Changes in extremes and hydroclimatic regimes in the CREMA ensemble projections

We analyze changes of four extreme hydroclimatic indices in the RCP8.5 projections of the Phase I CREMA experiment, which includes 21st century projections over 5 CORDEX domains (Africa, Central America, South America, South Asia, Mediterranean) with the ICTP regional model RegCM4 driven by three CMIP5 global models. The indices are: Heat Wave Day Index (HWD), Maximum Consecutive Dry Day index (CDD), fraction of precipitation above the 95th intensity percentile (R95) and Hydroclimatic Intensity index (HY-INT). Comparison with coarse (GPCP) and high (TRMM) resolution daily precipitation data for the present day conditions shows that the precipitation intensity distributions from the GCMs are close to the GPCP data, while the RegCM4 ones are closer to TRMM, illustrating the added value of the increased resolution of the regional model. All global and regional model simulations project predominant increases in HWD, CDD, R95 and HY-INT, implying a regime shift towards more intense, less frequent rain events and increasing risk of heat wave, drought and flood with global warming. However, the magnitudes of the changes are generally larger in the global than the regional models, likely because of the relatively low “climate sensitivity” of the RegCM4, especially when using the CLM land surface scheme. In addition, pronounced regional differences in the change signals are found. The data from these simulations are available for use in impact assessment studies.     

中国高精度土地覆盖数据在RegCM4/CLM模式中的引入及其对区域气候模拟影响的分析

基于中国1:100万植被图和1:600万植被区划图, 按照通用陆面模式CLM植被功能型分类标准, 制作了可用于CLM及RegCM4区域气候模式的25 km×25 km分辨率的中国高精度土地覆盖数据(简称VEG数据). 相比CLM默认使用的土地覆盖数据(简称ORG数据), VEG数据不仅能提供更多的土地覆盖局地特征, 还纠正了ORG数据中裸地和农作物的比例偏高、 灌木的比例偏低等误差. 对比使用两套土地覆盖数据的RegCM4多年连续积分结果, 分析了不同土地覆盖分布对气温、 降水等的影响, 并从地表能量收支的角度给出影响机理解释. 结果显示: VEG数据的使用, 使得模式对冬季气温和降水的模拟能力有一定提高, 模式在南部区域偏干偏冷的系统误差有所减弱; 采用VEG数据后, 由于粗糙度、 反照率等下垫面参数的改变及云量的变化, 使得地表能量收支发生显著调整. 青藏高原地区的气温变化与湍流通量和长波辐射的变化有密切的联系, 主要源自粗糙度引起的湍流通量增加、 以及云量引起的向下净长波辐射增加. 而在中国中部和南部, 短波辐射变化更为明显, 它与地表反照率的变化相一致. 基于所制作的土地覆盖数据, 可广泛应用于CLM模式在中国区域的应用之中.     

Performance of masonry buildings during the Emilia 2012 earthquake

The earthquake sequence started on May \(20\) th 2012 in Emilia (Italy) affected a region where masonry constructions represent a large part of the existing building stock and the construction of new modern masonry buildings is a common practice. The paper is focused on the performance of common architectural configurations, typical for residential or business use. The large majority of old masonry buildings is made of fired clay bricks. The seismic performance of these buildings is particularly interesting since major past earthquakes in Italy affected areas with mainly stone masonry structures. Apart from examples showing systematic or peculiar structural deficiencies governing the vulnerability of several buildings, the overall seismic performance of these structures to repeated shaking, with PGA as large as 0.25–0.3 g was rather good, despite the major part of them were only conceived for carrying vertical loads. In fact, seismic design is mandatory in the area only since 2003. Modern low-rise masonry buildings erected after this date and incorporating seismic design and proper detailing resulted in most cases practically undamaged. The examples reported in the paper allow an evaluation of the superior performance of seismically designed modern masonry buildings in comparison to older ones.     

温室效应对青藏高原及青藏铁路沿线气候影响的数值模拟

在一个全球模式中嵌套了RegCM2区域气候模式,进行了CO2加倍对中国区域气候影响的数值试验,对青藏高原及青藏铁路沿线地区进行了重点分析。结果表明,在CO2加倍的情况下,这里的气温将明显升高,升高值一般在2．6～2．8℃以上,高于全国平均值。同时降水在青藏高原大部分地区也将明显增加;其中青藏铁路沿线的增加率一般在25％以上,远高于全国平均值水平。温室效应同时会使得青藏铁路沿线的日平均最高气温升高。     

土地利用变化对我国区域气候影响的数值试验

使用RegCM2区域气候模式单向嵌套澳大利亚CSIRO R21L9全球海-气耦合模式,通过将中国区域植被覆盖由理想状况改变为实际状况的数值试验对比分析,探讨了当代中国土地利用变化对中国区域气候的影响,并对结果进行了统计显著性检验。研究表明,土地利用的变化,会导致我国西北等地区年平均降水减少,导致年平均气温在内陆部分地区升高和在沿海个别地区降低,引起许多地方夏季日平均最高气温升高,而冬季日平均最低气温则在我国东部部分地区降低的同时在西北地区升高,土壤湿度的变化表现为大范围的降低。研究同时表明,相同的土地变化在不同的地理环境下引起的气候要素变化有一定的不一致性。     

