The IPCC AR5 guidance note on consistent treatment of uncertainties: a common approach across the working groups

Evaluation and communication of the relative degree of certainty in assessment findings are key cross-cutting issues for the three Working Groups of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A goal for the Fifth Assessment Report, which is currently under development, is the application of a common framework with associated calibrated uncertainty language that can be used to characterize findings of the assessment process. A guidance note for authors of the Fifth Assessment Report has been developed that describes this common approach and language, building upon the guidance employed in past Assessment Reports. Here, we introduce the main features of this guidance note, with a focus on how it has been designed for use by author teams. We also provide perspectives on considerations and challenges relevant to the application of this guidance in the contribution of each Working Group to the Fifth Assessment Report. Despite the wide spectrum of disciplines encompassed by the three Working Groups, we expect that the framework of the new uncertainties guidance will enable consistent communication of the degree of certainty in their policy-relevant assessment findings.     

Improving conveyance of uncertainties in the findings of the IPCC

Authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) received guidance on reporting understanding, certainty and/or confidence in findings using a common language, to better communicate with decision makers. However, a review of the IPCC conducted by the InterAcademy Council (2010) found that “the guidance was not consistently followed in AR4, leading to unnecessary errors . . . the guidance was often applied to statements that are so vague they cannot be falsified. In these cases the impression was often left, quite incorrectly, that a substantive finding was being presented.” Our comprehensive and quantitative analysis of findings and associated uncertainty in the AR4 supports the IAC findings and suggests opportunities for improvement in future assessments.     

Unleashing expert judgment in assessment

Assessment evaluates accumulated knowledge and its limits. It informs and ideally empowers decisions and actions on complex, contested issues with persistent uncertainties. Applying rigorous expert judgment is an important dimension of assessment. Here we evaluate advances and challenges in approaches to expert judgment in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5). We find that revised guidance for author teams improved the development of balanced judgments on scientific evidence across disciplines. In particular, expert judgments underpinning conclusions are more extensively, transparently, and consistently communicated: degree-of-certainty terms are more abundant in AR5 policymaker summaries; wider ranges of possible outcomes are presented with greater inclusion of lower-certainty, decision-relevant findings; and expert judgments supporting conclusions are more comparable across working groups. But challenges in developing and communicating assessment conclusions persist, especially for findings with substantial uncertainties and for subjective aspects of judgments. Based on our evaluations and AR5 lessons learned, we propose a simpler, more rigorous framework for developing and communicating expert judgments in environmental assessment. We also describe practices for reducing expert-judgment biases, for advancing integration of evidence and expert judgment, and for addressing subjective dimensions of expert opinion directly and proactively.     

IPCC第六次气候变化评估中的气候约束预估方法

得益于第五次评估报告（AR5）以来约束预估研究的迅速发展,观测约束成为政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）第一工作组（WGI）第六次评估报告（AR6）提升对未来预估约束的证据链中的重要一环。IPCC第一工作组第六次评估报告首次利用包括根据历史模拟温度升高幅度得到的观测约束、多模式预估以及第六次评估报告中更新的气候敏感度在内的多条证据链来约束全球地表温度未来变化的预估,减小了多模式预估的不确定性。文中回顾并介绍了IPCC第一工作组第六次评估报告中涉及的几种主要观测约束方法（多模式加权方法、基于归因结论的约束方法（ASK方法）、萌现约束方法）及其应用情况。在IPCC第一工作组第六次评估报告以及很多针对不同区域不同变量的预估研究中,观测约束方法均显示出了订正模式误差、改善模式预估的潜力。相比而言,目前中国在观测约束预估方面的研究还不多,亟待加强观测约束方法研究以及在中国区域气候变化预估中的应用,为中国应对气候变化的政策制定和适应规划提供更丰富、不确定性更小的未来气候信息。      

对IPCC第六次评估报告中有关干旱变化的解读

政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）于2021年8月发布了第六次评估报告（AR6）自然科学基础卷的决策者摘要,主要对自2013年第五次评估报告（AR5）以来的气候变化科学研究进展进行了系统的评估,并使用新一代气候模式在新的共享社会经济路径情景下对未来气候变化进行了预估。本文基于AR5和AR6相关章节素材,解读了干旱变化的评估结论。     

Reducing doubt about uncertainty: Guidance for IPCC’s third assessment

It is usually necessary to apply incomplete and uncertain information to inform policy and decision making, creating the need to characterize the state of knowledge and identify when more certain information may be available. After all, some information is better than none and conversely, even perfect information is of no use if it is available only after a decision has been made. In scientific assessments for global change, the challenges are particularly acute because of scientific complexity, long time horizons, and large political and economic stakes, among other factors. Moss and Schneider prepared uncertainty guidelines for the Third Assessment Report (TAR) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that recommended a process to make expert judgments of levels of confidence and uncertainty more systematic and transparent. The guidance provided calibrated uncertainty terms to improve communication of findings to users and urged preparation of a traceable account of the authors’ assessment of the evidence for each major finding. This article reviews the recommendations and their effectiveness and highlights ensuing critiques and the evolution of uncertainty guidance for subsequent assessment reports. It discusses emerging challenges in providing science for decision making in the era of increasing model resolution and complexity and burgeoning interest in information to inform adaptation and mitigation at regional and finer scales.     

