Estimation of global temperature trends: what’s important and what isn’t

In this essay we discuss the development of and estimation of uncertainties in the global surface temperature record. We briefly discuss the similarities in and differences between the records from the institutions that produce such series. We then consider the numerous issues that must be addressed to enable accurate estimates to be derived. We consider these in their order of importance with respect to the record: biases in the sea surface temperature data, exposure of land-based thermometers before about 1900, urbanization effects in some series, and, finally, the homogeneity of individual land-based records.     

Recent anomalies of mean temperature of 12 consecutive months – Germany, Europe, Northern Hemisphere

Anomalies of mean air temperature of 12 consecutive months were detected recently at a number of spatial scales: from local via national and continental, to hemispheric. At all these spatial scales, pre-2007 records were exceeded by considerable margins. The recent rise in the mean temperature of 12 consecutive months at several scales has remained largely unnoticed, because the 12-month means are seldom analyzed. Broad attention is typically focused on monthly, seasonal and annual temperatures. Analysis of shifted 12-month periods helps spot peculiar 12-month episodes with remarkable temperature anomalies that do not coincide with a calendar year. Introducing 12-month running mean temperatures into the global warming debate can prove useful.     

A Dynamic Method for Quantifying Natural Warming in Urban Areas

In the study of global warming, one of the main issues is the quantification of the urbanization effect in climate records. Previous studies have contributed much to removing the impact of urbanization from surface air temperature by carefully selecting reference stations. However, due to the insufficient number of stations free from the influence of urbanization and the different criteria used to select reference stations, there are still significant controversies about the intensity of the impact of urbanization on temperature records. This study proposes a dynamic method for quantifying natural warming using information on urbanization from every station acquired from remote sensing (RS) data instead of selecting reference stations. Two different spatial scales were applied to examine the impact of urbanization, but little difference was found, indicating the stability of this method. The results showed a significant difference in original temperature data and the homogenized data—urban warming accounted for approximately 64% in the original temperature warming but only approximately 20% in the homogenized temperature records.     

The Little Ice Age climate of New Zealand reconstructed from Southern Alps cirque glaciers: a synoptic type approach

Little Ice Age (LIA) austral summer temperature anomalies were derived from palaeoequilibrium line altitudes at 22 cirque glacier sites across the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Modern analog seasons with temperature anomalies akin to the LIA reconstructions were selected, and then applied in a sampling of high-resolution gridded New Zealand climate data and global reanalysis data to generate LIA climate composites at local, regional and hemispheric scales. The composite anomaly patterns assist in improving our understanding of atmospheric circulation contributions to the LIA climate state, allow an interrogation of synoptic type frequency changes for the LIA relative to present, and provide a hemispheric context of the past conditions in New Zealand. An LIA summer temperature anomaly of ?0.56 °C (±0.29 °C) for the Southern Alps based on palaeo-equilibrium lines compares well with local tree-ring reconstructions of austral summer temperature. Reconstructed geopotential height at 1,000 hPa (z1000) suggests enhanced southwesterly flow across New Zealand occurred during the LIA to generate the terrestrial temperature anomalies. The mean atmospheric circulation pattern for summer resulted from a crucial reduction of the ‘HSE’-blocking synoptic type (highs over and to the west of NZ; largely settled conditions) and increases in both the ‘T’- and ‘SW’-trough synoptic types (lows passing over NZ; enhanced southerly and southwesterly flow) relative to normal. Associated land-based temperature and precipitation anomalies suggest both colder- and wetter-than-normal conditions were a pervasive component of the base climate state across New Zealand during the LIA, as were colder-than-normal Tasman Sea surface temperatures. Proxy temperature and circulation evidence were used to corroborate the spatially heterogeneous Southern Hemisphere composite z1000 and sea surface temperature patterns generated in this study. A comparison of the composites to climate mode archetypes suggests LIA summer climate and atmospheric circulation over New Zealand was driven by increased frequency of weak El Niño-Modoki in the tropical Pacific and negative Southern Annular Mode activity.     

