Assessment of Climate Change in Nicaragua: Analysis of Precipitation and Temperature by Dynamical Downscaling over a 30-Year Horizon

The present study has generated and analyzed Climate Change projections in Nicaragua for the period 2010-2040. The obtained results are to be used for evaluating and planning more resilient transport infrastructures in the next decades. This study has focused its efforts to pay attention into the effect of Climate Change on precipitation and temperature from a mean and extreme event perspective. Dynamical Downscaling approach on a 4 km resolution grid has been chosen as the most appropriate methodology for the estimation of the projected climate, being able to account for local-scale factors like complex topography or local land uses properly. We selected MPI-ESM-MR as the global climate model with the best skill scores in terms of precipitation and temperature in Nicaragua. MPI-ESM-MR was coupled to a mesoscale model. We chose WRF mesoescale model as the most appropriate regional model and we optimized their physical and dynamical options in order to minimize the model uncertainty in Nicaragua. For this, model output against the available in-situ measurements from the national meteorological station network and satellite data were compared. Climate change signal was estimated by comparing the different climate statistics calculated from a model run over an historical period, 1980-2009, with a model run over a projected period, 2010-2040. The obtained results from the projected climate show an increase of the mean temperature between 0.6°C and 0.8°C and an increase of the number of days per year with maximum daily temperatures higher than 35°C. Regarding precipitation, annual projected amounts do not change remarkably with respect to the historical period. However, significant changes in the distribution of the precipitation within the wet period (May-October) were observed. Moreover, an increment between 5% and 10% of the number of days without precipitation is expected. Finally, Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) projected curves show an increment of the rainfall intensity and an increment of extreme precipitation event frequency, especially in the Caribbean basin.

Future Changes and Uncertainties in Temperature and Precipitation over China Based on CMIP5 Models

Climate changes in future 21 st century China and their uncertainties are evaluated based on 22 climate models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5（CMIP5）. By 2081–2100, the annual mean surface air temperature（SAT） is predicted to increase by 1.3℃± 0.7℃, 2.6℃± 0.8℃ and 5.2℃± 1.2℃ under the Representative Concentration Pathway（RCP） scenarios RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, relative to 1986–2005, respectively. The future change in SAT averaged over China increases the most in autumn/winter and the least in spring, while the uncertainty shows little seasonal variation.Spatially, the annual and seasonal mean SAT both show a homogeneous warming pattern across China, with a warming rate increasing from southeastern China to the Tibetan Plateau and northern China, invariant with time and emissions scenario.The associated uncertainty in SAT decreases from northern to southern China. Meanwhile, by 2081–2100, the annual mean precipitation increases by 5% ± 5%, 8% ± 6% and 12% ± 8% under RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. The national average precipitation anomaly percentage, largest in spring and smallest in winter, and its uncertainty, largest in winter and smallest in autumn, show visible seasonal variations. Although at a low confidence level, a homogeneous wetting pattern is projected across China on the annual mean scale, with a larger increasing percentage in northern China and a weak drying in southern China in the early 21 st century. The associated uncertainty is also generally larger in northern China and smaller in southwestern China. In addition, both SAT and precipitation usually show larger seasonal variability on the sub-regional scale compared with the national average.

Influence of Sea Level Pressure on Inter-Annual Rainfall Variability in Northern Senegal in the Context of Climate Change

