Recent warming amplification over high elevation regions across the globe

Despite numerous studies in recent decades, our understanding of whether warming amplification is prevalent in high-elevation regions remains uncertain. In this work, on the basis of annual mean temperature series (1961–2010) of 2,367 stations around the globe, we examine both altitudinal amplification and regional amplification in the high elevation regions across the globe using new methodology. We develop the function equations of warming components of altitude, latitude and longitude and station warming rates for individual stations within a high-elevation region based on basic mathematic and physical principles, and find a significant altitudinal amplification trend for the Tibetan Plateau, Loess Plateau, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Alps, United States Rockies, Appalachian Mountains, South American Andes and Mongolian Plateau. At the same time, we detect a greater warming for four high-elevation regions than their low elevation counterparts for the paired regions available. These suggest that warming amplification in high-elevation regions is an intrinsic feature of recent global warming.     

有限区域内球谐展开的误差分析

以500 hPa高度场为例在有限区域内进行球谐函数的展开。结果表明:当纬向截点数L为64，且经圈截点为32时，对应于波数M=L/2=32的球谐展开误差最小。这时对4种有限区域计算的谱展前后的均方根误差都小于2.5位势米（0.04%），最大绝对误差都小于14位势米（0.23%）。有限区域谱展前后的均方根误差比全球范围的相应值要小2—3位势米，这主要是由于有限区域内纬向格距较小的缘故。     

全球热浪人口暴露度预估——基于热应力指数

气候变化导致全球热浪灾害事件频发。湿球黑球温度综合考虑了温度和湿度协同作用,相较于单独的温度指标更能表征热浪对人类社会的影响。基于该指数定义热浪,利用CMIP5多模式温度和相对湿度模拟数据以及SSP3人口数据,量化并分析了未来全球及区域尺度热浪的人口暴露度变化以及造成暴露度变化的各因素的贡献率。结果表明：(1)过去(1986—2005年)暴露度的分布主要受人口分布的影响,印度次大陆以及中国东部、东南沿海地区是暴露度高值区,未来(2081—2100年)热带地区暴露度的增加尤为明显;(2)全球区域间暴露度变化差异显著,未来南亚地区平均暴露度的增幅最大,接近3×10⁴万人·d,而澳大利亚北部、亚洲北部、加拿大地区平均暴露度的增幅不足100万人·d;(3)气候和人口因素共同作用是造成绝大多数热带地区暴露度变化的最主要原因,而对于中高纬度地区来说,气候要素的贡献率最大;(4)气候和人口因素共同作用对全球暴露度变化的贡献占据主导地位。     

近半个世纪我国干旱变化的初步研究

利用我国地面606个气象观测台站1951—2006年的逐日降水量和平均气温资料, 使用《气象干旱等级》国家标准中推荐使用的综合气象干旱指数（I_C）, 分析了近半个世纪以来全国及不同地区干旱变化情况。结果表明:总体而言, 全国干旱面积在近50年没有显著增加或减少的趋势, 但不同地区差异较大; 其中东北和华北地区干旱化趋势显著, 特别是20世纪90年代后期至21世纪初, 上述地区发生了连续数年的大范围严重干旱, 在近半个世纪中十分罕见; 东北、华北和西北地区东部的大部分地区在近50年中持续时间最长的干旱事件多发生在1980年以后的20多年中, 而且上述地区在近20多年来干旱发生得更加频繁。另外, 我国干旱化趋势最显著的地区与增暖幅度最大的地区有很大的一致性, 表明区域增暖在干旱变化中起着一定作用。     

气候变化科学方面的几个最新认知

IPCC第六次评估报告(AR6)第一工作组报告主要从以下几个方面的进展提升了我们对气候系统变化、气候变化原因以及预估未来气候系统变化等方面的认知,对过去气候变化及其与人类活动的关系有了更加清晰、可靠的认识.综合多重证据评估指出,全球气候正经历着前所未有的变化;包括极端事件在内的归因进展已把人类活动对气候系统影响的认识从...     

