Operational attribution
Why should we develop operational attribution?
How can we answer the question ÒIs climate change to blame for this flood?Ó
Making sense of the question
The European heat-wave of 2003
Modelling Southern European area-averaged June-July-August summer temperatures
How we attribute different contributions to an observed change in expected temperatures
An example: attribution of hemispheric temperature changes with HadCM3
An example: attribution of hemispheric temperature changes with GFDL
An example: attribution of hemispheric temperature changes with PCM
External contributions to European summer temperatures, relative to pre-industrial
Inferring external contributions to risk from external contributions to expected temperatures
Changing risks of European heatwaves
(Stott et al, 2004)
Anthropogenic contribution to the risk of the 2003 heat-wave
Conclusions of Stott et al, 2004, study of the 2003 European heat-wave
Autumn 2000 floods in the UK
A template for operational attribution
(Pall et al, 2007)
What, in climate research, is a relatively high-resolution model
Patterns of SST signal removed: 1990s seasonal surface temperatures relative to control
Large ensembles required, so we use distributed computing: http://attribution.cpdn.org
Autumn 2000 as observed (ERA-40 reanalysis)É




Éand in one of the wetter members of our ensemble.
Return-times versus total Sept-Nov precipitation in the ÒAutumn 2000Ó ensemble
Return-times after removing estimated signal of greenhouse warming
Return-times after removing estimated signal of greenhouse warming
Contribution of greenhouse warming to risk of Autumn 2000 3-month precipitation anomalies
Implications of Pall et al study
Changing drought risk in Tripoli due to greenhouse gas increase 1900-2000
Link to work on attribution of trends in African rainfall (Hoerling et al, 2007)
Impact of Indian Ocean warming on Southern African rainfall