Why do we see more and more heat waves (hot temperature extremes)? How is soil moisture related to these hot temperatures? How are temperatures going to change over Eastern China, and over the rest of the world? How many people will be affected by extremely hot summers in the future?
References
Mueller, B., X. Zhang , and F.W. Zwiers (2016): Historically hottest summers projected to be the norm for more than half of the world's population within 20 years, Environmental Research Letters.Climatic Change.
Mueller, B., and X. Zhang (2016): Causes of drying trends in northern hemispheric land areas in reconstructed soil moisture data, Climatic Change.
Seneviratne, S.I., M.G. Donat, B. Mueller, and L.V. Alexander (2014): No pause in the increase of hot temperature extremes. Nature Climate Change, 4, 161-163, doi:10.1038/nclimate2145.
3. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
3
Motivation
Heat waves impact on health and economy
Heat waves and droughts impact agricultural output
Hot extremes more relevant than mean
temperatures
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
Year Country Estimated
death toll
(No. of people)
Estimated costs Reference
2003 Europe 70’000 13 billion Euros a,b
2010 Russia 55’736 5-12 billion Euros c,d
2012 US 123 31 billion USD e
2013 Eastern
China
40 59 billion RMB f,g
a. Robine et al., Com. Ren.Biol., 2008 . b. www.metoffice.gov.uk c. www.emdat.be
d. www.dw.de e. www.ncdc.noaa.gov f. www.news.xinhuanet.com g. Hou et al., Met. Mon., 2014
6. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
6
Motivation: Increase in hot extremes
Seneviratne, Donat, Mueller and Alexander (Nature Climate Change), 2014
Increase in extremely hot global land
temperature vs.
increase in mean temperature
Trends 1997 - 2012
Extreme T
Mean T
Temperatureanomaly[K]
K per 10 years
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
Txp95 over land─
Tmean over land
Tmean ocean + land
─
──
13. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
13
Mueller and Seneviratne (PNAS), 2012
Land-atmosphere coupling with observations
Correlation: Number of hot days and preceding drought index 1979-2010
Hatched areas significant at
10% level
White: Not defined
Hot days at hottest month
of each year
Drought index before that
month:
Precipitation deficit over 3
months (standardized
precipitation index SPI)
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
Hot day
Temperature
> 1 wet
-0.99 to 0.99 near normal
< -1 dry
16. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
16
Mueller and Seneviratne (GRL), 2014
Evaporation bias (annual)
Land-surface impact on temperature in models
Mueller et al., (HESS), 2013
Evapotranspiration (40 datasets), 1989-1995 CMIP5 minus reference data
Too wet
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
Temperature bias (annual)
Too cold
18. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
18
Changes in the water cycle
Precipitation
Evaporation
Temperature/
extreme T
Runoff
Soil moisture
Greenhouse
Gases
Agricultural
productionFloods
www.newscientist.org www.oklahomafarmreports.com
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
20. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
20
Changes in the water cycle
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
Dots: Robust.
Hatching: Not significant
(rel. to internal climate
variability)
RCP8.5 scenario (2081-
2100 minus 1986-2005)
Sedláček and Knutti (Environ. Res. Lett), 2014
Future minus past
21. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
21
1) Are changes in soil moisture and droughts
distinguishable from internal climate variability?
→ Detection
2) Are changes due to human influence?
→ Attribution
Changes in droughts
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
22. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
22
Central line of evidence that has supported
statements such as …’most of the observed
increase in global average temperature since
the mid-20th century is very likely due to the
observed increase in anthropogenic
greenhouse gas concentrations’
IPCC AR5, Chapter 10, 2013
Detection and Attribution
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
28. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
28
Detection and Attribution
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
1986 - 1996
XY
Y = X × β + ε
Adapted from Weaver and Zwiers (Nature), 2000
1946 -1956
Evaluate amplitude estimates Evaluate goodness of fit
Observations Model simulations
Signal
detected in
observations
0ˆ β=(XT C-1X) -1XTC-1Y
29. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
29
Warm season soil moisture trends 1951-2005
Adapted from: Mueller and Zhang, submitted to Climatic Change
ALL
NAT
OBS
Obs
NAT
ALL
Soil moisture Drought area
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
Region: Northern mid-latitudes
Observations
Natural +
Anthropogenic
Only natural
forcing
30. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
30
Scaling factors β
Adapted from: Mueller and Zhang, submitted to Climatic Change
Detected if > 0
Bars: 5-95%
confidence intervals
Soil moisture Drought area
ALL NAT ALL NAT
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
ALL = natural and
anthropogenic forcing
NAT = only natural
32. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
32
Hot temperatures observed in the past showed strong
negative impacts (health, economy, agriculture)
How likely does a summer as hot or hotter than the
hottest in the past become in the future?
