Shifts in climate suitability for wine production as a result of climate change in a temperate climate wine region of Romania

Climate change is causing important shifts in the suitability of regions for wine production. Fine scale mapping of these shifts helps us to understand the evolution of vineyard climates, and to find solutions through viticultural adaptation. The aim of this study is to identify and map the structural and spatial shifts that occurred in the climatic suitability for wine production of the Cotnari wine growing region (Romania) between 1961 and 2013. Discontinuities in trends of temperature were identified, and the averages and trends of 13 climatic parameters for the 1961 to 1980 and 1981 to 2013 time periods were analysed. Using the averages of these climatic parameters, climate suitability for wine production was calculated at a resolution of 30 m and mapped for each time period, and the changes analysed. The results indicate shifts in the area’s historic climatic profile, due to an increase of heliothermal resources and precipitation constancy. The area’s climate suitability for wine production was modified by the loss of climate suitability for white table wines, sparkling wines and wine for distillates; shifts in suitability to higher altitudes by about 67 m, and a 48.6% decrease in the area suitable for quality white wines; and the occurrence of suitable climates for red wines at lower altitudes. The study showed that climate suitability for wine production has a multi-level spatial structure, with classes requiring a cooler climate being located at a higher altitude than those requiring a warmer climate. Climate change has therefore resulted in the shift of climate suitability classes for wine production to higher altitudes.     

中国及其周边地区多种水凝物资料的气候态特征比较

对云的水凝物含量进行研究有利于认识云的辐射性质和强迫效应,以及改善模式的预报性能。利用目前几种较为常用的卫星观测资料（ISCCP、MODIS和CloudSat）和再分析资料（CFSR和ERA-Interim）,对中国及其周边地区的多种水凝物变量,包括积分的云水路径、液水路径和冰水路径,以及分层的液态水含量和冰水含量的气候态水平及垂直分布特征进行了比较研究。结果表明,在总的水凝物含量方面,无论是描述整个中国及其周边地区的水平分布特征和主要变化模态,还是不同海陆区域的月变化特点,MODIS、ERA和CFSR三种资料都显示出较高的一致性,而ISCCP的绝对数值和变化幅度与它们均存在一定差异。在液态水含量方面,无论是水平还是垂直分布,ERA-Interim都有最高的数值,作为观测数据的MODIS和ISCCP则显著偏低。对于冰水含量,不同资料间无论是水平和垂直分布形式还是具体数值都存在明显差异。通过分析不同水凝物资料间气候态分布的差异性特征,有利于认识目前常用的几种水凝物资料的“不确定性”程度,从而更好地估计云的辐射效应,以及理解其在气候变化中所扮演的角色。      

Combining climatological and participatory approaches for assessing changes in extreme climatic indices at regional scale

This paper combines the climatological and societal perspectives for assessing future climatic extremes over Kangasabati River basin in India using an ensemble of four high resolution (25 km) regional climate model (RCM) simulations from 1970 to 2050. The relevant extreme indices and their thresholds are defined in consultation with stakeholders and are then compared using RCM simulations. To evaluate the performance of RCM in realistically representing atmospheric processes in the basin, model simulations driven with ERAInterim global re-analysis data from 1989 to 2008 are compared with observations. The models perform well in simulating seasonality, interannual variability and climatic extremes. Future climatic extremes are evaluated based on RCM simulations driven by GCMs, for present (1970–1999) and for the SRES A1B scenario for future (2021–2050) period. The analysis shows an intensification of majority of extremes as projected by future ensemble mean. The study suggests that there is a marked consistency in stakeholder observed changes in climate extremes and future predicted trends.     

Observed and simulated impacts of the summer NAO in Europe: implications for projected drying in the Mediterranean region

Climate models predict substantial summer precipitation reductions in Europe and the Mediterranean region in the twenty-first century, but the extent to which these models correctly represent the mechanisms of summertime precipitation in this region is uncertain. Here an analysis is conducted to compare the observed and simulated impacts of the dominant large-scale driver of summer rainfall variability in Europe and the Mediterranean, the summer North Atlantic Oscillation (SNAO). The SNAO is defined as the leading mode of July–August sea level pressure variability in the North Atlantic sector. Although the SNAO is weaker and confined to northern latitudes compared to its winter counterpart, with a southern lobe located over the UK, it significantly affects precipitation in the Mediterranean, particularly Italy and the Balkans (correlations of up to 0.6). During high SNAO summers, when strong anticyclonic conditions and suppressed precipitation prevail over the UK, the Mediterranean region instead is anomalously wet. This enhanced precipitation is related to the presence of a strong upper-level trough over the Balkans—part of a hemispheric pattern of anomalies that develops in association with the SNAO—that leads to mid-level cooling and increased potential instability. Neither this downstream extension nor the surface influence of the SNAO is captured in the two CMIP3 models examined (HadCM3 and GFDL-CM2.1), with weak or non-existent correlations between the SNAO and Mediterranean precipitation. Because these models also predict a strong upward SNAO trend in the future, the error in their representation of the SNAO surface signature impacts the projected precipitation trends. In particular, the attendant increase in precipitation that, based on observations, should occur in the Mediterranean and offset some of the non-SNAO related drying does not occur. Furthermore, the fact that neither the observed SNAO nor summer precipitation in Europe/Mediterranean region exhibits any significant trend so far (for either the full century or the recent half of the record) does not increase our confidence in these model projections.     

