HadISDH.extremes Part Ⅱ:Exploring Humid Heat Extremes Using Wet Bulb Temperature Indices

Heat events may be humid or dry.While several indices incorporate humidity,such combined indices obscure identification and exploration of heat events by their different humidity characteristics.The new HadISDH.extremes global gridded monitoring product uniquely provides a range of wet and dry bulb temperature extremes indices.Analysis of this new data product demonstrates its value as a tool for quantifying exposure to humid verses dry heat events.It also enables exploration into stealth heat ...     

Workshop on Indices and Indicators for Climate Extremes, Asheville, NC, USA, 3–6 June 1997 Breakout Group C: Temperature Indices for Climate Extremes

The "temperature" breakout group at the 1997 Asheville Workshop on Indicators and Indices for Climate Extremes reviewed and developed the rationale for a choice of temperature indices for monitoring changes in climate extremes, and the supporting data required. A set of basic and supplementary key indices was drawn up. The key indices are meant to be easy to interpret, be relevant to the practical concerns of policy makers and others in the public sector and provide potential inputs into the Third Assessment Review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that is expected to report in 2001. The indices are expressed in various ways to facilitate spatial and temporal trend detection and impact analysis. There is flexibility in the number and the form of the indices identified and the choice for any particular application is subject to further analysis and prioritization. The success of this endeavor will depend on original work being done to further develop the indices and on the cooperation of organizations globally to provide the data necessary for the development and the implementation of the indices. This paper summarizes the group's recommendations.     

Multi-Model Projection of July–August Climate Extreme Changes over China under CO_2 Doubling. Part II: Temperature

This is the second part of the authors’ analysis on the output of 24 coupled climate models from the Twentieth-Century Climate in Coupled Models (20C3M) experiment and 1% per year CO 2 increase experiment (to doubling) (1pctto2x) of phase 3 of the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project (CMIP3). The study focuses on the potential changes of July–August temperature extremes over China. The pattern correlation coefficients of the simulated temperature with the observations are 0.6–0.9, which are higher than the results for precipitation. However, most models have cold bias compared to observation, with a larger cold bias over western China (>5°C) than over eastern China (<2°C). The multi-model ensemble (MME) exhibits a significant increase of temperature under the 1pctto2x scenario. The amplitude of the MME warming shows a northwest–southeast decreasing gradient. The warming spread among the models (～1°C– 2°C) is less than MME warming (～2°C–4°C), indicating a relatively robust temperature change under CO 2 doubling. Further analysis of Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory coupled climate model version 2.1 (GFDL-CM2.1) simulations suggests that the warming pattern may be related to heat transport by summer monsoons. The contrast of cloud effects also has contributions. The different vertical structures of warming over northwestern China and southeastern China may be attributed to the different natures of vertical circulations. The deep, moist convection over southeastern China is an effective mechanism for "transporting" the warming upward, leading to more upper-level warming. In northwestern China, the warming is more surface-orientated, possibly due to the shallow, dry convection.     

A Modeling Study of Climate Change and Its Implication for Agriculture in China Part II: The Implication of Climate Change for Agriculture in China

The potential CO2-induced impacts on the geographical shifts of wheat growth zones in China were studied from seven GCMs outputs. The wheat growth regions may move northward and westward under the condition of a doubling CO2 climate. The wheat cultivation features and variety types may also assume significant changes. Climatic warming would have a positive influence in Northeast China, but high temperature stress may be produced in some regions of central and southern China. Higher mean air temperatures during wheat growth, particularly during the reproductive stages, may increase the need for earlier-maturing and more heat-tolerant cultivars.     

Applications of AMSR-E Measurements for Tropical Cyclone Predictions Part Ⅰ: Retrieval of Sea Surface Temperature and Wind Speed

