Eigen analysis of tree-ring records: part 2, posing the eigen problem

The technique of expanding meteorological fields on eigenvectors of the field covariation matrix is popular. In this paper, we propose for the first time to use a mathematically similar technique to solve the main problem of dendrochronology: classifying variations in tree-ring records as either age- and microenvironment-dependent or climate-induced. Applying this technique to a sample of very long-lived Qilian junipers (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) from the Dulan region in western China, we demonstrate that the ring-width variations projected on the first eigenvector are age-dependent, but those projected on several of the first subsequent vectors are mainly climate-induced. In particular, the second and third projections capture multi-centennial climatic variations, and the variations projected on the fourth through seventh eigenvectors show periodic variations that are probably induced by the 178-year solar cycle. The projections on the smallest eigenvectors seem to be negligible.     

Eigen analysis of tree-ring records: part 3, taking heteroscedasticity and sampling effects into consideration

This paper reports on the further development of a new technique for standardization of tree-ring records called the eigen analysis of tree-ring records. The data are from the same sample set of 56 long-lived Qilian junipers (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) from the Dulan region in western China as was used in our previous paper (Yang et al. 2011b). To assess the heteroscedasticity of individual record deviations from the sample set regional curve (RC), we tested five different definitions of those deviations. Direct computations of eigenvectors of all relevant intrarecord covariation matrices turned out to be greatly affected by observational and computational noise; an analytic approximation of these vectors was therefore desirable. The Bessel function of the first kind and the zero order proved suitable for such an approximation, especially because the deviations were defined via subtraction of the RC from raw ring width records. Exclusion of the contributions of the first segment of the Bessel approximation, corresponding to the extremely large first eigenvalue, rendered individual record deviations from RC homoscedastic. Therefore, the routine Fourier basis became applicable to extract climate-dependent components of the residual deviations. A Fourier expansion of the Dulan chronology revealed the quasi-200-year-long solar activity cycle to be the main factor affecting Dulan tree growth.     

Rainfall Variations of Sri Lanka, Part 2: regional gluctuations

Summary Based on the regional division of another paper [39], the rainfall variations of Sri Lanka have been investigated for the respective regions by power spectrum analysis and filtering methods, making use of data for the period from 1881 to 1980. The 3–4 year periodicity was observed over the entire island, but other cycles differ from region to region. The 13–16 months oscillation arises in Regions A, D and E, which roughly correspond to the Wet Zone and Dry Zone. The 10 and 2 year oscillations emerge in Regions A, B and C, where the southwest monsoon dominates the fluctuation patterns. In particular, it was confirmed that the quasi-biennial oscillation is not only in Sri Lanka, but also in other low latitude countries. The quasi-five year oscillation is noticed in Regions D and E, where the northeast monsoon influences on the fluctuation patterns. Irregularities in amplitude and in phase changes were noticed in their longer period fluctuation.

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Variationen des Niederschlags in Sri Lanka. Teil 2: Regionale Fluktuationen

Zusammenfassung Aufgrund einer früher vorgenommenen regionalen Einteilung [39] wurden die Niederschlagsvariationen in Sri Lanka für die einzelnen Regionen mit Spektralanalyse und Filterungsmethoden unter Verwendung von Beobachtungsdaten aus der Periode 1881–1980 untersucht. Die 3- bis 4jährige Periodizität wurde auf der ganzen Insel festgestellt; aber andere Zyklen unterscheiden sich von Region zu Region. Eine 13- bis 16monatige Oszillation zeigt sich in den Regionen A, D und E, die ungefähr der Feuchtzone und der Trockenzone entsprechen. 10- bis 2jährige Oszillationen treten in den Regionen A, B und C auf, wo der Südwestmonsun die Fluktuationsformen beherrscht. Im besonderen wurde festgestellt, daß die quasi-zweijährige Oszillation nicht nur in Sri Lanka, sondern auch in anderen Ländern niedriger Breiten vorkommt. Eine quasifünfjährige Oszillation wurde in den Regionen D und E festgestellt, wo der Nordostmonsun die Fluktuationsformen beeinflußt. Unregelmäßigkeiten in der Amplitude und in Phasenänderungen wurden in ihrer längerperiodischen Fluktuation festgestellt.

