Temperature and precipitation changes in Extensive Hexi Region, China, 1960–2011

Global climate change has been evident in many places worldwide. This study provxdes a better understanding of the variability and changes in frequency, intensity, and duration of temperature, precipitation, and climate extremes in the Extensive Hexi Region, based on meteorological data from 26 stations. The analysis of average, maximum, and minimum temperatures revealed that statistically significant warming occurred from 1960 to 2011. All temperature extremes dis- played trends consistent with warming, with the exception of coldest-night temperature （TNn） and coldest-day tempera- ture （TXn）, which were particularly evident in high-altitude areas and at night. Amount of precipitation and number of rainy days slowly increased with no significant regional trends, mainly occurring in the Qilian Mountains and Hexi Cor- ridor. The significance of changes in precipitation extremes during 1960-2011 was high, hut the regional trends of max- imum 5-day precipitation （RX5day）, the average precipitation on wet days （SDII）, and consecutive wet days （CWD） were not significant. The variations in the studied parameters indicate an increase in both the extremity and strength of precip- itation events, particularly in higher-altitude regions. Furthermore, the contribution from very wet precipitation （R95） and extremely wet precipitation （R99） to total precipitation also increased between 1960 and 2011. The assessment of these changes in temperature and precipitation may help in developing better management practices for water resources. Future studies in the region should focus on the impact of these changes on runoffs and glaciers.

Eternal Climate Change Patterns and the Causes and Countermeasures of Global Climate Change

It is an objective fact that the weather is unpredictable.Even the famous meteorologist,Academician Chu Ko Chen,has only a partial understanding of the changing laws of wind and rain.Even though ancient people summarized the 24 solar terms by observing the annual activities of the sun for a long time,because they ignored the impact of the activities of the moon on the Earth’s climate change on a small scale,the 24 solar terms they summarized often could not accurately predict the change of the Earth’s climate.Therefore,the author studied the influence of lunar activities on the Earth’s climate change,finds out the law of the influence of lunar activities on the Earth’s climate change on a small scale,and summarizes the eternal climate change pattern determined by the activities of the sun and the moon.In addition,the author also reveals the causes and countermeasures of global warming and the frequent occurrence of extreme weather as well as environmental change.

2011年极端天气和气候事件及其他相关事件的概要回顾

2011年世界各地极端天气事件频发。1月,朝鲜半岛经历1945年来最长的寒潮天气;同期,强暴风雪袭击美国,1亿人受影响;4月8日,持续干旱大风导致德国北部小镇遭遇沙尘暴;7～10月的季风强降水致使泰国遭遇自1942年以来最严重的洪灾;高温少雨致使东非地区、南美洲地区的古巴经历严重干旱;9月北极海冰的体积达历史最小。5～9月,我国平均高温日数为1961年以来历史同期次多,多地刷新高温历史极值;2011年我国平均年降水量创60年来最低,多地遭遇严重干旱;而华西和黄淮经历异常严重秋汛。

1960―2011年海陵岛气候与极端天气变化趋势分析

根据海陵岛闸坡海洋水文气象观测及《台风年鉴》资料,对海陵岛1960―2011年的气候与旱涝、暴雨、台风、极端温度、海面温度(SST)热事件等极端天气变化趋势进行分析。结果显示:海陵岛为边缘热带气候,近52年的升温率为0.21℃/10a;1963年为特旱年,1973、2001、2008年为特涝年;累年平均暴雨日数为9.5d/a,大暴雨日数为2.4d/a;严重影响海陵岛的热带气旋(中心进入海岸线1个纬距以内)累年平均1.43个/a;寒潮未曾出现,但有过严重寒害。在气候变暖背景下,20世纪80年代以来≥35℃极端高温日数总体上呈显著增加趋势,而≤5℃极端低温日数呈减少趋势。SST≥30℃、持续10d以上的热事件共出现23次。

Detecting Climate Change in Using Extreme Data from Two Surface Weather Stations: Case Study Valle of Comitan and La Esperanza, Chiapas, Mexico

