Articles | Volume 9, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/ascmo-9-83-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/ascmo-9-83-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
14 Jul 2023
| 14 Jul 2023
Quantifying the statistical dependence of mid-latitude heatwave intensity and likelihood on prevalent physical drivers and climate change
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science,
ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Erich M. Fischer
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science,
ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
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Gergana Gyuleva, Reto Knutti, Robin Noyelle, Urs Beyerle, Erich Fischer, and Sebastian Sippel
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.13219, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.13219, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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How much Earth warms depends on climate feedbacks, which change with sea surface temperatures. This effect is usually modelled by prescribing observed sea-surface temperatures to atmospheric models. We test this standard approach in idealised runs and find it fails to reproduce the true feedback. We also find that feedback variations can be fully explained via statistical noise. Our results suggest historical "pattern effect" estimates are not robust, increasing uncertainty in future warming.
Matthias Röthlisberger, Michael Sprenger, Urs Beyerle, Erich M. Fischer, and Heini Wernli
Weather Clim. Dynam., 7, 1363–1384, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-1363-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-1363-2026, 2026
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This study investigates yearly heat extremes simulated with the global climate model CESM2. A trajectory-based method is used, which allows quantifying the contributions to temperature anomalies from advection, subsidence, and diabatic heating. The results show that the magnitude of CESM2 heat extremes agrees fairly well with ERA5 reanalyses, but it is often
for the partly wrong physical reasons.
Andrea Rivosecchi, Andrea Dittus, Ed Hawkins, Reinhard Schiemann, and Erich Fischer
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1733, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1733, 2026
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We analysed 250-year global temperature trends under zero CO2 emissions in the UK Earth System Model. Stopping emissions while global temperatures remain below +2 °C limits the post-net-zero mean surface warming. Annual hot extremes cool regionally after zero emissions in the midlatitudes, due to the expansion of evergreen vegetation. However, in this framework vegetation change is largely unconstrained by modern land-use changes, highlighting a potential limitation of idealised model protocols.
Florian E. Roemer, Erich M. Fischer, Robin Noyelle, and Reto Knutti
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2005, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2005, 2026
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Climate model based storylines of future extreme events are a useful tool to inform disaster preparations, but it is often unclear whether such events are plausible to occur in the real world. We present an approach that evaluates the plausibility of climate storylines based on process understanding and historical precedents. We demonstrate our approach for long-lasting heatwaves in Western Europe; it can also be applied other types of extreme events.
Donghe Zhu, Patrick Pieper, Stephan Pfahl, and Erich Fischer
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1258, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1258, 2026
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Climate models consistently project stronger heavy rainfall in a warming climate, but they disagree on how large these changes will be across regions. In this study, we identify the key causes of this uncertainty. Shifts in when events occur during the year alter the warming on those days and explain part of the thermodynamic increase in heavy rainfall. Differences in mid-tropospheric atmospheric motion are the dominant source of model disagreement in the dynamic increase in heavy rainfall.
Hans Segura, Xabier Pedruzo-Bagazgoitia, Philipp Weiss, Sebastian K. Müller, Thomas Rackow, Junhong Lee, Edgar Dolores-Tesillos, Imme Benedict, Matthias Aengenheyster, Razvan Aguridan, Gabriele Arduini, Alexander J. Baker, Jiawei Bao, Swantje Bastin, Eulàlia Baulenas, Tobias Becker, Sebastian Beyer, Hendryk Bockelmann, Nils Brüggemann, Lukas Brunner, Suvarchal K. Cheedela, Sushant Das, Jasper Denissen, Ian Dragaud, Piotr Dziekan, Madeleine Ekblom, Jan Frederik Engels, Monika Esch, Richard Forbes, Claudia Frauen, Lilli Freischem, Diego García-Maroto, Philipp Geier, Paul Gierz, Álvaro González-Cervera, Katherine Grayson, Matthew Griffith, Oliver Gutjahr, Helmuth Haak, Ioan Hadade, Kerstin Haslehner, Shabeh ul Hasson, Jan Hegewald, Lukas Kluft, Aleksei Koldunov, Nikolay Koldunov, Tobias Kölling, Shunya Koseki, Sergey Kosukhin, Josh Kousal, Peter Kuma, Arjun U. Kumar, Rumeng Li, Nicolas Maury, Maximilian Meindl, Sebastian Milinski, Kristian Mogensen, Bimochan Niraula, Jakub Nowak, Divya Sri Praturi, Ulrike Proske, Dian Putrasahan, René Redler, David Santuy, Domokos Sármány, Reiner Schnur, Patrick Scholz, Dmitry Sidorenko, Dorian Spät, Birgit Sützl, Daisuke Takasuka, Adrian Tompkins, Alejandro Uribe, Mirco Valentini, Menno Veerman, Aiko Voigt, Sarah Warnau, Fabian Wachsmann, Marta Wacławczyk, Nils Wedi, Karl-Hermann Wieners, Jonathan Wille, Marius Winkler, Yuting Wu, Florian Ziemen, Janos Zimmermann, Frida A.