Modeling and analysis of the potential impacts on regional climate due to vegetation degradation over arid and semi-arid regions of China

The regional climate effects of vegetation change in arid and semi-arid regions of China, which has experienced serious grassland degradation, are investigated in this study using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) regional climate model. Two long-term simulation experiments (from January 1, 1980 to March 1, 2010), one with the land cover derived from the original United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) data (denoted as CTL) and the other (denoted as SEN) with a modification of the former one by vegetation degradation in arid and semi-arid regions of China, are undertaken to investigate the influence of land cover change on regional climate over arid and semi-arid regions of China. The possible mechanisms of how land cover change affects the regional climate in arid and semi-arid regions of China are also examined. The simulation results indicate that when compared with the observation datasets, the WRF model simulates the spatial pattern of observed temperature and precipitation quite well. After vegetation degradation over the arid and semi-arid regions of China, the net radiation and evaporation are reduced mainly within the degraded areas in summer, consistent with the reduction in precipitation and the increase in 2-m air temperature (T2 m).     

Quantifying the contributions of anthropogenic and natural forcings to climate changes over arid-semiarid areas during 1946–2005

In this study, the contributions from changes in man-made greenhouse gases (GHG), anthropogenic aerosols (AA), and land use (LU), as well as natural solar and volcanic (NAT) forcing changes, to observed changes in surface air temperature (T) and precipitation (P) over global land, especially over arid-semiarid areas, during 1946–2005 are quantified using observations and climate model simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Results show that the anthropogenic (ANT) forcings dominate the ubiquitous surface warming seen in observations and lead to slight increases in precipitation over most land areas, while the NAT forcing leads to small cooling over land. GHG increases are the primary factor responsible for the anthropogenic climate change, while the AA forcing offsets a large part of the GHG-induced warming and P changes. The LU forcing generally contributes little to the T and P changes from 1946 to 2005 over most land areas. Unlike the consistent temperature changes among most model simulations, precipitation changes display a large spread among the models and are incomparable with the observations in spatial distributions and magnitude, mainly due to its large internal variability that varies among individual model runs. Using an optimal fingerprinting method, we find that the observed warming over land during 1946–2005 can be largely attributed to the ANT forcings, and the combination of the ANT and NAT forcings can explain about 85~95% of the observed warming trend over global land as well as over most arid-semiarid regions such as Northern China. However, the anthropogenic influences on precipitation over the past 60 years are generally undetectable over most land areas, including most arid-semiarid regions. This indicates that internal variability is still larger than the forced change for land precipitation.     

欧洲地区不同温室气体背景下土地利用/覆盖变化的气候效应

通过温室气体排放和土地利用/覆盖变化,人类活动对气候变化产生显著影响。为了探究在不同温室气体浓度（Greenhouse gas concentration,GHG）背景下,相同的土地利用/覆盖变化（Land Use and Land Cover Change,LULCC）对于欧洲区域气候的影响差异,采用CESM（Community Earth System Model）耦合模式进行了模拟研究。研究发现,在1850年温室气体浓度背景下,土地利用/覆盖变化导致欧洲中东部地区降水显著增加,而在2000年温室气体浓度背景下,土地利用/覆盖变化导致欧洲中东部地区降水减少。温室气体增加后,LULCC导致该地区对流层低层大气环流由辐合变为辐散,气温以及大气水汽含量降低,这些变化能较大程度的改变LULCC对区域降水的净影响力。     

