Regional projections of temperature and precipitation changes: Robustness and uncertainty aspects.

This study presents the analysis of bias-corrected projections of changes in temperature and precipitation in the Vistula and Odra basins, covering approximately 90 % of the Polish territory and small parts of neighbouring countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The ensemble of climate projections...

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Main Authors: Mikołaj Piniewski, Abdelkader Mezghani, Mateusz Szcześniak, Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Borntraeger 2017-04-01
Series:Meteorologische Zeitschrift
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/metz/2017/0813
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author Mikołaj Piniewski
Abdelkader Mezghani
Mateusz Szcześniak
Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz
author_facet Mikołaj Piniewski
Abdelkader Mezghani
Mateusz Szcześniak
Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz
author_sort Mikołaj Piniewski
collection DOAJ
description This study presents the analysis of bias-corrected projections of changes in temperature and precipitation in the Vistula and Odra basins, covering approximately 90 % of the Polish territory and small parts of neighbouring countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The ensemble of climate projections consists of nine regional climate model simulations from the EURO-CORDEX ensemble for two future periods 2021–2050 and 2071–2100, assuming two representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5. The robustness is measured by the ensemble models' agreement on significant changes. We found a robust increase in the annual mean of daily minimum and maximum temperature, by 1–1.4 °C in the near future and by 1.9–3.8 °C in the far future (areal-means of the ensemble mean values). Higher increases are consistently associated with minimum temperature and the gradient of change goes from SW to NE regions. Seasonal projections of both temperature variables reflect lower robustness and suggest a higher future increase in winter temperatures than in other seasons, notably in the far future under RCP 8.5 (by more than 1 °C). However, changes in annual means of precipitation are uncertain and not robust in any of the analysed cases, even though the climate models agree well on the increase. This increase is intensified with rising global temperatures and varies from 5.5 % in the near future under RCP 4.5 to 15.2 % in the far future under RCP 8.5. Spatial variability is substantial, although quite variable between individual climate model simulations. Although seasonal means of precipitation are projected to considerably increase in all four combinations of RCPs and projection horizons for winter and spring, the high model spread reduces considerably the robustness, especially for the far future. In contrast, the ensemble members agree well that overall, the summer and autumn (with exception of the far future under RCP 8.5) precipitation will not undergo statistically significant changes.
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spelling doaj.art-8a41fd46953245b292c5c4fcdf9604f02022-12-21T19:43:36ZengBorntraegerMeteorologische Zeitschrift0941-29482017-04-0126222323410.1127/metz/2017/081387332Regional projections of temperature and precipitation changes: Robustness and uncertainty aspects.Mikołaj PiniewskiAbdelkader MezghaniMateusz SzcześniakZbigniew W. KundzewiczThis study presents the analysis of bias-corrected projections of changes in temperature and precipitation in the Vistula and Odra basins, covering approximately 90 % of the Polish territory and small parts of neighbouring countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The ensemble of climate projections consists of nine regional climate model simulations from the EURO-CORDEX ensemble for two future periods 2021–2050 and 2071–2100, assuming two representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5. The robustness is measured by the ensemble models' agreement on significant changes. We found a robust increase in the annual mean of daily minimum and maximum temperature, by 1–1.4 °C in the near future and by 1.9–3.8 °C in the far future (areal-means of the ensemble mean values). Higher increases are consistently associated with minimum temperature and the gradient of change goes from SW to NE regions. Seasonal projections of both temperature variables reflect lower robustness and suggest a higher future increase in winter temperatures than in other seasons, notably in the far future under RCP 8.5 (by more than 1 °C). However, changes in annual means of precipitation are uncertain and not robust in any of the analysed cases, even though the climate models agree well on the increase. This increase is intensified with rising global temperatures and varies from 5.5 % in the near future under RCP 4.5 to 15.2 % in the far future under RCP 8.5. Spatial variability is substantial, although quite variable between individual climate model simulations. Although seasonal means of precipitation are projected to considerably increase in all four combinations of RCPs and projection horizons for winter and spring, the high model spread reduces considerably the robustness, especially for the far future. In contrast, the ensemble members agree well that overall, the summer and autumn (with exception of the far future under RCP 8.5) precipitation will not undergo statistically significant changes.http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/metz/2017/0813EURO-CORDEXtemperature projectionsprecipitation projectionsrobustnessmodel uncertaintyPoland
spellingShingle Mikołaj Piniewski
Abdelkader Mezghani
Mateusz Szcześniak
Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz
Regional projections of temperature and precipitation changes: Robustness and uncertainty aspects.
Meteorologische Zeitschrift
EURO-CORDEX
temperature projections
precipitation projections
robustness
model uncertainty
Poland
title Regional projections of temperature and precipitation changes: Robustness and uncertainty aspects.
title_full Regional projections of temperature and precipitation changes: Robustness and uncertainty aspects.
title_fullStr Regional projections of temperature and precipitation changes: Robustness and uncertainty aspects.
title_full_unstemmed Regional projections of temperature and precipitation changes: Robustness and uncertainty aspects.
title_short Regional projections of temperature and precipitation changes: Robustness and uncertainty aspects.
title_sort regional projections of temperature and precipitation changes robustness and uncertainty aspects
topic EURO-CORDEX
temperature projections
precipitation projections
robustness
model uncertainty
Poland
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/metz/2017/0813
work_keys_str_mv AT mikołajpiniewski regionalprojectionsoftemperatureandprecipitationchangesrobustnessanduncertaintyaspects
AT abdelkadermezghani regionalprojectionsoftemperatureandprecipitationchangesrobustnessanduncertaintyaspects
AT mateuszszczesniak regionalprojectionsoftemperatureandprecipitationchangesrobustnessanduncertaintyaspects
AT zbigniewwkundzewicz regionalprojectionsoftemperatureandprecipitationchangesrobustnessanduncertaintyaspects