Insolation, Moisture Balance and Climate Change on the South American Altiplano Since the Last Glacial Maximum

Sediment cores from Lake Titicaca contain proxy records of past lake level and hydrologic change on the South American Altiplano. Large downcore shifts in the isotopic composition of organic carbon, C/N, wt.%C_org, %CaCO₃, and % biogenicsilica illustrate the dynamic changes in lake level that occurred during the past 20,000 years. The first cores taken from water depths greater than 50 meters in the northern subbasin of the lake are used to develop and extend the paleolake-level record back to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Quantitative estimates of lake level are developed using transfer functions based on the ¹³C of modern lacustrine organic sources and the ¹³C of modern sedimented organic matter from core-tops. Lake level was slightly higher than modern during much of the post-LGM (20,000–13,500 yr BP) and lake water was freshunder the associated outflow conditions. The Pleistocene/Holocene transition (13,500–7,500 yr BP) was a period of gradual regression, punctuated by minor trangressions. Following a brief highstand at about 7250 yr BP, lake level dropped rapidly to 85 m below the modern level, reaching maximum lowstand conditions by 6250 yr BP. Lake level increased rapidly between 5000yr BP and 4000 yr BP, and less rapidly between 4000 yr BP and 1500 yr BP.Lake level remained relatively high throughout the latest Holocene with only minor fluctuations (<12 meters). Orbitally induced changes in solar insolation, coupled with long-term changes in El Niño-Southern Oscillation variability, are the most likely driving forces behind millennial-scale shifts in lake level that reflect regional-scale changes in the moisture balance of the Atlantic-Amazon-Altiplano hydrologic system.     

Recent Progress in Studies of Climate Change in China

An overview of basic research on climate change in recent years in China is presented. In the past 100 years in China, average annual mean surface air temperature (SAT) has increased at a rate ranging from 0.03℃ (10 yr)-1 to 0.12℃ (10 yr)-1 . This warming is more evident in northern China and is more significant in winter and spring. In the past 50 years in China, at least 27% of the average annual warming has been caused by urbanization. Overall, no significant trends have been detected in annual and/or summer precipitation in China on a whole for the past 100 years or 50 years. Both increases and decreases in frequencies of major extreme climate events have been observed for the past 50 years. The frequencies of extreme temperature events have generally displayed a consistent pattern of change across the country, while the frequencies of extreme precipitation events have shown only regionally and seasonally significant trends. The frequency of tropical cyclone landfall decreased slightly, but the frequency of sand/dust storms decreased significantly. Proxy records indicate that the annual mean SAT in the past a few decades is the highest in the past 400-500 years in China, but it may not have exceeded the highest level of the Medieval Warm Period (1000-1300 AD). Proxy records also indicate that droughts and floods in eastern China have been characterized by continuously abnormal rainfall periods, with the frequencies of extreme droughts and floods in the 20th century most likely being near the average levels of the past 2000 years. The attribution studies suggest that increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere are likely to be a main factor for the observed surface warming nationwide. The Yangtze River and Huaihe River basins underwent a cooling trend in summer over the past 50 years, which might have been caused by increased aerosol concentrations and cloud cover. However, natural climate variability might have been a main driver for the mean and extreme precipitation variations observed over the past century. Climate models generally perform well in simulating the variations of annual mean SAT in China. They have also been used to project future changes in SAT under varied GHG emission scenarios. Large uncertainties have remained in these model-based projections, however, especially for the projected trends of regional precipitation and extreme climate events.     

Solar,volcanic, and CO2 forcing of recent climatic changes

The climate, as represented by the mean Northern Hemisphere temperature, has shown substantial changes within the past century. The temperature record is utilized as a means of elucidating the relative importance of anthropogenic CO₂ increase, volcanic aerosols, and possible solar insolation variations in externally forcing climate changes. Solar luminosity variations, suggested by observed solar radius variations on an ≈ 80 yr time scale, allow a self-consistent explanation of the hemispheric temperature trends. Evidence for solar influences on the climate is also found on the shorter 11 and 22 yr time scales present in solar activity cycles. The author is a staff scientist at the High Altitude Observatory, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. This work was completed while the author was a postdoctoral fellow in the Advanced Study Program of NCAR. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Increasing Flash Floods in a Drying Climate over Southwest China