Estimation of transboundary transport contribution to the air pollution in the far east region using the chemistry transport model

The CHIMERE mesoscale chemistry transport model is used for the quantitative assessment of the contribution of transboundary transport of anthropogenic admixtures from China to the surface concentrations of major suspended pollutants, aerosol PM₁₀, ozone O₃, and nitrogen oxides NO_x in the Far Eastern region. Analyzed in detail are the time series of concentration of mentioned substances computed with the model taking account and not taking account of anthropogenic emissions in China. It is revealed that the transboundary transport of anthropogenic pollutants can cause the recurring episodes of manyfold increase in the concentration of PM₁₀ in the south of Khabarovsk region, as well as more rare variations of O₃ and NO_x concentration. The trajectory and synoptic analysis demonstrated that the episodes of the increase in the concentration of PM₁₀ and O₃ in the south of the region mainly depend on the carryover of air masses from northeastern China in the front part of continental cyclones.     

极端降水事件变化的观测研究

利用湖北1961—2014年站点逐日降水资料及人口和人口城乡构成数据,通过平均值分离、最小二乘法拟合、趋势系数和气候倾向率分析、M-K检验和累积距平检验等方法,从时空分布、趋势变化、局地特征等方面,分析了近54 a湖北极端降水的变化特征及其与城市化的关系,结果表明：(1)对于第95百分位的极端降水事件,湖北极端降水阈值的范围为43.5~85.1 mm,大部分站的阈值在暴雨雨量范围,高阈值区位于江汉平原和鄂东,低阈值区位于鄂西北,最高阈值出现在武汉站,最低阈值出现在竹山站和房县站。(2)近54 a来湖北多年平均的极端降水日(D_ep)、极端降水量(P_ep)、极端降水强度(I_ep)、最大5 d降水(R_{5 d})和雨量比均存在明显的区域特征,但I_ep、R_{5 d}的地域差异不如D_ep、P_ep明显。鄂西南南部以及鄂东南东部和南部是极端降水事件的高发区,鄂西北北部是极端降水事件的低发区。(3)极端降水指数(R)能反映极端降水的强弱,其大尺度存在明显的年际差异,而长期变化趋势不显著,P_ep、I_ep和雨量比呈弱增加趋势,R_{5 d}和极端降水频数呈弱减少趋势。(4)城市化发展速度会改变R及其局地距平百分比DR_ij、趋势系数和气候倾向率的空间分布。随着城市化发展速度加快,湖北城市“雨岛效应”的格局发生了变化,D_ep、P_ep、I_ep、R_{5 d}及其DR_ij从南北差异明显变为东西差异明显,江汉平原和鄂东的D_ep、P_ep、I_ep、R_{5 d}增加,而鄂西南的减少,且四者趋势系数通过显著性水平检验的站点数更多,气候倾向率绝对值也普遍增大,但大部分站点的变化趋势为负值。(5)湖北极端降水具有明显的城市效应,城市化发展速度较快的大城市代表站的极端降水阈值大于配对的小城市代表站,两种代表站平均的D_ep、P_ep、I_ep、R_{5 d}的年际变化较一致,但大城市代表站的I_ep、R_{5 d}普遍较大,极端降水的变化趋势更明显。

     

