Abrupt summer warming and changes in temperature extremes over Northeast Asia since the mid-1990s: Drivers and physical processes

This study investigated the drivers and physical processes for the abrupt decadal summer surface warming and increases in hot temperature extremes that occurred over Northeast Asia in the mid-1990 s. Observations indicate an abrupt increase in summer mean surface air temperature(SAT) over Northeast Asia since the mid-1990 s. Accompanying this abrupt surface warming, significant changes in some temperature extremes, characterized by increases in summer mean daily maximum temperature(Tmax), daily minimum temperature(Tmin), annual hottest day temperature(TXx), and annual warmest night temperature(TNx) were observed. There were also increases in the frequency of summer days(SU) and tropical nights(TR).Atmospheric general circulation model experiments forced by changes in sea surface temperature(SST)/ sea ice extent(SIE),anthropogenic greenhouse gas(GHG) concentrations, and anthropogenic aerosol(AA) forcing, relative to the period 1964–93, reproduced the general patterns of observed summer mean SAT changes and associated changes in temperature extremes,although the abrupt decrease in precipitation since the mid-1990 s was not simulated. Additional model experiments with different forcings indicated that changes in SST/SIE explained 76% of the area-averaged summer mean surface warming signal over Northeast Asia, while the direct impact of changes in GHG and AA explained the remaining 24% of the surface warming signal. Analysis of physical processes indicated that the direct impact of the changes in AA(through aerosol–radiation and aerosol–cloud interactions), mainly related to the reduction of AA precursor emissions over Europe, played a dominant role in the increase in TXx and a similarly important role as SST/SIE changes in the increase in the frequency of SU over Northeast Asia via AA-induced coupled atmosphere–land surface and cloud feedbacks, rather than through a direct impact of AA changes on cloud condensation nuclei. The modelling results also imply that the abrupt summer surface warming and increases in hot temperature extremes over Northeast Asia since the mid-1990 s will probably sustain in the next few decades as GHG concentrations continue to increase and AA precursor emissions over both North America and Europe continue to decrease.     

全球变暖、AMO、IPO对全球陆地降水变化的相对贡献

本文探究了不同海表温度(SST)模态对6—8月和12月—次年2月全球陆地降水的趋势以及年代际变化的相对贡献。首先对热带地区陆地降水和SST进行SVD分析,得到影响陆地降水的趋势和年代际变化主要的海洋模态为：海洋中的全球变暖(Global Warming, GW)、大西洋多年代际振荡(Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, AMO)和太平洋多年代际振荡(Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation, IPO)。其次利用多元线性回归模型进一步定量评估了全球变暖、AMO和IPO对不同地区陆地降水的相对贡献大小。结果表明,全球变暖对陆地降水变化的贡献在冬夏季都是最大的,AMO在6—8月的贡献次之。IPO在12月—次年2月的贡献次之。不同纬度带,三者的贡献不同。GW的贡献在6—8月期间对10°N以北地区较大,南半球受GW的贡献相对较小,GW在12月—次年2月对40°N以北降水贡献异常显著;AMO主要在6—8月对10°～40°S和50°～60°S纬度带上的降水变化的贡献比较大;而IPO主要在12月—次年2月对北半球中纬度降水变化的贡献比较大。GW对...     

Atmosphere-land cover feedbacks alter the response of surface temperature to CO2 forcing in the western United States

In order to test the sensitivity of regional climate to regional-scale atmosphere-land cover feedbacks, we have employed a regional climate model asynchronously coupled to an equilibrium vegetation model, focusing on the western United States as a case study. CO₂-induced atmosphere-land cover feedbacks resulted in statistically significant seasonal temperature changes of up to 3.5°C, with land cover change accounting for up to 60% of the total seasonal response to elevated atmospheric CO₂ levels. In many areas, such as the Great Basin, albedo acted as the primary control on changes in surface temperature. Along the central coast of California, soil moisture effects magnified the temperature response in JJA and SON, with negative surface soil moisture anomalies accompanied by negative evaporation anomalies, decreasing latent heat flux and further increasing surface temperature. Additionally, negative temperature anomalies were calculated at high elevation in California and Oregon in DJF, MAM and SON, indicating that future warming of these sensitive areas could be mitigated by changes in vegetation distribution and an associated muting of winter snow-temperature feedbacks. Precipitation anomalies were almost universally not statistically significant, and very little change in mean seasonal atmospheric circulation occurred in response to atmosphere-land cover feedbacks. Further, the mean regional temperature sensitivity to regional-scale land cover feedbacks did not exceed the large-scale sensitivity calculated elsewhere, indicating that spatial heterogeneity does not introduce non-linearities in the response of regional climate to CO₂-induced atmosphere-land cover feedbacks.     