东亚中纬度干旱/半干旱区降水年际变化及其可能成因

基于NOAA的全球陆地降水资料(PREC/L)1948～2003年56年的月平均降水资料、NCEP/NCAR月平均再分析资料以及英国气象局哈德莱中心的海温(Sea Surface Temperature,SST)资料,并根据多年降水平均图选定了东亚中纬度干旱/半干旱区,对该区域夏季(6～8月)降水进行了经验正交分解(Empirical Orthogonal Function,EOF)。EOF第一模态呈现出全区一致的变化类型,第二模态则呈现出以100°E为界东西相反的分布类型。通过分析干旱/半干旱区以及以100°E为界的东西两部分降水异常年的环流形势和海温并加以对比,结果表明:在环流场上,对应于东亚中纬度干旱/半干旱区降水偏多年,对流层中下层环流异常在中高纬度呈现为一个东西向波列,乌拉尔山东侧为正的高度异常,贝加尔湖附近乃至以东地区为低压槽所控制;不同的是,对应于100°E以西的干旱/半干旱区夏季降水偏多年,波列有所东移,并且西太平洋副热带高压有显著北抬;而对应于100°E以东干旱/半干旱区夏季降水偏多年,环流形势异常基本与整个干旱/半干旱区降水偏多年一致,只是在里海附近有一高度负异常。在200hPa纬向风场上可以看到,当西亚副热带急流偏南加强时,对应于100°E以西的干旱/半干旱区降水偏多;而当东亚、西亚风急流都有显著北抬且加强时,对应于100°E以东干旱/半干旱区的夏季降水偏多,这可能与急流所激发的次级环流有关。进一步对SST的分析表明,海温与100°E以东或以西干旱/半干旱区降水异常的关系也不一样。当前冬、前春赤道中东太平洋都有正的海温异常,而到夏季转换为负的海温异常,且南太平洋在前冬和前春呈现显著负海温异常时,整个干旱/半干旱区夏季降水偏多;当赤道中东太平洋海温在前冬、前春有正的海温异常并一直减弱,但能维持到夏季,并且北印度洋海温也存在类似的海温异常时,100°E以西的干旱/半干旱区夏季降水偏多;而当前冬中东太平洋海温较暖但其南部海域偏冷,到了前春这些异常维持,并发展到同期为大范围弱的异常冷海温时,有利于100°E以东的干旱/半干旱区夏季降水偏多。比较的结果还揭示出,对应于干旱/半干旱区以及100°E以东干旱/半干旱区的降水异常年,海温异常分布大致是一致的;而对应于100°E以西干旱/半干旱区的降水异常年,海温异常分布及时间演变则有较大差异。     

Propagation characteristic of atmospheric responses to abnormal warm SST in the Kuroshio Extension in winter

A complete picture of changes in climate extremes has been presented for Shanxi Province, China using data from all 61 available stations. The results reveal large spatial coherence of trends for the majority of extremes, especially for temperature extremes. Significant and symmetric increasing trends of the annual mean maximum and mean minimum temperatures (TXam, TNam) are detected over the past 50 years. Significant positive trends are detected for warm days and nights (TX90p, TN90p), the highest and lowest maximum and minimum temperatures (TXx, TXn, TNx, TNn), and the growing season length (GSL). Significant negative trends are revealed for cold days and nights (TX10p, TN10p) and frost days (FD). Significant decreases are found in the number of heavy precipitation days (R10mm) and wet day precipitation (PRCPTOT). Although Shanxi and the northern half of North China Plain (NNCP) have been grouped into the North China region and assessed together in previous studies for China, the changes in climate extremes in the NNCP have some pronounced differences in comparison with Shanxi. Noticeably, the increase of the TNam is at a rate nearly three times that of the TXam during 1959–2008 over the NNCP. The warming for the nighttime indices TN90p, TN10p, TNx, and TNn is stronger, but the warming for the daytime indices TX10p, TX90p, and TXx is weaker in the NNCP. There is no significant decrease for R10mm and PRCPTOT in the NNCP.     

