Projected changes in Eurasian and Arctic summer cyclones under global warming in the Bergen climate model

Using the coupled ocean-atmosphere Bergen Climate Model,and a Lagrangian vorticity-based cyclone tracking method,the authors investigate current climate summer cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere and their change by the end of the 21st century,with a focus on Northern Eurasia and the Arctic.The two scenarios A1B and A2 for increasing greenhouse gas concentrations are considered.In the model projections,the total number of cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere is reduced by about 3% 4%,but the Arctic Ocean and adjacent coastal re-gions harbour slightly more and slightly stronger summer storms,compared to the model current climate.This in-crease occurs in conjunction with an increase in the high-latitude zonal winds and in the meridional tempera-ture gradient between the warming land and the ocean across Northern Eurasia.Deficiencies in climate model representations of the summer storm tracks at high lati-tudes are also outlined,and the need for further model inter-comparison studies is emphasized.     

Projected changes in South Asian summer monsoon by multi-model global warming experiments

South Asian summer monsoon (June through September) rainfall simulation and its potential future changes are evaluated in a multi-model ensemble of global coupled climate models outputs under World Climate Research Program Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (WCRP CMIP3) dataset. The response of South Asian summer monsoon to a transient increase in future anthropogenic radiative forcing is investigated for two time slices, middle (2031–2050) and end of the twenty-first century (2081–2100), in the non-mitigated Special Report on Emission Scenarios B1, A1B and A2 .There is large inter-model variability in the simulation of spatial characteristics of seasonal monsoon precipitation. Ten out of the 25 models are able to simulate space–time characteristics of the South Asian monsoon precipitation reasonably well. The response of these selected ten models has been examined for projected changes in seasonal monsoon rainfall. The multi-model ensemble of these ten models projects a significant increase in monsoon precipitation with global warming. The substantial increase in precipitation is observed over western equatorial Indian Ocean and southern parts of India. However, the monsoon circulation weakens significantly under all the three climate change experiments. Possible mechanisms for the projected increase in precipitation and for precipitation–wind paradox have been discussed. The surface temperature over Asian landmass increases in pre-monsoon months due to global warming and heat low over northwest India intensifies. The dipole snow configuration over Eurasian continent strengthens in warmer atmosphere, which is conducive for the enhancement in precipitation over Indian landmass. No notable changes have been projected in the El Niño–Monsoon relationship, which is useful for predicting interannual variations of the monsoon.     

Projected changes in the physical climate of the Gulf Coast and Caribbean

As the global climate warms due to increasing greenhouse gases, the regional climate of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean region will also change. This study presents the latest estimates of the expected changes in temperature, precipitation, tropical cyclone activity, and sea level. Changes in temperature and precipitation are derived from climate model simulations produced for the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR4), by comparing projections for the mid- and late-21st century to the late 20th century and assuming a “middle-of-the-road” scenario for future greenhouse gas emissions. Regional simulations from the North America Regional Climate Change Program (NARCCAP) are used to corroborate the IPCC AR4 rainfall projections over the US portion of the domain. Changes in tropical cyclones and sea level are more uncertain, and our understanding of these variables has changed more since IPCC AR4 than in the case of temperature and precipitation. For these quantities, the current state of knowledge is described based on the recent peer-reviewed literature.     

Global climate change and potential effects on Pacific salmonids in freshwater ecosystems of southeast Alaska

General circulation models predict increases in air temperatures from 1°C to 5°C as atmospheric CO₂ continues to rise during the next 100 years. Thermal regimes in freshwater ecosystems will change as air temperatures increase regionally. As air temperatures increase, the distribution and intensity of precipitation will change which will in turn alter freshwater hydrology. Low elevation floodplains and wetlands will flood as continental ice sheets melt, increasing sea-levels. Although anadromous salmonids exist over a wide range of climatic conditions along the Pacific coast, individual stocks have adapted life history strategies—time of emergence, run timing, and residence time in freshwater—that are often unique to regions and watersheds. The response of anadromous salmonids will differ among species depending on their life cycle in freshwater. For pink and chum salmon that migrate to the ocean shortly after they emerge from the gravel, higher temperatures during spawning and incubation may result in earlier entry into the ocean when food resources are low. Shifts in thermal regimes in lakes will change trophic conditions that will affect juvenile sockeye salmon growth and survival. Decreased summer stream flows and higher water temperatures will affect growth and survival of juvenile coho salmon. Rising sea-levels will inundate low elevation spawning areas for pink salmon and floodplain rearing habitats for juvenile coho salmon. Rapid changes in climatic conditions may not extirpate anadromous salmonids in the region, but they will impose greater stress on many stocks that are adapted to present climatic conditions. Survival of sustainable populations will depend on the existing genetic diversity within and among stocks, conservative harvest management, and habitat conservation.     