Decadal climate variability in the Mediterranean region: roles of large-scale forcings and regional processes

We analyze decadal climate variability in the Mediterranean region using observational datasets over the period 1850–2009 and a regional climate model simulation for the period 1960–2000, focusing in particular on the winter (DJF) and summer (JJA) seasons. Our results show that decadal variability associated with the winter and summer manifestations of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO and SNAO respectively) and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) significantly contribute to decadal climate anomalies over the Mediterranean region during these seasons. Over 30% of decadal variance in DJF and JJA precipitation in parts of the Mediterranean region can be explained by NAO and SNAO variability respectively. During JJA, the AMO explains over 30% of regional surface air temperature anomalies and Mediterranean Sea surface temperature anomalies, with significant influence also in the transition seasons. In DJF, only Mediterranean SST still significantly correlates with the AMO while regional surface air temperature does not. Also, there is no significant NAO influence on decadal Mediterranean surface air temperature anomalies during this season. A simulation with the PROTHEUS regional ocean–atmosphere coupled model is utilized to investigate processes determining regional decadal changes during the 1960–2000 period, specifically the wetter and cooler 1971–1985 conditions versus the drier and warmer 1986–2000 conditions. The simulation successfully captures the essence of observed decadal changes. Model set-up suggests that AMO variability is transmitted to the Mediterranean/European region and the Mediterranean Sea via atmospheric processes. Regional feedbacks involving cloud cover and soil moisture changes also appear to contribute to observed changes. If confirmed, the linkage between Mediterranean temperatures and the AMO may imply a certain degree of regional decadal climate predictability. The AMO and other decadal influences outlined here should be considered along with those from long-term increases in greenhouse gas forcings when making regional climate out-looks for the Mediterranean 10–20?years out.     

Land–sea contrast,soil-atmosphere and cloud-temperature interactions: interplays and roles in future summer European climate change

Europe and in particular its southern part are expected to undergo serious climate changes during summer in response to anthropogenic forcing, with large surface warming and decrease in precipitation. Yet, serious uncertainties remain, especially over central and western Europe. Several mechanisms have been suggested to be important in that context but their relative importance and possible interplays are still not well understood. In this paper, the role of soil-atmosphere interactions, cloud-temperature interactions and land–sea warming contrast in summer European climate change and how they interact are analyzed. Models for which evapotranspiration is strongly limited by soil moisture in the present climate are found to tend to simulate larger future decrease in evapotranspiration. Models characterized by stronger present-day anti-correlation between cloud cover and temperature over land tend to simulate larger future decrease in cloud cover. Large model-to-model differences regarding land–sea warming contrast and its impacts are also found. Warming over land is expected to be larger than warming over sea, leading to a decrease in continental relative humidity and precipitation because of the discrepancy between the change in atmospheric moisture capacity over land and the change in specific humidity. Yet, it is not true for all the models over our domain of interest. Models in which evapotranspiration is not limited by soil moisture and with a weak present-day anti-correlation between cloud cover and temperature tend to simulate smaller land surface warming. In these models, change in specific humidity over land is therefore able to match the continental increase in moisture capacity, which leads to virtually no change in continental relative humidity and smaller precipitation change. Because of the physical links that exist between the response to anthropogenic forcing of important impact-related climate variables and the way some mechanisms are simulated in the context of present-day variability, this study suggests some potentially useful metrics to reduce summer European climate change uncertainties.     

