scholarly journals Downscaling of Future Precipitation in China’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region Using a Weather Generator

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Yaoming Liao ◽  
Deliang Chen ◽  
Zhenyu Han ◽  
Dapeng Huang

To project local precipitation at the existing meteorological stations in China’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in the future, local daily precipitation was simulated for three periods (2006–2030, 2031–2050, and 2051–2070) under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 emission scenarios. These projections were statistically downscaled using a weather generator (BCC/RCG-WG) and the output of five global climate models. Based on the downscaled daily precipitation at 174 stations, eight indices describing mean and extreme precipitation climates were calculated. Overall increasing trends in the frequency and intensity of the mean and extreme precipitation were identified for the majority of the stations studied, which is in line with the GCMs’ output. However, the downscaling approach enables more local features to be reflected, adding value to applications at the local scale. Compared with the baseline during 1961–2005, the regional average annual precipitation and its intensity are projected to increase in all three future periods under both RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5. The projected changes in the number of days with precipitation are relatively small across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The regional average annual number of days with precipitation would increase by 0.2~1.0% under both RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5, except during 2031–2050 under RCP 8.5 when it would decrease by 0.7%. The regional averages of annual days with precipitation ≥25 mm and ≥40 mm, the greatest one-day and five-day precipitation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, are projected to increase by 8~30% during all the three periods. The number of days with daily precipitation ≥40 mm was projected to increase most significantly out of the eight indices, indicating the need to consider increased flooding risk in the future. The average annual maximum number of consecutive days without precipitation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is projected to decrease, and the drought risk in this area is expected to decrease.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Deng ◽  
Jianting Zhu

Abstract Global climate change is expected to have major impact on the hydrological cycle. Understanding potential changes in future extreme precipitation is important to the planning of industrial and agricultural water use, flood control and ecological environment protection. In this paper, we study the statistical distribution of extreme precipitation based on historical observation and various Global Climate Models (GCMs), and predict the expected change and the associated uncertainty. The empirical frequency, Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution and L-moment estimator algorithms are used to establish the statistical distribution relationships and the multi-model ensemble predictions are established by the Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) method. This ensemble forecast takes advantage of multi-model synthesis, which is an effective measure to reduce the uncertainty of model selection in extreme precipitation forecasting. We have analyzed the relationships among extreme precipitation, return period and precipitation durations for 6 representative cities in China. More significantly, the approach allows for establishing the uncertainty of extreme precipitation predictions. The empirical frequency from the historical data is all within the 90% confidence interval of the BMA ensemble. For the future predictions, the extreme precipitation intensities of various durations tend to become larger compared to the historic results. The extreme precipitation under the RCP8.5 scenario is greater than that under the RCP2.6 scenario. The developed approach not only effectively gives the extreme precipitation predictions, but also can be used to any other extreme hydrological events in future climate.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sicheng He ◽  
Jing Yang ◽  
Qing Bao ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Bin Wang

AbstractRealistic reproduction of historical extreme precipitation has been challenging for both reanalysis and global climate model (GCM) simulations. This work assessed the fidelities of the combined gridded observational datasets, reanalysis datasets, and GCMs [CMIP5 and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Flexible Global Ocean–Atmospheric Land System Model–Finite-Volume Atmospheric Model, version 2 (FGOALS-f2)] in representing extreme precipitation over East China. The assessment used 552 stations’ rain gauge data as ground truth and focused on the probability distribution function of daily precipitation and spatial structure of extreme precipitation days. The TRMM observation displays similar rainfall intensity–frequency distributions as the stations. However, three combined gridded observational datasets, four reanalysis datasets, and most of the CMIP5 models cannot capture extreme precipitation exceeding 150 mm day−1, and all underestimate extreme precipitation frequency. The observed spatial distribution of extreme precipitation exhibits two maximum centers, located over the lower-middle reach of Yangtze River basin and the deep South China region, respectively. Combined gridded observations and JRA-55 capture these two centers, but ERA-Interim, MERRA, and CFSR and almost all CMIP5 models fail to capture them. The percentage of extreme rainfall in the total rainfall amount is generally underestimated by 25%–75% in all CMIP5 models. Higher-resolution models tend to have better performance, and physical parameterization may be crucial for simulating correct extreme precipitation. The performances are significantly improved in the newly released FGOALS-f2 as a result of increased resolution and a more realistic simulation of moisture and heating profiles. This work pinpoints the common biases in the combined gridded observational datasets and reanalysis datasets and helps to improve models’ simulation of extreme precipitation, which is critically important for reliable projection of future changes in extreme precipitation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 3933-3950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reinhard Schiemann ◽  
Pier Luigi Vidale ◽  
Len C. Shaffrey ◽  
Stephanie J. Johnson ◽  
Malcolm J. Roberts ◽  
...  

