关于温室气体浓度变化及其引起的气候变化的几个问题

阐述了当前全球温室气体浓度的增加及其引起的气候效应,讨论了气候变化研究中存在的许多不确定性,如未来温室气体的浓度如何变化,未来气候如何变化,以及气候影响的评价问题等.最后,强调了未来气候变化基础研究中需要注意的问题.       

Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments: An Evolution of Conceptual Thinking

Vulnerability is an emerging concept for climate science and policy. Over the past decade, efforts to assess vulnerability to climate change triggered a process of theory development and assessment practice, which is reflected in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This paper reviews the historical development of the conceptual ideas underpinning assessments of vulnerability to climate change. We distinguish climate impact assessment, first- and second-generation vulnerability assessment, and adaptation policy assessment. The different generations of assessments are described by means of a conceptual framework that defines key concepts of the assessment and their analytical relationships. The purpose of this conceptual framework is two-fold: first, to present a consistent visual glossary of the main concepts underlying the IPCC approach to vulnerability and its assessment; second, to show the evolution of vulnerability assessments. This evolution is characterized by the progressive inclusion of non-climatic determinants of vulnerability to climate change, including adaptive capacity, and the shift from estimating expected damages to attempting to reduce them. We hope that this paper improves the understanding of the main approaches to climate change vulnerability assessment and their evolution, not only within the climate change community but also among researchers from other scientific communities, who are sometimes puzzled by the unfamiliar use of technical terms in the context of climate change.     

The Impacts of Climate Change on the Autumn North Atlantic Wave Climate

Abstract

In this study, we investigate the impact of global warming induced by possible climate change on the autumn winds, the related storm climate, and the wave climate over the North Atlantic Ocean. These analyses are based on a third-generation wave model, WAVEWATCHIII? and dynamically downscaled winds, obtained from the Canadian Regional Climate Model driven by the third version of the Coupled Global Climate Model (T47) from the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis following the A1B climate change scenario of the Special Report on Emission Scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Compared with the present wave climate, represented as 1970–1999, the significant wave heights in the northeast North Atlantic will increase, whereas in other areas, such as the mid-latitudes, they will decrease, with associated changes in winds in the future climate (2040–2069). An analysis of inverse wave ages is used to suggest that wind-driven wave regimes tend to occur more frequently in the northeast North Atlantic and decrease in the mid-latitudes in the climate change scenario. The dominant North Atlantic storm-track region is estimated to shift northward, especially over the northern Northeast Atlantic, where the frequency of occurrence of the most intense cyclones is estimated to increase. We suggest that changes in storm densities are related to changes in the upper level steering flow in the atmosphere, which are the precursor to changes in the winds and ocean waves.     

全球气候变化对我国气候安全影响的思考

依据政府间气候变化专门委员会 (IPCC) 第5次评估报告以及国内相关科学研究成果,使用最新的观测资料凝练了对全球气候变化的有关认识;从极端天气气候事件和气候承载力角度,分析了气候变化给我国带来的气候风险。研究发现:1961—2015年我国平均高温日数增加了28.4%,暴雨日数增加了8.2%。21世纪以来,登陆我国热带气旋的强度明显增加。在全球气候变暖的背景下,我国气候承载力将发生明显变化,未来面临的气候风险将加大。因此,保障我国气候安全,需要科学认识气候,提高气候风险意识; 主动适应气候,提高应对极端事件能力;努力保护气候,减缓气候变化的影响。     

农业对气候变化的脆弱性

随着对气候变化研究的不断深入,气候变化脆弱性问题也得到了更多的关注。相对于水资源、森林等其他自然生态系统,农业受气候变化的影响最大,科学地评价其对气候变化的脆弱性,对于制定合理有效的适应对策具有重要意义。从气候变化脆弱性与农业对气候变化脆弱性的定义、研究内容和评价方法等角度综述了研究进展,在此基础上分析了目前该领域存在的问题,包括情景应用、方法和不确定性等方面,并展望了未来脆弱性评价的发展方向。     

Impact of Climate Change and Variability on Irrigation Requirements: A Global Perspective

Anthropogenic climate change does not only affect water resources but also water demand. Future water and food security will depend, among other factors, on the impact of climate change on water demand for irrigation. Using a recently developed global irrigation model, with a spatial resolution of 0.5° by 0.5°, we present the first global analysis of the impact of climate change and climate variability on irrigation water requirements. We compute how long-term average irrigation requirements might change under the climatic conditions of the 2020s and the 2070s, as provided by two climate models, and relate these changes to the variations in irrigation requirements caused by long-term and interannual climate variability in the 20th century. Two-thirds of the global area equipped for irrigation in 1995 will possibly suffer from increased water requirements, and on up to half of the total area (depending on the measure of variability), the negative impact of climate change is more significant than that of climate variability.     