Comment: On the need for validation of the Jones et al. temperature trends with respect to urban warming

The Jones et al. hemispheric and global temperature trends and the methodology used to detect and correct for urban heat island effects are examined in detail. The results of this review suggest that there is still the possibility of significant urban warming bias remaining in the hemispheric and global averages. The actual extent of any such bias is unknown but warrants full investigation, since undetected and/or uncorrected urban warming could account for some of the hemispheric and global warming reported by Jones et al. Several research activities are suggested for resolving this uncertainty, including the rigorous application of urban warming correction factors to the data set used by Jones et al. and the development of geographically representative rural temperature series.Office of Technology Assessment, United States Congress, Washington, D.C. 20510, U.S.A. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the OTA, Technology Assessment Board, or U.S. Congress. The article is based on independent research of the author and not on work conducted for the OTA.     

IPCC《气候变化与土地特别报告》对陆气相互作用的新认知

IPCC向全球正式发布了其最新的《气候变化与土地特别报告》（SRCCL）,从陆气相互作用、荒漠化、土地退化、粮食安全、综合变化和协同性、可持续土地管理等方面评估气候变化与土地的相互关联。报告是在IPCC 3个工作组共同主导下,首次系统评估气候变化与陆面过程和土地利用/土地管理之间的相关作用。报告的评估结果表明,全球陆地增温幅度接近全球海陆平均值的两倍,气候变化加重了综合土地压力,并严重影响全球粮食安全,而全球很多区域的极端天气气候事件频率/强度持续增加,加重了农业生产的灾害风险和损失。采取行业间和国家间协同一致的行动,通过可持续土地管理,可以有效地适应和减缓气候变化,同时减轻土地退化、荒漠化和粮食安全的压力。     

Global and regional variability in a coupled AOGCM

 The variability of near surface temperature on global and regional spatial scales and interannual time scales from a 1000 year control integration of the Hadley Centre coupled model (HADCM2-CTL) are compared with the observational record of surface temperature. The model succeeds in reproducing the observed patterns of natural variability, with high variability over the northern continents and low variability over much of the tropics. The model global mean variability has similar strength to observed global mean variability on time scales less than 20 years. The warming seen in the historical record is outside the range of natural variability as simulated in HADCM2-CTL. The model has El-Ni?o/Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-like behaviour with a central Pacific, peak to peak, strength of approximately 3 K. Changes in near surface temperature in the central Pacific are strongly correlated with changes in near surface temperature over most of the tropics, large regions of the extra-tropics and changes in tropical ocean upper 250 m heat content. Tropospheric temperature changes and tropical surface pressure changes are also strongly correlated with changes in the central Pacific surface temperature. Oceanic regions show significant departures from an AR1 or first order Markov behaviour in the Northwest Atlantic, Northwest Pacific and Arctic oceans. The Northwest Atlantic region has large amounts of variability over periods greater than 50 years. This variability is associated with a jump in the strength of North Atlantic meridional stream function. The spectra of the Western European and Continental US land regions are not significantly different from an AR1 process. The flow through the Drake Passage has an interannual standard deviation of approximately 2.5 Sv with significant departures from an AR1 process at time scales greater than 40 years. Winter northern hemispheric 500 hPa geopotential height shows some evidence of multiple regimes but no year to year persistence of these regimes. Received: 31 January 1996/Accepted: 22 July 1996     

An Observational Analysis of the Oceanic and Atmospheric Structure of Global-Scale Multi-decadal Variability简

The aim of the present study was to identify multi-decadal variability （MDV） relative to the current centennial global warming trend in available observation data.The centennial global wanning trend was first identified in the global mean surface temperature （STgm） data.The MDV was identified based on three sets of climate variables,including sea surface temperature （SST）,ocean temperature from the surface to 700 m,and the NCEP and ERA40 reanalysis datasets,respectively.All variables were detrended and low-pass filtered.Through three independent EOF analyses of the filtered variables,all results consistently showed two dominant modes,with their respective temporal variability resembling the Pacific Decadal Oscillation/Inter-decadal Pacific Oscillation （PDO/IPO） and the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation （AMO）.The spatial structure of the PDO-like oscillation is characterized by an ENSO-like structure and hemispheric symmetric features.The structure associated with the AMO-like oscillation exhibits hemispheric asymmetric features with anomalous warm air over Eurasia and warm SST in the Atlantic and Pacific basin north of 10°S,and cold SST over the southern oceans.The Pacific and Atlantic MDV in upper-ocean temperature suggest that they are mutually linked.We also found that the PDO-like and AMO-like oscillations are almost equally important in global-scale MDV by EOF analyses.In the period 1975-2005,the evolution of the two oscillations has given rise to strong temperature trends and has contributed almost half of the STgm warming.Hereon,in the next decade,the two oscillations are expected to slow down the global warming trends.     