Existing satellite microwave algorithms for retrieving Sea Surface Temperature(Sst)and wind(SSW)are applicable primarily for non-raining cloudy conditions.With the launch of the Earth Observing System (EOS)Aqua satellite in 2002,the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer(AMSR-E)onboard provides some unique measurements at lower frequencies which are sensitive to ocean surface parameters under ad-verse weather conditions.In this study,a new algorithm is developed to derive SST and SSW for hurricane predictions such as hurricane vortex analysis from the AMSR-E measurements at 6.925 and 10.65 GHz.In the algorithm,the effects of precipitation emission and scattering on the measurements are properly taken into account.The algorithm performances are evaluated with buoy measurements and aircraft dropsonde data.It is found that the root mean square (RMS) errors for SST and SSW are about 1.8K and 1.9m s(-1),respectively,when the results are compared with the buoy data over open oceans under precipitating clouds (e.g.,its liquid water path is larger than 0.5 mm),while they are 1.1 K for SST and 2.0 ms(-1)for SSW,respectively,when the retrievals are validated against the dropsonde measurements over warm oceans.These results indicate that our newly developed algorithm catl provide some critical surface information for trop-ical cycle predictions.Currently,this newly developed algorithm has been implemented into the hybrid variational scheme for the hurricane vortex analysis to provide predictions of SST and SSW fields.     

An Updated Coupled Model for Land-Atmosphere Interaction. Part Ⅰ: Simulations of Physical Processes

A new two-way land-atmosphere interaction model (R42_AVIM) is fulfilled by coupling the spectral at- mospheric model (SAMIL_R42L9) developed at the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmo- spheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sci- ences (LASG/IAP/CAS) with the land surface model, Atmosphere-Vegetation-Interaction-Model (AVIM). In this coupled model, physical and biological components of AVIM are both included. Climate base state and land surface physical fluxes simulated by R42_AVIM are analyzed and compared with the results of R42_SSIB [which is coupled by SAMIL_R42L9 and Simplified Simple Biosphere (SSIB) models]. The results show the performance of the new model is closer to the observations. It can basically guarantee that the land surface energy budget is balanced, and can simulate June-July-August (JJA) and December-January- February (DJF) land surface air temperature, sensible heat flux, latent heat flux, precipitation, sea level pressure and other variables reasonably well. Compared with R42_SSIB, there are obvious improvements in the JJA simulations of surface air temperature and surface fluxes. Thus, this land-atmosphere coupled model will offer a good experiment platform for land-atmosphere interaction research.     

Workshop on Indices and Indicators for Climate Extremes, Asheville, NC, USA, 3–6 June 1997 Breakout Group A: Storms

The Working Group on Storms considered tropical cyclones, extratropical cyclones, thunderstorms and their associated winds and effects other than on temperatures and precipitation (which are dealt with by the other working groups) to be in their purview. Changes in observing systems and distribution of observers and people impacted by these phenomena confound trend analysis. In light of the difficulty of assembling homogeneous time series of small-scale phenomena such as thunderstorms, tornadoes and hail, and also the problems in wind measurements, the working group recommends that indices of wind be developed by taking advantage of long surface (or sea-level) pressure measurements and analyses. Because wind is a vector, two pairs of readings that are orthogonal are desirable. Instantaneous values over about 1000 km scales are desirable to generate statistics relevant to wind extremes. Recommendations are given on how the data might profitably be processed. Several other recommendations are made concerning data acquisition and processing, some of which apply to reanalysis of past data and some apply to future processing of data. Various "extremes indices" are also suggested.     

Applications of AMSR-E Measurements for Tropical Cyclone Predictions Part Ⅰ： Retrieval of Sea Surface Temperature and Wind Speed

Existing satellite microwave algorithms for retrieving Sea Surface Temperature （SST） and Wind （SSW） are applicable primarily for non-raining cloudy conditions. With the launch of the Earth Observing System （EOS） Aqua satellite in 2002, the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer （AMSRoE） onboard provides some unique measurements at lower frequencies which are sensitive to ocean surface parameters under adverse weather conditions. In this study, a new algorithm is developed to derive SST and SSW for hurricane predictions such as hurricane vortex analysis from the AMSRoE measurements at 6.925 and 10.65 GHz. In the algorithm, the effects of precipitation emission and scattering on the measurements are properly taken into account. The algorithm performances are evaluated with buoy measurements and aircraft dropsonde data. It is found that the root mean square （RMS） errors for SST and SSW are about 1.8 K and 1.9 m s^- 1, respectively, when the results are compared with the buoy data over open oceans under precipitating clouds （e.g., its liquid water path is larger than 0.5 mm）, while they are 1.1 K for SST and 2.0 m s^-1 for SSW, respectively, when the retrievals are validated against the dropsonde measurements over warm oceans. These results indicate that our newly developed algorithm can provide some critical surface information for tropical cycle predictions. Currently, this newly developed algorithm has been implemented into the hybrid variational scheme for the hurricane vortex analysis to provide predictions of SST and SSW fields.     

