Is it hot in here or is it just me? Temperature anomalies and political polarization over global warming in the American public

Do temperature anomalies affect political polarization over global warming? Americans’ attitudes about global warming are affected by whether they reside in states experiencing unseasonably warm (or cold) temperatures versus those experiencing milder temperatures. Specifically, in terms of causal attribution, political polarization over global warming is more pronounced in states experiencing temperature anomalies. Using pooled data collected during 2013–2014, this study utilizes logistic regression to explore how temperature anomalies exacerbate the political polarization among Americans over perceptions of whether global warming impacts are immediately evident as well as the attribution of global warming to human activity. Results indicate that very cold or warm temperature anomalies from a 5-year baseline predict perceptions of global warming impacts and exacerbate existing political polarization over the causal attribution of global warming. These effects are particularly noticeable among Democrats. This analysis provides a contribution to understanding how temperature anomalies from the recent past shape the sociophysical context of global warming attitudes.     

西藏近40年气温变化的气候特征分析

应用西藏1952~1995年温度序列资料, 对其基本气候特征、年代变化、气候突变、振荡周期、异常冷暖、变化趋势等进行了分析.结果表明:年与各季气温大都具有3个暖期和2个冷期, 60年代是最冷的10年, 以秋季降温最明显, 80年代中后期至90年代气温偏高. 22年、11年、3~4年是年与各季气温较为显著的周期.气候突变出现在60年代初和80年代初. 60年代、70年代多异常偏冷年, 80年代多异常偏暖年, 多发生在夏季和冬季, 90年代, 大多数年份发生气温异常. 40年来, 西藏年平均气温以0.065 ℃/10a的倾向率上升, 近10年春秋季增温率最大.     

The role of natural climatic variation in perturbing the observed global mean temperature trend

Controversy continues to prevail concerning the reality of anthropogenically-induced climatic warming. One of the principal issues is the cause of the hiatus in the current global warming trend. There appears to be a widely held view that climatic change warming should exhibit an inexorable upwards trend, a view that implies there is no longer any input by climatic variability in the existing climatic system. The relative roles of climatic change and climatic variability are examined here using the same coupled global climatic model. For the former, the model is run using a specified CO₂ growth scenario, while the latter consisted of a multi-millennial simulation where any climatic variability was attributable solely to internal processes within the climatic system. It is shown that internal climatic variability can produce global mean surface temperature anomalies of ±0.25?K and sustained positive and negative anomalies sufficient to account for the anomalous warming of the 1940s as well as the present hiatus in the observed global warming. The characteristics of the internally-induced negative temperature anomalies are such that if this internal natural variability is the cause of the observed hiatus, then a resumption of the observed global warming trend is to be expected within the next few years.     

Reconstructed Temperature And Precipitation On A Millennial Timescale From Tree-Rings In The Southern Colorado Plateau,U.S.A.

Two independent calibrated and verified climate reconstructions from ecologically contrasting tree-ring sites in the southern Colorado Plateau, U.S.A. reveal decadal-scale climatic trends during the past two millennia. Combining precisely dated annual mean-maximum temperature and October through July precipitation reconstructions yields an unparalleled record of climatic variability. The approach allows for the identification of thirty extreme wet periods and thirty-five extreme dry periods in the 1,425-year precipitation reconstruction and 30 extreme cool periods and 26 extreme warm periods in 2,262-year temperature reconstruction. In addition, the reconstructions were integrated to identify intervals when conditions were extreme in both climatic variables (cool/dry, cool/wet, warm/dry, warm/wet). Noteworthy in the reconstructions are the post-1976 warm/wet period, unprecedented in the 1,425-year record both in amplitude and duration, anomalous and prolonged late 20th century warmth, that while never exceeded, was nearly equaled in magnitude for brief intervals in the past, and substantial decadal-scale variability within the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age intervals.     

