An Alternative Means of Assessing Climate Models

The authors compared two different sets of assessment of the abilities of contemporary climate models. One group is made of experts, and their results are provided in two expert reports, while the other is the subjective assessment made by ＂physical climate scientists＂ in general, sampled in a series of three survey questionnaires. The expert group is considerably more optimistic than the general group; the former suggesting progress, while the perception of the latter group is more or less stationary.

Projection of climate extremes in China,an incremental exercise from CMIP5 to CMIP6

This paper presents projections of climate extremes over China under global warming of 1.5,2,and 3℃ above pre-industrial(1861–1900),based on the latest Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6(CMIP6)simulations.Results are compared with what produced by the precedent phase of the project,CMIP5.Model evaluation for the reference period(1985–2005)indicates that CMIP6 models outperform their predecessors in CMIP5,especially in simulating precipitation extremes.Areal averages for changes of most indices are found larger in CMIP6 than in CMIP5.The emblematic annual mean temperature,when averaged over the whole of China in CMIP6,increases by 1.49,2.21,and 3.53℃(relative to1985–2005)for 1.5,2,and 3℃ above-preindustrial global warming levels,while the counterpart in CMIP5 is 1.20,1.93 and 3.39℃ respectively.Similarly,total precipitation increases by 5.3%,8.6%,and16.3%in CMIP6 and by 4.4%,7.0%and 12.8%in CMIP5,respectively.The spatial distribution of changes for extreme indices is generally consistent in both CMIP5 and CMIP6,but with significantly higher increases in CMIP6 over Northeast and Northwest China for the hottest day temperature,and South China for the coldest night temperature.In the south bank of the Yangtze River,and most regions around40°N,CMIP6 shows higher increases for both total precipitation and heavy precipitation.The projected difference between CMIP6 and CMIP5 is mainly attributable to the physical upgrading of climate models and largely independent from their emission scenarios.

Changes of citrus climate risk in subtropics of China

Based on the citrus temperature, precipitation, sunlight and climate risk degree, the article divides subtropics of China into three types： the low risk region, the moderate risk region and the high risk region. The citrus temperature risk increases with increasing latitude （except for the western mountainous area of subtropics of China）. The citrus precipitation risk in the central part of subtropics of China is higher than that in the northern and western parts. The distributions of citrus sunlight risk are not consistent to those of the citrus precipitation risk. The citrus climate risk is mainly influenced by temperature. There is latitudinal zonal law for the distribution of the climate risk, that is, the climate risk increases with increasing latitude At the same time the climate risk in mountainous area is high and that in eastern plain area is low. There are differences in the temporal and spatial changes of the citrus climate. In recent 46 years, the citrus climate risk presents a gradual increasing trend in subtropics of China, especially it has been increasing fast since the 1980s. Because of the global warming, the low risk region in the eastern and southern parts has a gradual decreasing trend, however, the high risk region in the northern and western parts has an increasing trend and the high risk region has been extending eastward and southward. The article analyses the distribution of the citrus climate risk degree of reduction rates of 〉10%, 〉20% and 〉30% in subtropics of China, and studies their changes in different time periods. Results show that the risk is increasing from southeast to northwest.