Climate dynamics of glaciers of the Greater Caucasus for the 20th century

The dynamics of frequency of warm and cold months for warm and cold periods of the year on the whole as well as for the ablation period is studied for glaciers of the Greater Caucasus based on the analysis of maps on anomalies of monthly mean air temperatures for the 1901–2000 period. A relation between the change in frequency of temperature anomalies and the glaciation area is established.     

Evidence of climate change impact upon glaciers’ recession within the Italian Alps

We present evidence of climate change impact upon recent changes of glaciers within Lombardy region, in Northern Italy. We illustrate the recent area evolution of a set of 249 glaciers in the area using three surface area records for 1991, 1999 and 2003. The 1999 and 2003 surface area data are processed by combining glacier limits manually digitized upon registered color orthophotos and differential GPS (DGPS) glaciers’ surveys. Glaciers’ area was 117.4?km² in 1991, 104.7?km² in 1999, and to 92.4?km² 2003, with a 21% reduction. Glaciers smaller than 1?km² accounted for 53% of the total loss in area (13.1?km² during 1991–2003). The area change rate was higher lately, with ca. 11.7 % reduction during 1999–2003. We split Alps and fore Alps of Lombardy into six mountain groups, and we separately investigate relative area variations. We use climate series from local stations within each group to assess climate change during a 30-year window (1976–2005). We focus upon temperature and snow cover depth at thaw, known to impact glaciers’ changes. We compare local year-round temperature anomalies against global ones to evidence enhanced warming within this area, and we investigate the correlation of our target climate variables against NAO. Eventually, we highlight the link between the rate of change of our climate variables to the observed scaling of area loss against glaciers’ size, showing that in rapidly warming areas glaciers’ size affects less relative melting.     

The regional nature of global challenges: a need and strategy for integrated regional modeling

Glaciers of the conterminous United States have been receding for the past century. Since 1900 the recession has varied from a 24 % loss in area (Mt. Rainier, Washington) to a 66 % loss in the Lewis Range of Montana. The rates of retreat are generally similar with a rapid loss in the early decades of the 20th century, slowing in the 1950s–1970s, and a resumption of rapid retreat starting in the 1990s. Decadal estimates of changes in glacier area for a subset of 31 glaciers from 1900 to 2000 are used to test a snow water equivalent model that is subsequently employed to examine the effects of temperature and precipitation variability on annual glacier area changes for these glaciers. Model results indicate that both winter precipitation and winter temperature have been important climatic factors affecting the variability of glacier variability during the 20th Century. Most of the glaciers analyzed appear to be more sensitive to temperature variability than to precipitation variability. However, precipitation variability is important, especially for high elevation glaciers. Additionally, glaciers with areas greater than 1 km² are highly sensitive to variability in temperature.     

Variations in hydrological parameters of the Zeravshan River and its tributaries depending on meteorological conditions

According to the data of the Agency for Hydrometeorology of the Republic of Tajikistan, the volume of the Zeravshan glacier significantly reduced in 1927–1991 (by more than 2 km³), and its further degradation by 30–35% is expected by 2050. To monitor the meteorological conditions in the Zeravshan River basin, in particular, the area of the Zeravshan glacier, air temperature variations in 1931–1961 and 1981–2011 are analyzed. It was found that the period of 1931–1961 is characterized by stable air temperature and its significant rise began in 1981. The trend towards the decrease in water discharge of the Zeravshan River is observed in 1931–1961. It is demonstrated that the average long-term runoff decreased from 6.08 km³ in 1931–1961 to 5.36 km³ in 1981–2011. The similar measurements were carried out in the basin of the Yaghnob River being the tributary of the Zeravshan River. It was revealed that the difference in average long-term runoff between the periods of 1931–1961 and 1981–2011 is insignificant and makes up not more than 2%. Besides, it was found that the results of meteorological observations in 1931-1961 do not agree with the real picture of the Zeravshan glacier degradation.     

