Critical mechanisms for the formation of extreme arctic sea-ice extent in the summers of 2007 and 1996

Along with significant changes in the Arctic climate system, the largest year-to-year variation in sea-ice extent (SIE) has occurred in the Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi seas (defined here as the area of focus, AOF), among which the two highly contrasting extreme events were observed in the summers of 2007 and 1996 during the period 1979–2012. Although most efforts have been devoted to understanding the 2007 low, a contrasting high September SIE in 1996 might share some related but opposing forcing mechanisms. In this study, we investigate the mechanisms for the formation of these two extremes and quantitatively estimate the cloud-radiation-water vapor feedback to the sea-ice-concentration (SIC) variation utilizing satellite-observed sea-ice products and the NASA MERRA reanalysis. The low SIE in 2007 was associated with a persistent anticyclone over the Beaufort Sea coupled with low pressure over Eurasia, which induced anomalous southerly winds. Ample warm and moist air from the North Pacific was transported to the AOF and resulted in positive anomalies of cloud fraction (CF), precipitable water vapor (PWV), surface LWnet (down-up), total surface energy and temperature. In contrast, the high SIE event in 1996 was associated with a persistent low pressure over the central Arctic coupled with high pressure along the Eastern Arctic coasts, which generated anomalous northerly winds and resulted in negative anomalies of above mentioned atmospheric parameters. In addition to their immediate impacts on sea ice reduction, CF, PWV and radiation can interplay to lead to a positive feedback loop among them, which plays a critical role in reinforcing sea ice to a great low value in 2007. During the summer of 2007, the minimum SIC is 31 % below the climatic mean, while the maximum CF, LWnet and PWV can be up to 15 %, 20 Wm^?2, and 4 kg m^?3 above. The high anti-correlations (?0.79, ?0.61, ?0.61) between the SIC and CF, PWV, and LWnet indicate that CF, PWV and LW radiation are indeed having significant impacts on the SIC variation. A new record low occurred in the summer of 2012 was mainly triggered by a super storm over the central Arctic Ocean in early August that caused substantial mechanical ice deformation on top of the long-term thinning of an Arctic ice pack that had become more dominated by seasonal ice.     

Energy budget of the extreme Autumn 2006 in Europe

Autumn 2006 was extraordinarily mild in many parts of Europe. Near-surface temperatures were more than three standard deviations above the 1961?C1990 climatology. Even accounting for global warming, this event was far outside the probability density function of previous observations or climate model simulations. To investigate the mechanisms behind this event, the energy-budget for Autumn 2006 in Europe is estimated. Atmospheric energy-transport convergence over Europe is calculated and compared with the net energy flux at the top of the atmosphere as well as at the earth??s surface. The central North-Atlantic Ocean constituted the major source of energy. Here, the release of both sensible and latent heat was anomalously high. Atmospheric circulation played a crucial role by transporting the excess energy into Europe. Of this energy excess, dry-static energy was larger than the latent part, partly due to an additional contribution derived from a conversion of latent energy to sensible heat, which occurred upstream of the study area in the eastern Atlantic. In Europe, surface turbulent-energy fluxes into the atmosphere respond to atmospheric energy-transport convergence and are accordingly suppressed due to the anomalously high temperature and humidity content of the overlying air. The net outflow of radiational energy to space is anomalously high but not sufficient to offset the large positive anomaly of energy found over Europe. Even though the relative humidity was near its normal values in Europe, the specific humidity was considerably higher than usual. The high water-vapour content induced a local radiative positive feedback, increasing the opacity of the atmosphere to long-wave radiation. This appears to have significantly contributed to the extreme event. Atmospheric circulation played a crucial role in sustaining this feedback loop.     

Secular change of extreme monthly precipitation in Europe

Summary ¶Temporal changes in the occurrence of extreme events in time series of observed precipitation are investigated. The analysis is based on a European gridded data set and a German station-based data set of recent monthly totals (1896/1899–1995/1998). Two approaches are used. First, values above certain defined thresholds are counted for the first and second halves of the observation period. In the second step time series components, such as trends, are removed to obtain a deeper insight into the causes of the observed changes. As an example, this technique is applied to the time series of the German station Eppenrod. It arises that most of the events concern extreme wet months whose frequency has significantly increased in winter. Whereas on the European scale the other seasons also show this increase, especially in autumn, in Germany an insignificant decrease in the summer and autumn seasons is found. Moreover it is demonstrated that the increase of extreme wet months is reflected in a systematic increase in the variance and the Weibull probability density function parameters, respectively.Received July 18, 2002; revised January 24, 2003; accepted February 1, 2003 Published online September 10, 2003     

