Changes in aridity in response to the global warming hiatus

The global warming slowdown or warming hiatus, began around the year 2000 and has persisted for nearly 15 years. Most studies have focused on the interpretation of the hiatus in temperature. In this study, changes in a global aridity index (AI) were analyzed by using a newly developed dynamical adjustment method that can successfully identify and separate dynamically induced and radiatively forced aridity changes in the raw data. The AI and Palmer Drought Severity Index produced a wetting zone over the mid-to-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere in recent decades. The dynamical adjustment analysis suggested that this wetting zone occurred in response to the global warming hiatus. The dynamically induced AI (DAI) played a major role in the AI changes during the hiatus period, and its relationships with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) also indicated that different phases of the NAO, PDO, and AMO contributed to different performances of the DAI over the Northern Hemisphere. Although the aridity wetting over the mid-to-high latitudes may relieve long-term drying in certain regions, the hiatus is temporary, and so is the relief. Accelerated global warming will return when the NAO, PDO, and AMO revert to their opposite phases in the future, and the wetting zone is likely to disappear.     

中国南方2008年1月罕见低温雨雪冰冻灾害发生的原因及其与气候变暖的关系

2008年1月中国南方发生的低温、雨雪、冰冻灾害不是一个局地或地区性现象,它是同期发生的亚洲大范围冰雪灾害链中的一环,在影响范围和灾害程度上是最严重的一环。它有3个主要特征：（1）降雪、冻雨和降雨3种天气并存,冻雨是导致南方致灾的主要原因;（2）低温、雨雪、冻雨天气强度大,根据中国国家气候中心和南方各省气象部门的统计及分析,有8项气象要素打破同期中国历史记录;（3）低温、雨雪、冰冻天气持续时间长,破历史记录。这次低温、雨雪冰冻灾害形成的原因不是单一的,是多种因素在同一时段,同一地区相互配合和迭加的结果,其中La Nina事件是灾害发生的气候背景,它为雨雪冰冻天气提供了冷空气侵袭中国南方的前提条件;欧亚大气环流异常持续性是造成冷空气不断侵袭中国南方的直接原因;孟加拉湾和南海地区暖湿气流的北上是大范围冻雨和降雪形成并持续在中国南方的 必要条件。     

The response of climatic jump in summer in north china to global warming

To reveal climatic variation over North China, the climatic jumps in summer in Beijing are analyzed using the data of precipitation of summer (June, July, August) during the period of 1841-1993, in which those missed before 1950 were reconstructed by the stepwise regression method with minimum forecast error. The climatic jumps at different scales are analyzed using different diagnostic methods with different decade (10-100 years) windows. Some new methods and ideas are proposed. The variance difference, the linear tendency difference, and the difference of power spectral distribution between the samples before and after the period at the moving point in the center of the series are compared with other methods (for example, Mann-Kendall test, t-test, and accumulative anomaly etc.). Considering the differences among the statistics above, a synthetic jump index is also proposed in order to get the definite jump points in the moving series. The results show that the climatic jumps in the area occurred in the 1890’s, the 1910s and the 1920s, and mostly in the 1920s, which suggests that the local climatic jumps in North China have a simultaneous response to the global warming in the hundred-year scales.     

An inter-hemispheric comparison of the tropical storm response to global warming

Model studies do not agree on future changes in tropical cyclone (TC) activity on regional scales. We aim to shed further light on the distribution, frequency, intensity, and seasonality of TCs that society can expect at the end of the twenty-first century in the Southern hemisphere (SH). Therefore, we investigate TC changes simulated by the atmospheric model ECHAM5 with T213 (~60 km) horizontal resolution. We identify TCs in present-day (20C; 1969–1990) and future (21C; 2069–2100) time slice simulations, using a tracking algorithm based on vorticity at 850 hPa. In contrast to the Northern hemisphere (NH), where tropical storm numbers reduce by 6 %, there is a more dramatic 22 % reduction in the SH, mainly in the South Indian Ocean. While an increase of static stability in 21C may partly explain the reduction in tropical storm numbers, stabilization cannot alone explain the larger SH drop. Large-scale circulation changes associated with a weakening of the Tropical Walker Circulation are hypothesized to cause the strong decrease of cyclones in the South Indian Ocean. In contrast the decrease found over the South Pacific appears to be partly related to increased vertical wind shear, which is possibly associated with an enhanced meridional sea surface temperature gradient. We find the main difference between the hemispheres in changes of the tropical cyclones of intermediate strength with an increase in the NH and a decrease in the SH. In both hemispheres the frequency of the strongest storms increases and the frequency of the weakest storms decreases, although the increase in SH intense storms is marginal.     

