Regional Climate Change and Uncertainty Analysis based on Four Regional Climate Model Simulations over China

Four sets of climate change simulations at grid spacing of 50 km were conducted over East Asia with two regional climate models driven at the lateral boundaries by two global models for the period 1981–2050. The focus of the study was on the ensemble projection of climate change in the mid-21 st century(2031–50) over China. Validation of each simulation and the ensemble average showed good performances of the models overall, as well as advantages of the ensemble in reproducing present day(1981–2000) December–February(DJF), June–August(JJA), and annual(ANN) mean temperature and precipitation. Significant warming was projected for the mid-21 st century, with larger values of temperature increase found in the northern part of China and in the cold seasons. The ensemble average changes of precipitation in DJF, JJA, and ANN were determined, and the uncertainties of the projected changes analyzed based on the consistencies of the simulations. It was concluded that the largest uncertainties in precipitation projection are in eastern China during the summer season(monsoon precipitation).     

The Projection of Temperature and Precipitation over China under RCP Scenarios using a CMIP5 Multi-Model Ensemble

Climate changes in 21st century China are described based on the projections of 11 climate models under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios. The results show that warming is expected in all regions of China under the RCP scenarios, with the northern regions showing greater warming than the southern regions. The warming tendency from 2011 to 2100 is 0.06°C/10 a for RCP2.6, 0.24°C/10 a for RCP4.5, and 0.63°C/10 a for RCP8.5. The projected time series of annual temperature have similar variation tendencies as the new greenhouse gas (GHG) emission scenario pathways, and the warming under the lower emission scenarios is less than under the higher emission scenarios. The regional averaged precipitation will increase, and the increasing precipitation in the northern regions is significant and greater than in the southern regions in China. It is noted that precipitation will tend to decrease in the southern parts of China during the period of 2011-2040, especially under RCP8.5. Compared with the changes over the globe and some previous projections, the increased warming and precipitation over China is more remarkable under the higher emission scenarios. The uncertainties in the projection are unavoidable, and further analyses are necessary to develop a better understanding of the future changes over the region.     

Projections of annual mean air temperature and precipitation over the globe and in China during the 21st century by the BCC Climate System Model BCC_CSM1.0

Evaluating the projection capability of climate models is an important task in climate model development and climate change studies. The projection capability of the Beijing Climate Center (BCC) Climate System Model BCC CSM1.0 is analyzed in this study. We focus on evaluating the projected annual mean air temperature and precipitation during the 21st century under three emission scenarios (Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) B1, A1B, and A2) of the BCC CSM1.0 model, along with comparisons with 22 CMIP3 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 3) climate models. Air temperature averaged both globally and within China is projected to increase continuously throughout the 21st century, while precipitation increases intermittently under each of the three emission scenarios, with some specific temporal and spatial characteristics. The changes in globally-averaged and China-averaged air temperature and precipitation simulated by the BCC CSM1.0 model are within the range of CMIP3 model results. On average, the changes of precipitation and temperature are more pronounced over China than over the globe, which is also in agreement with the CMIP3 models. The projection capability of the BCC CSM1.0 model is comparable to that of other climate system models. Furthermore, the results reveal that the climate change response to greenhouse gas emissions is stronger over China than in the global mean, which implies that China may be particularly sensitive to climate change in the 21st century.     

CMIP6 Evaluation and Projection of Temperature and Precipitation over China

This article evaluates the performance of 20 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6(CMIP6)models in simulating temperature and precipitation over China through comparisons with gridded observation data for the period of 1995–2014,with a focus on spatial patterns and interannual variability.The evaluations show that the CMIP6 models perform well in reproducing the climatological spatial distribution of temperature and precipitation,with better performance for temperature than for precipitation.Their interannual variability can also be reasonably captured by most models,however,poor performance is noted regarding the interannual variability of winter precipitation.Based on the comprehensive performance for the above two factors,the“highest-ranked”models are selected as an ensemble(BMME).The BMME outperforms the ensemble of all models(AMME)in simulating annual and winter temperature and precipitation,particularly for those subregions with complex terrain but it shows little improvement for summer temperature and precipitation.The AMME and BMME projections indicate annual increases for both temperature and precipitation across China by the end of the 21st century,with larger increases under the scenario of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 5/Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5(SSP585)than under scenario of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 2/Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5(SSP245).The greatest increases of annual temperature are projected for higher latitudes and higher elevations and the largest percentage-based increases in annual precipitation are projected to occur in northern and western China,especially under SSP585.However,the BMME,which generally performs better in these regions,projects lower changes in annual temperature and larger variations in annual precipitation when compared to the AMME projections.     

