Editorial Statement--Action and Policy

On 16 March 2004, we received an appeal from Dr. Qing WANG of the United States' Naval Postgraduate School questioning the legitimacy of the paper entitled, Modeling Marine Stratocumulus with a Detailed Microphysical Scheme, that was published by ZHAO Chunsheng and Yutaka Ishizaka in the January 2004 issue of the Advances in Atmospheric Sciences (AAS). She pointed out that the model described in the paper was developed by her group in which the first author, Dr. Zhao, worked as a visiting scholar during February 1997-February 1998. The authors should not have claimed in the paper that they developed the model. In particular, they should not have published her group's work as their own. Thus, Dr. Wang requested that the paper be retracted from AAS.     

Editorial: AAS Will Be Included in the SCI Database in 2009

We are very pleased to announce that our journal of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences （AAS） has been accepted for inclusion in the ＂Science Citation Index＂ （SCI） database beginning with its 2009 volume, as recently informed by Mr. Rodney Chonka, Editor of Physical, Chemical ＆ Earth Sciences of Thomson Reuters. We believe that this upgrade is a result of our many years editorial and community effort in improving the publication quality of AAS. It was preceded by important changes in editorial procedures in 2002, such as more strict quality control for English readability,     

The cost of flood damage in Nyngan

Four surveys were conducted to assess the cost of direct and indirect flood damage to the New South Wales town of Nyngan, which was inundated in the 4–6 hour period after its flood protection levees were breached on 23 April 1990. A survey of flood damage to 24 residential properties, 14 commercial properties and 6 public authority properties was made by personal inspection. Surveys of flood damage to other public properties, of the worth of the volunteer effort in the evacuation, clean-up and recovery phases of the disaster, and of the value of donated goods and money were made by telephone and letter. The results of all surveys are presented and discussed. The use of a computer model to estimate property damage throughout the flooded area is described. Finally, the total cost of flood damage in Nyngan ($47.3 million) is dissected by type of damage, property sector and community sector.     

伴随模式同化系统在修正模式地形中的应用

任何模式都只是实际大气的一种近似模拟，存在误差。鉴于传统的四维资料伴随模式同化系统都是假设模式完全正确仅对初始场进行修正。将伴随模式同化系统应用于修正模式地形误差，通过对不同初始地形的修正试验表明，MM5伴随模式同化系统能很好地对地形误差进行修正，能够反演出与初始气象要素场分辨率相匹配、与模式更协调的地形场，为伴随模式同化系统的广泛应用提供了一种新的思路。     

INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS

Advances in Atmospheric Sciences (AAS) is an international journal on the dynamics, physics, and chemistry of the atmosphere and ocean with papers across the full range of the atmospheric sciences, published bimonthly by Science Press, Beijing, China. The journal includes Articles, Note and Correspondence, and Letters. Contributions from all over the world are welcome.     

Editorial Statement

At the request of Dr. Hideharu AKIYOSHI of the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) of Japan and with the apology of Dr. ZHOU Libo for his misconduct, we hereby announce that the paper of "Middle-High Latitude N2O Distributions Related to the Arctic Vortex Breakup", authored by ZHOU Libo, ZOU Han, and GAO Yongqi, be retracted from Volume 23, No. 2, March 2006 of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences (AAS) on page number 215-223. This paper will not be considered as a published paper in AAS, and it will not appear in any future reference or record. In fact, this paper should not have been submitted for consideration for publication in AAS, because it was based on the scientific ideas and research previously     

Personal harm and support for climate change mitigation policies: Evidence from 10 U.S. communities impacted by extreme weather

A growing body of research examines the role of extreme weather experience—as one of the most personal, visceral (and increasingly frequent and severe) impacts of climate change—in shaping views on climate change. A remaining question is whether the experience of an extreme weather event increases climate change concern via experiential learning or reinforces existing views via motivated reasoning. Building on this work, we explore the relationship between personal experience and climate change policy preferences using surveys in 10 communities that experienced extreme weather events (3 tornadoes, 3 floods, 2 wildfires, 1 hurricane and 1 landslide). We find that self-reported personal harm aligns with objective measures of event impacts and that personal harm (i.e., experience) is associated with higher levels of policy support. However, we do not find that objective measures of event impacts are related to policy support. Though political ideology (i.e., motivated reasoning) dominates our model of policy support in predictable ways, personal harm moderates this relationship suggesting that conservatives reporting higher levels of personal harm from the event are, on average, more likely to express support for climate policy than those reporting lower levels of harm. We postulate that while extreme weather events may serve as teachable moments on climate change, their lessons may only reach conservatives who feel personally harmed, even in the communities most affected.     

