Uncertainty of ENSO-amplitude projections in CMIP5 and CMIP6 models

There is a long-standing debate on how the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) amplitude may change during the twenty-first century in response to global warming. Here we identify the sources of uncertainty in the ENSO amplitude projections in models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Phase 5 (CMIP5) and Phase 6 (CMIP6), and quantify scenario uncertainty, model uncertainty and uncertainty due to internal variability. The model projections exhibit a large spread, ranging from increasing standard deviation of up to 0.6 °C to diminishing standard deviation of up to − 0.4 °C by the end of the twenty-first century. The ensemble-mean ENSO amplitude change is close to zero. Internal variability is the main contributor to the uncertainty during the first three decades; model uncertainty dominates thereafter, while scenario uncertainty is relatively small throughout the twenty-first century. The total uncertainty increases from CMIP5 to CMIP6: while model uncertainty is reduced, scenario uncertainty is considerably increased. The models with “realistic” ENSO dynamics have been analyzed separately and categorized into models with too small, moderate and too large ENSO amplitude in comparison to instrumental observations. The smallest uncertainties are observed in the sub-ensemble exhibiting realistic ENSO dynamics and moderate ENSO amplitude. However, the global warming signal in ENSO-amplitude change is undetectable in all sub-ensembles. The zonal wind-SST feedback is identified as an important factor determining ENSO amplitude change: global warming signal in ENSO amplitude and zonal wind-SST feedback strength are highly correlated across the CMIP5 and CMIP6 models.

     

东北地区气候变化CMIP5模式预估

利用CMIP5的多模式集合资料,从时间变化和空间分布两方面分析了不同情景下(RCP2.6、RCP4.5、RCP8.5)中国东北地区未来100年的气候变化。结果显示:3种排放情景下,21世纪东北地区气温和降水呈显著增长趋势,中期和末期增幅较明显,冬季增幅高于其他季节,RCP8.5情景下气温增暖最为显著,RCP4.5次之,RCP2.6最小,随着年代的推移,气温和降水年较差逐渐减小;空间分布显示:3种排放情景下各个时期的增温分布形式基本一致,由南向北逐渐增大,辽宁南部增温幅度最小,最显著地区位于黑龙江大兴安岭;不同情景下气温变化率的分布形势略有不同,但均呈显著增温趋势;3种排放情景下降水距平百分率均为增加趋势,呈由东向西逐渐增大的经向分布特征;不同情景下的降水变化率分布形势相似,呈南大北小特征,辽宁地区增长最为明显,黑龙江西部地区增长相对较小。     

青藏高原未来气候变化预估:CMIP5模式结果

本文使用国际耦合模式比较计划第5阶段(CMIP5)中对青藏高原气候模拟较优的气候模式, 在RCP4.5中等偏低辐射强迫情景下对青藏高原未来气候变化进行了预估研究。结果表明, 青藏高原年均地表气温在2006~2100年的线性趋势平均为0.26℃/10a, 增暖幅度与海拔高度大体成正比;相比于1986~2005年参考时段, 2090年代平均升温2.7℃, 21世纪末期增温幅度明显高于早期和中期;在早、中和末期, 年均增温分别为0.8~1.3℃、1.6~2.5℃和2.1~3.1℃;各季节也均为变暖趋势, 其中冬季增温最大。对于年均降水来说, 未来百年将小幅增加, 集合平均趋势为1.15%/10a, 2090年代较参考时段增加10.4%;在早、中和末期的变化范围分别为-1.8%至15.2%、-0.9%至17.8%和1.4%至21.3%;季节降水也呈增加趋势, 夏季增幅明显高于其余三个季节且在21世纪末期较大, 青藏高原未来年均降水增加主要来自于夏季。需要指出的是, 上述预估结果在气候模式间存在着一定的差异, 未来气候变化的不确定性范围较大, 地表气温的可信度相对较高, 而降水的则偏低。     

