨率为50 km的模拟试验。首先检验全球和区域模式对当代气候的模拟情况,结果表明:区域模式对中国地区地面温度和降水空间分布的模拟能力优于全球模式;与实际观测相比,区域模式模拟的地面温度在中国大部分地区偏低,模拟的降水量偏多,降水位置偏北。IPCCA1B情景下中国地区21世纪中期气候变化的模式结果显示:各季节地面温度在全国范围内都将比当代升高1.2～3.9℃,且升温幅度具有北方大于南方、冬季大于夏季的时空分布特征;降水变化具有一定的区域性和季节性,秋季和冬季降水在全国大部分地区都将增加10%～30%,春季和夏季降水则呈现"北方减少、南方增多"的趋势,变化幅度在-10%～10%之间。21世纪中期地面温度和降水变化还具有一定的年际特征:地面温度在中国地区各子区域均表现为上升趋势,升温速率在0.7～0.9℃/10a之间,温度变率也比当代有所增大;降水在西北地区略呈下降趋势,在其它子区域均为上升,降水变率的变化具有区域性特征。     

Mean, interannual variability and trends in a regional climate change experiment over Europe. II: climate change scenarios (2071–2100)

We present an analysis of climate change over Europe as simulated by a regional climate model (RCM) nested within time-slice atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) experiments. Changes in mean and interannual variability are discussed for the 30-year period of 2071–2100 with respect to the present day period of 1961–1990 under forcing from the A2 and B2 IPCC emission scenarios. In both scenarios, the European region undergoes substantial warming in all seasons, in the range of 1–5.5°C, with the warming being 1–2°C lower in the B2 than in the A2 scenario. The spatial patterns of warming are similar in the two scenarios, with a maximum over eastern Europe in winter and over western and southern Europe in summer. The precipitation changes in the two scenarios also show similar spatial patterns. In winter, precipitation increases over most of Europe (except for the southern Mediterranean regions) due to increased storm activity and higher atmospheric water vapor loadings. In summer, a decrease in precipitation is found over most of western and southern Europe in response to a blocking-like anticyclonic circulation over the northeastern Atlantic which deflects summer storms northward. The precipitation changes in the intermediate seasons (spring and fall) are less pronounced than in winter and summer. Overall, the intensity of daily precipitation events predominantly increases, often also in regions where the mean precipitation decreases. Conversely the number of wet days decreases (leading to longer dry periods) except in the winter over western and central Europe. Cloudiness, snow cover and soil water content show predominant decreases, in many cases also in regions where precipitation increases. Interannual variability of both temperature and precipitation increases substantially in the summer and shows only small changes in the other seasons. A number of statistically significant regional trends are found throughout the scenario simulations, especially for temperature and for the A2 scenario. The results from the forcing AGCM simulations and the nested RCM simulations are generally consistent with each other at the broad scale. However, significant differences in the simulated surface climate changes are found between the two models in the summer, when local physics processes are more important. In addition, substantial fine scale detail in the RCM-produced change signal is found in response to local topographical and coastline features.     

Estimates of climate changes in the 20th-21st centuries based on the version of the IAP RAS climate model including the model of general ocean circulation

Numerical experiments are analyzed for 1860–2100 with the version of the climate model of intermediate complexity of the Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS) including the model of general ocean circulation as the oceanic module (CM IAP RAS-GOC) taking account of concentration variations of anthropogenic greenhouse gases and tropospheric sulfate aerosols from the data of observations and reconstructions for the second half of the 19th and for the 20th century and, according to SRES scenarios, in the 21st century. In the 20th century, the model simulates realistically the variations of surface atmospheric temperature, characteristics of heat absorption by the ocean, and oceanic meridional heat transport. The linear trend of global surface atmospheric temperature in the 20th century (in its last 30 years) in this version of the model amounts to 0.5 ± 0.1 K/100 years (0.22 ± 0.05 K/10 years) that is agreed with the observational data. In the 21st century, the global increase in the surface temperature amounts to 2.5 K (3.5 and 4.1 K) for SRES B1 scenario (for SRES A1B and SRES A2 scenarios, respectively). The increase in the surface temperature is the most significant in high latitudes, especially in the Northern Hemisphere and it is higher, on the whole, over the land than over the ocean. The warming near the surface is larger in winter than in summer. The maximum warming is observed in the Arctic and over the land of subpolar latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere reaching 6–10 K by the end of the 21st century in these regions as compared with the end of the 20th century depending on the anthropogenic impact scenario. At the increase in surface temperature in the 20th–21st centuries, the increase in the heat flow to the ocean and the weakening of the heat transport by the ocean from the tropics to the polar area by 1.5–2 times are registered, on the whole. At the warming, the CM IAP RAS-GOC gives the general increase in the annual precipitation amount which is especially appreciable in the tropics and in the storm-track regions. At the global averaging, the precipitation in the 21st century increase by 20–25%.     