Impacts of the Kuwait Oil Fires on the Mount Qomolangma Region

Mt. Qomolangma (also known as Mt. Everest), the world’s highest mountain, is situated over the world’s highest plateau, the Tibetan Plateau. Because of its height and because of its distance from industrialized areas, the environmental state of the Mt. Qomolangma region can normally be considered “undisturbed”. It is interesting to investigate how this “undisturbed” state has been changing with time and whether it has been influenced by large environmentally disruptive events such as the Kuwait oil fires of 1990 and 1991 (Small, 1991). In order to do this, riv-er water samples were collected from the Rongpu River at Rongpu Temple Station in the summers of 1992 and 1993, as was done in 1975, and aerosol samples were collected in the summer of 1992 at the same station as was done in 1980. River water samples were analyzed using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Aerosol samples were analyzed using proton-induced x-ray emission (PIXE) at the University of Fudan in Shanghai. The results show that the concentrations of chemical species in the river water at Rongpu Temple Station were much higher in the summer of 1992 than they were in 1975 and 1993, and the concentrations of atmospheric chemical species were much higher in 1992 than they were in 1980. The environment of the north slope of Mt. Qomolangma was therefore heavily polluted before and/or during the summer of 1992, possibly due to the Kuwait oil fires in 1990 and 1991.     

Personal experience with climate change predicts intentions to act

The public's willingness to engage in mitigation actions has not received as much attention as the level of belief in Global Warming (GW), especially on the international stage. Research in Western nations indicates that people systematically misunderstand GW and the actions required for mitigation. Important factors that influence judgments about mitigation actions include personal experiences, beliefs, knowledge, values, and worldviews. We present results of an international survey (25 samples from 24 countries) measuring general intentions to act and willingness to engage in specific actions. Our analysis reveals that endorsement of specific actions is (a) lower than general endorsement of mitigation, (b) accompanied by higher intra-individual variance, and (c) more strongly related to personal experiences with GW. This pattern can be attributed to the compatibility between the proximal construal of specific actions and the nature of the personal experience. Lastly we provide recommendations on how these findings can be used to encourage mitigation action.     

When worry about climate change leads to climate action: How values,worry and personal responsibility relate to various climate actions

The IPCC's report on Global Warming of 1.5°C positioned climate change as one of the most worrying issues mankind has ever faced. Although many people worry about climate change, there is still much unknown about the origins and outcomes of worry about climate change; particularly, whether and how it can motivate specific and personal climate actions. The current paper investigates this critical relationship with data from the European Social Survey Round 8 (44,387 respondents from 23 countries). As expected, the more individuals worried about climate change, the more likely they were to take and support climate action. Yet, the process through which this association occurred differed between actions. Specifically, worry was both directly and indirectly, via feelings of personal responsibility to reduce climate change, associated with climate policy support; whereas worry was mostly indirectly associated with personal climate mitigation behaviours, via personal responsibility. In addition, worry about climate change appears partly rooted in biospheric values (i.e., caring about nature and the environment), and biospheric values were also clearly, directly and positively related to personal climate mitigation behaviours. The relationships were highly consistent across countries but varied somewhat in size. The results show how generic feelings about climate change can directly and indirectly affect both climate policy support and personal climate mitigation behaviours, thereby providing critical insights for science and policy making.     