Changes in a modeled MJO with idealized global warming

This study estimates how the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) will change with uniform global warming of 2 and 4 K at the Earth surface using an aqua-planet version of the NCAR CAM2 implemented with the Tiedtke convection scheme. Solar insolation is specified at the vernal equinox with a diurnal cycle. Thirty-year integrations are carried out for each case and the last 20-year’s results are used for analysis. For the warmer cases, the modeled MJO’s eastward propagation remains dominant at zonal wave numbers 1–4, and notable increase occurs in variance, power spectra, and the number of prominent MJO events. The convective heating is enhanced more in upper troposphere, and the MJO power spectra increase more on 20–30 days than on 30–60 days. In all cases, composite life cycles of prominent MJO events show that the anomalous surface latent heat flux lags precipitation by about 90° in phase, characterizing the nonlinear wind induced surface heat exchange (WISHE) to destabilize the MJO. Interacting with a warmer surface in the 4 K case, perturbations of zonal wind and temperature at bottom model level contribute to the nonlinear WISHE coherently with the latent heat flux. Meanwhile anomalous boundary layer convergence leads precipitation by some 45° in phase, indicating the frictional moisture convergence to maintain the enhanced MJO.     

Recent warming trend in the coastal region of Qatar

The objective of this study was to analyze long-term temperature-related phenomena in the eastern portion of the Middle East, focusing on the coastal region of Qatar. Extreme temperature indices were examined, which were defined by the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices, for Doha, Qatar; these indices were then compared with those from neighboring countries. The trends were calculated for a 30-year period (1983–2012), using hourly data obtained from the National Climatic Data Center. The results showed spatially consistent warming trends throughout the region. For Doha, 11 of the 12 indices studied showed significant warming trends. In particular, the warming trends were represented by an increase in the number of warm days and nights and a decrease in the number of cool nights and days. The high-temperature extremes during the night have risen at more than twice the rate of their corresponding daytime extremes. The intensity and frequency of hot days have increased, and the minimum temperature indices exhibited a higher rate of warming. The climatic changes in Doha are consistent with the region-wide heat-up in recent decades across the Middle East. However, the rapid economic expansion, increase of population since the 1990s, and urban effects in the region are thought to have intensified the rapidly warming climate pattern observed in Doha since the turn of the century.     

Climatic features of the south-westerly low-level jet over southeast china and its association with precipitation over east China

The major features of the south-westerly low-level jet (LLJ) in the lower troposphere over Southeast China and its climatic impacts are investigated by using FNL reanalysis data and observational precipitation data. Results show that LLJ mainly occurs in spring and summer and the occurrence frequency of LLJ over southeast China has significant diurnal cycle, most LLJ occur in the nighttime (0200 LST and 0800 LST). The high nocturnal occurrence frequency of LLJ is mainly resulting from increased nocturnal ageostrophic wind. Research on the climatic impacts of large-scale conditions depicts that, the occurrence of LLJ in April mainly results from the northward shifting of western pacific subtropical high (WPSH), and the occurrence of LLJ in July results from the strengthening of detouring flow around Tibetan Plateau. Analysis of the climatic effects of LLJ on precipitation distribution in 3 rainy seasons over Southeast China indicates that the rainfall events with strong intensity correspond to strong LLJs. The LLJ affects the precipitation over Southeast China by transporting water vapor and triggering upward motion. Rainfall regions well corresponds to the regions of the moisture convergence and strong upward motion triggered by LLJ. Negative wind divergence anomalies at 850 hPa and positive wind divergence anomalies at 200 hPa over the Yangtze-Huaihe River Valley strengthen the upward motion over this region, which are conductive to produce more precipitation over the Yangtze-Huaihe River Valley.     

Climatic warming and increased summer aridity in Florida,U.S.A.

