scholarly journals Climate pattern scaling set for an ensemble of 22 GCMs – adding uncertainty to the IMOGEN impacts system

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Przemyslaw Zelazowski ◽  
Chris Huntingford ◽  
Lina M. Mercado ◽  
Nathalie Schaller

Abstract. Global Circulation Models (GCMs) are the best tool to understand climate change, as they attempt to represent all the important Earth system processes, and including anthropogenic perturbation through fossil fuel burning. However, GCMs are computationally very expensive, which limits the number of simulations that can be made. Pattern-scaling is an emulation technique that takes advantage of the fact that local and seasonal changes in surface climate are often approximately linear in amount of warming over land and globe. This allows interpolation away from a limited number of available GCM simulations, to assess alternative future emissions scenarios. In this paper we present a pattern-scaling set consisting of spatial climate change patterns along with parameters for an energy balance model that calculates the amount of global warming. The set is derived from 22 GCMs of the WCRP CMIP3 database, setting the basis for similar eventual pattern development for CMIP5 ensemble. Critically it extends the use of the IMOGEN (Integrated Model Of Global Effects of climatic aNomalies) framework to enable scanning across full uncertainty in GCMs for impacts studies. Across models, the presented climate patterns represent consistent global mean trends, with maximum four GCMs exhibiting opposite sign of the trend per variable (relative humidity). The described new climate regimes are generally warmer, wetter (but with less snowfall), cloudier and windier, and with decreased relative humidity. Overall, the patterns of the analysed variables explain one-third of regional change in decadal averages (mean Percentage Variance Explained, PVE, 34.25 ± 5.21), but signal in some models exhibits much more linearity (e.g. MIROC3.2(hires):41.53) than in others (GISS_ER: 22.67). The two most often considered variables: near-surface temperature and precipitation, have PVE of 85.44 ± 4.37 and 14.98 ± 4.61, respectively. The dataset is available for download and researchers in the areas of ecosystem modelling and climate change impact assessment are already starting to use it. Besides allowing time-efficient assessment for non-standard future scenarios of changed greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations, it enables understanding of new representations of land surface processes, and including climate-carbon cycle feedbacks. Current and potential future applications of such modelling system are discussed.

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 541-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Przemyslaw Zelazowski ◽  
Chris Huntingford ◽  
Lina M. Mercado ◽  
Nathalie Schaller

Abstract. Global circulation models (GCMs) are the best tool to understand climate change, as they attempt to represent all the important Earth system processes, including anthropogenic perturbation through fossil fuel burning. However, GCMs are computationally very expensive, which limits the number of simulations that can be made. Pattern scaling is an emulation technique that takes advantage of the fact that local and seasonal changes in surface climate are often approximately linear in the rate of warming over land and across the globe. This allows interpolation away from a limited number of available GCM simulations, to assess alternative future emissions scenarios. In this paper, we present a climate pattern-scaling set consisting of spatial climate change patterns along with parameters for an energy-balance model that calculates the amount of global warming. The set, available for download, is derived from 22 GCMs of the WCRP CMIP3 database, setting the basis for similar eventual pattern development for the CMIP5 and forthcoming CMIP6 ensemble. Critically, it extends the use of the IMOGEN (Integrated Model Of Global Effects of climatic aNomalies) framework to enable scanning across full uncertainty in GCMs for impact studies. Across models, the presented climate patterns represent consistent global mean trends, with a maximum of 4 (out of 22) GCMs exhibiting the opposite sign to the global trend per variable (relative humidity). The described new climate regimes are generally warmer, wetter (but with less snowfall), cloudier and windier, and have decreased relative humidity. Overall, when averaging individual performance across all variables, and without considering co-variance, the patterns explain one-third of regional change in decadal averages (mean percentage variance explained, PVE, 34.25±5.21), but the signal in some models exhibits much more linearity (e.g. MIROC3.2(hires): 41.53) than in others (GISS_ER: 22.67). The two most often considered variables, near-surface temperature and precipitation, have a PVE of 85.44±4.37 and 14.98±4.61, respectively. We also provide an example assessment of a terrestrial impact (changes in mean runoff) and compare projections by the IMOGEN system, which has one land surface model, against direct GCM outputs, which all have alternative representations of land functioning. The latter is noted as an additional source of uncertainty. Finally, current and potential future applications of the IMOGEN version 2.0 modelling system in the areas of ecosystem modelling and climate change impact assessment are presented and discussed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Byrne