气候变化情景下黄淮海区域热量资源及夏玉米温度适宜度

利用黄淮海区域90个站点1971—2000年逐日气象资料以及国家气候中心发布的未来气候变化情景(A1B)下区域气候模式(Reg CM3)模拟的黄淮海区域1951—2070年0.25°×0.25°格点气象资料,结合夏玉米主要生育期对温度的需求,构建了黄淮海区域的温度适宜度和变异系数模型,并对1951—2070年黄淮海区域热量资源、夏玉米主要生育期的温度适宜度及其变异系数的时空变化特征进行分析。结果表明:1)黄淮海区域≥10℃积温和80%保证率下日平均温度≥10℃的初日均呈现由北向南依次增加的趋势,且随时间推移,分别呈增加和提前趋势。2)黄淮海区域夏玉米播种—出苗期的温度适宜度随时间整体呈逐渐上升的变化趋势、其变异系数随时间呈降—升—降的变化趋势;出苗—抽雄期的温度适宜度随时间呈先降后升的变化趋势、其变异系数呈降—升—降—升的变化趋势;抽雄—成熟期的温度适宜度空间上呈现2010年前北低南高、未来情景下中部低四周高的分布趋势,时间上呈2010年前稳定、未来情景下先降后升的变化趋势,其变异系数呈相反变化趋势;3)黄淮海区域夏玉米温度适宜度及其变异系数从播种—出苗期—出苗—抽雄期—抽雄—成熟期均呈反相位的变化关系。     

绍兴市近49 a降水和旱涝变化特征分析

利用1961—2015年夏季(5—8月)湖南89个台站的逐月降水资料和NCEP/NCAR再分析资料、海温资料,计算了湖南近55 a的旱涝急转指数(LDFAI),挑选出湖南夏季旱涝急转(旱转涝和涝转旱两种类型)异常年,分析了异常年的同期大尺度环流和前期海温的基本特征,结果表明：(1)旱转涝年,旱期对流层中层鄂霍次克海有阻塞高压,副高偏西偏南,湖南受中纬度偏西气流控制,南亚高压较常年整体偏北偏强,湖南上空伴随着下沉运动加强,水汽辐散,致使湖南少雨干旱;涝期副高较同期偏南,湖南受中纬度低槽和副高共同影响,南亚高压北移,东伸脊点位于川渝交界附近,且高压中心呈青藏高压模态,湖南上空伴随着强烈的上升运动和水汽汇合,导致湖南降水增多。(2)涝转旱年,涝期副高较常年偏东,冷暖空气交汇在湖南地区,南亚高压整体较常年偏南偏弱,湖南上空伴随着上升运动和水汽汇合,湖南偏涝;旱期副高较常年偏西,湖南受副高控制,此时南亚高压主体偏强偏东,东伸脊点位于湖北一带,高压中心呈伊朗高压模态,加上湖南上空下沉运动和水汽输送辐散异常偏强,干旱少雨。(3) LDFAI指数与前期(前一年夏、秋、冬季和当年春季)太平洋相关海区海温存在显著相关性,这为湖南夏季旱涝急转类型的预测提供了参考信号。

     

Observed changes in relative humidity and dew point temperature in coastal regions of Iran

The analysis of trends in hydroclimatic parameters and assessment of their statistical significance have recently received a great concern to clarify whether or not there is an obvious climate change. In the current study, parametric linear regression and nonparametric Mann?CKendall tests were applied for detecting annual and seasonal trends in the relative humidity (RH) and dew point temperature (T _dew) time series at ten coastal weather stations in Iran during 1966?C2005. The serial structure of the data was considered, and the significant serial correlations were eliminated using the trend-free pre-whitening method. The results showed that annual RH increased by 1.03 and 0.28?%/decade at the northern and southern coastal regions of the country, respectively, while annual T _dew increased by 0.29 and 0.15°C per decade at the northern and southern regions, respectively. The significant trends were frequent in the T _dew series, but they were observed only at 2 out of the 50 RH series. The results showed that the difference between the results of the parametric and nonparametric tests was small, although the parametric test detected larger significant trends in the RH and T _dew time series. Furthermore, the differences between the results of the trend tests were not related to the normality of the statistical distribution.     

Moving boundaries in transboundary air pollution co-production of science and policy under the convention on long range transboundary air pollution

This article focuses on the science–policy interaction in international negotiations in the context of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's Convention for Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). It addresses the question how participants in the assessment process divide and co-ordinate work between science and policy and how this enhances credibility, legitimacy and relevance with multiple audiences. For this purpose the article combines an analytical framework to approach effectiveness of scientific assessment in policy making, with the notion of boundary work and co-production of science and policy. The article argues that knowledge produced within the CLRTAP process and the institutional setting in which this knowledge production takes place cannot be separated from each other. Furthermore credibility, legitimacy and relevance are to a large extent determined by boundary work in an early stage of the process. At the same time boundary work has to take place continuously in order keep the assessment process credible, legitimate and relevant for new audiences. The application of a combined framework for analysing credibility, legitimacy and relevance and for analysing boundary work turns out to be helpful in describing in detail what happens in practice at the science–policy interface. In particular it helps to address the question of the way participants in the assessment process divide and co-ordinate work, how this shapes design elements and how this enhances credibility legitimacy and relevance of an assessment.     