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With 4 Figures     

Detection of climate signal in dendrochronological data analysis: a comparison of tree-ring standardization methods

Summary Tree-ring standardization methods were compared. Traditional methods along with the recently introduced approaches of regional curve standardization (RCS) and power-transformation (PT) were included. The difficulty in removing non-climatic variation (noise) while simultaneously preserving the low-frequency variability in the tree-ring series was emphasized. The potential risk of obtaining inflated index values was analysed by comparing methods to extract tree-ring indices from the standardization curve. The material for the tree-ring series, previously used in several palaeoclimate predictions, came from living and dead wood of high-latitude Scots pine in northernmost Europe. This material provided a useful example of a long composite tree-ring chronology with the typical strengths and weaknesses of such data, particularly in the context of standardization. PT stabilized the heteroscedastic variation in the original tree-ring series more efficiently than any other standardization practice expected to preserve the low-frequency variability. RCS showed great potential in preserving variability in tree-ring series at centennial time scales; however, this method requires a homogeneous sample for reliable signal estimation. It is not recommended to derive indices by subtraction without first stabilizing the variance in the case of series of forest-limit tree-ring data. Index calculation by division did not seem to produce inflated chronology values for the past one and a half centuries of the chronology (where mean sample cambial age is high). On the other hand, potential bias of high RCS chronology values was observed during the period of anomalously low mean sample cambial age. An alternative technique for chronology construction was proposed based on series age decomposition, where indices in the young vigorously behaving part of each series are extracted from the curve by division and in the mature part by subtraction. Because of their specific nature, the dendrochronological data here should not be generalized to all tree-ring records. The examples presented should be used as guidelines for detecting potential sources of bias and as illustrations of the usefulness of tree-ring records as palaeoclimate indicators.     

基于树轮宽度的巴丹吉林沙漠南缘山地NDVI重建与分析

利用巴丹吉林沙漠南缘山地三个采样点的青海云杉树轮样本研制出区域树轮宽度年表。相关分析发现区域树轮宽度年表与5-7月NDVI变化有较好相关性,相关系数为0.667 (P<0.001)。利用线性回归模型重建了巴丹吉林沙漠南缘山地1765–2010年5-7月NDVI变化,方差解释量为44.5%。NDVI重建序列揭示在1765–2010年期间巴丹吉林沙漠南缘山地有10个植被生长良好时段和10个植被生长较差时段。同时,NDVI重建序列的低值与河西走廊极端干旱历史事件有着良好的一致性。多窗谱周期分析发现,巴丹吉林沙漠南缘山地5-7月NDVI重建序列具有10.1年,8.1年,4.9年,3.0年,2.6年和2.2年的准周期变化。交叉小波分析发现太阳黑子活动是区域NDVI变化的重要驱动力之一。基于NDVI与区域干湿变化良好相关,分析了极端低值年份和极端高值年份的矢量风场距平变化发现区域NDVI变化与大范围气候场变化有显著关联,发现当西风增强时,研究区气候偏湿,有利于树木生长,NDVI值偏高,形成较宽的树轮。当研究区被来自北面沙漠地区气流控制时候,研究区气流偏干,不利于树木生长。     

Field significance of performance measures in the context of regional climate model evaluation. Part 1: temperature

A new approach for rigorous spatial analysis of the downscaling performance of regional climate model (RCM) simulations is introduced. It is based on a multiple comparison of the local tests at the grid cells and is also known as “field” or “global” significance. New performance measures for estimating the added value of downscaled data relative to the large-scale forcing fields are developed. The methodology is exemplarily applied to a standard EURO-CORDEX hindcast simulation with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with the land surface model NOAH at 0.11 ^° grid resolution. Monthly temperature climatology for the 1990–2009 period is analysed for Germany for winter and summer in comparison with high-resolution gridded observations from the German Weather Service. The field significance test controls the proportion of falsely rejected local tests in a meaningful way and is robust to spatial dependence. Hence, the spatial patterns of the statistically significant local tests are also meaningful. We interpret them from a process-oriented perspective. In winter and in most regions in summer, the downscaled distributions are statistically indistinguishable from the observed ones. A systematic cold summer bias occurs in deep river valleys due to overestimated elevations, in coastal areas due probably to enhanced sea breeze circulation, and over large lakes due to the interpolation of water temperatures. Urban areas in concave topography forms have a warm summer bias due to the strong heat islands, not reflected in the observations. WRF-NOAH generates appropriate fine-scale features in the monthly temperature field over regions of complex topography, but over spatially homogeneous areas even small biases can lead to significant deteriorations relative to the driving reanalysis. As the added value of global climate model (GCM)-driven simulations cannot be smaller than this perfect-boundary estimate, this work demonstrates in a rigorous manner the clear additional value of dynamical downscaling over global climate simulations. The evaluation methodology has a broad spectrum of applicability as it is distribution-free, robust to spatial dependence, and accounts for time series structure.     