Changes in temperature and precipitation extremes in the CMIP5 ensemble

Twenty-year temperature and precipitation extremes and their projected future changes are evaluated in an ensemble of climate models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), updating a similar study based on the CMIP3 ensemble. The projected changes are documented for three radiative forcing scenarios. The performance of the CMIP5 models in simulating 20-year temperature and precipitation extremes is comparable to that of the CMIP3 ensemble. The models simulate late 20th century warm extremes reasonably well, compared to estimates from reanalyses. The model discrepancies in simulating cold extremes are generally larger than those for warm extremes. Simulated late 20th century precipitation extremes are plausible in the extratropics but uncertainty in extreme precipitation in the tropics and subtropics remains very large, both in the models and the observationally-constrained datasets. Consistent with CMIP3 results, CMIP5 cold extremes generally warm faster than warm extremes, mainly in regions where snow and sea-ice retreat with global warming. There are tropical and subtropical regions where warming rates of warm extremes exceed those of cold extremes. Relative changes in the intensity of precipitation extremes generally exceed relative changes in annual mean precipitation. The corresponding waiting times for late 20th century extreme precipitation events are reduced almost everywhere, except for a few subtropical regions. The CMIP5 planetary sensitivity in extreme precipitation is about 6 %/°C, with generally lower values over extratropical land.     

Trends in warm days and cold nights over the Iberian Peninsula: relationships to large-scale variables

The aims of this study are to identify the trend of warm days and cold nights over the Iberian Peninsula and to connect the variations with large-scale variables. The reasons for performing this analysis are the effects that extremes events have on different ecosystems. Here, we present the results on spatial and temporal variability of warm days (TX90), or those exceeding the 90th percentile of maximum temperature, and cold nights (TN10), or those falling below the 10th percentile of minimum temperature. The extreme indices were derived from daily observations at stations and gridded data over land area for the period 1950 to 2006. Significant trends of more warm days and fewer cold nights were found. The trend to fewer cold nights is within the interval of global results given by the IPCC AR4 report; however, the trend to warm days is greater than the corresponding global trend. The influence of large-scale variables on these extreme indices was examined by means of the Empirical Orthogonal Function, correlation, composite maps and multiple regression analyses. Changes in TX90 are connected with the Scandinavian teleconnection index and a preferred mode of geopotential height at 500 hPa over the North Atlantic. Changes in TN10 are connected with the East Atlantic teleconnection index and the leading mode of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) variability over the North Atlantic area. Based on the links between the extreme indices and the large-scale variables we derived statistical models to describe the response of TX90 and TN10 to atmospheric circulation and SST variations. The models characterized the observed variations of TX90 and TN10 reasonably well. The results of this study encourage us to analyze, in further work, how temperature extremes might change over the Iberian Peninsula under warmer climate conditions.     

Climate response to introduction of the ESA CCI land cover data to the NCAR CESM

The European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative Land Cover data (ESA CCI-LC, from 1992 to 2015) is introduced to the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Earth System Model version 1.2.1 (NCAR CESM1.2.1). In comparison with the original land surface data in the Community Land Model version 4 (ORG), the new data features notable land use and land cover change (LULCC) with increased forests over northeastern Asia and Alaska by decreasing shrublands and grasslands. Overestimated bare land cover over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and the Rocky Mountains in the ORG are corrected with the replacements by grasslands and shrublands respectively in the new data. The model simulation results show that with the introduction of the ESA CCI-LC, the simulated surface albedo, surface net radiation flux, sensible and latent heat fluxes are relatively improved over the regions where significant LULCC exists, such as northeastern Asia, Alaska, the TP, and Australia. Surface air temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric circulation are improved in boreal winter but degraded in summer. The winter warming over northeastern Asia results from increased longwave downwelling flux and adiabatic heating while the notable winter cooling over Alaska is attributed to strong cold advection followed by reduced longwave downwelling flux. LULCC alters precipitation by influencing water vapor content. In winter, LULCC affects atmospheric circulation via modulating baroclinicity while in summer, it influences land-sea thermal contrast, thus affecting the intensity of East Asian summer monsoon. LULCC also alters the simulated dust burden.