Regional behavior of minimum temperatures in Switzerland for the period 1979–1993

Summary A series of anomalously cold and warm winters which occurred in Switzerland during the 15-year period from 1979 to 1993 has been analyzed in detail in terms of temperature minima. The warm winters between 1988–1992 were particularly marked in the Alps, where lack of snow had severe consequences for the tourist-based economies of mountain communities. The investigations presented here focus primarily on minimum temperature records for up to 88 climatological observing sites distributed over Switzerland.Analyses of the departures of temperature minima from the 15-year means in warm and cold winters has shown that there is a very significant altitudinal dependency of the anomalies except at low elevations which are subject to fog or stratus conditions; the stratus tends to decouple the underlying stations from processes occurring at higher altitudes. It is also shown that there is a switch in the gradient of the temperature anomaly with height from cold to warm winters. For warm winters, the higher the elevation, the stronger the positive anomaly; the reverse is true for cold winters. The statistics for the 88 observational stations provide a measure of the damping of the climate signal as an inverse function of height. The altitudinal dependency of temperature departures from the mean are the most important feature, followed by latitudinal effects (north and south of the Alps); continentality is not seen to be a major factor in determining the geographical distribution of temperature anomalies at this scale.The present investigation also emphasizes the fact that high elevation records can more readily identify significant interannual climatic fluctuations than at lower-elevation sites. This is also likely to be the case for longer-term climate change, where possibe greenhouse-gas warming would presumably be detected with more clarity at higher elevations. This type of study can help orientate future high-resolution climate model studies of climate change and in particular the assessment of model capability in reproducing a range of possible temperature anomalies and their altitudinal dependency.With 12 Figures     

Natural Climatic Variability as an Explanation for Historical Climatic Fluctuations

The question as to whether the climatic anomalies associated with the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age can be attributed to natural climatic variability is explored in this paper. The output from a 500-year run with a global climatic model is used for this purpose. The model exhibits multi-decadal variability in its climatic outputs, which appears to have many of the characteristics of observed climatic data over the last millennium. Global distributions of surface temperature associated with peak warming and cooling phases of the model run highlight the spatial variability which occurs, and the lack of synchroneity in the response from region to region. Considerable year-to-year variability occurs in temperature anomaly patterns during the warming and cooling phases, indicating the complexity of the responses. The model results suggest that such climatic phases should not be considered as lengthy periods of universal warming or cooling. Comparison of observed time series of land surface temperature for the northern hemisphere for the last 500 years with model output indicates that most of the observed features in this climatic record can be reproduced by processes associated with internal mechanisms of the climatic system as reproduced in the model. While the model results do not exclude the possible contribution of external forcing agents as a contributing factor to these climatic episodes, the perception is that such agents would enhance existing naturally-induced climatic features rather than initiate them, at least for this time frame. Given the omnipresent nature of natural climatic variability, it is assumed that such variability rather than external forcing agents has primacy in generating and maintaining the underlying observed climatic variability. An understanding of the mechanisms and behaviour of such climatic features is becoming of increasing importance, in view of their possible role in modulating future climatic trends given the expected influence of the greenhouse effect.     

Climatic change of inland river basin in an arid area: a case study in northern Xinjiang, China

We examined climate variability at two timescales for northern Xinjiang, China: one is of the past 500?years using dendrochronology data and the other is of the past 50?years using meteorological station data. The regression models built from the 50-year period were used to reconstruct the climate of the 500-year period. The results indicate that climate underwent many alternating warm–cold and wet–dry periods in the past 500?years. For the 50-year period, we applied the Mann–Kendall jump test to data from 48 meteorological stations to identify possible transition points of temperature and precipitation. For this period, we also analyzed the impacts of latitude, altitude, slope aspect, and human activities on climate variability, aiming to recognize major factors that influence regional climate variability. The results show a warming and wetting trend in the recent 50?years in northern Xinjiang. We determined that natural pattern variability is dominant in the long-term climate variability in the region, but human impacts are non-negligible in the past 50?years. Regional climate variability may be associated with or driven by latitude, altitude, ecosystems, topography, and human activities. The study provides an empirical evidence of the unique regional characteristics of inland river basin in an arid area over the global climate change background.     