The study area is located between the cities of Comitan (16°10'43"N and 92°04'20''W) a city with 150,000 inhabitants and La Esperanza (16°9'15''N and 91°52'5''W) a town with 3000 inhabitants. Both weather stations are 30 km from each other in the Chiapas State, México. 54 years of daily records of the series of maximum (tmax) and minimum temperatures (tmin) of the weather station 07205 Comitan that is on top of a house and 30 years of daily records of the weather station 07374 La Esperanza were analyzed. The objective is to analyze the evidence of climate change in the Comitan valley. 2.07% and 19.04% of missing data were filled, respectively, with the WS method. In order to verify homogeneity three methods were used: Standard Normal Homogeneity Test (SNHT), the Von Neumann method and the Buishand method. The heterogeneous series were homogenized using climatol. The trends of tmax and tmin for both weather stations were analyzed by simple linear regression, Sperman’s rho and Mann-Kendall tests. The Mann-Kendal test method confirmed the warming trend at the Comitan station for both variables with ZMK statistic values equal to 1.57 (statistically not significant) and 4.64 (statistically significant). However, for the Esperanza station, it determined a cooling trend for tmin and a slight non-significant warming for tmax with a ZMK statistic of -2.27 (statistically significant) and 1.16 (statistically not significant), for a significance level α = 0.05.

Extreme climatic events in relation to global change and their impact on life histories

Extreme weather conditions occur at an increasing rate as evidenced by higher frequency of hurricanes and more extreme precipitation and temperature anomalies. Such extreme environmental conditions will have important implications for all living organisms through greater frequency of reproductive failure and reduced adult survival. We review examples of reproductive failure and reduced survival related to extreme weather conditions. Phenotypic plasticity may not be sufficient to allow adaptation to extreme weather for many animals. Theory predicts reduced reproductive effort as a response to increased stochasticity. We predict that patterns of natural selection will change towards truncation selection as environmental conditions become more extreme. Such changes in patterns of selection may facilitate adaptation to extreme events. However, effects of selection on reproductive effort are difficult to detect. We present a number of predictions for the effects of extreme weather conditions in need of empirical tests. Finally, we suggest a number of empirical reviews that could improve our ability to judge the effects of extreme environmental conditions on life history [Current Zoology 57 （3）： 375-389, 2011].

Farmers’ Knowledge and Perceptions of the Effects of Climate Variability and Pollution on Crop Production and Their Varying Adaptation Strategies in The Gambia

Crop and livestock production is critical to food security in The Gambia. Over the years, the country has experienced a reduced yield due to perceived climate change events with limited studies on how climate change and pollution affect crop production. This study assesses farmers’ knowledge and perceptions of the effects of climate variability and pollution on crop production and their varying adaptation strategies in The Gambia. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this study. The sample size for quantitative data collection was calculated as 432 while the qualitative data involves both the focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The focus group discussions comprised two districts in each of the six agricultural regions and two farming communities engaged in crop production were chosen from each district. Furthermore, eight key informant interviews from relevant institutions were conducted. The study shows that The Gambia is highly vulnerable to extreme climatic events. Although most farmers opined that agricultural land contamination emanates from farm runoff and indiscriminate waste dumping, they had little knowledge of heavy metal pollution and bioremediation. The results showed that farmers experienced constraints such as inadequate access to credit, water, and irrigation facilities, insufficient access to efficient inputs, salt intrusion, etc. which threatened food security. The study concludes that crop farmers acknowledged the existence and impacts of climate change, and therefore recommend the availability and affordability of climate change resilient crops and promote variability awareness campaigns to address climate change impacts in The Gambia.

