Wind-stress feedback amplification of abrupt millennial-scale climate changes

The influence of changes in surface wind-stress on the properties (amplitude and period) and domain of existence of thermohaline millennial oscillations is studied by means of a coupled model of intermediate complexity set up in an idealized spherical sector geometry of the Atlantic basin. Using the atmospheric CO₂ concentration as the control parameter, bifurcation diagrams of the model are built to show that the influence of wind-stress changes on glacial abrupt variability is threefold. First, millennial-scale oscillations are significantly amplified through wind-feedback-induced changes in both northern sea ice export and oceanic heat transport. Changes in surface wind-stress more than double the amplitude of the strong warming events that punctuate glacial abrupt variability obtained under prescribed winds in the model. Second, the average duration of both stadials and interstadials is significantly lengthened and the temporal structure of observed variability is better captured under interactive winds. Third, the generation of millennial-scale oscillations is shown to occur for significantly colder climates when wind-stress feedback is enabled. This behaviour results from the strengthening of the negative temperature-advection feedback associated with stronger northward oceanic heat transport under interactive winds.     

The impact of potential abrupt climate changes on near-term policy choices

We investigate an important scientific uncertainty facing climate-change policymakers, namely, the impact of potential abrupt climatic change. We examine sequential decision strategies for abating climate change where near-term policies are viewed as the first of a series of decisions which adapt over the years to improving scientific information. We compare two illustrative near-term (1992–2002) policies - moderate and aggressive emission reductions - followed by a subsequent long-term policy chosen to limit global-mean temperature change to a specified ‘climate target’. We calculate the global-mean surface temperature change using a simple climate/ocean model and simple models of greenhouse-gas concentrations. We alter model parameters to examine the impact of abrupt changes in the sinks of carbon dioxide, the sources of methane, the circulation of the oceans, and the climate sensitivity, ΔT _2x. Although the abrupt changes increase the long-term costs of responding to climate change, they do not significantly affect the comparatively small cost difference between near-term strategies. Except for an abrupt increase in ΔT _2x, the investigated abrupt climate changes do not significantly alter the values of the climate target for which each near-term strategy is preferred. In contrast, innovations that reduce the cost of limiting greenhouse-gas emissions offer the potential for substantial abatement cost savings, regardless of which level of near-term abatement is selected.     

Detecting abrupt dynamic change based on changes in the fractal properties of spatial images

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Many abrupt climate change events often cannot be detected timely by conventional abrupt detection methods until a few years after these events have occurred....     

Detecting trends that are nonlinear and asymmetric on diurnal and seasonal time scales

Trends in climate time series are often nonlinear and temporally-asymmetric, i.e. the trend is different for different seasons and/or hours of the day. Here a method is developed that allows the nonlinearity and temporal asymmetry of a trend to be investigated simultaneously. First, nonlinear trend components are extracted from a univariate time series, by adapting a nonparametric dimension-reduction method. Then, the nonlinear trend components are substituted into a regression model in which the periodic mean component and the periodic variation in the amplitude of the nonlinear trend are modeled using harmonic functions of the seasonal and diurnal periods. Third, trend patterns in the positive and negative anomalies are investigated, by extending the nonlinear trend model using indicator variables. Fourth, a non-local inferential test is developed to test the statistical significance of the trend patterns. The nonlinear trend model is applied to a simulated time series, as well as to long-term high-resolution temperature records from five Southern Hemisphere sites: Lucas Heights, Sydney Airport, Cape Grim, Macquarie Island and Law Dome. Our method should be generally useful for identifying the effect of both climate-related factors and observation/site-related factors on seasonal and diurnal trends in meteorological data series.     