Quantifying the contributions of anthropogenic and natural forcings to climate changes over arid-semiarid areas during 1946–2005

In this study, the contributions from changes in man-made greenhouse gases (GHG), anthropogenic aerosols (AA), and land use (LU), as well as natural solar and volcanic (NAT) forcing changes, to observed changes in surface air temperature (T) and precipitation (P) over global land, especially over arid-semiarid areas, during 1946–2005 are quantified using observations and climate model simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Results show that the anthropogenic (ANT) forcings dominate the ubiquitous surface warming seen in observations and lead to slight increases in precipitation over most land areas, while the NAT forcing leads to small cooling over land. GHG increases are the primary factor responsible for the anthropogenic climate change, while the AA forcing offsets a large part of the GHG-induced warming and P changes. The LU forcing generally contributes little to the T and P changes from 1946 to 2005 over most land areas. Unlike the consistent temperature changes among most model simulations, precipitation changes display a large spread among the models and are incomparable with the observations in spatial distributions and magnitude, mainly due to its large internal variability that varies among individual model runs. Using an optimal fingerprinting method, we find that the observed warming over land during 1946–2005 can be largely attributed to the ANT forcings, and the combination of the ANT and NAT forcings can explain about 85~95% of the observed warming trend over global land as well as over most arid-semiarid regions such as Northern China. However, the anthropogenic influences on precipitation over the past 60 years are generally undetectable over most land areas, including most arid-semiarid regions. This indicates that internal variability is still larger than the forced change for land precipitation.     

Opposing Trends of Winter Cold Extremes over Eastern Eurasia and North America under Recent Arctic Warming

Under recent Arctic warming, boreal winters have witnessed severe cold surges over both Eurasia and North America,bringing about serious social and economic impacts. Here, we investigated the changes in daily surface air temperature(SAT) variability during the rapid Arctic warming period of 1988/89–2015/16, and found the daily SAT variance, mainly contributed by the sub-seasonal component, shows an increasing and decreasing trend over eastern Eurasia and North America, respectively. Increasing c...     

Projection of Water Availability in the Miyun Watershed from an RCM Simulation

Based on a high-resolution regional climate model (RegCM3) simulation over East Asia, future climate changes over the Miyun Reservoir in the 21st century under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A1B scenario are analyzed. The model simulation extends from 1951 to 2100 at a grid spacing of 25 km and is one-way nested within a global model of MIROC3.2_ hires (the Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate). The focus of the analysis is on the Watershed of Miyun Reservoir, the main water supply for Beijing in northern China. The results show that RegCM3 reproduces the observed temperature well but it overestimates precipitation over the region. Significant warming in the 21st century is simulated in the annual mean, December-January-February (DJF) and June-July-August (JJA), although with differences concerning the spatial distribution and magnitude. Changes in precipitation for the annual mean, DJF, and JJA also show differences. A prevailing increase of precipitation in DJF and a decrease of it in JJA is projected over the region, while little change in the annual mean is projected. Changes of the difference between precipitation and evapotranspiration to measure the potential water availability are also presented in the paper.     

Drivers of the Severity of the Extreme Hot Summer of 2015 in Western China

Western China experienced an extreme hot summer in 2015, breaking a number of temperature records. The summer mean surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly was twice the interannual variability. The hottest daytime temperature (T_Xx) and warmest night-time temperature (T_Nx) were the highest in China since 1964. This extreme hot summer occurred in the context of steadily increasing temperatures in recent decades. We carried out a set of experiments to evaluate the extent to which the changes in sea surface temperature (SST)/sea ice extent (SIE) and anthropogenic forcing drove the severity of the extreme summer of 2015 in western China. Our results indicate that about 65%–72% of the observed changes in the seasonal mean SAT and the daily maximum (T_max) and daily minimum (T_min) temperatures over western China resulted from changes in boundary forcings, including the SST/SIE and anthropogenic forcing. For the relative role of individual forcing, the direct impact of changes in anthropogenic forcing explain about 42% of the SAT warming and 60% (40%) of the increase in T_Nx and Tmin (T_Xx and T_max) in the model response. The changes in SST/SIE contributed to the remaining surface warming and the increase in hot extremes, which are mainly the result of changes in the SST over the Pacific Ocean, where a super El Niño event occurred. Our study indicates a prominent role for the direct impact of anthropogenic forcing in the severity of the extreme hot summer in western China in 2015, although the changes in SST/SIE, as well as the internal variability of the atmosphere, also made a contribution.     