Abstract. Limited spatial resolution is one of the factors that may hamper applications of global climate models (GCMs), in particular over Europe with its complex coastline and orography. In this study, the representation of European mean and extreme precipitation is evaluated in simulations with an atmospheric GCM (AGCM) at different resolutions between about 135 and 25 km grid spacing in the mid-latitudes. The continent-wide root-mean-square error in mean precipitation in the 25 km model is about 25  % smaller than in the 135 km model in winter. Clear improvements are also seen in autumn and spring, whereas the model's sensitivity to resolution is very small in summer. Extreme precipitation is evaluated by estimating generalised extreme value distributions (GEVs) of daily precipitation aggregated over river basins whose surface area is greater than 50 000 km2. GEV location and scale parameters are measures of the typical magnitude and of the interannual variability of extremes, respectively. Median model biases in both these parameters are around 10 % in summer and around 20 % in the other seasons. For some river basins, however, these biases can be much larger and take values between 50 % and 100 %. Extreme precipitation is better simulated in the 25 km model, especially during autumn when the median GEV parameter biases are more than halved, and in the North European Plains, from the Loire in the west to the Vistula in the east. A sensitivity experiment is conducted showing that these resolution sensitivities in both mean and extreme precipitation are in many areas primarily due to the increase in resolution of the model orography. The findings of this study illustrate the improved capability of a global high-resolution model in simulating European mean and extreme precipitation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (20) ◽  
pp. 7529-7549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toby R. Ault ◽  
Julia E. Cole ◽  
Jonathan T. Overpeck ◽  
Gregory T. Pederson ◽  
David M. Meko

Abstract Projected changes in global rainfall patterns will likely alter water supplies and ecosystems in semiarid regions during the coming century. Instrumental and paleoclimate data indicate that natural hydroclimate fluctuations tend to be more energetic at low (multidecadal to multicentury) than at high (interannual) frequencies. State-of-the-art global climate models do not capture this characteristic of hydroclimate variability, suggesting that the models underestimate the risk of future persistent droughts. Methods are developed here for assessing the risk of such events in the coming century using climate model projections as well as observational (paleoclimate) information. Where instrumental and paleoclimate data are reliable, these methods may provide a more complete view of prolonged drought risk. In the U.S. Southwest, for instance, state-of-the-art climate model projections suggest the risk of a decade-scale megadrought in the coming century is less than 50%; the analysis herein suggests that the risk is at least 80%, and may be higher than 90% in certain areas. The likelihood of longer-lived events (>35 yr) is between 20% and 50%, and the risk of an unprecedented 50-yr megadrought is nonnegligible under the most severe warming scenario (5%–10%). These findings are important to consider as adaptation and mitigation strategies are developed to cope with regional impacts of climate change, where population growth is high and multidecadal megadrought—worse than anything seen during the last 2000 years—would pose unprecedented challenges to water resources in the region.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 361
Author(s):  
Rafaela Lisboa Costa ◽  
Heliofábio Barros Gomes ◽  
Fabrício Daniel Dos Santos Silva ◽  
Rodrigo Lins Da Rocha Júnior

