The hydrologic cycle in deep-time climate problems

Hydrology refers to the whole panoply of effects the water molecule has on climate and on the land surface during its journey there and back again between ocean and atmosphere. On its way, it is cycled through vapour, cloud water, snow, sea ice and glacier ice, as well as acting as a catalyst for silicate-carbonate weathering reactions governing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Because carbon dioxide affects the hydrologic cycle through temperature, climate is a pas des deux between carbon dioxide and water, with important guest appearances by surface ice cover.     

Constraints on radiative forcing and future climate change from observations and climate model ensembles

The assessment of uncertainties in global warming projections is often based on expert judgement, because a number of key variables in climate change are poorly quantified. In particular, the sensitivity of climate to changing greenhouse-gas concentrations in the atmosphere and the radiative forcing effects by aerosols are not well constrained, leading to large uncertainties in global warming simulations. Here we present a Monte Carlo approach to produce probabilistic climate projections, using a climate model of reduced complexity. The uncertainties in the input parameters and in the model itself are taken into account, and past observations of oceanic and atmospheric warming are used to constrain the range of realistic model responses. We obtain a probability density function for the present-day total radiative forcing, giving 1.4 to 2.4 W m-2 for the 5-95 per cent confidence range, narrowing the global-mean indirect aerosol effect to the range of 0 to -1.2 W m-2. Ensemble simulations for two illustrative emission scenarios suggest a 40 per cent probability that global-mean surface temperature increase will exceed the range predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), but only a 5 per cent probability that warming will fall below that range.     

气候变化影响下的流域水循环：回顾与展望?

随着全球气候变化的影响日益加剧,气候变化对流域水循环影响的研究成为普遍关注的焦点.数理统计和水文模拟两大手段的运用贯穿于过去30余年的研究当中,本文就其中所涉及的水文气象要素趋势分析、大气环流模式(GCMs)评估、降尺度技术及其选择、水文模型及其选择、不确定性分析5大内容的研究成果进行回顾与展望,以拉萨河流域为例综合运用前述技术分析区域气候变化特征及其对流域径流的影响.结果表明,在未来经济社会发展与气候变化情景下,流域径流时空分布不均匀性更加显著,具体表现为集中性增强,这给区域防洪抗旱与水资源配置等都带来了巨大挑战.通过系统阐述如何开展气候变化对流域水循环的影响研究及所包含的关键问题,可为后续相关研究和区域水资源管理提供科学依据与决策支撑.     

气候变化风险下中国建筑和土木工程设计参数分析

通过气象、建筑和土木工程领域的学科交叉,梳理了目前中国建筑及土木工程设计标准中的部分设计用气象参数,并与几种相关的典型气候变化风险下的预估数据进行对比,表明为了更好地应对未来变化,上述部分参数需要进行相应调整。提出了对这些参数进行历史数据更新、增加未来气候变化风险维度的框架建议。构建了针对单个建设项目应对未来气候变化风险专项设计用气象参数预估的设想。     

Vulnerability assessment of areas affected by Chinese cryospheric changes in future climate change scenarios

Using the definition of vulnerability provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,this paper assesses the vulnerability of areas affected by Chinese cryospheric changes from 2001 to 2020 and from 2001 to 2050 in A1 and B1scenarios.Seven indices are used in the vulnerability assessment:glacial area fraction,interannual variability of permafrost depth,interannual variability of surface snow area fraction,interannual variability of surface runoff,interannual variability of surface temperature,interannual variability of vegetation growth,and interannual variability of the human development index.Assessment results show that the overall vulnerability of the studied areas in China increases from east to west.The areas in the middle and eastern parts of China are less vulnerable compared with western parts and parts of the Tibetan Plateau.The highest vulnerability values are found from 1981 to 2000,and the least ones are found from 2001 to 2050.The vulnerable areas increase from the period of 1981 to 2000 to the period of 2001 to 2050,and the less vulnerable areas decrease.The highly vulnerable areas increase from the period of 1981 to 2000 to the period of 2001 to 2020 and then decrease from the period of 2001 to 2020 to the period of 2001 to 2050.This decrease in vulnerability is attributed to the decrease in exposure and sensitivity to Chinese cryospheric changes along with a concomitant increase in adaptation.     

