Climate Change in Portugal


Simulations

A set of CORDEX regional climate model simulation were performed on the European domain (EURO-CORDEX) at spatial resolution of 0.11 degree (~ 12 km) and at daily temporal resolution. It was performed at:

  • the hindcast period (1989-2008, evaluation);
  • the historical period (1971-2005);

two RCP scenarios defined for the IPCC AR5 report: RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 (2006-2100).

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From the EURO-CORDEX dataset, seven meteorological variables are used for most of the climate indicators presented in climate portal:

  • Daily Maximum Near-Surface Air Temperature (K), tasmax
  • Daily Minimum Near-Surface Air Temperature (K), tasmin
  • Precipitation (kg/m2/s), pr
  • Near-Surface Wind Speed m/s, sfcwind
  • Near-Surface Relative Humidity (%), hurs
  • Surface Downwelling Shortwave Radiation (W/m2), rsds
  • Surface Upwelling Shortwave Radiation (W/m2), rsus

CORDEX variables were selected to calculate climate change indicators for the current climate and future scenarios in Portugal. All regional changes have been analysed for the land areas for four time periods:

Historical period

  1. 1971-2000

Future scenarios

  • 2011-2040 (near-future)
  • 2041-2070 (mid-century)
  • 2071-2100 (end-of-century)