“一带一路”区域未来气候变化预估

利用耦合模式比较计划第5阶段(CMIP5)提供的18个全球气候模式的模拟结果,预估了3种典型浓度路径(RCP2.6、RCP4.5、RCP8.5)下“一带一路”地区平均气候和极端气候的未来变化趋势。结果表明:在温室气体持续排放情景下,“一带一路”地区年平均气温在未来将会持续上升,升温幅度随温室气体浓度的增加而加大。在高温室气体排放情景(RCP8.5)下,到21世纪末期,平均气温将普遍升高5℃以上,其中北亚地区升幅最大,南亚和东南亚地区升幅最小。对于降水的变化,预估该区域大部分地区的年降水量将增加,其中西亚和北亚增加最为明显,而且在21世纪中期,RCP2.6情景下的增幅要比RCP4.5和RCP8.5情景下的偏大,而在21世纪后期,RCP8.5情景下降水的增幅比RCP2.6和RCP4.5情景下的偏大。未来极端温度也将呈升高的趋势,增温幅度高纬度地区大于低纬度地区、高排放情景大于低排放情景。而且在高纬度区域,极端低温的增暖幅度要大于极端高温的增幅。连续干旱日数在北亚和东亚总体呈现减少趋势,而在其他地区则呈增加趋势。极端强降水在“一带一路”区域总体上将增强,增强最明显的地区位于南亚、东南亚和东亚。     

Regional variability of climate change hot-spots in East Asia

The regional climate change index (RCCI) is employed to investigate hot-spots under 21st century global warming over East Asia. The RCCI is calculated on a 1-degree resolution grid from the ensemble of CMIP3 simulations for the B1, A1B, and A2 IPCC emission scenarios. The RCCI over East Asia exhibits marked sub-regional variability. Five sub-regional hot-spots are identified over the area of investigation: three in the northern regions (Northeast China, Mongolia, and Northwest China), one in eastern China, and one over the Tibetan Plateau. Contributions from different factors to the RCCI are discussed for the sub-regions. Analysis of the temporal evolution of the hot-spots throughout the 21st century shows different speeds of response time to global warming for the different sub-regions. Hot-spots firstly emerge in Northwest China and Mongolia. The Northeast China hot-spot becomes evident by the mid of the 21st century and it is the most prominent by the end of the century. While hot-spots are generally evident in all the 5 sub-regions for the A1B and A2 scenarios, only the Tibetan Plateau and Northwest China hot-spots emerge in the B1 scenario, which has the lowest greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations. Our analysis indicates that sub-regional hot-spots show a rather complex spatial and temporal dependency on the GHG concentration and on the different factors contributing to the RCCI.     

Simulation of regional climate change under the IPCC A2 scenario in southeast China