     

我国干旱半干旱区气候变化特征及其对干湿波动的影响

气候干湿状况是表征区域气候特征的重要指标,是在全球气候变暖背景下,水循环与陆面蒸散发作用的综合结果。本文从湿润度指数入手,结合降水与潜在蒸散的时空变化,分析了我国干旱半干旱区气候特点与干湿变化特征及对土壤湿度的影响。分析发现：近50年来,我国干旱与半干旱区均呈变湿趋势。干旱区与半干旱区潜在蒸散与降水月差值在年内出现时间上存在不一致,且干旱区明显大于半干旱区;3～9月为干旱气候区潜在蒸散与降水差值大值期,3～6月半干旱区潜在蒸散明显大于降水,7月起差值明显减小。作用分析表明,在干旱区,降水对湿润度指数的影响更大,而对于半干旱区,降水与潜在蒸散作用相当。长期以来,我国整个干旱与半干旱区大部分土壤湿度在逐渐变干,尤其是农业耕作层的浅层土壤,几乎全区域一致呈现变干趋势,说明我国干旱半干旱区农牧业生产存在较大的潜在干旱风险。     

Climate change and human activities: a case study in Xinjiang, China

We examined both long-term climate variability and anthropogenic contributions to current climate change for Xinjiang province of northwest China. Xinjiang encompasses several mountain ranges and inter-mountain basins and is comprised of a northern semiarid region and a more arid southern region. Climate over the last three centuries was reconstructed from tree rings and temperature series were calculated for the past 50 years using weather station data. Three major conclusions from these analyses are: (1) Although temperature varied considerably in Xinjiang over the last 200 years, it was non-directional until the last 50 years when a substantial warming trend occurred; (2) The semiarid North Xinjiang was representative of the northern hemisphere climate, while the more arid South Xinjiang resembled the southern hemisphere climate, meanwhile, (3) The entire Xinjiang province captured the global-scale climate signal. We also compared human contributions to global change between North and South Xinjiang, including land cover/land use, population, and greenhouse gas production. For both regions, urban areas acted as heat islands; and large areas of grassland and forest were converted to barren land, especially in North Xinjiang. Additionally, North Xinjiang also showed larger increase in population and greenhouse gas emissions mainly associated with animal production than those in South Xinjiang. Although Xinjiang province is a geographically coupled mountain–basin system, the two regions have distinct climate patterns and anthropogenic activities related to land cover conversion and greenhouse gas production.     

中国北方不同气候区晴天陆面过程区域特征差异

采用2008年7～9月份观测的中国干旱-半干旱区实验观测协同与集成研究资料,将我国北方干旱一半干旱区根据气候类型和地理位置划分为西北干旱区、黄土高原区和东北冷区三个区域,分析了干旱-半干旱区陆面热量平衡和辐射平衡日变化的区域差异.结果显示:不同气候区域的地表辐射和能量过程差异明显,而这种差异主要源于大气和土壤中可利用水...     

甘肃河东地区近30年季节极端气温指数变化与环流影响

基于1988-2017年61个气象站点逐日气温数据,分析了甘肃河东地区近30年各季节极端气温指数的时空变化特征,并分析了ENSO和AO对河东地区极端气温指数的影响.结果表明:近30年河东地区处于变暖态势中,各季节气温日较差(DTR)、暖夜日数(TN90p)、暖昼日数(TX90p)均呈增加趋势,冷夜日数(TN10p)、冷...     

Evaluation of a WRF dynamical downscaling simulation over California

This paper presents results from a 40 year Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) based dynamical downscaling experiment performed at 12 km horizontal grid spacing, centered on the state of California, and forced by a 1° × 1.25° finite-volume current-climate Community Climate System Model ver. 3 (CCSM3) simulation. In-depth comparisons between modeled and observed regional-average precipitation, 2 m temperature, and snowpack are performed. The regional model reproduces the spatial distribution of precipitation quite well, but substantially overestimates rainfall along windward slopes. This is due to strong overprediction of precipitation intensity; precipitation frequency is actually underpredicted by the model. Moisture fluxes impinging on the coast seem to be well-represented over California, implying that precipitation bias is caused by processes internal to WRF. Positive-definite moisture advection and use of the Grell cumulus parameterization result in some decrease in precipitation bias, but other sources are needed to explain the full bias magnitude. Surface temperature is well simulated in all seasons except summer, when overly-dry soil moisture results in a several degree warm bias in both CCSM3 and WRF. Additionally, coastal temperatures appear to be too warm due to a coastal sea surface temperature bias inherited from CCSM3. Modeled snowfall/snowmelt agrees quite well with observations, but snow water equivalent is found to be much too low due to monthly reinitialization of all regional model fields from CCSM3 values.     

