Spatiotemporal characteristics of the time of emergence for anthropogenic tropospheric temperature changes based on the CMIP6 multi-model results

In the 20th century, with the intensification of human activities, the Earth is experiencing unprecedented warming. However, there are certain differences in the sensitivity of temperature changes to anthropogenic forcings in different regions and at different altitudes of the troposphere. The time...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Shulei Zhang, Xiaodong Liu, Buwen Dong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2024-01-01
Series:Environmental Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad34e6
_version_ 1797238397863985152
author Shulei Zhang
Xiaodong Liu
Buwen Dong
author_facet Shulei Zhang
Xiaodong Liu
Buwen Dong
author_sort Shulei Zhang
collection DOAJ
description In the 20th century, with the intensification of human activities, the Earth is experiencing unprecedented warming. However, there are certain differences in the sensitivity of temperature changes to anthropogenic forcings in different regions and at different altitudes of the troposphere. The time of emergence (TOE) is the key point at which the anthropogenic climate change signal exceeds from the internal climate variability serving as a noise. It is a crucial variable for climate change detection, climate prediction and risk assessment. Here, we systematically analyzed the spatiotemporal characteristics of the TOE of temperature changes over the past century by calculating the SNR based on the selected CMIP6 multi-model outputs. The results show that the temperature TOE, particularly in the lower and middle troposphere, shows distinct latitude dependence, displaying an ‘M-type’ distribution from the Antarctic to the Arctic: it first appears in low-latitudes, followed by high-latitudes, and last appears in the two mid latitude bands. For the tropics, the TOE of tropospheric temperatures becomes earlier with increasing altitude: the TOE of air temperatures at the surface, mid-tropospheric 500 hPa and upper-tropospheric 200 hPa occurs in 1980 ± 15, 1965 ± 20, and 1930 ± 30, respectively. The TOEs of tropospheric temperatures in eastern equatorial Pacific are 10–30 years later than those in the western equatorial Pacific. For the regional TOEs of surface air temperature diverse differences exist on land and ocean in various latitudes of two hemispheres.
first_indexed 2024-04-24T17:35:00Z
format Article
id doaj.art-6965b14006fe4b6492bd7fa06e75d0f8
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1748-9326
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-24T17:35:00Z
publishDate 2024-01-01
publisher IOP Publishing
record_format Article
series Environmental Research Letters
spelling doaj.art-6965b14006fe4b6492bd7fa06e75d0f82024-03-28T05:59:55ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262024-01-0119404405210.1088/1748-9326/ad34e6Spatiotemporal characteristics of the time of emergence for anthropogenic tropospheric temperature changes based on the CMIP6 multi-model resultsShulei Zhang0Xiaodong Liu1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0355-5610Buwen Dong2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0809-7911State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xi’an, People’s Republic of China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaState Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xi’an, People’s Republic of China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaNational Centre for Atmospheric Science, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading , Reading, United KingdomIn the 20th century, with the intensification of human activities, the Earth is experiencing unprecedented warming. However, there are certain differences in the sensitivity of temperature changes to anthropogenic forcings in different regions and at different altitudes of the troposphere. The time of emergence (TOE) is the key point at which the anthropogenic climate change signal exceeds from the internal climate variability serving as a noise. It is a crucial variable for climate change detection, climate prediction and risk assessment. Here, we systematically analyzed the spatiotemporal characteristics of the TOE of temperature changes over the past century by calculating the SNR based on the selected CMIP6 multi-model outputs. The results show that the temperature TOE, particularly in the lower and middle troposphere, shows distinct latitude dependence, displaying an ‘M-type’ distribution from the Antarctic to the Arctic: it first appears in low-latitudes, followed by high-latitudes, and last appears in the two mid latitude bands. For the tropics, the TOE of tropospheric temperatures becomes earlier with increasing altitude: the TOE of air temperatures at the surface, mid-tropospheric 500 hPa and upper-tropospheric 200 hPa occurs in 1980 ± 15, 1965 ± 20, and 1930 ± 30, respectively. The TOEs of tropospheric temperatures in eastern equatorial Pacific are 10–30 years later than those in the western equatorial Pacific. For the regional TOEs of surface air temperature diverse differences exist on land and ocean in various latitudes of two hemispheres.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad34e6tropospheric temperaturessurface air temperatureanthropogenic activitiesinternal climate variabilitytime of emergence (TOE)CMIP6
spellingShingle Shulei Zhang
Xiaodong Liu
Buwen Dong
Spatiotemporal characteristics of the time of emergence for anthropogenic tropospheric temperature changes based on the CMIP6 multi-model results
Environmental Research Letters
tropospheric temperatures
surface air temperature
anthropogenic activities
internal climate variability
time of emergence (TOE)
CMIP6
title Spatiotemporal characteristics of the time of emergence for anthropogenic tropospheric temperature changes based on the CMIP6 multi-model results
title_full Spatiotemporal characteristics of the time of emergence for anthropogenic tropospheric temperature changes based on the CMIP6 multi-model results
title_fullStr Spatiotemporal characteristics of the time of emergence for anthropogenic tropospheric temperature changes based on the CMIP6 multi-model results
title_full_unstemmed Spatiotemporal characteristics of the time of emergence for anthropogenic tropospheric temperature changes based on the CMIP6 multi-model results
title_short Spatiotemporal characteristics of the time of emergence for anthropogenic tropospheric temperature changes based on the CMIP6 multi-model results
title_sort spatiotemporal characteristics of the time of emergence for anthropogenic tropospheric temperature changes based on the cmip6 multi model results
topic tropospheric temperatures
surface air temperature
anthropogenic activities
internal climate variability
time of emergence (TOE)
CMIP6
url https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad34e6
work_keys_str_mv AT shuleizhang spatiotemporalcharacteristicsofthetimeofemergenceforanthropogenictropospherictemperaturechangesbasedonthecmip6multimodelresults
AT xiaodongliu spatiotemporalcharacteristicsofthetimeofemergenceforanthropogenictropospherictemperaturechangesbasedonthecmip6multimodelresults
AT buwendong spatiotemporalcharacteristicsofthetimeofemergenceforanthropogenictropospherictemperaturechangesbasedonthecmip6multimodelresults