2021: A Year of Unprecedented Climate Extremes in Eastern Asia,North America,and Europe

The year 2021 was recorded as the 6th warmest since 1880. In addition to large-scale warming, 2021 will be remembered for its unprecedented climate extremes. Here, a review of selected high-impact climate extremes in 2021, with a focus on China, along with an extension to extreme events in North America and Europe is presented. Nine extreme events that occurred in 2021 in China are highlighted, including a rapid transition from cold to warm extremes and sandstorms in spring, consecutive drought in South China and severe thunderstorms in eastern China in the first half of the year, extremely heavy rainfall over Henan Province and Hubei Province during summer, as well as heatwaves, persistent heavy rainfall, and a cold surge during fall. Potential links of extremes in China to four global-scale climate extremes and the underlying physical mechanisms are discussed here, providing insights to understand climate extremes from a global perspective. This serves as a reference for climate event attribution, process understanding, and high-resolution modeling of extreme events.     

Extreme Cold Events in North America and Eurasia in November-December 2022: A Potential Vorticity Gradient Perspective

From 17 November to 27 December 2022, extremely cold snowstorms frequently swept across North America and Eurasia. Diagnostic analysis reveals that these extreme cold events were closely related to the establishment of blocking circulations. Alaska Blocking(AB) and subsequent Ural Blocking(UB) episodes are linked to the phase transition of the North Atlantic Oscillation(NAO) and represent the main atmospheric regimes in the Northern Hemisphere. The downstream dispersion and propagation of Rossby...     

Climate (in)justice,vulnerability and livelihoods in the Caribbean: The case of the indigenous Caribs in northeastern St. Vincent

This paper examines climate justice from the perspective of three remote indigenous Carib communities located in northeastern St. Vincent, amidst their vulnerability to climatic hazards. The study contributes to the growing body of literature that explores the impacts climate-induced changes are having on Indigenous peoples through its explicit focus on this distinctive social group. The paper entails a detail case study of the particular ways the recent onset of two consecutive extreme weather events have impacted livelihood activities in these traditional farming villages. Primary data were collected in the aftermath of a severe drought that was followed by Hurricane Tomas in 2010, using a mixed method approach involving a questionnaire survey of 311 households, 70 unstructured interviews and 2 focus group sessions held in each of the three communities. The combined impact of these extreme weather events not only brought to light how exposed and sensitive these communities are to climatic hazards, but also illustrated some of the underlying issues driving vulnerability at the local scale that must be dealt with if climate justice is to be achieved. We argue that the factors driving vulnerability within these communities are partly a function of centuries of economic neglect and political marginalization and are also strongly related to the communities’ characteristically lower-socio economic status, geographic location, heavy reliance on land-based resources, coupled with a range of cognitive barriers that affect residents’ capacity to adapt to a changing and variable regional climate regime.     

基于索引点的GPS异步环搜索算法

针对当前GPS数据处理软件不能全面检查GPS异步环的问题,该文提出了基于数理统计原理的搜索GPS异步环点索引算法。该算法利用数理统计的方法,通过GPS测站点在不同时段的重复情况,利用重复点作为异步环搜索的起始点,利用树形搜索的方法判断重复点之间能否构成异步环,在此基础上从GPS基线向量中抓取基线组成异步环,解决了异步环检查存在遗漏的问题,可以快速、无遗漏地搜索出所有异步环。该算法基于沈阳市GPS网实例数据计算结果表明:点索引算法可以全面快速地搜索出GPS三边异步环,解算GPS基线粗差,并且评估GPS基线解算精度。     

Spatial distribution and temporal trends of mean precipitation and extremes in the arid region,northwest of China,during 1960–2010

On the basis of daily precipitation records at 76 meteorological stations in the arid region, northwest of China, the spatial and temporal distribution of mean precipitation and extremes were analysed during 1960–2010. The Mann–Kendall trend test and linear least square method were utilized to detect monotonic trends and magnitudes in annual and seasonal mean precipitation and extremes. The results obtained indicate that both the mean precipitation and the extremes have increased except in consecutive dry days, which showed the opposite trend. The changes in amplitude of both mean precipitation and extremes show seasonal variability. On an annual basis, the number of rain days (R0.1) has significantly increased. Meanwhile, the precipitation intensity as reflected by simple daily intensity index (SDII), number of heavy precipitation days (R10), very wet days (R95p), max 1‐day precipitation amount (RX1day) and max 5‐day precipitation amount (RX5day) has also significantly increased. This suggests that the precipitation increase in the arid region is due to the increase in both precipitation frequency and intensity. Trends in extremes are very highly correlated with mean trends of precipitation. The spatial correlation between trends in extremes and trends in the mean is stronger for winter (DJF) than for annual and other seasons. The regional annual and seasonal precipitation and extremes are observed the step jump in mean in the late 1980s. Overall, the results of this study are good indicators of local climate change, which will definitely enhance human mitigation to natural hazards caused by precipitation extremes. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prediction of the impact of climate change on drought: an evaluation of six UK catchments using two stochastic approaches