全球变暖与气候突变

1气候突变、翻转点和不可逆在古气候和历史时期气候变化中有时会发生气候突变,近几十年全球明显变暖,引发人们对是否会发生气候突变的关注。对气候突变与翻转点和不可逆有许多定义,根据IPCC报告,气候突变(abrupt climate change)是指气候从一种稳定态(或稳定持续的变化趋势)跳跃式和快速地(几十年或更短)转变到另一种稳定态(至少稳定几十年或稳定持续的变化趋势)的现象,对人类和自然系统产生严重干扰。它表现为气候在时空上从一个统计特性到另一个统计特性的急剧变化,或地球系统非线性响应。     

Modeled seasonality of glacial abrupt climate events

Greenland ice cores, as well as many other paleo-archives from the northern hemisphere, recorded a series of 25 warm interstadial events, the so-called Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) events, during the last glacial period. We use the three-dimensional coupled global ocean–atmosphere–sea ice model ECBILT-CLIO and force it with freshwater input into the North Atlantic to simulate abrupt glacial climate events, which we use as analogues for D-O events. We focus our analysis on the Northern Hemisphere. The simulated events show large differences in the regional and seasonal distribution of the temperature and precipitation changes. While the temperature changes in high northern latitudes and in the North Atlantic region are dominated by winter changes, the largest temperature increases in most other land regions are seen in spring. Smallest changes over land are found during the summer months. Our model simulations also demonstrate that the temperature and precipitation change patterns for different intensifications of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation are not linear. The extent of the transitions varies, and local non-linearities influence the amplitude of the annual mean response as well as the response in different seasons. Implications for the interpretation of paleo-records are discussed.     

Fossil-pollen evidence for abrupt climate changes during the past 18 000 years in eastern North America

A quantitative measure of the rate at which fossil-pollen abundances changed over the last 18 000 years at 18 sites spread across eastern North America distinguishes local from regionally synchronous changes. Abrupt regional changes occurred at most sites in late-glacial time (at 13700, 12 300, and 10000 radiocarbon yr BP) and during the last 1000 years. The record of abrupt late-glacial vegetation changes in eastern North America correlates well with abrupt global changes in ice-sheet volume, mountain snow-lines, North Atlantic deep-water production, atmospheric CO₂, and atmospheric dust, although the palynological signal varies from site to site. Changes in vegetation during most of the Holocene, although locally significant, were not regionally synchronous. The analysis reveals non-alpine evidence for Neoglacial/Little Ice Age climate change during the last 1000 years, which was the only time during the Holocene when climate change was of sufficient magnitude to cause a synchronous vegetational response throughout the subcontinent. During the two millennia preceding this widespread synchronous change, the rate of change at all sites was low and the average rate of change was the lowest of the Holocene.Contribution to Clima Locarno Past and Present Climate Dynamics; Conference September 1990, Swiss Academy of Sciences — National Climate Program     

A study of abrupt climate change in a simple nonlinear climate model

We use a seasonal energy balance climate model to study the behavior of the snowline cycle as a function of external parameters such as the solar constant. Our studies are confined in this study to cases with zonally symmetric land-sea distributions (bands or caps of land). The model is nonlinear in that the seasonally varying snow/sea ice line modifies the energy receipt through its different albedo from open land or water. The repeating steady-state seasonal cycle of the model is solved by a truncated Fourier series in time. This method is several thousand times faster than a time stepping approach. The results are interesting in that a number of bifurcations in the snowline behavior are found and studied for various geographies. Polar land caps and land bands positioned near the poles exhibit a variety of discontinuous summer snow cover behaviors (abrupt transitions as a parameter such as solar constant is slowly varied), which may be relevant to the inception and decay of continental ice sheets.     

Atmospheric bridge on orbital time scales

Large-scale atmospheric patterns are examined on orbital timescales using a climate model which explicitly resolves the atmosphere–ocean–sea ice dynamics. It is shown that, in contrast to boreal summer where the climate mainly follows the local radiative forcing, the boreal winter climate is strongly determined by modulation of circulation modes linked to the Arctic Oscillation/North Atlantic Oscillation (AO/NAO) and the Northern/Southern Annular Modes. We find that during a positive phase of the AO/NAO the convection in the tropical Pacific is below normal. The related atmospheric circulation provides an atmospheric bridge for the precessional forcing inducing a non-uniform temperature anomalies with large amplitudes over the continents. We argue that this is important for mechanisms responsible for multi-millennial climate variability and glacial inception.     