21st century climate change in the Middle East

This study examined the performance and future predictions for the Middle East produced by 18 global climate models participating in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report. Under the Special Report on Emission Scenarios A2 emissions scenario the models predict an overall temperature increase of ~1.4 K by mid-century, increasing to almost 4 K by late-century for the Middle East. In terms of precipitation the southernmost portion of the domain experiences a small increase in precipitation due to the Northward movement of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone. The largest change however is a decrease in precipitation that occurs in an area covering the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey, Syria, Northern Iraq, Northeastern Iran and the Caucasus caused by a decrease in storm track activity over the Eastern Mediterranean. Other changes likely to impact the region include a decrease of over 170,000 km² in viable rainfed agriculture land by late-century, increases in the length of the dry season that reduces the length of time that the rangelands can be grazed, and changes in the timing of the maximum precipitation in Northern Iran that will impact the growing season, forcing changes in cropping strategy or even crop types.     

Climate-model induced differences in the 21st century global and regional glacier contributions to sea-level rise

The large uncertainty in future global glacier volume projections partly results from a substantial range in future climate conditions projected by global climate models. This study addresses the effect of global and regional differences in climate input data on the projected twenty-first century glacier contribution to sea-level rise. Glacier volume changes are calculated with a surface mass balance model combined with volume-area scaling, applied to 89 glaciers in different climatic regions. The mass balance model is based on a simplified energy balance approach, with separated contributions by net solar radiation and the combined other fluxes. Future mass balance is calculated from anomalies in air temperature, precipitation and atmospheric transmissivity, taken from eight global climate models forced with the A1B emission scenario. Regional and global sea-level contributions are obtained by scaling the volume changes at the modelled glaciers to all glaciers larger than 0.1 km² outside the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. This results in a global value of 0.102 ± 0.028 m (multi-model mean and standard deviation) relative sea-level equivalent for the period 2012–2099, corresponding to 18 ± 5 % of the estimated total volume of glaciers. Glaciers in the Antarctic, Alaska, Central Asia and Greenland together account for 65 ± 4 % of the total multi-model mean projected sea-level rise. The projected sea-level contribution is 35 ± 17 % larger when only anomalies in air temperature are taken into account, demonstrating an important compensating effect by increased precipitation and possibly reduced atmospheric transmissivity. The variability in projected precipitation and atmospheric transmissivity changes is especially large in the Arctic regions, making the sea-level contribution for these regions particularly sensitive to the climate model used. Including additional uncertainties in the modelling procedure and the input data, the total uncertainty estimate for the future projections becomes ±0.063 m.     

Long-term changes of water balance components in the basins of rivers fed by snow and ice

The variability of the main components of the annual water balance (precipitation, evaporation, glacial alimentation, and dynamic water reserves in the basin) for 1935–1990 is, for the first time, determined for the area where the Zeravshan runoff is formed, higher than hydrological post Dupuli is located. Long-term data on the annual Zeravshan River runoff from an area of 10 200 km² were derived from the measurements at Dupuli hydrological post. The other water balance components were determined with the help of computation methods. Comparison of the measured and calculated volumes of the annual runoff demonstrated that a relative difference between them is systematic, and as a whole for a computation period it is in the interval from ?0.31 to ?4.78%. The annual balance of accumulation and thawing of solid precipitation on glaciers and in the extraglacial area is also determined in the Zeravshan River basin. A new method for computing and mapping spatial variability of the maximum snowline altitude is developed.     

Impact of climate changes over the extratropical land on permafrost dynamics under RCP scenarios in the 21st century as simulated by the IAP RAS climate model

Estimates of possible climate changes and cryolithozone dynamics in the 21st century over the Northern Hemisphere land are obtained using the IAP RAS global climate model under the RCP scenarios. Annual mean warming over the northern extratropical land during the 21st century amounts to 1.2–5.3°C depending on the scenario. The area of the snow cover in February amounting currently to 46 million km² decreases to 33–42 million km² in the late 21st century. According to model estimates, the near-surface permafrost in the late 21st century persists in northern regions of West Siberia, in Transbaikalia, and Tibet even under the most aggressive RCP 8.5 scenario; under more moderate scenarios (RCP 6.0, RCP 4.5, and RCP 2.6), it remains in East Siberia and in some high-latitude regions of North America. The total near-surface permafrost area in the Northern Hemisphere in the current century decreases by 5.3–12.8 million km² depending on the scenario. The soil subsidence due to permafrost thawing in Central Siberia, Cisbaikalia, and North America can reach 0.5–0.8 m by the late 21st century.     

