Effects of Sunspot on the Multi-Decadal Climate Projections

Most model generated projections of climate change for the future decades only consider anthropogenic activities.It is hard to think about the effects of solar activity and volcano effects,because the predictions of both solar activity and volcano effects are difficult.But as we know,the sun is the source of energy for the Earth’s climate system,and

Climate Projections and Uncertainties over South America from MRI/JMA Global Model Experiments

This paper analyses the climate change projected for the near and distant future in South America using MRI/JMA (Japanese Meteorological Agency) global model simulations with resolutions of 20 and 60 km. Changes in mean climate, as well as in the annual cycles and interannual variability of temperature and precipitation are discussed. An analysis is also made of the uncertainties of the 60 km resolution model experiments. For the near and distant future, both, the 20 km and 60 km resolution MRI/JMA models project that temperature changes will be positive in all seasons. The greatest values of change are over the Andes and over tropical and subtropical latitudes of the study region. In all the subregions analysed, the 20 km model projects greater changes in the annual cycle of mean temperature than the 60 km model. Changes in summer precipitation are positive over most of the continent, except for southern Chile. Autumn precipitation is projected to increase over northern Argentina and north-western South America and to decrease over central Chile in winter, which might be due to the southward shift of the Pacific storm-track. The most significant positive change in Southeastern South America (SESA) is projected to occur in spring precipitation. In general, projected changes in the annual cycle are greater in the rainy seasons of each subregion. No significant changes are expected in the interannual variability of temperature and precipitation. La Plata basin is projected to experience increased runoff, which would indicate that the projected rise in precipitation would have stronger effect than projected warming. The analysis of climate projection uncertainties revealed that temperature projections are more reliable than precipitation projections;and that uncertainty in near future simulations is greater than in simulations of the end of the century.

Intercomparison of multi-model ensemble-processing strategies within a consistent framework for climate projection in China

Climate change adaptation and relevant policy-making need reliable projections of future climate.Methods based on multi-model ensemble are generally considered as the most efficient way to achieve the goal.However,their efficiency varies and inter-comparison is a challenging task,as they use a variety of target variables,geographic regions,time periods,or model pools.Here,we construct and use a consistent framework to evaluate the performance of five ensemble-processing methods,i.e.,multimodel ensemble mean(MME),rank-based weighting(RANK),reliability ensemble averaging(REA),climate model weighting by independence and performance(ClimWIP),and Bayesian model averaging(BMA).We investigate the annual mean temperature(Tav)and total precipitation(Prcptot)changes(relative to 1995–2014)over China and its seven subregions at 1.5 and 2℃warming levels(relative to pre-industrial).All ensemble-processing methods perform better than MME,and achieve generally consistent results in terms of median values.But they show different results in terms of inter-model spread,served as a measure of uncertainty,and signal-to-noise ratio(SNR).ClimWIP is the most optimal method with its good performance in simulating current climate and in providing credible future projections.The uncertainty,measured by the range of 10th–90th percentiles,is reduced by about 30%for Tav,and 15%for Prcptot in China,with a certain variation among subregions.Based on ClimWIP,and averaged over whole China under 1.5/2℃global warming levels,Tav increases by about 1.1/1.8℃(relative to 1995–2014),while Prcptot increases by about 5.4%/11.2%,respectively.Reliability of projections is found dependent on investigated regions and indices.The projection for Tav is credible across all regions,as its SNR is generally larger than 2,while the SNR is lower than 1 for Prcptot over most regions under 1.5℃warming.The largest warming is found in northeastern China,with increase of 1.3(0.6–1.7)/2.0(1.4–2.6)℃(ensemble’s median and range of the 10th–90th percentiles)under 1.5/2℃warming,followed by northern and northwestern China.The smallest but the most robust warming is in southwestern China,with values exceeding 0.9(0.6–1.1)/1.5(1.1–1.7)℃.The most robust projection and largest increase is achieved in northwestern China for Prcptot,with increase of 9.1%(–1.6–24.7%)/17.9%(0.5–36.4%)under 1.5/2℃warming.Followed by northern China,where the increase is 6.0%(–2.6–17.8%)/11.8%(2.4–25.1%),respectively.The precipitation projection is of large uncertainty in southwestern China,even with uncertain sign of variation.For the additional half-degree warming,Tav increases more than 0.5℃throughout China.Almost all regions witness an increase of Prcptot,with the largest increase in northwestern China.