Climate Change Prediction

The concept of climate change prediction in response to anthropogenic forcings at multi-decadal time scales is reviewed. This is identified as a predictability problem with characteristics of both first kind and second kind (due to the slow components of the climate system). It is argued that, because of the non-linear and stochastic aspects of the climate system and of the anthropogenic and natural forcings, climate change contains an intrinsic level of uncertainty. As a result, climate change prediction needs to be approached in a probabilistic way. This requires a characterization and quantification of the uncertainties associated with the sequence of steps involved in a climate change prediction. A review is presented of different approaches recently proposed to produce probabilistic climate change predictions. The additional difficulties found when extending the prediction from the global to the regional scale and the implications that these have on the choice of prediction strategy are finally discussed.     

全球变暖背景下的气候服务

气候与人的关系密不可分.气候学本身就是人类认识自然、利用气候的科学.最近五十多年,地球气候明显地受到了人类活动的影响,而变化的气候又通过各种途径影响人类的生产和生活.21世纪人类必须高度重视并积极应对气候变化及与其相伴随的各种极端天气气候事件.通过进一步加强气候监测,加强气候科学研究和模式研发,迅速提升气候预测能力,并通过加强建立与用户之间的伙伴关系,建立气候服务系统,从而不断提高服务水平,以适应日趋严峻的气候变化.     

Precipitation: A Parameter Changing Climate and Modified by Climate Change

This paper discusses two aspects of climate modeling, the deep water formation in the North Atlantic and precipitation changes due to climate change caused by anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. The deep water formation is strongly influenced by the precipitation, and the precipitation is affected by the concentration of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and by the atmospheric and oceanic circulation. The experiments discussed here have been performed independently to test the stability of the thermohaline circulation of the North Atlantic and to investigate changes in precipitation due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The precipitation changes in a climate change environment are sufficient in some simulations to decrease the thermohaline circulation noticeably. However, it appears that the amount of freshwater needed to bring the circulation to a collapse is magnitudes larger than the anticipated change in precipitation due to anthropogenic activities within the next 100 years. The precipitation changes, on the other hand, might change regionally quite drastically towards more extreme situations, thereby putting additional stress on vegetation and enhancing soil erosion.     

Climate change, powerlessness and the commons dilemma: Assessing New Zealanders’ preparedness to act

Mitigating climate change is recognized as an increasingly urgent task that requires understanding a range of different strategies, including voluntary behavior change. Among the psychological barriers to behavior change are perceptions of powerlessness and the commons dilemma. This paper examines the association between these factors in a sample of New Zealand citizens and clarifies their importance in relation to other barriers to action to mitigate climate change, including uncertainty and perceived risk. Stronger perceptions of powerlessness and the commons dilemma were related to lower levels of action to mitigate climate change and lesser importance being placed upon climate change as an influence on individual actions. The perceived risk of climate change and the perception that humans influence climate change were the strongest predictors of mitigation action.     

Public Views on Climate Change: European and USA Perspectives

If uncontrolled, human influences on the climate system may generate changes that will endanger various aspects of life on Earth. The precise implications of the scientific claims about climate change, and the extent to which they pose dangers to various populations, are becoming intensely debated at many levels in relation to policy. How `danger' is interpreted will ultimately affect which actions are taken. In this paper, we examine how climate change is conceptualised by publics in Europe and in the USA. Although there is widespread concern about climate change, it is of secondary importance in comparison to other issues in people's daily lives. Most individuals relate to climate change through personal experience, knowledge, the balance of benefits and costs, and trust in other societal actors. We analyse these factors through findings from various surveys and studies, which highlight both the distinctiveness and some shared perspectives at a generalised level. We reflect upon these in relation to trust and responsibility for climate change action, and risk communication, supporting the call for discourses about climate change to also be situated in people's locality, as a means of increasing its saliency.     

