Projected near-term changes of temperature extremes in Europe and China under different aerosol emissions

Abstract

This study assesses near-term future changes in temperature extremes over China and Europe in scenarios with two very different anthropogenic aerosol (AA) pathways from 2016 to 2049: a maximum technically feasible aerosol reduction (MTFR), and a current legislation aerosol scenario (CLE), both with greenhouses gas forcing following RCP 4.5. Simulations with a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean model HadGEM3-GC2 show that there is an increase in hot extremes and a decrease in cold extremes relative to the present day (1995–2014) over China and Europe in both scenarios. However, the magnitude of the changes in both hot and cold extremes depends strongly on the AA pathway. The AA reduction in MTFR amplifies the changes in temperature extremes relative to CLE, and accounts for 40% and 30% of the projected changes in temperature extremes relative to present day over China and Europe, respectively. Thus, this study suggests that future and current policy decisions about AA emissions have the potential for a large near-term impact on temperature extremes.

Keywords

• temperature extremes
• anthropogenic aerosols
• projection
• HadGEM3-GC2