8个CMIP5模式对中国极端气温的模拟和预估

利用8个耦合模式比较计划第五阶段（CMIP5）模式结果,采用加权平均方法进行多模式集合,并与NCEP再分析资料进行对比分析,评估了CMIP5模式对中国极端气温的模拟效果,在此基础上,对未来极端气温进行预估。CMIP5模式对中国8个极端气温指数和20年一遇最高（低）气温有模拟能力,所有极端气温指数模拟和观测结果的时间相关均达到0.10显著性水平,20年一遇最高、最低气温模拟和观测结果空间相关系数均超过0.98。在中等排放RCP4.5情景下,未来中国极暖（冷）日数增多（减少）,到21世纪中期热浪指数增加2.6倍,到21世纪末期寒潮指数减少71%,20年一遇最高（低）气温在中国地区均呈现升高趋势,局部升温幅度达到4℃。     

基于CMIP5资料的云南及周边地区未来50年气候预估

利用CRU(Climatic Research Unit)高分辨率观测数据及云南省124站资料,检验了参与IPCC AR5(政府间气候变化专门委员会第5次评估报告)的7个全球海气耦合模式(Coupled Model Intercomparison Program 5,CMIP5)及模式集合平均对云南及周边地区气温和降水的模拟性能,同时进行该区域不同温室气体排放量情景下2006~2055年的气候预估。结果表明:全球海气耦合模式对该区域气温和降水气候场空间分布、气温的线性趋势和春、夏季降水的年代际振荡特征具有一定的模拟能力,且模式集合能力优于单一模式,气温模拟优于降水模拟,但春、夏季的降水好于其他季节,使得全年的总降水好于秋、冬两季。对未来情景预估表明,研究区域未来50年气温呈现显著的线性上升趋势,降水量保持年代际振荡特征并有所增加,2020年之前我国云南及其南部区域将经历相对的干旱时期。     

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).     

Differences between CMIP6 and CMIP5 Models in Simulating Climate over China and the East Asian Monsoon

We compare the ability of coupled global climate models from the phases 5 and 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project(CMIP5 and CMIP6, respectively) in simulating the temperature and precipitation climatology and interannual variability over China for the period 1961–2005 and the climatological East Asian monsoon for the period1979–2005. All 92 models are able to simulate the geographical distribution of the above variables reasonably well.Compared with earlier CMIP5 models, current CMIP6 models have nationally weaker cold biases, a similar nationwide overestimation of precipitation and a weaker underestimation of the southeast–northwest precipitation gradient, a comparable overestimation of the spatial variability of the interannual variability, and a similar underestimation of the strength of winter monsoon over northern Asia. Pairwise comparison indicates that models have improved from CMIP5 to CMIP6 for climatological temperature and precipitation and winter monsoon but display little improvement for the interannual temperature and precipitation variability and summer monsoon. The ability of models relates to their horizontal resolutions in certain aspects. Both the multi-model arithmetic mean and median display similar skills and outperform most of the individual models in all considered aspects.     

基于CMIP5模式集合预估21世纪中国气候带变迁趋势

本文选用耦合模式比较计划第五阶段（CMIP5）数据,结合英国东英吉利大学气候研究中心（CRU）气温和降水资料,分析了中国20世纪末期气候带分布;以此为基础,模拟并分析了RCP2.6和RCP8.5两种情景下中国21世纪中期和末期气候带的变迁趋势。结果表明：CMIP5模式集合数据能较好地模拟出中国区域气温和降水空间分布形态,CRU分析资料描述的气候带分布与柯本气候分类吻合较好。21世纪中期、末期与20世纪末期相比,RCP2.6情景下,气候类型及分布变化并不显著,RCP8.5情景下,热夏冬干温暖型分别增加了28.2%（中期）、86.9%（末期）,草原气候分别增加了24.1%（中期）、49.4%（末期）。热夏冬干冷温型到21世纪末期有明显的增加,但苔原气候和沙漠气候类型所占比重减少。     

Comparison of precipitation projections of CMIP5 and CMIP6 global climate models over Yulin,China

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - This study compared precipitation projections of CMIP5 and CMIP6 GCMs over Yulin City, China. The performance of CMIP5 and CMIP6 GCMs in replicating Global...     

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.     