气候变化科学的最新进展—IPCC第四次评估综合报告解析

政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）第四次评估报告综合报告于2007年11月17日在西班牙正式发布。综合报告将温室气体排放、大气温室气体浓度与地球表面温度直接联系起来,综合评估了气候变化科学、气候变化的影响和应对措施的最新研究进展。综合报告指出：控制温室气体排放量的行动刻不容缓;能否减小全球变暖所带来的负面影响,将在很大程度上取决于人类在今后二三十年中在削减温室气体排放方面所作的努力和投资。这对国际社会和各国政府制定经济社会发展政策,适应和减缓气候变化有一定的指导和促进作用。     

全球气候模式对未来中国风速变化预估

利用世界气候研究计划之第三次耦合模式比较计划 (WCRP/CMIP3) 提供的, 参加IPCC AR4的19个气候模式和国家气候中心为IPCC第五次报告研发的新一代气候模式 (BCC_CSM1.0.1) 及模式集成, 考虑高排放 (A2)、 中等排放 (A1B) 和低排放 (B1) 三种人类排放情景, 预估21世纪中国近地层 (离地10 m) 风速变化。预估结果表明: (1) 21世纪全国平均的年平均风速呈微弱的减小趋势, 且随着预估情景人类排放的增加, 中国年平均风速减小趋势越显著。 (2) 冬季 (夏季) 全国平均风速呈减小 (增大) 趋势, 人类排放量越多, 冬季 (夏季) 风速减小 (增加) 程度越大。21世纪我国风速夏季 (冬季) 增大 (减小) 与全球变暖的背景下未来亚洲夏季风 (冬季风) 增强 (减弱) 有一定关系。 (3) 与20世纪末期 (1980～1999年) 相比, 21世纪初期 (2011～2030年) 中国区域年平均风速A2情景下略偏小, A1B和B1情景下年平均风速无明显变化; 21世纪中期 (2046～2065年) 和后期 (2080～2099年), 三种排放情景下中国年平均风速均比20世纪末期风速小。 (4) 21世纪初期、 中期和后期均表现为冬季 (夏季) 平均风速比20世纪末期冬季 (夏季) 平均小 (大)。 (5) 夏季中国中北部和东北地区风速偏大, 其余地区风速无明显变化或略偏小; 冬季除了东北北部和西藏东南部外, 中国大部地区风速偏小。绝大部分地区超过50%模式一致地预估上述风速变化形式, 具有一定的可信度。     

全球气候变暖:浅谈从AR5到AR6的认知进展

自政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）第五次评估报告（AR5）发布以来,国际科学界在气候系统变化领域取得显著进展,有关气候变化的科学认识不断深入。IPCC第六次评估报告（AR6）第一工作组（WGI）报告对这些科学进展和最新认识作了综合评估。温度是全球变化最直接的指示器。本文从温度变化视角,对从AR5到AR6的科学进展进行了梳理和简要评述,主要聚焦观测的变化、归因以及未来预估三个方面。与AR5相比,AR6以更强有力的证据进一步确证了近百年全球气候变暖的客观事实,人类活动对气候变暖影响的信号更为清晰,未来变暖幅度取决于温室气体减排力度。     

High-consequence outcomes and internal disagreements: tell us more,please

This article is one of several in this special double-issue that reports the views of “users” of IPCC reports. I am a user in the sense that I advise the policy-making community and rely on the IPCC reports to provide me with authoritative views on the state of the science. My principal recommendation for making the IPCC more helpful to the policy-making community is to strive in the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) to communicate fully what the climate science community understands and does not understand about high-consequence outcomes. This will require the AR5 authors to provide vivid information about future worlds where high-consequence outcomes have emerged. It will also require the AR5 authors to reveal any disagreements persisting among them after the give-and-take of the writing process has run its course. In the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) the presentation of high-consequence outcomes had shortcomings that can be rectified in AR5.     