Statistical Downscaling of FGOALS-s2 Projected Precipitation in Eastern China

A statistical regression downscaling method was used to project future changes in precipitation over eastern China based on Phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project （CMIPS） the Representative Concentration Pathway （RCP） scenarios simulated by the second spectral version of the Flexible Global Ocean- Atmosphere-Land System （FGOALS-s2） model. Our val- idation results show that the downscaled time series agree well with the present observed precipitation in terms of both the annual mean and the seasonal cycle. The regres- sion models built from the historical data are then used to generate future projections. The results show that the en- hanced land-sea thermal contrast strengthens both the subtropical anticyclone over the western Pacific and the east Asian summer monsoon flow under both RCPs. However, the trend of precipitation in response to warming over the 21 st century are different across eastern Chi- na under different RCPs. The area to the north of 32°N is likely to experience an increase in annual mean precipitation, while for the area between 23°N and 32°N mean precipitation is projected to decrease slightly over this century under RCP8.5. The change difference between scenarios mainly exists in the middle and late century. The land-sea thermal contrast and the associated east Asian summer monsoon flow are stronger, such that precipitation increases more, at higher latitudes under RCP8.5 compared to under RCP4.5. For the region south of 32°N, rainfall is projected to increase slightly under RCP4.5 but decrease under RCP8.5 in the late century. At the high resolution of 5 km, our statistically downscaled results for projected precipitation can be used to force hydrological models to project hydrological processes, which will be of great benefit to regional water planning and management.     

Projection of Water Availability in the Miyun Watershed from an RCM Simulation

Based on a high-resolution regional climate model (RegCM3) simulation over East Asia, future climate changes over the Miyun Reservoir in the 21st century under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A1B scenario are analyzed. The model simulation extends from 1951 to 2100 at a grid spacing of 25 km and is one-way nested within a global model of MIROC3.2_ hires (the Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate). The focus of the analysis is on the Watershed of Miyun Reservoir, the main water supply for Beijing in northern China. The results show that RegCM3 reproduces the observed temperature well but it overestimates precipitation over the region. Significant warming in the 21st century is simulated in the annual mean, December-January-February (DJF) and June-July-August (JJA), although with differences concerning the spatial distribution and magnitude. Changes in precipitation for the annual mean, DJF, and JJA also show differences. A prevailing increase of precipitation in DJF and a decrease of it in JJA is projected over the region, while little change in the annual mean is projected. Changes of the difference between precipitation and evapotranspiration to measure the potential water availability are also presented in the paper.     

Projections of Extreme Rainfall in Hong Kong in the 21st Century

The possible changes in the frequency of extreme rainfall events in Hong Kong in the 21st century wereinvestigated by statistically downscaling 30 sets of the daily global climate model projections (involvinga combination of 12 models and 3 greenhouse gas emission scenarios,namely,A2,A1B,and B1) of theFourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.To cater for the intermittentand skewed character of the daily rainfall,multiple stepwise logistic regression and multiple stepwise linearregression were employed to develop the downscaling models for predicting rainfall occurrence and rainfallamount,respectively.Verification of the simulation of the 1971-2000 climate reveals that the models ingeneral have an acceptable skill in reproducing past statistics of extreme rainfall events in Hong Kong.Theprojection results suggest that,in the 21st century,the annual number of rain days in Hong Kong is expectedto decrease while the daily rainfall intensity will increase,concurrent with the expected increase in annualrainfall.Based on the multi-model scenario ensemble mean,the annual number of rain day is expected todrop from 104 days in 1980-1999 to about 77 days in 2090-2099.For extreme rainfall events,about 90% ofthe model-scenario combinations indicate an increase in the annual number of days with daily rainfall 100mm (R100) towards the end of the 21st century.The mean number of R100 is expected to increase from 3.5days in 1980-1999 to about 5.3 days in 2090-2099.The projected changes in other extreme rainfall indicesalso suggest that the rainfall in Hong Kong in the 21st century may also become more extreme with moreuneven distributions of wet and dry periods.While most of the model-emission scenarios in general projectconsistent trends in the change of rainfall extremes in the 21st century,there is a large divergence in theprojections among different model/emission scenarios.This reflects that there are still large uncertainties inmodel simulations of future extreme rainfall events.     

