Opposing Southern Ocean Climate Patterns as Revealed by Trends in Regional Sea Ice Coverage

The 16.8 year sea ice record (November 1978 to August 1995) derived from satellite passive microwave data shows evidence of contrasting climate patterns in the Southern Ocean as indicated by persistent opposing trends in regional sea ice coverage. Southern Ocean regions adjoining the south Atlantic, south Indian and southwest Pacific Oceans show increasing trends in sea ice coverage, particularly during non-winter months, while regions adjoining the southwest Pacific Ocean show decreasing trends in sea ice coverage, particularly during summer months. The data are compiled from three successive passive microwave sensors from which two separate time-series are analyzed. The first includes the data originally released by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) which have not been significantly adjusted to account for differences in the successive sensors, while the second includes data recently released by NSIDC which have been rigorously adjusted (Cavalieri et al., 1997) to account for differences between sensors. Although the significance of many of the increasing trends detected in the original time-series decrease in the reanalyzed time-series, the overall pattern of contrasting trends remains evident. These trends have important implications for the southern hemisphere heat budget and surface albedo as well as for marine ecosystems associated with various sea ice habitats. Other evidence of contrasting climate patterns with respect to southern hemisphere atmospheric circulation is explored. Due to the relatively short sea ice record, it still remains to be seen whether these trends are natural decadel variation or indicative of global climate change. However, the persistent opposition in Southern Ocean regional ice coverage is noteworthy and may well be studied using global circulation models in order to better define potential positive and negative feedbacks for global change scenarios.     

Assessing the world's forests

Global environmental data have grown in abundance in recent decades: this paper reviews this growth in respect of forests. Assessments of world forests were undertaken at intervals during the 20th century, notably by FAO. Yet data problems persist: it is impossible, for example, to compile reliable time-series data for the global forest area. Assessment was initially geared to timber resources, and adaptation to include environmental concerns was slow. While methodologies have evolved, even the most recent global forest assessment has attracted criticism. It can be argued, however, that to focus only on the product of assessments (in terms of quantitative data) is to overlook their role as process. The process is a potentially significant instrument of global forest governance.     

Fixing marine governance in Fiji? The new scalar narrative of ecosystem-based management

Although there is widespread concern over degrading marine environments, there is debate within the global marine conservation agenda about the nature of the problem and appropriate solutions. At the center of this debate lie questions about the appropriate scale at which to plan and implement marine resource management. In the late 1990s, Fiji became recognized as one of the most successful examples of community-based marine resource management in the world. Recently, there has been a move to manage human–environment interactions at larger “natural” scales. We draw from the political ecology and “politics of scale” literatures, and a critical realist understanding of nature and politics, to explain the emergence of large-scale management and conservation in Fiji. We contribute to a “political ecology of scale” by developing the concept of a scalar narrative to show how social and ecological scales are reworked in the development of an ecosystem-based approach to marine management in Fiji. In doing so, we consider implications of the struggle to define the appropriate scale of marine management, which is closely bound to debates about the role of science and local participation. Our findings suggest that the struggle to define the scale at which marine management should be planned and implemented is inseparable from the struggle over who should define, inform, and conduct the governance process. We aim to clarify marine policy debates as policy actors worldwide move forward to implement ecosystem-based management, increase marine protected area coverage, and pursue sustainable development.     

北半球绕极涡的变异及其与我国气候异常的关系

本文利用近50 a大气再分析资料和中国站点观测资料,通过定义绕极涡的总体面积指数,分析了北半球绕极涡的变异特征及其与我国气候异常的关系,通过考虑绕极涡的局地变异和利用SVD分析方法揭示了绕极涡的局地变异与我国气候变异的关系。结果表明:北半球绕极涡的总体面积变异表现为一致性的扩张或收缩变化特征,近50 a来其总体面积具有收缩的趋势,这与全球增暖尤其是极区增暖有密切关系;叠加在这种趋势之上的既有年际变化又有年代际变化,主要周期大约是3~5 a和8~12 a。因此,研究绕极涡与我国气候的相关时分时间尺度来考虑更合理。北半球绕极涡的总体面积变异与我国气候异常的关系主要体现在年代际时间尺度上,当北半球绕极涡总体一致性收缩时,冬季我国大部分地区的气温都会随之变高,而降水偏多;夏季东北、华北、西南和华南地区气温偏高,降水偏少,而江淮流域气温偏低,降水偏多。反之亦然。北半球绕极涡的局地变异主要体现在西风带长波振幅的变异上,而其与我国气候异常的联系主要表现在年际时间尺度上,当东亚大槽减弱时,冬季我国中、东部大部分地区气温偏高,降水偏多;夏季江淮流域和四川盆地气温偏低,其它地区气温偏高,降水变化不明显。反之亦然。     