Projected Changes in the Climate Zoning of Côte d’Ivoire

This study assesses the projected changes in the climate zoning of Côte d’Ivoire using the hierarchical classification of principal components (HCPC) method applied to the daily precipitation data of an ensemble of 14 CORDEX-AFRICA simulations under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. The results indicate the existence of three climate zones in Côte d’Ivoire (the coastal, the centre and the north) over the historical period (1981-2005). Moreover, CORDEX simulations project an extension of the surface area of drier climatic zones while a reduction of wetter zones, associated with the appearance of an intermediate climate zone with surface area varying from 77,560 km2 to 134,960 km2 depending on the period and the scenario. These results highlight the potential impacts of climate change on the delimitation of the climate zones of Côte d’Ivoire under the greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Thus, there is a reduction in the surface areas suitable for the production of cash crops such as cocoa and coffee. This could hinder the country’s economy and development, mainly based on these cash crops.

Asian Summer Monsoon Onset in Simulations and CMIP5 Projections Using Four Chinese Climate Models

The reproducibility and future changes of the onset of the Asian summer monsoon were analyzed based on the simulations and projections under the Representative Concentration Pathways （RCP） scenario in which anthropogenic emissions continue to rise throughout the 21 st century （i.e. RCP8.5） by all realizations from four Chinese models that participated in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 （CMIP5）. Delayed onset of the monsoon over the Arabian Sea was evident in all simulations for present-day climate, which was associated with a too weak simulation of the low-level Somali jet in May. A consistent advanced onset of the monsoon was found only over the Arabian Sea in the projections, where the advanced onset of the monsoon was accompanied by an increase of rainfall and an anomalous anticyclone over the northern Indian Ocean. In all the models except FGOALS-g2, the enhanced low-level Somali jet transported more water vapor to the Arabian Sea, whereas in FGOALS-g2 the enhanced rainfall was determined more by the increased wind convergence. Furthermore, and again in all models except FGOALS-g2, the equatorial SST warming, with maximum increase over the eastern Pacific, enhanced convection in the central West Pacific and reduced convection over the eastern Indian Ocean and Maritime Continent region, which drove the anomalous anticyclonic circulation over the western Indian Ocean. In contrast, in FGOALS-g2, there was minimal （near-zero） warming of projected SST in the central equatorial Pacific, with decreased convection in the central West Pacific and enhanced convection over the Maritime Continent. The broader-scale differences among the models across the Pacific were related to both the differences in the projected SST pattern and in the present-day simulations.

Projection of Future Climate over the Koshi River Basin Based on CMIP5 GCMs

This paper analyses the climate projections over the Koshi river basin obtained by applying the delta method to eight CMIP5 GCMs for the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. The GCMs were selected to cover the full envelope of possible future ranges from dry and cold to wet and warm projections. The selected coarse resolution GCM outputs were statistically downscaled to the resolution of the historical climate datasets. The scenarios were developed based on the anomaly between the present reference period (1961-1990) and the future period (2021-2050) to generate transient climate change scenarios for the eight GCMs. The analyses were carried out for the whole basin and three physiographic zones: the trans-Himalaya, high-Himalaya and middle mountains, and southern plains. Future projections show a 14% increase in rainfall during the summer monsoon season by 2050. The increase in rainfall is higher over the mountains than the plains. The meagre amount of rainfall in the winter season is projected to further decrease over both the mountain and southern plains areas of the basin for both RCPs. The basin is likely to experience warming throughout the year, although the increase in winter is likely to be higher. The highest increase in temperature is projected to be over the high Himalayan and middle mountain area, with lower increases over the trans-Himalayan and southern plains areas.