Climate Changes in the 21st Century over the Asia-Pacific Region Simulated by the NCAR CSM and PCM

The Climate System Model (CSM) and the Parallel Climate Model (PCM), two coupled global climate models without flux adjustments recently developed at NCAR, were used to simulate the 20th century climate using historical greenhouse gas and sulfate aerosol forcing. These simulations were extended through the 21st century under two newly developed scenarios, a business-as-usual case (BAU, CO2≈710 ppmv in 2100) and a CO2 stabilization case (STA550, CO2≈540 ppmv in 2100). The simulated changes in temperature, precipitation, and soil moisture over the Asia-Pacific region (10°-60°N, 55°-155°E) are analyzed, with a focus on the East Asian summer monsoon rainfall and climate changes over the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Under the BAU scenario, both the models produce surface warming of about 3-5℃ in winter and 2-3℃ in summer over most Asia. Under the STA550 scenario, the warming is reduced by 0.5-1.0℃ in winter and by 0.5℃ in summer. The warming is fairly uniform at the low latitudes and does not induce significant changes in the zonal mean Hadley circulation over the Asia-Pacific do main. While the regional precipitation changes from single CSM integrations are noisy, the PCM ensemble mean precipitation shows 10%-30% increases north of ～ 30°N and ～ 10% decreases south of ～ 30°N over the Asia-Pacific region in winter and 10%-20% increases in summer precipitation over most of the region. Soil moisture changes are small over most Asia. The CSM single simulation suggests a 30% increase in river runoff into the Three Gorges Dam, but the PCM ensemble simulations show small changes in the runoff.     

Water Resources of the South Asian Region in a Warmer Atmosphere

The global mean surface temperature may rise by about 0.3oC per decade during the next Few decades as a result of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in the earth’s atmosphere. The data generated in the greenhouse warming simulations (Business-as-Usual scenario of IPCC) with the climate models developed at Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg have been used to assess future plausible hydrological scenario for the South Asian region. The model results indicate enhanced surface warming (2.7oC for summer and 3.6oC for winter) over the land regions of South Asia during the next hundred years. While there is no significant change in the precipitation over most of the land regions during winter, substantial increase in precipitation is likely to occur during summer. As a result, an increase in soil moisture is likely over central India, Bangladesh and South China during summer but a statistically sig-nificant decline in soil moisture is expected over central China in winter. A moderate decrease in surface runoff may occur over large areas of central China during winter while the flood prone areas of NE-India. Bangladesh and South China are likely to have an increase in surface runoff during summer by the end of next century.     

Future Projections of Precipitation Characteristics in East Asia Simulated by the MRI CGCM2

Projected changes in precipitation characteristics around the mid-21st century and end-of-the-century are analyzed using the daily precipitation output of the 3-member ensemble Meteorological Research Institute global ocean-atmosphere coupled general circulation model (MRI-CGCM2) simulations under the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2 and B2 scenarios. It is found that both the frequency and intensity increase in about 40% of the globe, while both the frequency and intensity decrease in about 20% of the globe. These numbers differ only a few percent from decade to decade of the 21st century and between the A2 and B2 scenarios. Over the rest of the globe (about one third), the precipitation frequency decreases but its intensity increases, suggesting a shift of precipitation distribution toward more intense events by global warming. South China is such a region where the summertime wet-day frequency decreases but the precipitation intensity increases. This is related to increased atmospheric moisture content due to global warming and an intensified and more westwardly extended North Pacific subtropical anticyclone, which may be related with an E1 Nin^-o-like mean sea surface temperature change. On the other hand, a decrease in summer precipitation is noted in North China, thus augmenting a south-to-north precipitation contrast more in the future.     

