Detection, attribution and projection of changes in the extreme temperature range in the Northern Hemisphere

The extreme temperature range (ETR) is the span between the highest and lowest temperature of a given year, and is a manifestation of extreme temperature variability. It is regarded as having significant environmental and societal impacts, but the influences of human activities on changes in the ETR...

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Main Authors: Xiao-Fan Feng, Cheng Qian
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2024-12-01
Series:Advances in Climate Change Research
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674927824001564
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author Xiao-Fan Feng
Cheng Qian
author_facet Xiao-Fan Feng
Cheng Qian
author_sort Xiao-Fan Feng
collection DOAJ
description The extreme temperature range (ETR) is the span between the highest and lowest temperature of a given year, and is a manifestation of extreme temperature variability. It is regarded as having significant environmental and societal impacts, but the influences of human activities on changes in the ETR remain unclear. Here we performed a detection and attribution analysis of the changes in the ETR over the land areas of the Northern Hemisphere (NH) for the period 1960–2018, based on the optimal fingerprinting approach. We found that anthropogenic forcing could be detected and separated from natural forcing, and greenhouse gas forcing could be detected and separated from anthropogenic aerosol forcing, in the spatiotemporal pattern of the NH and in the regional average of the high latitudes. It is estimated that anthropogenic forcing (greenhouse gas emissions) contributed to 129% (152%) of the significant decreasing trend in the NH-averaged ETR. Moreover, compared to the average of 1999–2018, the NH (North America)-averaged ETR was projected to further significantly decrease by 6.7 °C (14.0 °C) in 2081–2100 under the SSP5-8.5 scenario, based on attribution-constrained projection, the magnitude of which was larger than in the models’ raw outputs. In contrast, the ETR was projected to increase significantly in the Mediterranean and adjacent regions under the SSP5-8.5 scenario, and in Central Europe, West Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, and parts of China under the SSP1-1.9 scenario. These results have important implications for understanding and predicting the effects of human activities on changes in extreme temperature variability and for adaptation to these changes in the future.
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spelling doaj-art-faaecf5ece164a3aadf4f613f7ef02a12025-01-15T04:11:35ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Advances in Climate Change Research1674-92782024-12-011569891002Detection, attribution and projection of changes in the extreme temperature range in the Northern HemisphereXiao-Fan Feng0Cheng Qian1Key Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment for Temperate East Asia, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Shandong Provincial Climate Center, Jinan 250031, ChinaKey Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment for Temperate East Asia, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Corresponding author. Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.The extreme temperature range (ETR) is the span between the highest and lowest temperature of a given year, and is a manifestation of extreme temperature variability. It is regarded as having significant environmental and societal impacts, but the influences of human activities on changes in the ETR remain unclear. Here we performed a detection and attribution analysis of the changes in the ETR over the land areas of the Northern Hemisphere (NH) for the period 1960–2018, based on the optimal fingerprinting approach. We found that anthropogenic forcing could be detected and separated from natural forcing, and greenhouse gas forcing could be detected and separated from anthropogenic aerosol forcing, in the spatiotemporal pattern of the NH and in the regional average of the high latitudes. It is estimated that anthropogenic forcing (greenhouse gas emissions) contributed to 129% (152%) of the significant decreasing trend in the NH-averaged ETR. Moreover, compared to the average of 1999–2018, the NH (North America)-averaged ETR was projected to further significantly decrease by 6.7 °C (14.0 °C) in 2081–2100 under the SSP5-8.5 scenario, based on attribution-constrained projection, the magnitude of which was larger than in the models’ raw outputs. In contrast, the ETR was projected to increase significantly in the Mediterranean and adjacent regions under the SSP5-8.5 scenario, and in Central Europe, West Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, and parts of China under the SSP1-1.9 scenario. These results have important implications for understanding and predicting the effects of human activities on changes in extreme temperature variability and for adaptation to these changes in the future.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674927824001564Extreme temperature variabilityHuman activityGreenhouse gas emissionsOptimal fingerprintingAttribution-constrained projection
spellingShingle Xiao-Fan Feng
Cheng Qian
Detection, attribution and projection of changes in the extreme temperature range in the Northern Hemisphere
Advances in Climate Change Research
Extreme temperature variability
Human activity
Greenhouse gas emissions
Optimal fingerprinting
Attribution-constrained projection
title Detection, attribution and projection of changes in the extreme temperature range in the Northern Hemisphere
title_full Detection, attribution and projection of changes in the extreme temperature range in the Northern Hemisphere
title_fullStr Detection, attribution and projection of changes in the extreme temperature range in the Northern Hemisphere
title_full_unstemmed Detection, attribution and projection of changes in the extreme temperature range in the Northern Hemisphere
title_short Detection, attribution and projection of changes in the extreme temperature range in the Northern Hemisphere
title_sort detection attribution and projection of changes in the extreme temperature range in the northern hemisphere
topic Extreme temperature variability
Human activity
Greenhouse gas emissions
Optimal fingerprinting
Attribution-constrained projection
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674927824001564
work_keys_str_mv AT xiaofanfeng detectionattributionandprojectionofchangesintheextremetemperaturerangeinthenorthernhemisphere
AT chengqian detectionattributionandprojectionofchangesintheextremetemperaturerangeinthenorthernhemisphere