Climate change impacts on the streamflow of Zarrineh River,Iran

Zarrineh River is located in the northwest of Iran,providing more than 40%of the total inflow into the Lake Urmia that is one of the largest saltwater lakes on the earth.Lake Urmia is a highly endangered ecosystem on the brink of desiccation.This paper studied the impacts of climate change on the streamflow of Zarrineh River.The streamflow was simulated and projected for the period 1992-2050 through seven CMIP5(coupled model intercomparison project phase 5)data series(namely,BCC-CSM1-1,BNU-ESM,CSIRO-Mk3-6-0,GFDL-ESM2G,IPSL-CM5A-LR,MIROC-ESM and MIROC-ESM-CHEM)under RCP2.6(RCP,representative concentration pathways)and RCP8.5.The model data series were statistically downscaled and bias corrected using an artificial neural network(ANN)technique and a Gamma based quantile mapping bias correction method.The best model(CSIRO-Mk3-6-0)was chosen by the TOPSIS(technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution)method from seven CMIP5 models based on statistical indices.For simulation of streamflow,a rainfall-runoff model,the hydrologiska byrans vattenavdelning(HBV-Light)model,was utilized.Results on hydro-climatological changes in Zarrineh River basin showed that the mean daily precipitation is expected to decrease from 0.94 and 0.96 mm in 2015 to 0.65 and 0.68 mm in 2050 under RCP2.6 and RCP8.5,respectively.In the case of temperature,the numbers change from 12.33℃ and 12.37℃ in 2015 to 14.28℃ and 14.32℃ in 2050.Corresponding to these climate scenarios,this study projected a decrease of the annual streamflow of Zarrineh River by half from 2015 to 2050 as the results of climatic changes will lead to a decrease in the annual streamflow of Zarrineh River from 59.49 m^(3)/s in 2015 to 22.61 and 23.19 m^(3)/s in 2050.The finding is of important meaning for water resources planning purposes,management programs and strategies of the Lake's endangered ecosystem.

Impacts and risks of“realistic”global warming projections for the 21st century

The IPCC AR6 assessment of the impacts and risks associated with projected climate changes for the 21st century is both alarming and ambiguous.According to computer projections,global surface temperature may warm from 1.3℃to 8.0℃by 2100,depending on the global climate model(GCM)and the shared socioeconomic pathway(SSP)scenario used for the simulations.Actual climate-change hazards are estimated to be high and very high if the global surface temperature rises,respectively,more than 2.0℃and 3.0℃above pre-industrial levels.Recent studies,however,showed that a substantial number of CMIP6 GCMs run“too hot”because they appear to be too sensitive to radiative forcing,and that the high/extreme emission scenarios SSP3-7.0 and SSP5-8.5 are to be rejected because judged to be unlikely and highly unlikely,respectively.Yet,the IPCC AR6 mostly focused on such alarmistic scenarios for risk assessments.This paper examines the impacts and risks of“realistic”climate change projections for the 21st century generated by assessing the theoretical models and integrating them with the existing empirical knowledge on global warming and the various natural cycles of climate change that have been recorded by a variety of scientists and historians.This is achieved by combining the SSP2-4.5 scenario(which is the most likely SSP according to the current policies reported by the International Energy Agency)and empirically optimized climate modeling.According to recent research,the GCM macro-ensemble that best hindcast the global surface warming observed from 1980 to 1990 to 2012–2022 should be made up of models that are characterized by a low equilibrium climate sensitivity(ECS)(1.5℃<ECS≤3.0℃),in contrast to the IPCC AR6 likely and very likely ECS ranges at 2.5–4.0℃and 2.0–5.0℃,respectively.I show that the low-ECS macro-GCM with the SSP2-4.5 scenario projects a global surface temperature warming of 1.68–3.09℃by 2080–2100 instead of 1.98–3.82℃obtained with the GCMs with ECS in the 2.5–4.0℃range.However,if the global surface temperature records are affected by significant non-climatic warm biases—as suggested by satellite-based lower troposphere temperature records and current studies on urban heat island effects—the same climate simulations should be scaled down by about 30%,resulting in a warming of about 1.18–2.16℃by 2080–2100.Furthermore,similar moderate warming estimates(1.15–2.52℃)are also projected by alternative empirically derived models that aim to recreate the decadal-to-millennial natural climatic oscillations,which the GCMs do not reproduce.The proposed methodologies aim to simulate hypothetical models supposed to optimally hindcast the actual available data.The obtained climate projections show that the expected global surface warming for the 21st-century will likely be mild,that is,no more than 2.5–3.0℃and,on average,likely below the 2.0℃threshold.This should allow for the mitigation and management of the most dangerous climate-change related hazards through appropriate low-cost adaptation policies.In conclusion,enforcing expensive decarbonization and net-zero emission scenarios,such as SSP1-2.6,is not required because the Paris Agreement temperature target of keeping global warming<2℃throughout the 21st century should be compatible also with moderate and pragmatic shared socioeconomic pathways such as the SSP2-4.5.