A variable-grid atmospheric general circulation model, LMDZ, with a local zoom over southeast China is used to investigate regional climate changes in terms of both means and extremes. Two time slices of 30?years are chosen to represent, respectively, the end of the 20th century and the middle of the 21st century. The lower-boundary conditions (sea-surface temperature and sea-ice extension) are taken from the outputs of three global coupled climate models: Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (IPSL), Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques (CNRM) and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). Results from a two-way nesting system between LMDZ-global and LMDZ-regional are also presented. The evaluation of simulated temperature and precipitation for the current climate shows that LMDZ reproduces generally well the spatial distribution of mean climate and extreme climate events in southeast China, but the model has systematic cold biases in temperature and tends to overestimate the extreme precipitation. The two-way nesting model can reduce the ??cold bias?? to some extent compared to the one-way nesting model. Results with greenhouse gas forcing from the SRES-A2 emission scenario show that there is a significant increase for mean, daily-maximum and minimum temperature in the entire region, associated with a decrease in the number of frost days and an increase in the heat wave duration. The annual frost days are projected to significantly decrease by 12?C19?days while the heat wave duration to increase by about 7?days. A warming environment gives rise to changes in extreme precipitation events. Except two simulations (LMDZ/GFDL and LMDZ/IPSL2) that project a decrease in maximum 5-day precipitation (R5d) for winter, other precipitation extremes are projected to increase over most of southeast China in all seasons, and among the three global scenarios. The domain-averaged values for annual simple daily intensity index (SDII), R5d and fraction of total rainfall from extreme events (R95t) are projected to increase by 6?C7, 10?C13 and 11?C14%, respectively, relative to their present-day values. However, it is clear that more research will be needed to assess the uncertainties on the projection in future of climate extremes at local scale.     

松花江流域气候变化及ECHAM5模式预估

 根据松花江流域1961-2000年观测气温、降水量资料和ECHAM5/MPI-OM模式对该流域21世纪前50 a气候变化的预估结果,分析了松花江流域1961-2000年年平均气温和年降水量变化,并对21世纪前50 a气温和降水量变化趋势进行了预估。结果表明,在全球变暖的背景下,作为中国气候变暖区域响应的先锋,松花江流域年平均气温自1980年代初持续升高,升温幅度比较显著;年降水量在1961-2000年无明显增加或减少趋势,年代际差异也不大。相对于1961-1990年的气候场,21世纪前半叶,年平均气温仍将呈明显增加趋势,到2040年代升温幅度达1℃以上,年降水量变化趋势不显著,可能微弱增加,但冬季平均气温和冬季降水量都呈增加趋势,春季降水量也为增加趋势。     

基于全球气候系统模式结果的重庆21世纪气候变化预估分析

利用政府间气候变化委员会（IPCC）第4次评估报告提供的13个新一代气候系统模式的模拟结果,分析了不同情景下（高排放SRESA2、中等排放SRESA1B和低排放SRESB1）重庆地区21世纪的气候变化。结果表明：21世纪重庆气候总体有显著变暖、变湿趋势,年平均气温变暖趋势为每100年2．3～4．2℃,年降水增加趋势为每100年5．9％～8．8％。冬季变暖最明显,春季降水增加较显著、秋季减少较明显。在A2、A1B和B1情景下,21世纪后期气温分别比常年偏高3．68、3．28、2．26℃,年降水分别比常年偏多5．24％、5．77％和3．43％。     

Downscaling projections of climate change in Sao Tome and Principe Islands,Africa

Sao Tome and Principe is a small insular African country extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels and impacts such as inundation, shore line change, and salt water intrusion into underground aquifers. Projections of climate change have considered coarse model resolutions. The objective of this work is to dynamically downscale the global model projections to 4-km resolution and to assess the climate change in the Sao Tome and Principe islands. The global climate projections are provided by the Canadian Earth System Model under two Representative Concentration Pathways greenhouse gas scenarios, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. The downscaling is produced by the Eta regional climate model. The baseline period is taken between 1971 and 2000, and the future climate period is taken between 2041 and 2070. The 2-m temperature simulations show good agreement with station data. The model simulates temperature more accurately than precipitation. The precipitation simulations systematically show underestimation and delay of the rainy and the dry seasons by about 1 month, a feature inherited from the global climate model. In the middle of the 21st century, projections show the strongest warming in the elevated parts of the Sao Tome Island, especially in February under RCP8.5. Warmer nights and warmer days become more frequent in the islands when compared with those in the present. While under RCP4.5, precipitation increases in the islands; under RCP8.5, it decreases everywhere in both islands. Heavy precipitation rates should increase, especially in the south-southwestern parts of the Sao Tome islands. Detailed spatial variability of the temperature and precipitation changes in the islands can only be revealed at very high spatial model resolution. Implications for the potential energy production from two major river basins are assessed in this work.