scholarly journals Storylines of the 2018 Northern Hemisphere heat wave at pre-industrial and higher global warming levels

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrin Wehrli ◽  
Mathias Hauser ◽  
Sonia I. Seneviratne

Abstract. Extreme temperatures were experienced over a large part of the Northern Hemisphere during the 2018 boreal summer (hereafter referred to as NH2018 event), leading to major impacts to agriculture and society in the affected countries. Previous studies highlighted both the anomalous atmospheric circulation patterns during the event and the background warming due to human greenhouse gas emissions as main drivers for the event. In this study, we present Earth System Model experiments investigating different storylines of the NH2018 event given the same atmospheric circulation and alternative background global warming for: no human imprint, the 2018 conditions, and different mean global warming levels (1.5 °C, 2 °C, 3 °C, and 4 °C). The results reveal that the human-induced background warming was a strong contributor to the intensity of the NH2018 event, and that resulting extremes under similar atmospheric circulation conditions at higher levels of global warming would reach very dangerous levels. About 32 % (61 %) of the inhabited or agricultural area in the investigated region would reach maximum temperatures over 40 °C under 2 °C (4 °C) of global warming and similar atmospheric circulation conditions.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 855-873
Author(s):  
Kathrin Wehrli ◽  
Mathias Hauser ◽  
Sonia I. Seneviratne

Abstract. Extreme temperatures were experienced over a large part of the Northern Hemisphere during the 2018 boreal summer (hereafter referred to as “NH2018 event”), leading to major impacts on agriculture and society in the affected countries. Previous studies highlighted both the anomalous atmospheric circulation patterns during the event and the background warming due to human greenhouse gas emissions as main drivers of the event. In this study, we present Earth system model experiments investigating different storylines of the NH2018 event given the same atmospheric circulation and alternative background global warming for no human imprint, the 2018 conditions, and different mean global warming levels 1.5, 2, 3 and 4 ∘C. The results reveal that the human-induced background warming was a strong contributor to the intensity of the NH2018 event, and that resulting extremes under similar atmospheric circulation conditions at higher levels of global warming would reach dangerous levels. Compared to 9 % during the NH2018 event, about 13 % (34 %) of the inhabited or agricultural area in the investigated region would reach daily maximum temperatures over 40 ∘C under 2 ∘C (4 ∘C) of global warming and similar atmospheric circulation conditions.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1584
Author(s):  
Ivana Tošić ◽  
Suzana Putniković ◽  
Milica Tošić ◽  
Irida Lazić

In this study, extremely warm and cold temperature events were examined based on daily maximum (Tx) and minimum (Tn) temperatures observed at 11 stations in Serbia during the period 1949–2018. Summer days (SU), warm days (Tx90), and heat waves (HWs) were calculated based on daily maximum temperatures, while frost days (FD) and cold nights (Tn10) were derived from daily minimum temperatures. Absolute maximum and minimum temperatures in Serbia rose but were statistically significant only for Tx in winter. Positive trends of summer and warm days, and negative trends of frost days and cold nights were found. A high number of warm events (SU, Tx90, and HWs) were recorded over the last 20 years. Multiple linear regression (MLR) models were applied to find the relationship between extreme temperature events and atmospheric circulation. Typical atmospheric circulation patterns, previously determined for Serbia, were used as predictor variables. It was found that MLR models gave the best results for Tx90, FD, and Tn10 in winter.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Eduard Y. Osipov ◽  
Olga P. Osipova

Abstract. Precipitation in high-mountain regions is characterized by a strong heterogeneity due to complex interaction between atmospheric circulation and steep topography, however, extremely rare network of high elevation stations hampers the adequate high resolution regional climate modeling. In this study we present new data of precipitation directly measured in high-mountain catchment, on the continental glacier (East Sayan Range, south of East Siberia) during the summer periods of 2015–2017 using automatic weather station. The precipitation record was compared with near located weather stations and ERA Interim and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. Precipitation mode similar to the glacier site was found at the stations located west and northwest, while ERA Interim and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data underestimated the precipitation by 40 % and 70 %, respectively. Atmospheric circulation patterns in days with precipitation were analyzed by using mean sea level pressure, geopotential height at 700 and 500 hPa and classification of macro scale atmospheric processes of the Northern Hemisphere by Dzerdzeevskii. Summer precipitation was mostly associated with meridional southern group of large scale circulation the Northern Hemisphere, while at synoptic scale it basically fell in cyclonic (49 % of precipitation) and low-gradient cyclonic (30 %) baric fields. Six typical atmospheric circulation patterns over the East Sayan were identified for days with precipitation. The sources and atmospheric moisture transfer to the glacier was defined by using the HYSPLIT trajectory model. The most of summer precipitation (70 %) was related with western cyclones, while about 25 % of rainfalls (mainly of moderate to strong intensity) was originated from the south-east (Pacific monsoon influence).


Geografie ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 122 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dragan D. Milošević ◽  
Stevan M. Savić ◽  
Uglješa Stankov ◽  
Igor Žiberna ◽  
Milana M. Pantelić ◽  
...  

This paper examines temporal and spatial patterns of annual and seasonal maximum temperatures (Tmax) in Slovenia and their relationship with atmospheric circulation patterns. A significant increase in maximum temperature (Tmax; from 0.3°C to 0.5°C·decade-1) was observed throughout the country at the annual scale in the period 1963–2014. Significant positive trends are observed on all stations in summer (from 0.4°C to 0.7°C·decade-1) and spring (from 0.4°C to 0.6°C·decade-1). The results indicate significant correlations between the mean annual maximum temperature (Tmax) and the East Atlantic Oscillation (EA) (from 0.5 to 0.7), the Arctic Oscillation (AO) (from 0.4 to 0.7) and the Scandinavian Oscillation (SCAND) (from −0.3 to −0.4) throughout the country. A significant EA influence is observed in all seasons, while the AO influence is noticed in winter and spring, SCAND in spring and summer, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Mediterranean Oscillation (MO) in winter, the East Atlantic/Western Russia Oscillation (EA/WR) in summer and the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in autumn.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rune Grand Graversen

<p>Mid-latitude continental weather and climate are strongly affected by the atmospheric circulation patterns such as Rossby waves and cyclones. For instance these patterns may lead to warm- and humid-air advection over western part of the continents in winter and cold-air advection in these regions during summer. By applying a newly developed method for splitting the atmospheric latent and dry-static energy transport into waves, hereby decomposing the energy transport into parts accomplished by e.g. Rossby waves and synoptic-scale weather systems, the effect of different atmospheric circulation patterns on Northern-Hemisphere continental climate is investigated.</p><p>Climate change and the associated Arctic temperature amplification may impact mid-latitude atmospheric circulation. Here we investigate the effect on Northern-Hemisphere continental climate from changes over recent decades in the atmospheric circulation patterns using the above-mentioned method.</p>


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