<p>Extreme temperatures have warmed substantially over recent decades and are projected to continue warming in response to future climate change. Warming of extreme temperatures is amplified over land where the impacts on human health, wildfire risk and food production are most severe. Using simulations with climate models, I show that hot days over tropical land warm substantially more than the average day. For example, warming of the hottest 1% of land days is 24% larger than the time-mean warming averaged across models. The climate-change response of extreme temperatures over tropical land is interpreted using a theory based on atmospheric dynamics. According to the theory, warming is amplified for hot land days because those days are dry: I term this the "drier get hotter" mechanism. Changes in near-surface relative humidity further increase tropical land warming , with decreases in land relative humidity particularly important. The theory advances physical understanding of the tropical climate and highlights land-surface dryness as a key factor determining how extreme temperatures will respond to future climate change.</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 1308-1328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Berg ◽  
Benjamin R. Lintner ◽  
Kirsten Findell ◽  
Sonia I. Seneviratne ◽  
Bart van den Hurk ◽  
...  

Abstract Widespread negative correlations between summertime-mean temperatures and precipitation over land regions are a well-known feature of terrestrial climate. This behavior has generally been interpreted in the context of soil moisture–atmosphere coupling, with soil moisture deficits associated with reduced rainfall leading to enhanced surface sensible heating and higher surface temperature. The present study revisits the genesis of these negative temperature–precipitation correlations using simulations from the Global Land–Atmosphere Coupling Experiment–phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (GLACE-CMIP5) multimodel experiment. The analyses are based on simulations with five climate models, which were integrated with prescribed (noninteractive) and with interactive soil moisture over the period 1950–2100. While the results presented here generally confirm the interpretation that negative correlations between seasonal temperature and precipitation arise through the direct control of soil moisture on surface heat flux partitioning, the presence of widespread negative correlations when soil moisture–atmosphere interactions are artificially removed in at least two out of five models suggests that atmospheric processes, in addition to land surface processes, contribute to the observed negative temperature–precipitation correlation. On longer time scales, the negative correlation between precipitation and temperature is shown to have implications for the projection of climate change impacts on near-surface climate: in all models, in the regions of strongest temperature–precipitation anticorrelation on interannual time scales, long-term regional warming is modulated to a large extent by the regional response of precipitation to climate change, with precipitation increases (decreases) being associated with minimum (maximum) warming. This correspondence appears to arise largely as the result of soil moisture–atmosphere interactions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guo-Jing Yang ◽  
Robert Bergquist

Based on an ensemble of global circulation models (GCMs), four representative concentration pathways (RCPs) and several ongoing and planned Coupled Model Intercomparison Projects (CMIPs), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that global, average temperatures will increase by at least 1.5 °C in the near future and more by the end of the century if greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions are not genuinely tempered. While the RCPs are indicative of various amounts of GHGs in the atmosphere the CMIPs are designed to improve the workings of the GCMs. We chose RCP4.5 which represented a medium GHG emission increase and CMIP5, the most recently completed CMIP phase. Combining this meteorological model with a biological counterpart model accounted for replication and survival of the snail intermediate host as well as maturation of the parasite stage inside the snail at different ambient temperatures. The potential geographical distribution of the three main schistosome species: Schistosoma japonicum, S. mansoni and S. haematobium was investigated with reference to their different transmission capabilities at the monthly mean temperature, the maximum temperature of the warmest month(s) and the minimum temperature of the coldest month(s). The set of six maps representing the predicted situations in 2021–2050 and 2071–2100 for each species mainly showed increased transmission areas for all three species but they also left room for potential shrinkages in certain areas.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 7665-7687 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Pérez Díaz ◽  
T. Lakhankar ◽  
P. Romanov ◽  
J. Muñoz ◽  
R. Khanbilvardi ◽  
...  