Effect of Baroclinicity on Vortex Axisymmetrization. Part Ⅰ:Barotropic Basic Vortex

The barotropic and baroclinic disturbances axisymmetrized by the barotropic basic vortex are examined in an idealized modeling framework consisting of two layers. Using a Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin approach, the radial propagation of a baroclinic disturbance is shown to be slower than a barotropic disturbance, resulting in a slower linear axisymmetrization for baroclinic disturbances. The slower-propagating baroclinic waves also cause more baroclinic asymmetric kinetic energy to be transferred directly to the barotropic symmetric vortex than from barotropic disturbances, resulting in a faster axisymmetrization process in the nonlinear baroclinic wave case than in the nonlinear barotropic wave case.     

A Review of Research on Human Activity Induced Climate ChangeⅠ. Greenhouse Gases and Aerosols

Extensive research on the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases, carbon cycle modeling, and the characterization of atmospheric aerosols has been carried out in China during the last 10 years or so. This paper presents the major achievements in the fields of emissions of greenhouse gases from agricultural lands, carbon cycle modeling, the characterization of Asian mineral dust, source identification of the precursors of the tropospheric ozone, and observations of the concentrations of atmospheric organic compounds. Special, more detailed Information on the emissions of methane from rice fields and the physical and chemical characteristics of mineral aerosols are presented.     

Multi-year Simulations and Experimental Seasonal Predictions for Rainy Seasons in China by Using a Nested Regional Climate Model （RegCM_NCC）. Part Ⅰ： Sensitivity Study

A modified version of the NCAR/RegCM2 has been developed at the National Climate Center （NCC）, China Meteorological Administration, through a series of sensitivity experiments and multi-year simulations and hindcasts, with a special emphasis on the adequate choice of physical parameterization schemes suitable for the East Asian monsoon climate. This regional climate model is nested with the NCC/IAP （Institute of Atmospheric Physics） T63 coupled GCM to make an experimental seasonal prediction for China and East Asia. The four-year （2001 to 2004） prediction results are encouraging. This paper is the first part of a two-part paper, and it mainly describes the sensitivity study of the physical process paraxneterization represented in the model. The systematic errors produced by the different physical parameterization schemes such as the land surface processes, convective precipitation, cloud-radiation transfer process, boundary layer process and large-scale terrain features have been identified based on multi-year and extreme flooding event simulations. A number of comparative experiments has shown that the mass flux scheme （MFS） and Betts-Miller scheme （BM） for convective precipitation, the LPMI （land surface process model I） and LPMII （land surface process model Ⅱ） for the land surface process, the CCM3 radiation transfer scheme for cloud-radiation transfer processes, the TKE （turbulent kinetic energy） scheme for the boundary layer processes and the topography treatment schemes for the Tibetan Plateau are suitable for simulations and prediction of the East Asia monsoon climate in rainy seasons. Based on the above sensitivity study, a modified version of the RegCM2 （RegCM_NCC） has been set up for climate simulations and seasonal predictions.     

A Hybrid Coupled Model for the Pacific Ocean–Atmosphere System.Part I: Description and Basic Performance

A hybrid coupled model(HCM) is constructed for El Nino–Southern Oscillation(ENSO)-related modeling studies over almost the entire Pacific basin. An ocean general circulation model is coupled to a statistical atmospheric model for interannual wind stress anomalies to represent their dominant coupling with sea surface temperatures. In addition, various relevant forcing and feedback processes exist in the region and can affect ENSO in a significant way; their effects are simply represented using historical data and are incorporated into the HCM, including stochastic forcing of atmospheric winds, and feedbacks associated with freshwater flux, ocean biology-induced heating(OBH), and tropical instability waves(TIWs). In addition to its computational efficiency, the advantages of making use of such an HCM enable these related forcing and feedback processes to be represented individually or collectively, allowing their modulating effects on ENSO to be examined in a clean and clear way. In this paper, examples are given to illustrate the ability of the HCM to depict the mean ocean state, the circulation pathways connecting the subtropics and tropics in the western Pacific, and interannual variability associated with ENSO. As satellite data are taken to parameterize processes that are not explicitly represented in the HCM, this work also demonstrates an innovative method of using remotely sensed data for climate modeling. Further model applications related with ENSO modulations by extratropical influences and by various forcings and feedbacks will be presented in Part II of this study.     