Sensitivity of the regional climate model RegCM4.2 to planetary boundary layer parameterisation

This study investigates the performance of two planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterisations in the regional climate model RegCM4.2 with specific focus on the recently implemented prognostic turbulent kinetic energy parameterisation scheme: the University of Washington (UW) scheme. When compared with the default Holtslag scheme, the UW scheme, in the 10-year experiments over the European domain, shows a substantial cooling. It reduces winter warm bias over the north-eastern Europe by 2 °C and reduces summer warm bias over central Europe by 3 °C. A part of the detected cooling is ascribed to a general reduction in lower tropospheric eddy heat diffusivity with the UW scheme. While differences in temperature tendency due to PBL schemes are mostly localized to the lower troposphere, the schemes show a much higher diversity in how vertical turbulent mixing of the water vapour mixing ratio is governed. Differences in the water vapour mixing ratio tendency due to the PBL scheme are present almost throughout the troposphere. However, they alone cannot explain the overall water vapour mixing ratio profiles, suggesting strong interaction between the PBL and other model parameterisations. An additional 18-member ensemble with the UW scheme is made, where two formulations of the master turbulent length scale in unstable conditions are tested and unconstrained parameters associated with (a) the evaporative enhancement of the cloud-top entrainment and (b) the formulation of the master turbulent length scale in stable conditions are systematically perturbed. These experiments suggest that the master turbulent length scale in the UW scheme could be further refined in the current implementation in the RegCM model. It was also found that the UW scheme is less sensitive to the variations of the other two selected unconstrained parameters, supporting the choice of these parameters in the default formulation of the UW scheme.     

Agricultural Land Use Effects on Climate over China as Simulated by a Regional Climate Model

The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) Regional Climate Model version 3 (RegCM3) is used to investigate the climate effects of land use change related to agriculture over China. The model is driven by the European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecast 40-yr Re-Analysis (ERA40)data. Two sets of experiments for 15 yr (1987-2001) are conducted, one with the potential vegetation cover and the other the agricultural land use (AG). The results show that the AG effects on temperature are weak over northern China while in southern China a significant cooling is found in both winter (December-January-February) and summer (June-July-August). The mean cooling in the sub-regions of South China (SC) in winter and the sub-regions of Southeast (SE) China in summer are found to be the greatest,up to 0.5℃ and 0.8℃, respectively. In general, the change of AG leads to a decrease of annual mean temperature by 0.5-1℃ in southern China. Slight change of precipitation in western China and a decrease of precipitation in eastern China are simulated in winter, with the maximum reduction reaching -7.5% over SE. A general decrease of precipitation over northern China and an increase over southern China are simulated in summer,in particular over SE where the increase of precipitation can be up to 7.3%. The AG effects on temperature and precipitation show strong interannual variability. Comparison of the climate effects between AG and the present-day land use (LU) is also performed. In southern China, the ratio of temperature (precipitation)changes caused by AG and LU is greater than (closer to) the ratio of the number of grid cells with changed vegetation cover due to AG and LU variations.     

Lessons learned from two case histories of seismic microzonation in Italy

The prediction of the variability of the seismic ground motion in a given built-up area is considered an effective tool to plan appropriate urban development, to undertake actions on seismic risk mitigation and to understand the damage pattern caused by a strong-motion event. The procedures for studying the seismic response and the seismic microzonation of an urban area are well established; nevertheless, some controversial points still exists and are discussed here. In this paper, the selection of a reference input motion, the construction of a subsoil model and the seismic response analysis procedures are discussed in detail, based on the authors’ experience in two Italian case histories: the seismic microzonation of the city of Benevento, which was a predictive study, and the simulation of seismic response and damage distribution in the village of San Giuliano di Puglia, which was a retrospective analysis.     

中国当代土地利用对区域气候影响的数值模拟

使用RegCM3区域气候模式，嵌套欧洲数值预报中心(ECMWF)ERA40再分析资料，分别进行了中国区域在实际植被和理想植被分布情况下各15年时间长度（1987-2001）的积分试验，以研究我国土地利用状况对气候的影响。通过两个试验结果的对比，研究了我国土地利用状况对气候的影响。分析主要集中于气温、降水等的变化上，并对结果进行了统计显著性检验。结果表明，当代土地利用/植被覆盖变化加强了中国地区冬、夏季的季风环流，同时改变了地表能量平衡状况，从而对各气候要素产生重要影响。冬季，植被改变引起长江以南降水减少、气温降低，长江以北降水增加。夏季，植被改变显著影响了南方地区的气候，使得这里降水增多，黄淮、江淮气温降低，华南气温上升；同时引起中国北方降水减少，气温在西北部分植被退化地区升高。植被变化对日最低、最高气温的影响更大。总体来说，土地利用引起了年平均降水在南方增加、北方减少，年平均气温在南方显著降低。