Observed and projected climate change in the European region during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries according to Feddema

Climate change in the European region during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is analyzed according to Feddema’s method. Precipitation and air temperature data from the twentieth century are taken from the Climatic Research Unit, while data for the twenty-first century are taken from the ENSEMBLES climate change project. The latter were bias-corrected to ensure homogeneity across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Climate classes based on monthly and annual values of potential evapotranspiration, precipitation and their ratio, are defined for 30-year averages, from which trend and spatial agreement analysis are calculated. There are separate classes for annual values and for intra-annual variation. The results indicate that the change of annual climate characteristics will be much more intense in the twenty-first than it was in the twentieth century. The dominant process in the projections is warming, mostly via cold to cool (about 45% of grid points) in north Europe and cool to warm (about 8% of grid points) transformations. The second most important process is the drying of moderately moist classes affecting about 10% of the grid points in south Europe. Changes in intra-annual variability classes are more common than changes in the annual ones during the twentieth century. The chance of increase in intra-annual temperature variation from high to extreme is about 5% during the course of the twentieth century, and about 10% in the following century.     

Determining the impact of climate change on land suitability for rice paddy cultivation using GIS and RS on FAO maximum limitation approach

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - In the present study, we aimed to understand the current condition of land suitability and how climate change will affect its suitability for rice paddy...     

铜仁市水稻生产的气候条件分析及防灾措施

从铜仁市的气候条件出发，分析铜仁市水稻全生育期的农业气候条件，应用回归分析法对影响水稻气象产量的因子进行相关分析，并重点针对高温干旱的危害提出防灾措施。     

Investigating the relationship of meteorological/climatological conditions and wildfires in Greece

During the last decades, wildfires have received growing attention because of their major impact on the natural and anthropogenic infrastructures worldwide. The present paper focuses on investigating the relationship between the meteorological/climatological conditions and wildfires in Greece on a variety of temporal and spatial scales. This is performed through the identification of the mean surface temperature, the sea-level pressure, and the absolute humidity anomalies during wildfires at 26 meteorological stations covering both maritime and land environments in the Greek domain and the subsequent construction of the derived GIS surface contour maps. A case study analysis through composite anomaly maps of temperature, pressure, precipitable water, 500-hPa geopotential height, specific humidity, and vector wind is also performed. It is concluded that positive surface temperature, absolute/specific humidity, 500-hPa geopotential height, and vector wind anomalies are observed during wildfires while sea-level pressures are anomalously negative. Furthermore, western regions display lower magnitude anomalies compared to the more central and central-eastern regions during wildfires. The above meteorological/climatological findings in conjunction with medium range to seasonal climate forecasts could be used by wildfire risk managers to provide increased wildfire prediction accuracy and thus benefit many aspects of the natural and built environment.     

Using climate impacts indicators to evaluate climate model ensembles: temperature suitability of premium winegrape cultivation in the United States

We explore the potential to improve understanding of the climate system by directly targeting climate model analyses at specific indicators of climate change impact. Using the temperature suitability of premium winegrape cultivation as a climate impacts indicator, we quantify the inter- and intra-ensemble spread in three climate model ensembles: a physically uniform multi-member ensemble consisting of the RegCM3 high-resolution climate model nested within the NCAR CCSM3 global climate model; the multi-model NARCCAP ensemble consisting of single realizations of multiple high-resolution climate models nested within multiple global climate models; and the multi-model CMIP3 ensemble consisting of realizations of multiple global climate models. We find that the temperature suitability for premium winegrape cultivation is substantially reduced throughout the high-value growing areas of California and the Columbia Valley region (eastern Oregon and Washington) in all three ensembles in response to changes in temperature projected for the mid-twenty first century period. The reductions in temperature suitability are driven primarily by projected increases in mean growing season temperature and occurrence of growing season severe hot days. The intra-ensemble spread in the simulated climate change impact is smaller in the single-model ensemble than in the multi-model ensembles, suggesting that the uncertainty arising from internal climate system variability is smaller than the uncertainty arising from climate model formulation. In addition, the intra-ensemble spread is similar in the NARCCAP nested climate model ensemble and the CMIP3 global climate model ensemble, suggesting that the uncertainty arising from the model formulation of fine-scale climate processes is not smaller than the uncertainty arising from the formulation of large-scale climate processes. Correction of climate model biases substantially reduces both the inter- and intra-ensemble spread in projected climate change impact, particularly for the multi-model ensembles, suggesting that—at least for some systems—the projected impacts of climate change could be more robust than the projected climate change. Extension of this impacts-based analysis to a larger suite of impacts indicators will deepen our understanding of future climate change uncertainty by focusing on the climate phenomena that most directly influence natural and human systems.     