Simulation of the evolutionary response of global summer monsoons to orbital forcing over the past 280,000 years

We describe the evolutionary response of northern and southern hemisphere summer monsoons to orbital forcing over the past 280,000 years using a fully coupled general circulation ocean-atmosphere model in which the orbital forcing is accelerated by a factor of 100. We find a strong and positive response of northern (southern) summer monsoon precipitation to northern (southern) summer insolation forcing. On average, July (January) precipitation maxima and JJA (DJF) precipitation maxima have high coherence and are approximately in phase with June (December) insolation maxima, implying an average lag between forcing and response of about 30° of phase at the precession period. The average lag increases to over 40° for 4-month precipitation averages, JJAS (DJFM). The phase varies from region to region. The average JJA (DJF) land temperature maxima also lag the June orbital forcing maxima by about 30° of phase, whereas ocean temperature maxima exhibit a lag of about 60° of phase at the precession period. Using generalized measures of the thermal and hydrologic processes that produce monsoons, we find that the summer monsoon precipitation indices for the six regions all fall within the phase limits of the process indices for the respective hemispheres. Selected observational studies from four of the six monsoon regions report approximate in-phase relations of summer monsoon proxies to summer insolation. However other observational studies report substantial phase lags of monsoon proxies and a strong component of forcing associated with glacial-age boundary conditions or other factors. An important next step will be to include glacial-age boundary condition forcing in long, transient paleoclimate simulations, along with orbital forcing.     

Impact of Anthropogenic Aerosols on Summer Precipitation in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Urban Agglomeration in China:Regional Climate Modeling Using WRF-Chem

The WRF model with chemistry(WRF-Chem) was employed to simulate the impacts of anthropogenic aerosols on summer precipitation over the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration in China. With the aid of a high-resolution gridded inventory of anthropogenic emissions of trace gases and aerosols, we conducted relatively long-term regional simulations,considering direct, semi-direct and indirect effects of the aerosols. Comparing the results of sensitivity experiments with and without emissions, it was found that anthropogenic aerosols tended to enhance summer precipitation over the metropolitan areas. Domain-averaged rainfall was increased throughout the day, except for the time around noon. Aerosols shifted the precipitation probability distribution from light or moderate to extreme rain. Further analysis showed that the anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcing had a cooling effect at the land surface, but a warming effect in the atmosphere. However, enhanced convective strength and updrafts accompanied by water vapor increases and cyclone-like wind shear anomalies were found in the urban areas. These responses may originate from cloud microphysical effects of aerosols on convection, which were identified as the primary cause for the summer rainfall enhancement.     

Indian Ocean warming during 1958–2004 simulated by a climate system model and its mechanism

The mechanism responsible for Indian Ocean Sea surface temperature (SST) basin-wide warming trend during 1958–2004 is studied based on both observational data analysis and numerical experiments with a climate system model FGOALS-gl. To quantitatively estimate the relative contributions of external forcing (anthropogenic and natural forcing) and internal variability, three sets of numerical experiments are conducted, viz. an all forcing run forced by both anthropogenic forcing (greenhouse gases and sulfate aerosols) and natural forcing (solar constant and volcanic aerosols), a natural forcing run driven by only natural forcing, and a pre-industrial control run. The model results are compared to the observations. The results show that the observed warming trend during 1958–2004 (0.5 K (47-year)^?1) is largely attributed to the external forcing (more than 90 % of the total trend), while the residual is attributed to the internal variability. Model results indicate that the anthropogenic forcing accounts for approximately 98.8 % contribution of the external forcing trend. Heat budget analysis shows that the surface latent heat flux due to atmosphere and surface longwave radiation, which are mainly associated with anthropogenic forcing, are in favor of the basin-wide warming trend. The basin-wide warming is not spatially uniform, but with an equatorial IOD-like pattern in climate model. The atmospheric processes, oceanic processes and climatological latent heat flux together form an equatorial IOD-like warming pattern, and the oceanic process is the most important in forming the zonal dipole pattern. Both the anthropogenic forcing and natural forcing result in easterly wind anomalies over the equator, which reduce the wind speed, thereby lead to less evaporation and warmer SST in the equatorial western basin. Based on Bjerknes feedback, the easterly wind anomalies uplift the thermocline, which is unfavorable to SST warming in the eastern basin, and contribute to SST warming via deeper thermocline in the western basin. The easterly anomalies also drive westward anomalous equatorial currents, against the eastward climatology currents, which is in favor of the SST warming in the western basin via anomalous warm advection. Therefore, both the atmospheric and oceanic processes are in favor of the IOD-like warming pattern formation over the equator.     