Investigation of temporal and spatial climate variability and aridity of Iran

The aim of this research is to study the spatial and temporal variability of aridity in Iran, through analysis of temperature and precipitation trends during the 48-year period of 1961–2008. In this study, four different aridity criteria have been used to investigate the aridity situation. These aridity indexes included Lang’s index or rain factor, Budyko index or radiational index of dryness, UNEP aridity index, and Thornthwaite moisture index. The results of the analysis indicated that the highest and lowest mean temperatures occurred in July and January respectively in all locations. Among the study locations, Ahvaz with 37.1 °C and Kermanshah with 20.2 °C has the highest and lowest in July. For January, the highest was 12.4 °C for Ahvaz and the lowest was ?4.5 °C for Hamedan and Kermanshah together. The range of monthly mean temperature of study locations indicated that the maximum and minimum difference between day and night temperatures, almost in all study locations, occurred in September and January, respectively, and the highest and lowest fluctuation of temperature was observed in Kerman and Tehran. The temperature anomalies showed that the most significant increasing temperature occurred at the beginning of twenty-first century (2000–2008) in all locations. The long-term mean of monthly rainfall showed that, in most study locations, the maximum and minimum of mean precipitation occurred in winter and summer, respectively. Rasht with 1,355 mm had the highest and Yazd with 55 mm had the lowest of total precipitation compared with other locations. According to precipitation anomalies, all locations experienced dry and wet periods, but generally dry periods occurred more often especially in the beginning of twenty-first century. According to applied different aridity indexes, all the study locations often experienced semi-arid to arid climate, severe water deficit to desert climate, arid to hyperarid climate, and semi-arid climate during the study period.     

High-resolution precipitation and temperature downscaling for glacier models

The spatial resolution gap between global or regional climate models and the requirements for local impact studies motivates the need for climate downscaling. For impact studies that involve glacier modelling, the sparsity or complete absence of climate monitoring activities within the regions of interest presents a substantial additional challenge. Downscaling methods for this application must be independent of climate observations and cannot rely on tuning to station data. We present new, computationally-efficient methods for downscaling precipitation and temperature to the high spatial resolutions required to force mountain glacier models. Our precipitation downscaling is based on an existing linear theory for orographic precipitation, which we modify for large study regions by including moist air tracking. Temperature is downscaled using an interpolation scheme that reconstructs the vertical temperature structure to estimate surface temperatures from upper air data. Both methods are able to produce output on km to sub-km spatial resolution, yet do not require tuning to station measurements. By comparing our downscaled precipitation (1 km resolution) and temperature (200 m resolution) fields to station measurements in southern British Columbia, we evaluate their performance regionally and through the annual cycle. Precipitation is improved by as much as 30% (median relative error) over the input reanalysis data and temperature is reconstructed with a mean bias of 0.5°C at locations with high vertical relief. Both methods perform best in mountainous terrain, where glaciers tend to be concentrated.     

近30年全球干旱半干旱区的蒸散变化特征

全球变暖加剧了气候系统能量和水分循环相互作用的变化,水分平衡变化导致极端旱涝事件频发。地表蒸散是能量水分循环的重要过程,是理解气候变化的关键环节。本文基于1982~2011年FLUXNET-MTE观测资料和ERA-Interim再分析资料,分析了全球干旱半干旱区蒸散的时空变化特征及典型区域的变幅、趋势和季节变化。结果表明:（1）干旱半干旱区多年平均蒸散量小于300 mm。冬季蒸散量最小,夏季最大且变率也最强。1990年代前后,干旱半干旱区蒸散发生了明显的年代际转变,暖季的年代际差异尤为明显。（2）近30年来,东半球干旱半干旱区蒸散量呈增加趋势,西半球呈减小趋势。典型区域来看,南非呈显著增加趋势[25.14 mm（10 a）-1],美国西南部呈显著减小趋势[-19.86 mm（10 a）-1];萨赫勒、中国北部和澳大利亚呈增加趋势,阿根廷及智利南部呈减小趋势。（3）蒸散变化与温度、降水的变化联系密切,三者具有相似的年循环变化,但三者间相关性在干旱半干旱区具有显著的差异性。     