Climate change and Aedes albopictus risks in China:current impact and future projection

Background Future distribution of dengue risk is usually predicted based on predicted climate changes using general circulation models(GCMs).However,it is difficult to validate the GCM results and assess the uncertainty of the predictions.The observed changes in climate may be very different from the GCM results.We aim to utilize trends in observed climate dynamics to predict future risks of Aedes albopictus in China.Methods We collected Ae.albopictus surveillance data and observed climate records from 80 meteorological stations from 1970 to 2021.We analyzed the trends in climate change in China and made predictions on future climate for the years 2050 and 2080 based on trend analyses.We analyzed the relationship between climatic variables and the prevalence of Ae.albopictus in different months/seasons.We built a classification tree model(based on the average of 999 runs of classification and regression tree analyses)to predict the monthly/seasonal Ae.albopictus distribution based on the average climate from 1970 to 2000 and assessed the contributions of different climatic variables to the Ae.albopictus distribution.Using these models,we projected the future distributions of Ae.albopictus for 2050 and 2080.Results The study included Ae.albopictus surveillance from 259 sites in China found that winter to early spring(November–February)temperatures were strongly correlated with Ae.albopictus prevalence(prediction accuracy ranges 93.0–98.8%)—the higher the temperature the higher the prevalence,while precipitation in summer(June–September)was important predictor for Ae.albopictus prevalence.The machine learning tree models predicted the current prevalence of Ae.albopictus with high levels of agreement(accuracy>90%and Kappa agreement>80%for all 12 months).Overall,winter temperature contributed the most to Ae.albopictus distribution,followed by summer precipitation.An increase in temperature was observed from 1970 to 2021 in most places in China,and annual change rates varied substantially from-0.22℃/year to 0.58℃/year among sites,with the largest increase in temperature occurring from February to April(an annual increase of 1.4–4.7℃ in monthly mean,0.6–4.0℃ in monthly minimum,and 1.3–4.3℃ in monthly maximum temperature)and the smallest in November and December.Temperature increases were lower in the tropics/subtropics(1.5–2.3℃ from February–April)compared to the high-latitude areas(2.6–4.6℃ from February–April).The projected temperatures in 2050 and 2080 by this study were approximately 1–1.5℃ higher than those projected by GCMs.The estimated current Ae.albopictus risk distribution had a northern boundary of north-central China and the southern edge of northeastern China,with a risk period of June–September.The projected future Ae.albopictus risks in 2050 and 2080 cover nearly all of China,with an expanded risk period of April–October.The current at-risk population was estimated to be 960 million and the future at-risk population was projected to be 1.2 billion.Conclusions The magnitude of climate change in China is likely to surpass GCM predictions.Future dengue risks will expand to cover nearly all of China if current climate trends continue.

Projection of China's Near- and Long-Term Climate in a New High-Resolution Daily Downscaled Dataset NEX-GDDP

The projection of China＇s near- and long-term future climate is revisited with a new-generation statistically down- scaled dataset, NEX-GDDP （NASA Earth Exchange Global Daily Downscaled Projections）. This dataset presents a high-resolution seamless climate projection from 1950 to 2100 by combining observations and GCM results, and re- markably improves CMIP5 hindcasts and projections from large scale to regional-to-local scales with an unchanged long-term trend. Three aspects are significantly improved： （1） the climatology in the past as compared against the ob- servations; （2） more reliable near- and long-term projections, with a modified range of absolute value and reduced inter-model spread as compared to CMIP5 GCMs; and （3） much added value at regional-to-local scales compared to GCM outputs. NEX-GDDP has great potential to become a widely-used high-resolution dataset and a benchmark of modem climate change for diverse earth science communities.