Changes in polar amplification in response to increasing warming in CMIP6

由于全球变暖,极地地区的气候经历了明显的变暖放大.在本项研究中,我们根据CMIP6模式的三种变暖情景(SSP1-2,6,SSP2-4.5和SSP5-8.5)下,极地放大变化对各个反馈机制(包括普朗克,温度递减率,云,水蒸气,反照率反馈,CO2强迫,海洋热吸收和大气热传输)的响应进行了分析.结果表明,通过用“辐射核”方法...     

Climate impacts of recent multidecadal changes in Atlantic Ocean Sea Surface Temperature: a multimodel comparison

During the twentieth century sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean exhibited prominent multidecadal variations. The source of such variations has yet to be rigorously established—but the question of their impact on climate can be investigated. Here we report on a set of multimodel experiments to examine the impact of patterns of warming in the North Atlantic, and cooling in the South Atlantic, derived from observations, that is characteristic of the positive phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). The experiments were carried out with six atmospheric General Circulation Models (including two versions of one model), and a major goal was to assess the extent to which key climate impacts are consistent between the different models. The major climate impacts are found over North and South America, with the strongest impacts over land found over the United States and northern parts of South America. These responses appear to be driven by a combination of an off-equatorial Gill response to diabatic heating over the Caribbean due to increased rainfall within the region and a Northward shift in the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) due to the anomalous cross-equatorial SST gradient. The majority of the models show warmer US land temperatures and reduced Mean Sea Level Pressure during summer (JJA) in response to a warmer North Atlantic and a cooler South Atlantic, in line with observations. However the majority of models show no significant impact on US rainfall during summer. Over northern South America, all models show reduced rainfall in southern hemisphere winter (JJA), whilst in Summer (DJF) there is a generally an increase in rainfall. However, there is a large spread amongst the models in the magnitude of the rainfall anomalies over land. Away from the Americas, there are no consistent significant modelled responses. In particular there are no significant changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) over the North Atlantic and Europe in Winter (DJF). Additionally, the observed Sahel drying signal in African rainfall is not seen in the modelled responses. Suggesting that, in contrast to some studies, the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation was not the primary driver of recent reductions in Sahel rainfall.     

Atmospheric circulation anomalies due to 115 kyr BP climate forcing dominated by changes in the North Pacific Ocean

Climate at the time of inception of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) at ~115 kyr BP is simulated with the fully coupled NCAR Community Climate System Model (CCSM3) and compared to a simulated preindustrial climate (circa 1870) in order to better understand land surface and atmospheric responses to orbital and greenhouse cooling at inception. The interaction between obliquity and eccentricity produces maximum decrease in TOA insolation in JJA over the Arctic but increases occur over the tropics in DJF. The land surface response is dominated by widespread summer cooling in the Northern Hemisphere (NH), increases in snowfall, and decreases in melt rates and total precipitation. CCSM3 responds to the climate forcing at 115 kyr BP by producing incipient glaciation in the areas of LIS nucleation. We find that the inception of the LIS could have occurred with atmospheric circulation patterns that differ little from the present. The location of the troughs/ridges, mean flow over the Canadian Arctic and dominant modes of the atmospheric circulation are all very similar to the present. Larger changes in mean sea level pressure occur upstream of the inception region in the North Pacific Ocean and downstream in Western Europe. In the North Pacific region, the 115 kyr BP anomalies weaken both the Pacific high and Aleutian low making NH summers look more like the PREIND winters and vice versa. The occurrence of cold JJA anomalies at 115 kyr BP favors outbreaks of cold air not in the winter as in contemporary climates but during the summer instead and reinforces the cooling from orbital and GHG reductions. Increased poleward eddy transport of heat and moisture characterizes the atmospheric response in addition to reduced total cloud cover in the Arctic.     