In a globally warming world,subtropical regions are generally expected to become drier while the tropics and mid–high latitudes become wetter.In line with this,Southwest China,close to 25?N,is expected to become increasingly prone to drought if annual mean precipitation decreases.However,despite this trend,changes in the temporal distribution of moisture supply might actually result in increased extreme rainfall in the region,whose climate is characterized by distinct dry and wet seasons.Using hourly and daily gauge observations,rainfall intensity changes since 1971 are examined for a network of 142 locations in the region.From the analysis,dry season changes are negligible but wet season changes exhibit a significantly strong downward trend [-2.4%(10 yr)~(-1)],particularly during the past 15 years [-17.7%(10 yr)~(-1)].However,the intensity of events during the wettest of 5% hours appears to steadily increase during the whole period [1.4%(10 yr)~(-1)],tying in with government statistical reports of recent droughts and flooding.If the opposing trends are a consequence of a warming climate,it is reasonable to expect the contradictory trend to continue with an enhanced risk of flash flooding in coming decades in the region concerned.     

1961～2017年雅鲁藏布江河谷地区夏季气候暖干化趋势

基于1961～2017年青藏高原腹地雅鲁藏布江河谷地区4个站（拉萨、日喀则、泽当和江孜）夏季（6～8月）月平均气温、降水和相对湿度等观测资料,分析了该地区夏季气候年际和年代际演变特征,并探讨了气温、降水和相对湿度在年际和年代际时间尺度上的相互关系以及与总云量和地面水汽压的联系。结果表明:（1）1961～2017年该地区夏季气候出现了暖干化趋势。气温（相对湿度）显著升高（下降）,降水趋势变化不明显;本世纪初气温（相对湿度）均发生了显著的突变。（2）该地区夏季气候因子间在年际和年代际时间尺度上存在密切关系:气温与相对湿度和降水均存在明显的负相关,降水与相对湿度为正相关。（3）该地区夏季气候因子间的年际和年代际变化与同期总云量和地面水汽变化有关。1961～2017年总云量持续减少是气温显著升高的主要原因之一,气温的显著升高和降水变化不明显又造成了相对湿度的显著下降。     

Changing Spring Phenology Dates in the Three-Rivers Headwater Region of the Tibetan Plateau during 1960–2013

The variation of the vegetation growing season in the Three-Rivers Headwater Region of the Tibetan Plateau has recently become a controversial topic. One issue is that the estimated local trend in the start of the vegetation growing season(SOS)based on remote sensing data is easily affected by outliers because this data series is short. In this study, we determine that the spring minimum temperature is the most influential factor for SOS. The significant negative linear relationship between the two variables in the region is evaluated using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer–Normalized Difference Vegetation Index data for 2000–13. We then reconstruct the SOS time series based on the temperature data for 1960–2013.The regional mean SOS shows an advancing trend of 1.42 d(10 yr)~(-1) during 1960–2013, with the SOS occurring on the 160th and 151st days in 1960 and 2013, respectively. The advancing trend enhances to 6.04 d(10 yr)~(-1) during the past 14 years. The spatiotemporal variations of the reconstructed SOS data are similar to those deduced from remote sensing data during the past 14 years. The latter exhibit an even larger regional mean trend of SOS [7.98 d(10 yr~(-1) )] during 2000–13. The Arctic Oscillation is found to have significantly influenced the changing SOS, especially for the eastern part of the region,during 2000–13.     

Five millennia of paleotemperature from tree-rings in the Great Basin,USA

The instrumental temperature record is of insufficient length to fully express the natural variability of past temperature. High elevation tree-ring widths from Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) are a particularly useful proxy to infer temperatures prior to the instrumental record in that the tree-rings are annually dated and extend for millennia. From ring-width measurements integrated with past treeline elevation data we infer decadal- to millennial-scale temperature variability over the past 4,500 years for the Great Basin, USA. We find that twentieth century treeline advances are greater than in at least 4,000 years. There is also evidence for substantial volcanic forcing of climate in the preindustrial record and considerable covariation between high elevation tree-ring widths and temperature estimates from an atmosphere–ocean general circulation model over much of the last millennium. A long-term temperature decline of ~?1.1 °C since the mid-Holocene underlies substantial volcanic forcing of climate in the preindustrial record.     