Climate Simulation and Future Projection of Precipitation and the Water Vapor Budget in the Haihe River Basin

The climatological characteristics of precipitation and the water vapor budget in the Haihe River basin (HRB) are analyzed using daily observations at 740 stations in China in 1951-2007 and the 4-time daily ERA40 reanalysis data in 1958-2001. The results show that precipitation and surface air temperature present significant interannual and interdecadal variability, with cold and wet conditions before the 1970s but warm and dry conditions after the 1980s. Precipitation has reduced substantially since the 1990s, with a continued increase of surface air temperature. The total column water vapor has also reduced remarkably since the late 1970s. The multi-model ensemble from the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has capably simulated the 20th century climate features and successfully reproduced the spatial patterns of precipitation and temperature. Unfortunately, the models do not reproduce the interdecadal changes. Based on these results, future projections of the climate in the HRB are discussed under the IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) B1, A1B, and A2. The results show that precipitation is expected to increase in the 21st century, with substantial interannual fluctuations relative to the models’ baseline climatology. A weak increasing trend in precipitation is projected before the 2040s, followed by an abrupt increase after the 2040s, especially in winter. Precipitation is projected to increase by 10%-18% by the end of the 21st century. Due to the persistent warming of surface air temperature, water vapor content in the lower troposphere is projected to increase. Relative humidity will decrease in the mid-lower troposphere but increase in the upper troposphere. On the other hand, precipitation minus evaporation remains positive throughout the 21st century. Based on these projection results, the HRB region is expected to get wetter in the 21st century due to global warming.     

Projection of Summer Precipitation over the Yangtze–Huaihe River Basin Using Multimodel Statistical Downscaling Based on Canonical Correlation Analysis

By using observational daily precipitation data over the Yangtze–Huaihe River basin, ERA-40 data, and the data from eight CMIP5 climate models, statistical downscaling models are constructed based on BP-CCA(combination of empirical orthogonal function and canonical correlation analysis) to project future changes of precipitation. The results show that the absolute values of domain-averaged precipitation relative errors of most models are reduced from 8%–46% to 1%–7% after statistical downscaling. The spatial correlations are all improved from less than 0.40 to more than 0.60. As a result of the statistical downscaling multimodel ensemble(SDMME), the relative error is improved from –15.8% to –1.3%, and the spatial correlation increases significantly from 0.46 to 0.88. These results demonstrate that the simulation skill of SDMME is relatively better than that of the multimodel ensemble(MME) and the downscaling of most individual models. The projections of SDMME reveal that under the RCP(Representative Concentration Pathway)4.5 scenario, the projected domain-averaged precipitation changes for the early(2016–2035), middle(2046–2065), and late(2081–2100) 21 st century are –1.8%, 6.1%, and 9.9%, respectively. For the early period, the increasing trends of precipitation in the western region are relatively weak, while the precipitation in the east shows a decreasing trend. Furthermore, the reliability of the projected changes over the area east of115?E is higher than that in the west. The stations with significant increasing trends are primarily located over the western region in both the middle and late periods, with larger magnitude for the latter. Stations with high reliability mainly appear in the region north of 28.5?N for both periods.     

The change of North China climate in transient simulations using the IPCC SRES A2 and B2 scenarios with a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model

This paper applies the newest emission scenarios of the sulfur and greenhouse gases, namely IPCC SRES A2 and B2 scenarios, to investigate the change of the North China climate with an atmosphere-ocean coupled general circulation model. In the last three decades of the 21st century, the global warming enlarges the land-sea thermal contrast, and hence, causes the East Asian summer (winter) monsoon circulation to be strengthened (weakened). The rainfall seasonality strengthens and the summer precipitation increases significantly in North China. It is suggested that the East Asian rainy area would expand northward to North China in the last three decades of the 21st century. In addition, the North China precipitation would increase significantly in September. In July, August, and September, the interannual variability of the precipitation enlarges evidentlv over North China. implying a risk of flooding in the future.     

