Based on the NCEP/NCAR monthly reanalysis data from 1979 to 2008, this paper has analyzed the variations of the atmospheric water resource over the arid region of Northwest China (ARNC) from the aspects of water vapor transport, precipitable water vapor and water vapor budget, and then has revealed the main causes of the variability. The results show that the annual precipitable water vapor over ARNC has shown increasing trend during the recent 30 years, while the summer water vapor net income has displayed an even more remarkable increasing trend. The westerly water vapor transport in the middle latitude had very important contribution to the variability of the atmospheric water resource over ARNC. The interdecadal descending characters of the regional westerly wind index implies the weakening of the water vapor transport both at the eastern and western boundary of ARNC, the descending trend of the water vapor budget at the eastern boundary, however, was much more significant than that at the western boundary due to the effects of the huge geomorphological structure of ARNC, thereby resulting in a lot of water vapor stranded in the arid region, and the total summer water vapor budget increased.

For the scientific issue of “evaporation paradox” the relationship between actual and potential evaporation in the Yangtze River basin was studied in this paper. The results show that roughly when the dryness index R<0.8, the actual evaporation is positively correlated with potential evaporation; when 0.8 1.0, their relationship is complementary.

This paper summarizes and assesses the possible impacts of wind farms on both short- and long-term climate changes both in global and regional areas. Based on the most observed studies and numerical simulations, it is found that the wind speed in the downwind regions of wind farms reduced obviously due to the wind farms?operations. The temperature in the downwind regions became higher or lower than the upwind regions. It depended on the atmospheric stability in the near surface. Based on some numerical simulations, if many large wind farms are designed and set up in the world, for example, the global wind energy accounts for 10% of the total energy, it means that 30%-40% of the global lands and the shallow water of the global oceans are the wind farms, it might cause global warming, and also cause the reduction of wind speed and other climatic effects. Up to now, there are large gaps and uncertainties in the assessment of impacts of wind farms on the global climate change.

Building energy efficiency is an important measure to deal with climate change issue, and meteorological parameters are the basis for building energy-saving design. In this study, meteorological parameters for building energy-saving design in four cities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, and Taiyuan) in North China during 1951-2010 were analyzed to provide reference for building energy efficiency. The results showed that outdoor design temperature for heating or air-conditioning in winter apparently increased in all four cities in recent sixty years. Outdoor design dry bulb temperature for summer air-conditioning showed an increasing trend in these four cities and air-conditioning outdoor daily average and hourly temperature in summer also gradually increased. However, the increasing rate was lower in summer than in winter. Outdoor design temperature for summer ventilation showed a weak increase trend in four cities, whereas outdoor design relative humidity showed a decrease in Beijing, Tianjin and no obvious trend in Shijiazhuang and Taiyuan. The results in this study suggest that climate change has evident effect on meteorological parameters for building energy-saving design, and this effect is more intense in winter than in summer, which may be beneficial for building energy-saving design. The weak increase in outdoor design temperature for summer ventilation may be of no evident effect on building ventilation energy, whereas the decrease of relative humidity is useful for energy saving in Tianjin and Beijing.

Based on the typical debris flows in Nyingchi, this paper presents the basic type, distribution and movement of debris flows, analyzes the initiation condition and critical threshold, and discloses the incubation law of debris flows, and also the impact of temperature and rainfall changes on debris flow initiation. Glaciers debris flow may be inspired during temperature or rainfall increasing. If daily precipitation < 5 mm, melting ice and snow debris is stimulated mainly by temperature; when daily precipitation is 5-10 mm, mainly the glaciers-rainfall debris flow occurs; when daily precipitation >10 mm, rainfall debris flow is in dominate. Glacier debris flows under temperature increasing and decreasing account for 80% and 20%, respectively, while the rainfall debris flows account for 60% and 40%, repectively. Much rainfall are benefit for the initiation of debris flows.

Characters of the freeze/thaw date of river ice in the Liaohe, Yalu, and Linghe River basins and their responses to regional warming are investigated in the period 1981-2009. The results show that the freeze dates ranged from 3 to 15 November, the thaw dates appeared within15-30 March, and the average frozen durations of the three basins ranged from 120 to 146 days. In the past 29 years, the freeze (thaw) date has shown a postponing (bring-forward) trend, thereby the frozen duration has shortened significantly. The river’s freeze date was mainly influenced by November’s minimum surface air temperature, while the river’s thaw date was mostly sensitive to the increasing of ground surface temperature in March, and the frozen duration was most sensitive to the average surface air temperature of November to next March.

By using the open data during 1970-2007 published by the World Bank , this paper explored the relationship between urbanization rate and carbon emission per capita based on 112 samples . The results show that the carbon emission per capita is increasing along with the increasing urbanization rate, and 40% of the urbanization rate is a shift-point. Under the same level of urbanization, the carbon emission per capita in developed area and fossil fuel-produced area is higher than other areas. The results based on Granger Causality Test show that there is a co-relation Granger causality between urbanization rate and carbon emission per capita in most areas. There are common phenomena, but also along with some differences among different areas.

Reference level of forest management most recently submitted and data from updated 1990-2009 national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory including the Kyoto Protocol forest management GHG data submitted by Annex I parties in 2011 were collected and analyzed in terms of the role of forest management in the compliance of the first and proposed second commitment periods of the Kyoto Protocol. In 2008-2009, Annex I parties can claim a credit of 246 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year from eligible forest management activities under the Kyoto Protocol, accounting for 2.3% of the total GHG emissions without LULUCF in 1990 of those Annex I parties using forest management. This implies that about 53% of emission reduction committed by these parties in the first commitment period can be offset by the net GHG removals of forest management activities. Under-capped credit from forest management allows some parties able to over-use forest management credit and do much less emission reduction in emission sectors. The reference levels submitted by Annex I parties are much less than historical removals of managed forests or much higher than historical emissions. Assuming that actual emissions/removals keep at the average historical level in the future, the reference level would allow Annex I parties to use 4 times more credit from forest management in the period 2013-2020 compared with the cap in the first commitment period, by annually mean. A large part of proposed emission reduction of some parties for the second commitment period would be achieved through offsetting from forest management.

This paper analyzed the willingness and basis for science and technology cooperation in BASIC countries. It is found that there are common interests in science and technology cooperation among the BASIC countries. The cooperation will not only promote science and technology innovation and development of green economy, but also enhance the understanding in the process of climate change negotiation. The existing bilateral and multilateral science and technology cooperation will be the foundation for further science and technology cooperation. In addition, the existing barriers in science and technology cooperation can be overcome. Therefore, there exist necessity and possibility for BASIC science and technology cooperation to address global climate change.

First, the U.S. research evolution on climate change is retrospected, the background of U.S. Climate Change Science Program (USCCSP) is analyzed, and the strategic goals, research elements and management structure of USCCSP are introduced. Then the key scientific findings, the key messages about global and U.S. climate change, and the synthesis and assessment products of USCCSP are elaborated. And then the future strategic structure of U.S. climate research is summarized in terms of the Evaluating Progress of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and Restructuring Federal Climate Research to Meet the Challenges of Climate Change by National Research Council (NRC). Finally some enlightenments and suggestions abut formulating strategic plans, promoting fundamental research, strengthening modeling innovations, advancing observation and data system development, enhancing scientific assessment and climate service, and speeding up legislation process in China are put out based on sum up of USCCSP.

Based on the summary and analyses on the organization, funding resources, coordination mechanisms and data sharing of the United States Global Change Research Program, the present paper concludes general experience and regular patterns of collaborative research project management, and provides suggestions for relevant research projects in China.