Projected future changes in tropical cyclone-related wave climate in the North Atlantic

Tropical cyclones are a major hazard for numerous countries surrounding the tropical-to-subtropical North Atlantic sub-basin including the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Their intense winds, which can exceed 300 km h⁻¹, can cause serious damage, particularly along coastlines where the combined action of waves, currents and low atmospheric pressure leads to storm surge and coastal flooding. This work presents future projections of North Atlantic tropical cyclone-related wave climate. A new configuration of the ARPEGE-Climat global atmospheric model on a stretched grid reaching ~ 14 km resolution to the north-east of the eastern Caribbean is able to reproduce the distribution of tropical cyclone winds, including Category 5 hurricanes. Historical (1984–2013, 5 members) and future (2051–2080, 5 members) simulations with the IPCC RCP8.5 scenario are used to drive the MFWAM (Météo-France Wave Action Model) spectral wave model over the Atlantic basin during the hurricane season. An intermediate 50-km resolution grid is used to propagate mid-latitude swells into a higher 10-km resolution grid over the tropical cyclone main development region. Wave model performance is evaluated over the historical period with the ERA5 reanalysis and satellite altimetry data. Future projections exhibit a modest but widespread reduction in seasonal mean wave heights in response to weakening subtropical anticyclone, yet marked increases in tropical cyclone-related wind sea and extreme wave heights within a large region extending from the African coasts to the North American continent.

     

Projected changes in the western North Pacific subtropical high under six global warming targets

西北太平洋副热带高压(简称西太副高)是影响东亚夏季天气气候的关键环流系统。本文利用CMIP5的历史气候模拟试验和RCP8.5路径下的未来气候变化预估试验数据,采用扰动位势高度,流函数等多种变量描述西太副高,分析了西太副高在6个全球变暖阈值(1.5℃, 2.0℃, 2.5℃,3.0℃, 3.5℃和4.0℃)下相对于当代气候的变化情况。在对流层中层(500 h Pa),西太副高在1.5℃阈值下几乎没有变化,而在2.0℃阈值下迅速减弱并东退约2.5°。当升温大于2.5℃时,西太副高呈线性减弱趋势,在4.0℃阈值下将东退约6.0°。在对流层低层(850 h Pa),西太副高在1.5℃阈值下增强西伸,但在升温到2.0℃的过程中变化不大。当变暖达到4.0℃阈值时,西太副高将西伸约2.0°。     

Projected changes in drought occurrence under future global warming from multi-model,multi-scenario,IPCC AR4 simulations

Recent and potential future increases in global temperatures are likely to be associated with impacts on the hydrologic cycle, including changes to precipitation and increases in extreme events such as droughts. We analyze changes in drought occurrence using soil moisture data for the SRES B1, A1B and A2 future climate scenarios relative to the PICNTRL pre-industrial control and 20C3M twentieth century simulations from eight AOGCMs that participated in the IPCC AR4. Comparison with observation forced land surface model estimates indicates that the models do reasonably well at replicating our best estimates of twentieth century, large scale drought occurrence, although the frequency of long-term (more than 12-month duration) droughts are over-estimated. Under the future projections, the models show decreases in soil moisture globally for all scenarios with a corresponding doubling of the spatial extent of severe soil moisture deficits and frequency of short-term (4–6-month duration) droughts from the mid-twentieth century to the end of the twenty-first. Long-term droughts become three times more common. Regionally, the Mediterranean, west African, central Asian and central American regions show large increases most notably for long-term frequencies as do mid-latitude North American regions but with larger variation between scenarios. In general, changes under the higher emission scenarios, A1B and A2 are the greatest, and despite following a reduced emissions pathway relative to the present day, the B1 scenario shows smaller but still substantial increases in drought, globally and for most regions. Increases in drought are driven primarily by reductions in precipitation with increased evaporation from higher temperatures modulating the changes. In some regions, increases in precipitation are offset by increased evaporation. Although the predicted future changes in drought occurrence are essentially monotonic increasing globally and in many regions, they are generally not statistically different from contemporary climate (as estimated from the 1961–1990 period of the 20C3M simulations) or natural variability (as estimated from the PICNTRL simulations) for multiple decades, in contrast to primary climate variables, such as global mean surface air temperature and precipitation. On the other hand, changes in annual and seasonal means of terrestrial hydrologic variables, such as evaporation and soil moisture, are essentially undetectable within the twenty-first century. Changes in the extremes of climate and their hydrological impacts may therefore be more detectable than changes in their means.     

