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Projecting the impacts of climate change includes various uncertainties from physical, biophysical, and socioeconomic processes. Providing a more comprehensive impact projection that better represents the uncertainties is a priority research issue. We used an ensemble-based projection approach that accounts for the uncertainties in climate projections associated with general circulation models (GCMs) and biophysical and empirical parameter values in a crop model. We applied the approach to address the paddy rice yield change in Japan in the 2050s (2046-2065) and 2090s (2081-2100) relative to the 1990s (1981-2000). Seventeen climate projections, nine (eight) climate projections performed by seven (six) GCMs conditional on the Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) A1B (A2), were included in this projection. In addition, 50 sets of biophysical and empirical parameter values of a large-scale process-based crop model for irrigated paddy rice were included to represent the uncertainties of crop parameter values. The planting windows, cultivation practices, and crop cultivars in the future were assumed to be the same as the level in the baseline period (1990s). The resulting probability density functions conditioned on SRES A1B and A2 indicate projected median yield changes of + 17.2% and + 26.9% in Hokkaido, the northern part of Japan, in the 2050s and 2090s with 90% probability intervals of (− 5.2%, + 40.3%) and (+ 6.3%, + 51.2%), relative to the 1990s mean yield, respectively. The corresponding values in Aichi, on the Pacific side of Western Japan, are 2.2% and − 0.8%, with 90% probability intervals of (− 15.0%, + 14.9%) and (− 33.4%, + 17.9%), respectively. We also provided geographical maps of the probability that the future 20-year mean yield will decrease and that the future standard deviation of yield for 20 years will increase. Finally, we investigated the relative contributions of the climate projection and crop parameter values to the uncertainty in projecting yield change in the 2090s. The choice of GCM yielded a relatively larger spread of projected yield changes than that of the other factors. The choice of crop parameter values could be more important than that of GCM in a specific prefecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study quantifies the ranges of climate model biases in surface air temperature for July and August (summer temperature) and daily total insolation for May–October (warm-season insolation) that can give simulated regional paddy rice yields with a bias within ±2.5% of the 20-yr mean observed regional yield. The following four sets of three meteorological elements (daily maximum and minimum temperatures and daily total insolation) from daily climate model outputs were used as meteorological inputs for a large-scale crop model for irrigated paddy rice: 1) raw climate model outputs of all meteorological elements, 2) bias-corrected temperatures and raw climate model outputs of insolation, 3) bias-corrected insolation and raw climate model outputs of temperatures, and 4) bias-corrected climate model outputs of all meteorological elements. These meteorological inputs were sourced from seven coupled general circulation models, one regional climate model, and one reanalysis dataset. Crop model simulations with artificially biased meteorological inputs were also used. By using the approximation formula derived from these crop model simulation results and the Monte Carlo simulation technique, it was found that climate model outputs with biases within ±0.6°C and ±3% for summer temperature and warm-season insolation, respectively, could result in a simulated regional paddy rice yield with a bias within ±2.5% of the 20-yr mean observed regional yield. The simulated regional yield was less biased not only when the biases of two meteorological inputs were small but also when the cold or warm bias of summer temperature and the overestimation of warm-season insolation were balanced through the crop model processes. The methodology presented here will lead to a better and more comprehensive understanding of the nature of error propagation from a climate model to an application model and will facilitate the selection of climate models suitable for specific applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors constructed the framework for a preliminary assessment of climate change impact on the rice insurance payout in Japan. The framework consisted of various models ranging from climate projection downscaling, rice yield estimation, yield loss assessment, and rice insurance payout estimation. In this study, a simulation was conducted based on the dynamically downscaled regional climate projection with a lateral boundary condition given by the global climate projection of the Meteorological Research Institute Coupled General Circulation Model, version 2 (MRI CGCM2), under the A2 scenario of the Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES). Results indicated that rice yield in the 2070s will decrease slightly in central and western Japan and increase in northern Japan. The increase in yield was derived from a significant reduction in yield loss caused by cool-summer damage; on the other hand, the decrease in yield was caused by the increase in yield loss caused by heat stress and the shortening of the growth period induced by the temperature rise. The increase in the atmospheric CO2 concentration resulted in an increase in paddy rice biomass because of the fertilization effect; however, the increase in biomass was not enhanced much as a result of shortening of the growth period if early planting was not considered as an adaptation practice. Reflecting such changes in yield, the rice insurance payout significantly decreased in northern Japan but only slightly increased in the areas of central and western Japan. In total, the 9-yr mean payout in Japan in the 2070s decreased to 120.2 billion yen; the value corresponded to 87% of the payout averaged over 9 yr in the 1990s (1991–99). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed a dataset of local-scale daily climate change scenarios for Japan (called ELPIS-JP) using the stochastic weather generators (WGs) LARS-WG and, in part, WXGEN. The ELPIS-JP dataset is based on the observed (or estimated) daily weather data for seven climatic variables (daily mean, maximum and minimum temperatures; precipitation; solar radiation; relative humidity; and wind speed) at 938 sites in Japan and climate projections from the multi-model ensemble of global climate models (GCMs) used in the coupled model intercomparison project (CMIP3) and multi-model ensemble of regional climate models form the Japanese downscaling project (called S-5-3). The capability of the WGs to reproduce the statistical features of the observed data for the period 1981-2000 is assessed using several statistical tests and quantile-quantile plots. Overall performance of the WGs was good. The ELPIS-JP dataset consists of two types of daily data: (i) the transient scenarios throughout the twenty-first century using projections from 10 CMIP3 GCMs under three emission scenarios (A1B, A2 and B1) and (ii) the time-slice scenarios for the period 2081-2100 using projections from three S-5-3 regional climate models. The ELPIS-JP dataset is designed to be used in conjunction with process-based impact models (e.g. crop models) for assessment, not only the impacts of mean climate change but also the impacts of changes in climate variability, wet/dry spells and extreme events, as well as the uncertainty of future impacts associated with climate models and emission scenarios. The ELPIS-JP offers an excellent platform for probabilistic assessment of climate change impacts and potential adaptation at a local scale in Japan.