This study examines the inter-annual variability of rainfall and Mean Sea Level Pressure (MSLP) over west Africa based on analysis of the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) and National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) Reanalysis respectively. An interconnection is found in this region, between Mean Sea Level Pressure (MSLP) anomaly (over Azores and St. Helena High) and monthly mean precipitation during summer (June to September: JJAS). We also found that over northern Senegal (15°N - 17°N;17°W - 13°W) the SLP to the north is strong;the wind converges at 200 hPa corresponding to the position of the African Easterly Jet (AEJ) the rotational wind 700 hPa (corresponding to the position of the African Easterly Jet (AEJ) coming from the north-east is negative. In this region, the precipitation is related to the SLP to the north with the opposite sign. The Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOF) of SLP is also presented, including the mean spectrum of precipitation and pressures to the north (15°N - 40°N and 50°W - 25°W) and south (40°S - 10°S and 40°W - 0°E). The dominant EOF of Sea Level Pressures north and south of the Atlantic Ocean for GPCP represents about 62.2% and 69.4% of the variance, respectively. The second and third EOFs of the pressure to the north account for 24.0% and 6.5% respectively. The second and third EOFs of the pressure to the south represent 12.5% and 8.9% respectively. Wet years in the north of Senegal were associated with anomalous low-pressure areas over the north Atlantic Ocean as opposed to the dry years which exhibited an anomalous high-pressure area in the same region. On the other hand, over the South Atlantic, an opposition is noted. The wavelet analysis method is applied to the SLP showings to the north, south and precipitation in our study area. The indices prove to be very consistent, especially during intervals of high variance.

Climatology Comparison Studies of Precipitations Between GPCP and Rain Gauges in China

The Global Precipitation Climatology Project （GPCP） monthly rainfall data and the rainfall records observed by 740 rain gauges in the mainland of China are used to analyze similarities and differences of the precipitation in China in the period from January 1980 to December 2000. Results expose significantly consistent rainfall distributions between the both data in multi-year mean, multi-year seasonal mean, and multi-year monthly mean. Departures of monthly rainfall for each dataset also show a high correlation with an over 0.8 correlation coefficient. Analysis indicates small differences of both datasets during autumn, winter, and spring, but relative large ones in summer. Generally, the GPCP has trend of overestimating the rainfall rate. Based on above good relationship of both datasets, the GPCP data, are used to represent distributions and variations of precipitation in the Tibetan Plateau and Northwest China. Results indicate positive departures of precipitation in summer in the west part of Tibetan Plateau in the 1980s and negative departures after the 1980s. For the west part of Northwest China, analysis illustrates precipitation decreases a little, but no clear variation tendency.

Projection on precipitation frequency of different intensities and precipitation amount in the Lancang-Mekong River basin in the 21st century

In the Lancang‒Mekong River basin(LMRB),agriculture,dominating the local economy,faces increasing challenges in water supply under climate change.The projection of future precipitation in this basin is essential for understanding the challenges.In this study,the Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF)model was applied to project the LMRB precipitation.Comparing with the historical period(1986e2005),we analyzed the changes of both the projected precipitation amount and the frequency of rainless(<0.1 mm d1),light rain(0.1e10 mm d1),moderate rain(10e25 mm d1),heavy rain(25e50 mm d1),rainstorm(50e100 mm d1),and heavy rainstorm(>100 mm d1)for three periods,namely the near-term(2016e2035),mid-term(2046e2065),and long-term(2080e2099).The results indicate that the precipitation amount during the wet season(AprileOctober)is expected to increase in most areas of the basin for the three periods.As for the precipitation during the dry season(NovembereMarch),an increase is projected in most areas for the near-term,while an increase in the lower reach of the basin and a decrease in the upper and middle reach for the mid-term and long-term.The precipitation reduction is expected to be greatest in Myanmar,Laos,Thailand,and Yunnan province of China for the mid-term.The frequency of precipitation in different intensities has prominent regional and temporal differences.During the wet season,the days of rainless and light rain are expected to decrease in the middle reach,whereas the days of rainstorm and heavy rainstorm increase.This feature is especially strong in southern Thailand,southern Laos and Cambodia in the near-term and in Laos and Thailand for the mid-term and long-term.During the dry season,there are projected increasing rainless days and decreasing days of precipitation for the other intensities in the middle reach,and opposite in the rest area of the basin.These projected precipitation changes have potential various impact in different parts of the basin.The middle reach would likely face increasing flood risks because of more days of rainstorm and heavy rainstorm,as well as more precipitation.Yunnan,Myanmar,Thailand and Laos would probably be the center of drought threatens during the dry season due to the increment of rainless days and the precipitation reduction.Besides,the seawater intrusion during the dry season in the near-term and mid-term would be more serious as a result of the precipitation decrease in southern Vietnam.