Det naturvetenskapliga kunskapsläget kring klimatförändringen blir allt starkare vilket till exempel har rapporterats i rapporten Klimat i förändring 2021 – Den naturvetenskapliga grunden från FN:s klimatpanel, IPCC, 2021. Den globala medeltemperaturen har höjts med mer än 1,1 grader sen andra halvan av 1800-talet. Detta beror i huvudsak på människans utsläpp av koldioxid till atmosfären. Fortsatta utsläpp kommer att leda till ännu större temperaturökning framöver. Exakt hur stora de framtida förändringarna av klimatet kan bli är inte känt eftersom det beror på hur stora de framtida koldioxidutsläppen blir, och eftersom det finns osäkerheter kring exakt hur mycket en ökning av koldioxidhalten påverkar klimatet. Trots detta är det klart att det förutom högre temperaturer för alla jordens regioner också kommer leda till förändringar i nederbördsförhållanden och olika typer av väderextremer. Utbredning av snö och is beräknas minska och den globala havsnivån fortsätta stiga. Dessa typer av förändringar förväntas få en lång rad konsekvenser både för samhälle och naturmiljö.Den här rapporten tar upp vilken klimatinformation som finns tillgänglig för det svenska samhällets klimatanpassningsarbete, hur informationen kan användas, vilka begränsningar den har och vad som kan förbättras. Fortsatt utveckling av metodik och modeller är en viktig komponent för att kunna ta fram och förbättra klimatinformation för klimatanpassningsarbetet liksom vikten av att säkerställa långa tidsserier för att spegla klimatets variabilitet och förändring. Stora ensembler av högupplösta klimatscenarier behövs för att kunna analysera, förstå och beskriva framtida klimatförändring under olika utsläppsscenarier. Detta gäller särskilt för att kunna göra sannolikhetsberäkningar av extrema väderhändelser, vilket är en central del i den riskanalys som behövs för att kunna anpassa samhället till både dagens klimat och det klimat vi kan få i framtiden. Rapporten pekar på betydelsen av långsiktighet i arbetet med produktion av klimatdata, samt att det är viktigt att arbeta med hela kedjan från observationer och modeller till användare.

The scientific basis related to climate change grows stronger, for example as reported by the latest report by the first working group of the IPCC in 2021. Primarily as a result of human emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, the global mean temperature has increased by more than 1.1 degrees since the second half of the 19th century. Continued emissions will lead to even larger increases in the future. Exactly how strong is unknown as the size of future emissions is not known and as there is an uncertainty related to the climate sensitivity. Despite this, it is clear that, in addition to higher temperatures in all areas, also precipitation will change as will different types of extreme conditions. The extent of snow and ice will decline and global sea level continue to rise. Such changes are expected to lead to various consequences both for society and the environment.The report presents what types of climate information that are available for work on climate change adaptation, how the information can be used, what limitations it has and what can be improved. Continued development of methods and models is one key component to be able to produce and improve climate information supporting climate change adaptation. Another relates to ensuring the existence of long time series reflecting variability and change. Large ensembles of high-resolution climate scenarios are needed to analyse, understand and describe future climate change under different scenarios. This is especially important for calculating probabilities of extreme weather events, which is a key component of the risk analysis. The report points to the importance of a longterm approach in the work with producing climate change information, and that it is important to involve the whole chain from observations and models to users of the information.

Short-duration (1-3 h) rainfall extremes can cause serious damage to societies through rapidly developing (flash) flooding and are determined by complex, multifaceted processes that are altering as Earth's climate warms. In this Review, we examine evidence from observational, theoretical and modelling studies for the intensification of these rainfall extremes, the drivers and the impact on flash flooding. Both short-duration and long-duration (>1day) rainfall extremes are intensifying with warming at a rate consistent with the increase in atmospheric moisture (similar to 7%K-1), while in some regions, increases in short-duration extreme rainfall intensities are stronger than expected from moisture increases alone. These stronger local increases are related to feedbacks in convective clouds, but their exact role is uncertain because of the very small scales involved. Future extreme rainfall intensification is also modulated by changes to temperature stratification and large-scale atmospheric circulation. The latter remains a major source of uncertainty. Intensification of short-duration extremes has likely increased the incidence of flash flooding at local scales, and this can further compound with an increase in storm spatial footprint to considerably increase total event rainfall. These findings call for urgent climate change adaptation measures to manage increasing flood risks.

Approximately 10 years ago, convection-permitting regional climate models (CPRCMs) emerged as a promising computationally affordable tool to produce fine resolution (1-4 km) decadal-long climate simulations with explicitly resolved deep convection. This explicit representation is expected to reduce climate projection uncertainty related to deep convection parameterizations found in most climate models. A recent surge in CPRCM decadal simulations over larger domains, sometimes covering continents, has led to important insights into CPRCM advantages and limitations. Furthermore, new observational gridded datasets with fine spatial and temporal (similar to 1 km; similar to 1 h) resolutions have leveraged additional knowledge through evaluations of the added value of CPRCMs. With an improved coordination in the frame of ongoing international initiatives, the production of ensembles of CPRCM simulations is expected to provide more robust climate projections and a better identification of their associated uncertainties. This review paper presents an overview of the methodology to produce CPRCM simulations and the latest research on the related added value in current and future climates. Impact studies that are already taking advantage of these new CPRCM simulations are highlighted. This review paper ends by proposing next steps that could be accomplished to continue exploiting the full potential of CPRCMs. This article is categorized under: Climate Models and Modeling > Earth System Models