The impending trace-gas induced climatic warming is likely, at least in the near term, to result in a decrease in summertime convective activity in Florida, in turn producing a reduction in thunderstorm-derived precipitation. The phenomenon is expected to arise from the differential heating of continental land masses relative to the ocean resulting in a strengthening of the North Atlantic subtropical anticyclone. Precipitation shortfalls of 10–20% were recorded for some areas during Northern Hemispheric summer months a few tenths of a degree Celsius warmer than the normal for the period 1901–1980. Deficits somewhat greater than these may not be uncommon during a fullscale climatic warming depending on, among other factors, the rapidity of the warming. Precipitation resulting from tropical cyclones is not expected to have significant positive impact on the shortfall in the near term.     

Multi-sliding time windows based changing trend of mean temperature and its association with the global-warming hiatus

Based on three global annual mean surface temperature time series and three Chinese annual mean surface air temperature time series, climate change trends on multiple timescales are analyzed by using the trend estimation method of multi-sliding time windows. The results are used to discuss the so-called global-warming hiatus during 1998–2012. It is demonstrated that different beginning and end times have an obvious effect on the results of the trend estimation, and the implications are particularly large when using a short window. The global-warming hiatus during 1998–2012 is the result of viewing temperature series on short timescales; and the events similar to it, or the events with even cold tendencies, have actually occurred many times in history. Therefore, the global-warming hiatus is likely to be a periodical feature of the long-term temperature change. It mainly reflects the decadal variability of temperature, and such a phenomenon in the short term does not alter the overall warming trend in the long term.     

全球变暖减缓背景下欧亚秋冬温度变化特征和原因

采用气候序列变化趋势诊断和一元线性回归等分析法,研究和讨论了2000-2012年和1976-1999年两种年代际背景下全球陆地不同区域的年平均地表温度的变化特征。发现欧亚大陆中高纬度地区是对全球变暖减缓贡献最大的区域。且该地区在2000年以来秋季年代际增温,而冬季年代际降温。从同期大气环流的配置来看,在对流层低层,秋季西伯利亚高气压年代际减弱,而冬季西伯利亚高气压年代际增强。在对流层中高层,秋季从西欧至东北亚为"高-低-高"的高度场异常分布,纬向环流加强,经向环流减弱,而冬季极地与贝加尔湖地区的高度场呈偶极型分布,东亚大槽加深,经向环流加强。进一步研究发现,超前一个季节的喀拉海附近的海冰与欧亚中高纬度秋冬两季温度的年代际变率有着密切的联系。一方面,夏季(秋季)海冰减少影响秋季(冬季)中高纬度大气环流;另一方面,夏季(秋季)海冰减少,使得秋季(冬季)从北极至中高纬度大陆的对流层低层水汽含量增加(减少),大气逆辐射增强(减弱)导致秋季(冬季)增温(降温)。     

Non-parametric trend analysis of the aridity index for three large arid and semi-arid basins in Iran

Currently, an important scientific challenge that researchers are facing is to gain a better understanding of climate change at the regional scale, which can be especially challenging in an area with low and highly variable precipitation amounts such as Iran. Trend analysis of the medium-term change using ground station observations of meteorological variables can enhance our knowledge of the dominant processes in an area and contribute to the analysis of future climate projections. Generally, studies focus on the long-term variability of temperature and precipitation and to a lesser extent on other important parameters such as moisture indices. In this study the recent 50-year trends (1955–2005) of precipitation (P), potential evapotranspiration (PET), and aridity index (AI) in monthly time scale were studied over 14 synoptic stations in three large Iran basins using the Mann–Kendall non-parametric test. Additionally, an analysis of the monthly, seasonal and annual trend of each parameter was performed. Results showed no significant trends in the monthly time series. However, PET showed significant, mostly decreasing trends, for the seasonal values, which resulted in a significant negative trend in annual PET at five stations. Significant negative trends in seasonal P values were only found at a number of stations in spring and summer and no station showed significant negative trends in annual P. Due to the varied positive and negative trends in annual P and to a lesser extent PET, almost as many stations with negative as positive trends in annual AI were found, indicating that both drying and wetting trends occurred in Iran. Overall, the northern part of the study area showed an increasing trend in annual AI which meant that the region became wetter, while the south showed decreasing trends in AI.     