Effect of climate change on watershed system: a regional analysis

Climate-induced increase in surface temperatures can impact hydrologic processes of a watershed system. This study uses a continuous simulation model to evaluate potential implications of increasing temperature on water quantity and quality at a regional scale in the Connecticut River Watershed of New England. The increase in temperature was modeled using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) high and low warming scenarios to incorporate the range of possible temperature change. It was predicted that climate change can have a significant affects on streamflow, sediment loading, and nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) loading in a watershed. Climate change also influences the timing and magnitude of runoff and sediment yield. Changes in variability of flows and pollutant loading that are induced by climate change have important implications on water supplies, water quality, and aquatic ecosystems of a watershed. Potential impacts of these changes include deficit supplies during peak seasons of water demand, increased eutrophication potential, and impacts on fish migration.     

Uncertainties in regional climate change prediction: a regional analysis of ensemble simulations with the HADCM2 coupled AOGCM

We analyze ensembles (four realizations) of historical and future climate transient experiments carried out with the coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (AOGCM) of the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, version HADCM2, with four scenarios of greenhouse gas (GHG) and sulfate forcing. The analysis focuses on the regional scale, and in particular on 21 regions covering all land areas in the World (except Antarctica). We examine seasonally averaged surface air temperature and precipitation for the historical period of 1961–1990 and the future climate period of 2046–2075. Compared to previous AOGCM simulations, the HADCM2 model shows a good performance in reproducing observed regional averages of summer and winter temperature and precipitation. The model, however, does not reproduce well observed interannual variability. We find that the uncertainty in regional climate change predictions associated with the spread of different realizations in an ensemble (i.e. the uncertainty related to the internal model variability) is relatively low for all scenarios and regions. In particular, this uncertainty is lower than the uncertainty due to inter-scenario variability and (by comparison with previous regional analyses of AOGCMs) with inter-model variability. The climate biases and sensitivities found for different realizations of the same ensemble were similar to the corresponding ensemble averages and the averages associated with individual realizations of the same ensemble did not differ from each other at the 5% confidence level in the vast majority of cases. These results indicate that a relatively small number of realizations (3 or 4) is sufficient to characterize an AOGCM transient climate change prediction at the regional scale. Received: 12 January 1998 / Accepted: 7 July 1999     

Soil occupation and atmospheric variations over Sobradinho Lake area. Part two: a regional modeling study

Summary The impact of the changes on soil cover and land use brought about by the construction of the Sobradinho Dam in the semi-arid region of the S?o Francisco River Hydrographic Basin is analyzed by means of a numerical model RAMS. Disregarding the influence of a large scale flow, a set of factors were responsible for the creation of a rather complex circulation system that includes mountain-valley winds, lake breeze (LB) and non-conventional circulation all induced by the surface non-homogeneous aspect. Results have demonstrated that the implementation of works of such magnitude brings about environmental changes in an area that stretches far beyond the surroundings of the reservoir. The soil cover alterations due to the ever increasing development of the area with the presence of irrigated crops in a sparsely vegetated region (caatinga) does affect land surface characteristics, occasioning for that matter the splitting of the available energy into latent and sensible heat fluxes. LB behavior varies in accordance with atmospheric conditions and also in view of the type of vegetation found in the lake surrounding areas. Hydro availability in root zones, even under adverse atmospheric conditions (high temperature and low air humidity) brings up the high rates of evaporation and plant transpiration that contribute towards the increase of humidity and the fall of temperature in lower atmospheric layers.     

陕西一次区域性暴雨天气过程分析

运用常规高空资料和NCEP 1°×1°的6 h分析资料,选取2006-06-02—03陕北南部、关中出现的一次区域性暴雨过程,通过对此次大降水过程的高低空环流、物理量场特征分析,发现此次暴雨过程的高低空天气形势符合陕西暴雨特征,即此暴雨产生的前期干冷空气反映明显,基本物理量反应出低层有湿舌和水汽辐合,暴雨前有明显的能量聚集。     