Hydrometeorological conditions of the Volga region and current climate changes

The maps are presented of seasonal air temperature and precipitation amount anomalies averaged for the whole Volga region and adjacent territory for two time periods, 1946–1977 and 1978–2008. It is demonstrated that the considerable differences in the thermal and moistening regimes of the Volga region exist for these two periods. The relation is described between the variations of temperature and precipitation amount and the circulation types according to Vangengeim-Girs classification as well as the possibility to use these data for specifying the climatic scenarios obtained on the basis of physically complete hydrodynamic models.     

Temporal and geographical variation in the onset of climatological spring in Northeast China

Indications of earlier onset of spring have been observed in behavior of diverse animal and plant species in the Northern Hemisphere in response to recent climate warming. Knowledge of changes in the spring onset is a critical requirement for understanding ecosystem adaption to climate change, especially for agricultural regions. In this study, we present a climatological approach for detecting the temporal and spatial variability in onset of spring with particular emphasis on how they vary along geographical parameters. Yearly dates for spring onset were computed for 71 climate stations in Northeast China based on daily surface air temperature records. These analyses were conducted for the two study periods (1960–2004 and 1979–2004). We also examined the boundary shifts of spring onset for three selected dates between the periods of 1960–1978 and 1979–2004. The results showed that advancement of spring onset was more pronounced for the period of 1979–2004 than for the period of 1960–2004 (4.0 vs. 2.2 days/decade). For the 22 stations where the spring advancement was statistically significant in the two periods, the mean rate of advancement was ?0.6 days/decade during the period of 1960 to 1978. The trends of advancement of spring onset decreased with both increasing latitude and altitude up to 300 m above sea level, and these geographical effects were clearer during 1979–2004. Analysis of boundary shifts of three specific dates revealed that the spring onset has moved to higher latitudes for each date with an average shift of about 1° of latitude (about 110 km). Our results suggest that attempts to address how ecosystems will adapt to spring advancement associated with climate warming should consider the differences in response rates and geographical effects across the study area.     

Analysis of recent climatic changes in the Arabian Peninsula region

Summary Interest in the potential climatic consequences of the continued buildup of anthropo-generated greenhouse gases has led many scientists to conduct extensive climate change studies at the global, hemispheric, and regional scales. In this investigation, analyses are conducted on long-term historical climate records from the Arabian Peninsula region. Over the last 100 years, temperatures in the region increased linearly by 0.63 °C. However, virtually all of this warming occurred from 1911–1935, and over the most recent 50 years, the Arabian Peninsula region has cooled slightly. In addition, the satellite-based measurements of lower-tropospheric temperatures for the region do not show any statistically significant warming over the period 1979–1991. While many other areas of the world are showing a decrease in the diurnal temperature range, the Arabian Peninsula region reveals no evidence of a long-term change in this parameter. Precipitation records for the region show a slight, statistically insignificant decrease over the past 40 years. The results from this study should complement the mass of information that has resulted from similar regional climate studies conducted in the United States, Europe, and Australia.With 5 Figures     

A climatological perspective of water vapor at the UTLS region over different global monsoon regions: observations inferred from the Aura-MLS and reanalysis data

The Aura-MLS observations of eight years from 2004 to 2011 have been utilized to understand the hydration and the dehydration mechanism over the northern and the southern hemispheric monsoon (NH and SH) regions. The monsoon regions considered are the Asian Summer Monsoon, East Asian Summer Monsoon, Arizona Monsoon (AM), North African Monsoon, South American Monsoon and the Australian Monsoon. The annual cycle of water vapor as expected shows maxima over the NH during June–August and during December–February over the SH. The time taken by the air parcels over the NH monsoon regions is found to be different compared to that over the SH monsoon regions. The analysis shows the concentration of water vapor in the upper troposphere and the lower stratosphere (UTLS) has not changed over these eight years in both the hemispheres during their respective monsoon seasons. The present analysis show different processes viz., direct overshooting convection, horizontal advection, temperature and cirrus clouds in influencing the distribution of water vapor to the UTLS over these different monsoon regions. Analysis of the UTLS water vapor with temperature and ice water content shows that the AM is hydrating the stratosphere compared to all the other monsoon regions where the water vapor is getting dehydrated. Thus it is envisaged that the present results will have important implications in understanding the exchange processes across the tropopause over the different monsoon regions and its role in stratosphere chemistry.