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CR 66:1-12 (2015)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01319

Stratification of climate projections for efficient estimation of uncertainty and variation using weather-driven models

David A. Elston1,*, Mike Rivington2, Cairistiona F. E. Topp3, Shibu Muhammed2,5, Jacqueline M. Potts1, Adam Butler4, Helen Kettle4, Nikki J. Baggaley2, Robert M. Rees3, Robin B. Matthews2

1Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
2James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
4SRUC, The King’s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JG, UK
4Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland, The King’s Buildings, Edinburgh AB9 3FD, UK
5Present address: Rothamsted Research, Harpenden AL5 2JQ, UK
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: The range of uncertainties inherent in climate models can only be portrayed by provision of multiple climate projections. Unfortunately, such provision poses a challenge to model-based impact studies, since driving the relevant impact models using weather data from large numbers of climate projections may not be computationally feasible. Hence, it is important to investigate how to draw sub-samples of climate projections in a manner that reduces the subsequent computational burden. We describe a stratification-based protocol for sub-sampling climate projections to drive crop models with strata based on changes in mean temperature and changes in relative mean rainfall. As an example of the protocol’s utility, simulated weather for each selected climate projection was used to drive 3 contrasting process-based models of plant–environment interactions to predict yields of spring barley, managed grassland, and short-rotation coppice. Many of the questions about potential impact that we wish to answer are related to variation in predicted yields. Variance components analyses of predicted yields for each of 2 time periods (2040s and 2080s) indicated that, after allowing for variability between grid squares, between 16 and 61% of the remaining variance in annual yields was uncertainty due to climate projections, the corresponding range for mean yields over 9 yr being from 63 to 93%. We found that our stratification procedure enhanced the precision in the estimate of the variance component due to climate projection, enabling reductions of up to 20% in the number of climate projections required to achieve equivalent precision compared to simple random sampling.


KEY WORDS: Impact assessments · Stratification · Crop models · Simulated yields · Uncertainty · Variance components


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Cite this article as: Elston DA, Rivington M, Topp CFE, Muhammed S and others (2015) Stratification of climate projections for efficient estimation of uncertainty and variation using weather-driven models. Clim Res 66:1-12. https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01319

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