Future regional projections of extreme temperatures in Europe: a nonstationary seasonal approach

This paper analyzes changes of maximum temperatures in Europe, which are evaluated using two state-of-the-art regional climate models from the EU ENSEMBLES project. Extremes are expressed in terms of return values using a time-dependent generalized extreme value (GEV) model fitted to monthly maxima. Unlike the standard GEV method, this approach allows analyzing return periods at different time scales (monthly, seasonal, annual, etc). The study focuses on the end of the 20th century (1961?C2000), used as a calibration/validation period, and assesses the changes projected for the period 2061?C2100 considering the A1B emission scenario. The performance of the regional models is evaluated for each season of the calibration period against the high-resolution gridded E-OBS dataset, showing a similar South-North gradient with larger values over the Mediterranean basin. The inter-RCM changes in the bias pattern with respect to the E-OBS are larger than the bias resulting from a change in the boundary conditions from ERA-40 to ECHAM5 20c3m. The maximum temperature response to increased green house gases, as projected by the A1B scenario, is consistent for both RCMs. Under that scenario, results indicate that the increments for extremes (e.g. 40-year return values) will be two or three times higher than those for the mean seasonal temperatures, particularly during Spring and Summer in Southern Europe.     

区域环境系统集成模式对1997/1998年夏季中国两个极端气候事件模拟能力分析

区域环境系统集成模式(RIEMS2.0,Regional Integrated Environment Modeling System Version 2.0)是由中国科学院大气物理研究所东亚区域气候环境重点实验室在RIEMS1.0基础上发展的区域气候模式。为了检验RIEMS2.0对短期气候的模拟能力,利用降水和气温(2 m)观测资料检验RIESM2.0不同物理过程和初始条件集合模拟1997/1998年夏季中国华北地区高温干旱和长江流域洪涝两个连续极端气候事件的能力(连续积分时间(1997年3月1日—1998年8月31日)共18个月),比较模拟和观测的1997/1998年夏季降水和气温。集合模拟结果表明RIEMS2.0能很好模拟1997/1998年夏季降水和气温及其两年差值分布;模拟和观测的日降水和平均气温结果有很好的相关性,但是降水模拟总体高估,干旱和江淮及江南区气温模拟偏高而半干旱和湿润区气温模拟偏低。在不同物理过程集合模拟中,虽然集合平均距平相关系数(ACC)和均方根误差(RMSE)并不是优于所有集合成员值,但集合模拟能减小模式的不确定性,在一定程度上提高模拟精度。不同显式水汽方案和积云参数化方案对降水、气温模拟效果表现出很好的一致性,湿润区一致性最好。因此,RIEMS2.0模拟能揭示1997/1998年两个连续极端气候事件夏季降水和气温空间分布,反映不同子区域降水和气温分布特征,各集合成员的模拟结果存在差异的同时也保持了很好的稳定性,选择合适的物理过程可以提高模式对区域气候的模拟能力。     

增暖背景下新疆冷冬与极端低温事件的联系

为了客观准确地描述新疆冬季偏冷的特征,基于新疆99个国家气象观测站1981－2020年逐日最低气温、日平均气温和欧洲数值预报中心再分析资料（ERA5）逐日最低气温再分析资料,对于冬季气温异常偏低年、冷冬年、强冷冬年以及单站极端低温事件、区域性持续极端低温事件进行了识别。结果表明：1981—2020年,新疆区域冬季平均气温异常偏低年与冷冬年有差异。新疆冬季单站极端低温事件总体呈减少趋势;12月和2月的出现频次高于1月,但12月减少速率大于2月,1月总体呈增加趋势。新疆共出现53次冬季区域性持续极端低温事件,其中,全疆型出现频次最高,北疆型次之,南疆型第三,山区型最少;出现频次最多的是持续10～15 d的事件;新疆冬季区域性持续极端低温事件发生频次减少,但单站事件持续时间并没有明显减少,而且影响范围在扩大。当冬季极端低温事件出现频次高、持续时间长时,50%以上的测站出现冷冬（强冷冬）时,区域内冬季平均气温一致偏低的概率较大;当冬季极端低温事件出现频次低、持续时间在10d以内时,出现冷冬的测站很少或没有,冬季平均气温一致偏低的概率较小。     