利用R/S方法分析兰州城市化气候效应

运用R／S方法，对1951－1997年兰州市城市气候的温度、水汽压、相对湿度和日照百分率等指标的冬（1月）、夏（7月）及年平均值进行了分析计算，各项指标的Hurst指数H均大于0．5，说明它们存在明显的Hurst现象，反映出兰州市过去47年来气候变化存在趋势性成分，即持续性的城市化增暖，至于各项指标的Hurst指数在冬、夏及年平均值间有差异，分析证明这是兰州城市化气候效应强度季节不同所造成。     

澜沧江流域1951-2008年气候变化和2010-2099年不同情景下模式预估结果分析

利用澜沧江流域1951-2008年的降水和气温观测资料以及多模式集成的21世纪（2010-2099年）不同情景下（SRES A1B、SRES A2和SRES B1）气候变化模拟试验的预估结果,分析了该流域过去58年降水和气温的变化,并预估了未来90年的气候变化趋势。结果表明,在全球增暖的大背景下,过去58年澜沧江流域的年降水量下降了46.4 mm,气温有所上升,升温率达到了0.15℃/10a。在未来的90年,无论在哪种排放情景下,降水都表现为明显的上升趋势,而且相对于过去58年的结果,3种不同情景下降水的年代际变率都有所增加,其中A2情景值最大,B1情景值最小。年平均气温无论是在过去的58年还是在未来的90年都以明显的上升趋势为主,3种情景下气温的升温率远远超过过去58的结果。     

An analysis of the time scales of variability in centuries-long enso-sensitive records in the last 1000 years

We document the characteristic time scales of variability for seven climate indices whose time-dependent behavior is sensitive to some aspect of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The ENSO sensitivity arises from the location of these long-term records on the periphery of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Three of the indices are derived principally from historical sources, three others consist of tree-ring reconstructions (one of summer temperature, and the other two of winter rainfall), and one is an annual record of oxygen isotopic composition for a high-elevation glacier in Peru. Five of the seven indices sample at least portions of the Medieval Warm Period (~ A.D. 950 to 1250).Time series spectral analysis was used to identify the major time scales of variability among the different indices. We focus on two principal time scales: a high frequency band (~ 2–10 yr), which comprises most of the variability found in the modern record of ENSO activity, and a low frequency band to highlight variations on decadal to century time scales (11 <P < 150 yr). This last spectral band contains variability on time scales that are of general interest with respect to possible changes in large-scale air-sea exchanges. A technique called evolutive spectral analysis (ESA) is used to ascertain how stable each spectral peak is in time. Coherence and phase spectra are also calculated among the different indices over each full common period, and following a 91-yr window through time to examine whether the relationships change.In general, spectral power on time scales of ~ 2–6 yr is statistically significant and persists throughout most of the time intervals sampled by the different indices. Assuming that the ENSO phenomenon is the source of much of the variability at these time scales, this indicates that ENSO has been an important part of interannual climatic variations over broad areas of the circum-Pacific region throughout the last millennium. Significant coherence values were found for El Niño and reconstructed Sierra Nevada winter precipitation at ~ 2–4 yr throughout much of their common record (late 1500s to present) and between 6 and 7 yr from the mid-18th to the early 20th century.At decadal time scales each record generally tends to exhibit significant spectral power over different periods at different times. Both the Quelccaya Ice Cap ¹⁸O series and the Quinn El Niño event record exhibit significant spectral power over frequencies ~ 35 to 45 yr; however, there is low coherence between these two series at those frequencies over their common record. The Sierra Nevada winter rainfall reconstruction exhibits consistently strong variability at periods of ~ 30–60 yr.     