Surge in global metal mining threatens vulnerable ecosystems

Mining activities induce profound changes to societies and the environment they inhabit. With global extraction of metal ores doubling over the past two decades, pressures related to mining have dramatically increased. In this paper, we explore where growing global metal extraction has particularly taken effect. Using fine-grain data, we investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of mining of nine metal ores (bauxite, copper, gold, iron, lead, manganese, nickel, silver and zinc) across approximately 3,000 sites of extraction worldwide between 2000 and 2019. To approach the related environmental implications, we intersect mining sites with terrestrial biomes, protected areas, and watersheds categorised by water availability. We find that 79% of global metal ore extraction in 2019 originated from five of the six most species-rich biomes, with mining volumes doubling since 2000 in tropical moist forest ecosystems. We also find that half of global metal ore extraction took place at 20 km or less from protected territories. Further, 90% of all considered extraction sites correspond to below-average relative water availability, with particularly copper and gold mining occurring in areas with significant water scarcity. Our study has far-reaching implications for future global and local policy and resource management responses to mitigate the negative effects of the expected expansion of metal mining.     

Potentially harmful World Bank projects are proximate to areas of biodiversity conservation importance

For many countries in the global south the World Bank is a key funder of development. A subset of the activities it funds have the potential to cause harm to biodiversity. Currently, however, little is known about the spatial coincidence of Bank-funded projects and important areas for biodiversity. Using a dataset of World Bank projects funded between 1995 and 2014, we examine the relationship between potentially harmful project activities and the ranges of globally threatened birds, mammals, and amphibians, Key Biodiversity Areas, protected areas, and biodiversity hotspots. We find that 5 by 5 km cells containing a project activity are more likely to contain a Key Biodiversity Area, or a biodiversity hotspot, and have on average greater richness of globally threatened species, than those without. This relationship was statistically significant even after considering human population and country-level socio-economic effects except in the case of Key Biodiversity Areas. We also found limited evidence that activities are systematically placed within countries to avoid the ranges of threatened species or Key Biodiversity Areas. By contrast, we found a negative relationship between project activities and protected areas globally and within most countries, which may be evidence that potentially harmful activities are placed to avoid protected areas. Our findings raise questions about whether the Banks environmental safeguards have adequately translated into avoidance of highly diverse areas. Given the size of the World Bank’s lending portfolio and its role in setting industry best practice our results are concerning for conservation efforts.     

新疆湿地资源时空变化特征及其原因分析研究

以新疆第一次（2000年）和第二次（2011年）湿地资源调查中相同的347块湿地为研究对象,利用3S技术,对CBERS、SPOT5和LandsatTM遥感数据进行调查监测,并结合野外实地验证,比较分析新疆湿地资源的时空变化状况及其原因。结果表明,新疆湿地总面积呈减少的趋势,其中河流湿地和沼泽湿地面积增加,分别增加29162 hm²和17130 hm²,湖泊湿地和人工湿地面积减少,分别减少126618 hm²和19391 hm²;各湿地型中,永久性河流、草本沼泽、森林沼泽和季节性咸水沼泽面积有所增加,洪泛平原、内陆盐沼、永久性 淡水湖、季节性淡水湖、季节性咸水湖和库塘湿地面积减少。新疆湿地面积总变化率-7%,各湿地类型中,面积变化率最大的是湖泊湿地（18%）,呈减少趋势;最小的是沼泽湿地（5%）,呈增加趋势。湿地面积变化的主要原因是气候变化和人类活动。     

Contrasting global teleconnection features of the eastern Pacific and central Pacific El Niño events

Being triggered by different physical processes, the eastern Pacific (EP) and central Pacific (CP) El Niño events have several different teleconnection features around the globe. Using the ERA-Interim re-analysis monthly data during the period 1980–2016, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnections on the global scale and their statistical significance are investigated, with an emphasis on the contrasting features of the EP and CP El Niño events. With some exceptions, the EP El Niño and La Niña have generally similar teleconnection patterns with the reversed sign, while in some parts of the globe different and occasionally contrasting teleconnections of the EP and CP El Niño events are identified. Compared to the CP El Niño, more regions of the world are influenced by the statistically significant positive surface pressure anomalies during the EP El Niño, particularly over the Indian Ocean, tropical Atlantic and Northern Africa. It is found that the mid-tropospheric geopotential height anomalies across the globe are significantly different during the EP and CP El Niño events. Associated with different surface pressure and mid-tropospheric geopotential height anomalies, precipitation anomalies in many regions of the world are found different during the EP and CP El Niño events, particularly over the tropical Pacific, central to eastern equatorial Atlantic and the eastern Sahara. While central and eastern equatorial Atlantic experience statistically significant negative (positive) rainfall anomalies during the EP El Niño (La Niña), the CP El Niño does not have a strong influence on the amount of annual rainfall over the equatorial Atlantic. For the first time, statistically significant anomalously dry conditions are found over some parts of the Middle East and Southwest Asia during La Niña, and over the eastern Sahara during the EP El Niño.     