Innovating the IPCC review process—the potential of young talent

There is significant potential in young talent for enhancing the credibility of the scientific assessments such as the IPCC’s by contributing to quality assurance and quality control. In this essay, we reflect on an experiment that was done by the Dutch government as part of its government review of a contribution to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). In an effort to review the entire Working Group II contribution to the AR5 within the official review period for the Second Order Draft (SOD), the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency turned to PhD students. This article shows that a systematic review focusing on transparency and errors of a large scientific assessment document using young talented scientists can be successful if certain conditions are met. The reviewers need to have intrinsic motivation to conduct the review. There needs to be a communication plan that fosters engagement and a clear methodology to guide the reviewers through their task. Based on this experiment in review, we reflect on the wider potential for openness and crowdsourcing in scientific assessment processes such as the IPCC’s.     

气候反馈对温度空间模态的依赖性:IPCC AR6解读

依据政府间气候变化专门委员会(IPCC)第六次评估报告(AR6)第一工作组(WGI)报告第七章的内容,详细解读了气候反馈对温度空间模态的依赖性。与第五次评估报告(AR5)相比,AR6对于地表温度空间模态演变在驱动气候反馈变化中作用的理解已有了较大提升。AR6认为,在温室气体强迫下,北极在21世纪的增温幅度很可能大于全球平均水平,南极在百年时间尺度上的增温要强于热带地区;同时,在百年时间尺度上热带太平洋东部的变暖幅度大于西部,即热带太平洋东-西向海表温度梯度减弱。极地放大效应(尤其是南半球)和热带太平洋东-西向海表温度梯度随时间的变化是影响未来气候反馈如何演变的关键因素。随着地表增温空间模态的演变,气候反馈(尤其云反馈)预计将在未来几十年的时间尺度上逐渐增加,对气候变化更多是起放大作用。     

Progress and evaluation of international climate change cooperation北大核心CSCD

气候变化是当前世界面临的巨大挑战,应对气候变化需要国际间合作已成为普遍共识。IPCC第六次评估报告(AR6)第三工作组(WGⅢ)报告第十四章回顾了IPCC第五次评估报告(AR5)以来气候变化国际合作的进展,基于所提出的评价体系对进展进行了系统评估。报告认为,AR5以来气候变化国际合作最重要的进展是基于《巴黎协定》建立的以国家自主贡献为核心的全球行动模式;除《巴黎协定》外,国际上也形成了多种形式的合作机制,其中,气候俱乐部是国际气候合作研究的新热点。对于《巴黎协定》的有效性,目前国际社会存在正反两种观点,并认为《巴黎协定》能否达成既定目标取决于是否有能力强化全球下一步的集体气候行动目标和实施。     

IPCC AR6报告解读：未来的全球气候——基于情景的预估和近期信息

依据IPCC第六次评估报告（AR6）第一工作组报告第四章的内容,对未来全球气候的预估结果进行解读。报告对21世纪全球表面气温、降水、大尺度环流和变率模态、冰冻圈和海洋圈的可能变化进行了系统评估,并对2100年以后的气候变化做了合理估计。评估指出全球平均表面气温将在未来20年内达到或超过1.5℃,平均降水也将增加,但随季节和区域而异,同时变率将增大。大尺度环流和变率模态受内部变率影响较大。到21世纪末,北冰洋可能出现无冰期;全球海洋会继续酸化,平均海平面将持续上升,百年内上升幅度依赖不同排放情景,都在2100年后继续升高。在最新的评估中采用多种约束方法,减小了预估不确定性的范围。AR6对于低排放情景以及“小概率高增暖情节”的关注为应对气候变化提供了更多、更完整的信息。综合报告的评估结果指出,未来需要进一步减小区域,特别是季风区气候预估的不确定性,并从科学研究和模式发展两方面加强我国气候预估能力的建设。     

Estimating Sea-Level Allowances for Atlantic Canada using the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC

Abstract

Sea-level allowances at 22 tide-gauge sites along the east coast of Canada are determined based on projections of regional sea-level rise for the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) from the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5) and on the statistics of historical tides and storm surges (storm tides). The allowances, which may be used for coastal infrastructure planning, increase with time during the twenty-first century through a combination of mean sea-level rise and the increased uncertainty of future projections with time. The allowances show significant spatial variation, mainly a consequence of strong regionally varying relative sea-level change as a result of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA). A methodology is described for replacement of the GIA component of the AR5 projection with global positioning system (GPS) measurements of vertical crustal motion; this significantly decreases allowances in regions where the uncertainty of the GIA models is large. For RCP8.5 with GPS data incorporated and for the 1995–2100 period, the sea-level allowances range from about 0.5?m along the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to more than 1?m along the coast of Nova Scotia and southern Newfoundland.     