Climate change impacts on forest fire potential in boreal conditions in Finland

The aim of this work was to study the forest fire potential and frequency of forest fires under the projected climate change in Finland (N 60°–N 70°). Forest fire index, generally utilized in Finland, was used as an indicator for forest fire potential due to climatological parameters. Climatic scenarios were based on the A2 emission scenario. According to the results, the forest fire potential will have increased by the end of this century; as a result of increased evaporative demand, which will increase more than the rise in precipitation and especially in southern Finland. The annual number of forest fire alarm days is expected to increase in southern Finland to 96–160 days by the end of this century, compared to the current 60–100 days. In the north, the corresponding increase was from 30 to 36 days. The expected increase in the annual frequency of forest fires over the whole country was about 20% by the end of this century compared to the present day. The greatest increase in the frequency of fires, per 1,000 km², was in the southernmost part of the country, with six to nine fires expected annually per 1,000 km² at the end of this century, meaning a 24–29% increase compared to the present day frequencies.     

Maximum Wind Speed Changes over China

In this study,the maximum wind speed（WSmax） changes across China from 1956 to 2004 were analyzed based on observed station data,and the changes of WS max for 2046-2065 and 2080-2099 are projected using three global climate models（GFDL_CM2₀,CCCMA_CGCM3,and MRI_CGCM2） that have participated in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report（AR4）.The observed annual and seasonal WS max and the frequency of gale days showed obvious declining trends.The annual WS max decreased by approximately 1.46 m s-1 per decade,and the number of gale days decreased by 3.0 days per decade from 1956 to 2004.The amplitudes of the annual and seasonal WS max decreases are larger than those of the annual and seasonal average wind speeds（WSavg）.The weakening of the East Asian winter and summer monsoons is the cause for the distinct decreases of both WS max and WS avg over the whole China.The decrease of WS max in the southeast coastal areas of China is related to the reduced intensity of cold waves in China and the decreasing number（and decreasing intensity） of land-falling typhoons originated in the Northwest Pacific Ocean.The global climate models GFDL_CM2₀,MRI_CGCM2,and EBGCM（the ensemble of above mentioned three global climate models） consistently suggest that the annual and seasonal WS max values will decrease during 2046-2065 and 2080-2099 relative to 1981-2000.The models also suggest that decreases in WS max for whole China during 2046-2065 and 2080-2099 are related to both the reduced intensity of cold waves and the reduced intensity of the winter monsoon,and the decrease in WS max in the southeast coastal areas of China is corresponding to the decreasing number of tropical cyclones over the Northwest Pacific Ocean in the summer during the same periods.     

Tracing glacier wastage in the Northern Tien Shan (Kyrgyzstan/Central Asia) over the last 40 years

The status and dynamics of glaciers are crucial for agriculture in semiarid parts of Central Asia, since river flow is characterized by major runoff in spring and summer, supplied by glacier- and snowmelt. Ideally, this coincides with the critical period of water demand for irrigation. The present study shows a clear trend in glacier retreat between 1963 and 2000 in the Sokoluk watershed, a catchment of the Northern Tien Shan mountain range in Kyrgyzstan. The overall area loss of 28% observed for the period 1963–2000, and a clear acceleration of wastage since the 1980s, correlate with the results of previous studies in other regions of the Tien Shan as well as the Alps. In particular, glaciers smaller than 0.5 km² have exhibited this phenomenon most starkly. While they registered a medium decrease of only 9.1% for 1963–1986, they lost 41.5% of their surface area between 1986 and 2000. Furthermore, a general increase in the minimum glacier elevation of 78 m has been observed over the last three decades. This corresponds to about one-third of the entire retreat of the minimum glacier elevation in the Northern Tien Shan since the Little Ice Age maximum.     