近百年中国两次年代际气候变暖中的冷、暖平流背景

近百年中国气候经历了两次明显的年代际变暖,分别发生在20世纪40年代之前和70年代之后。由大气环流变化引起的冷、暖平流异常可为理解两次变暖提供参考。首先基于最新研制的近百年32站气温观测和集合经验模分解（Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition,EEMD）方法揭示两次变暖过程中国的冷、暖分布格局,进而利用全球格点气温和海平面气压资料计算了同期地转风导致的温度平流。结果表明,20世纪40年代中国华北北部至东北大部分地区和华南沿海局部地区偏冷而中东部至西南内陆大部分地区偏暖的年代际气候异常,站点冷、暖异常与大尺度温度平流的空间关联系数达0.85;而对于近20年中国气候变暖而言,这一关联系数仅0.49。研究结果从一个新颖的角度说明:早期变暖过程中气候系统内部过程如大气环流异常的作用较大,而近几十年气候变暖则更多地受迫于外强迫。      

东北地区夏季气温变化特征分析

采用1951～2003年26个气象台站的夏季气温资料对我国东北地区夏季气温变化特征进行了分析。结果表明:近50多年来我国东北地区夏季气温主要经历了冷期、相对正常期和暖期3个阶段,夏季升温趋势达到0·15℃/10a,远超过全球、北半球、东北亚夏季的增暖程度。其对全球气候变暖的响应,一方面表现在夏季变暖、平均气温升高;另一方面表现在夏季气温变率加大;第三,气候变暖使东北夏季低温冷害明显减少、异常高温气候明显增多,但在变暖形势下局部发生低温冷害的现象仍然存在。     

Global characteristics of extreme winters from a multi-millennial simulation

Output from a multi-millennial simulation with the CSIRO Mark 2 coupled global climatic model has been analysed to determine the principal characteristics of extreme winters over the globe for ??present conditions??. Thus, this study is not concerned with possible changes in winter conditions associated with anthropogenically induced climatic change. Defining an extreme winter as having a surface temperature anomaly of below ?2 standard deviations (sd) revealed a general occurrence rate over the globe of between 100 and 200 over a 6,000-year period of the simulation, with somewhat higher values over northwest North America. For temperature anomalies below ?3?sd the corresponding occurrence rate drops to about 10. Spatial correlation studies revealed that extreme winters over regions in Europe, North America or Asia were very limited geographically, with time series of the surface temperature anomalies for these regions having mutual correlation coefficients of about 0.2. The temporal occurrence rates of winters (summers) having sd below ?3 (above +3) were very asymmetric and sporadic, suggesting that such events arise from stochastic influences. Multi-year sequences of extreme winters were comparatively rare events. Detailed analysis revealed that the temporal and spatial evolution of the monthly surface temperature anomalies associated with an individual extreme winter were well replicated in the simulation, as were daily time series of such anomalies. Apart from an influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation on extreme winters in Europe, other prominent climatic oscillations were very poorly correlated with such winters. Rather modest winter temperature anomalies were found in the southern hemisphere.     

北大西洋地区气候准20年周期的观测和模拟分析

北大西洋地区除了存在约70 a周期的AMO（Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation,北大西洋年代际振荡）之外,历史长期气候记录中英格兰温度（Central England Temperature,CET）与格陵兰冰芯净雪累计率还存在显著的20 a周期波动。本研究利用CCSM4（Community Climate System Model version 4）耦合模式工业革命前控制试验（piControl）结果中的海表面温度（Sea Surface Temperature,SST）,通过10～50 a带通滤波与扩展经验正交函数（Extended Empirical Orthogonal Function,EEOF）分解,得到在北大西洋副极地海区存在准20 a振荡的逆时针旋转模态。此周期与其临近地区的CET、格陵兰冰芯净雪累计率的准20 a振荡周期相吻合,说明这种北大西洋副极地海区准20 a振荡的海洋模态与其临近地区的大气准20 a振荡之间可能存在相应的联系。进一步利用CAM4（the Community Atmosphere Model version4）大气模式,以北大西洋副极地海区准20 a振荡SST旋转模态为强迫场进行敏感性试验,进一步验证了这种联系。     