Climatological aspects of extreme precipitation in Europe, related to mid-latitude cyclonic systems

Climatic aspects of extreme European precipitation are studied. Daily pluviometric data from 280 stations across Europe, covering the period from 1958 to 2000, are used. First, the criteria for extreme precipitation cases and episodes are communicated using threshold and spatial definitions. The cases and episodes meeting these criteria are grouped according to their area of appearance. Most of them are located in three major areas: Greece, the Alps, and the Iberian Peninsula. The existence of trends in the annual and seasonal time series of these extreme events is examined. Decreasing trends are found in most of the cases, for Greece, the Iberian Peninsula, and Europe, as a whole. The Alps present a different behavior, with no trend at all in the southern part, and a possible increasing trend in the northern part. Finally, the positive impact of altitude in the frequency of occurrence of extreme precipitation episodes in Europe is discussed.     

Changes in extreme wind speeds in NW Europe simulated by generalized linear models

Summary We investigate the capability of generalized linear models (GLMs) to simulate sequences of daily maximum wind speed (DMWS), at a selection of locations in NW Europe. Models involving both the gamma and Weibull distributions have been fitted to the NCEP reanalysis data for the period 1958–1998. In simulations, these models successfully reproduce the observed increasing trends up to 0.3 m/s per decade in coastal or oceanic locations for the wintertime and the decreasing trends down to –0.2 m/s per decade in inland Europe for the summertime. Annually extreme winds exhibit an increasing tendency (with median estimates up to 0.6 m/s per decade) at the studied locations. The gamma model slightly overestimates the upper percentiles of the wind speed distribution, but reproduces trends better than the Weibull model. In both the NCEP data and GLM simulations, local extreme DMWS events (defined in terms of threshold exceedances) have increased dramatically in frequency during winter; decreasing trends are more common in summer. The NCEP data indicate similar trends in the frequencies of large-scale windy events (defined via simultaneous exceedances at 2 or more locations). Overall, these events have increased in number; at the scale of the North Sea basin, their number may have changed from 3–5 days per year during the earlier decades, to 5–7 days per year during later decades based on observational estimates. An increase in the frequency of large-scale extreme winter storms is implied. The GLMs underestimate these large-scale event frequencies, and provide imprecise estimates of the corresponding secular trends. These problems could be rectified by using a better representation of spatial dependence. The present results suggest that GLMs offer a useful tool to study local climate extremes in the context of changing climate distributions; they also provide some pointers towards improving the representation of extremes at a regional scale.     

Climate-change effects on extreme precipitation in central Europe: uncertainties of scenarios based on regional climate models

Observations as well as most climate model simulations are generally in accord with the hypothesis that the hydrologic cycle should intensify and become highly volatile with the greenhouse-gas-induced climate change, although uncertainties of these projections as well as the spatial and seasonal variability of the changes are much larger than for temperature extremes. In this study, we examine scenarios of changes in extreme precipitation events in 24 future climate runs of ten regional climate models, focusing on a specific area of the Czech Republic (central Europe) where complex orography and an interaction of other factors governing the occurrence of heavy precipitation events result in patterns that cannot be captured by global models. The peaks-over-threshold analysis with increasing threshold censoring is applied to estimate multi-year return levels of daily rainfall amounts. Uncertainties in scenarios of changes for the late 21st century related to the inter-model and within-ensemble variability and the use of the SRES-A2 and SRES-B2 greenhouse gas emission scenarios are evaluated. The results show that heavy precipitation events are likely to increase in severity in winter and (with less agreement among models) also in summer. The inter-model and intra-model variability and related uncertainties in the pattern and magnitude of the change is large, but the scenarios tend to agree with precipitation trends recently observed in the area, which may strengthen their credibility. In most scenario runs, the projected change in extreme precipitation in summer is of the opposite sign than a change in mean seasonal totals, the latter pointing towards generally drier conditions in summer. A combination of enhanced heavy precipitation amounts and reduced water infiltration capabilities of a dry soil may severely increase peak river discharges and flood-related risks in this region.     