Multi-year Simulations and Experimental Seasonal Predictions for Rainy Seasons in China by Using a Nested Regional Climate Model (RegCM_NCC). Part Ⅰ: Sensitivity Study

A modified version of the NCAR/RegCM2 has been developed at the National Climate Center (NCC), China Meteorological Administration, through a series of sensitivity experiments and multi-year simulations and hindcasts, with a special emphasis on the adequate choice of physical parameterization schemes suitable for the East Asian monsoon climate. This regional climate model is nested with the NCC/IAP (Institute of Atmospheric Physics) T63 coupled GCM to make an experimental seasonal prediction for China and East Asia. The four-year (2001 to 2004) prediction results are encouraging. This paper is the first part of a two-part paper, and it mainly describes the sensitivity study of the physical process parameterization represented in the model. The systematic errors produced by the different physical parameterization schemes such as the land surface processes, convective precipitation, cloud-radiation transfer process, boundary layer process and large-scale terrain features have been identified based on multi-year and extreme flooding event simulations. A number of comparative experiments has shown that the mass flux scheme (MFS) and Betts-Miller scheme (BM) for convective precipitation, the LPMI (land surface process model I) and LPMII (land surface process model Ⅱ) for the land surface process, the CCM3 radiation transfer scheme for cloud-radiation transfer processes, the TKE (turbulent kinetic energy) scheme for the boundary layer processes and the topography treatment schemes for the Tibetan Plateau are suitable for simulations and prediction of the East Asia monsoon climate in rainy seasons. Based on the above sensitivity study, a modified version of the RegCM2 (RegCM_NCC) has been set up for climate simulations and seasonal predictions.     

A statistical�Cdynamical scheme for reconstructing ocean forcing in the Atlantic. Part I: weather regimes as predictors for ocean surface variables

The links between the observed variability of the surface ocean variables estimated from reanalysis and the overlying atmosphere decomposed in classes of large-scale atmospheric circulation via clustering are investigated over the Atlantic from 1958 to 2002. Daily 500?hPa geopotential height and 1,000?hPa wind anomaly maps are classified following a weather-typing approach to describe the North Atlantic and tropical Atlantic atmospheric dynamics, respectively. The algorithm yields patterns that correspond in the extratropics to the well-known North Atlantic-Europe weather regimes (NAE-WR) accounting for the barotropic dynamics, and in the tropics to wind classes (T-WC) representing the alteration of the trades. 10-m wind and 2-m temperature (T2) anomaly composites derived from regime/wind class occurrence are indicative of strong relationships between daily large-scale atmospheric circulation and ocean surface over the entire Atlantic basin. High temporal correlation values are obtained basin-wide at low frequency between the observed fields and their reconstruction by multiple linear regressions with the frequencies of occurrence of both NAE-WR and T-WC used as sole predictors. Additional multiple linear regressions also emphasize the importance of accounting for the strength of the daily anomalous atmospheric circulation estimated by the combined distances to all regimes centroids in order to reproduce the daily to interannual variability of the Atlantic ocean. We show that for most of the North Atlantic basin the occurrence of NAE-WR generally sets the sign of the ocean surface anomaly for a given day, and that the inter-regime distances are valuable predictors for the magnitude of that anomaly. Finally, we provide evidence that a large fraction of the low-frequency trends in the Atlantic observed at the surface over the last 50?years can be traced back, except for T2, to changes in occurrence of tropical and extratropical weather classes. All together, our findings are encouraging for the prospects of basin-scale ocean dynamical downscaling using a weather-typing approach to reconstruct forcing fields for high resolution ocean models (Part II) from coarse resolution climate models.     

On the Use of the Jesuit Order Private Correspondence Records in Climate Reconstructions: A Case Study from Castille (Spain) for 1634–1648 A.D.

