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Smith DM, Scaife AA, Eade R, Athanasiadis P, Bellucci A, Bethke I, Bilbao R, Borchert LF, Caron LP, Counillon F, Danabasoglu G, Delworth T, Doblas-Reyes FJ, Dunstone NJ, Estella-Perez V, Flavoni S, Hermanson L, Keenlyside N, Kharin V, Kimoto M, Merryfield WJ, Mignot J, Mochizuki T, Modali K, Monerie PA, Müller WA, Nicolí D, Ortega P, Pankatz K, Pohlmann H, Robson J, Ruggieri P, Sospedra-Alfonso R, Swingedouw D, Wang Y, Wild S, Yeager S, Yang X, Zhang L. North Atlantic climate far more predictable than models imply. Nature 2020; 583:796-800. [PMID: 32728237 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2525-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2019] [Accepted: 05/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Quantifying signals and uncertainties in climate models is essential for the detection, attribution, prediction and projection of climate change1-3. Although inter-model agreement is high for large-scale temperature signals, dynamical changes in atmospheric circulation are very uncertain4. This leads to low confidence in regional projections, especially for precipitation, over the coming decades5,6. The chaotic nature of the climate system7-9 may also mean that signal uncertainties are largely irreducible. However, climate projections are difficult to verify until further observations become available. Here we assess retrospective climate model predictions of the past six decades and show that decadal variations in North Atlantic winter climate are highly predictable, despite a lack of agreement between individual model simulations and the poor predictive ability of raw model outputs. Crucially, current models underestimate the predictable signal (the predictable fraction of the total variability) of the North Atlantic Oscillation (the leading mode of variability in North Atlantic atmospheric circulation) by an order of magnitude. Consequently, compared to perfect models, 100 times as many ensemble members are needed in current models to extract this signal, and its effects on the climate are underestimated relative to other factors. To address these limitations, we implement a two-stage post-processing technique. We first adjust the variance of the ensemble-mean North Atlantic Oscillation forecast to match the observed variance of the predictable signal. We then select and use only the ensemble members with a North Atlantic Oscillation sufficiently close to the variance-adjusted ensemble-mean forecast North Atlantic Oscillation. This approach greatly improves decadal predictions of winter climate for Europe and eastern North America. Predictions of Atlantic multidecadal variability are also improved, suggesting that the North Atlantic Oscillation is not driven solely by Atlantic multidecadal variability. Our results highlight the need to understand why the signal-to-noise ratio is too small in current climate models10, and the extent to which correcting this model error would reduce uncertainties in regional climate change projections on timescales beyond a decade.
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Affiliation(s)
- D M Smith
- Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter, UK.
| | - A A Scaife
- Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter, UK.,College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Exeter University, Exeter, UK
| | - R Eade
- Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter, UK
| | - P Athanasiadis
- Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, Bologna, Italy
| | - A Bellucci
- Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, Bologna, Italy
| | - I Bethke
- Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway
| | - R Bilbao
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, Spain
| | - L F Borchert
- Sorbonne Universités, LOCEAN Laboratory, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL), Paris, France
| | - L-P Caron
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, Spain
| | - F Counillon
- Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway.,Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway
| | - G Danabasoglu
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - T Delworth
- Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - F J Doblas-Reyes
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, Spain.,Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - V Estella-Perez
- Sorbonne Universités, LOCEAN Laboratory, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL), Paris, France
| | - S Flavoni
- Sorbonne Universités, LOCEAN Laboratory, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL), Paris, France
| | | | - N Keenlyside
- Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway.,Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway
| | - V Kharin
- Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
| | - M Kimoto
- Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan
| | - W J Merryfield
- Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
| | - J Mignot
- Sorbonne Universités, LOCEAN Laboratory, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL), Paris, France
| | - T Mochizuki
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.,Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, Japan
| | - K Modali
- Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie, Hamburg, Germany.,Regional Computing Center, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - P-A Monerie
- National Centre for Atmospheric Science, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - W A Müller
- Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie, Hamburg, Germany
| | - D Nicolí
- Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, Bologna, Italy
| | - P Ortega
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, Spain
| | - K Pankatz
- Deutscher Wetterdienst, Hamburg, Germany
| | - H Pohlmann
- Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie, Hamburg, Germany.,Deutscher Wetterdienst, Hamburg, Germany
| | - J Robson
- National Centre for Atmospheric Science, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - P Ruggieri
- Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, Bologna, Italy
| | - R Sospedra-Alfonso
- Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
| | - D Swingedouw
- CNRS-EPOC, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, France
| | - Y Wang
- Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway
| | - S Wild
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, Spain
| | - S Yeager
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - X Yang
- Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - L Zhang
- Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
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Ades-Aron B, Yeager S, Miskin N, Fieremans E, George A, Golomb J. Diffusional Kurtosis along the Corticospinal Tract in Adult Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2018; 39:2218-2223. [PMID: 30385473 DOI: 10.3174/ajnr.a5845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2017] [Accepted: 08/28/2018] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus is a reversible form of dementia characterized by enlarged ventricles, which can deform and cause disruptions to adjacent white matter fibers. The purpose of this work was to examine how diffusion and kurtosis parameters vary along the corticospinal tract and determine where along this path microstructure is compromised in patients diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus. We hypothesized that disruption of the corticospinal tract from ventricular enlargement can be measured using diffusion MR imaging and this will be quantified in periventricular regions. MATERIALS AND METHODS We developed a method to analyze diffusion parameters at discrete points along neural tracts. We then used diffusion MR imaging data from patients with Alzheimer disease and healthy controls to compare whether diffusion along the corticospinal tract differs from that of patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus. RESULTS We found that diffusion parameters can differentiate patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus from those with Alzheimer disease and healthy controls: Axial diffusion, axial kurtosis, and the axonal water fraction were found to differ significantly across groups (P < .05) in an area located close to the superior internal capsule and corona radiata but below the cortex. CONCLUSIONS A lower axonal water fraction indicates a lower axonal density in the corticospinal tract, which may indicate permanent damage. Lower axial kurtosis may imply that axons are being more aligned due to compression.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Ades-Aron
- From the Center for Biomedical Imaging (B.A.-A., S.Y., E.F., A.G.), Department of Radiology
| | - S Yeager
- From the Center for Biomedical Imaging (B.A.-A., S.Y., E.F., A.G.), Department of Radiology
| | - N Miskin
- Department of Radiology (N.M.), Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - E Fieremans
- From the Center for Biomedical Imaging (B.A.-A., S.Y., E.F., A.G.), Department of Radiology
| | - A George
- From the Center for Biomedical Imaging (B.A.-A., S.Y., E.F., A.G.), Department of Radiology
| | - J Golomb
- Department of Neurology (J.G.), New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York
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Fiore AE, Nuorti JP, Levine OS, Marx A, Weltman AC, Yeager S, Benson RF, Pruckler J, Edelstein PH, Greer P, Zaki SR, Fields BS, Butler JC. Epidemic Legionnaires' disease two decades later: old sources, new diagnostic methods. Clin Infect Dis 1998; 26:426-33. [PMID: 9502466 DOI: 10.1086/516309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
In July 1995 we investigated a pneumonia outbreak in a Pennsylvania town. We conducted epidemiological and molecular microbiological studies to determine the outbreak source and interrupt transmission of disease. Legionnaires' disease (LD) was quickly identified by urine antigen testing, and a newly developed immunohistochemical stain confirmed nosocomial transmission to a hospital inpatient. LD was confirmed in 22 patients. Case-patients were more likely than controls to have been within 1,000 feet of the hospital (matched odds ratio, 21.0; 95% confidence interval, 2.9-368) during the 2 weeks prior to illness. Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 (Lp-1) was isolated from hospital cooling towers (CTs) and rooftop air samples but not from hospital potable water or community CTs. Hospital CT and air Lp-1 isolates matched all five patient isolates by monoclonal antibody, arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis subtyping. Strategies to prevent LD must include minimizing transmission from CTs.
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Affiliation(s)
- A E Fiore
- Epidemic Intelligence Service, Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases, National Center for Infectious Disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA
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