35 ka BP climate simulations in East Asia and probing the mechanisms of climate changes

Interglacial or postglacial climates are all of charac-teristic of warmer conditions. However, if condition asso-ciated with the warm feature is wetter or drier than today,it would produce different impacts on natural environ-ments and human society. Quaternary studies found thatclimate with warm-dry or warm-wet conditions had oc-curred in China during the last 40—30 ka BP[1]. For ex-ample, it was warmer than the present during themid-Holocene (3—8 ka BP) and the late phases of MarineIsot…     

Retrospect and prospect: advances and future strategies in climate research

A brief review of the progress in climate research and a prospect on its further development in the 21st century is presented. Some key findings including the concept of climate system, the discovery of climatic multi-equilibrium and abrupt climate changes, and the recognition of human activities as an important force of climate change made breakthroughs in climatology possible during last few decades. The adaptation to climatic and global change emerged as a new aspect of climatic research during the 1990s. Climate research will break through in the observation of the global system, in the analysis of mass data, in the deepening of research on the mechanism of climatic change, and in the improvement of models. In the applied fields of climate research, there will be substantial progress in the research on adaptation to global change and sustainable development, on orderly human activities, and climate modification.     

Rapid changes of glacial climate simulated in a coupled climate model

Abrupt changes in climate, termed Dansgaard-Oeschger and Heinrich events, have punctuated the last glacial period (approximately 100-10 kyr ago) but not the Holocene (the past 10 kyr). Here we use an intermediate-complexity climate model to investigate the stability of glacial climate, and we find that only one mode of Atlantic Ocean circulation is stable: a cold mode with deep water formation in the Atlantic Ocean south of Iceland. However, a 'warm' circulation mode similar to the present-day Atlantic Ocean is only marginally unstable, and temporary transitions to this warm mode can easily be triggered. This leads to abrupt warm events in the model which share many characteristics of the observed Dansgaard-Oeschger events. For a large freshwater input (such as a large release of icebergs), the model's deep water formation is temporarily switched off, causing no strong cooling in Greenland but warming in Antarctica, as is observed for Heinrich events. Our stability analysis provides an explanation why glacial climate is much more variable than Holocene climate.     

Influence of the carbon cycle on the attribution of responsibility for climate change

The carbon cycle is one of the fundamental climate change issues.Its long-term evolution largely affects the amplitude and trend of human-induced climate change,as well as the formulation and implementation of emission reduction policy and technology for stabilizing the atmospheric CO2concentration.Two earth system models incorporating the global carbon cycle,the Community Earth System Model and the Beijing Normal University-Earth System Model,were used to investigate the effect of the carbon cycle on the attribution of the historical responsibility for climate change.The simulations show that when compared with the criterion based on cumulative emissions,the developed(developing)countries’responsibility is reduced(increased)by 6%–10%using atmospheric CO2concentration as the criterion.This discrepancy is attributed to the fact that the developed world contributed approximately61%–68%(61%–64%)to the change in global oceanic(terrestrial)carbon sequestration for the period from 1850 to2005,whereas the developing world contributed approximately 32%–49%(36%–39%).Under a developed world emissions scenario,the relatively larger uptake of global carbon sinks reduced the developed countries’responsibility for carbon emissions but increased their responsibility for global ocean acidification(68%).In addition,the large emissions from the developed world reduced the efficiency of the global carbon sinks,which may affect the long-term carbon sequestration and exacerbate global warming in the future.Therefore,it is necessary to further consider the interaction between carbon emissions and the carbon cycle when formulating emission reduction policy.     