Beyond total area protected: A new set of metrics to measure progress in building a robust protected area estate

With protected areas identified as the primary tool to halt the loss of biodiversity, the Convention on Biological Diversity has set targets for protected area expansion. Increasingly, concerns are being raised that target-driven growth, where targets focus largely on quantity (total area protected) rather than quality, may fail to achieve their intended biodiversity outcomes. Therefore, it is important to assess whether growth in area protected is translating into a more robust system of protected areas that better safeguard biodiversity. In this study, we propose a set of seven indicators, drawing on the body of evidence for the elements of protected area design and management associated with better biodiversity outcomes. Many of the features of effective design and management interact with one another, making it essential to use a suite of indicators and consider progress relative to trends across all of these indicators. We implemented the proposed indicators for the Australian National Reserve System, which has undergone significant growth over the past two decades. Our findings demonstrate that relying on trends in total area protected can obscure negative trends in other important indicators which suggest many protected areas in Australia are under increasing pressure. Meanwhile, the level of resourcing for management has not kept pace with increases in total area protected and has certainly not scaled with changes in pressures on protected areas. It is important that the global conservation community strive for a more nuanced set of indicators for conservation progress to identify whether growth in area protected has, or has not, translated into a more robust and effective system of protected areas. Given that most of the indicators we propose can be populated with existing data, we believe this approach could be achievable for protected areas globally.     

冬季东亚中纬度西风急流对我国气候的影响

利用1957—2001年欧洲中期数值天气预报中心再分析资料及地面台站观测资料，分析了冬季东亚西风急流与我国气候的关系。首先定义了冬季东亚西风急流强度指数(区域30°~35°N，127.5°~155°E冬季200 hPa纬向风u₂₀₀平均值的标准化值)和切变指数(区域15°~25°N，100°~115°E与区域30°~40°N，100°~115°E的平均u₂₀₀之差的标准化值)，这两个指数能较好地反映冬季东亚西风急流的强度变化和位置的南北移动，二者相关系数为-0.48，通过99%信度检验。西风急流强度与亚洲和西太平洋大范围的大气环流有密切关系，而西风急流位置移动则与印度洋、中东太平洋的大气环流有密切关系，并分析了冬季急流强度指数和切变指数与我国温度和降水的关系。结果表明:当西风急流强度偏强时，西风急流位置偏北，此时在急流入口区左侧由于气流辐合造成低层气压上升，在出口区左侧则由于气流发生强烈辐散，引起低层气压下降，所以西伯利亚地区上空从对流层低层到中层高度值升高，北太平洋高度值降低，东西向气压差加大的形势，同时东亚大槽偏强，海陆气压差加大和东亚大槽偏强，导致冬季风强度偏强，引起我国从北到南的陆面降温，同时30°~40°N低层有下沉气流，使得华北、华中和长江中下游地区降水偏少；当西风急流强度偏弱时，西风急流位置偏南，整个东亚地区存在南风异常，东亚冬季风较弱，在25°N附近有上升气流，此时华南和内蒙古、华北降水偏多，内蒙古地表温度偏高。     

Impacts of Climate Change on the Global Forest Sector

The path and magnitude of future anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide will likely influence changes in climate that may impact the global forest sector. These responses in the global forest sector may have implications for international efforts to stabilize the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide. This study takes a step toward including the role of global forest sector in integrated assessments of the global carbon cycle by linking global models of climate dynamics, ecosystem processes and forest economics to assess the potential responses of the global forest sector to different levels of greenhouse gas emissions. We utilize three climate scenarios and two economic scenarios to represent a range of greenhouse gas emissions and economic behavior. At the end of the analysis period (2040), the potential responses in regional forest growing stock simulated by the global ecosystem model range from decreases and increases for the low emissions climate scenario to increases in all regions for the high emissions climate scenario. The changes in vegetation are used to adjust timber supply in the softwood and hardwood sectors of the economic model. In general, the global changes in welfare are positive, but small across all scenarios. At the regional level, the changes in welfare can be large and either negative or positive. Markets and trade in forest products play important roles in whether a region realizes any gains associated with climate change. In general, regions with the lowest wood fiber production cost are able to expand harvests. Trade in forest products leads to lower prices elsewhere. The low-cost regions expand market shares and force higher-cost regions to decrease their harvests. Trade produces different economic gains and losses across the globe even though, globally, economic welfare increases. The results of this study indicate that assumptions within alternative climate scenarios and about trade in forest products are important factors that strongly influence the effects of climate change on the global forest sector.     

