scholarly journals Changes in flood damage with global warming on the eastern coast of Spain

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 2855-2877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Cortès ◽  
Marco Turco ◽  
Philip Ward ◽  
Josep A. Sánchez-Espigares ◽  
Lorenzo Alfieri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Flood Damage ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Population Projections ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Socioeconomic Scenarios ◽  
Damage Estimates

Abstract. Flooding is one of the main natural hazards in the world and causes huge economic and human impacts. Assessing the flood damage in the Mediterranean region is of great importance, especially because of its large vulnerability to climate change. Most past floods affecting the region were caused by intense precipitation events; thus the analysis of the links between precipitation and flood damage is crucial. The main objective of this paper is to estimate changes in the probability of damaging flood events with global warming of 1.5, 2 and 3 ∘C above pre-industrial levels and taking into account different socioeconomic scenarios in two western Mediterranean regions, namely Catalonia and the Valencian Community. To do this, we analyse the relationship between heavy precipitation and flood-damage estimates from insurance datasets in those two regions. We consider an ensemble of seven regional climate model (RCM) simulations spanning the period 1976–2100 to evaluate precipitation changes and to drive a logistic model that links precipitation and flood-damage estimates, thus deriving statistics under present and future climates. Furthermore, we incorporate population projections based on five different socioeconomic scenarios. The results show a general increase in the probability of a damaging event for most of the cases and in both regions of study, with larger increments when higher warming is considered. Moreover, this increase is higher when both climate and population change are included. When population is considered, all the periods and models show a clearly higher increase in the probability of damaging events, which is statistically significant for most of the cases. Our findings highlight the need for limiting global warming as much as possible as well as the importance of including variables that consider change in both climate and socioeconomic conditions in the analysis of flood damage.

scholarly journals Changes in flood damage with global warming in the east coast of Spain

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Cortès ◽  
Marco Turco ◽  
Philip Ward ◽  
Josep A. Sánchez-Espigares ◽  
Lorenzo Alfieri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Flood Damage ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Population Projections ◽  
Socioeconomic Scenarios ◽  
Damage Estimates

Abstract. Flooding is one of the main natural hazard in the world and causes huge economic and human impacts. Assessing the flood damage in the Mediterranean region is of great importance, especially because its large vulnerability to climate change. Most past floods affecting the region were caused by intense precipitation events, thus the analysis of the links between precipitation and flood damage is crucial. The main objective of this paper is to estimate changes in the probability of damaging flood events with a global warming of 1.5, 2 and 3 °C above preindustrial levels and taking into account different socioeconomic scenarios in two western Mediterranean regions, namely Catalonia and the Valencian Community. To do this, we analyse the relationship between heavy precipitation and flood damage estimates from insurance datasets in those two regions. We consider an ensemble of seven regional climate model simulations spanning the period 1976–2100 to evaluate precipitation changes and to drive a logistic model that links precipitation and flood damage estimates, and thus to derive statistics under present and future climates. Furthermore, we incorporate population projections based on 5 different socioeconomic scenarios. The results show a general increase in the probability of a damaging event for most of the cases and in both regions of study, with larger increments when higher warming is considered. Moreover, this increase is higher when both climate and population change are included. When population is considered, all the periods and models show a clearly higher increase in the probability of damaging events, which is statistically significant for most of the cases. Our findings highlight the need for limiting the global warming as much as possible, as well as the importance of including variables that consider change in both climate and socioeconomic conditions in the analysis of flood damage.

scholarly journals Heat-Related Health Impacts under Scenarios of Climate and Population Change

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. 2438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Morefield ◽  
Neal Fann ◽  
Anne Grambsch ◽  
William Raich ◽  
Christopher Weaver
Keyword(s):  
Health Risk ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Population Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Extreme Heat ◽  
Population Projections ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Coupled Modeling ◽  
Related Mortality

Recent assessments have found that a warming climate, with associated increases in extreme heat events, could profoundly affect human health. This paper describes a new modeling and analysis framework, built around the Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program—Community Edition (BenMAP), for estimating heat-related mortality as a function of changes in key factors that determine the health impacts of extreme heat. This new framework has the flexibility to integrate these factors within health risk assessments, and to sample across the uncertainties in them, to provide a more comprehensive picture of total health risk from climate-driven increases in extreme heat. We illustrate the framework’s potential with an updated set of projected heat-related mortality estimates for the United States. These projections combine downscaled Coupled Modeling Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5) climate model simulations for Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP)4.5 and RCP8.5, using the new Locating and Selecting Scenarios Online (LASSO) tool to select the most relevant downscaled climate realizations for the study, with new population projections from EPA’s Integrated Climate and Land Use Scenarios (ICLUS) project. Results suggest that future changes in climate could cause approximately from 3000 to more than 16,000 heat-related deaths nationally on an annual basis. This work demonstrates that uncertainties associated with both future population and future climate strongly influence projected heat-related mortality. This framework can be used to systematically evaluate the sensitivity of projected future heat-related mortality to the key driving factors and major sources of methodological uncertainty inherent in such calculations, improving the scientific foundations of risk-based assessments of climate change and human health.