Under future climate scenarios, possible changes of drought patterns pose new challenges for water resources management. For quantifying and qualifying drought characteristics in the UK, the drought severity indices of six catchments are investigated and modelled by two stochastic methods: autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models and the generalized linear model (GLM) approach. From the ARIMA models, autocorrelation structures are first identified for the drought index series, and the unexplained variance of the series is used to establish empirical relationships between drought and climate variables. Based on the ARIMA results, mean sea level pressure and possibly the North Atlantic Oscillation index are found to be significant climate variables for seasonal drought forecasting. Using the GLM approach, occurrences and amounts of rainfall are simulated with conditioning on climate variables. From the GLM‐simulated rainfall for the 1980s and 2080s, the probabilistic characteristics of the drought severity are derived and assessed. Results indicate that the drought pattern in the 2080s is less certain than for the 1961–1990 period, based on the Shannon entropy, but that droughts are expected to be more clustered and intermittent. The 10th and 50th quantiles of drought are likely higher in the 2080s scenarios, but there is no evidence showing the changes in the 90th quantile extreme droughts. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于MF-DFA的西安昼夜复合高温事件变化特征及影响因素

采用随机重排去趋势波动分析(MF-DFA)和极点对称模态分解法(ESMD),对1955—2019年西安市昼夜复合高温事件变化特征进行分析.结果表明:(1)气象站点迁移,造成对西安市极端高温变化趋势低估.其中,最高温原始数据与订正序列阈值相同;订正后,最低温阈值相对偏低0.2～0.5℃.(2)MF-DFA、90.0％和9...     

1960—2015年中国冬半年极端降温过程事件的时空演变特征

利用1960-2015年中国2 474个站点的逐日最低气温资料,采用REOF方法将中国分为7个区域,通过对每个区域内所有站点降温阈值进行平均,得到了7个降温阈值。当某区域内测站单日降温幅度超过区域平均阈值时,认为该测站发生一次极端降温事件。7个区域降温平均阈值各异,总体呈北大南小特征,最大降温-10.6℃,最小-7.6℃。根据上述定义,研究了中国冬半年极端降温过程事件的时空演变特征。结果表明：极端降温事件发生频数呈北多南少的空间分布。北部地区存在多个频发中心,在42°N和35°N附近存在两个高频发生带。南部地区频数呈一定的带状分布,在25°N附近发生该事件的频率亦高于南部其他地区。近56 a来,极端降温事件频数变化总体呈减少趋势,前期较明显,中后期趋于稳定。各年代频数的空间分布基本一致,但前期总体表现为北部增多。而在1990s则转变为南负北正的空间分布,后期中部及沿海地区发生了趋势符号的年代际改变。进一步分析表明,各区域极端降温频数突变的年份均不一致且突变前后的频数存在较大差异。这些结果可为深刻认识极端低温事件的变化规律和气候预测提供线索。     

1962–2011年长江流域极端气温变化（英文）

Based on daily maximum and minimum temperature observed by the China Meteorological Administration at 115 meteorological stations in the Yangtze River Basin from 1962 to 2011,the methods of linear regression,principal component analysis and correlation analysis are employed to investigate the temporal variability and spatial distribution of temperature extremes.Sixteen indices of extreme temperature are selected.The results are as follows:(1) The occurrence of cold days,cold nights,ice days,frost days and cold spell duration indicator has significantly decreased by –0.84,–2.78,–0.48,–3.29 and –0.67 days per decade,respectively.While the occurrence of warm days,warm nights,summer days,tropical nights,warm spell duration indicator and growing season length shows statistically significant increasing trends at rates of 2.24,2.86,2.93,1.80,0.83 and 2.30 days per decade,respectively.The tendency rate of the coldest day,coldest night,warmest day,warmest night and diurnal temperature range is 0.33,0.47,0.16,0.19 and –0.07℃ per decade,respectively.(2) The magnitudes of changes in cold indices(cold nights,coldest day and coldest night) are obviously greater than those of warm indices(warm nights,warmest day and warmest night).The change ranges of night indices(warm nights and cold nights) are larger than those of day indices(warm days and cold days),which indicates that the change of day and night temperature is asymmetrical.(3) Spatially,the regionally averaged values of cold indices in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River Basin are larger than those in the middle and lower reaches.However,the regionally averaged values of most warm indices(except warm spell duration indicator) and growing season length in the middle and lower reaches are larger than those in the upper reaches.(4) The extreme temperature indices are well correlated with each other except diurnal temperature range.     

Trends of Temperature Extremes in Summer and Winter during 1971–2013 in China

The diurnal temperature range(DTR) has decreased dramatically in recent decades, but it is not yet obvious whether the extreme values of DTR have also reduced. Based on the daily maximum and minimum temperature data of 653 stations in China, a set of monthly indices of warm extremes, cold extremes, and DTR extremes in summer(June, July, August) and winter(December, January, February) were studied for spatial and temporal features during the period 1971–2013. Results show that the incidence of warm extremes has been increasing in most parts of China, while the opposite trend was found in the cold extremes for summer and winter months. Both increasing and decreasing trends of monthly DTR extremes were identified in China for both seasons. For high DTR extremes, decreasing trends were identified in northern China for both seasons, but increasing trends were found only in southern China in summer, while in winter, they were found in central China. Monthly low DTR extreme indices demonstrated consistent positive trends in summer and winter, while significant increases(P 0.05) were identified for only a few stations.