Winter Temperature Variability During Warming and Cooling Periods in the Conterminous United States, 1947–1992

Summary  Much literature has reported on the concept of increased surface temperature variability during cool periods, although analyses on temperature records have rendered inconsistent results. In addition, temperature variability during transition periods has been rarely investigated. This study examines temperature variability during wintertime cooling (1947–1977) and warming (1978–1992) periods for the conterminous United States to determine both whether temperature variability is different during warming or cooling periods, and whether the change in variability is supported by midtropospheric circulation conditions. Our results indicate that regions with high temperature variability are mostly found below the troughs in the midtropospheric pressure fields. The direction of change in temperature variability corresponding to cooling or warming conditions, however, varied spatially. For the southeastern and northeastern United States, winter temperatures were more variable during the cooling period than during the warming period, while the northern and central Great Plains had greater temperature variability during the warming period than the cooling period. Similar spatial patterns are also found for the changes in the variability of geopotential height fields. Such spatial patterns in the temperature and height variability during warming and cooling periods may be related to the dominant midtropospheric circulation patterns, such as the different phases of the Pacific-North American teleconnection pattern, and the El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation events. It is concluded that the response of interannual temperature variability to climatic changes is determined by the variation in circulation patterns, and therefore, not spatially uniform. Received September 26, 1996 Revised April 2, 1998     

近百年气候变化与变率的诊断研究

总结了近百年来气候变化与变率的诊断研究结果，包括全球平均气温及降水量、中国平均气温及降水量，以及ＥＮＳＯ及ＱＢＯ。指出全球有变暖趋势，１９８０年代是最暖的１０年。但中国的情况有所不同，１９２０年代及１９４０年代最暖，而１９８０年代接近常年。全球降水量有增加趋势，但气温与降水的１０年尺度变化并不完全一致。１９５０年代及１９７０年代为多雨期，１９８０年代降水反而减少。中国夏季降水变化的主要特征是冷湿、暖干。１９２０年代及１９４０年代是近百年最干的时期。１８７１—１９９３年共发生厄尼诺事件２８次，拉尼娜２１次。气候变暖时厄尼诺强，气候较冷时拉尼娜频率高。１９５１—１９９３年赤道平流层纬向风准两年振荡的平均长度为２８．７个月，比１９５０年代末的估计（２６．３个月）要长。１９５１年以前的周期长度可能在２９个月左右。未发现ＱＢＯ与气候变化有明显关系。     

The temporal and spatial characteristics of surrogate tropical cyclones from a multi-millenial simulation

Output from a simulation with the CSIRO Mark 2 climatic model has been used to investigate the secular variability of tropical cyclone formation over the globe using Gray’s Seasonal Genesis Parameter. This simulation differs from previous surrogate studies in using a coupled atmospheric-oceanic model, instead of specified sea surface temperatures, as well as being of multi-millenial duration, compared with decadal length simulations used elsewhere. Mean climatological values for each season for a 5,000-year period indicate that the model replicated the broad patterns of spatial and temporal variability. Results are presented in some detail for three regions, the southwest and northwest Pacific Oceans and the low latitude North Atlantic Ocean. A marked range of temporal variabilities of surrogate tropical cyclone numbers was obtained in the simulation, possibly indicating that the present, observed increase in these numbers may not be outside that attributable to natural variability. The component terms of the Seasonal Genesis Parameter permit the contribution of individual climatic terms to the generation of tropical cyclones to be identified. This approach highlighted the important role of relative vorticity and relative humidity, in addition to the governing influence of vertical wind shear. The remote influence of ENSO, versus that of local sea surface temperature anomalies, on surrogate tropical cyclone numbers was examined and revealed different outcomes depending on the region under consideration. The global total of surrogate tropical cyclone numbers exhibited noticeable interannual variability. The simulation reproduced most of the observed correlations between tropical cyclones and relevant climatic variables, but many of the correlations were not stable within the 5,000-year time series used. This suggests that observed correlations based on, typically, 100-years or less of data may not be representative of possible future outcomes. With minor exceptions all climatological time series associated with the Seasonal Genesis Parameter were found to be Gaussian.     