Abstract. Land Surface Temperature (LST) is a key variable (commonly studied to understand the hydrological cycle) that helps drive the energy balance and water exchange between the Earth's surface and its atmosphere. One observable constituent of much importance in the land surface water balance model is snow. Snow cover plays a critical role in the regional to global scale hydrological cycle because rain-on-snow with warm air temperatures accelerates rapid snow-melt, which is responsible for the majority of the spring floods. Accurate information on near-surface air temperature (T-air) and snow skin temperature (T-skin) helps us comprehend the energy and water balances in the Earth's hydrological cycle. T-skin is critical in estimating latent and sensible heat fluxes over snow covered areas because incoming and outgoing radiation fluxes from the snow mass and the air temperature above make it different from the average snowpack temperature. This study investigates the correlation between MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST data and observed T-air and T-skin data from NOAA-CREST-Snow Analysis and Field Experiment (CREST-SAFE) for the winters of 2013 and 2014. LST satellite validation is imperative because high-latitude regions are significantly affected by climate warming and there is a need to aid existing meteorological station networks with the spatially continuous measurements provided by satellites. Results indicate that near-surface air temperature correlates better than snow skin temperature with MODIS LST data. Additional findings show that there is a negative trend demonstrating that the air minus snow skin temperature difference is inversely proportional to cloud cover. To a lesser extent, it will be examined whether the surface properties at the site are representative for the LST properties within the instrument field of view.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman Steinert ◽  
Fidel González-Rouco ◽  
Stefan Hagemann ◽  
Philipp de Vrese ◽  
Elena García-Bustamante ◽  
...  

<p>The representation of the thermal and hydrological state in the land model component of Earth System Models is crucial to have a realistic simulation of subsurface processes and the coupling between the atmo-, lito- and biosphere. There is evidence suggesting an inaccurate simulation of subsurface thermodynamics in current-generation Earth System Models, which have Land Surface Models that are too shallow. In simulations with a bottom boundary too close to the surface, the energy propagation and spatio-temporal variability of subsurface temperatures are affected. This potentially restrains the simulation of land-air interactions and subsurface phenomena, e.g. energy/moisture balance and storage capacity, freeze/thaw cycles and permafrost evolution. We introduce modifications for a deeper soil into the JSBACH soil model component of the MPI-ESM for climate projections of the 21st century. Subsurface layers are added progressively to increase the bottom boundary depth from 10m to 1400m. This leads to near-surface cooling of the soil and encourages regional terrestrial energy uptake by one order of magnitude and more. <br>The depth-changes in the soil also have implications for the hydrological regime, in which the moisture between the surface and the bedrock is sensitive to variations in the thermal regime. Additionally, we compare two different global soil parameter datasets that have major implications for the vertical distribution and availability of soil moisture and its exchange with the land surface. The implementation of supercool water and water phase changes in the soil creates a coupling between the soil thermal and hydrological regimes. In both cases of bottom boundary and water depth changes, we explore the sensitivity of JSBACH from the perspective of changes in the soil thermodynamics, energy balance and storage, as well as the effect of including freezing and thawing processes and their influence on the simulation of permafrost areas in the Northern Hemisphere high latitudes. The latter is of particular interest due to their vulnerability to long-term climate change.</p>


2011 ◽  
Vol 50 (12) ◽  
pp. 2410-2428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvie Leroyer ◽  
Stéphane Bélair ◽  
Jocelyn Mailhot ◽  
Ian B. Strachan