A seasonal scale analysis correlating total cloud amount anomalies with ENSO over the tropical Pacific

The seasonal patterns of total cloud amount (TCA) responsible for El Ni?o/La Ni?a-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies were investigated using the ISCCP-D2 cloud and NOAA OI.v2 SST datasets for the period of July 1983 to June 2008. The results show three main ENSO-sensitive regions obtained by spatial overlapping of seasonal correlations, two in the western tropical Pacific and one in the central tropical Pacific. These regions were named WTP1, WTP2, and CTP. In all three regions, except the JJA (June?CAugust) WTP2, the TCA changes were significantly correlated with the Ni?o 3.4 anomalies during the four seasons (December?CJanuary?CFebruary (DJF), March?CApril?CMay, JJA, and September?COctober?CNovember (SON)). Remarkable differences in the seasonal variability of TCA were observed in these regions. In the WTP1, the DJF TCA always remained the highest value among the four seasons in all years. In the WTP2, the maximum TCA occurred during JJA in most years. In the CTP, the extreme value of TCA was mainly observed in DJF or SON near the peak time of ENSO. Seasonal cross-correlation analyses also showed significant relations between TCA and Ni?o 3.4 SST in these regions, which may be helpful for forecasting the evolution of ENSO.     

The atmospheric sulfur cycle in ECHAM-4 and its impact on the shortwave radiation

 The atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM-4 is coupled to a chemistry model to calculate sulfate mass distribution and the radiative forcing due to sulfate aerosol particles. The model simulates the main components of the hydrological cycle and, hence, it allows an explicit treatment of cloud transformation processes and precipitation scavenging. Two experiments are performed, one with pre-industrial and one with present-day sulfur emissions. In the pre-industrial emission scenario SO₂ is oxidized faster to sulfate and the in-cloud oxidation via the reaction with ozone is more important than in the present-day scenario. The atmospheric sulfate mass due to anthropogenic emissions is estimated as 0.38 Tg sulfur. The radiative forcing due to anthropogenic sulfate aerosols is calculated diagnostically. The backscattering of shortwave radiation (direct effect) as well as the impact of sulfate aerosols on the cloud albedo (indirect effect) is estimated. The model predicts a direct forcing of −0.35 W m^-2 and an indirect forcing of −0.76 W m^-2. Over the continents of the Northern Hemisphere the direct forcing amounts to −0.64 W m^-2. The geographical distribution of the direct and indirect effect is very different. Whereas the direct forcing is strongest over highly polluted continental regions, the indirect forcing over sea exceeds that over land. It is shown that forcing estimates based on monthly averages rather than on instantaneous sulfate pattern overestimate the indirect effect but have little effect on the direct forcing. Received: 16 October 1996/Accepted: 24 October 1996     

Historical Evolution of Global and Regional Surface Air Temperature Simulated by FGOALS-s2 and FGOALS-g2: How Reliable Are the Model Results?

In order to assess the performance of two versions of the IAP/LASG Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System (FGOALS) model, simulated changes in surface air temperature (SAT), from natural and anthropogenic forcings, were compared to observations for the period 18502005 at global, hemispheric, continental and regional scales. The global and hemispheric averages of SAT and their land and ocean components during 18502005 were well reproduced by FGOALS-g2, as evidenced by significant correlation coefficients and small RMSEs. The significant positive correlations were firstly determined by the warming trends, and secondly by interdecadal fluctuations. The abilities of the models to reproduce interdecadal SAT variations were demonstrated by both wavelet analysis and significant positive correlations for detrended data. The observed land--sea thermal contrast change was poorly simulated. The major weakness of FGOALS-s2 was an exaggerated warming response to anthropogenic forcing, with the simulation showing results that were far removed from observations prior to the 1950s. The observations featured warming trends (19062005) of 0.71, 0.68 and 0.79 (100 yr)-1 for global, Northern and Southern Hemispheric averages, which were overestimated by FGOALS-s2 [1.42, 1.52 and 1.13oC (100 yr)-1] but underestimated by FGOALS-g2 [0.69, 0.68 and 0.73oC (100 yr)-1]. The polar amplification of the warming trend was exaggerated in FGOALS-s2 but weakly reproduced in FGOALS-g2. The stronger response of FGOALS-s2 to anthropogenic forcing was caused by strong sea-ice albedo feedback and water vapor feedback. Examination of model results in 15 selected subcontinental-scale regions showed reasonable performance for FGOALS-g2 over most regions. However, the observed warming trends were overestimated by FGOALS-s2 in most regions. Over East Asia, the meridional gradient of the warming trend simulated by FGOALS-s2 (FGOALS-g2) was stronger (weaker) than observed.     