1961—2020年辽宁省暖冬现象气候特征分析

利用1961—2020年辽宁省56个气象站冬季逐日气温数据,根据国家标准《暖冬等级》,以1990—2020年为气候值作为参考,综合采用气候倾向率、IDW、滑动t检验突变分析以及小波分析等方法,分析辽宁省近60 a冬季平均气温的时空变化趋势,单站暖冬及区域暖冬事件的气候变化特征。结果表明：近60 a来辽宁省冬季平均气温以0.3℃/10 a的速率升高,辽宁中部和东部地区变暖趋势最为显著;20世纪90年代前的30 a属于偏冷时段,但增温效应强于后30 a,冬季平均气温在1987年前后出现了明显的由冷转暖的突变,1971年出现了相对较弱的冷暖转变;1988年后逐年单站暖冬事件的发生整体比1961—1987年出现单站暖冬事件明显增多。发生频次较高的地区分布在辽宁中部和东南部地区,为16—20次;近60 a来共有16次区域暖冬事件,21世纪后的20 a内共出现9次区域暖冬事件,占总数的60%;区域暖冬事件以准22 a和2—3 a为振荡周期。     

Reconstruction of integrated temperature series of the past 2,000 years on the Tibetan plateau with 10-year intervals

Using 1,981 pieces of temperature records extracted from a selection of tree rings, ice cores, sediments, and other materials with high-resolution historical temperature proxy data, a temperature series of the past 2,000 years on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) with 10-year intervals was reconstructed by the method of single sample correction—multi-sample average integration equations. This series shows that the warm periods mainly appeared before 235 A.D., 775–1275 A.D. and 1845–2000 A.D., while the cold periods occurred 245–765 A.D., 1045–1145 A.D., and 1285–1835 A.D. The Little Ice Age left clear evidence on the TP and its coldest period was between 1635 and 1675 A.D. The Medieval Warm Period on the TP was not as warm as that in the late twentieth century. During the nineteenth century, overall temperature tends to be warmer with a clear rising trend, and in the late twentieth century new highs broke the record of the past 2,000 years. Power spectrum analysis shows that temperature on the TP changes consistently and evidently in a 150-year cycle. This integrated series also shows clear correlations with sunspot activity and solar radiation, as high sunspot activities generally led to warmer periods, and vice versa. Solar activities and intense radiation of recent years are naturally conducive to the global warming since the nineteenth century. The combination of greenhouse gases and natural fluctuations in climate has been the main culprit behind the global warming in the twentieth century.     

On the variability of seasonal temperature in southern South America

The aim of this paper is to investigate different aspects of the seasonal-to-interannual temperature variability in Eastern Patagonia, the southernmost area of South America, east of the Andes Cordillera. Homogenous regions of seasonal variability and the atmospheric circulation patterns associated with warm and cold conditions in each of them are described in this study. Relationships between temperature in Eastern Patagonia and that registered in other areas of southern South America are also addressed. Results show that the northern and southern areas of Eastern Patagonia have different temperature variability in summer and autumn whereas the temperature variability tends to be more homogeneous within the region during winter and spring. Warm (cold) conditions in the northern areas are associated with reinforced (weakened) westerlies in summer, winter and spring whereas northerly (southerly) advections of warm (cold) air toward the region produce such conditions in autumn. Temperature in the southern portion of Eastern Patagonia is affected by anticyclonic (cyclonic) anomalies that enhance (reduce) the incoming solar radiation and induce reinforced (weakened) westerlies promoting warm (cold) conditions in the region. Furthermore, cyclonic (anticyclonic) anomalies at subpolar latitudes hinder (favor) outbreaks of cold air increasing (decreasing) the temperature over areas of Eastern Patagonia. The circulation anomalies associated with warm (cold) conditions in Eastern Patagonia also promote cold (warm) conditions over areas of northern Argentina, Paraguay and southern Brazil. Consequently, a dipole of temperature is detected in southern South America with centers of opposite sign over these regions.     