-M. Bender, Dragana Bojovic, Sandrine Bony, Simona Bordoni, Patrice Brehmer, Marcus Dengler, Emanuel Dutra, Saliou Faye, Erich Fischer, Chiel van Heerwaarden, Cathy Hohenegger, Heikki Järvinen, Markus Jochum, Thomas Jung, Johann H. Jungclaus, Noel S. Keenlyside, Daniel Klocke, Heike Konow, Martina Klose, Szymon Malinowski, Olivia Martius, Thorsten Mauritsen, Juan Pedro Mellado, Theresa Mieslinger, Elsa Mohino, Hanna Pawłowska, Karsten Peters-von Gehlen, Abdoulaye Sarré, Pajam Sobhani, Philip Stier, Lauri Tuppi, Pier Luigi Vidale, Irina Sandu, and Bjorn Stevens
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 7735–7761, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-7735-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-7735-2025, 2025
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The Next Generation of Earth Modeling Systems project (nextGEMS) developed two Earth system models that use horizontal grid spacing of 10 km and finer, giving more fidelity to the representation of local phenomena, globally. In its fourth cycle, nextGEMS simulated the Earth System climate over the 2020–2049 period under the SSP3-7.0 scenario. Here, we provide an overview of nextGEMS, insights into the model development, and the realism of multi-decadal, kilometer-scale simulations.
Luna Bloin-Wibe, Robin Noyelle, Vincent Humphrey, Urs Beyerle, Reto Knutti, and Erich Fischer
Weather Clim. Dynam., 6, 1147–1177, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-1147-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-1147-2025, 2025
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Weather extremes have become more frequent due to climate change. It is therefore crucial to understand them, but since they are rarer than average weather, they are challenging to study. Ensemble Boosting (EB) is a tool that generates extreme climate model events efficiently, but without directly estimating their probability. Here, we present a method to recover these probabilities for a global climate model. EB can thus now be used to find extremes with meaningful statistical information.
Sebastian Sippel, Clair Barnes, Camille Cadiou, Erich Fischer, Sarah Kew, Marlene Kretschmer, Sjoukje Philip, Theodore G. Shepherd, Jitendra Singh, Robert Vautard, and Pascal Yiou
Weather Clim. Dynam., 5, 943–957, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-943-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-943-2024, 2024
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Winter temperatures in central Europe have increased. But cold winters can still cause problems for energy systems, infrastructure, or human health. Here we tested whether a record-cold winter, such as the one observed in 1963 over central Europe, could still occur despite climate change. The answer is yes: it is possible, but it is very unlikely. Our results rely on climate model simulations and statistical rare event analysis. In conclusion, society must be prepared for such cold winters.
Malte Meinshausen, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Kathleen Beyer, Greg Bodeker, Olivier Boucher, Josep G. Canadell, John S. Daniel, Aïda Diongue-Niang, Fatima Driouech, Erich Fischer, Piers Forster, Michael Grose, Gerrit Hansen, Zeke Hausfather, Tatiana Ilyina, Jarmo S. Kikstra, Joyce Kimutai, Andrew D. King, June-Yi Lee, Chris Lennard, Tabea Lissner, Alexander Nauels, Glen P. Peters, Anna Pirani, Gian-Kasper Plattner, Hans Pörtner, Joeri Rogelj, Maisa Rojas, Joyashree Roy, Bjørn H. Samset, Benjamin M. Sanderson, Roland Séférian, Sonia Seneviratne, Christopher J. Smith, Sophie Szopa, Adelle Thomas, Diana Urge-Vorsatz, Guus J. M. Velders, Tokuta Yokohata, Tilo Ziehn, and Zebedee Nicholls
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 4533–4559, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4533-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4533-2024, 2024
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The scientific community is considering new scenarios to succeed RCPs and SSPs for the next generation of Earth system model runs to project future climate change. To contribute to that effort, we reflect on relevant policy and scientific research questions and suggest categories for representative emission pathways. These categories are tailored to the Paris Agreement long-term temperature goal, high-risk outcomes in the absence of further climate policy and worlds “that could have been”.
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Short summary
The intensities of recent heatwave events, such as the record-breaking heatwave in early June 2021 in the Pacific Northwest area, are substantially altered by climate change. We further quantify the contribution of the local weather situation and the land surface conditions with a statistical model suited for extreme data. Based on this method, we can answer
what ifquestions, such as estimating the change in the 2021 heatwave temperature if it happened in a world without climate change.
The intensities of recent heatwave events, such as the record-breaking heatwave in early June...
