Stern’s Review and Adam’s fallacy

The Stern Review has played an enormous role in making the world of business aware of the challenge of long-term climate change. In order to make real progress on the basis of this awareness, it is important to pay attention to the difference between human suffering and losses of gross domestic product (GDP). The Review has compared climate change to experiences of suffering like World War I. That war, however, hardly affected global GDP. The long-term damages to be expected from business-as-usual greenhouse gas emissions include loss of the coastal cities of the world over the next millennia. This would be an act of unprecedented barbarism, regardless of whether it would slow down economic growth or perhaps even accelerate it. Business leaders worried about climate change need to pay attention to the tensions between ethical and economic concerns. Otherwise, a credibility crisis threatens global climate policy. An important step to establish the credibility needed for effective climate policy will be to gradually move towards a regime where emission permits are auctioned, not handed out as hidden subsidies. The revenues generated by permit auctions should be used to establish a global system of regional climate funds.     

The development of children’s environmental attitude and behavior

Environmental attitude and behavior are at the roots of a sustainable future, yet little is known about their developmental origins in early childhood. This longitudinal study is the first to examine how children’s environmental attitude and behavior develop throughout childhood (ages 7 to 18, N = 118). Environmental attitude and behavior form around the age of 7, increase until the age of 10, level off until the age of 14, and then decline again. Environmental behavior develops from childhood to early adolescence and starts consolidating from age 10 onwards, whereas environmental attitude remains in flux at least through early adulthood.     

Numerical Simulation and Observational Analysis of the Bora of Pag’s Ribs

The severe bora case that lasted from 13 to 15 November 2004 has been selected for the analysis of the bora of Pag’s ribs, which occurs in the northern part of the eastern Adriatic coast over the Pag island area (Croatia). According to the measurements from automatic stations, the MM5 numerical model is successful in the 10-min mean wind speed prediction at 10-m height. The vertical analysis of the wind speed and potential temperature also gave satisfactory results. At the commencement of the bora the modelled wind had a magnitude of 20ms⁻¹ at 10-m height in the Pag island area, which sharply attenuated in the cross direction and to the open sea. In this way the model has proved successful in predicting the characteristics of the bora of Pag’s ribs. Potential vorticity (PV) at 600m has lower values within PV banners than during the developed bora. The consequence is a strong jet emanating from the nearest gap. The vertical cross-sections through the centre of the gap point out a permanent hydraulic-like flow. At the time of the bora of Pag’s ribs the highest modelled turbulent kinetic energy is found in the jump-like region above the inversion and within the boundary layer along the lower boundary, ranging from 6–8m² s⁻². It is concluded that the dissipation in the hydraulic jumps and the wave breaking regions are the reasons for PV generation.     

Thermodynamic consistency of Raoult’s Law and Henry’s Law approaches for multiphase organic aerosol partitioning

Partitioning of semivolatile organic compounds between gas, organic aerosol, and aqueous aerosol phases has been described in atmospheric models using Raoult’s Law and/or Henry’s Law, with activity coefficients accounting for nonideal behavior in the aerosol solutions. Raoult’s Law and Henry’s Law are thermodynamically consistent with each other as long as the parameters defining their different reference states are accurately known. Unfortunately, saturation vapor pressures, Henry’s law constants, and activity coefficients for organic aerosol compounds must typically be estimated. As a result, thermodynamic inconsistencies can arise when using Raoult’s and Henry’s Law approaches together due to errors in estimation methods. A test of predicted partitioning parameters for representative semivolatile organics suggests overall errors of at least an order of magnitude. Box model simulations with a simplified partitioning scenario demonstrate that these estimation errors can significantly alter partitioning for many compounds and, more importantly, that thermodynamic inconsistencies will lead to even greater errors than those due solely to uncertain parameters. To avoid these errors, a common reference state should be used to define equilibrium among all phases, improved estimation methods and measurements should continue to be pursued, and alternative reference states that better represent typical organic aerosol mixtures should be explored.     