CMIP5 simulated change in the intensity of the Hadley and Walker circulations from the perspective of velocity potential

Based on the simulations of 31 global models in CMIP5, the performance of the models in simulating the Hadley and Walker circulations is evaluated. In addition, their change in intensity by the end of the 21 st century(2080–2099) under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, relative to 1986–2005, is analyzed from the perspective of 200 h Pa velocity potential.Validation shows good performance of the individual CMIP5 models and the multi-model ensemble mean(MME) in reproducing the meridional(zonal) structure and magnitude of Hadley(Walker) circulation. The MME can also capture the observed strengthening tendency of the winter Hadley circulation and weakening tendency of the Walker circulation. Such secular trends can be simulated by 39% and 74% of the models, respectively. The MME projection indicates that the winter Hadley circulation and the Walker circulation will weaken under both scenarios by the end of the 21 st century. The weakening amplitude is larger under RCP8.5 than RCP4.5, due to stronger external forcing. The majority of the CMIP5 models show the same projection as the MME. However, for the summer Hadley circulation, the MME shows little change under RCP4.5 and large intermodel spread is apparent. Around half of the models project an increase, and the other half project a decrease. Under the RCP8.5 scenario, the MME and 65% of the models project a weakening of the summer southern Hadley circulation.     

Somali Jet Changes under the Global Warming

Somali Jet changes will influence the variability of Asian monsoon and climate. How would Somali Jet changes respond to the global warming in the future climate？ To address this question, we first evaluate the ability of IPCC-AR4 climate models and perform the 20th century climate in coupled models （20C3M） experiments to reproduce the observational features of the low level Somali Jet in JJA （June-July-August） for the period 1976 1999. Then, we project and discuss the changes of Somali Jet under the climate change of Scenario A2 （SRESA2） for the period 2005 2099. The results show that 18 IPCC-AR4 models have performed better in describing the climatological features of Somali Jet in the present climate simulations. Analysis of Somali Jet intensity changes from the multi-model ensemble results for the period 2005-2099 shows a weakened Somali Jet in the early 21st century （2010-2040）, the strongest Somali Jet in the middle 21st century （2050 2060）, as well as the weakest Somali Jet at the end of the 21st century （2070-2090）. Compared with the period 1976-1999, the intensity of Somali Jet is weakening in general, and it becomes the weakest at the end of the 21st century. The results also suggest that the relationship between the intensity of Somali Jet in JJA and the increment of global mean surface air temperature is nonlinear, which is reflected differently among the models, suggesting the uncertainty of the IPCC-AR4 models. Considering the important role of Somali Jet in the Indian monsoon and East Asian monsoon and climate of China, the variability of Somali Jet and its evolvement under the present climate or future climate changes need to be further clarified.     

Robustness of Precipitation Projections in China: Comparison between CMIP5 and CMIP3 Models简

Three sources of uncertainty in model projections of precipitation change in China for the 21st century were separated and quantified： internal variability,inter-model variability,and scenario uncertainty.Simulations from models involved in the third phase and the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project（CMIP3 and CMIP5） were compared to identify improvements in the robustness of projections from the latest generation of models.No significant differences were found between CMIP3 and CMIP5 in terms of future precipitation projections over China,with the two datasets both showing future increases.The uncertainty can be attributed firstly to internal variability,and then to both inter-model and internal variability.Quantification analysis revealed that the uncertainty in CMIP5 models has increased by about 10%–60% with respect to CMIP3,despite significant improvements in the latest generation of models.The increase is mainly due to the increase of internal variability in the initial decades,and then mainly due to the increase of inter-model variability thereafter,especially by the end of this century.The change in scenario uncertainty shows no major role,but makes a negative contribution to begin with,and then an increase later.     

Projection of Landslides in China during the 21st Century under the RCP8.5 Scenario

More and more rainstorms and other extreme weather events occur in the context of global warming, which may increase the risks of landslides. In this paper, changes of landslides in the 21 st century of China under the high emission scenario RCP8.5(Representative Concentration Pathway) are projected by using a statistical landslide forecasting model and the regional climate model RegCM4.0. The statistical landslide model is based on an improved landslide susceptibility map of China and a rainfall intensity–duration threshold. First, it is driven by observed rainfall and RegCM4.0 rainfall in 1980–99, and it can reproduce the spatial distribution of landslides in China pretty well.Then, it is used to forecast the landslide changes over China in the future under the RCP8.5 scenario. The results consistently reveal that landslides will increase significantly in most areas of China, especially in the southeastern, northeastern, and western parts of Northwest China. The change pattern at the end of the 21 st century is generally consistent with that in the middle of the 21 st century, but with larger increment and magnitude. In terms of the probability,the proportion of grid points that are very likely and extremely likely to experience landslides will also increase.     