未来气候变化对东北玉米品种布局的影响

为探求未来气候变化对我国东北玉米品种布局的影响,基于玉米生产潜力和气候资源利用率,结合区域气候模式输出的2011—2099年RCP_4.5,RCP_8.5两种气候背景气象资料和1961—2010年我国东北地区91个气象站的观测数据,分析了未来气候变化情况下,东北玉米品种布局、生产潜力、气候资源利用率的时空变化。结果表明:未来东北地区玉米可种植边界北移东扩,南部为晚熟品种,新扩展区域以早熟品种为主,不能种植区域减少。未来玉米生产潜力为南高北低,增加速率均高于历史情景,水分适宜度最低,而历史情景下温度是胁迫玉米生产的关键因子。未来东北玉米对气候资源利用率整体下降,其中RCP8.5情景利用率最低。     

未来气候变化情景下长江上游年径流量变化趋势研究

依据政府间气候变化委员会(IPCC)第五次评估报告(AR5)未来不同排放情景(RCPs)下的多模式(CMIP5)气温和降水预估结果,构建基于气温和降水的未来径流量预估模型,并以宜昌站为例分析了不同模式不同排放情景下未来80年(2020～2099年)长江上游年径流量的变化趋势。多模式集合平均预估结果表明:在99%的置信水平下,未来80年长江上游年径流量在RCP2.6排放情景下呈不显著增加趋势,在RCP4.5排放情景下呈不显著减小趋势,而在RCP8.5排放情景下则呈显著减小趋势;在RCP2.6、RCP4.5和RCP8.5排放情景下未来80年长江上游年径流量预估均值相对于1961～2000年分别减少6.42%、10.99%和13.25%;同时,未来80年长江上游年径流量变化具有一定的年代际特征,在RCP2.6和RCP4.5排放情景下21世纪初期偏多、中期偏少而后期变化并不明显,在RCP8.5排放情景下则是21世纪中期以前偏多而中期以后明显偏少。本研究方法可为未来气候变化情景预估分析提供技术参考,本研究成果可供气候变化背景下长江上游乃至长江流域水资源开发利用及对策分析提供决策依据。      

Projected Changes in Surface Air Temperature and Surface Wind in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Abstract

The impacts of climate change on surface air temperature (SAT) and winds in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) are investigated by performing simulations from 1970 to 2099 with the Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM), driven by a five-member ensemble. Three members are from Canadian Global Climate Model (CGCM3) simulations following scenario A1B from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); one member is from the Community Climate System Model, version 3 (CCSM3) simulation, also following the A1B scenario; and one member is from the CCSM4 (version 4) simulation following the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP8.5) scenario. Compared with North America Regional Reanalysis (NARR) data, it is shown that CRCM can reproduce the observed SAT spatial patterns; for example, both CRCM simulations and NARR data show a warm SAT tongue along the eastern Gulf; CRCM simulations also capture the dominant northwesterly winds in January and the southwesterly winds in July. In terms of future climate scenarios, the spatial patterns of SAT show plausible seasonal variations. In January, the warming is 3°–3.5°C in the northern Gulf and 2.5°–3°C near Cabot Strait during 2040–2069, whereas the warming is more uniform during 2070–2099, with SAT increases of 4°–5°C. In summer, the warming gradually decreases from the western side of the GSL to the eastern side because of the different heat capacities between land and water. Moreover, the January winds increase by 0.2–0.4?m?s^?1 during 2040–2069, related to weakening stability in the atmospheric planetary boundary layer. However, during 2070–2099, the winds decrease by 0.2–0.4?m?s^?1 over the western Gulf, reflecting the northeastward shift in northwest Atlantic storm tracks. In July, enhanced baroclinicity along the east coast of North America dominates the wind changes, with increases of 0.2–0.4?m?s^?1. On average, the variance for the SAT changes is about 10% of the SAT increase, and the variance for projected wind changes is the same magnitude as the projected changes, suggesting uncertainty in the latter.     

