Weather and Climate Extremes

by Karl, Thomas R.; Nicholls, Neville; Ghazi, Anver

• ISBN13: 9780792357117
• ISBN10: 0792357116
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-07-01
• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Print on Demand

Summary

Are extreme weather events becoming more common? How do extreme weather events impact society? These are critical questions that must be examined as we confront the possibility that the world will experience a change in climate over the next century. Much of the research in climatology over the past decade has focused on potential changes in long- term averages of temperature, precipitation and other factors. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that changes in average values will be accompanied by changes in extreme events. Furthermore, extreme weather events will impact society to a greater extent as people around the world continue to locate in more hazard-prone areas such as coastal zones. This book represents a major step forwards in developing a comprehensive set of information about changes in extreme events by providing a review of the problems in data availability, quality and analysis that make deriving a clear picture of world-wide changes in extreme events so difficult. Audience: The book is intended for policy-makers, professionals, graduate students and others interested in learning how extreme weather events have changed, and how they impact society both now and in the future.

Table of Contents

Overview	1	(3)
Thomas R. Karl
Summary
Workshop on Indices and Indicators for Climate Extremes - Workshop Summary	3	(6)
Thomas R. Karl
Neville Nicholls
Anver Ghazi
Editorials
Workshop on Indices and Indicators for Climate Extremes. Asheville, NC, USA, 3--6 June 1997 - Breakout Group A: Storms	9	(14)
Kevin E. Trenberth
Timothy W. Owen
Workshop on Indices and Indicators for Climate Extremes: Asheville, NC, USA, 3--6 June 1997 - Breakout Group B: Precipitation	23	(8)
Neville Nicholls
William Murray
Workshop on Indices and Indicators for Climate Extremes: Asheville, NC, USA, 3--6 June 1997 - Breakout Group C: Temperature Indices for Climate Extremes	31	(14)
C.K. Folland
C. Miller
D. Bader
M. Crowe
P. Jones
N. Plummer
M. Richman
D.E. Parker
J. Rogers
P. Scholefield
Climate Extremes and the Insurance Industry
Global Climate Change: Why U.S. Insurers Care	45	(6)
Franklin W. Nutter
Interactions between the Atmospheric Sciences and Insurers in the United States	51	(18)
Stanley A. Changnon
E. Ray Fosse
Eugene L. Lecomte
Damaging Weather Conditions in the United States: A Selection of Data Quality and Monitoring Issues	69	(20)
Brian D. Skinner
David Changnon
Michael B. Richman
Peter J. Lamb
Observed Changes in Extremes
Atlantic Basin Hurricanes: Indices of Climatic Changes	89	(42)
Christopher W. Landsea
Roger A. Pielke, Jr.
Alberto M
Mestas-Nunez
John A. Knaff
The Use of Indices to Identify Changes in Climatic Extremes	131	(20)
P.D. Jones
E.B. Horton
C.K. Folland
M. Hulme
D.E. Parker
T.A. Basnett
Progress in the Study of Climatic Extremes in Northern and Central Europe	151	(32)
R. Heino
R. Brazdil
E. Forland
H. Tuomenvirta
H. Alexandersson
M. Beniston
C. Pfister
M. Rebetez
G. Rosenhagen
S. Rosner
J. Wibig
Changes in Climate Extremes over the Australian Region and New Zealand during the Twentieth Century	183	(20)
Neil Plummer
M. James Salinger
Neville Nicholls
Ramasamy Suppiah
Kevin J. Hennessy
Robert M. Leighton
Blair Trewin
Cher M. Page
Janice M. Lough
Changes of Climate Extremes in China	203	(16)
Panmao Zhai
Anjian Sun
Fumin Ren
Xiaonin Liu
Bo Gao
Qiang Zhang
Indicators of Climate Change for the Russian Federation	219	(24)
G. Gruza
E. Rankova
V. Razuvaev
O. Bulygina
Changes in the Probability of Heavy Precipitation: Important Indicators of Climatic Change	243	(42)
Pavel Ya. Groisman
Thomas R. Karl
David R. Easterling
Richard W. Knight
Paul F. Jamason
Kevin J. Hennessy
Ramasamy Suppiah
Cher M. Page
Joanna Wibig
Krzysztof Fortuniak
Vyacheslav N. Razuvaev
Arthur Douglas
Eirik Forland
Pan-Mao Zhai
Long-Term Observations for Monitoring Extremes in the Americas	285	(24)
David R. Easterling
Henry F. Diaz
Arthur V. Douglas
William D. Hogg
Kenneth E. Kunkel
Jeffry C. Rogers
Jaime F. Wilkinson
Climate Extremes: Selected Review and Future Research Directions	309	(18)
Thomas R. Karl
David R. Easterling
Some Critical Aspects of Extreme Events
Conceptual Framework for Changes of Extremes of the Hydrological Cycle with Climate Change	327	(14)
Kevin E. Trenberth
On Testing for Change in Extreme Events	341
Andrew R. Solow