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Interdecadal variability of regional climate change: implications for the development of regional climate change scenarios

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Summary

Illustrative examples are discussed of the interdecadal variability features of the regional climate change signal in 5 AOGCM transient simulations. It is shown that the regional precipitation change signal is characterized by large variability at decadal to multidecadal scales, with the structure of the variability varying markedly across regions. Conversely, the regional temperature change signal shows low interdecadal variability. Results are compared across scenarios, models and different realizations with the same model. Our analysis indicates that, at the decadal scale, linear scaling of the regional climate change signal by the global temperature change works relatively well for temperature but less so for precipitation. The nonlinear fraction of the climate change signal tends to decrease with the magnitude of the signal. The implications of interdecadal variability for the generation of regional climate change scenarios are discussed, in particular concerning the use of multi-experiment ensembles to produce such scenarios.

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  1. Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Strada Costiera, Trieste, Italy

    F. Giorgi

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Giorgi, F. Interdecadal variability of regional climate change: implications for the development of regional climate change scenarios. Meteorol. Atmos. Phys. 89, 1–15 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-005-0118-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-005-0118-y

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