对IPCC第五次评估报告中有关淡水资源相关结论的解读

IPCC第五次评估报告指出,与淡水资源相关的气候变化风险随着温室气体浓度增加而显著增加。气候变化已经导致区域降水发生显著变化;多年冻土、冰川持续萎缩,积雪不断减少;降雪区春季最大径流量逐渐提前,夏季干旱不断加剧。预估结果表明：21世纪温室气体排放将加剧淡水资源相关风险。如显著减少亚热带干旱地区的地表水和地下水资源,加剧行业之间用水竞争;极端事件（如极端降水）明显影响原水水质,威胁用水安全;气候变化同时将导致农业灌溉用水量增加、能源生产效率降低等不利影响。报告指出需采取硬性基础设施建设和软性制度措施建设相结合的适应措施,加强水资源管理,克服气候变化的负面影响,减少损失。     

IPCC AR6报告关于气候恢复力发展的解读

文中对IPCC第六次评估报告（AR6）第二工作组（WGII）报告关于气候恢复力发展（CRD）相关内容进行解读。CRD的概念最初由IPCC第五次评估报告（AR5）引入,AR6在AR5的基础上进行了更新,正式将CRD定义为实施温室气体减缓和适应措施的过程,以支持所有人的可持续发展。新的定义更加强调了公平性原则,并且在评估内容中对不同社会选择进行了细致的描述,增强了CRD的可操作性,也强调了其紧迫性与不可逆性。报告主要从适应的角度阐述了如何在人类系统和自然系统中促成CRD的实现：城市化趋势为CRD同时带来了机遇与挑战,城市化在加剧气候变化风险的同时也会通过带动周边乡村地区的适应行动来推动CRD;保护生态系统多样性有助于保护生态系统也有助于提高其自身的恢复力,但在较高温升水平下部分适应行动将会无法实施。AR6 WGII报告评估显示,比起AR5报告的时间节点（2014年）的评估结论,当前全球CRD行动更紧迫,实行有效的、公平的应对气候变化措施迫在眉睫。     

耦合模式热带太平洋云—气候反馈模拟误差评估

云—气候反馈是热带海气相互作用的重要过程, 同时也是气候模拟的难点。本文利用IPCC AR4提供的耦合模式20世纪模拟试验结果和观测资料, 通过滤波和经验正交展开 (EOF) 的方法将热带太平洋海表温度的年际变化和年代际变化信号分别提取出来, 然后再分别计算观测和模式在年际和年代际时间尺度上云—辐射和热通量反馈特征, 发现在上述两个时间尺度上, 耦合模式模拟的云—辐射和热通量的反馈都要比观测和再分析资料的偏弱。反馈偏弱的可能原因是模式中热带大气对流和云对海表温度变化的敏感性比真实大气要偏弱。值得注意的是, 尽管耦合模式热带太平洋年代际热力反馈偏弱, 但是耦合模式模拟的热带太平洋南北纬10°之间海表温度的年代际增温趋势与观测相当。进一步分析表明, 只用年代际热力反馈来解释热带太平洋的气候变化是不够的, 还必须考虑动力反馈对于海表温度变化的调节作用。     

Expressions of likelihood and confidence in the IPCC uncertainty assessment process

Communication of uncertainty information in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments has evolved through successive reports to provide increasingly formal classifications for subjective and objective information. The first IPCC assessments provided uncertainty information in largely subjective form via linguistic categorizations depicting different levels of confidence. Recent assessments have codified linguistic terms to avoid ambiguity and introduced probabilistic ranges to express likelihoods of events occurring. The adoption of formal schemes to express likelihood and confidence provides more powerful means for analysts to express uncertainty. However, the combination of these two metrics to assess information may engender confusion when low confidence levels are matched with very high/low likelihoods that have implicit high confidence. Part of the difficulty is that the degree to which different quantities in the assessments are known varies tremendously. One solution is to provide likelihood information in a scheme with a range of different precision levels that can be matched to the level of understanding. A version of this scheme is also part of the IPCC uncertainty guidance and is described here.     

IPCC第五次评估报告第一工作组主要结论对《联合国气候变化框架公约》进程的影响分析

IPCC评估报告对国际气候变化谈判进程有重要影响,目前正在陆续发布的第五次评估报告已明确作为气候变化新协议谈判的重要信息来源,对讨论2020年后应对气候变化国际合作机制的影响不容忽视。最先发布的第一工作组评估报告基于新的科学观测事实、更为完善的归因分析和气候系统模式模拟结果,进一步确认了气候变暖的事实,发现了人类活动与全球温升之间因果关系的新证据,以及温室气体累积排放与温升响应之间的定量联系。本文通过分析其中一些关键结论可能的政策含义,探讨了这些关键结论对目前国际气候变化谈判进程和新协议等相关问题的可能影响,探讨了科学信息在气候变化决策过程中的作用,以及如何更为科学地理解和利用这些重要结论。