The influence of volcanic, solar and CO2 forcing on the temperatures in the Dalton Minimum (1790–1830): a model study

The Dalton Minimum (1790–1830) was a period with reduced solar irradiance and strong volcanic eruptions. Additionally, the atmospheric CO₂ concentrations started to rise from the background level of previous centuries. In this period most empirical climate reconstructions indicate a minimum in global or hemispheric temperatures. Here, we analyse several simulations starting in 1755 with the coupled atmosphere-ocean model ECHO-G driven by different forcing combinations to investigate which external forcing could have contributed most strongly to the reduced temperatures during the Dalton Minimum. Results indicate that on global and hemispheric scales, the volcanic forcing is largely responsible for the temperature drop in this period, especially during its second half, whereas changes in solar forcing and the increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations were of minor importance. At regional scales, especially the extratropical, the impact of volcanic forcing is much less discernible due to the large regional variability, a finding that agrees with empirical temperature reconstructions.     

Regional-scale surface air temperature and East Asian summer monsoon changes during the last millennium simulated by the FGOALS-gl climate system model

The spatial patterns and regional-scale surface air temperature （SAT） changes during the last millennium,as well as the variability of the East Asian summer monsoon （EASM） were simulated with a low-resolution version of Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land-Sea-ice （FGOALS-gl） model.The model was driven by both natural and anthropogenic forcing agents.Major features of the simulated past millennial Northern Hemisphere （NH） mean SAT variations,including the Medieval Climate Anomaly （MCA）,the Little Ice Age （LIA） and the 20th Century Warming （20CW）,were generally consistent with the reconstructions.The simulated MCA showed a global cooling pattern with reference to the 1961-90 mean conditions,indicating the 20CW to be unprecedented over the last millennium in the simulation.The LIA was characterized by pronounced coldness over the continental extratropical NH in both the reconstruction and the simulation.The simulated global mean SAT difference between the MCA and LIA was 0.14°C,with enhanced warming over high-latitude NH continental regions.Consistencies between the simulation and the reconstruction on regional scales were lower than those on hemispheric scales.The major features agreed well between the simulated and reconstructed SAT variations over the Chinese domain,despite some inconsistency in details among different reconstructions.The EASM circulation during the MCA was stronger than that during the LIA The corresponding rainfall anomalies exhibited excessive rainfall in the north but deficient rainfall in the south.Both the zonal and meridional thermal contrast were enhanced during the MCA.This temperature anomaly pattern favored a stronger monsoon circulation.     

Cosmic ray flux impact on clouds? An analysis of radiosonde, cloud cover, and surface temperature records from the United States

Summary ¶Many scientists have suggested that variations in cosmic ray flux may impact cloudiness at regional, hemispheric, or global scales. However, considerable debate surrounds (a) whether high or low clouds are most strongly impacted by cosmic rays, (b) the degree of seasonality in cloud responses to cosmic rays, and (c) the determination of physical processes involved in cosmic ray/cloud interactions. Some scientists find strong correlation coefficients between cloud measurements and cosmic ray flux, while others find no relationship whatsoever; virtually all scientists working on this issue are hampered by the relatively short time period with accurate cloud and cosmic ray flux records. In an attempt to extend the period of record, we assembled surface and radiosonde data for the United States over the period 1957–1996 along with sunspot records which are known to be strongly, but inversely, related to cosmic ray flux. We also assembled cloud cover data and cosmic ray measurements over a reduced time period. We found that periods with low sunspot number (times with high cosmic ray flux) are associated with significantly higher dew point depressions, a higher diurnal temperature range, and less cloud cover. Our results do not support suggestions of increased cloud cover during periods of high cosmic ray flux.Received May 14, 2002; accepted February 17, 2003 Published online May 26, 2003     