Projecting Spatial Patterns of Flood Hazard: Recent Climate and Future Changes over Yangtze River Basin

Projection of hazard changes in climate extremes is critical to assessing the potential impacts of climate change on human and natural systems. Using simulations of providing regional climates for impacts studies, five indicators (rainstorm days, maximum 3-day precipitation, elevation, gradient and distance from river or lake) were selected to project the spatial patterns of flood hazard over Yangtze River Basin for the baseline period (1961– 1990) and future (2011–2100) under SRES B2 scenario. The results showed the mean annual rainstorm days over the basin by the near-term, mid-term and long-term would increase from 3.9 days to 4.7, 4.9 and 5.1 days, and the mean annual maximum 3-day precipitation from 122 mm to 143, 146 and 149 mm, respectively. The flood hazard of the basin would become more severe, especially in the middle and lower reaches. Flood hazard grade 5 by the nearterm, mid-term and long-term would extend from 10.99% to 25.46, 28.14 and 29.75%, respectively.

Perspective on the Potential Impact of Climate Change on China’s Aviation Safety Development and Policy Suggestions

With the rapid development of social economy,the strategic position of civil aviation in the national economy is highlighted,and its development potential is enormous.Extreme weather events under the background of climate change have brought great challenges to aviation safety.Starting with the rapid development of civil aviation in China,based on the trend of increasing the risk of aviation security and the risk of economic loss under the warming background,the effect of climate change on aviation safety development was analyzed from seven aspects: extreme weather and climate events affecting aviation safety,the number of takeoff limit days,fog and haze (low visibility) affecting aviation safety,flight time increasing,takeoff condition of high plateau airport changing,aircraft corrosion and clear-air turbulence,and the possible impact of the development of aviation industry on climate change was analyzed.Finally,based on the mutual influence of climate change and aviation industry,five policy suggestions were proposed,including the scientific planning of the new airport layout,the construction of the aviation meteorological data sharing platform,the comprehensive assessment of the impact of climate change on the aviation,the development of the aeronautical weather index insurance and new risk response training for aviation staff under the background of climate change.This study has a reference value for a comprehensive understanding of the interaction between climate change and the development of aviation safety in China.

Weather extremes from anthropogenic global warming

Although sea levels are predicted to rise 1 to 2 meters by 2100, the more immediate effects of global warming are weather extremes. The number of natural disasters since 1996 costing $1 billion or more doubled compared with the previous 15-year period. Extreme summer heat anomalies now cover about 10% of land area, up from 0.2% in 1950-1980. The human influence on global warming is evident from climate data and physical modeling. Since the beginning of the industrial era, carbon dioxide (CO2) increases correlate with those of temperature. Carbon dating shows that the CO2 increase is from burning ancient fossil fuels. Increasing CO2 and other greenhouse gases blanket and warm the earth’s surface, allowing less heat to reach the stratosphere, which is cooling. This is consistent with satellite measurements showing that solar irradiance is not changing. The present CO2 rate increase of 2 ppm/year is 300 times higher than the rate at which the earth recovered from the ice age 18,000 years ago. Without the radiative forcing of noncondensing persistent CO2, the terrestrial greenhouse would collapse, plunging the global climate into an icebound earth state. Will new technologies lower our carbon emissions in time to prevent more weather extremes? Electric cars now get the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon. The cost of electricity from solar photovoltaic cells has reached grid parity.

Climate Change and Food Price: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies, 1990-2021

Climate extreme events have threatened food security and the second Sustainable development goals (SDGs) “zero hunger” both directly via agricultural food loss and indirectly through rising food prices. We systematically searched and used a combination of results from various models, which play a crucial role in predicting the potential impact of climate change on agricultural production and food price. Therefore, we searched online databases including EMBASE, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and grey literature. Then observational studies were included from January 1990 to August 2021, which reported food price proportion under climate disturbances. Results showed that 22 out of 26 studies from 615 articles, identified in the meta-analysis predicted the food price ratio would be fluctuated up to 28% before 2020, while the ratio will be marked up at 31% from 2020 to 2049 and then will scale down during 2050-2100. The compiled ratio was estimated at 26% in the long period between 2000 until 2100 under climatic weather events. Drought was a significant weather disturbance with a 32% increase in food prices. Consequently, the Food price increase will significantly affect food accessibility in lower-income countries, primarily until 2050. Policymakers should prioritize and act through redesigning food security policies according to climatic extremes in their settings.