Land-cover change in the conterminous United States from 1973 to 2000

Land-cover change in the conterminous United States was quantified by interpreting change from satellite imagery for a sample stratified by 84 ecoregions. Gross and net changes between 11 land-cover classes were estimated for 5 dates of Landsat imagery (1973, 1980, 1986, 1992, and 2000). An estimated 673,000 km²(8.6%) of the United States’ land area experienced a change in land cover at least one time during the study period. Forest cover experienced the largest net decline of any class with 97,000 km² lost between 1973 and 2000. The large decline in forest cover was prominent in the two regions with the highest percent of overall change, the Marine West Coast Forests (24.5% of the region experienced a change in at least one time period) and the Eastern Temperate Forests (11.4% of the region with at least one change). Agriculture declined by approximately 90,000 km² with the largest annual net loss of 12,000 km² yr^?1 occurring between 1986 and 1992. Developed area increased by 33% and with the rate of conversion to developed accelerating rate over time. The time interval with the highest annual rate of change of 47,000 km² yr^?1 (0.6% per year) was 1986–1992. This national synthesis documents a spatially and temporally dynamic era of land change between 1973 and 2000. These results quantify land change based on a nationally consistent monitoring protocol and contribute fundamental estimates critical to developing understanding of the causes and consequences of land change in the conterminous United States.     

Regional and global projections of twenty-first century glacier mass changes in response to climate scenarios from global climate models

A large component of present-day sea-level rise is due to the melt of glaciers other than the ice sheets. Recent projections of their contribution to global sea-level rise for the twenty-first century range between 70 and 180 mm, but bear significant uncertainty due to poor glacier inventory and lack of hypsometric data. Here, we aim to update the projections and improve quantification of their uncertainties by using a recently released global inventory containing outlines of almost every glacier in the world. We model volume change for each glacier in response to transient spatially-differentiated temperature and precipitation projections from 14 global climate models with two emission scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) prepared for the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The multi-model mean suggests sea-level rise of 155 ± 41 mm (RCP4.5) and 216 ± 44 mm (RCP8.5) over the period 2006–2100, reducing the current global glacier volume by 29 or 41 %. The largest contributors to projected global volume loss are the glaciers in the Canadian and Russian Arctic, Alaska, and glaciers peripheral to the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. Although small contributors to global volume loss, glaciers in Central Europe, low-latitude South America, Caucasus, North Asia, and Western Canada and US are projected to lose more than 80 % of their volume by 2100. However, large uncertainties in the projections remain due to the choice of global climate model and emission scenario. With a series of sensitivity tests we quantify additional uncertainties due to the calibration of our model with sparsely observed glacier mass changes. This gives an upper bound for the uncertainty range of ±84 mm sea-level rise by 2100 for each projection.     

Linking two centuries of tree growth and glacier dynamics with climate changes in Kamchatka

Glaciers around the world retreated as the climate warmed substantially. For the majority of alpine and arctic areas, however, the lack of meteorological data over a long period makes it difficult to build long-term climate and glacial fluctuation relationships, emphasizing the importance of natural proxy archives. Here we use the 230-year record of stem radial growth of birch trees (Betula ermanii) from the treeline forests above the receding glaciers in eastern maritime Kamchatka to analyse temporal variations of climate as well as glacial advance and retreat. Glaciers in Kamchatka Peninsula represent the southern limit of glaciation in far eastern Eurasia, which makes them prone to global warming. Using instrumental climate data (1930–1996) from local meteorological stations, we find that the July temperature had most prominent positive impact on birch growth. On the contrary, smaller ring increments are associated with the positive summer and net annual ice mass balance of Koryto Glacier. The prevailing trend of higher summer temperatures and lower snowfall over the past 70 years has enhanced tree growth while causing the glacier’s surface to lower by about 35 m and its front to retreat by about 490 m. Assuming these same relationships between climate, tree growth, and glacier mass balance also existed in the past, we use tree rings as a proxy record of climatically induced temporary halts in the glacier’s retreat over the past two centuries, which in total was over 1,000 m. Both direct observations and tree ring proxies indicate several prolonged warm periods (1990s, 1960s, 1930–1940s, 1880–1900s) interspersed with cooler periods (1984–1985, 1970–1976, 1953–1957, 1912–1926, 1855–1875, 1830–1845, 1805–1820 and 1770–1780) when the glacier re-advanced, creating several consecutive terminal moraine ridges. We conclude that birch tree-rings are suitable for assessing tree growth/climate/glacial relationships over a longer timescale in maritime Kamchatka.     

