A Review of Research on Human Activity Induced Climate ChangeⅠ. Greenhouse Gases and Aerosols

Extensive research on the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases, carbon cycle modeling, and the characterization of atmospheric aerosols has been carried out in China during the last 10 years or so. This paper presents the major achievements in the fields of emissions of greenhouse gases from agricultural lands, carbon cycle modeling, the characterization of Asian mineral dust, source identification of the precursors of the tropospheric ozone, and observations of the concentrations of atmospheric organic compounds. Special, more detailed Information on the emissions of methane from rice fields and the physical and chemical characteristics of mineral aerosols are presented.     

Spatial / Temporal Features of Antarctic Climate Change

Bused on January 1962-October 1993 mean value series of monthly mean temperature anomalies of 16 Antarctic stations on 10 standard isobanc surfaces from the surface to the 30 hPa,long term trends and periodic features of climate changes from the troposphere to the lower stratosphere over the Antarctic region are investigated by maximum entropy power spectrum analysis,and the relation between climate change of the stratosphere (troposphere) and tolal ozone (southern 500 hPa circulation) is discussed.     

Simulated Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Climate Change in China during the Han Dynasty(1–200 A.D.)

In this study,a 2000-year simulation forced by transient,external forcings is carried out with the Community Earth System Model.The authors investigate the spatiotemporal features of climate change in the Han Dynasty(1–200 A.D.)using the empirical orthogonal function(EOF)method.The leading EOF mode of the annua mean temperature anomalies shows a uniform variation of temperature over the whole of China,while the second EOF mode indicates opposite variations of temperature between western and eastern China.For the annual mean precipitation anomalies,the first EOF mode indicates a meridional dipole pattern over eastern China,with increased(decreased)precipitation to the south of the Yangtze River and decreased(increased)precipitation to the north.The leading mode of the 850 h Pa winds and sea level pressure in summer exhibits a southwesterly(northeasterly)anomaly over South China,which is associated with a strengthened(reduced)meridional sea level pressure gradient.Compared to reconstructions,the model can capture the majority of features of climate changes in the Han Dynasty,though it underestimates the magnitude.     

Study on Ozone Change over the Tibetan Plateau

This paper reviewed the main results with respect to the discovery of low center of total column ozone (TCO) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) in summer, and its formation mechanism. Some important advances are summarized as follows: The fact is discovered that there is a TCO low center over the TP in summer, and the features of the background circulation over the TP are analyzed; it is confirmed that the TP is a pathway of mass exchange between the troposphere and stratosphere, and it influences the TCO low center over the TP in summer; models reproduce the TCO low center over the TP in summer, and the formation mechanism is explored; in addition, the analyses and diagnoses of the observation data indicate that not only there is the TCO low center over the TP in summer, but also TCO decrease trend over the TP is one of the strong centers of TCO decrease trend in the same latitude; finally, the model predicts the future TCO change over the TP.     

Numerical Simulation of Long-Term Climate Change in East Asia

A 10-yr regional climate simulation was performed using the fifth-generation PSU/NCAR Mesoscale Model Version 3 (MM5V3) driven by large-scale NCEP/NCAR reanalyses. Simulations of winter and summer mean regional climate features were examined against observations. The results showed that the model could well simulate the 10-yr winter and summer mean circulation, temperature, and moisture transport at middle and low levels. The simulated winter and summer mean sea level pressure agreed with the NCAR/NCEP reanalysis data. The model could well simulate the distribution and intensity of winter mean precipitation rates as well as the distribution of summer mean precipitation rates, but it overestimated the summer mean precipitation over North China. The model's ability to simulate the regional climate change in winter was superior to that in summer. In addition, the model could simulate the inter-annual variation of seasonal precipitation and surface air temperature. Geopotential heights and temperature at middle and high levels between simulations and observations exhibited high anomaly correlation coefficients. The model also showed large variability to simulate the regional climate change associated with the El Nino events. The MM5V3 well simulated the anomalies of summer mean precipitation in 1992 and 1995, while it demonstrated much less ability to simulate that in 1998. Generally speaking, the MM5V3 is capable of simulating the regional climate change, and could be used for long-term regional climate simulation.     

