The spectroscopic foundation of radiative forcing of climate by carbon dioxide

Mlynczak, Martin G.; Daniels, Taumi S.; Kratz, David P.; Feldman, Daniel R.; Collins, William D.; Mlawer, Eli J.; Alvarado, Matthew J.; Lawler, James E.; Anderson, L. W.; Fahey, David W.; Hunt, Linda A.; Mast, Jeffrey C.

doi:10.1002/2016GL068837

Title: The spectroscopic foundation of radiative forcing of climate by carbon dioxide

Journal Article · Tue May 24 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068837· OSTI ID:1470998

Mlynczak, Martin G. ^[1]; Daniels, Taumi S. ^[1]; Kratz, David P. ^[1]; Feldman, Daniel R. ^[2]; Collins, William D. ^[2]; Mlawer, Eli J. ^[3]; Alvarado, Matthew J. ^[3]; Lawler, James E. ^[4]; Anderson, L. W. ^[4]; Fahey, David W. ^[5];

^[6]; Mast, Jeffrey C. ^[6]

NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (United States)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Lexington, MA (United States)
Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States)
Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA (United States)

The radiative forcing (RF) of carbon dioxide (CO₂) is the leading contribution to climate change from anthropogenic activities. Calculating CO₂ RF requires detailed knowledge of spectral line parameters for thousands of infrared absorption lines. A reliable spectroscopic characterization of CO₂ forcing is critical to scientific and policy assessments of present climate and climate change. Our results show that CO₂ RF in a variety of atmospheres is remarkably insensitive to known uncertainties in the three main CO₂ spectroscopic parameters: the line shapes, line strengths, and half widths. We specifically examine uncertainty in RF due to line mixing as this process is critical in determining line shapes in the far wings of CO₂ absorption lines. RF computed with a Voigt line shape is also examined. Overall, the spectroscopic uncertainty in present-day CO₂ RF is less than 1%, indicating a robust foundation in our understanding of how rising CO₂ warms the climate system.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1470998

Journal Information:: Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 10; ISSN 0094-8276

Publisher:: American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 12 works

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