Climate change diffusion: While the world tips, business schools lag

The influence of business schools on business practitioners is considerable. An important proportion of corporate leaders hold a degree in business administration or an MBA, if not both. In the context of climate change, this influence matters: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a selection of global 500 companies approximate that of the USA and the EU15 combined. Not only do corporations have a significant climate footprint, but the impact of climate change on the business landscape is already noticeable. Yet, meeting the managerial challenges that climate change brings requires knowledge only moderately addressed in business education and scholarship today. Climate change tends to be discussed in electives - hence reaching only a fraction of students - and tends to be treated alongside a myriad of other corporate social responsibility issues. Moreover, from 1992 to 2008, only seven articles with titles containing climate change or global warming were published in the top-30 peer-reviewed management journals (this paper, see also Goodall, 2008). In this paper, by mapping the diffusion of climate change within press media and academic peer-reviewed publications, I argue that understanding the existing lag in business scholarship engagement requires a fundamental understanding of processes that either hinder or lead to the diffusion of new ideas. To do so, I present a simple yet novel approach for the quantification of climate change or global warming (CCorGW) coverage relative to population size. My results on the diffusion of the climate change idea over time show: (a) an overall increase in proportional coverage in all databases (b) tipping points around the late 1980s and circa 2005 and (c) delays in adoption between press categories. I explicate the occurrence of these tipping points as well as the existence of delays by theoretically unifying my analyses with results from previous studies under the umbrella of the diffusion of innovation paradigm. I suggest that the following key factors have contributed in slowing the diffusion within business scholarship: (a) corporate values, beliefs and operational modes (b) social structures and incentives prevailing within academia and finally (b) academia's valued research communication channels. I conclude by elaborating key recommendations to facilitate the diffusion of this idea to business scholars and other influential audiences.     

Climate change: Motivation for taking measure to adapt

We tested two consequences of a currently influential theory based on the notion of seeing adaptations to climate change as local adjustments to deal with changing conditions within the constraints of the broader economic–social–political arrangements. The notion leaves no explicit role for the strength of personal beliefs in climate change and adaptive capacity. The consequences were: (i) adaptive action to climate change taken by an individual who is exposed to and sensitive to climate change is not influenced to a considerable degree by their strength of belief in climate change and (ii) adaptive action to climate change taken by an individual who is exposed to and sensitive to climate change is not influenced to a considerable degree by their strength of belief in an adaptive capacity. Data from a 2004 questionnaire of 1950 Swedish private individual forest owners, who were assumed exposed to and sensitive to climate change, were used. Strength of belief in climate change and adaptive capacities were found to be crucial factors for explaining observed differences in adaptation among Swedish forest owners.     

利马气候大会成果分析与展望

利马气候大会达成的《利马气候行动号令》明确了《联合国气候变化框架公约》所有原则,尤其是共同但有区别的责任原则适用于拟于2015年巴黎会议达成的新协议。会议还就“国家自主决定的贡献”等做出了决定。利马大会成果对2015年巴黎气候大会达成气候变化新协议具有重要推动作用。面对2020年后的新挑战,中国需尽快制定应对气候变化法,建立碳排放交易机制,促进对应对气候变化先进技术投资,以及加大参与治理国际气候变化事务力度。     

Climate visuals: A mixed methods investigation of public perceptions of climate images in three countries

Imagery plays a central role in climate change communication. But whereas research on the verbal communication of climate change has proliferated, far fewer studies have focused on visual communication. Correspondingly, relatively little is known about how to effectively engage the public using the visual medium. The current research is the first mixed methods, cross-national investigation of public perceptions of climate images, with a focus on photographic climate change imagery. Four structured discussion groups in the UK and Germany (N = 32) and an international survey with an embedded experiment in the UK, Germany and the US (N = 3014) were conducted to examine how different types of climate change imagery were evaluated. The qualitative research pointed to the importance of the perceived authenticity and credibility of the human subjects in climate images, as well as widespread negativity towards images depicting protests and demonstrations. Images of climate ‘solutions’ produced positive emotional responses in the survey and were less polarizing for climate change skeptics, but they were also the least motivating of action. Familiar climate images (such as a polar bear on melting ice) were easily understood in the survey (and evaluated positively as a consequence) but viewed with cynicism in discussion groups. We present a detailed discussion of these and other key findings in this paper and describe a novel application of the data through an online image library for practitioners which accompanies the research (www.climatevisuals.org).     