AbstractThe Canadian urban and land surface external modeling system (known as urban GEM-SURF) has been developed to provide surface and near-surface meteorological variables to improve numerical weather prediction and to become a tool for environmental applications. The system is based on the Town Energy Balance model for the built-up covers and on the Interactions between the Surface, Biosphere, and Atmosphere land surface model for the natural covers. It is driven by coarse-resolution forecasts from the 15-km Canadian regional operational model. This new system was tested for a 120-m grid-size computational domain covering the Montreal metropolitan region from 1 May to 30 September 2008. The numerical results were first evaluated against local observations of the surface energy budgets, air temperature, and humidity taken at the Environmental Prediction in Canadian Cities (EPiCC) field experiment tower sites. As compared with the regional deterministic 15-km model, important improvements have been achieved with this system over urban and suburban sites. GEM-SURF’s ability to simulate the Montreal surface urban heat island was also investigated, and the radiative surface temperatures from this system and from two systems operational at the Meteorological Service of Canada were compared, that is, the 15-km regional deterministic model and the so-called limited-area model with 2.5-km grid size. Comparison of urban GEM-SURF outputs with remotely sensed observations from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) reveals relatively good agreement for urban and natural areas.


RBRH ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Renato de Oliveira Fernandes ◽  
Cleiton da Silva Silveira ◽  
Ticiana Marinho de Carvalho Studart ◽  
Francisco de Assis de Souza Filho

ABSTRACT Climate changes can have different impacts on water resources. Strategies to adapt to climate changes depend on impact studies. In this context, this study aimed to estimate the impact that changes in precipitation, projected by Global Circulation Models (GCMs) in the fifth report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC-AR5) may cause on reservoir yield (Q90) of large reservoirs (Castanhão and Banabuiú), located in the Jaguaribe River Basin, Ceará. The rainfall data are from 20 GCMs using two greenhouse gas scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). The precipitation projections were used as input data for the rainfall-runoff model (SMAP) and, after the reservoirs’ inflow generation, the reservoir yields were simulated in the AcquaNet model, for the time periods of 2040-2069 and 2070-2099. The results were analyzed and presented a great divergence, in sign (increase or decrease) and in the magnitude of change of Q90. However, most Q90 projections indicated reduction in both reservoirs, for the two periods, especially at the end of the 21th century.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip D. Jones ◽  
Colin Harpham ◽  
Alberto Troccoli ◽  
Benoit Gschwind ◽  
Thierry Ranchin ◽  
...  

Abstract. The construction of a bias-adjusted dataset of climate variables at the near surface using ERA-Interim Reanalysis is presented. A number of different bias-adjustment approaches have been proposed. Here we modify the parameters of different distributions (depending on the variable), adjusting those calculated from ERA-Interim to those based on gridded station or direct station observations. The variables are air temperature, dewpoint temperature, precipitation (daily only), solar radiation, wind speed and relative humidity, available at either 3 or 6 h timescales over the period 1979-2014. This dataset is available to anyone through the Climate Data Store (CDS) of the Copernicus Climate Change Data Store (C3S), and can be accessed at present from (ftp://ecem.climate.copernicus.eu). The benefit of performing bias-adjustment is demonstrated by comparing initial and bias-adjusted ERA-Interim data against observations.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 471-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip D. Jones ◽  
Colin Harpham ◽  
Alberto Troccoli ◽  
Benoit Gschwind ◽  
Thierry Ranchin ◽  
...  

Abstract. The construction of a bias-adjusted dataset of climate variables at the near surface using ERA-Interim reanalysis is presented. A number of different, variable-dependent, bias-adjustment approaches have been proposed. Here we modify the parameters of different distributions (depending on the variable), adjusting ERA-Interim based on gridded station or direct station observations. The variables are air temperature, dewpoint temperature, precipitation (daily only), solar radiation, wind speed, and relative humidity. These are available on either 3 or 6 h timescales over the period 1979–2016. The resulting bias-adjusted dataset is available through the Climate Data Store (CDS) of the Copernicus Climate Change Data Store (C3S) and can be accessed at present from ftp://ecem.climate.copernicus.eu. The benefit of performing bias adjustment is demonstrated by comparing initial and bias-adjusted ERA-Interim data against gridded observational fields.


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