Simulation of Air Quality using an ISCST3 Dispersion Model

Urban air quality is an issue of major concern across many cities in India. In particular, high levels of particulate matter (both SPM and RSPM) are responsible for noncompliance to air quality standards. Air quality modeling is an effective tool to simulate the air quality of a region and to predict air quality concentrations under different scenarios. Kanpur city which is a top‐ten urban conglomerate in India (based on population) is chosen for the application of the ISCST3 model and simulation of air quality. Sectored emission loads are estimated for transport, industrial, power, and domestic sectors, which provide an estimate of the major contributors to air pollution with specific reference to particulate matter, which is a major pollutant of concern. A detailed scenario analysis is carried out to estimate the changes in emissions that would take place due to various interventions. Dispersion modeling is carried out using the ISCST3 model, to estimate the concentrations of SPM all over the city under different scenarios. Emission inventory and meteorological data served as input to the model, and the air quality is predicted for various seasons and intervention scenarios. The modeled values for the scenario without intervention results in an underestimation of 48%, which is due to unaccountable or unidentified sources, trans‐boundary movement of SPM, and model calibration errors. To overcome the error, the model is calibrated with the observed values and results are obtained for other scenarios using the calibration factor. The paper demonstrates only the research direction currently used to simulate air quality in Indian cities. However, further refinement and research is required before it could be used for more accurate predictions.     

统计降尺度方法和Delta方法建立黄河源区气候情景的比较分析

大气环流模型(GCMs)预测的气候变化情景,必须经降尺度处理得出小尺度上未来气候变化的时空分布资料,才能满足气候变化对资源、环境和社会经济等影响进行评估的需要。文中研究同时应用Delta方法和统计降尺度(SDS)方法对黄河源区的日降水量和日最高、最低气温进行降尺度处理,建立起未来3个时期(2006—2035、2036—2065和2066—2095年,简记为2020s、2050s和2080s)的气候变化情景,并比较分析两种方法的优缺点和适用性。结果表明,未来降水量有一定的增加趋势,但是增幅不大,而日最高、最低气温存在明显的上升趋势,且增幅较大。与基准期相比,Delta方法模拟的未来3个时期降水量将分别增加8.75%、19.70%和18.49%;日最高气温将分别升高1.41、2.42和3.44℃,同时,日最低气温将分别升高1.49、2.68和3.76℃,未来极值气温变幅减小。SDS法借助站点实测数据和NCEP再分析资料建立GCM强迫条件下的降尺度模型,模拟结果表明,未来3个时期降水量将分别增加3.47%、6.42%和8.67%,季节变化明显;气温随时间推移增幅明显,未来3个时期的日最高气温将分别升高1.34、2.60和3.90℃,最低气温增幅相对较小,3个时期将分别升高0.87、1.49和2.27℃,由此模拟的未来时期无霜期将延长。在降尺度方法的应用上,SDS方法存在明显的优势,但同时也存在不可避免的缺陷。因此,在实际的气候变化影响评估中,需要多种方法综合比较,以期为决策部门提供参考和依据。     

Numerical Simulation of Regional Climate Change under IPCC A2 Scenario in China

Regional climate change in China under the IPCC A2 Scenario, was simulated for continuous 10-yr period by the MM5V3, using the output of an IPCC A2 run from CISRO Mark 3 climate system model as lateral and surface boundary conditions. The regional climate change of surface air temperature, precipitation, and circulation were analyzed. The results showed that （1） the distribution of mean circulation, surface air temperature, and precipitation was reproduced by the MM5V3. The regional climate model was capable to improve the regional climate simulation driven by GCM. （2） The climate change simulation under the IPCC A2 Scenario indicated that the surface air temperature in China would increase in the future, with a stronger trend in winter and the increasing magnitude from the south to the north. The precipitation distribution would appear a distinct change as well. Annual mean precipitation would remarkably increase in Northeast China, Yangtze and Huaihe River Valley, and the south area of the valley. Meanwhile, rainfall would show a decreasing trend in partial areas of North China, and many regions of Southwest and Northwest China.     

共享社会经济路径(SSPs)的应用与展望

共享社会经济路径(Shared Socioeconomic Pathways, SSPs)是新一代气候变化情景的重要组成部分。SSPs从提出至今已有10年的发展,对于推动气候变化预估与影响研究、支撑气候政策决策的作用逐渐凸显。文中基于179篇主题检索文献分析了SSPs发展和应用的进展,以及在当前气候变化研究中的应用特点。研究发现,次国家和部门层面的SSPs故事线拓展开始兴起,水资源、土地和健康是影响评估领域的关注焦点,方法学上强调模型间耦合与多模型比较。当前SSPs在中国的发展与应用集中于基本要素的预估及气候影响评估,路径对各省间及城乡间社会经济发展差异的刻画有待加强。基于情景发展和应用的现状,最后从加强与气候建模团队的合作、支持影响与脆弱性研究、拓展全球情景、加强模型间比较、提高决策支持力5个方面讨论了SSPs的未来研究展望。     