Community-Based Coral Reef Rehabilitation in a Changing Climate:Lessons Learned from Hurricanes,Extreme Rainfall,and Changing Land Use Impacts

Coral reefs have largely declined across multiple spatial scales due to a combination of local-scale anthropogenic impacts, and due to regional-global climate change. This has resulted in a significant loss of entire coral functional groups, including western Atlantic Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) biotopes, and in a net decline of coral reef ecosystem resilience, ecological functions, services and benefits. Low-tech coral farming has become one of the most important tools to help restore depleted coral reefs across the Wider Caribbean Region. We tested a community-based, low-tech coral farming approach in Culebra Island, Puerto Rico, aimed at adapting to climate change-related impacts through a two-year project to propagate A. cervicornis under two contrasting fishing management conditions, in coastal areas experimenting significant land use changes. Extreme rainfall events and recurrent tropical storms and hurricanes had major site-and method-specific impacts on project outcome, particularly in areas adjacent to deforested lands and subjected to recurrent impacts from land-based source pollution (LBSP) and runoff. Overall, coral survival rate in “A frame” units improved from 73% during 2011-2012 to 81% during 2012-2013. Coral survival rate improved to 97% in horizontal line nurseries (HLN) incorporated during 2012-2013. Percent tissue cover ranged from 86% to 91% in “A frames”, but reached 98% in HLN. Mean coral skeletal extension was 27 cm/y in “A frames” and 40 cm/y in HLN. These growth rates were up to 545% to 857% faster than previous reports from coral farms from other parts of the Caribbean, and up to 438% faster than wild colonies. Branch production and branchiness index (no. harvestable branches > 6 cm) increased by several orders of magnitude in comparison to the original colonies at the beginning of the project. Coral mortality was associated to hurricane physical impacts and sediment-laden runoff impacts associated to extreme rainfall and deforestation of adjacent lands. This raises a challenging question regarding the impact of chronic high sea surface temperature (SST), in combination with recurrent high nutrient pulses, in fostering increased coral growth at the expense of coral physiological conditions which may compromise corals resistance to disturbance. Achieving successful local management of reefs and adjacent lands is vital to maintain the sustained net production in coral farms and of reef structure, and the provision of the important ecosystem services that they provide. These measures are vital for buying time for reefs while global action on climate change is implemented. Adaptive community-based strategies are critical to strengthen institutional management efforts. But government agencies need to transparently build local trust, empower local stakeholders, and foster co-management to be fully successful. Failing to achieve that could make community-based coral reef rehabilitation more challenging, and could potentially drive rapidly declining, transient coral reefs into the slippery slope to slime.

Incorporating extreme event attribution into climate change adaptation for civil infrastructure:Methods,benefits,and research needs

In the last decade,the detection and attribution science that links climate change to extreme weather and climate events has emerged as a growing field of research with an increasing body of literature.This paper overviews the methods for extreme event attribution(EEA)and discusses the new insights that EEA provides for infrastructure adaptation.We found that EEA can inform stakeholders about current climate risk,support vulnerability-based and hazard-based adaptations,assist in the development of cost-effective adaptation strategies,and enhance justice and equity in the allocation of adaptation resources.As engineering practice shifts from a retrospective approach to a proactive,forward-looking risk management strategy,EEA can be used together with climate projections to enhance the comprehensiveness of decision making,including planning and preparing for un-precedented extreme events.Additionally,attribution assessment can be more useful for adaptation planning when the exposure and vulnerability of communities to past events are analyzed,and future changes in the probability of extreme events are evaluated.Given large uncertainties inherent in event attribution and climate projections,future research should examine the sensitivity of engineering design to climate model uncertainties,and adapt engineering practice,including building codes,to uncertain future conditions.While this study focuses on adaptation planning,EEA can also be a useful tool for informing and enhancing decisions related to climate mitigation.