Effect of Horizontal Nonuniformity of Diabatic Heating on Tropical Cyclone Intensity and Structure

1. IntroductionMuch attention has been paid to the role playedby diabatic heating in the genesis and intensificationof tropical cyclone (TC). Based on a two-dimensionalprimitive equation model, Li (1984) proposed that theevolution of TC should be different if the maximumheating appears at different height. Yang et al. (1995)found that abrupt intensification of TC at the mid-latitudes is closely related to the vertical structure ofconvective heating. May and Holland (1998) suggestedthat the…     

Vertical Structure of Beta Gyres and Its Effect on Tropical Cyclone Motion

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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.     

The Structure and Rainfall Features of Tropical Cyclone Rammasun （2002）

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) data [TRMM Microwave Imager/Precipitation Radar/Visible and Infrared Scanner (TMI/PR/VIRS)] and a numerical model are used to investigate the structure and rainfall features of Tropical Cyclone (TC) Rammasun (2002). Based on the analysisof TRMM data, which are diagnosed together with NCEP/AVN [Aviation (global model)] analysis data,some typical features of TC structure and rainfall are preliminary discovered. Since the limitations of TRMM data are considered for their time resolution and coverage, the world observed by TRMM at several moments cannot be taken as the representation of the whole period of the TC lifecycle, therefore the picture should be reproduced by a numerical model of high quality. To better understand the structure and rainfall features of TC Rammasun, a numerical simulation is carried out with mesoscale model MM5 in which the validations have been made with the data of TRMM and NCEP/AVN analysis.     

Atmospheric electricity and earth’s microseisms

Increase in the amplitudes of microseisms within the range from the tenths of hertz to 10 kHz leads to increase in the values of air polar conductivity and to decrease in atmospheric electric field. As the frequency of microseisms decreases, the efficiency of microseismic impact increases. In case of low amplitudes of microseisms, decrease in atmospheric electric field is observed only as a result of multimonth active impact on the geologic environment.     

California’s local health agencies and the state’s climate adaptation strategy

A changing climate will exacerbate many of the problems currently faced by California’s public health institutions. The public health impacts of climate change include: an increase in extreme heat events and associated increases in heat-related morbidity and mortality, increases in the frequency and severity of air pollution episodes, shifts in the range and incidence of vector-borne diseases, increases in the severity of wildfire, increased risks of drought and flooding, and other extreme events. This article assesses the readiness of California’s public health institutions to cope with the changes that will accompany a changing climate and how they relate to strategies laid out in the state’s Climate Adaptation Strategy. County-level health offices are the front line actors to preserve public health in the face of numerous threats, including climate change. Survey results show that local health officers in California believe that climate change is a serious threat to public health, but feel that they lack the funding and resources to reduce this risk. Local health agencies also have a number of tools in place that will be helpful for preparing for a changing climate.     

The Role of β-effect and a Uniform Current on Tropical Cyclone Intensity

A limited-area primitive equation model is used to study the role of the β-effect and a uniform current on tropical cyclone (TC) intensity.It is found that TC intensity is reduced in a non-quiescent environment compared with the case of no uniform current.On an f-plane,the rate of intensification of a tropical cyclone is larger than that of the uniform flow.A TC on a β-plane intensifies slower than one on an f-plane.The main physical characteristic that distinguishes the experiments is the asymmetric thermodynamic (including convective) and dynamic structures present when either a uniform flow or β-effect is introduced.But a fairly symmetric TC structure is simulated on an f-plane.The magnitude of the warm core and the associated subsidence are found to be responsible for such simulated intensity changes.On an f-plane,the convection tends to be symmetric,which results in strong upper-level convergence near the center and hence strong forced subsidence and a very warm core.On the other hand,horizontal advection of temperature cancels part of the adiabatic heating and results in less warming of the core,and hence the TC is not as intense.This advective process is due to the tilt of the vortex as a result of the β-effect.A similar situation occurs in the presence of a uniform flow.Thus,the asymmetric horizontal advection of temperature plays an important role in the temperature distribution.Dynamically,the asymmetric angular momentum (AM) flux is very small on an f-plane throughout the troposphere.However,the total AM exports at the upper levels for a TC either on aβ-plane or with a uniform flow environment are larger because of an increase of the asymmetric as well as symmetric AM export on the plane at radii ＞450 km,and hence there is a lesser intensification.     