scholarly journals Synergistic impacts of global warming and thermohaline circulation collapse on amphibians

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julián A. Velasco ◽  
Francisco Estrada ◽  
Oscar Calderón-Bustamante ◽  
Didier Swingedouw ◽  
Carolina Ureta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Thermohaline Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Amphibian Species ◽  
Climate Conditions

AbstractImpacts on ecosystems and biodiversity are a prominent area of research in climate change. However, little is known about the effects of abrupt climate change and climate catastrophes on them. The probability of occurrence of such events is largely unknown but the associated risks could be large enough to influence global climate policy. Amphibians are indicators of ecosystems’ health and particularly sensitive to novel climate conditions. Using state-of-the-art climate model simulations, we present a global assessment of the effects of unabated global warming and a collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) on the distribution of 2509 amphibian species across six biogeographical realms and extinction risk categories. Global warming impacts are severe and strongly enhanced by additional and substantial AMOC weakening, showing tipping point behavior for many amphibian species. Further declines in climatically suitable areas are projected across multiple clades, and biogeographical regions. Species loss in regional assemblages is extensive across regions, with Neotropical, Nearctic and Palearctic regions being most affected. Results underline the need to expand existing knowledge about the consequences of climate catastrophes on human and natural systems to properly assess the risks of unabated warming and the benefits of active mitigation strategies.

scholarly journals 2 °C vs. High Warming: Transitions to Flood-Generating Mechanisms across Canada

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 1494
Author(s):  
Bernardo Teufel ◽  
Laxmi Sushama
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Late 21St Century ◽  
Transient Climate Change ◽  
Projected Changes ◽  
Change Mitigation

Fluvial flooding in Canada is often snowmelt-driven, thus occurs mostly in spring, and has caused billions of dollars in damage in the past decade alone. In a warmer climate, increasing rainfall and changing snowmelt rates could lead to significant shifts in flood-generating mechanisms. Here, projected changes to flood-generating mechanisms in terms of the relative contribution of snowmelt and rainfall are assessed across Canada, based on an ensemble of transient climate change simulations performed using a state-of-the-art regional climate model. Changes to flood-generating mechanisms are assessed for both a late 21st century, high warming (i.e., Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5) scenario, and in a 2 °C global warming context. Under 2 °C of global warming, the relative contribution of snowmelt and rainfall to streamflow peaks is projected to remain close to that of the current climate, despite slightly increased rainfall contribution. In contrast, a high warming scenario leads to widespread increases in rainfall contribution and the emergence of hotspots of change in currently snowmelt-dominated regions across Canada. In addition, several regions in southern Canada would be projected to become rainfall dominated. These contrasting projections highlight the importance of climate change mitigation, as remaining below the 2 °C global warming threshold can avoid large changes over most regions, implying a low likelihood that expensive flood adaptation measures would be necessary.

How do polar clouds and precipitation affect global warming?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Kay
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Cloud Feedback ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Unsolved Research Problem ◽  
Cloud Feedbacks ◽  
Surface Warming ◽  
Polar Clouds ◽  
Radiative Feedbacks

<p>Understanding the influence of clouds and precipitation on global warming remains an important unsolved research problem. This talk presents an overview of this topic, with a focus on recent observations, theory, and modeling results for polar clouds. After a general introduction, experiments that disable cloud radiative feedbacks or “lock the clouds” within a state‐of‐the‐art,  well‐documented, and observationally vetted climate model will be presented. Through comparison of idealized greenhouse warming experiments with and without cloud locking, the sign and magnitude cloud feedbacks can be quantified. Global cloud feedbacks increase both global and Arctic warming by around 25%. In contrast, disabling Arctic cloud feedbacks has a negligible influence on both Arctic and global surface warming. Do observations and theory support a positive global cloud feedback and a weak Arctic cloud feedback?  How does precipitation affect polar cloud feedbacks? What are the implications especially for climate change in polar regions?  </p>

scholarly journals Atmospheric Lifetimes, Infrared Absorption Spectra, Radiative Forcings and Global Warming Potentials of NF<sub>3</sub> and CFC-115

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Totterdill ◽  
Tamás Kovács ◽  
Wuhu Feng ◽  
Sandip Dhomse ◽  
Christopher J. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Infrared Absorption ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Radiative Forcings ◽  
Atmospheric Window ◽  
Infrared Absorption Spectra ◽  
Global Warming Potentials ◽  
Good Agreement