Trends and Variability in Sea Ice and Icebergs off the Canadian East Coast

ABSTRACT

Seasonal time series of sea-ice area or extent in several regions along the east coast of Canada were compiled from several sources for the period 1901 to 2013 and compared with an index of ice extent off southwest Greenland, iceberg season length south of 48°N, air temperature, and other climate indices. Trends in winter ice area and iceberg season length are significant over the past 100 years and 30 years. Variability of winter ice area and iceberg season length is associated with a combination of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) indices superimposed on a negative trend. Thus, large declines in ice area and iceberg season length in the 1920s and 1990s can be attributed to a decreasing NAO index and a shift to the positive phase of the AMO at the end of these decades. Ice extent in southern areas such as the Scotian Shelf is more strongly correlated with the Western Atlantic index than with the NAO. Ice area trends (in percent per decade) are larger in magnitude and account for twice as much of the variance in ice area for summer than for winter, with summer trends significant over 30-, 60- and 100-year periods. Sea-ice variability is generally consistent with air temperature variability in the various regions; in the 1930s, during the early twentieth-century warming period, ice anomalies were higher and temperature anomalies were lower along the coast of eastern Canada than along the coast of southwestern Greenland.     

PROCESS OF TRANSITION BETWEEN COLD AND WARM PERIODS AND ITS PREDICTION

The oscillation of multi-time scales and the process of transition between cold and warm periods over most parts of China and its 6 regions (the Northeast,North China,Changjiang River Valley,South China,the Southwest,the Northwest) were analyzed with wavelet transformation and by computing the variances of the wavelet components for the temperature grade series during January 1911 to February 2001,The prediction model for cold and warm periods has been developed and the trend of cold and warm change in the coming 10 years is predicted.The results show that the oscillation with periods of around 30-40 years was the strongest in the last 100 years and the 3-year oscillation in both winter and summer was also stronger,especially in winter.The transition time of cold and warm periods in terms of winter mean did not coincide with that of annual mean,but the difference between summer mean and annual mean is less.The processes of transition of 6 regions are somewhat different,their main characteristics are that the beginning year of significant warming for 1980s to 1990s was very different for the southern and the northern part of China.It is found that the stronger oscillation with 3-year period causes cooling in Northeast China in recent several winters.The experimental predictions show that the models used in the paper can project the major transition between high and low temperature periods.     

Patterns of decadal-scale Arctic warming events in simulated climate

Pronounced positive decadal-scale temperature anomalies occurred in the Arctic region in the first half of the twentieth century, an episode known as the early twentieth century warming (ETCW). Analyzing a 3,000-year unperturbed climate simulation performed with the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model, we demonstrate that internal variability of the Northern Hemisphere climate system is sufficient to reproduce warm events matching the observed ETCW. We perform a superposed epoch analysis on simulated data and identify 26 Arctic warming episodes compatible with the ETCW. The simulated events reproduce, in their ensemble average, magnitude as well as spatial and temporal extent of the observed ETCW. In individual realizations, the ETCW-like events indicate that different patterns of internally generated decadal Arctic warming are possible, including pan-Arctic warming events. We investigate the dynamics that typically lead to the simulated warming events: positive oceanic heat transport anomalies that form in the North Atlantic initialize the warming events and trigger an ocean-ice-albedo feedback in the Barents Sea region. The consequent reduction in sea-ice extent leads to enhanced multi-year surface warming through strengthened ocean heat release to the atmosphere. The oceanic heat transport anomalies reduce to pre-event levels around the year of the maximum warming. However, the warming events typically lasts for another 5–7 years until the sea-ice extent recovers to pre-event conditions.