西藏年楚河流域冰川及冰川湖变化特征及其对气候变化的响应

本文采用landsat陆地资源卫星数据和中国科学院寒区旱区环境与工程研究所冰川矢量编目数据和气象观测数据为数据源,利用GIS空间分析方法和气候统计方法,提取并分析了1987～2014年西藏年楚河流域冰川及冰川湖变化特征。结果表明:1987年年楚河流域内共有冰川82条,1987～2014年冰川总面积呈减少趋势,冰川面积减小18.386km2(8.34%),变化率为-5.23km2/10a;1987年流域内面积大于0.2km2的冰湖共有8个,1987～2014年,冰湖总面积呈增加趋势,冰湖面积增加1.489km2(7.06%),变化率为0.323km2/10a;年楚河流域年降水量变化不明显,年平均气温整体呈上升趋势(0.28℃/10a)。降水对冰川和冰湖变化影响较小,温度的持续升高是冰川和冰湖变化的主要因素。      

Daily rainfall trend in the Valencia Region of Spain

Summary ?We have analyzed daily rainfall trends throughout the second half of the 20^th century in the western Mediterranean basin (Valencia Region, E of Spain). The area is characterized by high torrentiality, and during the second half of the 20^th century some of the highest daily rainfall values in the Mediterranean basin have been recorded. In this area, mean annual rainfall varies between 500 and 300 mm and is overwhelmingly dependent on just a few days of rain. Daily maximum rainfall varies on average from 120 mm day⁻¹ to 50 mm day⁻¹, and represents a mean of 17% (coastland) to 9% (inland) of annual rainfall. The 10 days in each year with the heaviest rainfall (called “higher events”) provide over 50% of the annual rainfall and can reach more than 400 mm on average. We compared the annual rainfall trend and the trend of higher and minor events defined by percentiles, both in volume and variability. We, therefore, tested whether annual rainfall changes depend on the trend of the higher (rainfall) events. To overlap spatial distribution of trends (i.e.: positive, no significant and negative trends) we have used cross-tab analysis. The results confirm the hypothesis that annual rainfall changes depend on changes found in just a few rainy events. Furthermore, in spite of their negative trend, higher events have increased their contribution to annual rainfall. As a consequence, although torrential events may have diminished in magnitude, future scenarios seem to be controlled by a limited number of rainy events which will become more and more variable year on year. The high spatial density of data used in this work, (97 observatories per 24.000 km², overall mean 1 observatory per 200 km²), suggests to us that extreme caution should be applied when analyzing regional and sub-regional changes in rainfall using GCM output, especially in areas of high torrentiality. Received August 1, 2002; revised November 11, 2002; accepted December 1, 2002 Published online May 19, 2003     

A projection of extreme climate events in the 21st century over east Asia using the community climate system model 3

A series of coupled atmosphere-ocean-land global climate model (GCM) simulations using the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Climate System Model 3 (CCSM3) has been performed for the period 1870–2099 at a T85 horizontal resolution following the GCM experimental design suggested in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). First, a hindcast was performed using the atmospheric concentrations of three greenhouse gases (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O) specified annually and globally on the basis of observations for the period 1870–1999. The hindcast results were compared with observations to evaluate the GCM’s reliability in future climate simulations. Second, climate projections for a 100-year period (2000–2099) were made using six scenarios of the atmospheric concentrations of the three greenhouse gases according to the A1FI, A1T, A1B, A2, B1, and B2 emission profiles of the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios. The present CCSM simulations are found to be consistent with IPCC’s AR4 results in the temporal and spatial distributions for both the present-day and future periods. The GCM results were used to examine the changes in extreme temperatures and precipitation in East Asia and Korea. The extreme temperatures were categorized into warm and cold events: the former includes tropical nights, warm days, and heat waves during summer (June–July–August) and the latter includes frost days, cold days, and cold surges during winter (December–January–February). Focusing on Korea, the results predict more frequent heat waves in response to future emissions: the projected percentage changes between the present day and the late 2090s range from 294% to 583% depending on the emission scenario. The projected global warming is predicted to decrease the frequency of cold extreme events; however, the projected changes in cold surge frequency are not statistically significant. Whereas the number of cold surges in the A1FI emission profile decreases from the present-day value by up to 24%, the decrease in the B1 scenario is less than 1%. The frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation events year-round were examined. Both the frequency and the intensity of these events are predicted to increase in the region around Korea. The present results will be helpful for establishing an adaptation strategy for possible climate change nationwide, especially extreme climate events, associated with global warming.