Global mean temperature over 1998 to 2015 increased at a slower rate (0.1 K decade-1) compared with the ensemble mean (forced) warming rate projected by Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5) models (0.2 K decade-1). Here we investigate the prospects for this slower rate to persist for a decade or more. The slower rate could persist if the transient climate response is overestimated by...

Understanding how predicted species responses to climate change are affected by advances in climate modeling is important for determining the frequency with which vulnerability assessments need to be updated. We used ecological niche models to compare predicted climatic habitat suitability for 132 species of reptiles and amphibians in California, USA under the previous and current generations o...

20 Twenty-first century projections of Atlantic climate change are downscaled to explore the 21 robustness of potential changes in hurricane activity. Multi-model ensembles using the 22 CMIP3/A1B (Late 21 st century) and CMIP5/RCP4.5 (Early and Late 21 st century) scenarios are 23 examined. Ten individual CMIP3 models are downscaled to assess the spread of results among 24 the CMIP3 (but not th...

Assessing the uncertainties and understanding the deficiencies of climate models are fundamental to developing adaptation strategies. The objective of this study is to understand how well Coupled Model Intercomparison-Phase 5 (CMIP5) climate model simulations replicate ground-based observations of continental drought areas and their trends. The CMIP5 multimodel ensemble encompasses the Climatic...

The historical simulations of sea ice during 1979 to 2005 by the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) are compared with satellite observations, Global Ice-Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (GIOMAS) output data and Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) output data in this study. Forty-nine models, almost all of the CMIP5 climate models and earth sys...

The tropospheric and stratospheric temperature trends and uncertainties in the fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) model simulations in the period of 1979–2005 have been compared with satellite observations. The satellite data include those from the Stratospheric Sounding Units (SSU), Microwave Sounding Units (MSU), and the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU). The results ...

This study provides insight into how CMIP5 climate models perform in simulating summer and winter precipitation at different geographical locations and climate conditions. Precipitation biases in the CMIP5 historical (1901 to 2005) simulations relative to the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) observations are evaluated over 8 regions exhibiting distinct seasonal hydroclimates: moist tropical (Amazon...

The Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS) coupled climate model version 1.3 participated in phase five of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) with an initial contribution of high priority experiments. Further standard experiments have since been conducted with ACCESS1.3, including an ensemble of three simulations for the historical period (1850–2005) for...

Interactive comment on “Stratospheric and tropospheric SSU/MSU temperature trends and compared to reanalyses and IPCC CMIP5 simulations in 1979–2005” by A. M. Powell Jr. et al. Anonymous Referee #1 Received and published: 13 February 2013 General comments: This paper shows that the selected CMIP5 models consistently capture such important climate features as the stratospheric cooling trend due ...

Soil carbon storage simulated by the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) models varies 6fold for the present day. Here, we confirm earlier work showing that this range already exists at the beginning of the CMIP5 historical simulations. We additionally show that this range is largely determined by the response of microbial decomposition during each model’s spin-up procedure from initi...