MM5 Simulations of the China Regional Climate During the LGM.Ⅰ: Influence of CO2 and Earth Orbit Change

Using a regional climate model MM5 nested to an atmospheric global climate model CCM3, a series of simulations and sensitivity experiments have been performed to investigate the relative Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) climate response to different mechanisms over China. Model simulations of the present day (PD) climate and the LGM climate change are in good agreement with the observation data and geological records, especially in the simulation of precipitation change. Under the PD and LGM climate, changes of earth orbital parameters have a small influence on the annual mean temperature over China.However, the magnitude of the effect shows a seasonal pattern, with a significant response in winter. Thus,this influence cannot be neglected. During the LGM, CO2 concentration reached its lowest point to 200 ppmv. This results in a temperature decrease over China. The influences of CO2 concentration on climate show seasonal and regional patterns as well, with a significant influence in winter. On the contrary, CO2concentration has less impact in summer season. In some cases, temperature even increases with decreasing in CO2 concentration. This temperature increase is the outcome of decrease in cloud amount; hence increase the solar radiation that reached the earth's surface. This result suggests that cloud amount plays a very important role in climate change and could direct the response patterns of some climate variables such as temperature during certain periods and over certain regions. In the Tibetan Plateau, the temperature responses to changes of the above two factors are generally weaker than those in other regions because the cloud amount in this area is generally more than in the other areas. Relative to the current climate, changes in orbital parameters have less impact on the LGM climate than changes in CO2 concentration. However,both factors have rather less contributions to the climate change in the LGM. About 3%-10% changes in the annual mean temperature are contributed by CO2.     

Impact of Climate Change on Agricultural Production in the Sahel – Part 1. Methodological Approach and Case Study for Millet in Niger

In the last 30 years the climate of the West African Sahel has shown various changes, especially in terms of rainfall, of which inter-annual variabilityis very high. This has significant consequences for the poor-resource farmers, whose incomes depend mainly on rainfed agriculture. The West African Sahel is already known as an area characterized by important interaction between climate variability and key socio-economic sectors such as agriculture and water resources. More than 80% of the 55 million population of West African Sahel is rural, involved in agriculture and stock-farming, the two sectors contributing almost 35% of the countries' GDPs. It is thereforeobvious that climate change seriously affects the economies of these countries. Adding to this situation the high rate of population increase(3%), leading to progressive pressure upon ecosystems, and poorsanitary facilities, one comes to the conclusion that Sahelian countries, Niger amongst them, will be highly vulnerable to climate change.This paper investigates the impact of current climate variability and future climate change on millet production for three major millet-producing regions in Niger. Statistical models have been used to predict the effects of climate change on future production on the basis of thirteen available predictors. Based on the analysis of the past 30-years of rainfall and production data, the most significant predictors of the model are (i) seasurface temperature anomalies, (ii) the amount of rainfall in July, August and September, (iii) the number of rainy days and (iv) the wind erosion factor. In 2025, production of millet is estimated to be about 13% lower as a consequence of climate change, translated into a reduction of the total amount of rainfall for July, August and September, combined with an increase in temperature while maintaining other significant predictors at a constant level. Subsequently,various potential strategies to compensate this loss are evaluated, including those to increase water use efficiency and to cultivate varieties that are adapted to such circumstances.     

Glacial-Interglacial Atmospheric CO2 Change—The Glacial Burial Hypothesis

Organic carbon buried under the great ice sheets of the Northern Hemisphere is suggested to be the missing link in the atmospheric CO2 change over the glacial-interglacial cycles. At glaciation, the advancement of continental ice sheets buries vegetation and soil carbon accumulated during warmer pe-riods. At deglaciation, this burial carbon is released back into the atmosphere. In a simulation over two glacial-interglacial cycles using a synchronously coupled atmosphere-land-ocean carbon model forced by reconstructed climate change, it is found that there is a 547-Gt terrestrial carbon release from glacial maximum to interglacial, resulting in a 60-Gt (about 30-ppmv) increase in the atmospheric CO2, with the remainder absorbed by the ocean in a scenario in which ocean acts as a passive buffer. This is in contrast to previous estimates of a land uptake at deglaciation. This carbon source originates from glacial burial,continental shelf, and other land areas in response to changes in ice cover, sea level, and climate. The input of light isotope enriched terrestrial carbon causes atmospheric δ^13C to drop by about 0.3‰ at deglaciation,followed by a rapid rise towards a high interglacial value in response to oceanic warming and regrowth on land. Together with other ocean based mechanisms such as change in ocean temperature, the glacial burial hypothesis may offer a full explanation of the observed 80-100-ppmv atmospheric CO2 change.     