Hot future summer: Motivation
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
Year Country Estimated
death toll
(No. of people)
Estimated costs Ref
2003 Europe 70’000 13 billion Euros a,b
2010 Russia 55’736 5-12 billion Euros c,d
2012 US 123 31 billion USD e
2013 Eastern
China
40 59 billion RMB f,g
Heat waves, droughts
37. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
37
Constraining simulations with observations
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
Adjust past and future simulations
1. In detection and attribution framework, calculate factor βALL by
which simulations need to be scaled to match best the
observations
2. Adjust simulations with scaling factors βALL
Xadjusted = XALL*βALL
where X is the ensemble mean of the simulations.
3. Add internal variability to obtain a set of possible temperatures
Xrec = XALL*βALL + Controlsimulationsindividual
where Controlsimulations are 390 samples of internal variability.
40. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
40
Percentage of
population experiencing
1 in 2 summers hotter
than the past maximum
─ under RCP4.5
─ under RCP8.5
Hottest historical summers will
be the norm for more than half
of the world's population by
2035
Population affected by hot summers
Mueller, Zhang and Zwiers, in preparation
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
Percentofworldpopulation[%]
41. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
41
Percentage of
population experiencing
1 in 2 summers hotter
than the past maximum
─ under RCP4.5
─ under RCP8.5
Hottest historical summers will
be the norm for more than half
of the world's population by
2035
Population affected by hot summers
Mueller, Zhang and Zwiers, in preparation
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
Percentofworldpopulation[%]
42. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
42
Hottest historical summers will
be the norm for more than half
of the world's population by
2035
Population affected by hot summers
Mueller, Zhang and Zwiers, in preparation
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
Percentage of
population experiencing
9 in 10 summers hotter
than the past maximum
─ under RCP4.5
─ under RCP8.5
Percentofworldpopulation[%]
43. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
43
Hot temperatures strong increase in the
last 30 years
Soil moisture influences temperature
extremes in large fraction of the globe
Potential for seasonal prediction
Summary I.
# hot days and drought
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
44. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
44
Northern hemispheric land areas have
become drier
Human influence on changes in soil
moisture are significant
Strong increase in probabilities for
future hot summers after 2020,
especially without climate action
Summary II.
1. Motivation 2. Coupling 3. Human influence on droughts 4. Hot summers
Soil
moisture
45. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
45
Local versus large scale effect on droughts,
evaporation and temperature
Improving simulations of temperature selecting
models with good representation of land-atmosphere
coupling
Response of global water cycle to increasing
greenhouse gases
Regional climate change
Open questions
brigitte.mueller@env.ethz.ch
46. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
46
Local versus large scale effect on droughts,
evaporation and temperature
Improving simulations of temperature selecting
models with good representation of land-atmosphere
coupling
Response of global water cycle to increasing
greenhouse gases
Regional climate change
Thank you
brigitte.mueller@env.ethz.ch
47. Introduction
Preliminary
results
Outlook
Supplement.
figures
47
New info updated after presentation
Papers mentioned are now published:
Mueller, B., X. Zhang , and F.W. Zwiers (2016): Historically
hottest summers projected to be the norm for more than half of
the world's population within 20 years, Environmental Research
Letters.Climatic Change. Link
Mueller, B., and X. Zhang (2016): Causes of drying trends in
northern hemispheric land areas in reconstructed soil moisture
data, Climatic Change. Link
Supplementary