Abstract. Fluorinated compounds such as NF3 and C2F5Cl (CFC-115) are characterised by very large global warming potentials (GWPs) which result from extremely long atmospheric lifetimes and strong infrared absorptions in the atmospheric window. In this study we have experimentally determined the infrared absorption cross-sections of NF3 and CFC-115, calculated the radiative forcing and efficiency using two radiative transfer models and identified the effect of clouds and stratospheric adjustment. The infrared cross sections are in good agreement with previous measurements, whereas the resulting radiative forcings and efficiencies are, on average, around 10 % larger. A whole atmosphere chemistry-climate model was used to determine the atmospheric lifetimes of NF3 and CFC-115 to be (616 ± 34) years and (492 ± 22) years, respectively. The GWPs for NF3 are estimated to be 14 600, 19 400 and 21 400 over 20, 100 and 500 years, respectively. Similarly, the GWPs for CFC-115 are 6120, 8060 and 8630 over 20, 100 and 500 years, respectively.

scholarly journals Global warming precipitation accumulation increases above the current-climate cutoff scale

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (6) ◽  
pp. 1258-1263 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. David Neelin ◽  
Sandeep Sahany ◽  
Samuel N. Stechmann ◽  
Diana N. Bernstein
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Probability Density ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Model ◽  
Storm Event ◽  
Current Climate ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Climate Model Simulations ◽  
Precipitation Loss

Precipitation accumulations, integrated over rainfall events, can be affected by both intensity and duration of the storm event. Thus, although precipitation intensity is widely projected to increase under global warming, a clear framework for predicting accumulation changes has been lacking, despite the importance of accumulations for societal impacts. Theory for changes in the probability density function (pdf) of precipitation accumulations is presented with an evaluation of these changes in global climate model simulations. We show that a simple set of conditions implies roughly exponential increases in the frequency of the very largest accumulations above a physical cutoff scale, increasing with event size. The pdf exhibits an approximately power-law range where probability density drops slowly with each order of magnitude size increase, up to a cutoff at large accumulations that limits the largest events experienced in current climate. The theory predicts that the cutoff scale, controlled by the interplay of moisture convergence variance and precipitation loss, tends to increase under global warming. Thus, precisely the large accumulations above the cutoff that are currently rare will exhibit increases in the warmer climate as this cutoff is extended. This indeed occurs in the full climate model, with a 3 °C end-of-century global-average warming yielding regional increases of hundreds of percent to >1,000% in the probability density of the largest accumulations that have historical precedents. The probabilities of unprecedented accumulations are also consistent with the extension of the cutoff.

scholarly journals Impacts of 1.5 and 2.0 °C Global Warming on Water Balance Components over Senegal in West Africa

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 712
Author(s):  
Mamadou Lamine Mbaye ◽  
Mouhamadou Bamba Sylla ◽  
Moustapha Tall
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Water Deficit ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Water Balance Components ◽  
Global Mean Temperature ◽  
The Future ◽  
Annual Water

This study assesses the changes in precipitation (P) and in evapotranspiration (ET) under 1.5 °C and 2.0 °C global warming levels (GWLs) over Senegal in West Africa. A set of twenty Regional Climate Model (RCM) simulations within the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) following the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 emission scenario is used. Annual and seasonal changes are computed between climate simulations under 1.5 °C and 2.0 °C warming, with respect to 0.5 °C warming, compared to pre-industrial levels. The results show that annual precipitation is likely to decrease under both magnitudes of warming; this decrease is also found during the main rainy season (July, August, September) only and is more pronounced under 2 °C warming. All reference evapotranspiration calculations, from Penman, Hamon, and Hargreaves formulations, show an increase in the future under the two GWLs, except annual Penman evapotranspiration under the 1.5 °C warming scenario. Furthermore, seasonal and annual water balances (P-ET) generally exhibit a water deficit. This water deficit (up to 180 mm) is more substantial with Penman and Hamon under 2 °C. In addition, analyses of changes in extreme precipitation reveal an increase in dry spells and a decrease in the number of wet days. However, Senegal may face a slight increase in very wet days (95th percentile), extremely wet days (99th), and rainfall intensity in the coming decades. Therefore, in the future, Senegal may experience a decline in precipitation, an increase of evapotranspiration, and a slight increase in heavy rainfall. Such changes could have serious consequences (e.g., drought, flood, etc.) for socioeconomic activities. Thus, strong governmental politics are needed to restrict the global mean temperature to avoid irreversible negative climate change impacts over the country. The findings of this study have contributed to a better understanding of local patterns of the Senegal hydroclimate under the two considered global warming scenarios.

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