A new method to estimate ice age temperatures

On glacial time scales, the waxing and waning of the Eurasian and North American ice sheets depend largely on variations in atmospheric temperature. As global sea level is primarily determined by the volume of these ice sheets, there is a direct (yet complex) relation between global sea level and the northern hemispheric (NH) temperature. This relation is essentially represented by a model of the NH ice sheets. We use a thermomechanical ice-sheet–ice shelf–bedrock model in conjunction with an inverse method to deduce a time series of NH temperature (from 120 kyr BP until present) that is consistent with the observed global sea level record. The advantage of this method is that it provides the annual mean surface air temperature averaged over the NH continents north of 40°N. The results reveal that ice age temperatures were 4–10°C lower than today, which agrees with other temperature reconstructions. However, reconstructed temperatures are comparitively low during the early stages of the glacial, a feature that is consistent with the rapid growth of the ice sheets. The sensitivity of the results for uncertainties in precipitation rate, in observed sea level and in some other model parameters is examined to quantify the error in reconstructed temperature. During the glacial period (120–15 kyr BP), surface air temperatures in the NH (north of 40°N) were 7.2±1.5°C lower than todays (interglacial) temperatures.     

“全球变暖”背景下的全球温度时空变化特征

通过对各种温度资料所作的统计分析,得到全球变暖背景下的全球温度的时空变化特征.结果表明:二十世纪初以来,总体来讲全球、南半球、北半球均出现了强烈的增温;这种增温过程中存在着很大的地区差异和季节差异,甚至有些区域在某些时段出现了很强的降温;南北半球在这些变化过程中表现出了很大的差异;对流层上层的温度变化要强于对流层下层的温度变化;冬季的增温要明显地高于夏季,冬夏温差有减小的趋势.     

The role of sea ice in climatic variability: Theories and evidence 1

Abstract

The climatic role of sea ice is assessed in a survey of the recent literature. Theoretical or model‐based results are compared with existing evidence of ice‐atmosphere interactions over scales ranging from the local and regional to the hemispheric and global.

The evidence shows that sea‐ice fluctuations are meteorologically important locally, primarily through associations with air temperature. On the regional and hemispheric scales, atmospheric and sea‐ice fluctuations are correlated according to both observational evidence and model experiments. While the causal links have not been evaluated quantitatively, there is evidence that the stronger signal occurs in the response of the ice to the atmosphere. On the longer time‐scales, model experiments and qualitative arguments suggest that sea ice may play a major role in the climatic change. However, the results of large‐scale coupled model simulations contain deficiencies and must be viewed with caution pending more realistic treatments of sea‐ice dynamics, leads, ice thickness variations, and the areally‐integraled effects of the small‐scale features of sea ice.     

Secular Variability of the Coupled Tropospheric and Stratospheric Circulation in the GCM ECHAM 3/LSG

Summary  Secular or multi-decadal variability is a widely observed phenomenon, apparent in instrumental and paleo climatic records. These long time oscillations are found in many variables of the climate system. The ocean especially experiences low frequency variations. But also atmospheric variables such as temperature, wind velocity and sea level pressure can show secular variability. The low frequency variability here is examined in the coupled atmosphere-ocean model ECHAM3/LSG T21. A coupled stratospheric and tropospheric mode is detected oscillating with a period of approximately 100 years. The atmospheric pressure system mainly involved in this oscillation is the northern hemispheric winter stratospheric polar vortex. The near surface temperature experiences variations of the same magnitude as the observed temperature trends of the last decades. Multi decadal variability is also shown in the North Atlantic Oscillation Index. A shift of the length of the oscillation period between longer and shorter time scales indicates that chaotic processes might be responsible for the variability. Received February 22, 1999/Revised August 5, 1999     

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     

Climatic fluctuations on the century time scale: A review of high-resolution proxy data and possible mechanisms