CMIP6 Evaluation and Projection of Precipitation over Northern China: Further Investigation

Based on 20 models from phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project(CMIP6), this article explored possible reasons for differences in simulation biases and projected changes in precipitation in northern China among the allmodel ensemble(AMME), “highest-ranked” model ensemble(BMME), and “lowest-ranked” model ensemble(WMME),from the perspective of atmospheric circulations and moisture budgets. The results show that the BMME and AMME reproduce the East Asian winter circulations better than...     

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.     

Climate change hotspots over South America: from CMIP3 to CMIP5 multi-model datasets

This study identifies possible hotspots of climate change in South America through an examination of the spatial pattern of the Regional Climate Change Index (RCCI) over the region by the end of the twenty-first century. The RCCI is a qualitative index that can synthesize a large number of climate model projections, and it is suitable for identifying those regions where climate change could be more pronounced in a warmer climate. The reliability and uncertainties of the results are evaluated by using numerous state-of-the-art general circulation models (GCMs) and forcing scenarios from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phases 3 and 5. The results show that southern Amazonia and the central-western region and western portion of Minas Gerais state in Brazil are persistent climate change hotspots through different forcing scenarios and GCM datasets. In general, as the scenarios vary from low- to high-level forcing, the area of high values of RCCI increase and the magnitude intensify from central-western and southeast Brazil to northwest South America. In general, the climatic hotspots identified in this study are characterized by an increase of mean surface air temperature, mainly in the austral winter; by an increase of interannual temperature variability, predominantly in the austral summer; and by a change in the mean and interannual variability of precipitation during the austral winter.     

Uncertainty in land surface temperature simulation over China by CMIP3/CMIP5 models

In this paper, China-based observations are used to evaluate the performance of 24 CMIP3 (phase 3 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) and 10 CMIP5 models in simulating land surface temperature (LST). It is found that all models can generally reproduce the climatology patterns of LST averaged during the period from 1960 to 1999. Further analyses of the regional features of LST show that the discrepancies between the observations and the simulations are smaller in Southwest and East China. Moreover, these models overestimate the temperatures in almost all areas, particularly in July. Although many models have large biases relative to the observations, the spread of the model results is large (i.e., >22 °C in Northwest and Northeast China). For the interannual variations, neither the individual models nor the multi-model mean has a remarkable positive correlation to the observations in the selected subregions. However, most models can capture geographic features during trend evaluations. A multi-model ensemble is believed to be an effective way to limit uncertainties, but the results suggest that its efficiency is restricted to simulating the LST trend. Examination of the surface energy budget indicated that the modeled discrepancies of net shortwave radiation and surface sensible heat flux may be responsible for the LST results, especially in July. It is concluded that the ability of current models in simulating LST over China is still a significant challenge. The spread of the models is large in simulating the climatology, interannual variation, and trend of LSTs. In general, the magnitudes of the spread may be as large as the magnitudes of the observations. Additionally, it is found that multi-model ensembles do not simulate LST with any more skill. Therefore, more work must focus on the limitations of the models' uncertainties in land surface research.     

Simulation and Projection of the Western Pacific Subtropical High in CMIP5 Models

This work examined the performance of 26 coupled climate models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 （CMIP5） in the simulation of the present-day temporal variability and spatial pattern of the western Pacifi c subtropical high （WPSH）. The results show that most models are able to capture the spatial distribution and variability of the 500-hPa geopotential height and zonal wind fi elds in the western subtropical Pacifi c, but with underestimated mean intensity of the WPSH. The underestimation may be associated with the cold bias of sea surface temperature in the tropical Indian and western Pacifi c oceans in the models. To eliminate the impact of the climatology biases, the climatology of these models is replaced by that of the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis in the verifi cation, and the models reproduce the WPSH’s enhancement and westward extension after the late 1970s. According to assessment of the simulated WPSH indices, it is found that some models （CNRM-CM5, FGOALS-g2, FIO-ESM, MIROC-ESM, and MPI-ESM-P） are better than others in simulating WPSH. Then, the ensemble mean of these better models is used to pro ject the future changes of WPSH under three representative concentration pathway scenarios （RCP8.5, RCP4.5, and RCP2.6）. The WPSH enlarges, strengthens, and extends westward under all the scenarios, with the largest linear growth trend projected in RCP8.5, smallest in RCP2.6, and in between in RCP4.5;while the ridge line of WPSH shows no obvious long-term trend. These results may have implications for the attribution and prediction of climate variations and changes in East Asia.     

