Simulation and Projection of Climate Extremes in China by a Set of Statistical Downscaled Data

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 24;19(11):6398. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19116398.

Abstract

This study assesses present-day extreme climate changes over China by using a set of phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) statistical downscaled data and raw models outputs. The downscaled data is produced by the adapted spatial disaggregation and equal distance cumulative distribution function (EDCDF) method at the resolution of 0.25° × 0.25° for the present day (1961-2014) and the future period (2015-2100) under the Shared Socioeconomic Path-way (SSP) 2-4.5 than SSP5-8.5 emission scenario. The results show that the downscaling method improves the spatial distributions of extreme climate events in China with higher spatial pattern correlations, Taylor Skill Scores and closer magnitudes no matter single model or multi model ensemble (MME). In the future projections, large inter-model variability between the downscaled models still exists, particular for maximum consecutive 5-day precipitation (RX5). The downscaled MME projects that total precipitation (PTOT) and RX5, will increase with time, especially for the northwest China. The projected heavy precipitation days (R20) also increase in the future. The region of significant increase in R20 locates in the south of river Yangtze. Maxi-mum annual temperature (TXX) and percentage of warm days (TX90p) are projected to increase across the whole country with larger magnitude over the west China. Projected changes of minimum annual temperature (TNN) over the northeastern China is the most significant area. The higher of the emission scenario, the more significant of extreme climates. This reveals that the spatial distribution of extreme climate events will become more uneven in the future.

Keywords: CMIP6; downscaling; evaluation; extreme climate; projection.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • China
  • Climate Change*
  • Forecasting
  • Rivers*
  • Temperature

Grants and funding

This research was funded by National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0605004, and 2018YFE0196000), Project of China Three Gorges Corporation (0704181), Projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China (41875111) and Chongqing Meteorological Department Technology Research Project (YWJSGG-202206).