From Lima to Paris,Part 1: The Lima Hangover

A growing body of literature suggests that an economic case may exist for investment in large-scale climate change mitigation. At the same time, however, investment is persistently falling well short of the levels required to prevent dangerous climate change, suggesting that economically attractive mitigation opportunities are being missed. To understand whether and where these opportunities exist, this article contrasts macro-level analyses of climate finance with micro-level bottom-up analyses of the scale and composition of low-carbon investment opportunities in four case study developing world cities. This analysis finds that there are significant opportunities to redirect existing finance streams towards more cost-effective, lower-carbon options. This would mobilize substantial new investment in climate mitigation. Two key explanations are proposed for the failure to exploit these opportunities. First, the composition of cost-effective measures is highly context-specific, varying from place to place and sector to sector. Macro-level analyses of climate finance flows are therefore poor indicators of the micro-level landscape for low-carbon investment. Specific local research is therefore needed to understand the opportunities for cost-effective mitigation at that level. Second, many opportunities require enabling governance arrangements that are not currently in place. Mobilizing new low-carbon investment and closing the ‘climate finance gap' therefore requires attention to policy frameworks and financing mechanisms that can facilitate the exploitation of cost-effective low-carbon options.

Policy relevance

The importance of increasing investment in climate mitigation, especially in developing nations, is well established. This article scrutinizes four city-level studies of the scope for cost-effective low-carbon investment, and finds that significant opportunities are not being exploited in developing world cities. Enabling governance structures may help to mainstream climate considerations into investments by local actors (households, businesses and government agencies). While climate finance distributed through international bodies such as the Green Climate Fund may not always be a suitable vehicle to invest directly in disaggregated, local-level measures, it can provide the incentives to develop these governance arrangements.     

Fractal analysis of climatic data: Annual precipitation records in Spain

Summary The rescaled range analysis was applied to the annual precipitation series from 10 weather stations in Spain for the period 1901–1989. The analysis reveals that the series of precipitations fits a fractal distribution, with a mean fractal dimension of 1.32 ± 0.01. This lies in the same order of magnitude as the fractal dimensions obtained from other macrometeorological and paleoclimatic registers. The favourable comparison between fractal dimensions of the variables on both small time scales and long-term time spans suggests that such values are characteristic of climatic change over the spectral range of 10 to 10⁶ years. The results contribute to the establishment of this assumption as a valid hypothesis for the interpolation of climatic change from one scale to the next, and also in applications such as hydrological design.With 2 Figures     

Multi-decadal scenario simulation over Korea using a one-way double-nested regional climate model system. Part 1: recent climate simulation (1971–2000)

We present an analysis of a high resolution multi-decadal simulation of recent climate (1971–2000) over the Korean Peninsula with a regional climate model (RegCM3) using a one-way double-nested system. Mean climate state as well as frequency and intensity of extreme climate events are investigated at various temporal and spatial scales, with focus on surface air temperature and precipitation. The mother intermediate resolution model domain encompasses the eastern regions of Asia at 60 km grid spacing while the high resolution nested domain covers the Korean Peninsula at 20 km grid spacing. The simulation spans the 30-year period of January 1971 through December 2000, and initial and lateral boundary conditions for the mother domain are provided from ECHO-G fields based on the IPCC SRES B2 scenario. The model shows a good performance in reproducing the climatological and regional characteristics of surface variables, although some persistent biases are present. Main results are as follows: (1) The RegCM3 successfully simulates the fine-scale structure of the temperature field due to topographic forcing but it shows a systematic cold bias mostly due to an underestimate of maximum temperature. (2) The frequency distribution of simulated daily mean temperature agrees well with the observed seasonal and spatial patterns. In the summer season, however, daily variability is underestimated. (3) The RegCM3 simulation adequately captures the seasonal evolution of precipitation associated to the East Asia monsoon. In particular, the simulated winter precipitation is remarkably good, clearly showing typical precipitation patterns that occur on the northwestern areas of Japan during the winter monsoon. Although summer precipitation is underestimated, area-averaged time series of precipitation over Korea show that the RegCM3 agrees better with observations than ECHO-G both in terms of seasonal evolution and precipitation amounts. (4) Heavy rainfall phenomena exceeding 300 mm/day are simulated only at the high resolution of the double nested domain. (5) The model shows a tendency to overestimate the number of precipitation days and to underestimate the precipitation intensities. (6) A CSEOF analysis reveals that the model captures the strength of the annual cycle and the surface warming trend throughout the simulated period.     