Mapping conservation priorities and connectivity pathways under climate change for tropical ecosystems

Climate change and land use conversion are global threats to biodiversity. Protected areas and biological corridors have been historically implemented as biodiversity conservation measures and suggested as tools within planning frameworks to respond to climate change. However, few applications to national protected areas systems considering climate change in tropical countries exist. Our goal is to define new priority areas for biodiversity conservation and biological corridors within an existing protected areas network. We aim at preserving samples of all biodiversity under climate change and facilitate species dispersal to reduce the vulnerability of biodiversity. The analysis was based on a three step strategy: i) protect representative samples of various levels of terrestrial biodiversity across protected area systems given future redistributions under climate change, ii) identify and protect areas with reduced climate velocities where populations could persist for relatively longer periods, and iii) ensure species dispersal between conservation areas through climatic connectivity pathways. The study was integrated into a participatory planning approach for biodiversity conservation in Costa Rica. Results showed that there should be an increase of 11 % and 5 % on new conservation areas and biological corridors respectively. Our approach integrates climate change into the design of a network of protected areas for tropical ecosystems and can be applied to other biodiversity rich areas to reduce the vulnerability of biodiversity to global warming.     

Plastic pollution and the open burning of plastic wastes

The open burning of plastic wastes is a practice that is highly prevalent across the globe, toxic to human and environmental health, and a critical—but often overlooked—aspect of plastic pollution. Most of the countries where such burning is widespread have laws and policies in place against it; open burning continues nevertheless. In this article, using data from ethnographic fieldwork in urban and rural sites in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Zambia, we examine local practices of open burning and investigate why regulations to tackle it have proven largely ineffective. Adopting a harm reduction approach, we then suggest preliminary measures to mitigate the health risks of open burning by targeting those plastics and packaging types that are most toxic when burned.     

The response of lake levels and areas to climatic change

The levels and areas of lakes, particularly closed lakes (those without outlet) are known to be sensitive indicators of changes in climate, and so in principle they can play a role in monitoring current and future climatic changes. In this paper we derive solutions to the water balance equation giving the response of the level and area of closed lakes to steps, spikes and sinusoidal variations in aridity, and show that such a lake acts approximately as a simple low pass filter having a characteristic equilibrium response timeτ _e. We also review the similar response of open lakes to changes in runoff. It is shown howτ _e depends on lake geomorphology and climate, and for a number of lakes we calculateτ _e values, ranging from 1.5 to 350 yr for closed lakes, and from 2.9 days to 2 yr for open lakes. We propose methods involving Fourier analysis for inverting closed lake level or area records to obtain plots of a simple aridity index C. It is shown that for all ≈ 200 of the world's large (? 100 km²) closed lakes, satellite remote sensing of lake levels and areas is currently sensitive enough to monitor variations in C (e.g. in average basin precipitation) of order 1% to 10% on the time-scale of years to decades.     

Diverging forest land use dynamics induced by armed conflict across the tropics

Armed conflicts trigger region-specific mechanisms that affect land use change. Deforestation is presented as one of the most common negative environmental impacts resulting from armed conflicts, with relevant consequences in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and loss of ecosystem services. However, the impact of armed conflict on forests is complex and may simultaneously lead to positive and negative environmental outcomes, i.e. forest regrowth and deforestation, in different regions even within a country. We investigate the impact that armed conflict exerted over forest dynamics at different spatial scales in Colombia and for the global tropics during the period 1992–2015. Through the analysis of its internally displaced population (departures) our results suggest that, albeit finding forest regrowth in some municipalities, the Colombian conflict predominantly exerted a negative impact on its forests. A further examination of georeferenced fighting locations in Colombia and across the globe shows that conflict areas were 8 and 4 times more likely to undergo deforestation, respectively, in the following years in relation to average deforestation rates. This study represents a municipality level, long-term spatial analysis of the diverging effects the Colombian conflict exerted over its forest dynamics over two distinct periods of increasing and decreasing conflict intensity. Moreover, it presents the first quantified estimate of conflict's negative impact on forest ecosystems across the globe. The relationship between armed conflict and land use change is of global relevance given the recent increase of armed conflicts across the world and the importance of a possible exacerbation of armed conflicts and migration as climate change impacts increase.     