气旋爆发性发展产生的北方冬季雷暴天气分析

分析了１９９０年１２月２１日和１９９６年１２月３１日沈阳市出现的两次冬季雷暴天气过程,结果表明：这两次冬季雷暴天气都是由于气旋在短时间内爆发性发展所产生的。气旋的爆发性发展对我国北方除造成大范围降雪外,还可产生强对流天气。而气旋以“Ｕ”型路径移动,入渤海后迅速发展;８５０、７００ｈＰａ爆发性的增温增湿导致其以上气层出现潜在不稳定层结,是预报冬季雷暴的一个着眼点。此外,城市热岛效应对触发冬季雷暴也起     

Atmospheric Deposition of Trace Elements in Romania Studied by the Moss Biomonitoring Technique

The first systematic study in Romania of atmospheric pollution from heavy metals and other toxic elements based on moss analysis was undertaken as a Romanian–Russian–Norwegian collaboration, primarily in order to assess the general state of heavy metal pollution in Romania. An additional goal was to contribute to the European heavy metals in mosses survey, conducted under the auspices UNECE ICP Vegetation which reports to the Working Group of Effects of the Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution Convention. Samples of the moss species Hypnum cupressiforme, Hylocomium splendens and Brachytechium salebrosum and B. rutabulum were collected during the period 1995–2001. A total of 40 elements were determined using NAA and AAS. The total concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, copper, nickel, vanadium and zinc are presented in the form of contour maps. Generally, the observed concentrations in Romania are markedly higher than those observed in most other countries of Europe using the moss technique.     

Can developed economies combat dangerous anthropogenic climate change without near-term reductions from developing economies?

Developing economy greenhouse gas emissions are growing rapidly relative to developed economy emissions (Boden et al. 2010) and developing economies as a group have greater emissions than developed economies. These developments are expected to continue (U.S. Energy Information Administration 2010), which has led some to question the effectiveness of emissions mitigation in developed economies without a commitment to extensive mitigation action from developing economies. One often heard argument against proposed U.S. legislation to limit carbon emissions to mitigate climate change is that, without participation from large developing economies like China and India, stabilizing temperature at 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial (United Nations 2009), or even reducing global emissions levels, would be impossible (Driessen 2009; RPC Energy Facts 2009) or prohibitively expensive (Clarke et al. 2009). Here we show that significantly delayed action by rapidly developing countries is not a reason to forgo mitigation efforts in developed economies. This letter examines the effect of a scenario with no explicit international climate policy and two policy scenarios, full global action and a developing economy delay, on the probability of exceeding various global average temperature changes by 2100. This letter demonstrates that even when developing economies delay any mitigation efforts until 2050 the effect of action by developed economies will appreciably reduce the probability of more extreme levels of temperature change. This paper concludes that early carbon mitigation efforts by developed economies will considerably affect the distribution over future climate change, whether or not developing countries begin mitigation efforts in the near term.     

河南省区域暴雨的客观分型

从多层聚类分析入手,利用微机对１９８０～１９９５ 年河南省２１３ 场区域暴雨过程的５００ ｈＰａ 高度场进行客观分型,得出了４ 类天气形势及其与暴雨落区的对应关系。     

Applying personal carbon trading: a proposed ‘Carbon,Health and Savings System’ for British Columbia,Canada

Addressing climate change requires the synergy of technological, behavioural and market mechanisms. This article proposes a policy framework that integrates the three, deploying personal carbon trading as a key element within a policy portfolio to reduce personal carbon footprints. It draws on policy and human motivation literatures that address the behavioural changes that may be needed in the context of a long-term threat such as climate change. This proposal builds on an analysis of the British Columbia carbon tax, international examples of carbon pricing instruments and strategies for behavioural change such as social networks, loyalty management, mobile apps and gamification. Interviews were conducted with experts in financial services, energy conservation and clean technology, as well as with specialists in climate, health and taxation policy. Their input, together with a review of the theoretical literature and practical case studies, informed the proposed design of a Carbon, Health and Saving System for promoting individual engagement and collective action by linking long-term climate mitigation measures with short-term personal and social goals, including health, recreation and social reinforcement.

Policy Relevance

This article identifies areas for climate policy innovation and recommends policies that can support, promote and enable personal carbon budgeting and collective action. Although this study is focused on British Columbia, both the input provided by key opinion leaders and the proposed framework are applicable to other jurisdictions.

This policy proposal shows how personal carbon trading could work in the context of a Canadian province with an existing climate mitigation policy. It also specifies a minimum viable product approach to establishing the economic, social and technological foundations for personal carbon trading.

The Carbon, Health and Saving System identifies the technologies and stakeholders needed to implement personal carbon trading, and offers the possibility of motivating a widespread conscious human response in the event that carbon taxation proves insufficient to generate economic adaptation in a changing climate.     