近60 a来全球河川径流量变化趋势及影响因素分析

基于全球2 894个流域的河川径流量、归一化植被指数（Normalized Differential Vegetation Index,NDVI）以及气温和降水量长期数据,发现年内月均径流量（MQ）呈上升、下降以及不显著变化趋势的流域比例分别为9.1%、12.4%和78.5%,年内最小月径流量（LQ）呈3种变化趋势的流域比例分别为24.1%、11.7%和64.2%,年内最大月径流量（HQ）呈3种变化趋势的流域比例分别为6.4%、13.6%和79.9%。在区域（大陆和纬度带）和全球尺度上,没有出现LQ下降和HQ上升变化趋势的现象,MQ下降与HQ下降联系在一起,MQ上升与LQ上升联系在一起,表明区域和全球尺度上水资源量及年内分配在过去60多年里是改善的。进一步分析发现,气候变化是导致水资源量和年内分配变化的主要因素。但与年内月极端径流量（LQ或HQ）变化不同的是,发生年内月极端径流量的月份大多发生了显著的改变,这个改变可能对社会和自然生态系统以及依靠自然节律的生产生活方式产生深远影响。     

Climate and the changing sun

Long-term changes in the level of solar activity are found in historical records and in fossil radiocarbon in tree-rings. Typical of these changes are the Maunder Minimum (A.D. 1645–1715), the Spörer Minimum (A.D. 1400–1510), and a Medieval Maximum (c. A.D. 1120–1280). Eighteen such features are identified in the tree-ring radiocarbon record of the past 7500 years and compared with a record of world climate. In every case when long-term solar activity falls, mid-latitude glaciers advance and climate cools; at times of high solar activity glaciers recede and climate warms. We propose that changes in the level of solar activity and in climate may have a common cause: slow changes in the solar constant, of about 1% amplitude.     

50年来中国沙尘暴的多时间尺度变化特征

采用中国强沙尘暴序列及其支撑数据集,对1958—2007年中国沙尘暴的时间序列进行小波分析,揭示了中国沙尘暴多时间尺度的复杂结构和总体变化趋势,给出不同时间尺度下沙尘暴变化的突变点,并对未来变化趋势进行了展望。结果表明：中国沙尘暴呈明显振荡式减少趋势,距平值在1985-1986年出现转折;50a中沙尘暴变化呈现从多到少的振荡形式,其减少趋势的振荡变化主要受6—8a和2～3a尺度变化的叠加影响,6～8a尺度变化出现了4次突变;1966、1985和2001年沙尘暴出现较强的变化是多时间尺度叠加的结果。2008年后的10～15a中,沙尘暴总体减少趋势将减缓,其平均值在1958-2007年平均值和1983-2007年平均值之间,2011年前后可能出现一个接近2001和2002年平均情况的峰值,随后仍和缓减少。     

Further-Adjusted Long-Term Temperature Series in China Based on MASH

A set of homogenized monthly mean surface air temperature(SAT) series at 32 stations in China back to the 19 th century had previously been developed based on the RHtest method by Cao et al.,but some inhomogeneities remained in the dataset.The present study produces a further-adjusted and updated dataset based on the Multiple Analysis of Series for Homogenization(MASH) method.The MASH procedure detects 33 monthly temperature records as erroneous outliers and152 meaningful break points in the monthly SAT series since 1924 at 28 stations.The inhomogeneous parts are then adjusted relative to the latest homogeneous part of the series.The new data show significant warming trends during 1924–2016 at all the stations,ranging from 0.48 to 3.57?C(100 yr)~(-1),with a regional mean trend of 1.65?C(100 yr)~(-1);whereas,the previous results ranged from a slight cooling at two stations to considerable warming,up to 4.5?C(100 yr)~(-1).It is suggested that the further-adjusted data are a better representation of the large-scale pattern of climate change in the region for the past century.     

URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO OBSERVED TEMPERATURE INCREASE AT WUHAN STATION, CENTRAL CHINA

Based on an in-homogeneity adjusted dataset of the monthly mean temperature, minimum and maximum temperature, this paper analyzes the temporal characteristics of Urban Heat Island (UHI) intensity at Wuhan Station, and its impact on the long-term trend of surface air temperature change recorded during 1961–2015 by using an urban-rural method. Results show that UHI effect is obvious near Wuhan Station in the past 55 years, especially for minimum temperature. The strongest UHI intensity occurs in summer and the weakest in winter. For the period 1961–2004, UHI intensity undergoes a significant increase near the urban station, with the increase especially large for the period 1988–2004, but the last 10 years witness a significant decrease, with the decrease in minimum temperature being more significant than that of maximum temperature. The annual mean urban warming and its contribution to overall warming are 0.18?C/10yr and 48.8% respectively for the period 1961–2015, with a more significant and larger urbanization effect seen in Tmin than Tmax. Thus, a large proportion warming, about half of the overall increase in annual mean temperature, as observed at the urban station, can be attributed to the rapid urbanization in the past half a century.     

Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum: an assessment based on a global synthesis and analysis of charcoal data

Fire activity has varied globally and continuously since the last glacial maximum (LGM) in response to long-term changes in global climate and shorter-term regional changes in climate, vegetation, and human land use. We have synthesized sedimentary charcoal records of biomass burning since the LGM and present global maps showing changes in fire activity for time slices during the past 21,000 years (as differences in charcoal accumulation values compared to pre-industrial). There is strong broad-scale coherence in fire activity after the LGM, but spatial heterogeneity in the signals increases thereafter. In North America, Europe and southern South America, charcoal records indicate less-than-present fire activity during the deglacial period, from 21,000 to ∼11,000 cal yr BP. In contrast, the tropical latitudes of South America and Africa show greater-than-present fire activity from ∼19,000 to ∼17,000 cal yr BP and most sites from Indochina and Australia show greater-than-present fire activity from 16,000 to ∼13,000 cal yr BP. Many sites indicate greater-than-present or near-present activity during the Holocene with the exception of eastern North America and eastern Asia from 8,000 to ∼3,000 cal yr BP, Indonesia and Australia from 11,000 to 4,000 cal yr BP, and southern South America from 6,000 to 3,000 cal yr BP where fire activity was less than present. Regional coherence in the patterns of change in fire activity was evident throughout the post-glacial period. These complex patterns can largely be explained in terms of large-scale climate controls modulated by local changes in vegetation and fuel load. The readers are requested to refer to the section “List of contributors” for the complete list of author affiliation details.     

Analysis of Sampling Error Uncertainties and Trends in Maximum and Minimum Temperatures in China简

In this paper we report an analysis of sampling error uncertainties in mean maximum and minimum temperatures （Tmax and Tmin） carried out on monthly,seasonal and annual scales,including an examination of homogenized and original data collected at 731 meteorological stations across China for the period 1951-2004.Uncertainties of the gridded data and national average,linear trends and their uncertainties,as well as the homogenization effect on uncertainties are assessed.It is shown that the sampling error variances of homogenized Tmax and Tmin,which are larger in winter than in summer,have a marked northwest-southeast gradient distribution,while the sampling error variances of the original data are found to be larger and irregular.Tmax and Tmin increase in all months of the year in the study period 1951-2004,with the largest warming and uncertainties being 0.400℃ （10 yr）-1 ＋ 0.269℃ （10 yr）-1 and 0.578℃ （10 yr）-1 ＋ 0.211℃ （10 yr）-1 in February,and the least being 0.022℃ （10 yr）-1 ＋ 0.085℃ （10 yr）-1 and 0.104℃ （10 yr）-1 ＋0.070℃ （10 yr）-1 in August.Homogenization can remove large uncertainties in the original records resulting from various non-natural changes in China.     