Variability of the Indo-Pacific Ocean exchanges

The ECCO–GODAE global estimate of the ocean circulation 1992–2007 is analyzed in the region of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF), including the Southern Ocean flow south of Australia. General characteristics are an intense month-to-month noise, only weak trends, and an important annual cycle (which is not the focus of attention). Apart from the details of the unresolved flows within the various passages, and right on the equator, the region and its large-scale climate effects appears to be accurately diagnosed by large-scale geostrophic balance, so that the ITF can be calculated either from the upstream or the downstream balanced flow (but no simple reference level can be defined). The INSTANT program occurs during a more or less typical three-year period. Indications of response to the large 1997–1998 El Niño are weak.     

Implications of sea-level rise and extreme events around Europe: a review of coastal energy infrastructure

Sea-level rise and extreme events have the potential to significantly impact coastal energy infrastructure through flooding and erosion. Disruptions to supply, transportation and storage of energy have global ramifications and potential contamination of the natural environment. On a European scale, there is limited information about energy facilities and their strategic plans for adapting to climate change. Using a Geographical Information System this paper assesses coastal energy infrastructure, comprising (1) oil/gas/LNG/tanker terminals and (2) nuclear power stations. It discusses planning and adaptation for sea-level rise and extreme events. Results indicate 158 major oil/gas/LNG/tanker terminals in the European coastal zone, with 40 % located on the North Sea coast. There are 71 operating nuclear reactors on the coast (37 % of the total of European coastal countries), with further locations planned in the Black, Mediterranean and Baltic Seas. The UK has three times more coastal energy facilities than any other country. Many north-west European countries who have a high reliance on coastal energy infrastructure have a high awareness of sea-level rise and plan for future change. With long design lives of energy facilities, anticipating short, medium and long-term environmental and climatic change is crucial in the design, future monitoring and maintenance of facilities. Adaptation of coastal infrastructure is of international importance, so will be an ongoing important issue throughout the 21^st century.     

Five hundred years of gridded high-resolution precipitation reconstructions over Europe and the connection to large-scale circulation

We present seasonal precipitation reconstructions for European land areas (30°W to 40°E/30–71°N; given on a 0.5°×0.5° resolved grid) covering the period 1500–1900 together with gridded reanalysis from 1901 to 2000 (Mitchell and Jones 2005). Principal component regression techniques were applied to develop this dataset. A large variety of long instrumental precipitation series, precipitation indices based on documentary evidence and natural proxies (tree-ring chronologies, ice cores, corals and a speleothem) that are sensitive to precipitation signals were used as predictors. Transfer functions were derived over the 1901–1983 calibration period and applied to 1500–1900 in order to reconstruct the large-scale precipitation fields over Europe. The performance (quality estimation based on unresolved variance within the calibration period) of the reconstructions varies over centuries, seasons and space. Highest reconstructive skill was found for winter over central Europe and the Iberian Peninsula. Precipitation variability over the last half millennium reveals both large interannual and decadal fluctuations. Applying running correlations, we found major non-stationarities in the relation between large-scale circulation and regional precipitation. For several periods during the last 500 years, we identified key atmospheric modes for southern Spain/northern Morocco and central Europe as representations of two precipitation regimes. Using scaled composite analysis, we show that precipitation extremes over central Europe and southern Spain are linked to distinct pressure patterns. Due to its high spatial and temporal resolution, this dataset allows detailed studies of regional precipitation variability for all seasons, impact studies on different time and space scales, comparisons with high-resolution climate models as well as analysis of connections with regional temperature reconstructions. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at and is accessible for authorized users.     

Regional seasonality in the intraseasonal oscillation over the Indo-Pacific Oceans

The interlinked Eastern Indian Ocean (EIO) and Western Pacific Ocean (WPO), known as the Indo-Pacific warm pool, are highly active regions for intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs). Interestingly, distinct behaviors exist in ISO seasonality in these two basins. In the WPO, ISO intensity peaks in winter, decays rapidly starting from spring and reaches a minimum in summer. While in the EIO, ISO intensity exhibits a bimodal distribution, with a stronger peak in spring and a weaker one in autumn, followed by two troughs in summer and winter, respectively. Here, the regional ISO seasonality is understood in view of the regional differences in the background fields. For the bimodal ISO seasonality in the EIO, the increase from winter to spring is primarily due to elevated moisture content, the decrease from spring to summer is due to the decline in moisture and the meridional variation in vertical wind shear, and the increase from summer to autumn is mainly attributed to the meridional variation in vertical wind shear. In the WPO, the significant winter-summer contrast is mainly caused by change in moisture content.     