Integrated assessment of abrupt climatic changes

One of the most controversial conclusions to emerge from many of the first generation of integrated assessment models (IAMs) of climate policy was the perceived economic optimality of negligible near-term abatement of greenhouse gases. Typically, such studies were conducted using smoothly varying climate change scenarios or impact responses. Abrupt changes observed in the climatic record and documented in current models could substantially alter the stringency of economically optimal IAM policies. Such abrupt climatic changes — or consequent impacts — would be less foreseeable and provide less time to adapt, and thus would have far greater economic or environmental impacts than gradual warming. We extend conventional, smooth IAM analysis by coupling a climate model capable of one type of abrupt change to a well-established energy–economy model (DICE). We compare the DICE optimal policy using the standard climate sub-model to our version that allows for abrupt change — and consequent enhanced climate damage — through changes in the strength (and possible collapse) of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC). We confirm the potential significance of abrupt climate change to economically optimal IAM policies, thus calling into question all previous work neglecting such possibilities — at the least for the wide ranges of relevant social and climate system parameters we consider. In addition, we obtain an emergent property of our coupled social–natural system model: “optimal policies” that do consider abrupt changes may, under relatively low discount rates, calculate emission control levels sufficient to avoid significant abrupt change, whereas “optimal policies” disregarding abrupt change would not prevent this non-linear event. However, there is a threshold in discount rate above which the present value of future damages is so low that even very large enhanced damages in the 22nd century, when a significant abrupt change such as a THC collapse would be most likely to occur, do not increase optimal control levels sufficiently to prevent such a collapse. Thus, any models not accounting for potential abrupt non-linear behavior and its interaction with the discounting formulation are likely to miss an important set of possibilities relevant to the climate policy debate.     

基于组网观测的那曲土壤湿度不同时间尺度的变化特征

利用第三次青藏高原大气科学试验的土壤湿度观测数据,分析了那曲多空间尺度组网观测的28个站2、5、10、20和30 cm 5个不同深度土壤湿度的季节变化和日变化特征,并对比讨论了土壤湿度站点间的差异。分析表明,各层土壤湿度均存在显著的季节变化。冬春季节,20 cm以上土壤湿度随深度变浅而减小。夏秋季节土壤湿度随深度增加而减小,并分别在7月上、中旬和9月出现两个峰值。10月以后进入土壤湿度衰减期。土壤温度和土壤湿度存在协同变化关系。在一定的温度范围内,土壤发生冻结-融化过程,引起土壤湿度变化。在太阳辐射加热下,土壤表层水分蒸发,进而影响土壤温度。不同观测站间土壤湿度差异较大,夏秋季离散性大于冬春季。不同季节土壤湿度的日变化存在差异。春季10 cm以上土壤湿度日变化明显,08-10时（北京时）达到最低,19-20时达到最高。夏季土壤湿度日变化较为平缓。秋季2 cm深度土壤湿度日变化明显。线性拟合结果表明,1、4、10月土壤湿度和土壤温度为正相关关系。但是在夏季,土壤湿度与土壤温度为负相关。站点间土壤湿度变化的离散性表明,多测站才能全面体现青藏高原某区域的陆面状态。文中结果为青藏高原地区土壤湿度卫星参数验证和数值模式参数化提供了多角度的观测依据。      