The fingerprint of global warming in the Tropical Pacific

正The impacts of global warming will be felt most strongly at regional scales.However,great uncertainties exist in climate change projections at these scales,limiting our ability to provide useful information for the planning and implementation of appropriate adaptation measures.Thus,there is an urgent need to reduce these uncertainties.     

Changes in African temperature and precipitation associated with degrees of global warming

For almost two decades, politicians have been negotiating temperature limits to which anthropogenic global warming should be restricted, and 2 °C has emerged as benchmark for danger. However, there has been a lack of scientific research into the implications of such a change for African climate. This study aims to provide information for mitigation debates; through an examination of temperature and precipitation changes in Africa associated with 1 °C, 2 °C, 3 °C, and 4 °C of global warming. Data from Global Climate Models show little significant precipitation change at 1 °C, then larger anomalies at 2 °C which are strengthened and extended at 3 °C and 4 °C, including a wet signal in East Africa, and dry signals in Southern Africa, the Guinea Coast, and the west of the Sahel. Some of the models project changes with potential for severe societal implications. Despite the uncertainty attached to these projections, they highlight risks associated with 2 °C and beyond. Using these findings as a framework for impact assessment and evaluation, further research has the potential to uncover the implications of global warming for African regions.     

Thermal regime in the Rybinsk Reservoir under global warming

Presented are the results of studying the water temperature changes in the Rybinsk Reservoir during the ice-free period caused by the climate warming. Linear trends are revealed and estimated. The trend is observed for the period of 1976?C2008 towards the increase in the average water surface temperature during all months at the maximum rise rate of 0.89°C/10 years in July. It is demonstrated that the average water temperature in the reservoir in May?COctober has been above the norm since 1995.     

Variation characteristics and influences of climate factors on aridity index and its association with AO and ENSO in northern China from 1961 to 2012

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Analyses of the variation characteristics for aridity index (AI) can further enhance the understanding of climate change and have effect on hydrology and...     

Uncertainties in global warming science and near-term emission policies

Abstract

It is argued here that stringent, early emission reductions are necessary in order to minimize ‘dangerous anthropogenic interference in the climate system’ (DAI), the stated Objective of Article 2 of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). Given probability distribution functions (pdfs) for climate sensitivity and the temperature threshold for harm consistent with currently available evidence, and accepting a 10% risk of unacceptable damage as the threshold for ‘danger’, it is not possible to avoid DAI. Having adopted a precautionary approach in setting emission trajectories, the possibility arises that future resolution of uncertainties concerning climate sensitivity and the harm threshold may show the climate sensitivity to be low (1–2 K) and the harm threshold high (2 K rather than 1 K). Using a simple coupled climate-carbon cycle model, it is shown that if the climate sensitivity were to be definitively determined to be 2 K in 2020, then the emission reductions achieved by that time and planned for the next two decades are still fully needed. Only if climate sensitivity is very low (1 K) and the harm threshold is high (2 K) would the emissions achieved by 2020 not have been fully necessary. However, this would still lead to changes in ocean chemistry that are likely to be highly detrimental to marine life. Thus, when the full spectrum of impacts is considered, there is no plausible set of assumptions under which stringent near-term emission reductions are rendered unnecessary.     

On the tropical origin of uncertainties in the global land precipitation response to global warming

Understanding the response of the global hydrological cycle to recent and future anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols is a major challenge for the climate modelling community. Recent climate scenarios produced for the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are analysed here to explore the geographical origin of, and the possible reasons for, uncertainties in the hydrological model response to global warming. Using the twentieth century simulations and the SRES-A2 scenarios from eight different coupled ocean–atmosphere models, it is shown that the main uncertainties originate from the tropics, where even the sign of the zonal mean precipitation change remains uncertain over land. Given the large interannual fluctuations of tropical precipitation, it is then suggested that the El Niño Southern Ocillation (ENSO) variability can be used as a surrogate of climate change to better constrain the model reponse. While the simulated sensitivity of global land precipitation to global mean surface temperature indeed shows a remarkable similarity between the interannual and climate change timescales respectively, the model ability to capture the ENSO-precipitation relationship is not a major constraint on the global hydrological projections. Only the model that exhibits the highest precipitation sensitivity clearly appears as an outlier. Besides deficiencies in the simulation of the ENSO-tropical rainfall teleconnections, the study indicates that uncertainties in the twenty-first century evolution of these teleconnections represent an important contribution to the model spread, thus emphasizing the need for improving the simulation of the tropical Pacific variability to provide more reliable scenarios of the global hydrological cycle. It also suggests that validating the mean present-day climate is not sufficient to assess the reliability of climate projections, and that interannual variability is another suitable and possibly more useful candidate for constraining the model response. Finally, it is shown that uncertainties in precipitation change are, like precipitation itself, very unevenly distributed over the globe, the most vulnerable countries sometimes being those where the anticipated precipitation changes are the most uncertain.     