Intraseasonal oscillation intensity over the western North Pacific:Projected changes under global warming

本文利用8个CMIP5模式的日资料,预估了RCP4.5和RCP8.5情景下全球增温达1.5℃和2.0℃时西北太平洋夏季30～60天和10～20天季节内振荡(ISO)强度的变化情况.大多数模式都认为,无论增温水平或情景如何,预估结果均显示从中南半岛南部到菲律宾以东的带状区域内ISO强度增加,并且关键气象要素背景的变化会对...     

21世纪新疆区域气候暖湿化趋势预估分析

新疆未来暖湿化的预估分析可为区域气候变化减缓和适应提供重要的科学基础。国际耦合模式比较计划第六阶段（CMIP6）全球气候模式在三种共享社会经济路径（SSPs）下的结果显示,新疆地区未来2021~2100年总体呈现气温升高、降水增加的“暖湿化”现象,但这种变化的具体数值和空间分布存在一定差异。其中SSP2-4.5情景下,相对于1995~2014年,预估2021~2040年新疆地区年平均气温将升高1.2℃左右,年平均降水将增加6.8%。对极端事件的预估结果表明,新疆地区未来暖事件将增加,冷事件将减少;极端强降水事件将增多,且高排放情景下的增加更为显著。新疆地区的未来预估分析,将有助于对新疆地区灾害风险时空变化格局的认识,对未来农业方面等风险防范也有重要的指示作用。     

ENSO nonlinearity in a warming climate

The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is known as the strongest natural inter-annual climate signal, having widespread consequences on the global weather, climate, ecology and even on societies. Understanding ENSO variations in a changing climate is therefore of primordial interest to both the climate community and policy makers. In this study, we focus on the change in ENSO nonlinearity due to climate change. We first analysed high statistical moments of observed Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) timeseries of the tropical Pacific based on the measurement of the tails of their Probability Density Function (PDF). This allows defining relevant metrics for the change in nonlinearity observed over the last century. Based on these metrics, a zonal “see-saw” (oscillation) in nonlinearity patterns is highlighted that is associated with the change in El Niño characteristics observed in recent years. Taking advantage of the IPCC database and the different projection scenarios, it is showed that changes in El Niño statistics (or “flavour”) from a present-day climate to a warmer climate are associated with a significant change in nonlinearity patterns. In particular, in the twentieth century climate, the “conventional” eastern Pacific El Niño relates more to changes in nonlinearity than to changes in mean state whereas the central Pacific El Niño (or Modoki El Niño) is more sensitive to changes in mean state than to changes in nonlinearity. An opposite behaviour is found in a warmer climate, namely the decreasing nonlinearity in the eastern Pacific tends to make El Niño less frequent but more sensitive to mean state, whereas the increasing nonlinearity in the west tends to trigger Central Pacific El Niño more frequently. This suggests that the change in ENSO statistics due to climate change might result from changes in the zonal contrast of nonlinearity characteristics across the tropical Pacific.     

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。     

不同升温情景下中国东北地区平均气候和极端气候事件变化预估

利用区域气候模式RegCM4的逐日气温和降水资料,预估1.5℃和2.0℃升温情景下,东北地区平均气候和极端气候事件的变化。结果表明：RCP4.5排放情景下,模式预计在2030年和2044年左右稳定达到1.5℃和2.0℃升温;两种升温情景下,东北地区气温、积温、生长季长度均呈增加趋势,且增幅随着升温阈值的升高而增加;1.5℃升温情景下,年平均气温增幅为1.19℃,年平均降水距平百分率增幅为5.78%,积温增加247.1℃·d,生长季长度延长7.0 d;2.0℃升温情景下气温、积温、生长季长度增幅较1.5℃升温情景下显著,但是年和四季降水普遍减少,年降水距平百分率减小1.96%。两种升温情景下,极端高温事件显著增加,极端低温事件显著减少,极端降水事件普遍增加。霜冻日数、结冰日数均呈显著减少趋势,热浪持续指数呈显著增加趋势;未来东北地区降水极端性增强,不仅单次降水过程的量级增大,极端降水过程的量级也明显增大,随着升温阈值的增大,极端降水的强度也逐渐增大。