Tropical climate changes at millennial and orbital timescales on the Bolivian Altiplano

Tropical South America is one of the three main centres of the global, zonal overturning circulation of the equatorial atmosphere (generally termed the 'Walker' circulation). Although this area plays a key role in global climate cycles, little is known about South American climate history. Here we describe sediment cores and down-hole logging results of deep drilling in the Salar de Uyuni, on the Bolivian Altiplano, located in the tropical Andes. We demonstrate that during the past 50,000 years the Altiplano underwent important changes in effective moisture at both orbital (20,000-year) and millennial timescales. Long-duration wet periods, such as the Last Glacial Maximum--marked in the drill core by continuous deposition of lacustrine sediments--appear to have occurred in phase with summer insolation maxima produced by the Earth's precessional cycle. Short-duration, millennial events correlate well with North Atlantic cold events, including Heinrich events 1 and 2, as well as the Younger Dryas episode. At both millennial and orbital timescales, cold sea surface temperatures in the high-latitude North Atlantic were coeval with wet conditions in tropical South America, suggesting a common forcing.     

气候变迁与中国战争史之间的关系综述

气候是政治命运的影响因素之一,在中国近5000a的历史中,气候共经历了4次寒冷期和数次暖期中的短暂冷期．气候的突变,特别是气候变冷给农业社会带来巨大的打击,从而成为战争爆发的导火索．通过对气候变迁以及中国战争史的叠加研究,发现战争的发生和气候变迁存在着很大的关联．     

荒漠化扩展对我国区域气候变化影响的数值模拟

使用区域气候模式RegCM3研究了西北沙漠面积变化对我国区域气候变化的影响．共设计了3组试验：控制试验A、沙漠面积扩展试验B、在试验B基础上增大粗糙高度的试验C．分析表明：中国西北沙漠区扩展后对中国夏季降雨量和中国夏季风有明显影响．结果表明：植被退化、荒漠化加剧会导致季风减弱,降水量减少,增大地面粗糙高度后的影响更为显著．     

河西走廊历史时期气候干湿状况变迁考略

检索整理了河西走廊史载以来的气候旱涝资料，采用湿润指数公式进行处理分析；探讨了该地区历史上气候干湿状况变迁的概貌     

Effects of historical land cover changes on climate

In order to explore the influence of anthropogenic land use on the climate system during the last mil- lennium, a set of experiments is performed with an Earth system model of intermediate complexity—— the McGill Paleoclimate Model (MPM-2). The present paper mainly focuses on biogeophysical effects of historical land cover changes. A dynamic scenario of deforestation is described based on changes in cropland fraction (RF99). The model simulates a decrease in global mean annual temperature in the range of 0.09-0.16℃, especially 0.14-0.22℃ in Northern Hemisphere during the last 300 years. The responses of climate system to GHGs concentration changes are also calculated for comparisons. Now, afforestation is becoming an important choice for the enhancement of terrestrial carbon sequestration and adjustment of regional climate. The results indicate that biogeophysical effects of land cover changes cannot be neglected in the assessments of climate change.     

气候变化对挠力河径流量的影响

利用Mann Kendall突变检验法分别分析了1956—2005年50年来的宝清站和菜嘴子站年平均径流量演变的阶段性特征,并建立了径流 降雨的经验模型,利用该模型分析了气候变化和人类活动对径流的影响.研究结果表明：50年来宝清站和菜嘴子站的年平均径流量演变可分为两个阶段:1956—1967年的基准期和1968—2005年的变化期.变化期内径流量的年际和年内都发生了较大变化,体现在年平均径流量减少显著,两个站的年平均径流量减少量都在50%左右.径流变差系数有不同程度的增长,其中菜嘴子站增长了近30%.年内分配变化主要体现在径流峰值上,菜嘴子站的夏季径流峰值和最低值的出现时间都较第一阶段提前了一个月.变化期内年均径流量的变化主要是由人类活动引起的,气候变化引起的径流量变化占年均径流量总变化量的40%左右.     

