Quantifying the uncertainty in forecasts of anthropogenic climate change

Forecasts of climate change are inevitably uncertain. It is therefore essential to quantify the risk of significant departures from the predicted response to a given emission scenario. Previous analyses of this risk have been based either on expert opinion, perturbation analysis of simplified climate models or the comparison of predictions from general circulation models. Recent observed changes that appear to be attributable to human influence provide a powerful constraint on the uncertainties in multi-decadal forecasts. Here we assess the range of warming rates over the coming 50 years that are consistent with the observed near-surface temperature record as well as with the overall patterns of response predicted by several general circulation models. We expect global mean temperatures in the decade 2036-46 to be 1-2.5 K warmer than in pre-industrial times under a 'business as usual' emission scenario. This range is relatively robust to errors in the models' climate sensitivity, rate of oceanic heat uptake or global response to sulphate aerosols as long as these errors are persistent over time. Substantial changes in the current balance of greenhouse warming and sulphate aerosol cooling would, however, increase the uncertainty. Unlike 50-year warming rates, the final equilibrium warming after the atmospheric composition stabilizes remains very uncertain, despite the evidence provided by the emerging signal.     

The influence of anthropogenic climate change on wet and dry summers in Europe

Understanding the role of anthropogenic forcings in regional hydrological changes can help communities plan their adaptation in an informed manner.Here we apply...     

A globally coherent fingerprint of climate change impacts across natural systems

Causal attribution of recent biological trends to climate change is complicated because non-climatic influences dominate local, short-term biological changes. Any underlying signal from climate change is likely to be revealed by analyses that seek systematic trends across diverse species and geographic regions; however, debates within the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reveal several definitions of a 'systematic trend'. Here, we explore these differences, apply diverse analyses to more than 1,700 species, and show that recent biological trends match climate change predictions. Global meta-analyses documented significant range shifts averaging 6.1 km per decade towards the poles (or metres per decade upward), and significant mean advancement of spring events by 2.3 days per decade. We define a diagnostic fingerprint of temporal and spatial 'sign-switching' responses uniquely predicted by twentieth century climate trends. Among appropriate long-term/large-scale/multi-species data sets, this diagnostic fingerprint was found for 279 species. This suite of analyses generates 'very high confidence' (as laid down by the IPCC) that climate change is already affecting living systems.     

气候变化对森林生态系统的主要影响述评

森林生态系统是陆地生态系统的主体,其对减少大气中的CO₂浓度从而减缓全球变暖有着决定性的作用。为了探究气候变化对森林生态系统的影响以及森林生态系统的反馈机制,发展合理的森林经营策略以应对气候变化,笔者综述了国内外有关气候变化对森林生态系统影响的相关研究方法与成果,重点讨论了气候变化对森林结构、组成和分布、森林生产力、森林碳库、森林生态系统生物多样性、生态系统生态服务功能等方面的影响,论述了森林生态系统对气候变化的反馈机制,并指出了现有研究的不足之处,提出了适应或者减缓气候变化对森林生态系统影响的森林经营策略,主要包括:①坚决贯彻实施退耕还林政策; ②加强保护天然林; ③制定科学的森林经营对策; ④加速我国碳汇林业的发展。     

河北怀来盆地近60a气候变化特征及其影响

利用河北省怀来县1954—2012年月气象数据,采用线性倾向率法,距平法和Mann-Kendall趋势检验方法揭示了当地的气候变化特征;并分析了气候变化对水库来水量和粮食单产的关系.结果表明:1)近60年来,怀来县气候倾向率为0.36℃·(10a)-1,高于全国平均水平,年降水量呈下降趋势;从季节来看,四季气温均呈上升趋势,降水变化趋势存在差异,四季中以夏季暖干化趋势最明显.2)研究区年和四季年代均温都在1980—1989年开始变暖;年降水自1980—1989年开始减少,四季降水量的年代变化差异较大.3)研究区小区域尺度上的气候变化趋势与北方较大区域和全国尺度上的结果较为一致,并且暖干化趋势更加明显.4)气候要素与水库来水量和粮食单产显著相关,气候暖干化将加剧研究区水库来水锐减和粮食单产较低的问题.     

Ecological responses to recent climate change

There is now ample evidence of the ecological impacts of recent climate change, from polar terrestrial to tropical marine environments. The responses of both flora and fauna span an array of ecosystems and organizational hierarchies, from the species to the community levels. Despite continued uncertainty as to community and ecosystem trajectories under global change, our review exposes a coherent pattern of ecological change across systems. Although we are only at an early stage in the projected trends of global warming, ecological responses to recent climate change are already clearly visible.     

Linking climate change to lemming cycles

The population cycles of rodents at northern latitudes have puzzled people for centuries, and their impact is manifest throughout the alpine ecosystem. Climate change is known to be able to drive animal population dynamics between stable and cyclic phases, and has been suggested to cause the recent changes in cyclic dynamics of rodents and their predators. But although predator-rodent interactions are commonly argued to be the cause of the Fennoscandian rodent cycles, the role of the environment in the modulation of such dynamics is often poorly understood in natural systems. Hence, quantitative links between climate-driven processes and rodent dynamics have so far been lacking. Here we show that winter weather and snow conditions, together with density dependence in the net population growth rate, account for the observed population dynamics of the rodent community dominated by lemmings (Lemmus lemmus) in an alpine Norwegian core habitat between 1970 and 1997, and predict the observed absence of rodent peak years after 1994. These local rodent dynamics are coherent with alpine bird dynamics both locally and over all of southern Norway, consistent with the influence of large-scale fluctuations in winter conditions. The relationship between commonly available meteorological data and snow conditions indicates that changes in temperature and humidity, and thus conditions in the subnivean space, seem to markedly affect the dynamics of alpine rodents and their linked groups. The pattern of less regular rodent peaks, and corresponding changes in the overall dynamics of the alpine ecosystem, thus seems likely to prevail over a growing area under projected climate change.     