Uncertainty in Projection of Climate Extremes:A Comparison of CMIP5 and CMIP6

Climate projections by global climate models(GCMs)are subject to considerable and multi-source uncertainties.This study aims to compare the uncertainty in projection of precipitation and temperature extremes between Coupled Model Intercomparison Project(CMIP)phase 5(CMIP5)and phase 6(CMIP6),using 24 GCMs forced by 3 emission scenarios in each phase of CMIP.In this study,the total uncertainty(T)of climate projections is decomposed into the greenhouse gas emission scenario uncertainty(S,mean inter-scenario variance of the signals over all the models),GCM uncertainty(M,mean inter-model variance of signals over all emission scenarios),and internal climate variability uncertainty(V,variance in noises over all models,emission scenarios,and projection lead times);namely,T=S+M+V.The results of analysis demonstrate that the magnitudes of S,M,and T present similarly increasing trends over the 21 st century.The magnitudes of S,M,V,and T in CMIP6 are 0.94-0.96,1.38-2.07,1.04-1.69,and 1.20-1.93 times as high as those in CMIP5.Both CMIP5 and CMIP6 exhibit similar spatial variation patterns of uncertainties and similar ranks of contributions from different sources of uncertainties.The uncertainty for precipitation is lower in midlatitudes and parts of the equatorial region,but higher in low latitudes and the polar region.The uncertainty for temperature is higher over land areas than oceans,and higher in the Northern Hemisphere than the Southern Hemisphere.For precipitation,T is mainly determined by M and V in the early 21 st century,by M and S at the end of the 21 st century;and the turning point will appear in the 2070 s.For temperature,T is dominated by M in the early 21 st century,and by S at the end of the 21 st century,with the turning point occuring in the 2060 s.The relative contributions of S to T in CMIP6(12.5%-14.3%for precipitation and 31.6%-36.2%for temperature)are lower than those in CMIP5(15.1%-17.5%for precipitation and 38.6%-43.8%for temperature).By contrast,the relative contributions of M in CMIP6(50.6%-59.8%for precipitation and 59.4%-60.3%for temperature)are higher than those in CMIP5(47.5%-57.9%for precipitation and 51.7%-53.6%for temperature).The higher magnitude and relative contributions of M in CMIP6 indicate larger difference among projections of various GCMs.Therefore,more GCMs are needed to ensure the robustness of climate projections.

The Anomalous Mei-yu Rainfall of Summer 2020 from a Circulation Clustering Perspective:Current and Possible Future Prevalence

Highly unusual amounts of rainfall were seen in the 2020 summer in many parts of China,Japan,and South Korea.At the intercontinental scale,case studies have attributed this exceptional event to a displacement of the climatological western North Pacific subtropical anticyclone,potentially associated Indian Ocean sea surface temperature patterns and a mid-latitude wave train emanating from the North Atlantic.Using clusters of spatial patterns of sea level pressure,we show that an unprecedented 80%of the 2020 summer days in East Asia were dominated by clusters of surface pressure greater than normal over the South China Sea.By examining the rainfall and water vapor fluxes in other years when these clusters were also prevalent,we find that the frequency of these types of clusters was likely to have been largely responsible for the unusual rainfall of 2020.From two ensembles of future climate projections,we show that summers like 2020 in East Asia may become more frequent and considerably wetter in a warmer world with an enhanced moisture supply.