Regional sea level changes projected by the NASA/GISS Atmosphere-Ocean Model

Sea level has been rising for the past century, and coastal residents of the Earth will want to understand and predict future sea level changes. In this study we present sea level changes from new simulations of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) global atmosphere-ocean model from 1950 to 2099. The free surface, mass conserving ocean model leads to a straightforward calculation of these changes. Using observed levels of greenhouse gases between 1950 and 1990 and a compounded 0.5% annual increase in CO₂ after 1990, model projections show that global sea level measured from 1950 will rise by 61?mm in the year 2000, by 212?mm in 2050, and by 408?mm in 2089. By 2089, 64% of the global sea level rise will be due to thermal expansion and 36% will be due to ocean mass changes. The Arctic Ocean will show a greater than average sea level rise, while the Antarctic circumpolar region will show a smaller rise in agreement with other models. Model results are also compared with observed sea level changes during the past 40 years at 12 coastal stations around the world.     

Observed temperature evolution in the City of Sfax (Middle Eastern Tunisia) for the period 1950–2007

This paper studies temperature evolution in the city of Sfax (Middle Eastern Tunisia, with more than 600 000 people) from 1950 to 2007. Daily maximum and minimum temperatures recorded at Sfax observatory from 1950 to 2007 are analysed by studying their homogeneity, possible trends and their statistical significance. Linear regression, Student and Mann–Kendall trend test were applied to annual mean minimum and maximum temperature data to determine the existence and significance of trends. Using a number of statistical tests, it is found that the data measured at the surface station represent a non homogenous time-series. Furthermore, mean annual and monthly temperatures are evaluated and a statistically significant trend starting from year 1950 was found. Important increase of the surface temperature in the City of Sfax was found after 1984. The increase in the surface temperature in the city of Sfax is further associated with global, regional (e.g. Mediterranean area) and meso-scale temperature increase. In addition, the spatial pattern of surface temperature in the city of Sfax from 1982 to 2007 shows that the overall land surface temperature increased with the expansion of Urban Heat Island (UHI) from urban areas to suburban districts.     

Linking global and local scales: designing dynamic assessment and management processes

This paper identifies challenges inherent in addressing multi-scale environmental problems, and outlines tentative guidelines for addressing such challenges and linking science and policy across scales. The study and practice of environmental assessment and management increasingly recognize the importance of scale and cross-scale dynamics in understanding and addressing global environmental change. These ongoing efforts, however, lack a systematic way of thinking about and addressing the challenges involved in integrating science and policy across multiple scales, for example, in the design of policy-relevant, scientific assessments of problems such as climate change. These challenges include matching scales of biogeophysical systems with scales of management systems, avoiding scale discordance (matching the scale of the assessment with the scale of management), and accounting for cross-scale dynamics. In this paper we propose tentative guidelines for meeting such challenges for both assessors and decision-makers: (1) utilize boundary organizations — institutions which serve to mediate between scientists and decision-makers, and between these actors at different scales; (2) utilize scale-dependent comparative advantages — coordinating the allocation of resources, technical expertise, and decision-making authority to best capitalize on scale-specific capabilities; and (3) employ adaptive assessment and management strategies — constructing long-term, iterative, experiment-based processes of integrated assessment and management.     

Comparison between linear and nonlinear trends in NOAA-15 AMSU-A brightness temperatures during 1998–2010

Brightness temperature observations from Microwave Sounding Unit and Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A) on board National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites have been widely utilized for estimating the global climate trend in the troposphere and stratosphere. A common approach for deriving the trend is?linear regression, which implicitly assumes the trend being a straight line over the whole length of a time series and is often highly sensitive to the data record length. This study explores a new adaptive and temporally local data analysis method—Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD)—for estimating the global trends. In EEMD, a non-stationary time series is decomposed adaptively and locally into a sequence of amplitude-frequency modulated oscillatory components and a time-varying trend. The AMSU-A data from the NOAA-15 satellite over the time period from October 26, 1998 to August 7, 2010 are employed for this study. Using data over Amazon rainforest areas, it is shown that channel 3 is least sensitive to the orbital drift among four AMSU-A surface sensitive channels. The decadal trends of AMSU-A channel 3 and other eight channels in the troposphere and stratosphere are deduced and compared using both methods. It is shown that the decadal climate trends of most AMSU-A channels are nonlinear except for channels 3–4 in Northern Hemisphere only and channels 12–13. Although the decadal trend variation of the global average brightness temperature is no more than 0.2?K, the regional decadal trend variation could be more (less) than 3?K (?3?K) in high latitudes and over high terrains.     