The eastward shift of the Walker Circulation in response to global warming and its relationship to ENSO variability

This study investigates the global warming response of the Walker Circulation and the other zonal circulation cells (represented by the zonal stream function), in CMIP3 and CMIP5 climate models. The changes in the mean state are presented as well as the changes in the modes of variability. The mean zonal circulation weakens in the multi model ensembles nearly everywhere along the equator under both the RCP4.5 and SRES A1B scenarios. Over the Pacific the Walker Circulation also shows a significant eastward shift. These changes in the mean circulation are very similar to the leading mode of interannual variability in the tropical zonal circulation cells, which is dominated by El Niño Southern Oscillation variability. During an El Niño event the circulation weakens and the rising branch over the Maritime Continent shifts to the east in comparison to neutral conditions (vice versa for a La Niña event). Two-thirds of the global warming forced trend of the Walker Circulation can be explained by a long-term trend in this interannual variability pattern, i.e. a shift towards more El Niño-like conditions in the multi-model mean under global warming. Further, interannual variability in the zonal circulation exhibits an asymmetry between El Niño and La Niña events. El Niño anomalies are located more to the east compared with La Niña anomalies. Consistent with this asymmetry we find a shift to the east of the dominant mode of variability of zonal stream function under global warming. All these results vary among the individual models, but the multi model ensembles of CMIP3 and CMIP5 show in nearly all aspects very similar results, which underline the robustness of these results. The observed data (ERA Interim reanalysis) from 1979 to 2012 shows a westward shift and strengthening of the Walker Circulation. This is opposite to what the results in the CMIP models reveal. However, 75 % of the trend of the Walker Circulation can again be explained by a shift of the dominant mode of variability, but here towards more La Niña-like conditions. Thus in both climate change projections and observations the long-term trends of the Walker Circulation seem to follow to a large part the pre-existing dominant mode of internal variability.     

Eddy parametrization and the oceanic response to idealized global warming

 A coarse-grid global ocean general circulation model (OGCM) is used to determine the role of sub-grid scale eddy parametrization schemes in the response to idealized changes in the surface heat flux, of the same order as expected under increased atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. Two schemes are employed. The first (H) incorporates standard horizontal mixing, whereas the second (G) combines both enhanced isopycnal mixing and eddy-induced transport. Uniform surface heating anomalies of +2 W m^-2 and −2 W m^-2 are applied for 50 years, and the results are compared with a control experiment in which no anomalous heating is imposed. A passive “heat” tracer is applied uniformly (at a rate of 2 W m^-2 for 50 years) in a separate experiment. The sea-surface temperature response to global surface heating is generally larger in G, especially in the northern subtropical gyres, along the southern coast of Australia and off the Antarctic coast. A pronounced interhemispheric asymmetry (primarily arising from an anomalous response south of 35 °S) is evident in both H and G. The surface trapping of passive tracers in the Southern Hemisphere is generally greater in G than it is in H, and is particularly pronounced along the prime meridian (0 °E). Dynamical changes (i.e., changes in horizontal and vertical currents, convection, and preferred mixing and eddy transport pathways) enhance surface warming in the tropics and subtropics in both G and H. They are dominated by an anomalous meridional overturning centred on the equator, which may also operate in greenhouse warming experiments using coupled atmosphere-ocean GCMs. Over the Southern Ocean the passive tracer experiments and associated ventilation rates suggest that surface warming will be greater in G than in H. In fact, the contrast between the dynamical responses evident in G and H in the actual heating experiments leads to a situation in which the reverse is often true. Overall, dynamical changes enhance the interhemispheric assymetry, more so in G than in H. Received: August 1996/Accepted: 20 March 1997