The Projected Changes of Precipitations over Niger Under the Scenarios RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5

The socio-economic activities of Niger rely on agriculture which is strongly affected by changes in precipitation during the rainy season.The ultimate aim of this study is to assess the projected changes of precipitation over Niger under the Representative Concentration Pathways(RCP)scenarios 4.5(RCP 4.5)and RCP 8.5 using multi-RCM(Multi-Regional Climate)model approach.The observation data are from CHIRPS(Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station)and the RCMs are from the SMHI(Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute)model(RCA4)driven by ten(10)different GCMs(General Circulation Model)(e.g.,CCCma,CSIRO,ICHEC,IPSL,MIROC,MOHC-HadGEM2,MPI,NCC-NorESM1,NOOA,and NRCM)within the framework of CORDEX(Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment)Africa experiment.The reference and projections periods in this study are respectively 1981-2005 for the present and 2011-2100 for the near,medium and far future divided into three periods,2011 to 2040(P1),2041 to 2070(P2)and 2071 to 2100(P3).The methodology used,consists of assessing the performance of the multi-RCMs of RCA4 model(with respect of CHIRPS)in simulating the precipitations changes by computing the spatial distribution and anomalies of precipitations;and their indices of RMSE(Root Mean Square Error),the bias,SPI(Standardized Precipitation Anomaly Index),correlation coefficient,statistical t-test,spatial evolution rate and the rate of temporal change.After the validation of the multi-RCMs RCA4 models,the ensemble mean of the models is used to assess the projected changes of precipitations over Niger in the future.The results show that most of the multi-RCMs capture the four climatic zone except for IPSL.While the ensemble mean of the models simulates(as compared to CHIRPS)more accurately the monthly,annual precipitations anomalies and their indices than individual’s models in the reference period,some RCMs(e.g.,CSIRO-IPSL and CCCma-HadGEM)poorly reproduce them.The projected changes of precipitations indicate for the scenario RCP 4.5 respectively a moderately surplus of precipitation years in the period P1 and moderately deficit years in the period P2 while the period P3 shows a small upward precipitation trend.In contrary,for the scenario RCP 8.5,all the three periods(P1,P2 and P3)indicate an intensification of precipitation leading to a longer wet period which may lead to extreme precipitations and flooding.Moreover,both scenarios have projected an increase of total monthly precipitation in May and September and a decrease in July and August respectively which will likely lead to an early onset and late cessation of the rainy season;and a shift of the peak of the rainy season.Therefore,this study shows the need of a monitoring system for the projected changes of precipitation in the near future to anticipate urgent action in wet/dry periods to adapt to a changing climate.

Projected increases in population exposure of daily climate extremes in eastern China by 2050

Climate extremes pose severe threats to human health,economic stability and environmental sustainability,especially in densely populated areas.It is generally believed that global warming drives increase in frequency,intensity and duration of climate extremes,and socioeconomic exposure plays a dominant role in climate impacts.In order to promote climate risk governance at regional level,the historical and projected trends in the population exposure to climate extremes are quantified in eastern China using downscaled climate simulations and population growth scenarios.The frequency of temperature extremes(tx35days)is projected to more than double by 2050 in nearly half of prefecture-level cities in eastern China,leading to an 81.8%increment of total exposure under SSP2-4.5 scenario.The increasing trend is also detectable in the frequency of precipitation extremes(r20mm)in eastern China,and the exposure increment is projected to be 22.9%by 2050,with a near equivalent contributions of both climate change and population growth.Spatially,temperature exposure mainly grows in southern Hebei,western Shandong and inland Guangdong provinces,while precipitation exposure raises principally in southeast coastal areas of China.Based on the historical baseline and projected amplification of population exposure,we identify some hotspot cities such as Guangzhou,Shanghai,Dongguan and Hangzhou that response to climate change dramatically and confront greater potential risk of climate extremes in the coming future.