Uncertainty estimation of the global temperature trends for multiple radiosondes, reanalyses, and CMIP3/IPCC climate model simulations

Based on three groups of datasets that include radiosondes, reanalyses, and climate model simulations (e.g., Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, CMIP3) from 1979 to 2008, the interannual variability, global temperature trends, and their uncertainty using ensemble spread among intra-group and inter-group datasets have been discussed. The results show that the interannual temperature variability increased from the troposphere to stratosphere, and the maximum occurs around 50?hPa. The CMIP3 climate models have the largest discrepancy in the stratosphere. The intra-group correlations at 500?hPa generally show high similarity within each data group while the inter-group correlations between reanalyses and the CMIP3 climate model simulations indicate lesser similarity. In contrast, the inter-group correlation at 50?hPa is improved except with the Japanese 25-year Reanalysis Project (JRA-25) dataset, and the Twentieth Century Reanalysis (20CR) reanalysis shows a weak cross correlation. The global temperature trends are highly dependent on the individual data sources. Compared to the radiosondes, the reanalyses show a large ensemble spread of trends in the stratosphere, and the CMIP3 climate model simulations have a large ensemble spread in the height of the crossover point where tropospheric warming changes into stratospheric cooling. The largest ensemble spread among the reanalyses in the stratosphere is mainly from the large discrepancy in the JRA-25 reanalysis after 1998 and a relatively weak anomaly in the 20CR before 1986. The largest ensemble spread among the CMIP3 climate models in the troposphere is related to the influence of both volcanic eruptions and El Ni?o/La Ni?a–Southern Oscillation events. The strong anomalies corresponding to the volcanic eruptions of El Chichon in 1982 and Mt Pinatubo in 1991 are clearly identified in the stratosphere. These volcanic eruptions reduced the warming in the troposphere and strengthened the cooling in the stratosphere during the most recent 30?years.     

Social and ecological effectiveness of large marine protected areas

Large marine protected areas are increasingly being established to meet global conservation targets and promote sustainable use of resources. Although the factors affecting the performance of small-scale marine protected areas are relatively well studied, there is no such body of knowledge for large marine protected areas. We conducted a global meta-analysis to systematically investigate social, ecological, and governance characteristics of successful large marine protected areas with respect to several social and ecological outcomes. We included all large (>10,000 km²), implemented (>5 years of active management) marine protected areas that had sufficient data for analysis, for a total of twelve cases. We used the Social-Ecological Systems Meta-Analysis Database, and a consistent protocol for using secondary data and key informant interviews, to code proxies for fisheries, ecosystem health, and the wellbeing of user groups (mainly fishers). We tested four sets of hypotheses derived from the literature on small-scale marine protected areas and common-pool resources: (i) the attributes of species and ecosystems to be managed in the marine protected area, (ii) adherence to principles for designing small-scale marine protected areas, (iii) adherence to the design principles for common-pool resource management, and (iv) stakeholder participation. We found varying levels of support for these hypotheses. Improved fisheries were associated with older marine protected areas, and higher levels of enforcement. Declining fisheries were associated with several ecological and economic factors, including low productivity, high mobility, and high market value. High levels of participation were correlated with improvements in wellbeing and ecosystem health trends. Overall, this study constitutes an important first step in identifying factors affecting social wellbeing and ecological performance of large marine protected areas.     

The semiannual oscillation and Antarctic climate, part 5: impact on the annual temperature cycle as derived from NCEP/NCAR re-analysis

We use NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data to study the impact of the semiannual oscillation (SAO) on the annual cycle of Antarctic near-surface temperature. When the SAO is weak, the contracted phases (March/April and September/October) are warm and the expanded phases (December/January and June/July) cold. This pattern is explained in terms of the changing meridional fetch of the circumpolar pressure trough. Because of the wave number three character of the SAO, large regional deviations are found. For instance, enhanced north-westerly flow in the second expansion phase (June/July) of weak SAO years limits the growth of the sea ice in the Amundsen and Bellingshausen seas, leading to anomalously high temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula region. The short (<50 year) temperature records at Antarctic stations still carry the fingerprint of decadal SAO variability. By matching the observed monthly temperature trends to the patterns derived from the gridded re-analysis, we propose a background Antarctic warming trend for the second expansion phase (June/July) of 4.62 ± 1.02 °C per century, four times the annual value. Received: 23 August 1999 / Accepted: 28 October 1999     