气候变化国家评估报告（II）：气候变化的影响与适应

已经观测到的气候变化影响是显著的、多方面的。各个领域和地区都存在有利和不利影响,但以不利影响为主,未来的气候变暖将会对中国的生态系统、农业以及水资源等部门和沿海地区产生重大的不利影响。采取适应措施可以减轻气候变化的不利影响,应将适应气候变化的行动逐步纳入国民经济和社会发展的中长期规划中。由于我国科学研究的相对不足和科学认识能力的局限,目前的气候变化影响评估方法和结果还存在很大的不确定性。应当加强区域适应气候变化的案例研究、扩大研究领域、加强极端天气、气候事件影响的研究,以降低影响评估的不确定性,并提出切实可行的适应对策。     

气候变化对中国农业生产的影响研究进展

气候变化已成为当今科学界、各国政府和社会公众普遍关注的环境问题之一,气候变化可能对生态系统和社会经济产生灾难性影响,农业是受气候变化影响最直接的脆弱行业。因此,气候变化对农业生产的影响研究一直是气候变化研究领域中的热点问题之一。该文系统介绍了有关全球气候变化对中国农业生产影响研究的现状与进展,包括气候变化对农业影响的研究方法、大气中温室气体浓度增加对农作物的影响试验、气候变化对农业气候资源的影响、气候变化对农作物生长发育和产量的影响、气候变化对农业种植制度和品种布局的影响、气候变化对农作物气候生产潜力和气候资源利用率的影响等,指出当前在研究气候变化对农业影响评估中存在的问题,提出了今后应加强对气候变化情景和预测模式不确定性的研究、气候变化对农业影响的方法研究。此外,气候变化背景下极端天气气候事件对农业生产的影响以及气候变化对农业病虫害的影响研究等仍较薄弱,有待进一步加强和深入。     

Climate science in climate security scenarios

The climate is changing and this will have consequences across the globe, affecting all areas of the natural and human environment in complex ways. One tool for exploring the complex relationship between climate change and security is to use a scenariobased approach as means to develop plausible rather than probable narratives. This approach can explore the range of uncertainty, and help policymakers to visualise the potential consequences of climate change. Scenario methodology has been most comprehensively developed for use in business planning and there are some differences in the way scenarios work for climate security. The most notable is the fact that there is a physical modelling basis for climate projections. This means that the uncertainty range associated with at least this one aspect of the scenario can be systematically sampled. This paper reviews how scenarios have been used in the climate security literature to date, in particular in the grey literature. The integration of climate projections is explored in detail, as the main distinguishing feature of climate security scenarios over other scenario types. Few climate security scenarios have been developed to date, but all those included in this review, regardless of the differences in national conditions, regional climate change and potential responses, came to very similar conclusions. This was despite differences in the changes in climate and non-climate drivers, or differences in the scenario approach and audience. A more systematic and scientific approach to developing the scenario drivers and narratives is recommended, and successfully embedding changes in climate within the socio-economic context, through better integration of inter-disciplinary expertise, is critical.     

温室效应引起的江淮流域气候变化预估

选用英国Hadley中心的RCM-PRECIS模式进行江淮流域气候变化的数值模拟。在验证了PRECIS在江淮流域模拟能力的基础上,对未来CO₂增加后江淮流域的气候变化响应进行了预估。结果表明：在B2情景下,整个江淮流域都将继续增暖,到本世纪末（2071-2100年）区域年平均温度将增加2.9℃,夏季将可能出现更多的高温事件,而冬季极端低温事件减少;降水量呈增加趋势,强降水（尤其是120 mm以上的降水）日数也将增多。     

温室效应引起的江淮流域气候变化预估

 选用英国Hadley中心的RCM-PRECIS模式进行江淮流域气候变化的数值模拟。在验证了PRECIS在江淮流域模拟能力的基础上,对未来CO₂增加后江淮流域的气候变化响应进行了预估。结果表明：在B2情景下,整个江淮流域都将继续增暖,到本世纪末（2071-2100年）区域年平均温度将增加2.9℃,夏季将可能出现更多的高温事件,而冬季极端低温事件减少;降水量呈增加趋势,强降水（尤其是120 mm以上的降水）日数也将增多。