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Journal Article

Future climate change implications in Bhutan from a downscaled and bias‐adjusted CMIP6 multimodel ensemble

Fabian Lehner; Imran Nadeem; Herbert Formayer
International Journal of Climatology · Vol. 44, Issue 14 · pp. 5057-5074 · 2024

Abstract

We describe the bias adjustment and downscaling to a resolution of 1 × 1 km of daily temperature, precipitation and solar radiation of a multimodel ensemble of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) GCMs with the local observational data set BhutanClim for Bhutan and an analysis of the results for 1996–2100. The GCMs were selected based on their ability to reproduce local temporal and spatial precipitation patterns, resulting in a total of 14 models for each shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP). The results are shown for five global warming levels (GWLs) 1.5, 2, 3, 4 and 5°C, providing insight into the projected impacts of climate change at different warming levels. The daily temperature and precipitation data are publicly available, which is of great benefit for climate impact studies, such as ecological, hydrological or infrastructure‐related studies. In this paper, we discuss showcase climate indicators. Peak‐over‐threshold climate indicators such as hot days above 30°C are relevant for human health. In the capital city of Thimphu, these are currently rare, at 4 days per year, but might increase to more than 80 for GWL5.0. Precipitation increases in the summer months, but slightly decreases in the drier winter months. Accordingly, the 3‐month SPEI drought index is projected to increase in summer, but strongly decreases in the winter months, mostly pronounced in February. The increasing severity of late‐winter and spring droughts might have a negative impact on vegetation, wildfires and water supply.

Bibliographic Information

JournalInternational Journal of Climatology
PublisherWiley
Publication Date2024-11-30
Publication Year2024
Volume44
Issue14
Pages5057-5074
Document TypeJournal Article
Print ISSN0899-8418
eISSN1097-0088
DOI10.1002/joc.8623
SubjectAtmospheric Sciences

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NARA Access Coverage1996-01-01~Current
Journal Homepagehttps://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/loi/10970088
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