Recent trends in regional air temperature and precipitation and links to global climate change in the Maharlo watershed,Southwestern Iran

Trends in air temperature and precipitation data are investigated for linkages to global warming and climate change. After checking for serial correlation with trend-free pre-whitening procedure, the Mann–Kendall test is used to detect monotonic trends and the Mann–Whitney test is used for trend step change. The case study is Maharlo watershed, Southwestern Iran, representing a semi-arid environment. Data are for the 1951–2011 period, from four temperature sites and seven precipitation sites. A homogeneity test investigates regional similarity of the time series data. The results include mean annual, mean annual maximum and minimum and seasonal analysis of air temperature and precipitation data. Mean annual temperature results indicate an increasing trend, while a non-significant trend in precipitation is observed in all the stations. Furthermore, significant phase change was detected in mean annual air temperature trend of Shiraz station in 1977, indicating decreasing trend during 1951–1976 and increasing trend during 1977–2011. The annual precipitation analysis for Shiraz shows a non-significant decrease during 1951–1976 and 1977–2011. The result of homogeneity test reveals that the studied stations form one homogeneous region. While air temperature trends appear as regional linkage to global warming/global climate change, more definite outcome requires analysis of longer time series data on precipitation and air temperature.     

Greening in the circumpolar high-latitude may amplify warming in the growing season

We present a study that suggests greening in the circumpolar high-latitude regions amplifies surface warming in the growing season (May–September) under enhanced greenhouse conditions. The investigation used a series of climate simulations with the Community Atmospheric Model version 3—which incorporates a coupled, dynamic global vegetation model—with and without vegetation feedback, under both present and doubled CO₂ concentrations. Results indicate that climate warming and associated changes promote circumpolar greening with northward expansion and enhanced greenness of both the Arctic tundra and boreal forest regions. This leads to additional surface warming in the high-latitudes in the growing season, primarily through more absorption of incoming solar radiation. The resulting surface and tropospheric warming in the high-latitude and Arctic regions weakens prevailing tropospheric westerlies over 45–70N, leading to the formation of anticyclonic pressure anomalies in the Arctic regions. These pressure anomalies resemble the anomalous circulation pattern during the negative phase of winter Arctic Oscillation. It is suggested that these circulation anomalies reinforce the high-latitude and Arctic warming in the growing season.     

The role of global dietary transitions for safeguarding biodiversity

Diets lower in meat could reduce agricultural expansion and intensification thereby reducing biodiversity impacts. However, land use requirements, associated with alternate diets, in biodiverse regions across different taxa are not fully understood. We use a spatially explicit global food and land system model to address this gap. We quantify land-use change in locations important for biodiversity across taxa and find diets low in animal products reduce agricultural expansion and intensity in regions with high biodiversity. Reducing ruminant meat consumption alone however was not sufficient to reduce fertiliser and irrigation application in biodiverse locations. The results differed according to taxa, emphasising that land-use change effects on biodiversity will be taxon specific. The links shown between global meat consumption and agricultural expansion and intensification in the biodiverse regions of the world indicates the potential to help safeguard biodiverse natural ecosystems through dietary change.     

Linking vulnerability, adaptation, and resilience science to practice: Pathways, players, and partnerships

Vulnerability, adaptation and resilience are concepts that are finding increasing currency in several fields of research as well as in various policy and practitioner communities engaged in global environmental change science, climate change, sustainability science, disaster risk-reduction and famine interventions. As scientists and practitioners increasingly work together in this arena a number of questions are emerging: What is credible, salient and legitimate knowledge, how is this knowledge generated and how is it used in decision making? Drawing on important science in this field, and including a case study from southern Africa, we suggest an alternative mode of interaction to the usual one-way interaction between science and practice often used. In this alternative approach, different experts, risk-bearers, and local communities are involved and knowledge and practice is contested, co-produced and reflected upon. Despite some successes in the use and negotiation of such knowledge for ‘real’ world issues, a number of problems persist that require further investigation including the difficulties of developing consensus on the methodologies used by a range of stakeholders usually across a wide region (as the case study of southern Africa shows, particularly in determining and identifying vulnerable groups, sectors, and systems); slow delivery of products that could enhance resilience to change that reflects not only a lack of data, and need for scientific credibility, but also the time-consuming process of coming to a negotiated understanding in science–practice interactions and, finally, the need to clarify the role of ‘external’ agencies, stakeholders, and scientists at the outset of the dialogue process and subsequent interactions. Such factors, we argue, all hinder the use of vulnerability and resilience ‘knowledge’ that is being generated and will require much more detailed investigation by both producers and users of such knowledge.     