Comparison of Three Tropical Cyclone Intensity Datasets

Analyzed in this paper are the 16-yr (1988-2003) tropical cyclone (TC) intensity data from three major forecast centers of the western North Pacific, i.e., China Meteorological Administration (CMA), Regional Specialized Meteorological Center Tokyo (RSMC Tokyo), and Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) of the United States. Results show that there are significant discrepancies (at 1% significance level) in the intensity of TCs among the three centers, with a maximum difference for the same TC over 30 m s-1. The flight reconnaissance over TC can minish the discrepancy to some extent. A climatic and persistent prediction model is set up to study the impact of initial data from different forecast centers on the prediction of TC intensity. It is obtained that the root mean square error (RMSE) of a 4-yr independent test is the largest using data from JTWC, while the smallest using data from RSMC Tokyo. Average absolute deviation in 24-h intensity prediction is 2.5 m s-1 between CMA and RSMC Tokyo data, and 4.0 m s-1 between CMA and JTWC data, with a maximum deviation reaching 21 m s-1. Such a problem in the initial value increases the difficulty in intensity prediction of TCs over the western North Pacific.     

Sensitivities of Numerical Model Forecasts of Extreme Cyclone Events

A global forecast model is used to examine various sensitivities of numerical predictions of three extreme winter storms that occurred near the eastern continental margin of North America: the Ohio Valley blizzard of January 1978, the New England blizzard of February 1978, and the Mid-Atlantic cyclone of February 1979. While medium-resolution simulations capture much of the intensification, the forecasts of the precise timing and intensity levels suffer from various degrees of error. The coastal cyclones show a 5-10 hPa dependence on the western North Atlantic sea surface temperature, which is varied within a range (± 2.5℃) compatible with interannual fluctuations. The associated vertical velocities and precipitation rates show proportionately stronger dependences on the ocean temperature perturbations. The Ohio Valley blizzard, which intensified along a track 700-800 km from the coast, shows little sensitivity to ocean temperature. The effect of a shift of - 10?latitude in the position of the snow bo     

The Role of β-effect and a Uniform Current on Tropical Cyclone Intensity

A limited-area primitive equation model is used to study the role of the β-effect and a uniform current on tropical cyclone (TC) intensity.It is found that TC intensity is reduced in a non-quiescent environment compared with the case of no uniform current.On an f-plane,the rate of intensification of a tropical cyclone is larger than that of the uniform flow.A TC on a β-plane intensifies slower than one on an f-plane.The main physical characteristic that distinguishes the experiments is the asymmetric thermodynamic (including convective) and dynamic structures present when either a uniform flow or β-effect is introduced.But a fairly symmetric TC structure is simulated on an f-plane.The magnitude of the warm core and the associated subsidence are found to be responsible for such simulated intensity changes.On an f-plane,the convection tends to be symmetric,which results in strong upper-level convergence near the center and hence strong forced subsidence and a very warm core.On the other hand,horizontal advection of temperature cancels part of the adiabatic heating and results in less warming of the core,and hence the TC is not as intense.This advective process is due to the tilt of the vortex as a result of the β-effect.A similar situation occurs in the presence of a uniform flow.Thus,the asymmetric horizontal advection of temperature plays an important role in the temperature distribution.Dynamically,the asymmetric angular momentum (AM) flux is very small on an f-plane throughout the troposphere.However,the total AM exports at the upper levels for a TC either on aβ-plane or with a uniform flow environment are larger because of an increase of the asymmetric as well as symmetric AM export on the plane at radii ＞450 km,and hence there is a lesser intensification.     

A Diagnostic Study of Explosive Development of Extratropical Cyclone over East Asia and West Pacific Ocean

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Past and future carbon sequestration benefits of China’s grain for green program

Carbon sequestration through ecological restoration programs is an increasingly important option to reduce the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. China’s Grain for Green Program (GGP) is likely the largest centrally organized land-use change program in human history and yet its carbon sequestration benefit has yet to be systematically assessed. Here we used seven empirical/statistical equations of forest biomass carbon sequestration and five soil carbon change models to estimate the total and decadal carbon sequestration potentials of the GGP during 1999–2050, including changes in four carbon pools: aboveground biomass, roots, forest floor and soil organic carbon. The results showed that the total carbon stock in the GGP-affected areas was 682 Tg C in 2010 and the accumulative carbon sink estimates induced by the GGP would be 1697, 2635, 3438 and 4115 Tg C for 2020, 2030, 2040 and 2050, respectively. Overall, the carbon sequestration capacity of the GGP can offset about 3%–5% of China’s annual carbon emissions (calculated using 2010 emissions) and about 1% of the global carbon emissions. Afforestation by the GGP contributed about 25% of biomass carbon sinks in global carbon sequestration in 2000–2010. The results suggest that large-scale ecological restoration programs such as afforestation and reforestation could help to enhance global carbon sinks, which may shed new light on the carbon sequestration benefits of such programs in China and also in other regions.     