Projections of surface air temperature and precipitation in the 21st century in the Qilian Mountains,Northwest China,using REMO in the CORDEX

Qilian Mountains(QM)is an important ecological security barrier in China and has been significantly affected by climate change,it is therefore of great importance and necessity to project its future climate change using high-resolution climate models because of mountainous areas in the QM and relatively few targeted simulation analyses.In this study,we used the simulations of the regional climate model REMO with 25 km spatial resolution,driven by three different global climate models(MPI-ESM-MR,NorESM1-M,and HadGEM2-ES),to evaluate how annual and seasonal mean surface air temperature and precipitation in the QM are likely to change for three future periods(2011-2040,2041-2070,and 2071-2100)under two representative concentration pathways(RCP2.6 and RCP8.5).The REMO model,shows noticeable cold and wet biases compared to observations for the reference period(1971-2000)and air temperature simulation outperforms precipitation simulation.The REMO simulations exhibit a warm and wet centre around lake,indicating that the simulation are likely influenced by lake.Projections under RCP2.6 show regional warming reaching 1.74℃ during 2011-2100,characterized by an initial increase and a decrease afterwards.Under RCP8.5,air temperatures increase monotonously from 2011 to 2100,with a warming magnitude of 5.36℃ for 2071-2100 relative to 1971-2000.The overall change in regional-average annual precipitation is not evident during 2011-2100,with some increases or decreases in certain time periods.In the 2071-2100 both the strongest warming and precipitation increase are projected to occur in winter under both scenarios,while precipitation in summer and autumn is projected to decrease in the east of the QM for the three future periods.The results suggest that the QM is likely to experience drought conditions in warm seasons in the future,which could impact agricultural and livestock production.

Past and Future Changes in the Climate of Hong Kong

Over the years,the Hong Kong Observatory has carried out scientific studies to evaluate the observed climate trends and project the future climate in Hong Kong.Analysis of the meteorological observations at the observatory＇s headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui since 1885 reveals that the temperature rise in Hong Kong during the past 124 years is in accord with the global rising trend.The accelerated rising trend in the mean temperature in last few decades may be attributed to the anthropogenic influences,especially urbanization.A similar increasing trend is also observed for rainfall.Other observations such as increasing cloud amount and decreasing total global solar radiation are all consistent with the global trend.Studies of past occurrences of extreme temperature and rainfall have also been carried out.The results indicate that cold episodes have become rarer while very hot days and heavy rain events are becoming more frequent.The observatory also makes use of the data from the Fourth Assessment Report（AR4） of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change（IPCC） and employs statistical downscaling techniques to carry out projections of temperature and precipitation in the 21st century.It is found that the rise in temperature in Hong Kong will be slightly higher than the global mean in the 21st century.The annual rainfall in Hong Kong is also expected to rise by the end of the 21st century,so is its year-to-year variability.

Projections of Extreme Rainfall in Hong Kong in the 21st Century

The possible changes in the frequency of extreme rainfall events in Hong Kong in the 21st century were investigated by statistically downscaling 30 sets of the daily global climate model projections （involving a combination of 12 models and 3 greenhouse gas emission scenarios, namely, A2, A1B, and B1） of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. To cater for the intermittent and skewed character of the daily rainfall, multiple stepwise logistic regression and multiple stepwise linear regression were employed to develop the downscaling models for predicting rainfall occurrence and rainfall amount, respectively. Verification of the simulation of the 1971-2000 climate reveals that the models in general have an acceptable skill in reproducing past statistics of extreme rainfall events in Hong Kong. The projection results suggest that, in the 21st century, the annual number of rain days in Hong Kong is expected to decrease while the daily rainfall intensity will increase, concurrent with the expected increase in annual rainfall. Based on the multi-model scenario ensemble mean, the annual number of rain day is expected to drop from 104 days in 1980 1999 to about 77 days in 2090 2099. For extreme rainfall events, about 90% of the model-scenario combinations indicate an increase in the annual number of days with daily rainfall ~〉 100 mm （R100） towards the end of the 21st century. The mean number of R100 is expected to increase from 3.5 days in 1980 1999 to about 5.3 days in 2090 2099. The projected changes in other extreme rainfall indices also suggest that the rainfall in Hong Kong in the 21st century may also become more extreme with more uneven distributions of wet and dry periods. While most of the model-emission scenarios in general project consistent trends in the change of rainfall extremes in the 21st century, there is a large divergence in the projections among different model/emission scenarios. This reflects that there are still large uncertainties in model simulations of future extreme rainfall events.