Crop Diversification in Coping with Extreme Weather Events in China

Apart from the long-term effects of climate change, the frequency and severity of extreme weather events have been increasing. Given the risks posed by climate change, particularly the changes in extreme weather events, the question of how to adapt to these changes and mitigate their negative impacts has received great attention from policy makers. The overall goals of this study are to examine whether farmers adapt to extreme weather events through crop diversification and which factors influence farmers＇ decisions on crop diversification against extreme weather events in China. To limit the scope of this study, we focus on drought and flood events only. Based on a unique large-scale household survey in nine provinces, this study finds that farmers respond to extreme weather events by increasing crop diversification. Their decision to diversify crops is significantly influenced by their experiences of extreme weather events in the previous year. Such results are understandable because farmers＇ behaviors are normally based on their expectations. Moreover, household characteristics also affect farmers＇ decisions on crop diversification strategy, and their effects differ by farmers＇ age and gender. This paper concludes with several policy implications.

Asian climate change under 1.5-4 ℃ warming targets

Based on simulations of 18 CMIP5 models under three RCP scenarios, this article investigates changes in mean temperature and precipitation and their extremes over Asia in the context of global warming targets of 1.5-4 ℃, and further compares the differences between 1.5 ℃ and 2 ℃ targets. Results show that relative to the pre-industrial era, the mean temperature over Asia increases by 2.3 ℃, 3.0 ℃, 4.6 ℃, and 6.0 ℃ at warming targets of 1.5 ℃, 2 ℃, 3 ℃, and 4 ℃, respectively, with stronger warming in high latitudes than in low latitudes. The corresponding enhancement in mean precipitation over the entire Asian region is 4.4%, 5.8%, 10.2%, and 13.0%, with significant regional differences. In addition, an increase in warm extremes, a decrease in cold extremes, and a strengthening in the variability of amounts of extreme precipitation are projected. Under the 1.5 ℃ target, compared with the climate under the 2 ℃ target, the mean temperature will be lower by 0.5-1 ℃ over Asia; the mean precipitation will be less by 5%-20% over most of Asia, but will be greater by about 10%-15% over West Asia and western South Asia; extreme high temperatures will be uniformly cooler throughout the Asian region, and the warming in extreme low temperatures will decrease significantly in high latitudes of Asia; extreme precipitation will be weaker over most of Asia but will be stronger over West Asia and western South Asia. Under the 1.5 ℃ and 2 ℃ warming targets, the probability of very hot weather （anomalies greater than 1σ, σ is standard deviation）, extremely hot weather （anomalies greater than 3or）, and extremely heavy precipitation （anomalies greater than 3σ） occurring will increase by at least once, 10%, and 10%, respectively, compared to the reference period （1861-1900）.

The 2020 Summer Floods and 2020/21 Winter Extreme Cold Surges in China and the 2020 Typhoon Season in the Western North Pacific

China experienced significant flooding in the summer of 2020 and multiple extreme cold surges during the winter of 2020/21.Additionally,the 2020 typhoon season had below average activity with especially quiet activity during the first half of the season in the western North Pacific(WNP).Sea surface temperature changes in the Pacific,Indian,and Atlantic Oceans all contributed to the heavy rainfall in China,but the Atlantic and Indian Oceans seem to have played dominant roles.Enhancement and movement of the Siberian High caused a wavier pattern in the jet stream that allowed cold polar air to reach southward,inducing cold surges in China.Large vertical wind shear and low humidity in the WNP were responsible for fewer typhoons in the first half of the typhoon season.Although it is known that global warming can increase the frequency of extreme weather and climate events,its influences on individual events still need to be quantified.Additionally,the extreme cold surge during 16–18 February 2021 in the United States shares similar mechanisms with the winter 2020/21 extreme cold surges in China.