Extinction and climate change

Arising from F. He & S. P. Hubbell 473, 368-371 (2011). Statistical relationships between habitat area and the number of species observed (species-area relationships, SARs) are sometimes used to assess extinction risks following habitat destruction or loss of climatic suitability. He and Hubbell argue that the numbers of species confined to-rather than observed in-different areas (endemics-area relationships, EARs) should be used instead of SARs, and that SAR-based extinction estimates in the literature are too high. We suggest that He and Hubbell's SAR estimates are biased, that the empirical data they use are not appropriate to calculate extinction risks, and that their statements about extinction risks from climate change do not take into account non-SAR-based estimates or recent observations. Species have already responded to climate change in a manner consistent with high future extinction risks.     

Inequality in historical transboundary anthropogenic PM2.5 health impacts

Atmospheric transport of fine particulate matter (PM2.5),the leading environmental risk factor for public health,is estimated to exert substantial transboundary...     

苔藓植物对气候变化的响应研究进展

由于具有特殊的形态和生理特征,苔藓植物对环境污染和气候变化的反应十分敏感。本文从生态、生理和生长特征等方面综述了苔藓植物对气候变化的响应特征,以期促进苔藓植物对气候变化的响应研究。     

Emperor penguins and climate change

Variations in ocean-atmosphere coupling over time in the Southern Ocean have dominant effects on sea-ice extent and ecosystem structure, but the ultimate consequences of such environmental changes for large marine predators cannot be accurately predicted because of the absence of long-term data series on key demographic parameters. Here, we use the longest time series available on demographic parameters of an Antarctic large predator breeding on fast ice and relying on food resources from the Southern Ocean. We show that over the past 50 years, the population of emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) in Terre Adélie has declined by 50% because of a decrease in adult survival during the late 1970s. At this time there was a prolonged abnormally warm period with reduced sea-ice extent. Mortality rates increased when warm sea-surface temperatures occurred in the foraging area and when annual sea-ice extent was reduced, and were higher for males than for females. In contrast with survival, emperor penguins hatched fewer eggs when winter sea-ice was extended. These results indicate strong and contrasting effects of large-scale oceanographic processes and sea-ice extent on the demography of emperor penguins, and their potential high susceptibility to climate change.     

Changes in physical features of Glacier No. 1 of the Tianshan Mountains in response to climate change

This study analyzes the changes in glacier zones and snow composition of Glacier No.1 in the Tianshan Mountains of China since 1961,and their possible relations with climate.It is found that precipitation dominated the snow composition and that air temperature and precipitation controlled the distribution of glacier zones,but interannual change in precipitation had a relatively large effect on glacier zones and snow composition during 1963–1981 (P10) and 1963–1989 (P11).However,during 1982–2007 (P20) and 19...     

2022年气候变化与治理热点回眸

回顾了2022年全球气候变化与治理领域取得的系列令人瞩目的成果。介绍了2022年全球温度持续升高、温室气体浓度创新高、海冰范围缩小及海平面上升等气候变化科学共识;“三重”拉尼娜重现、南亚高温洪水、欧洲及中国高温干旱等极端天气气候事件;全球碳减排承诺、多灾种预警系统、IPCC第六次评估报告（AR6）、第27届联合国气候变化大会（COP27）、生物多样性大会（COP15）等全球气候变化治理与认知方面的最新进展。     

中国植被物候研究进展及展望

本文围绕气候变化背景下的中国植被物候研究,梳理了植被物候对气候变化的响应机制,分析了中国植被物候变化对陆地生态系统碳、水和能量循环的影响,植被物候变化对局地气候的反馈机制以及通过大气环流对气候系统的影响．主要结论:1)中国植被生长季开始日期提前1~6 d?(10 a)–1,结束日期推迟2~5 d?(10 a)–1,生长季显著延长;2)中国中高纬度地区植被对温度的响应明显高于亚热带和热带地区,温度在控制植被物候的过程中起到多重作用,降水主要影响干旱和半干旱地区的植被物候;3)植被生长季延长增加陆地生态系统生产力,增加中国碳汇;4)植被物候变化改变植被的蒸散发量,从而改变我国的流域尺度河流径流;5)在中国大部分地区,植被物候变化对气候系统产生负反馈作用,甚至影响大气环流过程．中国植被物候的研究越来越多,但仍存在亟待解决的科学问题,比如未来中国植被物候研究需要更加关注遥感数据反演精度,明确物候响应气候变化机制的尺度效应,结合机器学习等智能算法改进物候模型提高物候模拟精度,并重视农作物物候,加强物候与森林管理结合研究以提高我国生态系统碳汇能力,积极面对碳中和带来的机遇与挑战．