The African rain forest vegetation and palaeoenvironments during late quaternary

This review paper presents first the main pollen results on the vegetation history of the rain forest during the late Quaternary.- The Lake Bosumtwi record (Ghana) shows the disappearance of rain forest from the base of the core (ca. 28 000 yr BP) to ca. 9000 yr BP. During this time interval the vegetation was of montane type with sparse clumps of trees. There is synchronism between montane vegetation disappearance and rain forest reappearance. This phenomenon occurred abruptly around 9000 yr BP.- The Lake Barombi Mbo record (West Cameroon) shows clearly that from ca. 24 000 yr BP until the present time, rain forest persisted with limited variations, and thus, this area represents a refuge area.From these data and other, one concludes that Afromontane vegetation extended to lowland during cool and humid phases.Other palaeoenvironmental data were obtained by diverse geological analyses of the lacustrine sediments. For Bosumtwi, the relatively precise reconstruction of lake-level fluctuations permitted several palaeoclimatic interpretations for the main Holocene phases.For Barombi Mbo, the evolution of total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TON) seems to be related mainly to temperature evolution. By comparison with present-day mountain environments, TOC and TON increase in cool environments, but decrease when warmth and humidity increase, as during Holocene time, because the recycling processes speed up in the topsoil. For the same period the alteration of the soils in the catchment produced a strong increase of kaolinite. All these change intervened ca. 9500 yr BP, which is a key date in tropical Africa.In conclusion, climatic correlations between equatorial and dry north tropical Africa illustrate how changes in the forest block must have important effects on adjacent climatic zones.     

A preliminary study on the relationship between Arctic Oscillation and daily SLP variance in the Northern Hemisphere during wintertime

In the present study, the authors investigated the relationship between the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and the high-frequency variability of daily sea level pressures in the Northern Hemisphere in winter (November through March), using NCEP/NCAR reanalysis datasets for the time period of 1948/49-2000/01.High-frequency signals are defined as those with timescales shorter than three weeks and measured in terms of variance, for each winter for each grid. The correlations between monthly mean AO index and high-frequency variance are conducted. A predominant feature is that several regional centers with high correlation show up in the middle to high latitudes. Significant areas include mid- to high-latitude Asia centered at Siberia, northern Europe and the middle-latitude North Atlantic east of northern Africa. Theirs trong correlations can also be confirmed by the singular value decomposition analysis of covariance between mean SLP and high-frequency variance. This indicates that the relationship of AO with daily Sea Level Pressure (SLP) is confined to some specific regions in association with the inherent atmospheric dynamics. In middle-latitude Asia, there is a significant (at the 95% level) trend of variance of-2.26% (10yr)^-1. Another region that displays a strong trend is the northwestern Pacific with a significant rate of change of 0.80% (10 yr)^-1. If the winter of 1948/49, an apparent outlier, is excluded, a steady linear trend of 1.51% (10 yr)^-1 shows up in northern Europe. The variance probability density functions (PDFs) are found to change in association with different AO phases. The changes corresponding to high and low AO phases, however, are asymmetric in these regions. Some regions such as northern Europe display much stronger changes in high AO years, whereas some other regions such as Siberia show a stronger connection to low AO conditions. These features are supported by ECMWF reanalysis data. However, the dynamical mechanisms involved in the AO-high frequency SLP variance connection have not been well understood,and this needs further study.     

Global and regional variability in a coupled AOGCM

 The variability of near surface temperature on global and regional spatial scales and interannual time scales from a 1000 year control integration of the Hadley Centre coupled model (HADCM2-CTL) are compared with the observational record of surface temperature. The model succeeds in reproducing the observed patterns of natural variability, with high variability over the northern continents and low variability over much of the tropics. The model global mean variability has similar strength to observed global mean variability on time scales less than 20 years. The warming seen in the historical record is outside the range of natural variability as simulated in HADCM2-CTL. The model has El-Ni?o/Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-like behaviour with a central Pacific, peak to peak, strength of approximately 3 K. Changes in near surface temperature in the central Pacific are strongly correlated with changes in near surface temperature over most of the tropics, large regions of the extra-tropics and changes in tropical ocean upper 250 m heat content. Tropospheric temperature changes and tropical surface pressure changes are also strongly correlated with changes in the central Pacific surface temperature. Oceanic regions show significant departures from an AR1 or first order Markov behaviour in the Northwest Atlantic, Northwest Pacific and Arctic oceans. The Northwest Atlantic region has large amounts of variability over periods greater than 50 years. This variability is associated with a jump in the strength of North Atlantic meridional stream function. The spectra of the Western European and Continental US land regions are not significantly different from an AR1 process. The flow through the Drake Passage has an interannual standard deviation of approximately 2.5 Sv with significant departures from an AR1 process at time scales greater than 40 years. Winter northern hemispheric 500 hPa geopotential height shows some evidence of multiple regimes but no year to year persistence of these regimes. Received: 31 January 1996/Accepted: 22 July 1996