中国干旱半干旱区洪涝灾害的初步分析

中国干旱半干旱区的洪涝灾害是一个尚未引起人们重视的重大科学问题,这主要是因为干旱半干旱区对洪涝灾害的防范意识比较薄弱。而极端降水事件的次数、强度和持续时间与干旱半干旱区的洪涝灾害有密切联系,直接影响该区域洪涝灾害及其次生地质灾害的次数与严重程度。以干旱半干旱区的极端降水事件为切入点,分析了中国干旱半干旱区的极端降水事件次数和极端降水量的变化特征,旨在为干旱半干旱区的洪涝灾害研究提供科学依据。结果表明,进入21世纪以来,中国110°E以西的干旱半干旱区极端降水事件的日数有所增多,而110°E以东的区域日数都有所减少。干旱半干旱区极端降水量的变化也呈现出西增东减的分布,大部分干旱半干旱区的极端降水量变化占总降水量变化的40%以上,一部分地区能达到50%,甚至100%-200%。从季节变化来看,春季天山以北、新疆南部、甘肃敦煌和内蒙古包头以北地区极端降水量增加较多,夏季110°E以西的干旱半干旱区极端降水量均增大明显,秋季陕西榆林、内蒙古鄂尔多斯、包头和呼和浩特等地极端降水量增大较明显。     

Present-day climatology and projected changes of warm and cold days in the CNRM-CM3 global climate model

The impact of global warming on the warmest and coldest days of the annual cycle is explored according to an A2 scenario simulated by the CNRM-CM3 climate model in the framework of the IPCC AR4 intercomparison. Given the multi-model spread in IPCC projections, a validation strategy is proposed using the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis. Validation of the late twentieth century model climatology shows that warm and cold model events are slightly too long and infrequent. Although interannual trends in the warm (cold) day occurrence were positive (negative) only for six (three) of the nine considered sub-continental regions, simulated model trends are always positive (negative). This different behaviour suggests that simulated non-anthropogenic decadal variability is small relative to anthropogenic trends. Large-scale synoptic processes associated with European regional warm and cold peaks are also described and validated. Regional cold peaks are better reproduced than warm peaks, whose intensity accuracy is limited by other physical variables. Positive (negative) winter anomalies of sea and land surface temperature lead to summers with severe (weak) temperatures. These inter-annual anomalies are generated by a persistent pressure dipole over Europe. Regarding climate change, warm (cold) events will become more (less) frequent and longer (shorter). The number of warm days will largely rise and the number of cold days will dramatically decrease. The intensity of warm days will be particularly pronounced over Europe, given the projected summer drying in this region. However, according to the limited skill of the CNRM model, these results must be considered with caution.     

中国干湿区变化与预估

本文采用干湿指数对1962~2011年中国干湿区范围变化进行了集中分析,并利用CMIP5（Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5）模式对其变化趋势开展了预估研究。结果表明,1962~2011年平均极端干旱区、干旱区、半干旱区、半湿润区和湿润区分别占中国陆地总面积的2.8%、11.7%、22.4%、32.6%和30.5%。期间,中国区域年干湿指数总体上呈现下降趋势,空间上表现为西部湿润化和东部干旱化的特征。显著缩小的是湿润区和极端干旱区,半湿润区、半干旱区和干旱区则显著扩大,这表明中国气候敏感区域在扩张。春季和秋季干湿指数变化趋势的空间分布与年平均的较为一致,冬季西北呈干旱化,夏季东南部地区为湿润化。相对于参考时段1986~2005年,在RCP4.5（Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5）情景下18个气候模式中位数的预估结果中,降水仅在东南南部减少,而潜在蒸散发在全区域增加,由于潜在蒸散发的增量超过了降水的增幅,中国区域将整体趋于干旱化,仅在西北地区呈湿润化特征;未来湿润区、干旱区和极端干旱区缩小,气候敏感性高的半湿润区和半干旱区仍将扩大。