Climate Change in the Subtropical Jetstream during 1950–2009

A study of six decades(1950–2009) of reanalysis data reveals that the subtropical jetstream(STJ) of the Southern(Northern) Hemisphere between longitudes 0°E and 180°E has weakened(strengthened) during both the boreal winter(January,February) and summer(July, August) seasons. The temperature of the upper troposphere of the midlatitudes has a warming trend in the Southern Hemisphere and a cooling trend in the Northern Hemisphere. Correspondingly, the north–south temperature gradient in the upper troposphere has a decreasing trend in the Southern Hemisphere and an increasing trend in the Northern Hemisphere, which affects the strength of the STJ through the thermal wind relation. We devised a method of isotach analysis in intervals of 0.1 m s-1in vertical sections of hemispheric mean winds to study the climate change in the STJ core wind speed, and also core height and latitude. We found that the upper tropospheric cooling of the Asian mid-latitudes has a role in the strengthening of the STJ over Asia, while throughout the rest of the globe the upper troposphere has a warming trend that weakens the STJ. Available studies show that the mid-latitude cooling of the upper troposphere over Asia is caused by anthropogenic aerosols(particularly sulphate aerosols) and the warming over the rest of the global mid-latitude upper troposphere is due to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.     

Climate Change of 4℃ Global Warming above Pre-industrial Levels

Using a set of numerical experiments from 39 CMIP5 climate models, we project the emergence time for 4?C global warming with respect to pre-industrial levels and associated climate changes under the RCP8.5 greenhouse gas concentration scenario. Results show that, according to the 39 models, the median year in which 4?C global warming will occur is 2084.Based on the median results of models that project a 4?C global warming by 2100, land areas will generally exhibit stronger warming than the oceans annually and seasonally, and the strongest enhancement occurs in the Arctic, with the exception of the summer season. Change signals for temperature go outside its natural internal variabilities globally, and the signal-tonoise ratio averages 9.6 for the annual mean and ranges from 6.3 to 7.2 for the seasonal mean over the globe, with the greatest values appearing at low latitudes because of low noise. Decreased precipitation generally occurs in the subtropics, whilst increased precipitation mainly appears at high latitudes. The precipitation changes in most of the high latitudes are greater than the background variability, and the global mean signal-to-noise ratio is 0.5 and ranges from 0.2 to 0.4 for the annual and seasonal means, respectively. Attention should be paid to limiting global warming to 1.5?C, in which case temperature and precipitation will experience a far more moderate change than the natural internal variability. Large inter-model disagreement appears at high latitudes for temperature changes and at mid and low latitudes for precipitation changes. Overall, the intermodel consistency is better for temperature than for precipitation.     

A Modeling Study of Climate Change and Its Implication for Agriculture in China Part II: The Implication of Climate Change for Agriculture in China

The potential CO2-induced impacts on the geographical shifts of wheat growth zones in China were studied from seven GCMs outputs. The wheat growth regions may move northward and westward under the condition of a doubling CO2 climate. The wheat cultivation features and variety types may also assume significant changes. Climatic warming would have a positive influence in Northeast China, but high temperature stress may be produced in some regions of central and southern China. Higher mean air temperatures during wheat growth, particularly during the reproductive stages, may increase the need for earlier-maturing and more heat-tolerant cultivars.     

Projections of Climate Change over China for the 21st Century

1. IntroductionUnder the background of global warming in the20th century, it was also getting warmer of 0.2-0.7°C/100 yr over China for the last 100 years, espe-cially for the last 50 years (0.6-0.9°C/50 yr) based onthe instrumental observations (Wang and Gong, 2000;Ren et al., 2004; Zhao et al., 2004). In another way, itwas noticed that the concentration of greenhouse gasesand sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere increased by thehuman emissions. Some new evidences indicated thatthe greenho…     

Modelling Hydrological Consequences of Climate Change—— Progress and Challenges

The simulation of hydrological consequences of climate change has received increasing attention from the hydrology and land-surface modelling communities. There have been many studies of climate-change effects on hydrology and water resources which usually consist of three steps： （1） use of general circulation models （GCMs） to provide future global climate scenarios under the effect of increasing greenhouse gases, （2） use of downscaling techniques （both nested regional climate models, RCMs, and statistical methods） for ＂downscaling＂ the GCM output to the scales compatible with hydrological models, and （3） use of hydrologic models to simulate the effects of climate change on hydrological regimes at various scales. Great progress has been achieved in all three steps during the past few years, however, large uncertainties still exist in every stage of such study. This paper first reviews the present achievements in this field and then discusses the challenges for future studies of the hydrological impacts of climate change.