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Abstract Based on the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) daily dataset, we investigate changes of the terrestrial extreme climates given that the global mean temperature increases persistently under the Representative Concentration Pathways 8.5 (RCP8.5) scenario. Compared to preindustrial conditions, more statistically significant extreme temperatures, precipitations, and dry spells are expected in the 21st century. Cold extremes decrease and warm extremes increase in a warmer world, and cold extremes tend to be more sensitive to global warming than the warm ones. When the global mean temperature increases, cold nights, cold days, and warm nights all display nonlinear relationships with it, such as the weakening of the link projected after 3 °C global warming, while the other indices generally exhibit differently, with linear relationships. Additionally, the relative changes in the indices related to extreme precipitation show significantly consistent linear changes with the global warming magnitude. Compared with the precipitation extremes, changes in temperature extremes are more strongly related to the global mean temperature changes. For the projection of the extreme precipitation changes, models show higher uncertainty than that in extreme temperature changes, and the uncertainty for the precipitation extremes becomes more remarkable when the global warming exceeds 5 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last glacial maximum (LGM, ca. 21,000 years ago) has been extensively investigated for better understanding of past glacial climates. Global-scale monsoon changes, however, have not yet been determined. In this study, we examine global monsoon area (GMA) and precipitation (GMP) as well as GMP intensity (GMPI) at the LGM using the experiments of 17 climate models chosen from the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP) according to their ability to reproduce the present global monsoon climate. Compared to the reference period (referring to the present day, ca. 1985, for three atmospheric plus two atm–slab ocean models and the pre-industrial period, ca. 1750, for 12 fully coupled atmosphere–ocean or atmosphere–ocean–vegetation models), the LGM monsoon area increased over land and decreased over the oceans. The boreal land monsoon areas generally shifted southward, while the northern boundary of land monsoon areas retreated southward over southern Africa and South America. Both the LGM GMP and GMPI decreased in most of the models. The GMP decrease mainly resulted from the reduced monsoon precipitation over the oceans, while the GMPI decrease was derived from the weakened intensity of monsoon precipitation over land and the boreal ocean. Quantitatively, the LGM GMP deficit was due to, first, the GMA reduction and, second, the GMPI weakening. In response to the LGM large ice sheets and lower greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, the global surface and tropospheric temperatures cooled, the boreal summer meridional temperature gradient increased, and the summer land–sea thermal contrast at 40°S – 70°N decreased. These are the underlying dynamic mechanisms for the LGM monsoon changes. Qualitatively, simulations agree with reconstructions in all land monsoon areas except in the western part of northern Australia where disagreements occur and in South America and the southern part of southern Africa where there is uncertainty in reconstructions. Simulations do not support an inter-hemispheric anti-phasing of monsoon intensity change as suggested by proxy data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]