Climate change characteristics of Amur River

Unusually severe weather is occurring more frequently due to global climate change. Heat waves, rainstorms, snowstorms, and droughts are becoming increasingly common all over the world, threatening human lives and property. Both temperature and precipitation are representative variables usually used to directly reflect and forecast the influences of climate change. In this study, daily data （from 1953 to 1995） and monthly data （from 1950 to 2010） of temperature and precipitation in five regions of the Amur River were examined. The significance of changes in temperature and precipitation was tested using the Mann-Kendall test method. The amplitudes were computed using the linear least-squares regression model, and the extreme temperature and precipitation were analyzed using hydrological statistical methods. The results show the following： the mean annual temperature increased significantly from 1950 to 2010 in the five regions, mainly due to the warming in spring and winter; the annual precipitation changed significantly from 1950 to 2010 only in the lower mainstream of the Amur River; the frequency of extremely low temperature events decreased from 1953 to 1995 in the mainstream of the Amur River; the frequency of high temperature events increased from 1953 to 1995 in the mainstream of the Amur River; and the frequency of extreme precipitation events did not change significantly from 1953 to 1995 in the mainstream of the Amur River. This study provides a valuable theoretical basis for settling disputes between China and Russia on sustainable development and utilization of water resources of the Amur River.

Trends in Temperature Extremes in Association with Weather-Intraseasonal Fluctuations in Eastern China

Trends in the frequencies of four temperature extremes （the occurrence of warm days, cold days, warm nights and cold nights） with respect to a modulated annual cycle （MAC）, and those associated exclusively with weather-intraseasonal fluctuations （WIF） in eastern China were investigated based on an updated homogenized daily maximum and minimum temperature dataset for 1960–2008. The Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition （EEMD） method was used to isolate the WIF, MAC, and longer-term components from the temperature series. The annual, winter and summer occurrences of warm （cold） nights were found to have increased （decreased） significantly almost everywhere, while those of warm （cold） days have increased （decreased） in northern China （north of 40°N）. However, the four temperature extremes associated exclusively with WIF for winter have decreased almost everywhere, while those for summer have decreased in the north but increased in the south. These characteristics agree with changes in the amplitude of WIF. In particular, winter WIF of maximum temperature tended to weaken almost everywhere, especially in eastern coastal areas （by 10%–20%）; summer WIF tended to intensify in southern China by 10%–20%. It is notable that in northern China, the occurrence of warm days has increased, even where that associated with WIF has decreased significantly. This suggests that the recent increasing frequency of warm extremes is due to a considerable rise in the mean temperature level, which surpasses the effect of the weakening weather fluctuations in northern China.

Rock chemical weathering by sulfuric acid: pathway, method and prospect

To investigate the role of sulfuric acid-based carbonate weathering in global CO_2 sequestration of climate changes, we systematically discussed the pathway of sulfuric acid in rock chemical weathering and its feedback mechanism for global warming. We showed the methods used to determine the accurate amount of sulfate flux,accounting for the sulfuric acid resulted from sulfide oxidation. Finally, we pointed out some prospects for further detailed work on the exact calculation of the sulfate fluxes for the CO_2 net-release.

Meteorological and Climate Modelling Services Tailored to Viticulturists

Grape production is likewise inherently interconnected to climate and weather, and, although grapes may grow worldwide, premium wine-grape production occurs in Mediterranean-like climate ranges. Changes in climate and weather patterns are threatening premium wine-grapes, directly affecting the European wine industry. This is because grapevines are extremely sensitive to their surrounding environment, with seasonal variations in yield much higher than other common crops, such as cereals. With a view to making South European wine industry resilient to climate change, VISCA (Vineyards Integrated Smart Climate Application) project has deployed a Climate Service (CS) Decision Support System (DSS) tool that provides to wine producers with well-founded information to be able to apply correctly adaptation strategies on specific grape varieties and locations, and to achieve optimum production results (e.g., yield and quantity). In this paper we show the meteorological, seasonal and climatic models and data sets used to answer the viticulturist needs;from short-term and mid-term forecast to seasonal forecast and climate projections.