Global warming and climate forcing by recent albedo changes on Mars

For hundreds of years, scientists have tracked the changing appearance of Mars, first by hand drawings and later by photographs. Because of this historical record, many classical albedo patterns have long been known to shift in appearance over time. Decadal variations of the martian surface albedo are generally attributed to removal and deposition of small amounts of relatively bright dust on the surface. Large swaths of the surface (up to 56 million km2) have been observed to darken or brighten by 10 per cent or more. It is unknown, however, how these albedo changes affect wind circulation, dust transport and the feedback between these processes and the martian climate. Here we present predictions from a Mars general circulation model, indicating that the observed interannual albedo alterations strongly influence the martian environment. Results indicate enhanced wind stress in recently darkened areas and decreased wind stress in brightened areas, producing a positive feedback system in which the albedo changes strengthen the winds that generate the changes. The simulations also predict a net annual global warming of surface air temperatures by approximately 0.65 K, enhancing dust lifting by increasing the likelihood of dust devil generation. The increase in global dust lifting by both wind stress and dust devils may affect the mechanisms that trigger large dust storm initiation, a poorly understood phenomenon, unique to Mars. In addition, predicted increases in summertime air temperatures at high southern latitudes would contribute to the rapid and steady scarp retreat that has been observed in the south polar residual ice for the past four Mars years. Our results suggest that documented albedo changes affect recent climate change and large-scale weather patterns on Mars, and thus albedo variations are a necessary component of future atmospheric and climate studies.     

中国北方森林潜在分布及其对气候变化响应的模拟

选取了温暖指数、寒冷指数、湿润指数、1月最低温度、7月最高温度和年降水量等气候变量为因子,使用地理信息系统和Logistic回归模型的结合,模拟中国北方森林的潜在分布区及其对气候变化的响应.用敏感性、指定度和总正确率评价预测的精度,4种北方森林的敏感性为81%～92%,指定度为82%～92%,总正确率82%～92%.结果表明:在未来气候条件(2071-2100)下,中国北方森林的分布区将发生大范围的转移;常绿针叶林的面积扩大15.2%,阔叶落叶林、落叶针叶林和针阔混交林的面积分别减小86.7%,71.7%,32.1%.     

基于气候生产力模型的安徽省气温与降水的变化分析

研究安徽省的气候生产力数据变化特征和该省的气候资源情况,以合理利用气候资源,充分保障农业生产的稳定性.以气温、降水量、高程特征数据为研究基础,综合使用Thornthwaite Memorial模型、克里金插值、双变量相关性分析等数据分析手段,在GIS平台中进行插值模拟与分析制图,以时空规律的内容揭示气候变化对农业气候生...     

Decadal changes of the wintertime tropical tropospheric temperature and their influences on the extratropical climate

Science Bulletin - A decadal change of the tropical tropospheric temperature (TT) was identified to occur in the winter of 1997. Compared with that in the former period (1979–1996), the...     

Sediment change under climate changes and human activities in the Yuanjiang-Red River Basin

Both the climate change and human activities are the major influence factors to the sediment change in mountainous rivers. Based on the over 40 years’ record, suspended sediment loads (SSL) change at the Manhao gauging station in the lower reaches of Yuanjiang River (upper Red River). In this paper, the variation of the sediment and its drivers were analyzed through different methods such as synchronous data comparison, traditional correlation, linear regression, and Granger causality. The results show that (1) the general trend of the annual average sediment concentration (SSC) and SSL at Manhao station is increasing from the 1960s to the 1990s, and there is a quick change period after 1984; (2) the SSL and SSC at Manhao station, during different periods of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, are 1.87, 2.49, 3.12, 3.63 kg/m³, and 28.7×10⁶, 40.3×10⁶, 44.1×10⁶, 60.3×10⁶ t/a, respectively; (3) the correlation analysis and the Granger causality test proved that the climate changes in the catchment were the main driving factors to the sediment variation in the period of 1960s and 1990s, but the influence by the mountainous human actions on the sediment change is stronger than that by the local climate changes in the 1970s and 1980s; (4) the correlation between the sediment changes and the forest coverage change is negative, which further proves that the sediment changes are strongly affected by the human activities in the basin.