Climate Services for Water Resource Management in China: The Case Study of Danjiangkou Reservoir

The efficiencies and effectiveness of water resource management are inextricably linked to climate services. This study demonstrates a climate information service for Danjiangkou Reservoir, which is the largest artificial lake in Asia, facing mounting challenges for flood control, water storage, and water diversion. Unlike traditional water resource management on the basis of short-term weather forecast and runoff monitoring, subseasonal to seasonal(S2S)and annual climate predictions as well as long-term climate change projections were well used to support the decision makers in Danjiangkou Reservoir. The National Climate Center(NCC) has projected the changes of future climate and extreme events by dynamically downscaling the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5(CMIP5)projections to 25-km resolution for the long-term planning of water resource management in Danjiangkou Reservoir.Real-time climate predictions based on climate models and downscaling interpretation and application methods at different timescales were also provided to meet the specific needs of earlier predictions and spatial refinement for the short-term diversion of the reservoir. Our results show that such climate services facilitated the Diversion Center of Danjiangkou Reservoir(DCDR) to reasonably control the operational water level, increased the ecological water supply to the northern portion of China by 844 million m^(3), and reduced as much as 1.67 billion m^(3) of abandoned water in 2019. In the future, it is necessary to develop climate prediction methods to increase spatial and temporal resolutions and prediction skills, and enhance interactions between providers and users.

Projection of Extreme Temperatures in Hong Kong in the 21st Century

The possible changes in the frequency of extreme temperature events in Hong Kong in the 21st century were investigated by statistically downscaling 26 sets of the daily global climate model projections （a combination of 11 models and 3 greenhouse gas emission scenarios, namely A2, A1B, and B1） of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The models’ performance in simulating the past climate during 1971–2000 has also been verified and discussed. The verification revealed that the models in general have an acceptable skill in reproducing past statistics of extreme temperature events. Moreover, the models are more skillful in simulating the past climate of the hot nights and cold days than that of the very hot days. The projection results suggested that, in the 21st century, the frequency of occurrence of extremely high temperature events in Hong Kong would increase significantly while that of the extremely low temperature events is expected to drop significantly. Based on the multi-model scenario ensemble mean, the average annual numbers of very hot days and hot nights in Hong Kong are expected to increase significantly from 9 days and 16 nights in 1980–1999 to 89 days and 137 nights respectively in 2090–2099. On the other hand, the average annual number of cold days will drop from 17 days in 1980–1999 to about 1 day in 2090–2099. About 65 percent of the model-scenario combinations indicate that there will be on average less than one cold day in 2090–2099. While all the model-emission scenarios in general have projected consistent trends in the change of temperature extremes in the 21st century, there is a large divergence in the projections between difierent model/emission scenarios. This reflects that there are still large uncertainties in the model simulation of the future climate of extreme temperature events.

Prediction Research of Climate Change Trends over North China in the Future 30 Years

A simulation of climate change trends over North China in the past 50 years and future 30 years was performed with the actual greenhouse gas concentration and IPCC SRES B2 scenario concentration by IAP/LASG GOALS 4.0 （Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land system coupled model）, developed by the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modelling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics （LASG）, Institute of Atmospheric Physics （IAP）, Chinese Academy of Sciences （CAS）. In order to validate the model, the modern climate during 1951-2000 was first simulated by the GOALS model with the actual greenhouse gas concentration, and the simulation results were compared with observed data. The simulation results basically reproduce the lower temperature from the 1960s to mid-1970s and the warming from the 1980s for the globe and Northern Hemisphere, and better the important cold （1950 1976） and warm （1977-2000） periods in the past 50 years over North China. The correlation coefficient is 0.34 between simulations and observations （significant at a more than 0.05 confidence level）. The range of winter temperature departures for North China is between those for the eastern and western China＇s Mainland. Meanwhile, the summer precipitation trend turning around the 1980s is also successfully simulated. The climate change trends in the future 30 years were simulated with the CO2 concentration under IPCC SRES-B2 emission scenario. The results show that, in the future 30 years, winter temperature will keep a warming trend in North China and increase by about 2.5~C relative to climate mean （1960-1990）. Meanwhile, summer precipitation will obviously increase in North China and decrease in South China, displaying a south-deficit-north-excessive pattern of precipitation.