Detrended fluctuation analysis of daily temperature records: Geographic dependence over Australia

Summary Daily temperature anomaly records are analyzed (61 for Australia, 18 for Hungary) by means of detrended fluctuation analysis. Positive long range asymptotic correlations extending up to 5–10 years are detected for each case. Contrary to earlier claims, the correlation exponent is not universal for continental stations. Interestingly, the dominant factor is geographic latitude over Australia: the general tendency is a decrease of correlation exponent with increasing distance from the equator. This tendency is in a complete agreement with the results found by Tsonis et al (1999) for 500-hPa height anomalies in the northern hemisphere. The variance of fluctuations exhibits an opposite trend, the larger is the distance from the equator, the larger the amplitude of intrinsic fluctuations. The presence of Tropospheric Biennial Oscillation is clearly identified for three stations at the northeastern edge of the Australian continent.     

Fractal analysis of climatic data: Mean annual temperature records in Hungary

Summary Rescaled range analysis of the annual mean surface air temperatures at 7 meteorological stations in Hungary for the period of 1901–1991 indicates that the considered temperatures are fractals with a mean fractal dimension of 1.23 ± 0.01. This value compares favourably with the fractal dimensions of other climatic records, both on small time scale of 10–100 years and for time spans 10³–10⁶ years. Possibly such fractal dimensions are characteristic of climate change over the whole spectral range of 10 to 10⁶ years. If this assumption becomes confirmed through analysis of a wider set of climatic records, long-range climatic prediction (in statistical sense) on different time scales will appear feasible.With 4 Figures     

陕西中部一次区域性暴雨天气过程诊断分析

利用常规气象观测资料、NCEP1°×1°的6h分析资料和FY-2C卫星云顶亮温资料,对2008年6月14—15日陕西出现的一次区域性暴雨天气过程诊断分析,结果表明：初夏副高西伸并维持,高原西风带长波槽稳定维持,槽前正涡度平流引导低层西南涡、切变加强东移成为此次暴雨天气影响系统;三股气流在暴雨区汇合,强烈而持续的上升运动将能量输送到高层．有利于暴雨的维持;FY-2C卫星云顶亮温小于-32℃区的演变与MCSs生消有很好的对应关系。     

梅汛期区域性暴雨的多尺度分析及临近预警

利用常规观测数据、NECP1°×1°逐6 h再分析资料、FY2E卫星黑体亮度温度TBB资料以及南京、常州多普勒天气雷达产品,对2012年江苏出梅之前的最后一场区域性暴雨过程进行多尺度分析。在此基础上,探索该类暴雨的临近预警线索,结果表明:(1)此次过程的雨带呈准纬向分布,属于典型的梅汛期静止锋降水。过程中主要有两次降水集中时段,两个阶段的降水性质存在差异,但都具备较高的降水效率。(2)中高纬大范围稳定的阻塞形势,为此次持续性暴雨过程的产生提供了有利的大尺度环流背景。而在此过程中,两段降水集中期的形成与地面触发系统的出现和维持有着较为密切的联系。(3)此次过程中两段降水集中期内的物理量特征以及TBB的演变情况和其对应的降水特征存在异同。(4)雷达特征分析表明,此次过程具有较高的降水效率和较长的持续时间。实际业务工作中可以通过判断回波的质心高度和边界层风速有无跃增来估计降水效率的潜势。当推断较高的降水效率潜势将持续较长时间时,应及时发布暴雨警报。     

The definition of mesoscale selective forecast error covariances for a limited area variational analysis

Summary ?The paper deals with an alternative formulation of the so-called NMC (National Meteorological Center, now National Centers for Environmental Prediction) statistics to compute the background error covariance matrix to be used in a mesoscale variational analysis. While the standard method uses differences of forecasts valid for the same time, but starting from different analysis times, the new formulation required the recomputation of the short-term forecast with the initial and lateral boundary data that come from the long-term run. In the frame of a limited-area model, this approach forces the error variances at large scales to decrease drastically, because those scales are controlled by the (constant data) lateral boundary coupling. As a result, the background cost function acts more scale selectively, with an emphasis on medium scales. The analysis increments obtained from the 3D-VAR system show that the analysis increments are sharper and more concentrated with the new formulation, both in single observation and in full observation experiments. This work is part of a wider project for building a variational assimilation system inside the ALADIN model. The complete system should concentrate on mesoscale features and it should not reanalyse those scales that were already treated by the global model (ARPEGE). Some difficulties and perspectives are drawn in the concluding discussion. Received February 12, 2001; revised July 24, 2001