Simulation of rainfall anomalies leading to the 2005 drought in Amazonia using the CLARIS LPB regional climate models

The meteorological characteristics of the drought of 2005 in Amazonia, one of the most severe in the last 100 years were assessed using a suite of seven regional models obtained from the CLARIS LPB project. The models were forced with the ERA-Interim reanalyses as boundary conditions. We used a combination of rainfall and temperature observations and the low-level circulation and evaporation fields from the reanalyses to determine the climatic and meteorological characteristics of this particular drought. The models reproduce in some degree the observed annual cycle of precipitation and the geographical distribution of negative rainfall anomalies during the summer months of 2005. With respect to the evolution of rainfall during 2004–2006, some of the models were able to simulate the negative rainfall departures during early summer of 2005 (December 2004 to February 2005). The interannual variability of rainfall anomalies for both austral summer and fall over northern and southern Amazonia show a large spread among models, with some of them capable of reproducing the 2005 observed negative rainfall departures (four out of seven models in southern Amazonia during DJF). In comparison, all models simulated the observed southern Amazonia negative rainfall and positive air temperature anomalies during the El Nino-related drought in 1998. The spatial structure of the simulated rainfall and temperature anomalies in DJF and MAM 2005 shows biases that are different among models. While some models simulated the observed negative rainfall anomalies over parts of western and southern Amazonia during DJF, others simulated positive rainfall departures over central Amazonia. The simulated circulation patterns indicate a weaker northeasterly flow from the tropical North Atlantic into Amazonia, and reduced flows from southern Amazonia into the La Plata basin in DJF, which is consistent with observations. In general, we can say that in some degree the regional models are able to capture the response to the forcing from the tropical Atlantic during the drought of 2005 in Amazonia. Moreover, extreme climatic conditions in response to anomalous low-level circulation features are also well captured, since the boundary conditions come from reanalysis and the models are largely constrained by the information provided at the boundaries. The analysis of the 2005 drought suggests that when the forcing leading to extreme anomalous conditions is associated with both local and non-local mechanisms (soil moisture feedbacks and remote SST anomalies, respectively) the models are not fully capable of representing these feedbacks and hence, the associated anomalies. The reason may be a deficient reproduction of the land–atmosphere interactions.     

Mechanisms for the land/sea warming contrast exhibited by simulations of climate change

The land/sea warming contrast is a phenomenon of both equilibrium and transient simulations of climate change: large areas of the land surface at most latitudes undergo temperature changes whose amplitude is more than those of the surrounding oceans. Using idealised GCM experiments with perturbed SSTs, we show that the land/sea contrast in equilibrium simulations is associated with local feedbacks and the hydrological cycle over land, rather than with externally imposed radiative forcing. This mechanism also explains a large component of the land/sea contrast in transient simulations as well. We propose a conceptual model with three elements: (1) there is a spatially variable level in the lower troposphere at which temperature change is the same over land and sea; (2) the dependence of lapse rate on moisture and temperature causes different changes in lapse rate upon warming over land and sea, and hence a surface land/sea temperature contrast; (3) moisture convergence over land predominantly takes place at levels significantly colder than the surface; wherever moisture supply over land is limited, the increase of evaporation over land upon warming is limited, reducing the relative humidity in the boundary layer over land, and hence also enhancing the land/sea contrast. The non-linearity of the Clausius–Clapeyron relationship of saturation specific humidity to temperature is critical in (2) and (3). We examine the sensitivity of the land/sea contrast to model representations of different physical processes using a large ensemble of climate model integrations with perturbed parameters, and find that it is most sensitive to representation of large-scale cloud and stomatal closure. We discuss our results in the context of high-resolution and Earth-system modelling of climate change.