We review the century time scale climatic variability that is observed in high-resolution proxy data records covering the past 10 000 yr. Cyclic variations with time scales ranging from 50 to 400 yr occur in oxygen isotope ratios derived from ice cores, tree-ring index series, pollen records and sea-ice extents. Century time scale cycles can also be identified in some biological and historical records and in long-term instrumental observations. In order to appreciate the century scale cycles in the context of climatic variability in general, a brief survey of all climatic time scales is presented.The traditional interpretation that decadal-to-century scale fluctuations in the climate system are externally forced, e.g. by variations in solar properties, is questioned. A different mechanism for these fluctuations is proposed on the basis of recent findings of numerical models of the ocean's thermohaline circulation. The results indicate that this oceanic circulation exhibits natural variability on the century time scale which produces oscillations in the ocean-to-atmosphere heat flux. Although global in extent, these fluctuations are largest in the Atlantic Ocean.     

热红外遥感反演地表温度研究现状

地球表面温度是一个重要的水文、气象参数,它影响着大气、海、陆之间的感热和潜热交换,是诸多研究领域不可或缺的基础资料,精确定量反演陆面温度的成果将推动旱灾预报和作物缺水研究、农作物产量估算、数值天气预报、全球气候变化和全球碳平衡等领域研究的进展。因此,利用卫星遥感资料进行地表温度的反演已成为目前遥感定量研究中的重要任务之一。本文阐述了遥感反演地表温度的原理及各种方法,对各种方法所要解决的关键问题及优缺点做了评述,最后展望了遥感反演地表温度的发展趋势。     

A conceptual framework for time and space scale interactions in the climate system

 Interactions involving various time and space scales, both within the tropics and between the tropics and midlatitudes, are ubiquitous in the climate system. We propose a conceptual framework for understanding such interactions whereby longer time scales and larger space scales set the base state for processes on shorter time scales and smaller space scales, which in turn have an influence back on the longer time scales and larger space scales in a continuum of process-related interactions. Though not intended to be comprehensive, we do cite examples from the literature to provide evidence for the validity of this framework. Decadal time scale base states of the coupled climate system set the context for the manifestation of interannual time scales (El Nino/Southern Oscillation, ENSO and tropospheric biennial oscillation, TBO) which are influenced by and interact with the annual cycle and seasonal time scales. Those base states in turn influence the large-scale coupled processes involved with intraseasonal and submonthly time scales, tied to interactions within the tropics and extratropics, and tropical–midlatitude teleconnections. All of these set the base state for processes on the synoptic and mesoscale and regional/local space scales. Events at those relatively short time scales and small space scales may then affect the longer time scale and larger space scale processes in turn, reaching back out to submonthly, intraseasonal, seasonal, annual, TBO, ENSO and decadal. Global coupled models can capture some elements of the decadal, ENSO, TBO, annual and seasonal time scales with the associated global space scales. However, coupled models are less successful at simulating phenomena at subseasonal and shorter time scales with hemispheric and smaller space scales. In the context of the proposed conceptual framework, the synergistic interactions of the time and space scales suggest that a high priority must be placed on improved simulations of all of the time and space scales in the climate system. This is particularly important for the subseasonal time scales and hemispheric and smaller space scales, which are not well simulated at present, to improve the prospects of successfully forecasting phenomena beyond the synoptic scales. Received: 3 April 2000/ Accepted: 6 November 2000     

利用MSU序列研究高空大气温度变化的进展

美国NOAA卫星上搭载的微波大气探测仪MSU以及后续继承改进仪器AMSU,自1978年投入运行以来,已经积累了超过30年的全球大气温度的观测资料。近年来,国外学者通过仪器定标误差订正、卫星轨道衰减订正、观测时间差异导致的温度日变化订正、仪器间的相互定标处理等技术,发现并剔除了一些影响较大的非气候因素,提高了该序列资料的质量,并用于全球气候变化研究,特别是对流层和平流层近30年的温度变化研究,研究结果是对常规地面和探空资料分析结果的重要补充。本文对目前国际上3种常用的MSU序列资料集的定标误差、偏差订正和不同卫星上仪器观测序列的一致化处理方法进行了综合介绍,并比较分析了3种资料用于30年高空大气温度变化趋势分析的异同。