Climate Sensitivity and Feedbacks of a New Coupled Model CAMS-CSM to Idealized CO_2 Forcing: A Comparison with CMIP5 Models

Climate sensitivity and feedbacks are basic and important metrics to a climate system. They determine how large surface air temperature will increase under CO_2 forcing ultimately, which is essential for carbon reduction policies to achieve a specific warming target. In this study, these metrics are analyzed in a climate system model newly developed by the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences(CAMS-CSM) and compared with multi-model results from the Coupled Model Comparison Project phase 5(CMIP5). Based on two idealized CO_2 forcing scenarios, i.e.,abruptly quadrupled CO_2 and CO_2 increasing 1% per year, the equilibrium climate sensitivity(ECS) and transient climate response(TCR) in CAMS-CSM are estimated to be about 2.27 and 1.88 K, respectively. The ECS is near the lower bound of CMIP5 models whereas the TCR is closer to the multi-model ensemble mean(MME) of CMIP5 due to compensation of a relatively low ocean heat uptake(OHU) efficiency. The low ECS is caused by an unusually negative climate feedback in CAMS-CSM, which is attributed to cloud shortwave feedback(λSWCL) over the tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean.The CMIP5 ensemble shows that more negative λSWCL is related to larger increase in low-level(925–700 hPa)cloud over the tropical Indo-Pacific under warming, which can explain about 90% of λSWCL in CAMS-CSM. Static stability of planetary boundary layer in the pre-industrial simulation is a critical factor controlling the low-cloud response and λSWCL across the CMIP5 models and CAMS-CSM. Evidently, weak stability in CAMS-CSM favors lowcloud formation under warming due to increased low-level convergence and relative humidity, with the help of enhanced evaporation from the warming tropical Pacific. Consequently, cloud liquid water increases, amplifying cloud albedo, and eventually contributing to the unusually negative λSWCL and low ECS in CAMS-CSM. Moreover, the OHU may influence climate feedbacks and then the ECS by modulating regional sea surface temperature responses.     

Relative performance of CMIP5 and CMIP6 models in simulating rainfall in Peninsular Malaysia

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - This study evaluated the skills of global climate models (GCMs) of the fifth and sixth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5 and CMIP6) in simulating...     

极端天气和气候事件的变化

自1950年以来的观测证据表明,有些极端天气和气候事件已经发生了变化。全球尺度上,人为影响可能已经导致极端日最低和最高温度升高;由于平均海平面上升,人类活动可能已对沿海极端高水位事件的增加产生了影响;具有中等信度的是,人为影响已导致全球强降水增加;由于热带气旋历史记录的不确定性、缺乏对热带气旋与气候变化之间关联的物理机制的完整认识及热带气旋自然变率的程度,将可检测到的热带气旋活动变化归因于人为影响仅具有低信度。将单一的极端事件变化归因于人为气候变化具有挑战性。对极端事件变化预估的信度取决于事件的类型、区域和季节、观测资料的数量和质量、基本物理过程的认知水平及模式对其模拟的可靠性。     

Response of Atmospheric Energy to Historical Climate Change in CMIP5

Three forms of atmospheric energy, i.e., internal, potential, and latent, are analyzed based on the historical simulations of 32 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5(CMIP5) models and two reanalysis datasets(NCEP/NCAR and ERA-40). The spatial pattern of climatological mean atmospheric energy is well reproduced by all CMIP5 models. The variation of globally averaged atmospheric energy is similar to that of surface air temperature(SAT) for most models. The atmospheric energy from both simulation and reanalysis decreases following the volcanic eruption in low-latitude zones. Generally, the climatological mean of simulated atmospheric energy from most models is close to that obtained from NCEP/NCAR, while the simulated atmospheric energy trend is close to that obtained from ERA-40. Under a certain variation of SAT, the simulated global latent energy has the largest increase ratio, and the increase ratio of potential energy is the smallest.