Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Changes in climate and weather extremes in the 21st century

Rummukainen, Markku LU (2012) In Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 3(2). p.115-129
Abstract
Climate and weather extremes are sporadically recurring events that may have major local or regional impacts on the society and the environment. These events are typically related to unusually high or low temperature, prolonged dry or wet conditions, heavy precipitation, or extreme winds. Extreme events are part of the overall climate and weather alongside average conditions and variability, and thus are not unexpected as such. Climate change is expected to affect not only means but also variability and extremes. Some inferences can be based on past and present observations, but analyses of especially rare events are hampered by the availability of long time series. Over time, depending on how far the on-going global warming takes us from... (More)
Climate and weather extremes are sporadically recurring events that may have major local or regional impacts on the society and the environment. These events are typically related to unusually high or low temperature, prolonged dry or wet conditions, heavy precipitation, or extreme winds. Extreme events are part of the overall climate and weather alongside average conditions and variability, and thus are not unexpected as such. Climate change is expected to affect not only means but also variability and extremes. Some inferences can be based on past and present observations, but analyses of especially rare events are hampered by the availability of long time series. Over time, depending on how far the on-going global warming takes us from the present and the past climate conditions, the weather and climate statistics may well come to shift in ways that are well outside observational data. This may lead to shifts in frequency, intensity and geographical distribution of different extremes. Indeed, projected changes in some extremes over the 21st century are quite robust, such as generally increasing warm and decreasing cold extremes. Possible changes in some other aspects, for example storms, remain much more uncertain. Science-based information both on robust findings and on relevant uncertainties on changing extremes can provide useful information for sectorial planning, disaster risk prevention and overall reduction of societal vulnerability related to climate and weather. WIREs Clim Change 2012, 3:115129. doi: 10.1002/wcc.160 (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change
volume
3
issue
2
pages
115 - 129
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • wos:000301644400001
  • scopus:84858650205
ISSN
1757-7799
DOI
10.1002/wcc.160
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6d3e9f6b-79e3-41c6-a9f7-d74ab3b55094 (old id 2587296)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:12:01
date last changed
2022-04-27 19:37:55
@article{6d3e9f6b-79e3-41c6-a9f7-d74ab3b55094,
  abstract     = {{Climate and weather extremes are sporadically recurring events that may have major local or regional impacts on the society and the environment. These events are typically related to unusually high or low temperature, prolonged dry or wet conditions, heavy precipitation, or extreme winds. Extreme events are part of the overall climate and weather alongside average conditions and variability, and thus are not unexpected as such. Climate change is expected to affect not only means but also variability and extremes. Some inferences can be based on past and present observations, but analyses of especially rare events are hampered by the availability of long time series. Over time, depending on how far the on-going global warming takes us from the present and the past climate conditions, the weather and climate statistics may well come to shift in ways that are well outside observational data. This may lead to shifts in frequency, intensity and geographical distribution of different extremes. Indeed, projected changes in some extremes over the 21st century are quite robust, such as generally increasing warm and decreasing cold extremes. Possible changes in some other aspects, for example storms, remain much more uncertain. Science-based information both on robust findings and on relevant uncertainties on changing extremes can provide useful information for sectorial planning, disaster risk prevention and overall reduction of societal vulnerability related to climate and weather. WIREs Clim Change 2012, 3:115129. doi: 10.1002/wcc.160}},
  author       = {{Rummukainen, Markku}},
  issn         = {{1757-7799}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{115--129}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change}},
  title        = {{Changes in climate and weather extremes in the 21st century}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wcc.160}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/wcc.160}},
  volume       = {{3}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}