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Understanding and Reducing Future Uncertainty in Midlatitude Daily Heat Extremes Via Land Surface Feedback Constraints
Author(s) -
Donat Markus G.,
Pitman Andrew J.,
Angélil Oliver
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl079128
Subject(s) - environmental science , climate extremes , precipitation , climatology , climate model , coupled model intercomparison project , magnitude (astronomy) , climate change , atmospheric sciences , middle latitudes , atmosphere (unit) , moisture , constraint (computer aided design) , meteorology , geology , geography , mathematics , oceanography , geometry , astronomy , physics
Climate simulations of future hot extremes exhibit large uncertainties regarding the magnitude of projected warming. We identify two mechanisms that influence how strongly future heat extremes intensify in climate models. First, the magnitude of extreme temperature increases is determined by changes in preceding seasonal precipitation, connected to amplified warming via soil moisture decreases. Second, there are large differences in how models respond to moisture variability; those with a stronger response under current climate simulate larger future increases in hot extremes. We build on this mechanistic understanding of future uncertainty and develop a novel constraint, the observed precipitation‐hot temperature relationship, focused on the conditions on the actual hottest day, to identify climate models with realistic land‐atmosphere feedbacks on hot extremes. Applying this constraint to the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 ensemble reduces the probability of the largest increases in projected heat extremes, particularly over Europe and North America.