Robustness of Precipitation Projections in China:Comparison between CMIP5 and CMIP3 Models

Three sources of uncertainty in model projections of precipitation change in China for the 21st century were separated and quantified: internal variability,inter-model variability,and scenario uncertainty.Simulations from models involved in the third phase and the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project(CMIP3 and CMIP5) were compared to identify improvements in the robustness of projections from the latest generation of models.No significant differences were found between CMIP3 and CMIP5 in terms of future precipitation projections over China,with the two datasets both showing future increases.The uncertainty can be attributed firstly to internal variability,and then to both inter-model and internal variability.Quantification analysis revealed that the uncertainty in CMIP5 models has increased by about 10%–60% with respect to CMIP3,despite significant improvements in the latest generation of models.The increase is mainly due to the increase of internal variability in the initial decades,and then mainly due to the increase of inter-model variability thereafter,especially by the end of this century.The change in scenario uncertainty shows no major role,but makes a negative contribution to begin with,and then an increase later.     

Future Precipitation Extremes in China under Climate Change and Their Physical Quantification Based on a Regional Climate Model and CMIP5 Model Simulations

The atmospheric water holding capacity will increase with temperature according to Clausius-Clapeyron scaling and affects precipitation.The rates of change in future precipitation extremes are quantified with changes in surface air temperature.Precipitation extremes in China are determined for the 21st century in six simulations using a regional climate model,RegCM4,and 17 global climate models that participated in CMIP5.First,we assess the performance of the CMIP5 models and RCM runs in their simulation of extreme precipitation for the current period(RF:1982-2001).The CMIP5 models and RCM results can capture the spatial variations of precipitation extremes,as well as those based on observations:OBS and XPP.Precipitation extremes over four subregions in China are predicted to increase in the mid-future(MF:2039-58)and far-future(FF:2079-98)relative to those for the RF period based on both the CMIP5 ensemble mean and RCM ensemble mean.The secular trends in the extremes of the CMIP5 models are predicted to increase from 2008 to 2058,and the RCM results show higher interannual variability relative to that of the CMIP5 models.Then,we quantify the increasing rates of change in precipitation extremes in the MF and FF periods in the subregions of China with the changes in surface air temperature.Finally,based on the water vapor equation,changes in precipitation extremes in China for the MF and FF periods are found to correlate positively with changes in the atmospheric vertical wind multiplied by changes in surface specific humidity(significant at the p<0.1 level).     

Projected potential vegetation change in China under the SRES A2 and B2 scenarios

The ability of seven global coupled ocean-atmosphere models to reproduce East Asian monthly surface temperature and precipitation climatologies during 1961 1990 is evaluated. January and July climate differences during the 2050s and 2090s relative to 1961-1990 projected by the seven-model ensemble under the Special Report on Emission Scenarios （SRES） A2 and B2 scenarios are then briefly discussed. These projections, together with the corresponding atmospheric CO2 concentrations under the SRES A2 and B2 scenarios, are subsequently used to drive the biome model BIOME3 to simulate potential vegetation distribution in China during the 2050s and 2090s. It is revealed that potential vegetation belts during the 2050s shift northward greatly in central and eastern China compared to those during 1961-1990. In contrast, potential vegetation change is slight in western China on the whole. The spatial pattern of potential vegetation during the 2090s is generally similar to that during the 2050s, but the range of potential vegetation change against 1961 1990 is more extensive during the 2090s than the 2050s, particularly in western China. Additionally, there exists model-dependent uncertainty of potential vegetation change under the SRES A2 scenario during the 2090s, which is due to the scatter of projected climate change by the models. The projected change in potential vegetation under the SRES A2 scenario during the 2090s is attributable to surface temperature change south of 35°N and to the joint changes of surface temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 concentration north of 35°N.