The psychology of denial concerning climate mitigation measures: evidence from Swiss focus groups

Various studies of public opinion regarding the causes and consequences of climate change reveal both a deep reservoir of concern, yet also a muddle over causes, consequences and appropriate policy measures for mitigation. The technique adopted here, namely integrated assessment (IA) focus groups, in which groups of randomly selected individuals in Switzerland looked at models of possible consequences of climate change and questioned specialists as to their accuracy and meaning, revealed a rich assembly of reactions. Respondents were alarmed about the consequences of high-energy futures, and mollified by images of low-energy futures. Yet they also erected a series of psychological barriers to justify why they should not act either individually or through collective institutions to mitigate climate change. From the viewpoint of changing their lifestyles of material comfort and high-energy dependence, they regarded the consequences of possible behavioural shift arising from the need to meet mitigation measures as more daunting. To overcome the dissonance created in their minds they created a number of socio-psychological denial mechanisms. Such mechanisms heightened the costs of shifting away from comfortable lifestyles, set blame on the inaction of others, including governments, and emphasised doubts regarding the immediacy of personal action when the effects of climate change seemed uncertain and far away. These findings suggest that more attention needs to be given to the social and psychological motivations as to why individuals erect barriers to their personal commitment to climate change mitigation, even when professing anxiety over climate futures. Prolonged and progressive packages of information tailored to cultural models or organised belief patterns, coupled to greater community based policy incentives may help to widen the basis of personal and moral responsibility.     

Operationalizing the Adaptation Fund: challenges in allocating funds to the vulnerable

The Adaptation Fund of the Kyoto Protocol marks a change in the international climate change financing architecture due to its independence from official development assistance, direct access and the majority of developing countries in governance. A major goal of the Adaptation Fund is to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The presented analysis considers the results of operationalization of the fund between 2008 and 2010, and the role vulnerability had in the allocation of funds. The definition of ‘vulnerability’ remains broad and currently does not allow for a prioritization in the allocation of funds. Criteria like ‘level of vulnerability’ or ‘adaptive capacity’ still need to be specified. The possibilities for the Adaptation Fund Board to implement a vulnerability-oriented funding approach are limited by the legal basis of the Kyoto Protocol and the principle of a country-driven approach. The effective support of vulnerable communities primarily depends on the institutional capacities and the institutional arrangement at the national level and the quality of analysis the adaptation projects and programmes are based on.     

Waste energy recovery CDM projects in China: status,challenges and suggestions

The recovery potential for waste energy from major Chinese industries is significant. For example, the estimated waste energy recovery potential is 40 million tons of coal equivalent in the iron and steel industry, accounting for ～10% of the total energy use in the industry. A detailed overview is presented of existing waste energy recovery Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in China. These projects have been developed predominantly in large enterprises and rarely in small or medium-sized companies. The chance of waste energy projects being reviewed or rejected by the Executive Board is slightly higher and delivery rates of certified emission reductions are generally lower than other types of CDM projects. Several major barriers that inhibit project development are identified, such as the lack of CDM awareness or development capacity among many small or medium enterprises, low internal rates of return of the projects, increasing review risk and long delays in the registration process, the varying quality of intermediary buyers, a lack of local Chinese Designated Operational Entities, and policy implementation inconsistency at different levels. Suggestions are put forward to address these problems and such critical issues as additionality are also discussed.     

Climate change action as a project of identity: Eight meta-analyses

Identity can improve our understanding of personal climate action, particularly when climate action becomes an expression of a person’s self. However, it is unclear which kind of self or identity is most relevant. Building on a comprehensive series of eight meta-analyses (using data from 188 published articles, N = 414,282 participants) this research systematically compares how strongly climate-friendly intentions and behaviors are associated with place identity, personal connectedness to nature, environmental self-identity (i.e., personal self-definition as a pro-environmentally acting person), and social identity (i.e., identification with social groups). Results suggest robust, medium-sized to strong links of both pro-environmental intentions and behaviors to people’s nature connectedness (r = 0.44/0.52), environmental self-identity (r = 0.62/0.56), and identification with groups considered to support climate-friendly behavior (r = 0.48/0.51), but markedly weaker effects for identification with groups which are unrelated to environmental topics (r = 0.30/0.15) and for place identity (r = 0.18/0.32). Implications for policy interventions and psychological theory are discussed.