This work analyses the climatic information content of more than 1000 letters belonging to the private correspondence of the Jesuit order during the period 1634–1648. The information obtained mainly originates in Castille, and it was codified to obtain quantitative indices representative of the evolution of the thermal and rainfall anomalies. The results show that intense rainfall and cold air waves predominated during the study period, in accordance with other results on the climatic evolution of the Iberian Peninsula during the Little Ice Age.     

An Updated Coupled Model for Land-Atmosphere Interaction. Part Ⅱ: Simulations of Biological Processes

In Part Ⅰ, the authors succeeded in coupling the spectral atmospheric model (SAMIL_R42L9) developed at the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (LASG/IAP/CAS) with the land surface model, Atmosphere-Vegetation-Interaction-Model (AVIM) and analyzed the climate basic state and land surface physical fluxes simulated by R42_AVIM. In this Part Ⅱ, we further evaluate the simulated results of the biological processes, including leaf area index (LAI), biomass and net primary productivity (NPP) etc. Results indicate that R42_AVIM can simulate the global distribution of LAI and has good consistency with the monthly mean LAI provided by Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. The simulated biomass corresponds reasonably to the vegetation classifications. In addition, the simulated annual mean NPP has a consistent distribution with the data provided by IGBP and MODIS, and compares well with the work in literature. This land-atmosphere coupled model will offer a new experiment tool for the research on the two-way interaction between climate and biosphere, and the global terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle.     

Impact of Climate Change on Agricultural Production in the Sahel – Part 1. Methodological Approach and Case Study for Millet in Niger

In the last 30 years the climate of the West African Sahel has shown various changes, especially in terms of rainfall, of which inter-annual variabilityis very high. This has significant consequences for the poor-resource farmers, whose incomes depend mainly on rainfed agriculture. The West African Sahel is already known as an area characterized by important interaction between climate variability and key socio-economic sectors such as agriculture and water resources. More than 80% of the 55 million population of West African Sahel is rural, involved in agriculture and stock-farming, the two sectors contributing almost 35% of the countries' GDPs. It is thereforeobvious that climate change seriously affects the economies of these countries. Adding to this situation the high rate of population increase(3%), leading to progressive pressure upon ecosystems, and poorsanitary facilities, one comes to the conclusion that Sahelian countries, Niger amongst them, will be highly vulnerable to climate change.This paper investigates the impact of current climate variability and future climate change on millet production for three major millet-producing regions in Niger. Statistical models have been used to predict the effects of climate change on future production on the basis of thirteen available predictors. Based on the analysis of the past 30-years of rainfall and production data, the most significant predictors of the model are (i) seasurface temperature anomalies, (ii) the amount of rainfall in July, August and September, (iii) the number of rainy days and (iv) the wind erosion factor. In 2025, production of millet is estimated to be about 13% lower as a consequence of climate change, translated into a reduction of the total amount of rainfall for July, August and September, combined with an increase in temperature while maintaining other significant predictors at a constant level. Subsequently,various potential strategies to compensate this loss are evaluated, including those to increase water use efficiency and to cultivate varieties that are adapted to such circumstances.     

Parameterization of Sheared Entrainment in a Well-developed CBL.Part Ⅱ:A Simple Model for Predicting the Growth Rate of the CBL

Following the parameterization of sheared entrainment obtained in the companion paper, Liu et al. (2016), the present study aims to further investigate the characteristics of entrainment, and develop a simple model for predicting the growth rate of a well-developed and sheared CBL. The relative stratification, defined as the ratio of the stratification in the free atmosphere to that in the entrainment zone, is found to be a function of entrainment flux ratio (A _e). This leads to a simple expression of the entrainment rate, in which A _e needs to be parameterized. According to the results in Liu et al. (2016), A _e can be simply expressed as the ratio of the convective velocity scale in the sheared CBL to that in the shear-free CBL. The parameterization of the convective velocity scale in the sheared CBL is obtained by analytically solving the bulk model with several assumptions and approximations. Results indicate that the entrainment process is influenced by the dynamic effect, the interaction between mean shear and environmental stratification, and one other term that includes the Coriolis effect. These three parameterizations constitute a simple model for predicting the growth rate of a well-developed and sheared CBL. This model is validated by outputs of LESs, and the results show that it performs satisfactorily. Compared with bulk models, this model does not need to solve a set of equations for the CBL. It is more convenient to apply in numerical models.