中国不同时间尺度地表太阳总辐射估算研究

利用全国95个气象站点逐日地表太阳总辐射和日照时数资料,通过最小二乘法拟合回归建立地表太阳总辐射气候学计算模型。通过对比分析以日值和月值为起点的地表太阳总辐射计算模型的精度,确定了全国不同省份和区域的不同时间尺度（月、季节、生长季和年）地表太阳总辐射计算模型,并探讨了经验系数a、b值的分布及变化特征。结果表明,以日值和月值为起点建立的月、四季、生长季和年地表太阳总辐射计算模型精度无显著性差异,相对误差均低于8.5%,但以日值为起点的计算模型a、b值变异性更小。在以日值为起点建立计算模型的前提下,全国各地a、b值自西北部向南部减小,且从四季到生长季再到年尺度,随着时间尺度增大,a、b值振幅减小。根据不同省份年地表太阳总辐射计算模型经验系数a、b值,全国可划分为新甘蒙地区、青藏高原地区和中东部地区3个区域,分别确定了每个区域四季、生长季和年尺度下地表太阳总辐射计算模型。各区域不同时间尺度地表太阳总辐射计算模型均通过了显著性检验（p<0.01）,其中青藏高原地区和新甘蒙地区模型相对误差低于8.0%,模拟精度较高。     

Successful adaptation to climate change across scales

Climate change impacts and responses are presently observed in physical and ecological systems. Adaptation to these impacts is increasingly being observed in both physical and ecological systems as well as in human adjustments to resource availability and risk at different spatial and societal scales. We review the nature of adaptation and the implications of different spatial scales for these processes. We outline a set of normative evaluative criteria for judging the success of adaptations at different scales. We argue that elements of effectiveness, efficiency, equity and legitimacy are important in judging success in terms of the sustainability of development pathways into an uncertain future. We further argue that each of these elements of decision-making is implicit within presently formulated scenarios of socio-economic futures of both emission trajectories and adaptation, though with different weighting. The process by which adaptations are to be judged at different scales will involve new and challenging institutional processes.     

A GCM Study on the Mechanism of Seasonal Abrupt Changes

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不同时间尺度上黄淮地区夏季降水异常成因及预测研究

利用1961—2006年中国降水资料、NCEP/NCAR再分析资料、NOAA海表温度资料,分析了黄淮地区夏季降水的年代际和年际变化特征,研究了不同时间尺度上降水异常成因。结果表明,年代际尺度上,当太平洋年代际振荡处在暖(冷)位相时,南方涛动偏弱(强),黄淮地区夏季降水偏多(少)。在年际及以下尺度上,当印度洋北部海温偏高、南部偏低时,500 hPa位势高度场上,中高纬乌拉尔山以东和鄂霍次克海附近出现明显的双阻塞高压,副热带高压偏强;200 hPa风场上,西风急流略偏南,黄淮流域上空西风偏强,为反气旋环流;850 hPa风场上,黄淮流域上空出现西南—东北风的切变,使得急流出口区右侧次级环流的异常上升支恰好位于黄淮流域上空,高低空环流的这种配置导致了黄淮流域上空降水偏多。进一步分析发现,利用印度洋海温作为预测因子,建立预测模型,对黄淮流域降水年际变率有较高的预测能力。     

Decreasing predictability as a precursor indicator for abrupt climate change

Abrupt climate change has an important impact on sustainable economic and social development, as well as ecosystem. However, it is very difficult to predict abrupt climate changes because the climate system is a complex and nonlinear system. In the present paper, the nonlinear local Lyapunov exponent (NLLE) is proposed as a new early warning signal for an abrupt climate change. The performance of NLLE as an early warning signal is first verified by those simulated abrupt changes based on four folding models. That is, NLLE in all experiments showed an almost monotonous increasing trend as a dynamic system approached its tipping point. For a well-studied abrupt climate change in North Pacific in 1976/1977, it is also found that NLLE shows an almost monotonous increasing trend since 1970 which give up to 6 years warning before the abrupt climate change. The limit of the predictability for a nonlinear dynamic system can be quantitatively estimated by NLLE, and lager NLLE of the system means less predictability. Therefore, the decreasing predictability may be an effective precursor indicator for abrupt climate change.