On Multi-Level Thinking and Scientific Understanding

Professor Duzheng YE's name has been familiar to me ever since my postdoctoral years at MIT with Professors Jule CHARNEY and Norman PHILLIPS, back in the late 1960 s. I had the enormous pleasure of meeting Professor YE personally in 1992 in Beijing. His concern to promote the very best science and to use it well, and his thinking on multi-level orderly human activities, reminds me not only of the communication skills we need as scientists but also of the multi-level nature of science itself. Here I want to say something(a) about what science is;(b) about why multi-level thinking—and taking more than one viewpoint—is so important for scientific as well as for other forms of understanding; and(c) about what is meant, at a deep level, by "scientific understanding" and trying to communicate it, not only with lay persons but also across professional disciplines. I hope that Professor YE would approve.     

Transition of Zonal Asymmetry of the Arctic Oscillation and the Antarctic Oscillation at the End of 1970s

In this study,the interdecadal changes in the zonal symmetry of both Arctic Oscillation(AO) and Antarctic Oscillation(AAO) were analyzed.To describe the zonal asymmetry,a local index of AO and AAO was defined using the normalized sea level pressure(SLP) differences between 40° and 65°(latitudes) in both hemispheres.The zonal covariability of local AO and AAO can well represent the zonal symmetry of AO and AAO.Results show that the zonal asymmetry of both AO and AAO significantly changed in the late 1970s.AO was less asymmetric in the zonal direction in the boreal winter season during the latter period,while in the boreal summer it became more asymmetric after 1979.The zonal symmetry of AAO in both austral summer and winter has also significantly decreased since the late 1970s.These changes may imply interdecadal transition in the atmospheric circulation at middle and high latitudes,which is of vital importance to understanding climate variability and predictability across the globe,including the African-Asian-Australian monsoon regions.     

Accelerating savanna degradation threatens the Maasai Mara socio-ecological system

Savanna megafauna have become scarce outside of protected areas in Africa, largely because of land conversion for farming (smallholders and agribusiness) and expansion of settlements and other infrastructure. Intensification also isolates protected areas, even affecting natural processes within reserve boundaries. Here, we used satellite imagery from the past 32 years in the iconic Maasai Mara ecosystem to assess the capacity of different land tenures to prevent degradation. We compare unprotected land with two types of conservation management: fully protected land without livestock (land sparing) and semi-protected community-based conservation – protected land with regulated livestock densities (land sharing). On unprotected land (61% of the area), we detected massive and accelerating degradation and fragmentation of natural vegetation, with large losses of woodland (62%) and grassland (56%), resulting in the expansion of bare ground. In contrast, directional change was minimal in both types of protected areas. Vegetation resistance to drought was lowest on unprotected land, intermediate under community-based conservation and highest under full protection. Our results show that the Mara ecosystem is under heavy pressure, but that conservation management counteracts negative trends. Importantly, semi-protected community-based land-sharing conservation offers clear, partial buffering against degradation.     

Poverty and protected areas: An evaluation of a marine integrated conservation and development project in Indonesia

Protected areas are currently the primary strategy employed worldwide to maintain ecosystem services and mitigate biodiversity loss. Despite the prevalence and planned expansion of protected areas, the impact of this conservation tool on human communities remains hotly contested in conservation policy. The social impacts of protected areas are poorly understood largely because previous evaluations have tended to focus on one or very few outcomes, and few have had the requisite data to assess causal effects (i.e. longitudinal data for protected and control sites). Here, we evaluated the short-, medium- and long-term impacts of marine protected areas (MPAs) that were specifically designed to achieve the dual goals of conservation and poverty alleviation (hereafter “integrated MPAs”), on three key domains of poverty (security, opportunity and empowerment) in eight villages in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Using social data for villages with and without integrated MPAs from pre-, mid- and post-the five-year implementation period of the integrated MPAs, we found that the integrated MPAs appeared to contribute to poverty alleviation. Positive impacts spanned all three poverty domains, but within each domain the magnitude of the effects and timescales over which they manifested were mixed. Importantly, positive impacts appeared to occur mostly during the implementation period, after which integrated MPA activities all but ceased and reductions in poverty did not continue to accrue. This finding questions the efficiency of the short-term approach taken in many international donor-assisted protected area projects that integrate development and conservation, which are often designed with the expectation that project activities will be sustained and related benefits will continue to accumulate after external support is terminated.