The objective of this work was to analyze and compare results from two generations of global climate models (GCMs) simulations for the city of Recife-PE: CMIP3 and CMIP5. Differences and similarities in historical and future climate simulations are presented for four GCMs using CMIP3 scenarios A1B and A2 and for seven CMIP5 scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. The scale reduction technique applied to GCMs scenarios is statistical downscaling, employing the same set of large-scale atmospheric variables as predictors for both sets of scenarios, differing only in the type of reanalysis data used to characterize surface variables precipitation, maximum and minimum temperatures. For CMIP3 scenarios the simulated historical climate is 1961-1990 and CMIP5 is 1979-2000, and the validation period is ten years, 1991-2000 for CMIP3 and 2001-2010 for CMIP5. However, for both the future period analyzed is 2021-2050 and 2051-2080. Validation metrics indicated superior results from the historical simulations of CMIP5 over those of CMIP3 for precipitation and minimum and similar temperatures for maximum temperatures. For the future, both CMIP3 and CMIP5 scenarios indicate reduced precipitation and increased temperatures. The potencial evapotranspiration was calculated, projected to increase in scenarios A1B and A2 of CMIP3 and with behavior similar to that observed historically in scenarios RCP4.5 and 8.5.


Author(s):  
Amina Mami ◽  
Djilali Yebdri ◽  
Sabine Sauvage ◽  
Mélanie Raimonet ◽  
José Miguel

Abstract Climate change is expected to increase in the future in the Mediterranean region, including Algeria. The Tafna basin, vulnerable to drought, is one of the most important catchments ensuring water self-sufficiency in northwestern Algeria. The objective of this study is to estimate the evolution of hydrological components of the Tafna basin, throughout 2020–2099, comparing to the period 1981–2000. The SWAT model (Soil and Water Assessment Tool), calibrated and validated on the Tafna basin with good Nash at the outlet 0.82, is applied to analyze the spatial and temporal evolution of hydrological components, over the basin throughout 2020–2099. The application is produced using a precipitation and temperature minimum/maximum of an ensemble of climate model outputs obtained from a combination of eight global climate models and two regional climate models of Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment project. The results of this study show that the decrease of precipitation in January, on average −25%, ranged between −5% and −44% in the future. This diminution affects all of the water components and fluxes of a watershed, namely, in descending order of impact: the river discharge causing a decrease −36%, the soil water available −31%, the evapotranspiration −30%, and the lateral flow −29%.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5485-5506
Author(s):  
Marie-Estelle Demory ◽  
Ségolène Berthou ◽  
Jesús Fernández ◽  
Silje L. Sørland ◽  
Roman Brogli ◽  
...  

Abstract. In this study, we evaluate a set of high-resolution (25–50 km horizontal grid spacing) global climate models (GCMs) from the High-Resolution Model Intercomparison Project (HighResMIP), developed as part of the EU-funded PRIMAVERA (Process-based climate simulation: Advances in high resolution modelling and European climate risk assessment) project, and from the EURO-CORDEX (Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment) regional climate models (RCMs) (12–50 km horizontal grid spacing) over a European domain. It is the first time that an assessment of regional climate information using ensembles of both GCMs and RCMs at similar horizontal resolutions has been possible. The focus of the evaluation is on the distribution of daily precipitation at a 50 km scale under current climate conditions. Both the GCM and RCM ensembles are evaluated against high-quality gridded observations in terms of spatial resolution and station density. We show that both ensembles outperform GCMs from the 5th Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5), which cannot capture the regional-scale precipitation distribution properly because of their coarse resolutions. PRIMAVERA GCMs generally simulate precipitation distributions within the range of EURO-CORDEX RCMs. Both ensembles perform better in summer and autumn in most European regions but tend to overestimate precipitation in winter and spring. PRIMAVERA shows improvements in the latter by reducing moderate-precipitation rate biases over central and western Europe. The spatial distribution of mean precipitation is also improved in PRIMAVERA. Finally, heavy precipitation simulated by PRIMAVERA agrees better with observations in most regions and seasons, while CORDEX overestimates precipitation extremes. However, uncertainty exists in the observations due to a potential undercatch error, especially during heavy-precipitation events. The analyses also confirm previous findings that, although the spatial representation of precipitation is improved, the effect of increasing resolution from 50 to 12 km horizontal grid spacing in EURO-CORDEX daily precipitation distributions is, in comparison, small in most regions and seasons outside mountainous regions and coastal regions. Our results show that both high-resolution GCMs and CORDEX RCMs provide adequate information to end users at a 50 km scale.


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