全球变暖情景下中国气温分区的未来变化

利用SRES A2情景下IPCC AR4的13个模式资料,结合我国月平均温度观测资料对当前和未来我国气温的分区进行对比研究。结果表明：1961-1990、2021-2050年和2071-2097年三个时段年平均气温分区在我国西部变化不大,而在我国东部发生了显著变化。1961-1990年我国东部被华北分区带分为南、北两个区;2021-2050年由于1961-1990年间的华北分区带北移,而在两广以北同时出现另一分区带,使得该时段我国东部分成东北区、华北和华中区以及华南区三个区,在2071-2097年北方分区带消失,而南方的分区带北移至长江一带,使得该时段我国东部仍可分为南、北两区。通过比较三个时段不同分区年平均温度时间变化发现,导致分区变化的原因主要是由于在不同时段各分区年平均温度的变率和增温幅度不一致所致。     

地震安全性评价中时程的包线与设定地震

"设定地震"概念的提出已有一段时间,但鲜见在我国地震安全性评价中应用。同时,概率方法在地震危险性评价中,由于时程包线函数的确定源于震级-距离组合的不确定性而带有较大的任意性。本文建议在考虑潜源概率贡献的基础上,引入设定地震的期望震级和期望距离组合,用以控制包线函数。通过修改危险性分析椭圆模型的软件,可以进行计算并给出了算例。     

Projecting long-term armed conflict risk: An underappreciated field of inquiry?

Little research has been done on projecting long-term conflict risks. Such projections are currently neither included in the development of socioeconomic scenarios or climate change impact assessments nor part of global agenda-setting policy processes. In contrast, in other fields of inquiry, long-term projections and scenario studies are established and relevant for both strategical agenda-setting and applied policies. Although making projections of armed conflict risk in response to climate change is surrounded by uncertainty, there are good reasons to further develop such scenario-based projections. In this perspective article we discuss why quantifying implications of climate change for future armed conflict risk is inherently uncertain, but necessary for shaping sustainable future policy agendas. We argue that both quantitative and qualitative projections can have a purpose in future climate change impact assessments and put out the challenges this poses for future research.     

Oil ‘futures’: Shell’s Scenarios and the social constitution of the global oil market

This article explores the relationship between the oil industry’s representation of operating conditions in key sites of extraction and the constitution of oil futures markets. An analysis of Shell Oil’s recent Scenarios publications, the ‘Trilemma Scenarios to 2025’ and subsequent ‘Scramble and Blueprints Scenarios to 2050’, provides insight into both the (global) social construction of oil prices and the oil industry’s reaction to social resistance in its operating environment - whether in the form of movements for resource sovereignty or climate change activism. Examining the implications of these two Scenario publications for key sites of Shell investment, the Nigerian Niger Delta and the Canadian Tar Sands, the article demonstrates that understanding the discursive implications of ‘peak oil’ for the petroleum industry requires contextualizing discussions of ‘scarcity’ within business agents role in shaping oil futures markets, and private industry’s interest in the ongoing development of unconventional fossil fuel sources. While the role of deregulated futures trading receives little attention in the Shell Scenarios, speculative trading - and thus perception concerning supply among business agents - is central to shaping global oil prices and thus the social conditions of the oil market.     

Shared Socio-economic Pathways for European agriculture and food systems: The Eur-Agri-SSPs

Scenarios describe plausible and internally consistent views of the future. They can be used by scientists, policymakers and entrepreneurs to explore the challenges of global environmental change given an appropriate level of spatial and sectoral detail and systematic development. We followed a nine-step protocol to extend and enrich a set of global scenarios – the Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) – providing regional and sectoral detail for European agriculture and food systems using a one-to-one nesting participatory approach. The resulting five Eur-Agri-SSPs are titled (1) Agriculture on sustainable paths, (2) Agriculture on established paths, (3) Agriculture on separated paths, (4) Agriculture on unequal paths, and (5) Agriculture on high-tech paths. They describe alternative plausible qualitative evolutions of multiple drivers of particular importance and high uncertainty for European agriculture and food systems. The added value of the protocol-based storyline development process lies in the conceptual and methodological transparency and rigor; the stakeholder driven selection of the storyline elements; and consistency checks within and between the storylines. Compared to the global SSPs, the five Eur-Agri-SSPs provide rich thematic and regional details and are thus a solid basis for integrated assessments of agriculture and food systems and their response to future socio-economic and environmental changes.     

大豆生育期内气候资源变化特征及未来情景预估

用江苏淮北20个气象台站1961—2012年气象观测资料与RegCM4区域气候模式,在RCP4.5和RCP8.5排放情景下的模拟数据,应用数理统计方法,分析和预估了大豆生育期内光、温、水等农业气候资源的变化特征。结果表明:近52 a,≥10℃活动积温各年均在3 100℃·d以上。1980s变化较为平稳,1990s上升趋势显著,且年际波动较明显。日照时数与太阳总辐射呈显著下降趋势,线性趋势分别达到了-4.9 h·a-1、-7.6 MJ·m-2·a-1,2000年之后基本上都低于气候平均值。降水量在1960s呈现下降趋势,1970s、1980s波动较平稳,1990s后期开始显著上升,而水分盈亏则以正值为主。在未来两种气候情景下,光、温、水资源的年际波动都比较大,气候极端事件可能将增多;活动积温为正距平,且呈现增加趋势,太阳净辐射也为正距平,水分盈亏以正距平为主。