Robustness of the modes of Indo-Pacific sea level variability

Climate Dynamics - This study evaluates the influence of various climate modes on sea level. The altimetry record has excellent spatial coverage but the limited length becomes an issue when...     

Analyses of possible changes in intense and extreme wind speeds over northern Europe under climate change scenarios

Dynamical downscaling of ECHAM5 using HIRHAM5 and RCA3 for a northern European domain focused on Scandinavia indicates sustained extreme wind speeds with long recurrence intervals (50?years) and intense winds are not likely to evolve out of the historical envelope of variability until the end of C21st. Even then, significant changes are indicated only in the SW of the domain and across the central Baltic Sea where there is some evidence for relatively small magnitude increases in the 50?year return period wind speed (of up to 15%). There are marked differences in results based on the two Regional Climate Models. Additionally, internal (inherent) variability and initial conditions exert a strong impact on projected wind climates throughout the twenty-first century. Simulations of wind gusts by one of the RCMs (RCA3) indicate some evidence for increased magnitudes (of up to +10%) in the southwest of the domain and across the central Baltic Sea by the end of the current century. As in prior downscaling of ECHAM4, dynamical downscaling of ECHAM5 indicates a tendency towards increased energy density and thus wind power generation potential over the course of the C21st. However, caution should be used in interpreting this inference given the high degree of wind climate projection spread that derives from the specific AOGCM and RCM used in the downscaling.     

Time-frequency characteristics of the relationships between tropical Indo-Pacific SSTs

In this study, several advanced analysis methods are applied to understand the relationships between the Nino-3.4 sea surface temperatures （SST） and the SSTs related to the tropical Indian Ocean Dipole （IOD）. By analyzing a long data record, the authors focus on the time-frequency characteristics of these relationships, and of the structure of IOD. They also focus on the seasonal dependence of those characteristics in both time and frequency domains. Among the Nino-3.4 SST, IOD, and SSTs over the tropical western Indian Ocean （WIO） and eastern Indian Ocean （EIO）, the WIO SST has the strongest annual and semiannual oscillations. While the Nino-3.4 SST has large inter-annual variability that is only second to its annual variability, the IOD is characterized by the largest semiannual oscillation, which is even stronger than its annual oscillation. The IOD is strongly and stably related to the EIO SST in a wide range of frequency bands and in all seasons. However, it is less significantly related to the WIO SST in the boreal winter and spring. There exists a generally weak and unstable relationship between the WIO and EIO SSTs, especially in the biennial and higher frequency bands. The relationship is especially weak in summer and fall, when IOD is apparent, but appears highly positive in winter and spring, when the IOD is unimportantly weak and even disappears. This feature reflects a caution in the definition and application of IOD. The Nino-3.4 SST has a strong positive relationship with the WIO SST in all seasons, mainly in the biennial and longer frequency bands. However, it shows no significant relationship with the EIO SST in summer and fall, and with IOD in winter and spring.     

Anomalous summer climate in China influenced by the tropical Indo-Pacific Oceans

Possible influences of three coupled ocean–atmosphere phenomena in the Indo-Pacific Oceans, El Niño, El Niño Modoki and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), on summer climate in China are studied based on data analysis for the summers of 1951–2007. Partial correlation/regression analysis is used to find the influence paths through the related anomalous mid- and low-level tropospheric circulations over the oceanic region and East Eurasia, including the western North Pacific summer monsoon (WNPSM). Among the three phenomena, El Niño Modoki has the strongest relationship with the WNPSM. When two or three phenomena coexist with either positive or negative phase, the influences exerted by one phenomenon on summer climate in different regions of China may be enhanced or weakened by other phenomena. In 1994 when both El Niño Modoki and IOD are prominent without El Niño, a strong WNPSM is associated with severe flooding in southern China and severe drought in the Yangtze River Valley (YRV). The 500 hPa high systems over China are responsible for heat waves in most parts of China. In 1983 when a strong negative phase of El Niño Modoki is accompanied by moderate El Niño and IOD, a weak WNPSM is associated with severe flooding in the YRV and severe drought in southern China. The 500 hPa low systems over China are responsible for the cold summer in the YRV and northeastern China. For rainfall, the influence path seems largely through the low-level tropospheric circulations including the WNPSM. For temperature, the influence path seems largely through the mid-level tropospheric circulations over East Eurasia/western North Pacific Ocean.