Linking regional stakeholder scenarios and shared socioeconomic pathways: Quantified West African food and climate futures in a global context

The climate change research community’s shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) are a set of alternative global development scenarios focused on mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. To use these scenarios as a global context that is relevant for policy guidance at regional and national levels, they have to be connected to an exploration of drivers and challenges informed by regional expertise.In this paper, we present scenarios for West Africa developed by regional stakeholders and quantified using two global economic models, GLOBIOM and IMPACT, in interaction with stakeholder-generated narratives and scenario trends and SSP assumptions. We present this process as an example of linking comparable scenarios across levels to increase coherence with global contexts, while presenting insights about the future of agriculture and food security under a range of future drivers including climate change.In these scenarios, strong economic development increases food security and agricultural development. The latter increases crop and livestock productivity leading to an expansion of agricultural area within the region while reducing the land expansion burden elsewhere. In the context of a global economy, West Africa remains a large consumer and producer of a selection of commodities. However, the growth in population coupled with rising incomes leads to increases in the region’s imports. For West Africa, climate change is projected to have negative effects on both crop yields and grassland productivity, and a lack of investment may exacerbate these effects. Linking multi-stakeholder regional scenarios to the global SSPs ensures scenarios that are regionally appropriate and useful for policy development as evidenced in the case study, while allowing for a critical link to global contexts.     

Context and climate change: an integrated assessment for Barrow, Alaska

An intensive approach to Barrow, Alaska’s adaptations to climate change and variability during recent decades suggests reconsideration of the interconnected roles of science, policy, and decision-making structures. First, profound uncertainties are inherent in unique interactions among the many natural and human factors affecting Barrow’s vulnerability. Science cannot significantly reduce these uncertainties through extensive approaches, but intensive approaches can reconstruct and update local trends, clarify the underlying dynamics, and harvest experience for policy purposes. Second, sound policies to reduce Barrow’s vulnerability to coastal erosion and flooding must incorporate these profound uncertainties and the multiple values of the community. Minimizing vulnerability to climate change is only one of the community’s interests, and must compete with other interests for limited time, attention, funds and other resources. Third, the community itself is in the best position to understand its own context, to decide on sound policies, and to take responsibility for those decisions. In short, local context matters in science, policy, and decision-making structures for adaptation to climate change and variability. Overall, cognitive constraints may be the most important human dimension of climate change. Factoring the global problem into more tractable local problems would make the most of our cognitive capacity.     

A note on climate change adaptation for seaports: a challenge for global ports, a challenge for global society

With 80 % of world trade carried by sea, seaports provide crucial linkages in global supply-chains and are essential for the ability of all countries to access global markets. Seaports are likely to be affected directly and indirectly by climatic changes, with broader implications for international trade and development. Due to their coastal location, seaports are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events associated with increasing sea levels and tropical storm activity, as illustrated by hurricane “Sandy”. In view of their strategic role as part of the globalized trading system, adapting ports in different parts of the world to the impacts of climate change is of considerable importance. Reflecting the views of a diverse group of stakeholders with expertise in climate science, engineering, economics, policy, and port management, this essay highlights the climate change challenge for ports and suggests a way forward through the adoption of some initial measures. These include both “soft” and “hard” adaptations that may be spearheaded by individual port entities, but will require collaboration and support from a broad range of public and private sector stakeholders and from society at large. In particular, the essay highlights a need to shift to more holistic planning, investment and operation.     

Assessment of global meteorological,hydrological and agricultural drought under future warming based on CMIP6

在全球变暖背景下,分析和预测干旱的变化趋势和传播规律对于区域生态环境安全和灾害管理具有重要意义.本文基于第六次国际耦合模式比较计划(CMIP6),分析了SSP2-4.5和SSP5-8.5两种变暖情景下的气象(标准化降水指数SPI和标准化降水蒸发指数SPED,水文(标准化径流指数SRI)和农业(标准化土壤水分指数SSI)...