Stable and Unstable Eigensolutions of Laplace’s Tidal Equations for Zonal Wavenumber Zero

Laplace's tidal equations are of great importance in various fields of geophysics. Here, the special case of zonal symmetry (zonal wavenumber m = 0) is investigated, where degenerate sets of eigensolutions appear. New results are presented for the inclusion of dissipative processes and the case of unstable conditions. In both instances the (nonzero) eigenfrequencies are complex. In the latter case, additional stable (i.e. real) eigenfrequencies appear in the numerical results for the absolute value of the Lambparameter ε being larger than a critical value εc. Further, it is shown that any degeneracies are removed through the inclusion of dissipation. Moreover, asymptotic relations are derived employing the relation of Laplace's tidal equations for m = 0 to the spheroidal differential equation. The implications of these findings to numerical techniques are demonstrated and results of computations are presented.     

Trends of the EU’s territorial and consumption-based emissions from 1990 to 2016

In this paper, a model for the distribution of the Global Carbon Budget between the countries of the world is presented. The model is based on the criteria of equity while also taking into account the different historical responsibilities. The Global Carbon Budget corresponds to the quantity of carbon dioxide emissions that can still be released into the atmosphere while maintaining the increase in the average earth surface temperature below 2 °C, and it is therefore compatible with the long-term objective defined in the Paris Agreement. The results of applying the model are shown both for the 15 emitters that currently top the ranking for world emissions as well as for the other countries, which are grouped together in three main groups: Other African, Other Latin American and Caribbean, and the Rest of the World. Mitigation curves compatible with the carbon budget allocated to the different countries are presented. When comparing each emitter’s historical emissions for the period 1971–2010 with the proposed distribution for the period 2011–2050 obtained using the model, it can be seen that developed countries must face the future with a greatly reduced carbon budget, whereas developing countries can make use of a carbon budget that is higher than their cumulative historical emissions. Finally, there is a discussion about how a model with these characteristics could be useful when implementing the Paris Agreement.     

Implications of Japan’s long term climate mitigation target and the relevance of uncertain nuclear policy

Achieving long-term climate mitigation goals in Japan faces several challenges, starting with the uncertain nuclear power policy after the 2011 earthquake, the uncertain availability and progress of energy technologies, as well as energy security concerns in light of a high dependency on fuel imports. The combined weight of these challenges needs to be clarified in terms of the energy system and macroeconomic impacts. We applied a general equilibrium energy economic model to assess these impacts on an 80% emission reduction target by 2050 considering several alternative scenarios for nuclear power deployment, technology availability, end use energy efficiency, and the price of fossil fuels. We found that achieving the mitigation target was feasible for all scenarios, with considerable reductions in total energy consumption (39%–50%), higher shares of low-carbon sources (43%–72% compared to 15%), and larger shares of electricity in the final energy supply (51%–58% compared to 42%). The economic impacts of limiting nuclear power by 2050 (3.5% GDP loss) were small compared to the lack of carbon capture and storage (CCS) (6.4% GDP loss). Mitigation scenarios led to an improvement in energy security indicators (trade dependency and diversity of primary energy sources) even in the absence of nuclear power. Moreover, preliminary analysis indicates that expanding the range of renewable energy resources can lower the macroeconomic impacts of the long term target considerably, and thus further in depth analysis is needed on this aspect.

Key policy insights

• For Japan, an emissions reduction target of 80% by 2050 is feasible without nuclear power or CCS.

• The macroeconomic impact of such a 2050 target was largest without CCS, and smallest without nuclear power.

• Energy security indicators improved in mitigation scenarios compared to the baseline.